#and i really hope she decides on the former rather than the latter

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

Surge can control electricity, but she couldn't have had full control of her powers from the start. Electricity is very volatile and chaotic, after all. It's hard to control, specially in the way she does it.

She doesn't remember ever electrocuting herself, though...

[novvabee]

And They Were Roommates pt.2

Summary: part 2 and Moving In

You smelled the brewing coffee before you fully woke up. Your bed still surrounded by boxes from the moving you did all day yesterday. The boys, of course, offered help in every step of the way. You told them that it was fine, you could handle moving yourself, but they insisted. They helped you move box after box until you were fully moved into their house. Your house now. 

You sighed looking at all the work you still had to do. You had to unpack all your clothes, hang up your pictures and decorations, and put together some furniture. It was all seeming too much at the moment and you decided to push it off until later. You needed to wake up a bit more, maybe finally shower without worrying you’ll catch something.

You walk out of your room and begin down the stairs when you hear lively conversation. Reaching the bottom of the steps and turning into the kitchen, loud laughing reaching your ears. Sirius and Remus are sitting at the table, the latter sipping from a yellow mug and the former engaged in a discussion with James who was cooking eggs at the stove. Once they noticed you had entered their attention turned wholly to you. “Ah there she is!” James beamed. “How was your first night?” All three of their attention locked onto you, waiting for your reply.

You wrapped your arms around yourself, suddenly rethinking your choice of a baggy shirt and shorts. “It was good.” you squeaked out. The boys all smiled at you.

“There's coffee if you’d like,” Remus said “and there's cereal in the cupboard.”

“Oh that’s ok. I’m alright, thanks,” you said walking over and sliding into a chair next to Sirius at the little table. 

“You don't want anything? I can make you something! I can whip up some pancakes, or I can make some more eggs and bacon.” James asked.

“No, I'm sure. I don't normally eat breakfast anyway.” You said, trying not to hurt his feelings.

He snapped his head to you. “Oh no…” you hear Sirius sigh under his breath. “What do you mean you don't eat breakfast? You have to have breakfast, it’s important,” James started." You'll be hungry and you need the energy, won't you, after moving all day yesterday?”

You felt slightly like a child being lectured by their mother for not eating breakfast but Remus stepped in for you “James, mate, leave her be.”

James seemed to drop it but shook his head as if baffled why anyone wouldn’t want breakfast. You looked over to Sirius and Remus who were smirking knowingly. “It’s alright love,” said Sirius, “he’s chastised both of us for not eating as well, that’s why we have coffee now.”

You smiled and nodded, hugging your knees to your chest in the chair. You all sat in a comfortable silence for a moment until James finally sat down at the final place at the table with a plate full of breakfast. “So, what can we help with today?” he asked you.

You felt a bit surprised. You thought they would leave you to your unpacking alone, but apparently they wanted to help you through every step of the process. “Oh uh… nothing really, I just have to unpack and decorate.” you said, trying not to burden them with the task of helping you, besides they could be doing other things with their day rather than being stuck helping you again. 

“Ok well…,” James started “we can help with all that.”

“N-no, no. That would be too much I mean… you all helped so much and..,” You looked to the other two, hoping they might help bail you out again but they were looking at you the same way James was, with hope and eagerness to help. In all fairness it would be easier for them to hang up your posters and paintings, and you could use some help putting your bed frame together… Maybe they just wanted to spend time getting to know you as well.

“Ok maybe I could use a little help” you said. They warmed up instantly and it made you feel a little strange. They were so kind. Almost to a fault, and their willingness to go above and beyond to make you feel welcome, it was extraordinary. You had never lived with a group of boys before and you hadn't ever expected them to be like this, so generous. “But before we start, I would like to shower first if that’s ok?” you said.

They all nodded and agreed. “Of course,” said Sirius.

“I just,” you laughed softly “I just finally want to be able to have a warm shower, and not worry about catching any kind of sickness.”

The boys laughed with you. Sirius smirked and said “I don’t know about that, sweetheart, you share a bathroom with James. You never know what you can catch in there.” Sirius laughed. This set Remus off, throwing his head back laughing. James, offended but smiling, throwing a bit of toast at him.

“I am cleaner than both of you combined!” James hollered, turning to you “don’t listen to them.” This all made you giggle and feel a bit at ease, feeling like you were settling into the house a bit more.

You four spent the rest of the morning and afternoon in your bedroom. Sirius was helping you sort through clothes and put them away. Remus was hanging your decorations up (you made him because he was the tallest and could hang pictures higher than the other two or yourself) and James was indeed putting together your bed frame. 

“How many clothes do you own!? We've been through two boxes- IS THAT ONE ALL SHOES?!” Came from Sirius. You just laughed.

The whole day was a day full of laughter and jokes, they got to know you a little more, and you them. You asked how they all became friends and learned they went to a boarding school with each other and Lily. You all decided that Remus definitely had the coolest name, Sirius Black is cool too, has mystery and intrigue, but Remus Lupin is a name that could be written in a legendary tale. You found out that though they have a tv, they don’t really watch tv, preferring movies over tv. 

Opening up little by little and coming out of your shell ever so slightly, you thought that you could see yourself being friends with them. Real, actual friends. They were fun and funny, charming and witty. This in tandem with the kindness that they showed, you decided that you were quite happy to be living in the house indeed.

Taglist ❤️: @too-efn-old-to-be-here 

[mistywaves98]

Omg double request???????? slay??????? Whatabout,,,,,, yan albedo,, kidnapping reader n keeping her in a cage for stress relief,, like he'll occasionally feed her and give her water ofc, but a lot of the time he'll lace it with aphrodesiacs and let her suffer in the cage until she's begging to be fucked- boy makes absolutely sure she humiliates herself- like girl's fighting for her freedom? He'll just make her so desperate she has nowhere to turn to but to him.

-the amazing super awesome best anon ever/jjj

Sorry for taking sooo long with this, I lost motivation and when I got it back I decided to rewrite the whole thing 💀 and I'm finally back from the dead!

✧･ﾟ:* Yandere! Albedo x Fem! Reader

✧･ﾟ:* ¡Warnings!: NSFW, Yandere/Darker Themes, Kidnapping, Fingering, Making out, Aphrodisiacs, Teasing, slight sadist! Albedo, that's all I think!

✧･ﾟ:* Minor writing smut! DNI if uncomfy!

Reblogs are greatly appreciated!

You hadn't even known him for that long or that closely, yet he felt a constant yearning whenever you weren't around. You were just another adventurer that completed commissions for the guild, so why did he like you so much? This want for you was hindering his research since he couldn't focus when you were on his mind 24/7. Weighing his options he figured it would be pointless trying to persuade you to stay with him forever since you enjoyed your freedom, it was really obvious. So what was plan B?

Why to keep you with him by force of course.

As adventurous as you were, you could also be a little to trusting and oblivious at times. Everything was calculated down to the smallest detail. Eventually he had formulated the perfect plan to make sure you were his. Due to Albedo's precision, it wasn't long before you were in his lab, unconscious.

Upon stripping you of your weapon and vision, Albedo realized that he missed one crucial thing. He didn't plan on what to do with you after kidnapping you. It's not like you were there for any reason other than to satisfy his desire for your company.

Eventually he settled on a cage he happened to have when he wanted to observe live monsters he captured for research. He cleaned and even cushioned it a bit before placing your limp body inside. Once he locked the gate he decided that all was good and he could focus again now that you were under his surveillance 24/7.

It had been months, maybe even years and although the likely answer to how much time had passed was the former, the latter was definitely what it felt like. Although it was unlikely you could have escaped, Albedo decided to cuff your arm to the bars just in case. The bindings were tight and made your wrists sore but there was nothing you could do about it.

It made you furious that all you could do was sit there like a doll on display, only taken out to be tampered with from time to time. But again, you were helpless.

You were snapped out of your sulking as the hinges of your cage creaked open and a plate of steaming food was placed into it. As quickly as it was unlocked, it was shut once more. You stared at the meal with a sour look, as good of a cook he was you didn't trust his food because of numerous.... occasions.

But you were so hungry and you could feel your mouth watering at the smell. So as always, you reluctantly gave into your needs.

Why did it end up like this? You already knew the answer. Aphrodisiacs. In your food. That's what lead you here, completely naked on his lap with your back against his chest, two fingers shoved in your mouth while three more are shoved up your pussy not moving an inch. You desperately try to grind your hips onto them for any sort of friction to help you reach your high but you just can't. You can't even begin when the pads of his gloved hand flatten your tongue against the bottom of your mouth. The most you can do is pathetically whimper in hopes he'll get the hint and he does but would rather see you suffer so you just have to sit there, waiting until he decides what to do to you.

"I assume you want me to move my fingers,hm?" A sharp thrust makes you gasp. "C'mon, tell me darling, what do you want from me." He chuckles cruelly when all that escapes you mouth is muffled whines and incoherent noises. "Ok ok, I'll let you talk." As soon as the fingers leave your mouth you speak,"Please, please let me cum! I-I'll be good, just—" You're cut off by another thrust of his fingers into your tight cunt but this time they continue plunging in and out making you moan in ecstasy as you feel your orgasm building up.

Albedo's free hand traveled down your neck and began fondling your exposed breasts making you arch your back at the added stimulation. In doing so you slightly shifted your positions and you couldn't help but cry out as you felt him hit that sweet spot inside of you. "N-ngh f-feels soooo good 'bedo! Please don't s-stop!" Hearing you say his name always made something stir inside of him, something that told him to go harder. "C-cumming!" With that you gushed all over his fingers, coating them with cum that dripped onto his lap, soaking his clothes but that was the least of his worries. You couldn't see the ways his eyes darkened form the position you were in but when he moved a hand to tilt your chin to face him you were met with that scary smirk that, even through your dazed state, had learned to fear because it always meant nothing good.

"Who gave gave you permission to cum? I don't recall saying you could orgasm, now look at the mess you've made." As if there wasn't already a mess," 'm sorry...I—" you were cut off as his lips met yours. His hand shifted form your chin to hold your face in a way that give him firmer grip. Drool ran down your chin as his tongue entered your mouth, licking everywhere it could reach.

When he finally broke the kiss, you were panting heavily. Albedo observed your face as you gazed at him through half lidded eyes. Dried tears stained your face as a bright red blush covered it, beads of sweat ran down your face and your eyes we're puffy and swollen. You were certainly a sight for sore eyes, Albedo made sure to make a mental image of it to paint later.

Lifting you up into the desk, be shoved everything on it aside as he laid you on your stomach. Now your lower half was hanging over the edge and you tensed as the cold surface met your hot skin. You gasped as something big and hard pressed up against your pussy's entrance. "You wanted to cum so bad so you did so without my approval, how disobedient of you... but don't worry, now I'll give you all the orgasms you want."

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

Hello, I just found your blog and after going through a lot of your posts/asks I completely agree with most of your opinions on HOTD ss2. I also wanted to ask your thoughts on the characterization of Aemond and Aegon this season. With Aemond there were a lot of disappointments for me in how the writer treated his character. I know the two nude scenes caused a lot of mixed opinions, but in my opinion, they were completely unnecessary and didn't contribute much to character building. Like Alicent's 3 sex scenes, I feel like the showrunner is just taking advantage of Olivia/Ewan's popularity. Aemond has very few lines, does not interact with anyone in his family, and we hardly know what he thinks about the events taking place. He is removed from the narrative and we hear about how others think of him rather than knowing what he really thinks. Him becoming a villain left a bad taste in my mouth because of the way the writer stuffed it and forced us to swallow it instead of finding a way to build it up properly. It makes me, an Aemond and Ewan fan, feel sad for effort that Ewan has put in just to receive little screen time and bad writing for the character he cherishes so much. With Aegon, even though I'm not a fan, I found him very interesting right from season 1. And in this part, I think the writer has put in effort to compensate for what is considered to be worsening the character's image. Overall, Aegon in ss2 was received very well and he won the sympathy of the majority of viewers in the fandom. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, ss2 disappointed me a lot and I have very little hope for the second half of the season, but I still look for reviews in the fandom because it's still a highlight for me after every episode.

Good day/night!

The way Aemond has been treated this season is awful indeed. Of all the Green characters he suffered the most (maybe along with Alicent) from the writers attempts (regrettably, successful ones) to divide TG and deprive them of common purpose and pretty much any affection for each other. The scraps of the latter we got (for example, those between Aegon and Helaena) might have gone unnoticed altogether for the majority of the viewers if not for the actors' interviews (and I doubt that many of GA folks have watched those anyway).

It seems that the writers decided to make Aemond into a "lone wolf", so to say: a person who, due to some kind of mix between arrogance and grievances suffered in the past, feels like he doesn't need anyone in this life because 1) everyone he searched love and compassion from failed him, 2) he is utterly confident in his ability to handle every problem that may arise on his own. I personally don't like the concept of Aemond being isolated from his family - but the main issue here IMO is not even the idea itself but the execution. While I'm not a fan of the brothel part either, I believe that those scenes could have fitted into his arc better - if not for the sloppy and neglectful manner in which this arc has been built. Skipping the important bits of Aemond's story (like reaction of his family members to Luke's death), making him indifferent to the murder of Jaehaerys and depriving him of the scenes that could have connected the different points of his emotional and psychological journey (mainly of the scenes with other Greens) - all of it makes it difficult to perceive the different sides his character is supposed to have.

Ultimately, as I see it, both Aemond and Alicent are treated by the show as tools for presenting the audience with the story of Westerosi feminism: the former - to uphold the image of "cruel men", the latter - to paint the image of a victim (who is also kind of responsible for her own suffering at the hands of men because she chose the wrong side).

As for Aegon, he's been the luckiest out of the Green characters storywise - but it doesn't mean that I'm satisfied with the show version of him. Dumbing him down, using him as a way to show how callous and cruel other Greens (specifically Aemond and Alicent) are - that's not the treatment I wanted for one of my favourite characters. I would even go as far as saying that if the Aegon we have seen in the show so far was the only Aegon I knew (without me having any knowledge of either source material or Tom's interviews or participating in fandom) he wouldn't be one of my favourite characters as I simply would have very little interest in him. Once again, in comparison with other Greens he's doing really well, but I can't help but feel that Aegon - and Tom - are also being used to create a character the audience can pity and to have a good shot at the Emmy campaign. And as soon as HBO guys get what they want (or if they don't get it), Aegon might be thrown under the bus just as easily as it already happened to Aemond after he attracted lots of attention to season 1.

To sum it up, the main issue of HotD is that HBO doesn't care for the characters and for the story: it cares for the hype, viewing numbers, reviews and awards. And with this kind of attitude it's difficult to expect any significant improvements in the quality of the show.

[wolves0nmars]

american healthcare by penelope scott but make it leon s. kennedy.

verse 1, "when i was seven years old i saw a dead man in the road..." could relate to the early loss of his parents and leon's first experience with a police officer. plenty of children are exposed to violence at an early age, and leon is no exception. this experience desensitized him to violence and to cope with it he focused on the positive experience he had with that cop, and decided he wanted to be an officer in order to help people.

he helped claire, sherry, ashley, etc. there's actually kind of a pattern of him "saving" female characters and kind of affirming his own masculinity by doing so. this makes his interactions with ada and luis very interesting, the former of course being a woman that doesnt need his saving and the latter being a man that desperately needs his saving. but thats a conversation for another time.

and in the chorus of the song, "you corporate fucking prick, i did not become a doctor just to suck the devil's dick" relates to him a lot. because leon s kennedy sucks a lot of d---he has a lot of experiences with "corporate overlords", like simmons. but also this doesn't just apply to specific individuals. leon is in law enforcement because he wants to protect people. he was a police officer because he wanted to protect people, he is an agent because he wants to protect as many people around the world in the long run optimally in the most efficient way. but he consistently runs into the problem that his job as a police officer is not to protect people. its to protect private property. his job as an agent is not to protect people. its to protect corporate interests. he's in the wrong job.

i really hope we see leon be a firefighter or an emt some day. like, obviously hes a little old and definitely traumatized enough, but those are occupations where your job literally is just to help people, not keep corporate interests in mind.

and in verse 2 "I asked the right questions, i never even really got bored" relates to him really well too. leon quite easily slipped into his role as "right hand man", never wondering or asking just what exactly left hand was up to. because truthfully, he didn't want to know. he preferred the comfort that came with not knowing.

or in verse 3, "it trickled into both my ears, it got louder over the years, until all that i could hear were fuckin' flies" probably relates to leon the most out of any line from this song. it perfectly represents how incredibly corrupted leon has become. it's also worth mentioning how resident evil viruses do sometimes take the form of insects. you could kind of look at it like a direct parallel between government corruption and the viruses he's fighting. they're both equally parasitic, infectious, and harmful. i imagine sometimes leon just wishes he'd be infected finally, because it's better than this torturous process of corruption. in the pre chorus, she says "sometimes it's like they'd rather die" and i think sometimes it's like he'd rather die.

it's such a great song about american capitalism and how easily it can corrupt people's naive hopes and dreams of helping people. because leon s kennedy... has been corrupted. time and time again throughout the RE franchise we see commanding officers from private corporations, governments, law enforcement, etcetera being revealed as evil and every time... the main characters just kill the guy and get back to work. they never stop and consider... maybe it's not about just one guy. maybe its not about just this one individual that happened to be evil. maybe something made him evil... maybe something allowed him to be evil... and maybe its the exact same thing that i work for... or something like that idk lolllllll.

i really hope we see leon kind of "break the cycle" and have the kinds of realizations that are in this song because like... BITCH... that stupid little boy is lucky hes so pretty!!!

also im really sorry for derailing a song about a womans experience in academia and social services under capitalism and stuff to be about this white boy in the CIA... i hope this little analysis doesnt detract from the actual song. cause like... its a great song and we dont need to make it about leon stupid little bitch kennedy for it to be good.

[shslskaterboy]

Hey bestie tell me more about that phantom theives band au👀

(^is enabling again)

Oh my god Al. My best friend Al. I have so many thoughts this is gonna be such an essay I hope you’re Fuckin ready

No seriously this got so long it's basically the bones of a fic, but uh, I'm kind obsessed with it so here we are

First of all, it’s an aged up non-metaverse au, so everyone is like 23~ give or take. Akira, Ann, Yusuke, Haru, Makoto and human Morgana all met in university, Ryuji is childhood friends with Ann, and Futaba met the rest of them through her adoptive brother Akira, and Akechi is the ex-boyfriend that no one ever talks about.

The band consists of singer/front man Akira who does the song writing. He was one of those child prodigy musicians who primarily played piano and violin, but taught himself guitar despite his parents aversion to his favourite genre (which is emo-punk bc it’s not a true James hc without some MCR influence.) The first beginnings of the band were him and Futaba as teenagers since she also played the keyboard, but the Phantoms would not be a realized dream until he met the rest of them in uni.

He meets Morgana and Ann first, the former who can play guitar, and the latter who knows absolutely everyone. When Akira floats the idea of wanting to form a band, Ann is more than happy to rally up her friends Makoto, Haru, and Mishima to fill the spots of bass, second guitar, and drums. Things actually come together very well at first, they start simple with practices and small shows at Crossroads (Akira works nights there and Lala-chan is very supportive of his endeavours) and eventually they start to be able to handle more complex songs. Haru becomes truly incredible at absolutely shredding, Makoto is the pinnacle of sexy bass-player coolness, and Akira is more confident than ever in his songwriting. They even end up commissioning their friend Yusuke to make posters and design a logo for them (he would've done it for free since he was hanging out anyways, but they insisted on compensating him properly)

Unfortunately there is one person who is not very confident, and Mishima ends up quitting the band because he’s worried he’ll weigh them down, leaving them with a rather open gaping hole to fill. The Phantoms have become fairly well established at this point and are pretty popular among the other university students, leaving Akira very worried about finding an adequate replacement- and none of the people they audition seem to be able to keep up.

Luckily, Ann knows a guy.

Akira is hesitant because this guy apparently has no experience playing in a band and is totally self taught, but Ann swears up and down that he’s really good and “please Kira just give him a chance, what’s the worst that can happen?” And so he eventually caves and agrees to have the guy try out, assuming that it will end up in failure just like all the others.

Enter Ryuji Sakamoto to the chat. He’s loud, he’s energetic, he’s covered in tattoos and piercings, he’s arguably obnoxious, and Akira doesn’t want to be impressed but he absolutely is. Ryuji surpasses all his expectations and it drives him fucking crazy because he shouldn’t be this good and yet. And Yet.

So he begrudgingly agrees to have Ryuji join them for their next practice, and decides to throw all of their most complicated songs at him. Make or break. Sink or swim. Either way he’s determined to push Ryuji hard until he cracks and crumbles under the pressure, ultimately proving Akira correct.

What he does not account for is Ryuji’s incredible stubbornness and determination, pushing him to outlast and out-perform each and every time without fail, even in the face of the rather tense relationship building between them.

Or at least Ryuji thinks it's tense, but Akira is starting to crumble himself, and although he is loathe to admit it, their new drummer is growing on him.

Of course in this au Akira is autistic (bc again it wouldn't be a James hc otherwise) and communication is not his strong suit, so he expresses himself in the only way he knows how, which is music. He writes the songs himself and is usually the one choosing which ones they're going to play, and the ones he picks become gradually more emotional and personal to him in hopes that Ryuji is paying attention.

The culmination of this being when Ryuji overhears Makoto questioning his song choices, saying "but don't you think the new guy..." and assumes (understandably so) that they're still questioning his abilities to keep up. He confronts Akira about it, only to be told "you know I write these all myself right? So listen and maybe you'll learn something."

Ryuji ends up feeling awfully foolish when the song ends up being about deeply personal struggles, but Akira doesn't hold it against him- instead inviting him out for ramen after practice so they can have a real conversation that doesn't involve them bitching at each other. He apologizes for being so standoffish, and explains the autism that went undiagnosed for so long, and the fact that his parents kicked him out when he was 16 because they found out he was gay- which is what lead to Sojiro adopting him.

In turn, Ryuji tells him about his father and the Kamoshida incident (resolved in a non-metaverse way obv) and a new understanding is formed between them, which eventually paves the way to a budding friendship. They bond over shared taste in music, video games, anime, the works, and the band becomes stronger than ever.

And it isn't long before group hangouts become one-on-one hangouts. They'll get takeout and go back to Ryuji's apartment to play games- Ryuji always drives and always makes a point of opening the door for Akira- and each time they'll stay together a little later, and linger a little longer in the car before saying goodbye.

The rest of the gang is understandably intrigued by this turn of events, especially since Akira hasn't seriously shown interest in anyone since his big breakup, but Ann The Matchmaker is confident that she can give them both the push they need to take the leap. Ryuji is skeptical about her insistence that he absolutely 100% does have a shot with Akira, meanwhile Akira has come to terms with his feelings for Ryuji but does not know how to express them, so he does what any reasonable person would do: get everyone to go drinking and dancing so he can have a very convenient excuse to get very close. He even remembers to put the snake bites in for this one

(spoiler alert, his plan absolutely works and he does not wake up in his own bed the next day)

And then things are good because of course they are. They're the sun and moon, adhd/autism, they balance each other out, they respect each other, they bring out the best in one another, and for the first time in over a year Akira feels totally at ease.

But of course we have to have an obligatory "oops we ran into your ex-boyfriend in public and now he knows you have a new boyfriend and is being weird about it" scene, where Akechi susses out their relationship and proceeds to be a massive bitch about it. Of course all of it is ire directed at Ryuji and his general appearance/demeanor, which doesn't really bother him because fuck it, he managed to get through high school and is okay now, why would he care what some pompous twink has to say about him? Akira on the other hand is not having it, and Ryuji has to interject before they can have a full-on argument in public.

This run-in prompts Akira to actually talk about his relationship with Akechi- something that he had never done before- and in doing so can finally come to terms with how much it really affected him, and gain some semblance of closure. (Perhaps I will talk about the Akechi relationship in a different post so that this one doesn't end up being 800 miles long)

In the end, this is all a very long and elaborate pegoryu story that I haven't really thought of a proper end for, and was entirely inspired by me listening to music whilst walking my dog and going "ough but imagine emo Akira" which became "imagine emo Akira singing." That coupled with the fact that Ryuji is the most drummer ever, and I found myself with a recipe for a delightful daydream that became so wild the more scenes I imagined and wrote in my head.

Maybe one day I'll try and turn this into something, or at least just a collection of scenes ranging from fluff to angst to, uh, other, if I'm feeling really crazy about it, but yeah, long story short I am absolutely buckwild insane about them and I think about this a lot

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Did desmoulins had any kind of connection with robespierre after he was arrested and during his imprisonment? And danton also did robespierre had any contact with any of them during that time?

Bonus question:

Was desmoulins aware of what robespierre decided on his faith with his partner danton?

For Desmoulins and Robespierre meeting after the arrest of the former there exists one anecdote, and it first appeared in the memoirs of Charlotte Robespierre (1834). I would however declare myself sceptical regarding the authenticity of the story, mainly because it contradicts the confirmed actions of both Desmoulins and especially Robespierre around the same period. I’ve already talked about this at length here, so you can check that out if you want more details.

We have no evidence for Robespierre meeting Danton after the latter’s imprisonment. There does however exist a bunch of anecdotes regarding the two meeting in the weeks right before the arrest, I’ve already compiled all I could lay my hands on here. How many of them actually happened I will leave unsaid…

As for the question if Desmoulins was aware of the role Robespierre played in deciding his fate, that is pretty much confirmed by what he wrote to his wife on April 1, one day after the arrest:

If it was Pitt or Couburg who treated me so harchly, but my colleagues! But Robespierre, who has signed the order for my imprisonment!

I assume it’s most likely Camille was shown the arrest warrant by the guards who came to escort him to the Luxembourg prison and spotted Robespierre’s signature on it.

It would however appear like Camille was unaware of the extent Robespierre was actually involved in the affair. It’s unlikely he knew that Robespierre was the one who had prepared notes for Saint-Just to use for his indictment of the dantonists (I’m not actually sure if anyone outside the Committee of Public Safety knew of the existence of these notes until their publication in 1841). In fact, two pieces actually seem to suggest Camille undermined Robespierre’s involvement. The first is in a post scriptum note added to the first letter he wrote to his wife after his arrest, where he reported the following:

I’m writing to Robespierre, he will respond to you without a doubt.

The second clue is in Camille’s defence, written around the same time in his prison cell, where he attacks several members of the Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security but spares Robespierre from any, at one point even accusing David of being a false friend of the latter. Both these texts suggest Camille was still counting on Robespierre and perhaps hoping he could get him out the situation.

Lucile Desmoulins (who we might assume held the same view as her husband on the issue) too seems to have pictured Robespierre as having been forced into condemning Camille by his coworkers (Saint-Just in particular), rather than as the mastermind behind the operation. This is proven through an unfinished letter she wrote Robespierre somewhere between Camille’s arrest on March 31 and her own on April 4:

…As far from the insensibility of your Saint-Just as from his base jealousies, [Camille] recoiled in front if the idea of accusing a college comrade, a companion in arms. […] Robespierre, can you really complete the fatal projects which the vile souls that surround you no doubt have inspired you to? […] Had I been Saint-Just’s wife I would tell him this: the sake of Camille is yours, it’s the sake of all the friends of Robespierre! […] [Camille] was without a doubt slandered near you, Robespierre, for you cannot believe him guilty.

[miss-andromeda]

All's Fair in Love and Science

Chapter 8: ...But I Just Can't Prove It

~

A news report about a missing scientist prompts Andi and Donnie to investigate, but they end up uncovering a mystery regarding his colleague, a monkey, and a canister of mutagen - and ends up bringing them closer in the process.

~

And we're back with another chapter! Hope you enjoyed Andi's increased presence in the last one, she's finally coming into her own here! Special thanks as always to my dear friend @tinkabelle19 for her help, and thank you all for the continued encouragement and feedback!

And with that said, on with the show! 🩷

~

Another day brought forth another training session between Mikey and Donnie.

As the former kept performing forward folds and standing side stretches (all with a cocky smile on his face,) the latter was getting progressively more annoyed - until he kicked off the sparring session with a battle yell and approached. 

The moment Donnie tried to land a spinning back-kick, Mikey immediately leaped up to dodge, then avoided being pinned behind the back by Donnie with a flip to free his arm, then completely avoided being tossed over his elder brother's head and onto the ground by doing a perfect back flip. Once he landed, he laughed in victory as Donnie stood where he was, looking annoyed - not because Mikey outsmarted him, but because of his technique. 

"Dude, what are you doing? You don't defend against seoi nage with backflips." Donnie told him - that was not at all what Splinter had taught them, and like Leo, Donnie was always one to want to follow what they had been taught - regardless of how much it really affected the victor of the fight. It was the principle that mattered.

But Mikey, being the free spirit he was, disagreed. "Why not? Backflips are where it's at!" Clearly it was if he was able to outsmart Donnie with incredible ease.

Donnie still didn't understand the logic, though. "The best defense is to roll along my back, then take me to the ground and put me in an armlock." In typical Donnie fashion, though, he immediately started thinking of alternative methods to respond to such an attack. "Unless, of course, I counter with a-"

"Hey, man, you can't take the fire out of-" Interrupting his brother, Mikey yelled a battle cry as he backflipped again, before putting his hands to his face to emphasize the brilliant name he had just come up with...for himself. "-Dr. Flip-enstein!"

Giving him a bewildered look, Donnie shook his head at the absurdity. "I don't even know what that means." To be fair, no one really did understand what went through Mikey's head a lot of the time. He was about to go back to sparring when he saw Splinter emerge from his room - and immediately decided to clear up what was more effective in a fight. "Master Splinter, what would you do if someone tried to throw you with seoi nage?"

Splinter gave the most succinct answer possible: "I don't know."

Even more bewildered, Donnie continued to ask. "Come on, you must have planned for a response for every attack." How else would Splinter have become such a brilliant ninja and sensei?

This time, Splinter decided to give him a more thought-provoking answer. "If you think too much about what is coming, you lose sight of what is. You must be fully in the moment so you can fight without thinking."

But to Donnie, that sounded like he would be asking for disaster. "Why would I want to fight without thinking?" 

So Splinter decided to give him a perfect example of why. "Allow me to demonstrate. Prepare to defend against seoi nage!" Rather than toss Donnie over his shoulder, though, the rat used his tail to sweep him off his feet, then force him into an armlock on the ground with one foot on his shell. Easy victory once again.

"Ow! That wasn't seoi nage!" Donnie told him, feeling a hint of betrayal at being lied to. But the point was definitely there - even if Donnie didn't entirely grasp it right away. 

Splinter managed a small chuckle. "No, but you thought it would be." He simply explained, letting Donnie go so he could get to his feet. "Now, would you like to defend against a spinning back-kick?"

This time, the purple-masked turtle knew better. "No, I'm good." He replied in a strained voice as Splinter left him be. 

Once it was back to the two of them, Mikey decided to rub some salt in the wound with a little laugh as he walked over to Donnie. "You know what would've worked there?" And in true younger brother fashion, he exclaimed, "Backflip!" while also performing jazz hands - and Donnie groaned at both the pain and Mikey being a nuisance. 

This was going to be a long day.

~

After the utter humiliation that was sparring with Mikey, Donnie was back in the lab and drawing precise lines on a sheet of poster paper, connecting small pictures together as a flowchart. On the top in intense lettering wrote: 'Masterplan: HANG WITH ANDI (again).' 

"What'cha up to, Donnie?"

His concentration was broken as he let out a little yelp, noticing the sudden presence of Leo, Raph, and Mikey - who were surrounding him with knowing smiles on their faces. But he quickly regained his composure as he went back to drawing the lines. "Just putting the finishing touches on my master plan." 

"Master plan?" Raph asked incredulously, to which Donnie simply replied, "Yeah, to make sure that Andi and I hang out again."

All three boys laughed at that possibility - while Donnie ignored them and just continued drawing. They knew how much he liked her, but wasn't this a little bit extreme - even for him? They all knew that Andi would never say no to hanging out with him - so it must've just been his confidence that was waning when it came to her. 

Either that, or he was being his overly romantic (to the point of concerning) self when it came to her.

"Uh, try this. 'Andi, building Metalhead was fun last time. Do you want to hang out again?'" Leo told him, intentionally dumbing his voice to the most simple tone imaginable to prove his point. 

"Yeah, you see, it's not that simple. I have to prepare for every possible outcome to maximize my chances of success." Donnie explained, adding another line to the chart. He must've been up to...at least 100 at this point. 

"Aw, that's so romantic." Mikey smiled with his head now resting on his palm as he watched Donnie stand up and place the chart against the back of a poster display stand. Of course, there was a tinge of sarcasm, but there was genuinely a part of him that was rooting for this to work. He was arguably the most familiar with emotions (save for Donnie, of course,) and to see his elder brother be this head over heels for a girl was sweet...if a tiny bit weird. 

Grabbing a nearby wooden pointer, Donnie cleared his throat like he was...about to give a lecture. "Yeah, for instance. If Andi says she can't because she's working on a project, then I will suggest coming over to her apartment to help her out. Granted, her lab isn't as spacious as mine, but I'm sure it'd be able to house another scientist." He explained, pointing to a little picture of Andi with a beaker in her hand which then led to another picture of the two of them smiling at each other with goggles on their heads. 

"Well, what if she says she can't because you're somehow an even bigger nerd than her?" Raph asked, his bluntness adding a sense of humor, as well as a sense of realism, to the conversation. 

However, Donnie wasn't phased. "Ah, that's this thread here!" He added, moving to the other side of the chart. "I will suggest activities that don't require much intelligence and aren't perceived as nerdy, such as watching a movie together or listening to one of her favorite albums."

"Guys!" And speak of the devil, there she was with April. 

Immediately, Donnie yelped and frantically turned the stand around, showing an old poster of Space Heroes III: The Resurrection of Mindstrong - from the 1980s. "Uh, hey, girls." He tried to play it off as he leaned against the stand, thanking his lucky stars that Andi didn't see it. 

"You guys got to check this out." April told them as Andi opened her laptop (it was very clearly hers by the pink case and the stickers on it - ranging from Salem's Witches to the biology stickers April gave her for her birthday to Marie Curie quotes) and pulled up the video from the news site, then gestured for the boys to crowd around her as it played. 

"Renowned neurochemist Dr. Tyler Rockwell has been reported missing. I spoke with Rockwell's colleague, Dr. Victor Falco."

The video then cut to an aging man who, honestly, looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. It was likely that it was because of stress regarding what happened to Rockwell, or maybe he just always looked like that. "I hadn't heard from him in days, so I stopped by his lab. The place was a mess and he was gone. I..." He let out a deep sigh at the thought. "...fear the worst."

"Police say they have-" Before the report could continue, Andi closed her laptop, and when Raph asked, "So?", she gave him a serious look. "So, the Kraang have been kidnapping scientists all over the city!" 

"Including my dad." April chimed in, making Andi nod in agreement. "Exactly, maybe that's what happened to this Dr. Rockwell."

"Or they may not be connected at all." Leo theorized, making the girl hum in acknowledgment. "Possibility, but we should go to that lab and look around. See if we can find any hints."

Immediately, Donnie stood up from his spot next to her. "Andi's right, we should go check it out." He agreed, then put his hand to his ear. "What's that? You guys are busy? Guess the girls and I are going then." He then started to lead the girls out of the lab when April stopped them, hiding a smirk.

Time for a little bit of matchmaker.

"Actually, I can't go either. Something came up last minute with my aunt and...I just can't go." When Andi frowned at her in confusion, April smiled back. "Don't worry about me, you two should totally go! Three's a crowd anyway!" As she watched Andi shrug in acceptance, she winked at Donnie when he gave her a grateful smile and an 'I owe you' over his shoulder. 

"Now, get going already!" She then pushed them out of the lab, making Andi break her confusion and huff out a laugh as she stumbled out - but gave a little smile to Donnie as he helped to stabilize her.

Turning back to the trio, April smiled proudly at them. "It's called, 'I'm on a mission to get the two of them together because Donnie's in love with her, and Andi probably doesn't know it yet, but she likely is too.'"

Leo snickered at her insistence. "Maybe you should've worked on this flowchart with him." He commented, turning over the stand so April could look at it - which she did with a chuckle. "I'm not that-"

She was then cut off by a small picture showing Andi holding a magnifying glass and looking for clues like a bona fide detective...while Donnie followed her, almost like a lovesick puppy. "-okay, how he was able to predict a mystery happening is beyond me, because that is weird..."

~

Before the pair knew it, they had made it to Rockwell's lab. Noticing the locked door, Donnie hummed in slight confusion as he took out a small device with a computer chip sticking out of the top, and after a small procedure (mostly hitting a few buttons on the device and then holding it up to the lock,) the door swung open. He smiled at Andi proudly. "There isn't an electronic lock out there my digital lock pick can't crack."

Andi shared his smile. "Impressive. Teach me how to make one sometime?" She then chuckled when he slightly stammered in saying "absolutely," and walked inside the decrepit lab.

Immediately, her mood changed from playful to serious as Donnie joined her and she held up a flashlight to look around. The lab looked completely disheveled; test tubes were missing from the rack, papers were strewn everywhere, a ceiling panel was close to falling...it looked like either Rockwell had a nervous breakdown and disappeared or someone had kidnapped him and ransacked his lab, likely looking for his work to steal. Important notes, a prototype...something. 

It made a cold shiver go up Andi's back. 

And clearly, Donnie agreed when he said with a grimace, "Wow, this place is a wreck..."

Looking to the left, they came across a busted cage - with an open door and the bars, amazingly, holding on with how bent they were. Regardless, the sight made Andi scoff with disgust. "He must've been experimenting on animals." She assumed, shaking her head. "You know, that's the one thing I despise about being a scientist. Animal testing is, like, the norm. I'm not a vegetarian or anything like that, but come on, now, that's just...ugh, all kinds of wrong." She ranted.

She was about to go further when Donnie pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to the chair in front of them, making her eyes widen. It didn't even look like a chair, it looked like a type of medieval torture device for the poor soul that was to be used in one of Rockwell's experiments. "What...? Why would he need that?"

"Either someone was up to some secret research, or they were renting space to one freaky dentist..." Donnie remarked, making Andi manage the faintest of smiles at the absurdity of that comment. Whether that was intentional or not, it was enough to make her smile - which she enjoyed in a place as cold and creepy as this.

Walking a little further, they came across Rockwell's desk - and save for some disheveled papers, a pencil, and a landline phone, it was completely empty. Donnie was the one to make it first, and after examining one (which appeared to be lab notes,) he hummed and handed it to Andi, then let her read it over as he went to search the drawers. He couldn't help but smile as she talked to herself as she read, saying things like, "What?" or "This guy had some weird ideas in his mind..."

Meanwhile, the first drawer Donnie searched had nothing but typical lab equipment - a journal, some empty containers, (weirdly enough) a box of matches - well, maybe that was in case a Bunsen burner wasn't working or something, Donnie figured. 

The second drawer was more interesting. On the top layer, there was nothing - but a faint green glow pulsated underneath the cover Rockwell had seemingly put over it - and upon raising the cover, Donnie gasped in shock - which got Andi's attention and made her do the same as she frantically put the paper down. 

"He had mutagen too?" She asked as she carefully picked up the canister. "This guy keeps getting more and more fascinating..."

But then a cold chill went through the air, making her look up and nearly yelp in fear as she put down the mutagen. Someone behind Donnie...and it looked like he had a weapon. "Don, behind you!"

Right as the unknown figure went to strike, Donnie's bo staff blocked the attack and turned the tables (quite literally as he spun the figure around) so that he was pinning the attacker down. 

Thankfully, Andi had found a light switch and flicked it on - and who the attacker was made her eyes widen again. "Wha-Dr. Falco?"

Upon seeing who (or rather, what) had him pinned down, Falco let out a scream. "What are you?!" 

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." Donnie assured him - which was a major paradox to the fact that he still had the man pinned down. 

And something that Falco pointed out with, "You already hurt me!"

"I mean, anymore." Donnie quickly added as he finally got off him and gave a little smile to Andi as she helped the man up. 

"Apologies for the break-in, sir. We saw the news report and figured we would try and help in finding out any clues." She politely explained, then smiled herself when Falco let out a sigh of relief. 

Now they were getting somewhere.

~

After Falco had gotten situated in the nearby desk chair, Andi and Donnie had gone on to explain what had been going on - specifically about scientists going missing in the city in the past few weeks, including Kirby - and how they believed that Rockwell was another victim. After they finished, Falco sighed and shook his head, deeply regretful that he couldn't give them any information. "I'm sorry, I wish I knew something about your friend's father, but I don't."

Andi nodded in understanding as Donnie held up the mutagen canister. "So what can you tell us about this?" The latter asked. 

That question, Falco had an answer to. "Some shady corporate goon paid Rockwell a lot of money to experiment with it." He told them, making Donnie and Andi look at each other and the latter pull up a picture on her phone. If this was the case, then this was absolutely a clue into Rockwell's disappearance.

"Is this what he looked like?" She asked, holding up a picture of a Kraangdroid in its human form. And Falco nodded in agreement, simply saying, "That's him."

"The Kraang!" Donnie exclaimed, more in shock than ever. Maybe Rockwell was working with them all along...or maybe after he proved to no longer be useful to the Kraang, they eliminated him? Who was to say?

Immediately, Falco cleared something up - something he knew must have been going on both of their minds since Rockwell was a colleague of his. "Well, I wanted no part of that stuff. Who knows what kind of...monstrosities could result?" He then realized how wrong that sounded (as if Andi's frown didn't give it away) and looked at Donnie. "No offense." He added quickly.

"Some taken." Donnie admitted, making her jump back into the questioning. "Is that what was in that cage over there? One of his..." She struggled to find a word to use that wasn't offensive, until she finally settled on something that sounded...well, better. "...experiments?"That made Donnie let out a quiet 'eh' and mutter, "Better than 'monstrosities,' I guess."

Andi gave him a look like 'I'd like to see you do better,' then turned back to Falco as he continued speaking and was now looking at the busted cage. "That's where he kept the monkey he was experimenting on." His voice had taken a more solemn approach, like he was recalling the experiments Rockwell would perform.

When the pair looked at the cage with sympathy, Donnie frowned. "Whoa, it sure didn't like being locked up in there." Andi nodded her head in agreement with a sad sigh. "Who would be?"

That was only proven further when Falco added, "Rockwell didn't treat it very well." His voice became a bit more gravelly this time, full of sorrow. It seemed like he had regrets about not putting an end to it sooner - which made Andi look at him in sympathy before her eyes got wide and she snapped up to look at Donnie.

"I just thought of something. Maybe the Kraang didn't take Dr. Rockwell. Maybe the monkey was finally driven insane, broke out of the cage, and dragged him off to get its revenge. It's dark, but it's a possible lead." She told him, making him nod in understanding. "It's entirely possible, the question is, how do we follow up on it?"

"We'll figure that out in due time." Andi told him, then smiled at Falco as he stood up, getting ready to leave. "Thank you for the insight, sir. You've given us a fantastic start on how we're gonna find Dr. Rockwell."

Falco gave her a similar polite smile, reaching up to shake her hand. "Anytime, Miss...um, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." When Andi told him, he nodded and shook her hand firmly. "Anytime, Miss Rhodes. I wish you all the best in finding him."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Donnie slip something into his belt, making her momentarily confused, but avert her gaze back to Falco so as not to draw any attention towards him. She let go of the scientist's hand and smiled graciously at him before walking back over to Donnie. "Let's go, Don." She gave him a confident smile (which he reciprocated ever so slightly) as he walked her out of the lab, holding the door for her on the way out.

Mission...for the most part, accomplished.

~

As they cut through an alley, Andi's mind was still swimming with questions about Falco and Rockwell's disappearance. "So how do you suppose we're gonna find Rockwell without having any idea of where he could be?" She asked Donnie, who only smiled at her. "Well, maybe we'll know once we take a look at his flash drive."

Andi looked at him confusedly - completely oblivious to the ominous figure jumping across the rooftops like it was hunting for them - but then smiled back as she realized what he was talking about. "Is that what you grabbed while I was talking to him?"

Donnie proudly grinned, displaying the blue flash drive from his belt. "Indeed it is."

Andi nodded, clearly impressed with him. "First the lock-picking device and now this...am I becoming friends with a criminal?" She teased, making Donnie laugh and shake his head. 

"Not yet you're not. Though it is worth noting that keeping cool under pressure is one of the cornerstones of-"

He was interrupted by that shadowy figure leaping in front of them - and by the furious growl it emitted, it was not happy to see them.

Andi internally groaned (of course she didn't bring her laser gun when she actually needed it,) but her eyes widened when Donnie put his arm out in front of her to shield her and drew his bo staff, looking as stern as ever. "Don, be careful! You know how dangerous an animal can be - especially a mutated one?!" She told him, her tone panicked. 

But Donnie didn't look phased - instead, he glanced at her with a steely, dangerous look in his eye. "That makes two of us then. Get somewhere safe, now."

Her breath hitched at that, her face felt hot (and was probably bright pink,) and her stomach began fluttering - and she didn't realize she was staring until Donnie yelled for her to run, which made her snap out of it and run to the corner of the nearest wall. 

Once he was sure she was safe, Donnie started to swing the bo staff around (likely in an attempt to intimidate the monkey,) but it didn't work as the gigantic creature gave a strong kick to his abdomen and sent him flying (and skidding onto his knees) and dropping his staff in the process, which it grabbed and promptly tossed it aside.

Seeing him already bruised and scuffed up made Andi's eyes widen. "Don, let me help you, you can't take this on by yourself!" She protested - and was about to run to his side until Donnie gently pushed her back to the wall. "No, I can handle it, promise." He assured her (though his voice was strained from the damage he had taken,) making her shake her head in disapproval as he jumped back into the fray.

He tried to charge at the monkey, but the latter was faster, jumping onto a fire escape and then proceeding to avoid every attack Donnie tried to throw with skillful dodging. It was like...he could read exactly what moves Donnie was about to perform - and respond with a proper dodge. 

Even when Donnie tried to get a strike in with three of his ninja stars, the monkey was still completely untouched - though much angrier. Immediately, he hit Donnie with a flurry of punches, making said recipient yelp in pain as he tried to fight him off to no avail. 

And Andi was getting even more scared at this point. Glancing at him from the corner, her heart broke as he started to look even more battered and bruised. She was still more than willing to join him - but she knew exactly what his answer would be. 

And he knew that as he stood up weakly to look at her, trying to assure her that he was okay. "I was just figuring out his timing. He is going to regret-"

As if by some type of irony, he was hit with another punch in the abdomen from the monkey, followed by quite a bit more - as well as an uppercut to the chin, all while he was trying to convince Andi that everything was fine...even if it wasn't, obviously. "Ow! That-that too! Ow, and that! Got a lot of regrets, monkey!" Eventually, the monkey had had enough of what appeared to be Donnie's shenanigans and latched onto his face, before kicking him onto his shell. 

And when Donnie opened his eyes, his face melted into shock as the monkey leaped into the air, seemingly about to finish him off. 

~

Okay, now Andi needed to do something. 

The monkey was now on top of Donnie and hammering his fists into his head, all while the latter was trying fruitlessly to dodge it and yelling for it to stop. "Hey, come on! Ow!"

And suddenly, an idea hit her. 

She remembered reading about this both in school and on her own, and admittedly, had wanted to see if it was as effective as countless movie scenes had shown it to be. Though, that was against humans, not a gigantic, mutated monkey...

Well, couldn't hurt to try.

Taking a breath, she ran behind the monkey and pinched its neck, right below the chin - hard enough to stifle the blood flow to its brain, but not enough to cause any serious nerve damage. And sure enough, the monkey twitched for a moment, then became unconscious as Andi laid him on the ground.

"He should be awake in a few minutes." She mumbled, but her professional attitude wore off quickly and was replaced by fear as she ran over to Donnie, examining all of the damage on his body. She assumed he didn't break an arm or a foot, but he did have a lot of bruising and probably some type of head trauma. 

"How did you do that...?" He muttered weakly as she cradled his throbbing head. 

Andi held up her other hand, pinching her index finger and thumb together. "Just pinched the vagus nerve and temporarily stopped the blood flow to his brain. It should be effective for a few minutes." She then shook her head to end her rant as he lifted his arm pitifully, making her take his hand to ease some of the stress. "But enough about that. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad does it feel?"

On any other day, Donnie would've been smiling (and probably blushing) at how nurturing and doctor-like she was being. But of course, today was the day he got beaten to a pulp and utterly humiliated himself in front of the girl he was crushing on. 

Go figure.

"Er, probably a 9..." Donnie managed, letting out a groan as he tried to sit himself up. "Along with my pride, I think he ruptured some type of internal organ..."

Rolling her eyes fondly at the beginning, Andi helped him up (and was privy to the pained moan he let out.) "I'll treat you when we get back to the lair." She promised him, already starting to walk him back.

This was definitely going to be interesting to explain to the boys.

~

Finally, they were walking inside the lair, Andi still propping Donnie up as he now had an arm around her for extra support. "You're almost there, just a few more steps..." She whispered to him. "Then you can rest on the couch and I'll start treating these." She softly added. 

If he wasn't in even more pain from walking, he would've been giving her the sweetest smile he could muster for her doing this for him. 

Once Mikey caught a glimpse of the two of them, his eyes widened from fear as he gestured for Leo and Raph to follow him, with the red-masked turtle asking once they saw the pair, "Whoa, what happened?"

Andi sighed sadly as Donnie held his head, the intense pain making him think it was the work of an upcoming concussion. "Long story, but the concise version: Don suffered the blunt force of a lab monkey that must've escaped Rockwell's lab."

The trio exchanged concerned looks as Leo walked over to them, taking the stress off Andi by propping up Donnie himself. "Andi, can you get an ice pack?" He requested, and once Andi nodded and left for the kitchen, he walked Donnie over to the couch so he could rest - but not without the girl calling from the kitchen, "Make sure his legs are above his heart, it's important for the blood flow and reduces the risk of swelling!"

Leo did what she suggested, resting his younger brother's head on a throw pillow and grabbing the other pillow on the couch to rest his legs underneath. And once Donnie was resting as comfortably as possible (well, that wasn't easy considering how much pain he was in,) the leader asked, "Donnie, are you gonna be okay?"

Through his pained groans, Donnie managed out a, "Yeah...yeah, I'll be fine..."

"Then, in that case-"

Almost like it was confirmation, Leo, Raph, and Mikey started laughing - all while Donnie's eyes shrunk from embarrassment. Yes, it was humiliating, but did the others really need to rub it in his face about it?

Through his laughter, Raph decided to ask for confirmation of how absurd the story was. "Y-You got beaten up by a monkey? In front of your girlfriend?!"

Donnie managed a weak scowl at them. "She's not my girlfriend! And that monkey was a vicious mutant!" 

Still seeing the humor and absurdity of it all, the boys continued to laugh and joke about it. "Yeah, I'm sure he went bananas!" Leo joked, making all three of them laugh harder. "Oh, no, no, no! He went ape!"

That made Mikey fall onto his shell from laughter while Leo and Raph fell to soft belly laughter - which only stopped as Andi was walking out of the kitchen with an ice pack and a scowl at their behavior. At that, Raph made a 'cut it out' motion with his hand as Andi stared them down, with the red-masked turtle only adding, "No more monkey puns."

She first added another pillow underneath Donnie's legs, then rested his head on her lap as she placed the ice pack directly on his head - the same spot that Donnie was holding as they walked back to the lair. "Joke all you want, guys, but he saved me. If he weren't there, I wouldn't have made it back here alive." She told them seriously, not noticing the admiring smile the purple-masked turtle was giving her. 

Beautiful, attentive, and willing to stand up for him...it was moments like these that made Donnie remember why he had such a crush on her in the first place.

But of course, Mikey had to ruin it. "Yeah, but it's just funny that he saved you from a monkey!" He started to laugh again at the circumstances, and when she caught Leo and Raph snickering again, Andi huffed and rolled her eyes. Clearly, they weren't listening to her spiel if that was still what they retained from it. 

"You guys are idiots."

~

The next day found a newly recovered Donnie (though he was still in a bit of pain) kneeling in front of the wading pool - and lamenting over how badly he messed up when fighting the monkey. "I just don't get it. I mean, I'm a highly trained martial artist, how could I lose to something so mindless?" He muttered to himself, splashing the water that had shown his face. And in front of Andi, too...he felt like a gigantic failure, just like when Metalhead-er, rather, Engelberger, blew up in their faces.

Sensing his son's frustration, Splinter walked over to him. "You are very intelligent." He began, getting Donnie's attention and making him look up at him. "But in a fight, you cannot be up here." He emphasized, placing a finger on his temple to further his point. 

Now confused, Donnie stood up to face him. "But I just don't understand how you can fight without thinking." He said again, recalling the sparring match between him and Mikey that brought up this conversation in the first place. 

Speaking of Mikey, as he walked past them, listening to some music on some over-ear headphones and being in the zone, Splinter got an idea. "Observe."

As Mikey started to dance about to the music, he effortlessly dodged a punch from Splinter, then did a perfect back flip as Splinter tried to strike again and then stopped a final punch from occurring - all without removing the headphones. He was still too in the zone to notice Donnie's stunned stare at him. 

"You see?" Splinter rhetorically told him, gesturing to Mikey, who had since removed his headphones so he could hear what Splinter was saying. "Michelangelo does not think."

Still in the zone, Mikey dreamily replied with, "Thank you..." Splinter gave him an amused "you're welcome" before catching his son off guard by whipping his tail against Mikey's feet, sending him flying into the beanbag chair resting against the wall and his headphones landing next to him.

"You must find the space between your thoughts and learn to live there. That's what Michelangelo does." Splinter went back to advising Donnie, gesturing to his youngest son still lounging against the chair and slightly groaning in pain. 

But Donnie still took fault with that line of reasoning. "True, but Mikey's got a lot more space between his thoughts than I do."

As if to confirm Donnie's logic, when his hands were scouring the wall, Mikey cheered, "Ooh, pepperoni!" before proceeding to eat said topping...right after it had been on the wall for who knows how long. 

Gross. 

"Yes, well..." Splinter hesitantly agreed, but still found another way to make this a learning moment. "Michelangelo has his challenges too." 

And while it was true (if anything, Mikey had the opposite problem that Donnie had,) it still didn't entirely click with the resident genius.

Maybe if it happened in battle, he would understand. 

~

Later on, the girls were reading some of the notes from the flash drive on Andi's computer - and one of the pieces of text made their eyes widen and look at the boys. "Guys,  I think we just made a breakthrough!" April exclaimed, getting the attention of Leo and Mikey sparring and Donnie putting the final touches on a new invention.

When the trio gathered around them, Raph put his comic down as Andi typed in a few codes, prompting the notes to appear on her screen and scroll on their own. "These notes are a bit hard to follow, apparently Rockwell enjoyed writing his notes and then translating them to binary code, but from what I could translate, it looks like he was able to modify the mutagen." She then looked directly at Donnie. "Probably why we found that canister in his drawer."

"Why would he do that?" Leo asked, making Andi go back to her computer and bring up multiple images Rockwell had included in his notes, ranging from a syringe injecting a chemical into a man's head to said man's head emitting psychic rays.

April decided to fill in the gaps for her as the genius continued to translate more notes. "He thought he could use it to create a type of neurochemical that could temporarily give someone psychic abilities."

"You mean that monkey was psychic?" Raph asked as he went back to reading his comic, making Andi shake her head and stop translating notes - only to roll her eyes as she saw that Raph was likely not even paying attention. 

"Not really, more like he was reading our emotions. Chances are, if I came into contact with him, I may not have been killed, since I was more scared out of my wits. Meanwhile, Don was...for lack of a better word, hostile with him, so the monkey responded accordingly." Andi explained, managing a little smile when Donnie gave her a slightly deadpan look, clearly still bitter about being defeated. 

"Yeah, well, next time I'll be sure to think friendly thoughts when I'm beatin' a little sunshine into him." Donnie replied as he hit his fist against his open palm, making Andi snicker at the wording, before shaking her head and closing her laptop. 

"Okay, we need to track him down before he hurts someone else." Leo told them. "Let's go up the surface, spread out, and search."

But Raph had a legitimate question - and his comic had long since been abandoned. "How are we gonna stay in contact?"

"I have a little something that might help." Donnie proudly announced, standing up in front of his brothers and the girls. "Gentlemen, and ladies-" That earned curious looks and smiles from Andi and April. "-I give you, the tPhone!" He exclaimed, holding a shell-shaped cell phone with what looked like a normal touch screen on a smartphone. The buttons on the screen looked simple enough that the boys, who had next to no experience with modern technology like a smartphone (well, except for Donnie, obviously), could use it without question. 

It was brilliant. 

But there was one small complaint that Mikey had with the tPhone. "Dude, I'm in charge of namin' stuff! I would've called it-" He then waved his hand for dramatic effect, a proud smile on his face. "-the tPhone."

Donnie gave him a confused look as he glanced at the phone. "I did call it the tPhone."

"Yeah, but I would've called it the tPhone..." Mikey mumbled, his tone becoming more despondent at the feeling of his idea being "stolen" from him. However, he was immediately stopped from moping when Raph hit him across the head, making him let out an "ow!"

"And girls," Donnie walked up to them with a bright smile, holding out the phone in front of him. "If you give me your cell numbers, I can patch you guys into our network?" He offered, making Andi give him a curious smirk as she took the phone first. 

"As long as you don't track my history, hack my files or corrupt my data, professor, we're good to go." She teased as she put her name and number into the phone, completely oblivious to the scarlet hue that was now on Donnie's face at the new name and the knowing smile April was giving him.

"U-Uh, wouldn't dream of it."

Andi's smirk melted into a smile as she handed the phone to April. "Glad to hear that." She then realized something as the latter handed the phone back to Donnie. "Oh, wait, um...I've got to get my gun from my apartment. Can I start my search from there?"

April smiled at the idea. "I'll go with you. Don't want you going alone with a gigantic monkey on the loose." She offered, making Andi smile back at her and nod. 

As the girls got up to leave, they didn't notice Donnie bragging to Raph in a whisper, "See that? I got her number!"

But Raph shook his head at the absurdity - and decided to rain on his parade on top of it. "Her number's on the fridge, you dork - hers and April's."

And as Donnie scowled at him, his eyes told him one thing: It was the principle that mattered.

~

Now they were all scanning the streets - the boys perched on rooftops and keeping watch like hawks while the girls walked along the sidewalks, currently on Bleecker Avenue.

Andi's laser gun was hidden under her dress, strapped to her thigh by a garter belt - the last thing she wanted was for the police to spot her with a weapon and arrest her for illegally carrying. She and April were holding their phones to use as walkie-talkies with the boys, just in case any of them heard any chatter - or better yet, saw the monkey themselves. 

And while the latter wasn't the case, they did overhear a middle-aged man muttering to himself as he walked home with grocery bags, "Can't believe it, a monkey! Must've escaped from the zoo or somethin'...they really ought to get on that, 'cause if that's what our tax dollars are goin' towards..."

The girls shared a shocked look as Andi held her phone up, her light pink case with roses on full display. "Guys! Someone just spotted the monkey on Bleecker!" She spoke into it, immediately getting a response from Raph. 

"I think I'm on his trail, shortcake."

Before she could respond to the nickname, he leaped into action, jumping onto an adjacent rooftop with a flip. He then ran to the edge to get a better look and hummed in satisfaction. "I got eyes on him." He spoke into the makeshift walkie-talkie on the tPhone. "He's headed south on Delancey."

"I'm on Houston, I'll cut him off!" Donnie responded, and after rolling his eyes at Andi's quip of "let's avoid another incident, Don," he crossed rooftops in hopes of keeping up with the monkey - but when he got to the last one on the block, he stared in confusion at the empty street. "Where'd he go?"

He didn't notice the monkey hiding behind the corner store on the next block over, before changing direction and running down Eastman. Which, thankfully, caught Leo's attention. "He changed direction." He reported into the walkie-talkie - then remembered that Mikey had perched himself on the next street, Brigham. "Mikey, the monkey is headed your way!"

It was a relief that he made that call, because Mikey was in the middle of playing Meteoroids and was completely distracted - until Leo got his attention. And upon seeing the monkey run past him, he jumped into action. "I'm on it!" He grabbed his skateboard and threw it onto the empty street, before jumping on it and chasing the monkey. He swung his kusarigama chain, but it proved fruitless as the monkey quickly changed direction, causing it to latch onto a nearby lamppost.

Which, in turn, caused Mikey to scream and crash headfirst into it.

Seeing Mikey effectively taken out of the game made Raph spring back into action. Crossing a final roof, he jumped down from the fire escape and chased after the monkey, doing the same thing he did; jumping over walls and following the same path he did.

Eventually, Leo caught on to the monkey's path, following Raph's idea of jumping off the fire escape and running onto the street to join with his red-masked brother. 

Meanwhile, Mikey was gliding along casually on his skateboard, running into the monkey with a "whoa!" and an irritated "watch it!"

But then he remembered what their mission was and skated after him, skating across the patio of a building and grinding on the railing - before meeting up with his brothers and the girls while the monkey was gone.

"Anybody see where he went?" Leo asked in a confused tone, to which Donnie replied while gesturing to the left, "I thought he headed in that direction."

Raph immediately disagreed with, "I thought it was that way!" He said this as he pointed to the right - the exact opposite as Donnie.

That prompted the trio to break into an argument, while Mikey started trying to get the monkey's attention like it was a lost pet. "Here, monkey, monkey, monkey!"

Andi shook her head in exasperation, but stopped when April nudged her shoulder and started walking to the south, to a lone dumpster that had been making some weird rustling sounds, like...

Like there was a creature inside. 

That made Andi follow her, getting her gun from under her dress just in case of an emergency. She did not want to go through what she went through with Donnie before...

But then again, if a monkey that could read emotions and respond accordingly saw that she had a laser gun...well, things would probably go worse than what happened with Donnie. 

Better safe than sorry though.

Opening the dumpster lid, April peeked inside, then stared in shock as there was the monkey, curled up in the fetal position and frantically hooting, clearly scared out of his wits. "Andi, look!" She whispered, and when her best friend saw the heartbreaking scene, she put her gun away and stared down in sympathy. "Poor thing...let's get him out of there."

April agreed, giving the scared creature a reassuring smile as she offered him a hand out of the dumpster.

The monkey was clearly hesitant at first, but when he saw the look of kindness in April's cerulean eyes and Andi's comforting whisper of "It's okay, you can trust us, we're not gonna hurt you," he caved. Taking April's hand, he stepped out of the dumpster and stared at the two girls, almost like he wanted to thank them for being so kind to him. 

Until Mikey's kusarigama chain came flying in from out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the monkey, making April gasp in shock and Andi yelp, before glaring at the youngest turtle. "We were making progress, you guys!" She yelled at them. 

As if to reflect her anger (and to express his own,) the monkey started to thrash and howl in anger again, fighting against the chain in a desperate attempt to break free. 

"Gotcha that time." Mikey smiled in satisfaction, completely ignoring the annoyed look on Andi's face at being interrupted and prompting the monkey to lash out again.

"Great, we got the monkey. But we're still not any closer to finding Dr. Rockwell." Raph commented as the girls started to move closer to him, in an attempt to calm him down. When he yelled in both pain and rage, showing his razor-like teeth, both girls flinched (with Andi even reaching for her gun again,) but stopped when the monkey's eyes sunk back into place and he calmed down. 

Something wasn't right, and they could tell. 

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" Andi whispered to her, and when April nodded in agreement, she continued to look into the monkey's now dilated pupils. "Actually, we're a lot closer than you think." The redhead remarked to answer Raph's earlier comment.

"What? How?" Donnie asked, now more confused than ever. 

Andi sighed to herself as she lightly brushed the top of the monkey's head in a bid to soothe him further. "This monkey is Dr. Rockwell." She suggested sadly. "He must've been...mutated somehow."

And when the monkey didn't struggle or give any kind of protest, she knew she was on the right track.

This just opened a whole new can of worms.

~

Instead of letting Rockwell roam the streets, they decided to take him to the safest place they could think of - Falco's lab. 

Strapped down, Rockwell thrashed about and tried to escape from his bonds, until Falco injected him with a sedative. At that, his pupils became dilated again and his eyes drooped shut, until he was peacefully sleeping in the chair. 

"There." Falco breathed a sigh of relief as he discarded the used needle, then moved to stand behind the sleeping monkey. "That should calm him down a little. Poor Rockwell." He mused, shaking his head in sadness. 

"Is there any way to get him back to normal, sir?" Andi asked with concern. "Any type of serum or...or retro-mutagen?"

Falco sighed again, this time with disappointment, as he shook his head. "Unfortunately, Miss Rhodes, I wouldn't even know where to begin."

That made Andi frown. If Falco was Rockwell's colleague and the latter had been able to modify the mutagen so effortlessly, surely they would be able to come up with at least ideas of how to turn someone back into a human after coming into contact with mutagen?

As if he was sensing her confusion, Falco immediately followed up on his previous comment. "But I'll see if I can give him some semblance of a normal life."

"But, sir, why not start researching a possible solution instead of leaving Rockwell like this?" Andi asked with confusion. "I mean, you're a brilliant scientist, surely you can come up with a solution for your-" 

She was promptly interrupted by Falco giving her an icy stare - the same stare her mother used to give her - making her look down in submission. "I'm well aware of what I'm doing, Miss Rhodes. I understand you're a scientist yourself, so I would appreciate it if you respected what I choose to do."

"Yes, sir." Andi mumbled to herself, making April put a comforting hand on her back. When Falco seemed pleased with her answer and turned back around, her head shot back up as she realized something. 

"I understand you're a scientist yourself."

'How did he know I was a scientist?' She mouthed to Donnie, her eyes wide.

~

Now they were back in the lair, waiting for Raph to return with dinner. Leo was searching for plates, April was sitting on a stool quietly, Donnie and Andi were reviewing more of Rockwell's notes, and Mikey was the only source of noise as he continued playing Meteoroids on his tPhone. "Man, this asteroid field is tough! I just can't beat it!"

Thankfully, Raph provided some news as he walked in, holding a pizza box like the stereotypical pizza guy would. "Pizza's here!"

Surprisingly enough, that didn't strike the youngest's attention as expected. He must've been so engrossed in his game to not notice Leo taking two slices of pizza and putting them on plates, before handing one to April (making her smile in gratitude) and taking the other for himself.

But the scent got to him immediately, and his brain started to shout one thing: 'EAT PIZZA.' And considering he wasn't the most strong-willed turtle of the bunch, he was so tempted to eat all of it...but he really wanted to finish the level. "Must eat pizza, but can't stop playing, but must eat pizza, but can't stop playing, but must eat pizza!" It was the ultimate stalemate for him; pause the level and eat a slice? Or wait to finish the level and likely have the pie be gone before he could even eat?

Wait...he could do both at the same time!

And he did, slamming his face in the pie and eating a slice without putting down his tPhone. It would've been impressive if it wasn't so gross.

As they watched the charade incredulously, Leo decided to address something that had to have been on April's mind. "Sorry we couldn't get any closer to finding your dad, April."

"It's okay." April assured him, putting a hand up to tell him he didn't need to apologize. "Everything we learn about the Kraang is another step of the puzzle."

"Yeah, but psychic research?" Leo rhetorically asked, putting a hand to his chin to think. "This is one weird puzzle."

"I'm curious, April." Splinter interjected, holding a plate with a slice for himself. "How did you and Andromeda know that the monkey was really a human?"

That made April smile to herself as she glanced over at Andi - too lost in thought to acknowledge her. "Well, Andi's smart, so she must've noticed something with his anatomy - like how his eyes dilated when he calmed down, like a normal person-" She then realized how wrong that sounded. "-er, or mutant does." When it came to her, she let out a little puff of air and shook her head. "As for me, well...I don't really know. Sometimes I just get a feeling about things."

"A feeling?" Splinter asked, his interest now piqued as he began to walk away. "Interesting." He started to get an idea about something...something that could help her hone in on that "feeling" she was talking about - and maybe even learn what it was. 

As the duo went back to eating, Leo glanced over at Andi and Donnie - they still hadn't eaten, their noses buried in files ever since they had come back from bringing Rockwell to Falco. "Uh, Donnie, Andi? Why aren't you guys eating?"

Andi only shook her head as she finished reading the contents of a document. "Uh, I'm good, Leo."

"Same here, I'm not hungry." Donnie quickly replied. "Something's been bothering me. Falco said Rockwell was experimenting on a monkey." 

Andi nodded, backing him up. "And he said that he wasn't kind to it, that's why there was a busted-up cage in there."

"And?" Leo asked, not entirely understanding where the pair was coming from. 

"Well, according to these notes, he never had a monkey in his lab. He was using samples of monkey DNA."

"We're still not following you." Leo admitted.

"If he never had a monkey, what broke out of that cage?" Donnie asked in response, making Andi gasp as the realization hit her. 

But Raph beat her to it. "Must've been Rockwell!"

And Donnie decided to deliver the realization in full. "Which means Falco put him there and he's been lying this whole time!"

Now Andi was starting to get mad - if there was one thing she hated, it was being deceived. "That no-good, lying son of a-"

But then she realized something else - something she had been wondering ever since they had gotten back to the lair. "Which also means that the psychic powers Rockwell was trying to create...Falco must've stolen them! That's how he knew I was a scientist!"   

~

The weather must've seen exactly what was happening, as now there was a heavy storm and even some thunder and lightning.

A still-unconscious Rockwell had been startled awake by Falco injecting yet another serum into his head, making him thrash and roar in pain and fury at his supposed friend and colleague. As he continued to resist, Falco brushed off the mutant's clear pain with a sadistic smile. "Oh, stop struggling, Tyler. You were always so dramatic."

Rockwell's pain was finally ended as Falco removed the needle, staring at the mutagen-laced blood with a delighted grin. If this worked like he thought it would...

After he injected it into his neck, his eyes became bloodshot as he laughed like a classic mad scientist. He had done it! He was officially psychic, no one could step to him if he knew their every move! 

Well, the boys opted to challenge that assumption with Leo yelling, "Alright, Falco! We've had enough of your-"

As if he knew what his older brother would say, Raph immediately cut him off with, "Do not say 'monkeying around.'" 

Leo immediately replied with, "I wasn't going to." But Falco decided to show off his newfound psychic abilities by smartly replying, "Yes, you were."

Donnie quietly gasped to himself at that - just what Andi had predicted. But as he stepped into view, the anger (and admittedly, disgust for Falco's practices) boiled to the surface. "It's over, Falco! We know it was you who mutated Rockwell! All just to steal his psychic serum!"

Falco gave them a smirk. So they figured it out after all. "I used him as a guinea pig." He casually explained, giving a side-eye to the unmoving and unconscious Rockwell.

But Mikey didn't necessarily pick up on the metaphor Falco had used - and took it literally. "Well, it didn't work! You turned him into a monkey." That earned him a side-eye from both Donnie and Leo. 

Falco ignored the blatant error, deciding to spell out his plan - once again, like a mad scientist. "The psychic neurochemical I extracted from his mutant brain is changing me. Your minds are opening up to me!"

Donnie glared daggers at him. "That's why you shut Andi down before - you knew what she was thinking and was starting to suspect you. She was right, wasn't she? That you wanted the chemical for yourself?"

The crazed man only sneered at him. "Andromeda Rhodes is smarter than I gave her credit for. But if only to humor you, I'll confirm it - of course. After all, no man can defeat you when you know his every thought."

Raph decided to challenge that assertion. "Oh, really? Then you must know I'm gonna smack-"

But Falco only replied with, "-smack the white off my lab coat?" He then laughed arrogantly and shook his head at the threat. "How humorous."

As Leo and Donnie only looked more intense and Mikey was staring in awe at Raph at how effortlessly Falco knew that, Raph growled. "Lucky guess!" He then jumped into battle, charging at Falco with a fierce battle cry.

Immediately, Falco started to play dirty - his psychic abilities activated, and he could see everything Raph was about to do. Charge him, then perform a spinning back-kick. 

'Child's play,' he thought as he effortlessly dodged the attack, his cocky smirk still on full display.

"What?" Raph asked, now more confused than ever. So not only could he read their thoughts perfectly...he could predict what they were about to hit him with? How unfair was that?

Falco only continued to taunt him, making a 'come hither' motion with his finger - daring Raph to try again.

And the latter did, trying different attacks this time; a smaller spinning back-kick, followed by a set of punches, and all leading up to an intense glare as Raph still hadn't managed to get any hits on him. 

This was starting to get ridiculous.

And Falco knew that as he chuckled with an arrogant overtone and tutted at how simple Raph's attacks were. That only fueled the red-masked turtle further as he tried another back-kick, but once again, Falco dodged with ease.

But this time, he had a plan. He grabbed Raph's sai from his belt and hit him with the butt of it directly in the forehead, sending the turtle onto the floor in mere seconds. He then followed it up with a strong kick to the abdomen, sending Raph bouncing across the floor and colliding with Mikey and Donnie, sending the pair onto the floor as well.

Thankfully, Leo jumped into the fray, but the 'shing' of his katana caught Falco's attention - right as the eldest was about to land a hit, Falco dodged easily - and did the same as Leo swung the katana fervently, desperately trying to get any kind of attack on him.

Still recovering from getting knocked onto the floor, Mikey caught a glimpse of Leo and Falco fighting - or rather, Leo trying to fight and Falco avoiding every attack. "Whoa! It's like he's psychic!" He commented as Donnie stood from the floor, holding his head to ease some of the pain. He still wasn't entirely over the concussion yet - so his head was still more sensitive than usual.

But hearing Mikey's absurd comment made him side-eye his little brother again. "He is psychic, shell-brain! Andi suspected he was, and he just confirmed it!"

"Oh, yeah." Mikey sheepishly laughed. "I kinda tuned out when he did his whole 'I'm evil, blah blah blah' thing." He explained, exaggerated facial expressions included when he described what he retained from Falco's reveal. "And uh, wasn't really listening when Andi started thinkin' he was a bad dude." That only earned him an eye roll from Donnie at the charade.

Meanwhile, Leo was still failing at getting any attacks on Falco - no matter what he tried, the man just always managed to dodge it, and all with that same arrogant look on his face. Until finally, he decided to play dirty again - he used Raph's sai to block a swing from Leo's katana, then easily swung the pair of swords towards Donnie and Mikey, who leaped out of the way to avoid being impaled. Helpless, Leo was met with Falco hitting him the same way Raph was hit - the butt of his katana got him in the forehead. 

This was not going well. 

"How are we gonna defeat him if he can read our minds?" Donnie asked. They were essentially between a rock and a hard place - either fight him and end up like Raph and Leo, or surrender and let him walk free - potentially allowing him to hurt Andi as well.

Thankfully, it seemed like Mikey had a solid solution. "No prob, I'm good at this! I just have to fight without thinking." But in a true ironic twist, he inherited Donnie's issue - overthinking. "Wait a minute...how do I fight without thinking?!" Then he started to panic. "Oh no! Now I'm thinking about not thinking!"

But his tirade was short-lived as Falco hit him in the head with the butt of Raph's sai, bringing him to the ground as well.

Now it was just Donnie.

Still holding Raph's sai, Falco started to walk towards him intimidatingly. "A man who can read minds is unstoppable. Once I dispose of you and Andromeda, no one will be able to stand in my way."

At the threat towards Andi, Donnie's eyes got steely and cold again as he unsheathed his bo staff. "We'll see about that." He merely replied, before charging just like Raph did. 

But unfortunately, Falco played dirty again - his psychic skill emerging as he could see Donnie's every move. He would swing the staff a bit, jump and strike - so he only needed to dodge to the left to avoid it completely. When he saw that the turtle would try and follow up with more strikes, he only moved to the right and then dodged downward - still as unphased and cool as ever.

Then he tossed Raph's sai towards Donnie, who swatted it aside and continued to stare the man down - before jabbing the staff towards him. 

But Falco saw it as a golden opportunity, grabbing it and using it to swing Donnie directly into the wall, making him land on the ground and groan in pain. 

Believing that he was victorious, Falco decided to taunt Donnie - though instead of with gestures, he chose words. "I really must admire that complex brain of yours, you come up with so many ideas." He then chortled to himself. "Too bad I can see them all coming." He then decided to rub salt in the wound a bit more by adding, "By the way, I find your hopes of Andromeda actually reciprocating your feelings laughable. You do realize she only sees you as a friend, right?"

That got him another glare from Donnie - though not as intense as when he threatened her life earlier.

But then he started to focus. He squeezed his eyes shut and whispered to himself, "I can do this. Just have to fight without thinking. No thinking, no thinking..."

He imagined all of his attacks leaving his body and mind and proving fruitless against Falco, making him laugh as he could see them all coming.

But that confidence faded when Donnie only whispered, "Don't think. Just do."

And following that logic, he charged - mirroring Falco's smug smile. 

The man was, admittedly, caught off guard by that, and desperately tried to see through Donnie and see what he would do. 

But it didn't work.

Donnie kept running towards him and eventually started attacking. A high spinning back-kick that slammed Falco into the wall, followed by a light kick to the kneecaps that tripped the mad scientist up. Then a strong uppercut to the jaw, a strong side-kick to the back (that would probably cause some type of spinal damage) that made Falco collide with a nearby desk, then a graceful backflip when Falco tried to strike. 

Mikey was going to have a field day with that.

Landing on the wall, Donnie gave the final blow; spinning his body like a torpedo, he delivered a flurry of punches with such quick succession that Falco was completely powerless - and caused him to end up unconscious and stuck in a vent, his psychic powers failing him as he groaned.

He had failed.

As Donnie breathed a sigh of relief and put his staff away, Raph decided to give credit where credit was due. "Wow, Donnie, nice work!"

But as predicted, Mikey decided to bring up the elephant in the room as he held a canister of mutagen. "What'd I tell you about those backflips, huh? Pretty cool!"

Donnie rolled his eyes at that, but decided to focus on the bigger picture. "Now that we've got the ooze, let's see what Falco knows about the Kraang." He suggested - but when they looked at the vent, they gasped.

He was gone.

But rather than go searching for him, they glanced over to see Rockwell conscious and struggling, his eyes begging them to let him go. "What do we do about him?" Mikey asked, a concerned look in his eye. 

Donnie decided to oblige the request, though, loosening the restraints on Rockwell's wrists enough so that he could slip out of them with no issue. And immediately, Rockwel leaped for the window, but turned around to look at them, a calm and humane look in his eye. 

The same look he gave Andi and April for helping him out of the dumpster.

And Donnie picked up on that as he started to smile a bit. "I'm no psychic, but I think he's trying to thank us."

Rockwell let out a little hoot (like it was agreement to what he assumed,) before leaping out of the window, running free into the New York night.

But Raph noticed the massive issue in allowing him to roam free. "Uh, if he reacts to angry thoughts, is New York City really the best place for him?" He had a point there; considering they had lived in the city for their entire lives, they were no strangers to an angry New York citizen. Heck, they had seen Andi angry when she found out Falco had been lying to them. 

Not to mention Donnie had gotten beaten up to a pulp with how hostile he was beforehand, even if he was protecting Andi.

And the red-masked turtle's point was proven even further as a car horn was heard, followed by the angry voice of a man. "Hey, monkey! Get outta the-"

But his tirade was interrupted by what sounded like Rockwell committing hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars worth of property damage (as well as at least one car accident) and panicked screaming from both the man and other patrons.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Leo gave his brothers a forced, awkward smile. "Uh, I'm sure he'll be okay."

But the look in all of their eyes said that they had to book it back to the sewers, before someone had a heart attack from seeing both a rampaging monkey and four mutant turtles.

Ah, well. All in a day's work, they supposed?

~

Now that the boys were home safe and sound, Splinter opted to call the girls into the dojo. And once the pair were seated comfortably, Splinter directed his attention to April first.

"April, it seems that you have a rare gift. A sensitivity that I have trained my entire life to develop." 

Andi's eyes widened at that. But...it made sense. For as long as they were friends, April had always had "feelings" about...well, anything. She tended to assume that April just had better intuition than her, which balanced out her tendency to overthink and be avoidant. She was the brain, April was the impulse. 

To hear that it was a gift, though...it made complete sense.

When she looked at April, the latter looked sympathetic rather than surprised. "Don't worry, you'll get it."

Andi smiled at the rare moment of naivety, while Splinter didn't look amused. "I did, it just took me a long time."

Another naïve moment from April as she replied, "That's nothing to be ashamed of."

That made Andi shake her head and turn to face April. "April, the point is, you have an amazing gift. You can sense things that not a lot of other people can do without intense training."

Splinter nodded, admittedly grateful that she was here to guide the conversation back to where he wanted it to go. "Indeed. And what I am trying to say is that I would like to train you to be a Kunoichi, a female ninja."

That made Andi gasp and start to smile, while April's eyes widened this time and a gleam shone in her eye. "Wow, that's quite an honor!" The latter commented, than thought of something. "If I do this, does that mean I can kick everybody's butt?" The gleam was replaced by a determined sharpness and her fist was now clenched - and while it was meant to make her look intimidating, it only made Andi giggle to herself. "Focus, O'Neil." She commented.

Splinter subtly agreed with her. "We don't believe in using our abilities that way." He sternly told her, making April turn sheepish.

"Oh, oh, yeah! Me neither!" She hastily replied, but the gleam came back as she smiled to herself. "But I could, right?"

That made Splinter finally chuckle. "Yes." He confirmed, but his stoic demeanor came back immediately. "But I warn you, it will be the hardest thing you have ever done. It will drain you mentally, physically and spiritually."

But April's carefree smile came back. "Well, it can't be worse than high school." She commented, making Andi affectionately roll her eyes and watch as her best friend went to leave the dojo. 

Right as she was about to follow, though, Splinter called her back to sit down, making her do so almost hastily.

"I would like to train you as well, Andromeda. You're very intelligent, and you have the spirit and determination that a Kunoichi would need."

Andi's breath hitched at that, but her mind started to weigh her options. Being a Kunoichi would be challenging, but it couldn't be as bad as what her past entailed.

She had gone through the wringer before; growing up feeling isolated and not being like other kids, losing her dad, her mom basically abandoning her...

If she wanted to, she could do it.

But the issue was, she didn't really want to. 

"I'm sorry, Master Splinter, but I'll have to decline that offer." At his surprised face, she decided to explain herself. "Science is my true talent, and it's my passion. For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a scientist, and, frankly, I don't want to lose that dream because I decided to start training to become a Kunoichi. You said it yourself, it would drain me in more ways than one. If I started training to be a Kunoichi, I would stray from what I've wanted to do for so long now. And in good conscience, I can't do that."

Splinter hummed in disappointment, but he couldn't blame her. It was her decision at the end of the day, and he wasn't about to coerce her. "I understand. The offer is always available, should you change your mind."

Andi smiled softly at his assurance and bowed her head in appreciation. "Thank you, Master Splinter."

~

When she left the dojo, she was immediately met by April, who asked what Splinter wanted to talk to her about. When Andi told her the conversation and that she didn't take up the opportunity (and why,) the redhead hummed in understanding. 

"All right, all right. But you're gonna need to patch me up if I get hurt." She joked, making Andi snicker and nod in agreement. "Duly noted." She then remembered something. "Oh, hey, you want to-"

But before she could, Donnie interrupted her, standing against the doorway leading into the lab. "Hey, Andi, you wanna hang out tomorrow night?" 

And when she looked at him, her smile turned apologetic. "I'd love to, Don, but I can't. I've got to help April with her trig homework." She explained, gesturing to the named girl. 

But to Andi's surprise, April was smirking at the two of them and shaking her head. "What are you talking about? We have the whole weekend to get it done, we'll do it on Sunday! You two spend some time together and hang out."

Before Andi could ask any questions, she winked at Donnie (who was giving her the most appreciative look) and walked off, leaving the two of them alone. 

"O...kay, then?" Andi asked more than said, then found herself smiling at the purple-masked turtle. "I guess I'm all yours then."

Donnie's smile turned into a grin as he nodded excitedly. "It doesn't have to be anything major. We can just hang out in the lab, have some snacks, goof around..." He then got an idea that he knew she would like. "And maybe you can introduce me to that band you and April like? Salem's-"

"Salem's Witches? Of course!" Now Andi was grinning like he was. "I'll bring over my computer and play you my favorite album!"

He tried his hardest not to stare at how cute she was as he nodded again. "Sure, sounds good." He agreed, his smile becoming more calm and relaxed. He then watched as she walked away with an excited glint in her eye, his smile becoming more dorky again. 

"Yes!" He cheered to himself in a whisper. It wasn't a date or anything, but he just made plans to hang out with his crush - alone! No brothers to annoy them, no Kraang threat, no Foot Clan threat, nothing.

Just him and Andi.

He sighed dreamily at the thought as he turned around to walk into the lab, but was startled out of his daze by bumping into the flowchart that he had nearby in case he screwed up talking to her. At seeing it, though, he smiled to himself as he took it off the stand. 

"Maybe I don't need this stupid thing after all." He mumbled to himself as he rolled it up and carried it into the lab with him. 

He wasn't going to burn it or throw it away (he had spent way too much time creating it,) but who knows? Maybe he would need it in the future.

But right now, it wasn't necessary. 

Right now, he was going to focus on the now - and the now included the satisfaction of knowing that he could actually talk to Andi and make plans with her without coming off like a total idiot.

And for him, that was a complete and utter win.

~

Want to be tagged for future chapters or updates - or when I feel like being silly? Just let me know 🩷

@tinkabelle19 @android-cap-007 @kikithedreamerwriter @happymoonangel @raphsmuneca @eveandtheturtles @jasminarts01 @thelaundrybitch

[bionicle-ramblings]

... My damn mind is running wild, and I blame that dream I had

THERE IS DARK FIC POTENTIAL WE ARE SLEEPING ON

And that potential comes in the form of Roodaka

She has mutated Toa, she is able to manipulate people, she's in control of the Visorak Horde, and, in my opinion, she's terrifying

And her plan in Web of Shadows involves Vakama, who has Hordika venom in his system and is easily manipulated

Imagine, for a moment, if Roodaka didn't really want Vakama as a Hordika, but rather wanted the Toa himself, wanted to use him to replace Sidorak as leader of the Visorak, to divide the Toa Metru further, and get revenge for Teridax all in one fail swoop

So rather than get all the Toa at once, Roodaka has the Horde break the Toa apart, maybe separate them into three "groups," three together, two together, and one alone, but the Metru divide into Whenua, Nokama, and Nuju, Vakama and Onewa, and Matau on his own, and have to wait for the team to reconvene to try something else

Either the visorak separate the team by ambushing them in combat or they simply decide to just paralyze them all and save Vakama for last because they need to bring him only. If the latter happens, as the horde swarms, Nokama asks Vakama what they do now, but no answer, not even even the Visorak grab Vakama rather than wrapping him in webbing(Roodaka wants him as a Toa). There is still panic, but that bleeds into despiar and Vakama is deagged away, unable to do anything accept shout for his team to save the Matoran and to apologize to them for everything while he has the chance. The former sees the Toa having to fight and run for their lives, being driven in separate directions as they're chased through the destroyed city, some funding refuge and safety behind buidlings, others only making it out because the Visorak succeeded in their hunt. Vakama has neither happen, as he's chased and above ground and then below ground as he falls into the archives and back above as he has to climb away from the Visorak, but finds himself at either a cliff or a dead end and surrounded by Visorak. The capture happens more or less the same, only he's completely alone and the other Toa find each other and realize that Vakama and the Visorak are gone, and all of them realize that they'd fallen for a trap and they'd lost one more friend because of it

Is this capture a little awkward in both cases? Admittedly yes, it is, and in my mind, I can see Sidorak also arguing that Vakama's capture should be followed by his death or mutation, remembering the last Toa who tried to join up amd ended up becoming an insectpid thing for it, but Roodaka convinces him against it; They have the Matoran and the Toa's leader, which means the Toa probably will be on their way to rescue their friend, where the Visorak will be waiting for them

Sidorak agrees and Vakama isn't mutated or killed, but put in a cell instead, though he has been more or less knocked unconscious because the paralysis from the rhotuka spinner wore off and he started to give them trouble

I'm probably going to come back to this, maybe write more on it, but for now this is what I've got. Hope you enjoyed!

[this-is-getting-silly]

I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m not a professional critic or reviewer, and these are just my subjective opinions. There’s no need to get upset that someone on the internet has a different opinion than you.

Now, with that out of the way- I THINK WORM SUCKS

Okay just kidding. It’s good, I like it a lot… but for the most part, I like it despite its protagonist, rather than because of her. And not just because I think the story contorts itself around her in a frustrating way, although it very much does do that. It’s just that, at the end of the day, I don’t think there’s much about her that makes for an interesting viewpoint character.

At the end of the day, what actually motivates Taylor? She starts off wanting to ‘be a hero,’ but gives up on that pretty quickly, yet never really commits to ‘being a villain’ either. It’s not saving the world, either, that’s just basic self-preservation. Her real motivation is simple- protecting her friends, and having them continue to like her. She continues being a villain explicitly for the latter reason (once Coil is dead and Dinah is free there’s no real reason for her to remain a villain other than that), and does most of what she does in service of the former.

Self-preservation and the desire to protect one’s friends are fine primary motivations for a main character… in the right context. For the former, we need only look at Blake from Pact, whose life is in constant danger through pretty much the entire book, so he never gets the chance to develop any goals beyond ‘stay alive,’ and instrumental to that, ‘get stronger.’ That’s fine- it would be weird if Blake was really preoccupied with some other goal considering all that’s happening to him during the events of that story.

Likewise, in the latter case, you have Sylvester from Twig, whose desire to protect his friends is important because their lives are considered expendable, so wanting to protect them motivates him to act proactively and pursue other goals. He even extends his definition of ‘friends’ to basically all experiments, which eventually pushes him to take on the entire Academy and Crown, because he’s got a problem with what they do to his fellow experiments and him. That’s a great motivation for a character! (Twig is the best thing Wildbow has ever written and I hope it never gets a sequel.)

On the other hand, Taylor wanting to protect her friends is a much weaker motivation, because they are almost never in any danger that they didn’t put themselves in. I can’t really cheer for her beating up on Protectorate heroes to save her pals because they chose to take over an entire city. That’s on them. Of course, Taylor is incapable of not perceiving it as unjust persecution, because she has a literal victim complex, and rightfully so, she was a victim for a long time, but not for most of the events of the story itself.

So when it comes down to it, her motivation is basically ‘me and my friends should be able to do whatever we want, and get to kill anybody who tries to stop us.’ Which isn’t an especially compelling motivation from an outside perspective! If she was really driven to be the best parahuman criminal in the city, and supplanting Coil as a crime lord was her plan all along, that would at least be interesting, but she just kind of gets dragged along into everything, and then retroactively justifies it in her mind by deciding the people opposing her are ‘bullies.’

As a consequence of this, Taylor doesn’t really stand for anything, either. She does plenty, but in many ways she’s still basically a passive protagonist, going in whichever direction the flow of the narrative takes her. It just so happens that the narrative flows very quickly, so she never ends up spinning her wheels too long (badly mixing metaphors there, I know), but if things weren’t constantly happening for her to respond to, Taylor really wouldn’t end up doing much on her own.

So- we’ve established why I think Taylor makes for a weak protagonist. Let’s take a look at who I think would make for a compelling replacement.

Number one with a bullet, it’s your boy Theo. I’ve touched on this recently elsewhere, but I want to make a more comprehensive pitch for him now. You might say ‘but isn’t Theo also largely reactive and motivated by self-preservation?’ To a degree, yeah- most of what he does in the story is motivated by not wanting to get killed by Jack Slash. But even if you take Jack out of his story completely, he would still have a more interesting motivation than Taylor. The heroic scion (heh) of a villainous legacy trying to atone for his parents’ misdeeds is a way more interesting story than whatever she has going on. The thing with Jack is just a cherry on top.

(Atonement is a great character motivation in general, which is part of why Rain would have been a far superior protagonist for Ward than Victoria, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.)

Obviously you’d have to rework the story somewhat significantly to make him work as the protagonist, but I think it’s doable. If you wanted to keep things as much the same as possible, you’d probably start with Theo already in the Chicago Wards, and tell the story of how he got there in recurring flashbacks. Taylor could also still be in the story, I actually kind of think she’d work better as a supporting character (as long as you got rid of some of the truly ridiculous shit she did like killing Alexandria). Seeing her training Theo from his perspective would be very interesting, since canon Worm skips pretty much all that stuff.

Next pick: Weld. You might think you’re detecting a theme here, but not so much, actually. Weld’s story is more about him becoming disillusioned with the Protectorate, and even with being a hero in general. But unlike Taylor, who gives up on being a hero roughly three chapters into Worm, that would be a slow arc, starting with him as a true believer, who over the course of the entire story loses his faith and quits to found his own team. It’s worth noting too that the Irregulars weren’t just an independent hero team, but mercenaries, which suggests Weld has soured on the ‘hero’ thing overall.

Plus, Weld has a very solid motivation- finding out who the hell turned him into a Case 53. That’s an actual goal he could pursue over the course of a story and get closure for! We could see his relationship with Sveta actually develop, watch him try to manage the internal tensions of the Irregulars, and go up against Cauldron, which Taylor only really interacts with incidentally until the very end of the story.

Third choice: Faultline. We know a lot less about her than any of the others I’ve named so far- her interlude is so unmemorable I actually forgot it existed before writing this. We never learn her actual name (I’d keep ‘Miss Fitts’ because I like the pun but modern wildbow is a joyless monster so he’d probably change it) or even her trigger event, but I still think she’d make a solid choice. Clearly Wildbow agrees because she was the protagonist in an earlier draft of the story.

Much like Weld, she has a strong motivation in wanting to track down Cauldron, and I think the cast of characters surrounding her is more interesting than the Irregulars, and arguably even the Undersiders themselves.

My next choice is gonna be controversial, but… Armsmaster. Yeah, he starts out as an antagonistic force in Worm, but only because Taylor perceives literally every authority figure in existence as her enemy. His actual story is really compelling, not least because I firmly believe he was framed for the armband thing. That interpretation isn’t canon, but the facts fit, and I think it makes Worm a hundred times more interesting, so I choose to believe it.

So you have a kind of autistic, extremely driven but also somewhat self-involved hero, who gets framed for something he didn’t do, loses everything, and has all the people whose respect he was hoping to earn turn on him. And he comes back from that! Tell me that isn’t a more interesting story than Taylor, who never meaningfully loses a fight or has anything taken from her.

Bonuses for him include: getting to see him fight Leviathan one on one from his perspective, getting a better look at the inner workings of the Protectorate and Guild, giving his relationship with Dragon more development, and seeing a Tinker actually do some tinkering, which is something we’ve basically been completely denied across two books.

And finally, we have the wildcard option: someone else entirely. There are vast swathes of Worm’s world left entirely unexplored, and I’m sure there are plenty of more interesting protagonists hiding somewhere in them. People with more interesting powers, histories, and motivations than the protagonist we actually got. Or Victoria. Goddamn do I wish we got someone other than Victoria for Ward. Rain was right fucking there, hoW DO YOU FUCK THAT UP AAAA

okay that’s it, post over, thanks for reading. bye

[princess-of-the-corner]

Okay but LITERALLY.

Evolution singlehandedly sold me on the Rabbit after I'd been VERY against the time travel aspect from the beginning.

It turns out I really just didn't like Adult!Bunnix. Something about her just feels wrong to me. She doesn't feel like Alix.

I also didn't like the fact that "there's still a hawk moth in the future"

So I'd decided to change the Rabbit entirely.

But then Evolution re-sold me on the idea of Time Travel and I had such high hopes going forward and then everything just kept getting weaker and weaker until next time I watch I know it's all gonna go to hell.

Oh yeah like.

/Personally/ I don't think that ML is a show that would utilize the 'there is only one Timeline being continuously retconned by Time Travelers' thing well. It works a bit better with the branching Timelines type. But that's more personal preference rather than a criticism.

That said, the whole Future!Bunnyx thing did bother me specifically for the 'they're still fighting Hawkmoth at least a decade in the Future'. Because THAT made the whole show and it's conflict feel so useless. Why does it matter if they're never going to make any progress in ten goddamn years? Even if it's a new person as Hawkmoth, they haven't moved a bit.

Evolution was a fun episode utilizing the Time Travel, kinda retroactively making Fu's decision to choose Mari and Adrien make sense(as much as it can in Time Nonsense), and had some great character moments for both Gabriel and Nathalie, the former showing how far he's fallen from 'cool motive still murder' to 'i have a petty grudge that I will compromise my more noble goal for', and the latter calling him the fuck out and having standards. Then they also utilized the present Alix and set up what I thought we'd get more of: letting the other characters shine as Heroes.

It was a great episode and I wish that the rest of the season kept that energy.

[bllsbailey]

MSNBC Hosts Slack Off From 'Journalism' Duties During Fox News' Trump Town Hall, Repeating a Tired Smear

On Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump had hoped to be facing off against Kamala Harris during a 2024 presidential debate hosted by Fox News. But Joe Biden's taciturn vice president was a no-show, much like she's been over the past nearly four years of his administration, instead of doing the job she was hired to by the American people.

I previously wrote about Trump letting everyone know that Kamala had bravely run away (sincere apologies to "Monty Python") from the challenge of facing him on FNC, the final night of the Democrat National Convention. He said in a Truth Social post, in part:

Comrade Kamala Harris has just informed us that she will NOT do the FoxNews Debate on September 4th. I am not surprised by this development because I feel that she knows it is very difficult, at best, for her to defend her record setting Flip-Flopping on absolutely everything she once believed in....

Trump being Trump, he went ahead and took part in a broadcast event anyway...but in a town hall format, hosted by Fox's Sean Hannity:

Rather than the debate on September 4th, I have agreed to do a Tele-Town Hall, anchored by Sean Hannity, for Fox. It will take place in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

Read related:

NEW: Trump Drops an Update on the Presidential Debate Schedule As Biden Ends DNC Speech

Unlike what we'll experience on Sept. 10, the only debate the Democrat campaign has agreed to (with a stipulation of no audience members), the town hall boasted an engaged and enthusiastic audience. That wasn't the kind of news a rival network wanted to report.

Read more: 

Trump Town Hall: Trump Says Kamala 'Wants to Be Politically Correct' in Dealing with Hamas, Global Terror

In Town Hall, Trump Calls Out Kamala's Embarrassing Interview Sham

MSNBC host Alex Wagner brought in fellow host Lawrence O'Donnell as a correspondent, for what might be one of the laziest acts of "journalism" you'll see this election cycle. The latter, after an unfunny, self-deprecating joke by Wagner, essentially admitted he decided not to do his job of reporting on an event by a major party's presidential nominee. Wait until you hear his ridiculous excuse:

O'Donnell said that he had wasted an hour of his life, then dug into a tired and truly uninspired smear about Donald Trump--that he can do nothing but ramble incoherently during any public event. The Democrats concocted this smear, possibly in reaction to the very real videos and reports about Biden's odd behavior and embarrassing gaffes during his current tenure in the White House. 

But he wasn't finished yet with his creative non-reporting; O'Donnell created a curious narrative that the Fox News town hall was a total flop, and the audience members were left unsatisfied because they weren't able to ask questions.

If you tuned in tonight (or read our coverage of it), you know better than to be fooled by these, well, fools who act as cogs in the Democrats' political machinery.

'You Have No Choice!' Trump Tells Pennsylvania Voters They Can't Afford a Harris Presidency

Genuine question, readers: Do these people seem upset to you?

Once again, Wagner and her comrade, like the rest of the dishonest legacy media, expect their gullible audience members to "just take our word for it, bro." That's all they can lean on, at this point.

Besides showing what MSNBC's employees are all about, this exposes the Democrats for who they really are--empty suits and cowards. As my colleague Nick Arama wrote back in early August, when Harris officially rejected the debate with what would be--for her--an unfriendly network...it says a lot more about her than anything either Hannity or Trump said tonight. It truly speaks volumes about how unfit she is to ever sit behind the Resolute Desk.

[ofgods]

   ❝  YOU GOT A POINT THERE, BUT only because you've got more reach and gravity would've happily done the dirty work for me.  ❞   while it's never something she thought about during their relationship ( or didn't have the perspective of, rather ), the idea that he can be marked by her mistakes is a concept that doesn't sit well with her now for reasons she can't quite articulate. perhaps it's the guilt. or the fear. or the weight of all that's unresolved between them. maybe it's a combination of the three, but still she continues to hold onto the stubborn hope that this will be only a speed bump in the grand scheme of their story, so her smile doesn't falter.   ❝  wait, really? top five? wow, you always did know how to make a girl feel special.  ❞   a statement that's mostly true because the reality is that he's good at making everyone feel special. all without any effort because it's simply who he is. she wonders if everyone knows how lucky they are that they get to exist at the same time he does. she doesn't bother to acknowledge his comment, for no reason other than because there's a stark difference between his lack of forethought verses her selfishness; mainly in the hurt left behind. she feels a sudden burst of pride at his words, her agreeance spoken as a matter of fact because she can't be convinced otherwise,   ❝  we make the best team.  ❞   they have since day one.

   truthfully, it's something that often caught her of guard in the earlier days of their relationship, the way everything felt so easy. even during the more trying times that happen in relationships. it was as if the clouds in her chest suddenly parted, her heart whispering where have you been? i've been waiting for you. shocking to her because she had already been convinced that happiness, especially of that magnitude, was never going to be in the cards for her because it wasn't meant for her. now that she's back in town, she finds herself asking a similar question, but deep down she knows it's not true. there's just no way a love like theirs could be found twice. not unless they find it with each other again. floating back to their conversation, she attempts a peek at the subject of her affection only to be caught off guard by the warmth she finds looking back at her. it comforts her, almost makes her... sleepy? she can't remember the last time she's knocked out for longer than an hour. well, that's not right, is it? of course she does. she remembers because he was beside her. her face glows softly, lips curved in a honeyed smile that belongs to him alone. her words adopt a mirroring tone,   ❝  i'll be there, marcus. i promise.  ❞   she knows the statement is weightless, but come hell or high water, she'll show up. the small moments are just as important as the bigger ones, sometimes even more so given how easy it can be to wash them away with excuses. she offers laughter of her own,   ❝  i have no doubt you'll notice me. i mean, when have i ever been able to stop myself from waving like a madwoman at you when i stopped by before?  ❞   it didn't matter how busy he was, she made it a point to catch his attention with an overly excited two handed wave tucked to her chest as if meant to be a secret before blowing him a kiss once she caught his attention. sure, the latter of her routine may not happen at her next visit, but she doesn't doubt the former will. after she's paid for her own stuff, of course.

   her attention shifts to the floor when she notices the shift in his smile, fingers tucking into the back pockets of her jeans.   ❝  i appreciate the warning,  ❞   she says once her gaze is brought back,   ❝  but i'll be here when you call. regardless of the when or why, i'll still be here. it doesn't even need to be in the evening nor does it need to be a call. you can't sleep and decide you wanna meet up for three a.m. waffles instead? shoot me the location, i'll be there. even if it's a year from now.  ❞   not that she thinks that much time would truly pass, but after being gone eight months herself, it'd only be fair if she waited. plus, she wants to wait.   ❝  anyway!  ❞   she brings her hands together in a clap, looking around the shop with a silent thank you to the universe that their time still hasn't been interrupted by another customer.   ❝  i hope i haven't wasted too much of your time or kept you from something important. would you like to start working on that bouquet you came for originally? it was a just because sort of one, right?  ❞

More easy laughter came from Marcus as he stayed with the memory a little longer. "I think I was doomed to get cake batter on me no matter what." Even if she hadn't gotten it on him, he was sure he'd manage to make a small mess on himself as he helped her clean it up. "Not that I'm complaining. I'd probably put that up somewhere in my top five birthdays." As far as he was concerned, the hiccups and imperfections just made it all the more special. He studied her with a thoughtful expression, "Sometimes. I can't let you take all the credit though. I'm sure we could find plenty of times where I was the one making a huge mess." It wasn't uncommon for him to find himself in some odd problem by doing the opposite and not thinking something through before doing it. "Regardless of who makes the mess, we do make a pretty good team when it comes to figuring it out and cleaning it up." Maybe it would've been a little more appropriate to use the past tense, but it didn't feel right.

There was a small voice in the back of his mind trying to shout at him to not get his hopes up for anything in regards to the two of them so he could avoid any further heartache. He was already ignoring it, but it was further drowned out by her sweet words. The only response he could give was a kind smile and loving look in his eyes that was useless to try to hide. He knew if he spoke up, how much he missed her and how he still had feelings for her would spill out, and while he intended on letting her know both of those things, they were probably best saved for another time. Then again, maybe it didn't matter because his next words surely gave part of that away. "I wouldn't mind seeing you there. In fact, it'd probably help the day from all blurring together if you did show up." It was unlikely that he would have much time to do much more than acknowledge that she was there, but still. He found himself laughing again, "I'd like to think I'd still notice you sneaking in, but on the off chance things are so busy that I wouldn't be able to, I promise to let you support me so I don't miss when you stop by." He held up his free hand before doing a cross motion over his heart.

While his smile remained as the conversation shifted, it did become slightly weaker. He thought coming back and providing him with any sort of explanation or closure on the matter was thanks worthy, even if she was the reason it was necessary. Still, he didn't press the matter and instead turned his attention to the business card she gave to him. In truth, there were a few times when he considered deleting her number all for the sake of making a fruitless attempt to move on. Similarly to any other attempts he may have made to do so, he didn't follow through with it. It was a daunting task in general, trying to move on, especially when he was so certain that there'd never be anyone quite like her in his life again.

"Dinner sounds great." He spoke, nodding along and pulling his mind back to the present. It felt like a fairly safe option as he couldn't imagine the conversation going so horribly that he'd be desperate to dash for an exit. He took a moment to think over his schedule in detail this time before continuing, "It might be a couple days just with how busy things are with people graduating and whatnot around now, but I'll definitely call you." The reassurance was tacked on so she wouldn't be under the impression he was blowing her off if time got away from him.

[cerastes]

I think my least favorite take, opinion, whatever you want to call it, is “why did Arknights not say the Inquisition was bad?”. It applies to any event, really, replace Inquisition with whatever the Authority Figure Organization is involved, and hell, I even agree with the sentiment sometimes, Arknights’ not flawless, but for the most part: You need to read better. You are playing the Game That Doesn’t Say Things Explicitly. It tends not to say things explicitly, turns out.

It kind of bugs me opening my inbox and seeing something to the effect of “I’m uncomfortable about Irene because she’s technically a cop, why is she not Condemned for it?” First of all, shame on your for wanting all of the art you peruse instantly moralized, to the point it needs to somehow involved a shovelful of The Opinion, served explicitly, at the drop of a hat. That aside, the Inquisition is not put on a good light to say the least, so even then the point is moot. Irene’s journey is very much seeing with her own eyes that “the Inquisition raised me, I respect and love the people I’ve met in it, as they do me, and the dogma surrounding the Inquisition is an important brick in the temple that is my life” necessarily is something that exists alongside “the Inquisition does in fact leave the imperiled to be doomed, and sees human life more as numbers and resources than human lives, the dogma is built, necessarily, on oppression of others as a means of fostering order and morale, and I’ve benefited directly from this privilege”, and that she has to make a decision. High Inquisitor Dario, her mentor and foster father, tells her as much: “Once you see things with your eyes, you have to make a decision”. Irene does in fact make her decision, leaving the Inquisition and the mentorship of The Highest Of Inquisitors, Saint Carmen himself, who was going to take her in and basically assure her a seat as a High Inquisitor in the future, because she found the latter realization to weight more than the former. In her own words, Irene decided to step away from this, because if she remained in the Inquisition, she’d only forever perpetuate the oppression on the Aegir, among other things.

Now, there’s definitely more to say about the Inquisition of Iberia, but I’m focusing on Irene here: Do you think it’d make sense for her to just suddenly have a moment of clarity, in the middle of all that fighting and struggling to stay alive, say “I’m antifa now, actually” and discard everything that has been her life until that moment just like that? If you do think so, I hope you don’t write anything soon. Your desire for catharsis is not unimportant, but the narrative shouldn’t have to accommodate for it in the most neckbreak way possible, and if you do need it to do that, then read something else, there are reads and games like that elsewhere (for example, Tales of the Abyss has the main character do an absolute 180 from one moment to another after a specific event in its story), but also do show some respect for the fact that Irene, in a way that resembles what anyone who just had her entire world view challenged not once, but twice (Under Tides and Stultifera Navis) would act, allows herself some time apart from the tension of the Big Happenings of the event, actually digest the paradigm shift, the loss of someone important to her, what to do with all the new information she has and what the experiences have taught her, and grow out from there organically. 

What I’m trying to say is that I’d rather have less “conclusive” overdone neckbreak moments of “you know what? Fuck this! Fuck you!” and maybe let the characters in any given narrative seep and stew into what happened and what happens from there on. Take, for example, Full Metal Alchemist, in which certain important characters have a real moment of “Hey... Are we... The bad guys?” that shapes the events of an entire, important part of the story long term, slowly, with the gravitas it deserves.

[dontwritemeoff]

Damon's birthday!

a lil something something for our dear assassin/spy/bastard's birthday! (07/17)

TW: none ? I'm writing this on mobile so there will prob be some typos I'm sorry, it's easy and I'm lazy

DAMON

Damon certainly wasn't going to tell you about his birthday himself. It's nothing to do with embarrassment, if people want to celebrate him, be his guest! He just didn't see anything to celebrate about himself. So rather than make a big deal out of it, he'd mentally add another year to the tally and get on with his life.

So when you get a com message from an unknown number you're suspicious, but then relieved when the sender identifies themself as Alisa. You're not sure how she even got your com number, since you certainly didn't have time to give it to her on Cursa, but you decide not to dwell on it since her network of Intel was simply too big to wrap your head around.

"Hello little prince (ess), I'm assuming lover boy didn't give you much personal information about himself, right?"

You look past the most likely not well meaning nickname and take pause at the meat of her message. You didn't exactly want to learn something important about Damon without him telling you, but you also trusted that Alisa would never breach his privacy in a way that truly would hurt him. In reality, her first priority was to make sure you didn't hurt him.

"Hi, Alisa! :) You'd be right about that."

You respond, hoping that matching her formal-ish tone would be the right move.

"Then I find it important I let you know that his birthday is a week from today. The 17th."

You process the message for a moment. While on the surface this seemed like something trivial to message you about out of the blue, but upon deeper reflection you realized that her reaching out about it means that she thinks you're someone special to Damon, and that she trusts you enough to give you emotional power. Not to mention a new way to get in touch with her. You can't imagine many people have a direct com line to the leader of the Crimson Dusk.

"Oh! That's so soon! Thank you for telling me!"

When she simply responds with a 👍 you set your com down and get to work thinking on how you can make the day meaningful for Damon without overwhelming him, and how in the world you'll even get him to sit still long enough to appreciate it.

For the latter problem, you felt confident enough in Damon's growing soft spot for you to be able to at least convince him to cuddle in your room for a moment. With the former....you had to do more digging.

~

The morning of Damon's birthday comes and goes and he thinks that he'll make it through another quiet birthday when you approach him in the hallway, your face lighting up upon seeing him.

"Damon! Do you have a moment?"

His lips curl in a devilish smirk, "Well, honey," the pet name being said with both enough playfulness and affection that you can't discern whether he's teasing you or not, "with me you might need more than a minute. I am known for my...stamina."

You give him an unimpressive look, despite the heating of your face, and attempt to move on.

"Very clever, but really, it would mean a lot to me if you'd give me some of your time today. I know you're busy on babysitting duty and sharpening your knives or what have you, but I've missed you lately."

While the last point was to get him to go to your room with minimal suspicion, it wasn't exactly a lie either. The distance between Chrono and Tilaarin wasn't too big but it was still long enough to have the crew on edge. Everyone was keeping themselves busy just to keep from speculation and anxiety. What you were grateful for, however, was that Alisa had gotten her message to you before your pit-stop on Chrono and thus you had time to scope out a small gift for Damon.

He huffs exaggeratedly, but there's a small smile on his face.

"I think I can spare some time. For you."

You smile so widely at him your eyes crinkle to small slits, and you gently take his hand and lead him to your room. Upon entry nothing looks particularly off, and Damon thinks to himself that maybe this wasn't a birthday thing and he really would have another unremarkable birthday. Well, not really unremarkable, because he had you and your presence now, which was a huge improvement to any birthday prior. But he also has it every other day too, which he feels grateful for every day.

Yet, his eyes follow your hands as they reach for a small box on your desk. It's not even wrapped, just a box to open up, but you hold it up to him with a shy smile and he stares at it like it's made of pure Kitalphanite.

"Happy birthday, Damon!" You say cheerfully, yet fully gauging his facial expressions for any signs of annoyance or discomfort.

"Why?" is the only thing that he can think to say. He doesn't mean to sound ungrateful, but he also genuinely doesn't understand how you know and why you'd get him anything at all. He still doesn't really understand why you're even pursuing a relationship with him, why you'd forgiven him in the first place.

"Um, it's a birthday present, silly!" You say, still taken slightly aback by being questioned on your intentions.

"I-[YN], I know that, just because I didn't go to school doesn't mean I'm dumb, but...how did you know? And....I guess I don't really understand why you would put the effort or creds into getting me anything."

Your heart breaks a little at his words but you understand where he's coming from. Being in a relationship built on only caring and affection is something new to him, and honestly new to you too, and so processing something given to him without an ulterior motive must seem suspicious. Unreal.

"I have my new bestie, Alisa, to thank for the Intel, and as for why....because I care about you, dumbass."

"Please never call Alisa your 'bestie' again."

"Is that what you really got out of that?"

He chuckles but pulls you into his arms, burying his head in your neck and hair. He stands there, breathing in your scent and soaking in your presence until you pipe up and ask,

"Now I love your hugs and feel glad that you're comfortable enough to do that, don't you want to see what I got you?"

He pulls back, still smiling, but you can see some tear streaks on his cheeks. You decide not to say anything.

"Now what junk did you get me, hm?" He's sarcastic in tone, but is having some difficulty keeping his voice from wobbling, "Do you even have any creds?"

"Um, yes! I got my first cut of the crews pay, which you literally already know, Mr. Second-in-Command."

You sound defensive, but humor him just the same. When he opens the box to see a music box, similar enough to the one you had received from Nerissa, though obviously of much cheaper materials, and there are some crackles and audio distortions in the tune that it plays, he looks at you with brows furrowed in confusion.

"Ok, I know what you're going to say!" You start before he can even open his mouth, 'it doesn't fit your tough guy vibe, 'when did I even give you the impression I like music boxes' blah blah blah, I get it. But I couldn't exactly get you knives or something, knowing me I'd get you something cheap and shitty and you wouldn't even be able to use it. But with this, it ties us together. I'm tied by music to the two most important people in my life, and if I'm ever gone and you've lost your memory," he chuckles at that, "you can use it to remember me. It even opens with the same mechanism as mine!"

You clasp your hand around the metal ball and squeeze and it pops open and starts playing a bittersweet tune, audio distorting just slightly.

Damon stays silent for longer than you're comfortable with and you shut the box again.

"I-Im sorry if I overstepped, I know we're just getting to know each other and figure out what we mean to each other but I felt like I should give you a symbol of my feelings and what you mean to me."

With that, you finally look into Damon's eyes and they're full of unshed tears. He takes the back of your head ever so gently and rests his forehead upon yours. You both close your eyes and breathe, before he whispers,

"I could never forget you."

[talatomaz]

unexpected | wanda maximoff x fem!reader

a/n: i have no idea where this came from and it’s rather short for my liking. the smut is lowkey shit and i’m not overly keen on it but i hope you all like it 😭

(feedback/positive comments are appreciated)

warnings: smut - westview!wanda, dark wanda, dubcon, mommy kink, innocence kink, legal age gap (reader is 18+), somnophilia, fingering/oral (r receiving), strap on, petnames, praise kink (obvi), light choking/cockwarming

word count: 2k

when you’re forced to flee your home and stay with wanda, you soon find yourself under the spell of the scarlet witch

masterlist | navigation | request rules

i do not give you permission to repost or translate my fics on any platform - likes/reblogs are okay and are much appreciated

You’ll be fine. It’s going to be okay.

Those were the words you’d been telling yourself all throughout your car journey, and even now, as you stood on the porch, it was the words you reaffirmed to yourself so as to give you courage to ring the doorbell.

Inhaling a deep breath, you pressed the small button and heard the faint ringing of the playful jingle, the door muffling most of the sound.

You swayed back and forth on your heels before standing upright when you heard someone shout “Coming!” and, not even a second later, the door opened revealing a familiar redhead.

Wanda Maximoff.

“Oh, hi honey! I didn’t expect you so soon.”

You ignored the faint blush that rose to your cheeks at the pet name and entered the home, tugging your suitcase in alongside you.

“Sorry if I’m too early.” You said sheepishly as you now stood in Wanda’s home, facing the latter.

“Nonsense, sweetheart. I’m glad to have you here. Even if it’s under these unusual circumstances.”

You were an Avenger, working with the likes of Natasha Romanoff and Bucky Barnes to help save the world. However, your last mission proved unfruitful. The group of enemies you’d been instructed to incarcerate had somehow obtained your personal information, specifically where you lived.

So, the rest of the team had decided that it was best for you to lay low for the next week or so, or at least until they were able to capture the group and remove the traces of data they had on you.

You were originally going to stay at the Avengers Tower but Natasha had explained that getting out of town was the better option.

And where better to stay than with a former Avenger?

Except, no one knew about the small crush you had on Wanda, especially not the Scarlet Witch herself.

“Thank you. I’m sorry if this puts you in a jam, with the twins and all.”

Wanda shook her head, “Not at all. The boys are staying with Vision for the next couple of weeks so it seems like we have the place all to ourselves.”

Although a smile rose to your face, you felt the inner panic bubbling; the worry of harbouring your crush increasing tenfold.

“Why don’t you go freshen up whilst I make us some dinner?”

The question was more rhetorical than anything as Wanda shooed you away upstairs, donning her apron as she walked towards her kitchen.

You unpacked fairly quickly, despite your futile attempts to go extremely slow. You changed into a pair of leggings and oversized jumper and made your way downstairs.

“Do you need help with anything, Wanda?” You asked, approaching the redhead.

“Not really, honey. You should sit down and relax.”

“I feel like I need to pay you back somehow so I’m happy to help however I can.”

As Wanda’s back was facing you, you were unable to see the smirk that formed on her face, her mind flowing with many thoughts on how you could repay her.

Realising she hadn’t replied yet, she turned towards you and gestured to a pile of carrots that were resting atop a chopping board.

“You can cut those carrots if you want to.”

You nodded, an innocent smile on your face, as you tied up your hair and set to work.

After you peeled the carrots and started to chop them into pieces, Wanda had come up behind you more and more, her excuse being that she needed to get some things from the cupboard above you.

And with each occurrence, she seemed to grow closer to you as, most recently, when she had reached over you to grab a spice, her breath came out against your exposed neck, her mouth dangerously close to your skin.

You inwardly shook your head, trying to rid yourself of the thoughts as you knew there wasn’t any way she liked you back.

“Ha, got it.” Wanda said, pulling back.

Unbeknownst to you, she purposefully caressed your side as she moved away from you, causing your skin to heat at the feeling of her hands on you.

Wanda returned to where she was previously standing and chuckled to herself at how flustered you were becoming, your thoughts racing.

She knew using her powers to read your thoughts was invasive but she knew you wouldn’t mind.

After all, you were hers now, and that included your mind.

                ✧── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

Wanda quietly approached your closed bedroom door. A red tendril swirled around her fingers as the door slowly opened. She stepped through the open frame and into the room and smiled at what she saw.

You were sleeping peacefully, the duvet covers wrapped around you.

During dinner, Wanda had taken every opportunity she had to tease you, loving the way you squirmed on your seat as your mind filled with rather racy thoughts. She would have continued her teasing but you had decided to call it an early night and went upstairs to go to bed.

As much as Wanda wanted you to have your rest, she wanted you more which is why she was now in your room, in the dark - the only source of light was from the lamppost outside your window.

Wanda sat on the edge of the bed beside you and carefully removed the covers. Her breath quickened when she saw that you were sleeping in a thin t-shirt and a pair of black panties.

She brushed a strand of hair behind your ear and stroked your cheek, admiring the way you looked.

“You’re so adorable. You look sweet enough to eat.”

Her eyes widened as a sinful idea came to her mind. She gently pulled your underwear down your thighs, past your knees and then spread your legs.

She licked her lips when she saw your pussy, glistening with your arousal. She moved to rest between your thighs and, deciding not to torture herself any longer, she leaned forward to lick you.

A low moan fell from your body causing Wanda to still before later relaxing when she realised you were still in a deep slumber.

She lifted one of your legs over her shoulder to grant her better access and then continued to kitten lick your pussy.

This was all she ever wanted. To live between your thighs, her face buried in your pussy. Well that, and to have her strap buried in you. Her pussy clenched just thinking about how tight you’d feel.

Wanda pressed a finger in your entrance and groaned at the way you sucked her in. She captured your clit in her mouth and started to suck as she thrust her finger in you.

Your hips subconsciously lifted, in an attempt to meet each thrust. The vibration from Wanda’s chuckle coursed through you.

She pushed a second finger in you and then another. Your walls clamped around her as her thrusts grew faster and harder.

She tugged your clit harshly, scraping her teeth gently over it before flicking her tongue over the nub to soothe it.

She curled her fingers in a beckoning motion and knew she’d hit the sweet spot inside you when your hips lifted and your body arched.

Increasing the pace of her thrusts, she continued to curl her fingers, knowing you were close by how hard your walls were clenching around her.

Not stopping her thrusts, she looked up when she saw you stir. She watched as your eyes fluttered open before widening as you looked down.

“Wh-”

“Shh, just feel it. Feel how good mommy makes you.”

Not waiting for a reply, Wanda went back between your thighs and continued the movement of her fingers. With her free hand, she reached up and pinched your clothed nipple, making you wince.

You lay there, allowing yourself to feel the pleasure Wanda was granting you, not alert enough to question her actions.

You started to moan when you felt the coil in your stomach grow tighter. When you felt her fingers curl in you against that sweet spot, your body arched as you came around her fingers.

Wanda slowed her thrusts before pulling her fingers out, slipping them past her lips so she could taste you. Another moan fell from your mouth at the sight causing Wanda’s dark eyes to stare down at you as she hovered over your small frame.

When you parted your lips to speak, Wanda abruptly crashed hers against yours. She leaned down to deepen the kiss as she slipped a tongue into your mouth, claiming dominance over you.

Your hands instinctively flew to her hair as you tugged her head closer to you; she groaned into your mouth when you pulled at her red locks.

She reluctantly ripped her lips from you so you could both catch your breath; she loved the way your breaths came out in small pants beneath her.

“Wanda, I-”

“That’s mommy to you, baby.”

Wanda raised her brow at you when you stared at her, dumbfounded. Cowering under her stern gaze, you replied, “Sorry, mommy.”

“Good girl.”

She rewarded you with a kiss which made you blush profusely, as if you didn’t just come around her fingers a few moments earlier.

“W-why did you-you know?”

Your cheeks heated in embarrassment as you tilted your head, gesturing to your lower body.

“Because I wanted you, sweet girl. Now, earlier, you said you wanted to pay me back for letting you stay here.”

You nodded in response.

“So, I want to fuck you with my strap. Will you let mommy do that?”

“Yes, mommy. Please use your strap.” You replied, your pussy clenching at the thought of being railed by the red goddess above you.

“Oh, my baby has naughty thoughts.” She darkly chuckled making your eyes widen as you remembered that she could read minds.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make them all come true.”

Wanda quickly rid herself of her clothes, revealing the strap harnessed to her hips.

She lined the strap with your entrance and, without warning, she plunged deep inside you, bottoming out in one thrust. Your body arched as you groaned at the sudden intrusion, not used to something of this size.

As Wanda moved her hips back before thrusting the strap back in, you started to get used to the sensation and soon felt the need building in your stomach again.

“Look at you. Taking my cock so well.”

Her words served to make you drip even more with arousal as she pounded into you at a bruising pace.

You lifted your hands in an attempt to pull Wanda closer to you but she trapped them on either side of your head. All you could do was lift your hips to meet each rough thrust.

You writhed in pleasure, even more so at the feeling of being completely and utterly dominated by the beautiful woman above you. This was all that you had dreamed of and more.

With Wanda’s harsh grip around your wrists and her brutal thrusts of her strap, you felt yourself nearing your high.

Hooking your ankles around her legs allowed her to drive deeper into you as she repeatedly hit that sweet spot inside you.

“I’m so close.” You whined.

“I know. Come for me. Now.”

She gritted her teeth, plowing into you. Your walls clenched around the strap as you came hard.

You fell back to the bed with a loud gasp as you fought to catch your breath.

“Holy shit.” You breathed out. Not even fighting enemy agents left you this breathless.

Wanda placed a soft kiss on you - the action directly opposing how hard she’d just fucked you.

With her strap still inside you, she rolled the two of you so you were laying on top of her, your head on her chest.

When you moved to get comfortable, the strap brushed up against a sensitive spot inside you causing a moan to fall past your lips before you could stop it.

Wanda looked down at you with darkened eyes as she raised her hips, pushing her cock further inside you.

“I-I can’t.” You whimpered, too exhausted to move anymore.

A red tint coloured Wanda’s eyes and, in one swift movement, she pulled out of you and flipped you so you were laying on your stomach and your ass was in the air. She positioned her strap at your entrance and wrapped her hand around your neck.

“You’re mine now. I’m going to fuck you for as long as I want.”