#boy oh boy was this fun to write

[starry-bi-sky]

pouring one out for luo binghe in my disciple SQQ fic, poor guy has taken a backseat here. we're nearly 30k words deep and he hasn't even shown his face once. it'll be much longer before he even actually talks to Shen Qingqiu.

(i say im pouring one out but in reality im sitting in my director's chair chewing on a cigar and wearing a beret as he tearily and unsuccessfully pleads with me for more scenes with Shen Qingqiu)

[nekrosmos]

As promised, there it is ! 17k words lighthearted NikPrice fic <3 These two have been circling around each other for twenty years and are finally doing something about it.

Summary: Things have been different between John Price and Nikolai as of late. The two men have always been close, but something changed. Now, Price is forced to go on medical leave after a disaster of a mission. Nikolai offers a fishing trip, something he knows his favorite captain enjoys, a nice way to relax, and maybe let their relationship evolve.

[sunsetsandsunshine]

If I may request a Rise fic!! I’m a huge sucker for comfort/cheer up tickles, so could you possibly write a disaster twins fic with Lee Leo and Ler Donnie where Leo’s been having a pretty bad day (because of what is your choice!) and ends up feeling self conscious about himself and stuff, so Donnie decides to cheer up his twin!! Please don’t feel rushed and make sure you’re taking care of yourself ^_^

~ 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜!!! ~

💜💙 𝙵𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢: 𝙰𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝙽𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 💜💙

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙼𝚂𝙺𝙽𝚂𝙽𝙺𝙼𝙳𝙽𝚂𝙹 𝙽𝙾𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙴 𝙾𝙷 𝙼𝚈 𝙶𝙾𝚂𝙷 𝚈𝙾𝚄. 𝙶𝙴𝚃. 𝙼𝙴!!! 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚑𝚑𝚑𝚑𝚑 𝚖𝚢 𝙻𝙾𝚁𝙳 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝙹𝙰𝙼!!! 𝙴𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚜…𝙶𝚘𝚍, 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑. 𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢..𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝/𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚎…𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎’𝚜 𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚗 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎??? 𝙻𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎!!!˚*• ̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*＊·̩̩̥͙

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝙷𝚞𝚛𝚝/𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜: 𝟺,𝟹𝟿𝟺

𝙻𝚎𝚎: 𝙻𝚎𝚘 🐢💙

𝙻𝚎𝚛: 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 🐢💜

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝙳𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚙𝚒𝚍…𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚠, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝?

(𝙰/𝙽: 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚖𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝…𝙱𝚞𝚝 *𝙰𝙷𝙴𝙼* 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢: 𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚞𝚢! 𝚃*𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚔/𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙸!!!)

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚜:  @shut-up-jo @itzsana-kiddingmenow @aceofspades-doodles @ziipzeepzop-eez

@tmntheadforever123 @rice-cake-teen10 @aninabanina6969

@savemeafruitjuice @cedarrthefluffylee @saturnzskyzz @titters-and-tingles

@someone1348 @my-l0v3r-v3rse @snipersiniora @mistyandsnow

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝙰𝚛𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏-𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚢𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚝𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝙿𝙻𝙴𝙰𝚂𝙴 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔!!! 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚣𝚢…

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙷𝙴𝙴 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 🕺🏾✨💞🎶˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me again.” Leo grumbled under his breath as he rested his mouth on his palm, glancing away from his brother as he sighed loudly. 

“Well maybe if you weren’t so fucking reckless I wouldn’t need to.” Donnie growled lowly, glaring down at his twin.

“I’m not a baby, Don. I don’t need to be supervised like I’m some bomb triggered to explode.” The younger said in exasperation, lying down on his bed whilst grabbing a comic book to read off of his desk.

If Leo was going to be told off and scolded by his dear beloved brow-loving brother, he should at least have something to occupy himself with in the meanwhile. 

The softshell groaned eternally at his little brother’s action, quickly snatching the piece of literature out of the other’s hands and throwing it effortlessly to the ground. 

Uninterested lime green eyes locked with a determined yet fierce light golden, both of them refusing to look away or blink to show their dominance.

But after a while, the red eared slider grew more impatient, looking away again as he picked a hangnail on his thumb, “If you’re going to yell at me, can you just get it over with? I saw a reddit post predicting what’s going to happen in The Umbrella Academy season four and I need to read it.” 

“You can read that later, Nardo. I promise you, that reddit post isn’t going to fly away.” The elder said as he pinched the bridge of his snout, “What I need you to do right now is acknowledge what you did today was stupid, alright?” 

Leo looked away from his older brother, scoffing lightly, “I do stupid things all the time. What stupid action of mine are you wanting to scream at me for this time?” 

The softshell turtle took a couple deep breaths at that comment, drumming his fingers on his left arm in a soothing motion because he was NOT going to give into the urge of strangling his twin brother…

…No matter how much he deserved it.

“I’m not planning on screaming at you— that won’t help anyone or anything.” The purple banded turtle explained calmly…but you could see and tell he was starting to lose his paitence. 

“But you want to.” The red eared slider pressed on. 

“Leo…please. I don’t want to argue right now.” 

“We’re not arguing. We’re just kindly discussing my oh-so stupid descision that unfolded earlier today, right?” The younger twin smirked smugly, his eyes locking once again with his brother. 

When it came to arguments, the leader in blue always had this wonderful tactic to avoiding things: attempting to annoy the other person so much that they drop the subject they wanted to discuss with him completely.

It always worked with Raph…which the red eared slider didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

But the only downside of doing this tactic was his dumb twin saw right through it…

…And Leonardo despised it. 

“Nardo…you know what I’m referring to. And stop picking, please. Your going to hurt yourself.” The older attempted to say in a tranquil voice, but it personally just sounded like he was one second away from losing. his. shell.

“I sadly do not know what your referring to.” The blue cladded teen said coyly, picking on his hangnail more desperately now, “Care to enlighten me, Tello?” 

Donnie’s expression hardened ever so slightly at his younger brother’s absolute persistence on annoying him out of his right mind so he could eventually drop the subject…but the softshell turtle was not budging.

His twin would have to try way harder than that.

“I’d love to.” The light golden eyed mutant said in a fake sweet tone as he walked over to lean his shell on Leo’s closed door, crossing his arms in disaproval. The elder grabbed his brother’s sword, planting it right next to his foot so the blue banded turtle couldn’t reach for it. 

The red eared slider’s cocky grin turned to a small grimace (shake) as he soon came to terms with what his older brother was doing…

…He physically could not leave from this conversation…literally.

Leonardo crossed his arms, trying to mimick the other’s serious demeanor but was only met with an icy glare in return. 

“What you did during today’s mission was completley reckless and idiotic, Leonardo…and you know it.” The second oldest said, “I had that thug exactly where I wanted him but noooooo. Because you saw me trip you thought it would be a spectacular idea to throw yourself on top of me as that hooligan tried to hit me with his bat!!” Donatello seethed. 

“We’ve been over this multiple times, Leo! There was no reason for you to do that!” The light golden eyed teen yelled, his glare only hardening more as he saw the younger stuttering over his words to try to defend himself.

“I’m not done.” The taller teen growled, all of his calmness and collectiveness thrown completley out of the window.

The slider slightly flinched (which went un-noticed by the other) at his brother’s genuine angry tone, his left leg fidgeting and bouncing up and down like crazy. 

His tactic was really starting to not work in his favour at all…

“Just…stop putting yourself in the middle of danger like you’re just expecting the rest of us to just watch. We’re your family…and most importantly, we can defend ourselves just fine.” 

“Well ihisn’t that hypocritic!” Leonardo scoffed before creasing his eye ridges together in genuine confusion, mumbling to himself, “Hyp…uh…hypocrotic? Hyp…Hypocratic…?” 

“Hypocritical?” The older deadpanned.

“YES! THAT WORD!” Leo said, “When we were fighting Kraang Prime on the ship and he went to take a blow at Mikey…what did you do?”

Donatello scowled, his eyes not leaving his twin, “…I went in front of him and shielded him with my mystic tech.”

“Exactly.” The lime green eyed mutant scoffed, “And how is that any different from what I did, hm?”

“BECAUSE I HAD A PLAN!!!” Donatello shouted, “I planned to accordingly go in front of Mikey so my sheild could protect both him and me. Did it end up turning out perfect? Fuck no. Kraang Prime slashed right through it and me and Mikey went tumbling towards the ground…” The glasses wielding teen said through clenched teeth. 

The light golden eyed teen rubbed his face tiredly, his hands clenching and unclenching in frustration, “But I had a plan. You on the other hand, just zoomed recklessly on top of me and hoped for the best.”

“…I saved you, didn’t I…?” The younger twin mumbled out meekly, causing Donatello’s blood to absolutley boil. 

“That’s not the point!!!” The elder said as he clenched his hands at his sides again.

“Then what is?!” Leo said desperately, “Because from the looks of it, it just seems like you want to yell at me for just doing my job.” 

Leonardo pulled on his mask tails anxiously, trying to calm himself down but ultimately just making himself feel worse by doing the action, “I’ve been trying to be a better leader—“

“Leo—“

“—For you and Mikey and April and Raph and Casey and C.J. a-and Dad! But it seems like no matter what the hell I do there’s always something I’m doing WRONG!!!” The younger twin shouted, blinking back tears as he glared at the ground as if it took his Jupiter Jim comic.

Which…it did. The blue banded mutant wanted it back now, actually…

“I saved you! I-I didn’t even get hurt by doing it but somehow there’s an issue…” The lime green eyed teen murmured, both of his legs bouncing up and down as he tugged on his mask tails harder, “There always is…”

“Leonardo can you please just listen to me?” The older twin said in irritation. 

“But Don I’m—“

“No, Leo! Just listen! That’s all you need to do!” Donnie snapped as he cut his brother off, “I don’t want you leaping head first into harms way! At all! Especially if you don’t have a plan!” The softshell turtle exclaimed as he flapped his hands against the side of his thighs, but his eye contanct remaining on his little brother.

“Oho so now you don’t trust me well enough to know that I can handle myself in combat?” Leo said in a last desperate attempt to make his brother drop the conversation.

“I…” The young scientist’s eye twitched, his eyebrows creasing together as he had to physically restrain himself to not beat the ever living crap out of the other teen, “THIS IS NOT ABOUT TRUST, NARDO!” The light golden eyed mutant screamed desperately, his hands flapping faster as the red eared slider shrunk at his usage of tone, “This is about you not even thinking about what would happen to yourself when you do reckless nonsense like this.”

Leo glanced to the side, his eyes watering as he bit the inside of his cheek.

He just wanted to help and be the leader his brother’s deserved…

But he always found a way to fuck it up without even noticing, huh?

"You don't think about what could happen to you and I hate it!” The elder cried, “What would’ve happened if Raph didn’t come behind the guy and knocked him out cold at the last second, huh?! Would you have just stayed right on me as he continued to beat you with his bat?!”

Leonardo bit the inside of his cheek harder, his legs bouncing up and down more as his fingernails dug unforgivingly into his arms, “I-I’m sorry, Donnie—”

“Or would you have tried to fight him instead?! Mind you, you dropped your sword before coming to me so you’d have no weapon to defend yourself.” 

“You don't think about how much it scares me when you do dumb shit like that! I hate seeing you get hurt…I freaking loathe it.” Donnie rested the back of his head on Leo’s door, taking a couple deep breaths and hugging himself in an attempt to calm himself down.

Jeez…when the hell had he started yelling? His throat stung like a bitch now…

And when had he started shaking like a bobby head?!

The older twin’s expression softened, pinching the bridge of his snout once more, “I care about you…so fucking much, okay…?” The purple banded turtle said gently as he gradually started to simmer down and become more calm, “Your my twin…my little brother. And I hate to be repetitive but I-I just despise seeing you hurt…physically or emotionally…so please just…”

The young scientist’s eyes widened, peering down at his brother who did not seem to be following…at all. 

Leo’s eyes were wide as saucers as he hit his arm with his fist repeatedly whilst obviously trying to suck in whatever tears dared to try and escape. 

The taller turtle basically ran to his distressed twin, trying to stop him from harming himself any further but was only met with a low grunt.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Fucking shit. 

Wonderful job, Donatello! You yelled at your brother so much he shut down!

Even though you knew he can’t fucking stand being yelled at and the whole point of you even being here was to explain what he did wrong collectively and calmly because that was the exact oppositeof what Raph does when he’s worried…

But no! You yelled at him anyway.

Wonderful job, Donatello…wonderful. job. 

The older twin sighed sadly, gently grabbing his brother’s wrists so he would stop hitting himself. The two brother’s shared eye contact once again, an unsure lime green meeting an understanding yet uncertain light golden.

“Nardo…” The softshell started, squeezing the other’s hands gently, “…Are you with me, bud…?”

Leo just nodded quietly, squeezing back. 

“God…Nardo I’m so sorry…” The older muttered, “I don’t…I don’t know why the hell I lost my cool like that. I-I���m sorry I yelled. I shouldn’t of yelled…I-I just…” Donatello sighed, squeezing his brother’s hands once again. “I’m not angry with you. I…I was just frustrated.”

“Well, no…let me rephrase: I am angry with you— livid even. You know damn well enough that when you do those kinds of things my heart literally jumps out of my shell. I need you to put into consideration that I would like to live to at least seventy-seven…”

The younger twin giggled wetly, fidgeting with his brother’s fingers as he spoke, “…Why seventy-seven?”

“Albert Einstein died when he was seventy-six…I can and will outlive him.” The light golden eyed teen said matter-of-factly, “But back to what I was initially saying…I know you meant well. You saw that I was in trouble…and you dropped literally everything in order to help me get out of said trouble. You don’t think of what happens to you…you just do it because you’ll know if you do we’ll be alright…”

“I-I just…I just wanted to protect you…I-I just wanted to help…” Leo tried to explain.

“I know. I know, Lee…” Donatello sighed, rubbing the slider’s knuckles gently with his thumb, “But you need to understand that with you trying to protect us that way, your putting us in the same situation your trying to keep us away from.” The elder explained lightly, smiling softly as him and his twin’s forehead’s touched. 

“You’re getting hurt— or at the very least almost getting hurt. We’re feeling the same anguish and guilt you would feel if any of us did that. I get that you want to be a good leader and shit…but you can lead well without doing that…okay?” 

Leo fiddled with the other’s fingers a bit more, his bouncing leg starting to calm a bit, “I’ll…try to be more careful when it comes to me protecting you guys like that. When I see you all in trouble…I just…react. I don’t really care about what happens to me as long as you guys end up okay. But…I’ll try to be more careful. And if I ever end up, like, being a bit too reckless…you can just tell me…deal?”

“Deal.” Donnie nodded, squeezing Leo’s hands one last time before letting go, wiping his twin’s eyes with his hoodie sleeve, “Now please stop crying or you’re going to make me start crying.” 

Leo snorted, examining the other’s now tearing up expression, “I think it’s a bit too late for that…” 

“GAH! FUHUCK!” Donnie cursed, wiping his own eyes as the slider laughed loudly at his exclamation.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Leo…don’t you think you’re getting a bit too big for this…?” Donatello grumbled as Leonardo was on his lap, getting all nice and comfy as he rested his chin on the older’s shoulder. “Noooope.” Leo drawed out, making a dramatic popping noise at the end of the 'p', “'Sides, this is what you get for making me emo earlier.”

“…I said I was sorry…I didn’t mean to shout at you like that. I was just concerned…” 

“I know that, you worrywart. I was just kidding.” The lime green eyed teen said lovingly, squishing his brother into a tighter embrace. The older let out a short shriek at the hug but of course didn’t mind the other being so clingy. 

If the young scientist really and truly did mind? Leo would’ve been pushed to the floor by now. 

The two twins shared a comfortable silence…well…a semi-comfortable silence.

The purple banded teen felt…off. His younger brother had this…look in his eyes; like he wanted to say something but was afraid of what Donnie would say or how Donnie would react.

Which was so damn dumb Donatello didn’t even know how to explain it.

“…There’s something else on your mind.” The taller turtle hummed, his suspicions only rising as the other glanced to the side. “Uhm…no there isn’t. See? This is why I call you a worrywart.” Leonardo said, tapping his fingers on his thigh nervously. 

Very convincing Leo…very convincing.

“Don’t even try lying to me, Leon. My older brother and twin senses are tingling. You can’t argue against that kind of logic.” The scientist said matter-of-factly. 

“What are you, Spiderman?” The younger snorted. 

“We shall never know.” The older shrugged, a small smile spreading to his face as he saw the other snort softly at his statement, “Now stop deflecting. Spill.” 

“…Can you…adjust my elbow braces…?” The red eared slider muttered.

“…Why can’t you do it?” The other questioned. Not in a malicious way; he was just genuinely curious. 

“I like it when you do it. You make it more firm, y'know?” The blue banded turtle whined dramatically, “Pleeeeeease?”

“Ugh, Jesus— fine. But drop the pout…you look ridiculous.” The taller mutant sighed, lightly grabbing his brother’s arm as he readjusted the braces. 

The purple banded turtle meticulously took off the other’s left arm brace, tracing his twin’s elbow to make sure it was healing correctly— which the slider couldn’t help but wriggle slightly to.

As the older twin put the brace back on, he looked at the other turtle in complete worry, “…Why are you squirming around so much?” Donatello asked in confusion. 

“…No reason.” Leonardo stated, but let out a tiny squeak as Donnie lightly pinched his forearm. 

“Yohou okay…?” The glasses wielding mutant giggled.   

“I-I’m fihine!” The smaller turtle insisted, covering his mouth as he let out a loud shriek in result to his brother now lightly scribbling his forearm. “EEEEE! P-Plehease moohoove yohour hahahand!!” The younger sputtered out, hiding his face in the crook of the scientist’s neck which the older turtle couldn’t help but let his heart melt to.

“Oh.” Donatello hummed, biting back an amused laugh, “Sorry. Sometimes I forget how ticklish you are…”

“Snrt I-Ihihi’m nahat ticklish. I juhust don’t wahant your hand thehere…” 

And isn’t that quaint. 

If Donnie had a penny for every time Leo said he 'wasn’t ticklish', the softshell would be richer than Elon Musk.

“…Right. So…you wouldn’t mind me doing this then?” The young genius mused as he scribbled one hand over his twin’s ribs. “EEEEHEH! Duhuhude noHOH!! F-Fuhuck yohou!” The younger twin managed through his small giggles, pushing on his brother’s plastron to try and escape while he still could.

The elder laughed fondly at his little brother’s futile actions, hugging him closer as he lightly tickled him, “Nahardo! My brohohother in Christ gehet back here or you’re gohoing to fahall off of the bed!

“N-NOHO!! LEHET ME GO!” The lime green eyed teen screeched loudly, kicking his legs and pushing even harder on the other’s plastron, his eye’s widening in panic as his older brother casually lifted him up and pinned his arms above his head, his plastron now facing up on the bed.

Eugh boy…

Donnie grinned, sitting on the other’s thighs as he wiggled his unoccupied fingers in the air near the slider’s side, “That’s better~!”

“WAHAIT WAHAHAIT snrt PLEHEASE DEEHEE!!” The red eared slider cried, kicking his legs from underneath the scientist.

If he was going to go down…he would at least go down fighting. 

“I haven’t even touched you yet, you goof…” The older twin chuckled. 

“B-BUHUT YOHOUR GOHOHONNA!” 

“'Gonna' what, exactly?”

“TihiHICKLE ME!!” 

“Tickle you? Well, why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” Donatello snickered, using his free hand to skitter his fingers along the crook’s of the younger’s neck. 

The blue banded turtle squealed, shaking his head back in forth whilst scrunching his shoulders, “GAHaha— snrt EEEEHEEHEH oho cohome snrt OHAHAN!!” 

“What’s wrong, Leo? I thought you said you weren’t ticklish~?” The older teased.

“Snrt STHDHAHAH! Shuhut UP! IHI’M naHAT!” The younger shouted, tugging and pulling his arms to try and get his hand’s free from the other’s grasp. Donnie just laughed softly at the action, wiggling his fingers above his little brother’s stomach. 

The lime green eyed teen’s eyes widened in panic, thrashing in the hold to try and loosen his brother’s grip but the purple banded turtle did not budge even a smidge. 

Leo’s laughs became more giddy and loud as he continued to squirm, small squeals and snorts escaping his beak as his twin brother’s hand went sloooooowly to his stomach. 

“N-NOHO NONONONO DAHA— snrt DOHON!!” The smaller turtle snorted, hiding his face in the side of his arm which Donnie couldn’t help but giggle to. 

The light golden eyed mutant rested his hand on the slider’s plastron, making the younger turtle’s laugh raise almost a thousand octaves. 

“DOHON’T snrt DOHON’T DOHOHON’T snrt YOU DARE!! YOHOUR SOHO MEEHEEHEEAN!!” Leonardo whined, hiding deeper into his arm and becoming a giggly flustered mess.

The older twin shook his head fondly at his little brother’s embarrassed state, taking the opportunity to tickle the younger’s stomach while he wasn’t looking. 

Leo let out a loud scream, descending into high-pitched cackles as even louder snorts followed, “HAHAHAHELP!! IHI’M SNRT BEEHEEING SLAHAHAUTERED!!” 

“I’m quite literally only using one hand, Nardo. Stop being dramatic.” The light golden eyed teen mused whilst watching his brother snort and squirm, “And here I thought I was the dancer of the family. Look at you! You’re making up a whole dance routine right now!” He said as he let go of Leo, crossing his arms in amusement. 

“S-Shuhuhut snrt up…” The younger twin wheezed out, hugging his middles as he playfully glared at his purple loving brother. 

Then, a lightbulb went on in the scientist’s brain, a smug smile spreading to his face, “Hm…you know, Lee—”

“Dohont call snrt me thahat!” Leo giggly interupted. 

“Uh-huh. Well, Lee…did you know that the underarms are one of the warmest places on the human body?” The scientist said. 

The lime green eyed mutant cocked his head to the side in confusion, “Soho?” 

“Soooo my hands are cold. Very cold, in fact. I’d be forever in your debt if you could—”

“NO! NONOHO WAHAY IN HEHELL! G-GOHO AWAHAHAY!” Leo squealed, reaching for his brother’s wrists as the elder tried to tickle his neck once again.

Sigh…Leonardo made this too damn easy sometimes.

The glasses wielding teen wasn’t just going to miss this oh-so-definetly-not-planned opportunity! The softshell scribbled his fingers along the slider’s underarms, making the younger let out a loud squawk as he shot his arms down. 

“NAHAH AHAHAHA— snrt GEHET THEHE HEHELL OHAHA— snrt OHOHOUT!!” Leonardo cried while banging his heels on the bed. 

“What~?” Donnie hummed inocently. 

“GEHEHET AHA— snrt GEHET. OHOUT. OHOF THEHEHERE!”

“Awe…why~?”

“BEEHEECAUSE IHIT’S SOHO BAHAHAD!!!” 

“And?” Donnie chuckled, “That sounds like a you problem, little brother.” 

“AHHHAHA— snrt GAHAHAD FUHUCK YOHOU!!!”

“Pardon…what was that?” Donnie questioned as he pinched where Leo’s hip met his thigh. “N-NONO— snrt NAHAHAH!! I CAN’T— snrt PLEHEHEASE I’M snrt SORRY!! I-IHI TAHAHAKE IHIT BAHAHCK!!” 

“Nah…I think I’ll just stay riiiiight here for a bit…” The taller turtle smiled, using both of his hands now to tickle Leo into a laughing and snorting blob.

The younger weakly hit his big brother’s arms, throwing his head back as he squeezed his eyes completely shut. 

“…And you know what, Lee~?” 

“WHAHAHAT NOW?!” 

“I’m feeling…kind of famished.” The elder mused, his smile almost looking like the signature Joker’s as he saw his younger brother’s face pale. 

Leonardo scrambled to sit up, fighting with his brother’s arms as he giggly protested, “PLAHA— snrt PLAHAHEASE! PLEHEASE snrt D-DOHON’T!!” 

Donnie pinched his brother’s thighs unforgivingly, “You should have thought about that before yapping such ill nonsense about yourself.”

“WHAHA— snrt WHAHAHA— snrt WHAHAT DIHID snrt IHIHI snrt EVEN SAHAHAY?!” The lime green eyed turtle cackled, flapping his hands on the mattress. 

It took literally everything in the older twin not to coo his baby brother’s adorable actions; instead, he lightly moved Leo’s hands away, smiling evily as he lowered his head to the other’s plastron, “You don’t even know. Guess you really want this, huh~?” 

The blue banded teen kicked his knees into his brother’s shoulders and shell, throwing his head back in complete hysterics whilst waiting for him complete and utter demise. 

The softshell wasted no time blowing raspberries after raspberries in the middle of his younger’s stomach, making sure to move the other’s hands away any time he tried to push at the young genius’ head. 

Donnie didn’t feel like getting brain damage after all.

Plus, he had his signature glasses ᴅᴏɴᴀᴛᴇʟʟᴏ ᴛᴍ on! And those were trademarked…as you can wonderfully see. 

“God…can you get more ticklish?” Donatello giggled, squeezing and squishing the red eared slider’s knees with one hand and scribbling his sides with the other whilst contuinung to raspberry Leo’s stomach. 

“DEEHEE DEEHEEHEE SNRT PLEHEHEASE!!! IHI SNRT DAHAHAH— SNRT DAHA— SNRT DAHUNNO!!” The smaller turtle screamed, happy stimming with his arms on the taller twin’s shoulder.

Donnie couldn’t help but chuckle, deciding to show his twin a tad bit of mercy as he nibbled his stomach lightly. 

The slider let out bloody murder from his beak, happy tears threatening to fall from his eyes as his bubbly cackles and snorts bounced off the walls of his room.

“Jeez…I think Peppa Pig has some competition, huh~?” The light golden eyed mutant snickered.

“PLEHEHEASE!! TEHEHELLO SNRT IHI’M GOH— SNRT GOHOHA— AHAHA SNRT MYHYHY SNRTGAHAHAHAD!!!” The smaller teen pleaded.

“Do you promise to stop putting yourself in between danger and your family?” The older hummed. 

“YEHEHES!!” The younger cried loudly.

“Do you promise to go easier on yourself?” 

“YAHA— SNRT YAHA— SNRT YEHEHES!!!”

“Do you promise to accept your doing an amazing job as leader and we all love you—”

“MY SNRT FUHUHUCKING SNRT GAHAHAD!!! IHIHI SNRT GEHET IT!!” Leonardo shouted, his blush now completley blending into the red stripes on his face. 

The softshell turtle got off of the other, sitting next to his little brother as his little brother in question hugged his middles and giggled tiredly. 

“Y-Yohou could ohof juhuhust sahaid ahall of thahat wihihithout tickling meeheee…” The younger grumbled despite the evident smile on his face.

“And where’s the fun in that?” Donnie smiled back, his expression softening as Leo got up and leaned against him softly. The older wraped an arm around the younger’s shoulder, pulling him closer into a warm, protective gesture. 

“Ahand would yohohou look ahat that! Ihi got yohour emo bahad boy ahahass to smile todahay. Your eheeven hugging me~!” The blue banded leader spoke softly, his voice filled with affection as he poked his twin’s forehead cheekily. 

“You tell anyone that and I will not hesitate to deny that extremely untrue statement.” The scientist huffed, rolling his eyes fondly as his smile spread.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙵𝙸𝙽˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙ 

(𝙿.𝚂.: 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚌, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐!!!)

[littlemissclandestine]

Can you make soft Vladimir makarov? Please?

Hello my dear Anon!

Of course I can 😊 - thank you so much for the ask! Wasn't sure whether you wanted MWIII or OG MW Makarov so I just went with MWIII. I'm also only comfortable writing for a female reader so hope that's okay. I hope these are to your standards and make you happy, honey. Enjoy! <3

Soft!Vladimir Makarov x Reader

WARNINGS: Mentions of sex, suggestive, MDNI, 18+ only

🖤 Soft!Mak who, initially, seems like a cold, distant man who isn't capable of loving anyone, only interested in his work but who has a soft spot for women like you

🖤 Soft!Mak who gently tilts your head up to meet his eyes, his calloused thumb on your chin, stroking it as he whispers lowly how precious you are, his lips curving into a smile as his eyes dart from your left eye to your right and back

🖤 Soft!Mak who uses terms of endearment in Russian regularly such as любимый (beloved), Дорогая (dear), Любимая (darling), Котёнок (kitten), and ангел (angel) - especially loves calling you 'my beloved' or my angel'

[i most definitely have got these wrong as i don't know Russian so someone please correct me if need be!]

🖤 Soft!Mak who loves running his hands up and down your sides as you stand in front of him while he's sat down, looking up at you

🖤 Soft!Mak who gives you that knowing smirk when you wear skirts or tight dresses and just has to compliment your shape and how stunning you look, not being able to keep his hands off you

🖤 Soft!Mak who tends to get possessive when any of his bodyguards or anybody at all looks at you in a way only he's allowed to -> (He may also beat their faces to a pulp, the skin on his knuckles broken, his crisp white shirt now stained with their blood, his face too. As you try and pull him away, he'll spit on them and curse at them. Yes he definitely gets jealous...)

🖤 Soft!Mak who takes your hands in his, holding them together, cocooning them, giving you reassurance everything will work out and he'll be back soon

🖤 Soft!Mak who kisses your forehead tenderly, closing his eyes, his hands on either side of your head before he ruffles your hair when he leaves, cracking a joke to lighten the mood when he sees you crying or saying he'll treat you to something special when he gets back

🖤 Soft!Mak who shows you how much he appreciates you for sticking by him through thick and thin, knowing the questionable things he does daily and putting that aside because you love him

🖤 Soft!Mak who sometimes takes his stress and anger out on you but would never lay a hand on you like that because how could he?

🖤 Soft!Mak who instead, prefers some time apart but only a little. You walk into the main room in your hotel or the living room in your house in the morning, finding it filled with hundreds of bouquets of flowers and your favourite chocolates and a card addressed to you, a handwritten letter detailing how much you mean to him and that he'll be back to talk things through. -> (Timing is everything with this man)

🖤 Soft!Mak who constantly wants to provide for you, spoiling you with the money he brings in, not hesitating to buy bespoke, elegant, matching jewellery for you to wear in his presence

🖤 Soft!Mak who will use as many burner phones as he needs to to call you, telling you how much he missed your voice, holding the phone away for a moment when he starts choking on tears, looking up and blinking quickly to get rid of the tears, clearing his throat and resuming the call, his voice seemingly normal

🖤 Soft!Mak who would rather keep his business with the outside world hidden from you as best he can because really you're his world, the only world he wants to be in, the only one he really wants to focus on. 'The less you know the better' kind of thing because he has to protect his woman

🖤 Soft!Mak who will, however, give you basic firearms training in his private shooting range. Just the two of you. Him standing behind you, hips pressing into yours, his hot breath tickling the shell of your ear and neck, a hand squeezing your hips as the other arm adjusts your stance and giving you a kiss on your neck when you hit your targets

🖤 Soft!Mak who will bury his face into the junction between your neck and shoulder, inhaling your scent and leaving a hickey as he wraps his arms around your lower body, hugging you from behind as you both look at the view from the balcony

🖤 Soft!Mak who doesn't mind PDA, but nothing too extreme, reminding you and everyone watching who you belong to, not thinking it's a sign of weakness but instead strength

🖤 Soft!Mak who has no guilt when it comes to the bloodshed he causes, but feels incredibly guilty when he leaves you for just one moment

🖤 Soft!Mak who needs to feel you on him all the time and touching you whenever he gets a chance to, the expression in the eyes of this trained killer turning into one of pure love and admiration

🖤 Soft!Mak who will pull you down by your wrist, causing you to fall into his lap so he can kiss you softly, his fingers digging into your hips and back, tongue intertwining with yours as you both fight for dominance

🖤 Soft!Mak whose ability to compartmentalise and keep emotions out of things is at serious risk when you came into his life because you're all that's on his mind

🖤 Soft!Mak who treats you like the rarest, most valuable thing in the entire universe, doing everything with the utmost care when it comes to you

🖤 Soft!Mak who loves you for you, admiring your strength, and treats you how a man should, his actions exemplary (even though he is often away but he makes up for it)

🖤 Soft!Mak who loves your vulnerability too, reminding you that you're both a team and to work through things together

🖤 Soft!Mak who never makes you feel like a burden on his shoulders

🖤 Soft!Mak who notices how you tend not to bother him when he's preoccupied, his gloved hands on his hips as he's talking to someone, his head tilting to the side and noticing you hunched over, immediately walking up to you because he feels bad for not spending as much time as he wants to with. Him kneeling down in front of you, removing his gloves, his hands caressing your cheeks as he asks what's on your mind with a warm expression on his face

🖤 Soft!Mak who takes your soft hands to his lips in the middle of a conversation, kissing them while maintaining eye contact with you, listening to you fully

🖤 Soft!Mak who interlocks your fingers with his in the backseat of an SUV and has an arm around you or his hand on your thigh, your head on his shoulder when you're on the run and need to relocate, being driven by a chauffeur to the next place you call home

🖤 Soft!Mak who always wonders what he did to deserve you

🖤 Soft!Mak who is full of surprises, showing you his experience in every field ;)

🖤 Soft!Mak who is big on consent, only engaging in anything sexual if you're in the mood, taking his time, talking you through it, guiding you through it, getting rougher later if you're comfortable with it

🖤 Soft!Mak who chuckles when he hears you moan or scream his name, whispering things in Russian directly into your ear that turn you on even more...

"Hehe you like that my love?...Fuck you're killing me kitten nghh look at you, so beautiful, so...sexy."

🖤 Soft!Mak who, in a mad rush, fuelled by the adrenaline and cortisol running through his veins and the fact he might not make it back before a mission, where he has a standoff with TF141, asks that million dollar question in a hotel, not his ideal proposal location but anyways he slips that ring onto your finger, lips meeting yours harshly with desire, as tears stain his cheek, saying he loves you repeatedly, cupping your cheeks as your foreheads touch and he pulls you into a quick tight hug

🖤 Soft!Mak who, when the opposition are closing in on his location, will grab your hand tightly, running through corridors on high alert, a pistol in the other as he shouts commands to his soldiers, glass breaking, bullets flying as he shields you from it all

🖤 Soft!Mak who directs you out of the area first as your safety is priority, you bring him more joy than anything in the world, the only thing he truly needs and if he lost you knowing he had a part to play, he'd never be the same again -> (would probably make his reign of terror worse, wanting to brutally torture or kill the rest of our tf141 lads in cold blood as he looks for someone else to blame even though deep down he knows some of it lies with him - I LIVE FOR ANGST. Can you tell?)

🖤 Soft!Mak who remembers your talks together in bed and how you wouldn't want him to lash out in grief and be impulsive like that or seek so called 'revenge' in the first place even though you knew what you were getting into when you began dating him

🖤 Soft!Mak who starts to question whether his cause is worth it because of the danger he's putting you in, trying to push those thoughts aside because he's THE Vladimir Makarov, the ultranationalist, the terrorist, the man whose authority and work should not be questioned by any being or they'd face the consequences...-> (the internal conflict mwahaha! *rubs hands together*)

🖤 Soft!Mak who is 110% loyal to you and you only

🖤 Soft!Mak who thinks twice about everything now that he has you

dividers by @saradika-graphics <33

Next time, don't be shy anon - YOLO. Please know this is a safe space, my love. 🙃 (Also lowkey almost fell for him a second time writing these. First time was OG!Makarov, however. Yeesh...dear God, please not again. NEVER AGAIN bdjcdjsksk) -Star ☆

[yasmeensh]

Story update

I got to write a good chunk of the opening these past two days. Excited to get more work done over March break. And I can't wait to get to writing more about my daughter T-T But she comes in a bit later in the story. Still in the first act, though.

Some more character design doodles:

[matryoshkalex]

i forgot i started this in like april and never finished bc i got super busy with tmaynt but i suddenly remembered and finished it this week!!

i watched 2003 when i was in like? middle school and same as it never was stayed with me and was one of my favorite episodes because ive always been a fan of the darker and more angsty stuff. so i thought about 2012 in the sainw timeline and couldnt get it out of my head so. here they are. two versions because i couldnt decide which background i liked more

[lale-txt]

"kill them with kindness" wrong. fuck their dad and their grandpa. actually fuck their whole family tree

[puhpandas]

I love ggy so much how did they accidentally make the most intriguing hypothetical gay romance ever

[heyitsspaceace]

tbh i think charles should have also gotten a "oh fuck do i like my best friend moment" bc of the cat king turning into said best friend and that may or may not be the premise for my next fic that i'm actually writing right now

[skyward-floored]

WAIT WHERE WAS TWILIGHT DURING ALL THIS? DOES— DOES HE COME HOME TO AN EMPTY HOUSE— PEGGY DOES HE COME HOME TO AN EMPTY HOUSE—

- hero-of-the-wolf

@hero-of-the-wolf @asocial-lobster here you go :)

(happens within hours of this fic)

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

Twilight heard footsteps.

He groggily opened his eyes, looking around the tiny bunk he slept in while he was on duty. The lights were off, but there was a thin crack of light coming from under the door, and Twilight’s night vision made up the difference. All he saw was the same cramped bed and desk though, and his suit hung over a chair.

The footsteps were outside in the hall he realized, getting closer, and he held back a groan. Great. He was probably about to be dragged on some late-night patrol even though he’d had the night shift last week.

Figures.

Twilight began blinking the sleep out of his eyes as the door slid open, and paused, his senses picking up on a whole lot more people outside than he was expecting. That was way more than a simple patrol would merit, why—

Electricity shot through Twilight’s veins and he cried out, falling out of his bunk and onto the floor.

It was a lower charge, but it still hurt, and as Twilight convulsed with the leftover shock, he felt hands grabbing at him, and something pulling his arms behind his back.

His brain was scrambled from the abrupt awakening and subsequent shock, but he still fought against the hold, panic beginning to hit him. Something cracked him across the shoulders when he tried to fight back, and he cried out as his wrists were snapped into handcuffs.

“Wh... what...” he gasped, and saw through bleary vision his agent step forward, a hint of an apology on his face.

“Link Twilight Forester, you’re under arrest,” he said as Twilight was dragged to his feet, and Twilight stared at him in disbelief.

Under arrest? What— I haven’t done anything, I haven’t even been doing research this shift, and Legend just went on break so it couldn't be his—

Dread washed over Twilight as he thought of his brother, pieces fitting together that he didn’t like one bit.

“Why?” he finally managed to get out, and his agent sighed.

“Treason, apparently, and a long list of other things. Order went out for your whole family. Sorry Link,” he added with a shrug, and it was so casual and uncaring that determination rushed through Twilight, banishing the pain.

He snapped his head back and hit one of the guards in the face, then kicked his legs and took out the two holding his arms. His agent shouted, but Twilight jumped over his arms so his wrists were in front of him, then punched the man in the face, knocking him to the floor before he could shock him again.

Twilight bolted out of his room as one of the remaining men radioed for assistance, and he saw a handful of other supers poke their heads out of their doors as he ran by, woken by the noise. Nobody offered him any help, though he saw some sympathetic looks.

That was all right. He wouldn’t expect any of them to risk their necks for him.

Twilight kept running, ignoring the remaining shake in his legs and the ache in his shoulders, thinking through where the closest exits were. He was sure they’d already blocked off the nearest one, but if he went a bit further away...

Twilight heard a shout behind him and gritted his teeth, pushing himself faster. They wouldn’t be expecting him to go further from the exits, so if he headed for the fancy offices and slipped out there, he’d have a chance.

A small one, but a chance.

Transforming would slow him down, so Twilight kept running as a Hylian, keeping an eye out for a spot to hide. The hallways were gradually getting nicer, fancier lights and bigger windows, and Twilight grew more and more on edge. Any doors he’d tried had been locked so far, and he hadn’t found any exits, or even just a place to hide.

It was a miracle he hadn’t run into anybody yet, but it was only a matter of time. It was early yet, but morning would be coming soon, and with it an influx of people.

None of whom would be inclined to help him.

Twilight turned around a corner and slammed into something, scrambling backwards and cursing himself for focusing his senses behind him and not in front.

He’d crashed right into another super, a bodyguard if the clothes were any indication. The teenager was as surprised as he was, but almost immediately switched to a defensive position in front of his charge, his cerulean eyes blazing. Twilight saw a blonde head peep out from behind his shoulder, looking at him in fear and interest.

Twilight locked eyes with the bodyguard, unsure if he should fight or run, but the decision was made for him when the footsteps of his pursuers thumped quickly in their direction.

The guard’s eyes flicked to Twilight's cuffed wrists, then back at the hallway, and then suddenly he’d grabbed Twilight and pushed him through a door so fast Twilight barely registered it happening.

He fell to the ground with a hiss at his sore body, and heard the door shut behind him, the guard nowhere to be seen. Talking was coming from outside though, and Twilight caught his breath a little, then carefully got to his feet and pressed an ear to the door.

“—super who’s under arrest,” a familiar voice puffed, and Twilight felt some satisfaction at the stuffed note to it. It sounded like he’d broken his agent’s nose. “Did either of you see him?”

“Oh goodness yes, we did!” a feminine voice gasped, sounding the definition of terrified, “he looked half-mad! Isn’t that right, Champion?”

There was a pause where Twilight assumed the super had nodded, and he abruptly realized he recognized the name.

Champion... wait, doesn’t he guard—

“He went towards the main level, you might be able to catch him!” the woman’s voice continued, and Twilight heard some hurried footsteps and the click of a communicator.

“Thank you for the assisdance, Miss Hyrule. You should ged to safety while we deal with this. We’ll try ad flush him out,” the stuffed voice reassured, and loud footsteps pounded past the door and down the hall.

Whoever Miss Hyrule was must have replied, but Twilight didn’t hear it. He was more focused on a different tell-tale click he’d heard, and he had just enough time to shove his sleeve in his mouth to muffle his cry when electricity shot through him again.

The charge was higher this time, stabbing, shooting pain wracking through him, and Twilight bit back his scream as much as he could. He had no idea if his sleeve was even still in his mouth anymore his world was so narrowed down to pain, and when it finally stopped he was gasping for breath, tears in his eyes.

He distantly heard the door open, and the part of him in survival mode let out a snarl. Even if it came out as more of a pained whine, he wanted them to know he wasn’t going down without a fight.

A shadow loomed over him, and Twilight weakly kicked at it, frustrated when it didn’t connect. A hand grabbed his arm, and he tried to lunge away, still shaking from the most recent shock.

“Wait! We’re trying to help you, hold still!”

Twilight blinked rapidly at the voice, not expecting it to be the same accented one he’d heard outside the door, and he tried to focus his vision. Two blond heads swam into view, one closer than the other, and then gentle hands were on his wrists, messing with something.

Twilight felt his cuffs suddenly fall free, and his vision finally focused enough for him to confirm the two figures in front of him as the same that he’d run into outside.

“H... huh?” he said blearily, and the girl smiled at him, even as her guard frowned.

“Are you quite all right? I know this is probably a shock— ah,” she winced, “—bad choice of words, I’m so sorry. Anyway. Please tell me that you’re not actually a dangerous criminal and we didn’t just save someone who’s going to murder us?”

“I’m... not,” Twilight rasped, rubbing his wrists a little. They’d only been cuffed for a bit, but his hands still hurt. Probably from his efforts in trying to muffle his scream. “Why..?”

“One second,” she interrupted, and took his hand, studying his band. “I need to make sure they won’t track us in here.”

“That is my cue to remind you that this is extremely dangerous, and your father would not approve,” Champion said quietly, and the girl tossed her hair, giving Twilight a smile.

“Don’t mind him, he always says that,” she said, pulling out some small tools from her pocket.

“Because it’s almost always true.”

“May I remind you that you’re the one who pulled him in here?” the girl said casually, and Champion went quiet, and resumed his watch at the door without saying anything.

The girl went back to messing with the band on Twilight’s wrist, and a few quiet seconds ticked by, plenty of time for Twilight to wonder if he’d been knocked out and this was actually a bizarre dream. He looked over at Champion, standing silently by the door of what Twilight now realized was an empty office. His gaze was fixed firmly on the door, but he must have felt Twilight’s gaze on him, because his eyes flicked in his direction.

“Thanks,” Twilight said quietly, and Champion gave him a little nod.

Twilight closed his eyes with a sigh, feeling wrung out and confused. He was worried about his family. He was in pain and barely knew what had happened. And... now he was more or less on the run, and a politician’s daughter and her bodyguard were helping him.

Or something.

He was pretty sure he was right about the girl’s identity.

“And... there. I disabled the locator,” the girl said suddenly, tucking her tools away again. “I couldn’t do anything about the shocks right now though, I’m sorry. We’ll just have to hope they don’t keep it up.”

“Unlikely,” Champion murmured.

Twilight looked at his wrist in surprise, and gave her a grateful look. “Thank you. I... why are you doing this?”

The girl looked over at Champion, and though his expression remained the same, Twilight thought his posture softened.

“You needed help,” he said quietly. “And we could help you.”

“Yes. And it’s high time I did something other than follow my father around and give speeches nobody listens to,” the girl said, and Twilight breathed out a dizzy laugh.

“Knew I recognized you. You’re Zelda Floriana Hyrule.”

She nodded. “Yes. But you can call me Flora.”

“Flora. Ha... sure. No problem,” Twilight said with another faint laugh. He’d been right. Could this morning possibly get any stranger? “People call me Twilight. You uh... make a habit of helping random wanted supers who crash into you?”

Flora looked at Champion, and he shrugged.

“I’m making this up as we go,” she admitted, and Twilight couldn’t help his laugh. "I'll admit I've never done anything quite this extreme before."

Twilight was about to ask more questions, but then he heard his band make a noise again. Dread swamped over him, and Twilight frantically scooted back from Flora just in time for the electricity to course through him again.

It wasn’t higher then last time, but it was just as bad, and Twilight’s back arched as his world shorted out into a flash of white, a scream he couldn’t stop escaping his lips. Something quickly covered his mouth, but Twilight barely registered it, lost in the current tearing through him.

Either the shock didn’t last as long or Twilight passed out, but soon enough the electricity faded, and he was left gasping on the floor again. His cheeks felt wet, and his whole body was shaking as he dragged in heaving gasps.

Voices were swirling over him, and Twilight tried to focus past the agony searing his skin to listen to them.

“—still trying to flush him out,” Champion said, pressing his fingers to Twilight’s chin. Twilight vaguely realized he was taking his pulse, but he barely felt the touch he was shaking so hard.

“I have a couple tools in my bag that I should be able to use to shut off the shocking mechanism,” Flora said, her voice much smaller than before. “He won’t be getting out of here unless I disable that. But it’s in my father’s office here, we’ll have have to get Twilight there without being seen.”

“Easy,” Champion murmured, and carefully lifted Twilight up into a sitting position. “Can you hold your weight?”

“Y-yeah...” Twilight managed to groan, and Champion slowly helped him stand, more easily than Twilight would have guessed. Champion shifted his arms around to better hold him, and Twilight managed to catch his arm, and give it a grateful squeeze. “Th-thank you, so... m-much,” he whispered, and Champion nodded awkwardly in return.

“Just passing it on,” he said softly, and they got going without further discussion.

Twilight was having trouble focusing on much as they hurried down the halls, his entire body aching, thoughts scattered and bleary. He found his focus drifting back to what his agent had said initially, and he closed his eyes, anxiety for the rest of his family hitting almost as hard as the electricity had.

Somehow he had to warn them. Get word to them, tell them to get out, just... something.

He knew he was in no position to do that though, and even with his scattered thoughts he was well aware that by the time he could, it would... probably be too late. He had to hope that they somehow knew, and were preparing. Legend... Mom...

Two other faces joined theirs, and Twilight swallowed. He couldn't help any of them now. He couldn't even help himself.

All he could do was let two teenagers he barely knew drag him silently through the hallways.

And pray that his family was safe.

[bardicious]

"Two months ago we opened up the gate.." this is an insane line of logic honestly. And I'm wondering if it's just an insane leap of logic that the writers made regarding the situation, rather than just Dean and Sam's guilt complexes.

[gingermintpepper]

One of my favourite little things about Apollo is how casual his and the Fates' relationship was.

Now, this isn't to understate how grave the Fates were in any way, as a matter of fact, it's written multiple times about the complex interplay between the Fates and Zeus (Stobaeus even wrote that the Fates were given the seat closest to Zeus' throne so he could better give counsel on all things from their machinations)

Indeed, even Zeus was beholden to them and even though the Fates usually left things up to natural course (and Zeus in his position as Moiragetes - that is, the Leader of Fates could even intercede on these events, even interrupting when a someone was set to die) in a lot of ways, there are many, many things that even Zeus could never interfere with, things that were above even the King of the Heavens. Some really good examples are things like Persephone's Abduction which the Fates ruled as necessary for the propagation of the seasons and his marriages to Themis and Hera.

By all accounts really, the Fates were incredibly stern, incredibly grave deities who presided over law, order, birth and death and even worked with the Furies to punish those who broke the sacred laws!

And then you have Apollo who was also known by the title Moiragetes (In Delphi, there were only two Moirai depicted and in place of the third was Zeus and Apollo Moiragetes according to Pausanias) but who did things like, checks notes, send the Fates to be the midwives of his paramour Evadne when she had to deliver his son alone in secret (by the way, he also sent the actual goddess of childbirth to help. The Fates absolutely did not need to also be there, he was taking every precaution:

and get the Fates drunk so they would agree to save his bestie Admetus' life:

Keep in mind btw - this con Apollo pulled for Admetus was multi-layered and even included getting Heracles to wrestle Thanatos and keep him still so Apollo could proceed to help Admetus cheat Alcestis away from Fates when Admetus expressed regret for making his wife die in his place:

And I cannot stress enough that Apollo faced zero consequences for this nonsense. NONE. The Fates weren't even cordial with other Gods - they're almost never referred to directly, they were often depicted apart from other deities or described as old, ugly and unable to walk (though, generally speaking they were artistically depicted as young maidens!) and apart from comforting Demeter by going to personally explain what happened to Persephone in some versions of the story, they didn't really get humanised the way most of the other gods or spirits did. Usually they're referred to euphemistically, or someone will speak distantly about a prophecy they once heard was designed by the Fates but Apollo? Apollo knew the Fates! He was good friends with the Fates! And I think it's even cooler when you consider that both instances of Apollo showing off his Fate's Favourite privilege have to deal with birth (of Iamus) and death (of Alcestis/Admetus) which were the two points most deeply associated with the Moirai and why there were usually depictions of them as a pair over that of a triad.

(Excerpts sourced from Theoi, Aeschylus' Eumenides, Pindar's Olympian 6 and Statius' Silvae; though just a note, one instance of the Fates' involvement with Apollo is misquoted on Theoi - that is the Fates being present for Apollo's birth, that's actually a misinterpretation of Evadne's birthing of Iamus.)

[emry-stars-art]

For the Royal AU Twinyard backstory... Maybe Andrew, as a second son, was sent away for study? He could have become an apprentice to a knight or a scholar when he was young, maybe even with the Spears, and that's where Bad Shit Happened. And then he could have returned when he became of age, or when their last parent dies and Aaron needs a familiar (ha!) face around

*excited* okay okay this has been brought up a few times now and every time I read it the idea grows on me more, you’re all so smart for it

(I was gonna put the art at the end but this got a lot longer and sadder than I anticipated so. Sometimes Andrew likes to do stuff like this when they’re stuck talking to important boring dignitaries)

(It’s the main reason Aaron develops an incredible poker face)

tws this time are all canon compliant

Honestly yeah! I do think this is great because I want the twins’ father to be around after birth and for a while, because the whole point of Andrew being sent elsewhere is probably so they can give that extra attention to Aaron and raise him as the heir to the throne. So it’s a perfect balance, in my mind, of a family that cares enough to get Andrew an education/proper upbringing and a father that doesn’t care enough to spend time on a second son.

In my head the Spears would be almost always overbearing, partly because Andrew is the prince and they Do Not want to disappoint the royal family and partly because Andrew is the prince and they immediately assume this little five year old they get on their doorstep is going to be a spoiled brat. Even though he isn’t. And, as you may guess, the only thing they turn a blind eye to is Drake. Drake, their own son, probably the real spoiled brat that gets his way in all things, even with the young prince. Faces no consequences, even when Andrew tries to tell someone. It’s probably his governess or nanny at first (either way, it’s not really important what the role is, just that she’s there). And this woman has been Andrew’s biggest advocate since he arrived, she genuinely cares about and is worried for the little prince with his bruises and fear. She cares enough to bring this up to Duke Spear - maybe he really is dumb enough to just be unaware, she hopes - and confront him about Andrew’s treatment. But of course the duke doesn’t do anything to discipline his son. Instead, the governess is fired and a new woman takes her place, a woman that isn’t as outspoken and won’t ever question the authority of the Spear family. Andrew learns soon enough that trying to tell someone or speak out only makes things worse for himself. Sometimes he still wonders where that first governess is, if she’s doing well.

Meanwhile at the castle, Aaron is going through his own rigorous training. A lot of the same stuff as Andrew is learning, honestly, with a few added duties and lessons and a lot more official meetings he attends with King Minyard. It’s a pretty average upbringing for an heir, I think.

Then maybe when Aaron is around the age of ten or so, King Minyard passes. This wouldn’t normally be a political issue, since it’s expected of the Queen to take over and divide the king’s half of the duties as she sees fit until either she remarries or has an heir become old enough to take the throne, at which time she may pass it to the child or continue to reign until she either passes or is deemed unfit. And, politically, this is exactly what happens. What most don’t see is how grief stricken she becomes and then remains. She can’t pull herself from her grieving, and instead of passing duties to more fitting people, Queen Tilda simply lets young Prince Aaron take on as many duties as he can without breaking down. (Though he has, before. Likely a few times. A kid being pushed past his limit again and again.) Aaron grows up so much faster than he ever should have. He’s thirteen now and sometimes he shakes with stress.

Then the queen finally gives into her grief and passes as well. If it weren’t for Katelyn, Abigail, and Betsy, Aaron might have been next to lose his mind, leaving the throne empty. As things are, Aaron swallows everything down just long enough have word sent to the Spear family. He wants his brother back. A familiar face and his quiet, desperate hope: someone to just help.

And return him they do. Andrew’s been perfectly competent with all his studies, they say, they’d even managed to break that stubborn streak. (They didn’t like he wouldn’t speak or shake hands when instructed. They didn’t like being told no.) And yes, it’s a familiar face. Aaron sees the carriage door open, sees his twin for the first time in eight years, but he isn’t sure he recognizes Andrew. Andrew isn’t supposed to have bags under his eyes like this. Andrew didn’t hold his jaw so tightly. And Andrew certainly didn’t answer questions like some kind of unthinking, unfeeling shell.

The first thing Andrew says to Aaron getting off that carriage is “No.” It’s quiet, but he does say it. Aaron is confused - he’d thought they’d still be allowed to hug each other, or shake hands at least - but he does step back and instead ask if Andrew wants to see his room. He can see Andrew relax.

It might hurt Aaron a little when he watches the Spear boy get a hug with no protest, or how Andrew quietly addresses the duke with more than a one word sentence. But he’s not going to ask about it for a while. He’s the stranger to Andrew here, after all.

(I think Andrew does let him ask. The most he tells Aaron about it - maybe as much as a year later - is that the younger Spear had been much worse at listening than Aaron ever is. It is much better here. At least you and Nicky understand the meaning of ‘no’. Leave it at that. And after that Aaron is even more supportive of Andrew’s wide bubble than he was before. He enforces it himself when he has to. And growing up together for longer, with no looming secrets or much reason for animosity between them - it isn’t Aaron’s fault King Minyard decided to hand Andrew off and the twins are both mature enough even at that age to know it - means the twins are much closer than in canon. I don’t think it would be a typically ‘fond’ relationship, because they’ve both still been through it. But they support each other in all things, no questions asked, and always get through problems together.

It doesn’t take much longer than that first year for Aaron to earn the right to touch Andrew, even if he does need to give or show warning before he does. Andrew never says it, but he’s grateful that Aaron is generous with his shoulder pats. It feels a little like the validation he never got anywhere else. And Aaron never says it, but he’s grateful that Andrew is always at his side to tell people ‘no’ when Aaron is technically not allowed to.)

[goodfish-bowl]

What Little Remains

Chapter 2: Cooking by the Book

Ectoberhaunt 2024 Day 15: Science Fiction

AO3 Link Chapter 1 Link (read for context)

Summary: Dr. Reeden is considered a specialist in the technology for many reasons. The investors really should've expected this when they allowed them to join T.Z.A.P

Warnings: gore, human experimentation

Words: 3,045

After compiling the research and finally reading the papers they had obtained from the laboratory, Reeden needed a new pack of smokes. Those papers had been some of the most unscientific research papers Reeden had ever encountered, which was saying a lot considering their past working experience. But these papers in particular made them determined to create physical copies of the papers just to burn them with. They weren’t even an archaeologist like the other four people left on this team, but a geneticist who specialized in researching the humanoid genome throughout the past millennia and the resulting variation in humanoids and the occasional tangentials across the galaxy. Not quite archeology, in their opinion, but a type of genetic tracking a bit closer to the ancient discipline of paleontology instead. They had just wanted to get a good look at a pre-nuclear human genome for their latest paper, the original template would be invaluable for perspective. It was the only reason they had agreed to be on the T.Z.A.P team in the first place. 

What had ended up in Reeden’s lap instead was a variation of tangential DNA sequence from before that branch of humanity even existed. Void of space, that would make the kid the first tangential, the first variation and deviation. Now they only wished they could figure out what the actual fuck was going on with the kid’s DNA sequence. There were at least two different sets, impossible in and of itself, with holes in each, where the other filled in, like some paradoxical basket weaving. But there were more holes, which neither set of DNA contained the answers to. 

With the Head Doctor’s approval, Reeden had free access to most of the samples, not the core for obvious reasons, but the other genetic and biological ones were all they needed. They think the Doctor had put the intern on the unfortunate project of inspecting the core. From the other samples, they were able to reconstruct most of the boy’s DNA sequences with the D.R.C.R.A. (that Reeden was specially trained in) at the expense of only one of the intact vials. There were red blood cells mixed in with the… ectoplasm(?) the kid possessed. Each set contained the complete recipe for an entire being with only pieces of each actually being used. One was closer to what Reeden imagined the original human genome was like and the other was similar but based on ectoplasm instead of carbon. There was no transition between the two and no way the kid should’ve been able to switch between them… unless they were secretly hiding a form in-between. 

Reeden practically leaped from their seat and pulled up that awful video, the final one of the set, and scrubbed through it, finding the exact timestamp where the kid switched forms. Then, writing it down on their hand, went back to the vials, intact and otherwise, any of the samples really. The in-between. That was where the missing DNA must be. 

Reeden found one sample, ripped it open, and tossed the entire sample into the D.R.C.R.A. It was that ectoplasmic-isotopic solution that made their life that much easier, as it seemed to prevent the degradation of DNA unlike any other preservative Reeden had ever encountered. They powered up the machine and let it record the entire transition as the sample suddenly started to degrade after being removed from the solution. It switched from ectoplasmic to carbon and Reeden almost lost focus watching the visible reaction take place through the viewing window of the D.R.C.R.A. The machine slowly but surely began piecing the DNA sequences together, along with that they had already fed it. It would take a while, but Reeden could already see the third DNA sequence filling in the final gaps. They now had the complete recipe, as mixed up and convoluted as it was. It was an interesting challenge just putting it together, it made Reeden almost excited for the next part. 

Reeden left their lab, intent to grab something with a resemblance to food and to see if the final piece was in place. They needed a break anyway. With the hiss of the door, Reeden entered the cafeteria and put in the code for their order. Just their luck, that one intern, Zavier(?) was sitting with his head on the table. The Head Doctor had taken a liking to the intern. She wouldn’t have let him work on this project otherwise. The kid wasn’t leaving her supervision any time soon. 

Reeden dropped their tray with a metallic slap to the table, and the intern snapped his head up. 

“Greetings. How goes it go with the glowy orb?” Reeden asked casually. 

Zavier slowly lowered his head back to the table, shoulders shaking and muttering quietly to the point Reeden couldn’t make sense of it. That hadn’t been the reaction they’d been expecting. They’d intended to tease the intern a bit, but he already seemed ready to cry. That wouldn’t do at all. 

“What is it? I can’t hear you.”

“It’s a brain in a jar,” Zavier whimpered, and Reeden stopped dead. “And that’s not even the worst part.” 

Reeden blinked, slowly wrapping their head around what the intern had said. It made sense based on the ectoplasmic DNA sequence and the horrible papers, but actually facing the fact was a different matter.

“And what would be the ‘worst part’?”

“They're still alive in there. Dreaming, or some other kind of deep comatose, unconscious state, but they're still there, after over 3,000 Terran years.” 

Reeden whistled under their breath, “Fattest nap of the ages, right there. Can’t imagine it’s been good for their mental state though,” they commented, “But that’s good, in its own way. Means we’ve got all the pieces to toss in the D.R.C.R.A.”

“What is that anyway? A D.R.C.R.A.?” Zavier asked. 

“DNA Reader and Cellular Reconstruction Apparatus. It’s normally a piece of medical technology used to regrow limbs and organs, but with a talented geneticist like myself, it has other uses as well,” Reeden explained. 

Sure, there were a few gray areas with the tech, especially with what the apparatus was originally designed for, and this was coming pretty damn close to its original use. Cloning was a messy and frankly pointless business overall. They weren’t particularly worried about the moral obligations of things. Was never their style. 

“No way… that… you can’t use it to bring people back to life. That’s just-”

“Nope, you can’t make a complete person. It’s a body sure, but no one’s home. Basically a living corpse. That’s why it’s a good thing that the core is intact. Can’t really recreate something that’s built up over time. But with the core being a ‘brain in a jar’, we have all of the ingredients to cook by the book.” 

“We’re really reviving them” Zavier gasped, stuck somewhere between awe and shock. 

“Yep.”

Reeden wanted a smoke. 

All five of the researchers on project “Phantom”, as it had been unofficially dubbed, were shoved into the operating room of the D.R.C.R.A. staring intently at the main chamber of the machine, the orb suspended in position. 

“You know, this might be the first time an entire being has been reconstructed in this thing, right?” Someone commented. Reeden didn’t correct them.

“Then let’s make sure this event is properly recorded so that when I report it, our success will cushion the consequences,” the Head Doctor stated. Reeden grinned, they had figured as much. 

“Wait, are we not approved to be doing this?” Zavier asked, a panicked expression on his face.

Reeden laughed, “I think this is more of a ‘forgiveness than permission’ sort of situation. Besides, they let us use the D.R.C.R.A. in the first place knowing I was here. With an opportunity like this, it would be a waste to do otherwise, approval or not.”

Reeden double-checked, making sure that everything was being recorded before beginning. 

“My name is Doctor Reeden del Orcutus, lead geneticist of the Terra Zero Archeology Project. We are currently attempting to reconstruct an individual from circa 2000 AD Terra Zero after finding a complete and viable DNA sequence. However, the individual being reconstructed is not only a tangential, but possesses three separate DNA sequences, only one of which is carbon-based, while the others are ectoplasmically-based. This is the energy source of interest to the Terra Zero project. An attempt at ‘revival’ is being made after the discovery of an additional organ, functioning as a secondary brain, shown to contain the subject’s intact consciousness. Reviving and communicating with this individual aligns with the majority of T.Z.A.P’s goals and is now considered tantamount to the project.” Reeden stated for the recording, sure to include just enough logical evidence for if they were to get investigated later. 

Their investors really shouldn’t have included this much wiggle room in the statement of T.Z.A.P's mission. Now they had a legal loophole to escape culpability. The Head Doctor kept them around for a reason, and it wasn’t just for their specialty or to steal their smokes every now and again.

“Beginning calibration for cellular reconstruction now.” 

The D.R.C.R.A. gave a low thrum and the chamber inside slowly filled with light, sterilizing it in preparation for the initial regeneration. Reeden gave a cursory glance over to the supply tanks, checking to make sure that there were enough materials to make a full person. It wasn’t good to run out mid-way after all. It took forever to clean blood out of a machine this complicated. Luckily, everything was there, even the additional elements that had to be added for the multiple DNA sequences. 

The machine pinged and Reeden gave a wide grin. 

“Sanitation and calibration complete, beginning reconstruction.”

Danny awoke slowly. His entire body felt heavy, and his head clouded. There was a disconnect between what he was experiencing and what he expected. Something in his head denied it all, like this couldn’t be real. Danny couldn’t find it in himself to really care if it was real or not, just that he had a body, and heavy or not, he could move it. The experience seemed both novel and extremely foreign for reasons he couldn’t remember or palace.

Danny began slowly, twitching a finger, stretching his toes, and slowly readjusting each limb, until he built up to opening his eyes. He immediately closed them. Pins-and-needles spread to every part of Danny’s body and Danny let out a sharp breath. This caused him to start coughing. Everything hurt. Everything was so sensitive. He felt raw and exposed. 

Danny squinted his eyes, shielding them behind a hand, struggling just to hold his hand up. The light wasn’t that bright but his eyes struggled to adjust to it either way. With his other arm, Danny forced himself to sit up with a groan before placing his arm in his lap as he leaned against the headboard. Blurry eyes caught on his right hand in his lap. Something seemed… not right with that. He couldn’t remember what. 

It took several more minutes for his eyes to finally allow him to see, and Danny glanced around the room. It was weird in a way he couldn't really place. ‘It was like if a hospital room was a furniture store display’, was the only way he could describe it. At least, Danny figured it was a hospital room, if one with a really weird feel to it. The gray color of the walls instead of the standard white or off-yellow didn’t help. It made the whole thing seem like a Twilight Zone episode with the monochrome pallet. Here Danny was, sitting in a strange hospital room, in a place he had no idea where, feeling really bugged out in his own skin, all by himself. 

Danny took an additional moment to check himself over, something like panic causing him to sputter. He was fine. Not a single scratch or scar on him. He didn’t know why he expected any in the first place, or that the fact there were none at all weirded him out so much. He wasn’t supposed to be covered in scars. This was fine. He was okay. 

There was a sound, a hydraulic kind of hiss, and Danny snapped to it, practically jumping in fright. The doorway was now open, the door sliding cleanly into the wall all on its own, a person standing behind it. 

Danny would like to say he was the strangest person he had ever encountered, but somehow, he couldn’t seem to. He didn’t think he had encountered anyone weirder than the person with gray skin with matching ashy hair in front of him, but his lack of reaction left him uncertain. He felt like he was missing a lot of things, really. 

The gray-skinned person blinked owlishly at him, leading to something of a staring contest before the stranger became flustered, digging through the pockets of a patch-covered lab coat and pulling out a handheld device before shoving it back into the coat pockets. 

“Sorry!” He apologized. “We didn’t think you would be awake this early. We expected you’d be comatose for a week at least before waking up.” 

Danny continued staring. He wasn’t shocked by the stranger's appearance and he decided that was the weirdest part. He couldn’t remember. 

“How’d I get here?” Danny blurted. 

The stranger paused, apparently not expecting the question. “Umm, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to tell you, so it might be better to save questions like… that until the Head Doctor and Dr. Reeden get here,” he explained. My name’s Zavier,” he added. 

Danny wanted to ask more. He was forgetting something, a lot of something, and it freaked him out. But ‘Zavier’ couldn’t answer his questions. 

There was a ping, and Zavier pulled out the device again, reading something on it. It almost looked like a cell phone, if cell phones were sleek bricks instead of being phone-shaped. 

“Since you’re awake, we’d like to confirm a few things while the Head Doctor is on her way to answer your questions. Is that alright?”

Danny nodded. He found it weird that he had to be the one to confirm the questions. Usually, medical professionals just ask Jazz or his parents. Did that mean he was here alone? 

“Okay. Your name is ‘Danny’, right? Also, what’s your last name?” Zavier began. 

They didn’t know his name. Danny had definitely been brought here alone from… wherever he had been before. 

“My name’s Danny Fenton,” he confirmed. 

“Birth date?”

“June 14th, 1990.”

“Tests show that you’re around 17 years old, is that right?”

Danny blinked. That… that didn’t make sense. 

“I… I’m 17?” Danny ended up asking instead.

Danny had some memories still intact, but he could for the life of him remember what he had been doing before. He was just about to start high school wasn’t he? If he was supposed to be 17, then that would’ve been years ago. Anything from that point forward was blank, while things from before that were blurry at best. 

Zavier looked up from his device, frowning and meeting Danny’s eyes. Zavier’s eyes were a blue so pale that they almost blended into the whites of his eyes. It looked like he should be blind, but he met Danny’s gaze just fine and didn't seem to have any trouble reading on his weird phone. 

“Some memory loss was to be expected but… but that’s a lot.”

Danny looked down at his own hands. They didn’t seem different, but were larger and slenderer than he remembered, despite not feeling like there was anything off with the proportions of his body. But he was three years older now. He was older than Jazz was, wasn’t he? No, Jazz would be 19, probably off at some fancy university doing whatever know-it-alls did there. (Something in his gut told him that wasn’t true, he ignored it). Danny wanted to go look in a mirror, just to see what he looked like. 

“Do you know what happened?” Danny asked. 

Zavier twitched, which was more than Danny had honestly expected. He looked nauseous at the thought, if anything. Something had happened, something really bad that was horrible enough that it made sense if Danny forgot. 

“I… can’t tell you that, either.” The answer was expected enough. 

The door hissed open a second time and two more people entered the room, both seeming older than Zavier by at least a decade, just from the way they carried themselves alone. 

The first to enter was a shorter, round woman with skin so dark it was almost black, but having warmer hues to it than the cool greys of Zavier’s. Her hair clung tightly to her head before exploding out behind her in a dense orb of gray curls. Her lab coat was even more heavily decorated than Zavier’s as well, but she wore them like military badges instead of quirky patches. Following her was a person who looked like they had been pulled through a taffy machine, slender in every way, with a gaunt face and dark hair contrasting a pale complexion, like an inverse of the other two. 

“Head Doctor, Doctor Reeden,” Zavier greeted. 

The Head Doctor, the woman, who Danny assumed was in charge of everything, gave Zavier a quick nod before approaching Danny and looking over him. Danny fought the urge to squirm. Dr. Reeden snickered in the background. Once she was apparently satisfied, from a bag Danny hadn’t noticed when she walked in, she pulled out a thick binder and held it out to him. He just let it sit in his lap, unable to hold it up. It was heavy. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Danny Fenton. Your existence here is groundbreaking and we have much to talk about, but first, welcome to the Terra Zero Archeology Project. Here’s the basics of what you need to know for a time 3,000 years after your own.” 

If the binder hadn’t already been sitting in Danny’s lap, he would’ve dropped it.

Ectoberhaunt 2024 Masterpost

[amazable01]

God, I've been thinking about Remus and Patton in canon, but I haven't known what to say, but now with the finale being worked on, I feel like this is a good time to talk about this. Cause if you go back with a fresh mind (blocking out fanon concepts and just watching the actual material), Remus and Patton don't hate each other at all. In fact, in a platonic/foil kind of way, I think they complete each other, and work well together like Roman and Logan.

Remus never once in canon has insulted Patton. He has offered up uncomfortable ideas, but if anything, Remus has encouraged Patton. He gives him a creative blessing for sanitizing, and seems genuinely confused and surprised when Logan brings up Patton being an issue. Remus and Patton also bounce off one another, what with the creative thing in DWIT, but also in the asides with the "kill-joyman" bit and their interactions in the incorrect quotes (and who can forget the air fryer and Remus being genuinely excited and curious about it). Remus never intentionally goes after Patton, and when you would expect him to lash out at Morality, it's said to the group instead of him directly.

And if you look at Remus' few appearances in canon, Patton's presence actually seems to temper him slightly. DWIT, WMPG (Christmas 2023), incorrect quotes, and the asides are VERY light compared to WTIT. While you could call it a change in approach, it's really not. Remus always behaves this way toward Logan specifically, and in WTIT he is intentionally pushing the other far beyond his comfort. Patton not being brought up to help the issue intentionally makes Logan's problem with Remus worse. Which implies Remus does change his behavior slightly around Patton.

But, if Sanders Sides has shown anything across its run, it's to not underestimate the intelligence of any approach or person, regardless of how smart they appear on the surface.

So if Remus was trying to stoke what he imagines is important, he's not going to intentionally kill Thomas' drive by driving him to the brink. I think a lot of people forget that Patton is passion, not Roman. Roman is romantic and creative, but Patton is the actual feeling of passion and motivation for a project. And without that, Roman (and likely Remus) are just thoughts that get lost. And so it makes perfect sense for Remus to not actually hate Patton. Because Patton has never done anything to him, and is the only way that Remus can actually have his thoughts voiced out.*

*Remember that the Split is not canonical or confirmed. There's nothing saying that something like that happened, as Logan said it was "Like an ovum" which would imply this was how they were born. On top of this, if Remus was mad at anyone for separating out the sides like the Split implies, it would be Janus because he decided what was allowed and safe to be known. Patton probably was a contributing factor, but knowing how Patton reacts to changes in environment and nostalgia, I doubt Patton would've actively chosen to change something so drastically. I could make a whole post about this and why the Split isn't really corroborated in canon, but that's another discussion for another time.

[crackinthecup]

Summary:

“The sortie was a triumph,” Mairon says, holding the helm upon his lap and gazing up into his face. He smiles a smile that grows and stretches, wider and wider, as though there is something within him that cannot be contained. Something vast. Something keen. “Beleriand is open to us. Those who thought we could be penned in, who thought our might the lesser, lived to regret such misapprehensions. Or,” he adds, showing his teeth, “did not live, as the case may be.” Melkor is drawn to that smile, to the something—vital, beguiling—underneath it. He reaches out. Places the leather of his gloved palm and fingers upon Mairon’s cheek. Beneath the leather, pain tingles, his burned skin protesting the contact. Mairon nuzzles against him, eyes flickering shut, a noise issuing from him that is happy and mindless, like the purr of some great pleased beast; and Melkor forgets the pain. “Congratulations are in order, I should think,” he tells him, “to the brilliant mind who engineered this victory.”