#btw i'd love to write more of these

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I wouldn't really agree that boys are just arm candy in magical girl shows and only there to look cute. Yeah, sure the girls' friendships are the focus, but the boys are usually very much involved in the plot and most shows do explore their feelings about the odd things that happen due to magical shenanigans even if they aren't in the know (It's why ML baffles me even more with how they screwed up Adren's arc when he's the deuteragonist, when all these boys are supporting cast and get well rounded arcs)

I'm not much of a winx fan, but the specialists were very much not arm candy. Did the girls talk about them being cute? Yes, it's what teenage girls do. Did the narrative suggest they were good looking? Yes, but that's standard for most love interests in any genre. But we still got scenes with them talking amongst themselves about how they themselves feel and they got a fair share of badass fight scenes even if they wield no magic. A large amount of episodes actually included the boys and girls working as a team solving a mystery or fighting a villain. The girls might deal the finishing blow but the boys were still integral to the plot.

I hope this doesn't come across as hate, it definitely wasn't my intention. I'm just a bit too passionate about the magical girl genre.

I do think you have a good point with ML having a problem choosing a genre or blending two genres successfully.

For the CCS fans, I will add though that Cardcaptor Sakura had both Tomoyo and Syaoran serve as sources of motivation for Sakura. And both Sakura and Syaoran collecting cards even if Sakura is the only one who could seal them and yet never made you question whether Syaoran was even necessary for the job the way ml does with Chat.

I wasn't trying to say that boys have no part to play in magical girl team shows or that they're always treated as having no lives beyond the girls, that's why I mentioned that the Winx Club boys - aka, the Specialists - have their own (mostly off screen) lives and occasionally show up help the girls:

the boys are usually off doing their own thing and only occasionally show up for a date or to give the girls a ride on their cool bikes or magical spaceship

Even then, this is certainly a simplification of the roles that they play in the story, but I kind of had to simplify their roles down to their base components for the original post's discussion as I was talking in broad strokes of how these stories are written.

In terms of those broad strokes, the Specialists are absolutely only there for shipping fodder. That's why each one is assigned to a girl from the start and why their main role in the narrative is supporting their assigned love interest or causing relationship-based drama for their assigned love interest. If it weren't for shipping, then the Specialists would not exist.

While the Specialists do have fleshed out characters and may even effect the plot, the execution of those elements is designed around the girls. A really obvious example of this is the character Timmy, who has character development as the boy's tech guy. Why is he into technology? Because he's the designated love interest for the fairy of Technology and we have to show why they're a good match. Along similar lines, the boys don't really get plots that are removed from the girls because this is the girl's show. Every episode features one or more of the Winx, but the boys are optional and often don't appear.

This is because, narratively speaking, the boys are just love interests and that brings us back to Miraculous' big problem. You can't have a show where Adrien is written like a Specialist while also being part of the Winx Club and where Alya is written like she's part of the Winx Club while technically being more of a Specialist in terms of power set and actual narrative role.

I'm was thinking back to my memories of various Winx Club plots to find one that really highlighted what I mean here and I remembered that one of the big dramas in season one was the reveal that Bloom's love interest - Sky - was in an arranged marriage and had just never told her. As it turns out, that's a great example of what I'm talking about re Adrien!

Is that plot line technically based around Sky and letting his life effect the plot? Sure, but the fallout of that reveal revolves around Bloom, not Sky. The story doesn't really care how Sky's feeling as the conflict progresses. Instead, it focuses on how it affects Bloom and her friends because of course it does! She's the main character. It would be really weird if that plot suddenly focused on her side character love interest and his friends during one of her darkest hours/biggest moments.

Think of that and then consider how the ending of season five is written. Notice any similarities? Sure, this is Adrien's family drama, but because he's just a Specialist, the focus isn't on him. It's on Winx Club member Marinette and Adrien only shows up at the end for a kiss. That is the problem. That is what I'm talking about when I say that Miraculous will randomly write him as if we're watching a magical girl team show where Adrien is just the love interest.

In fact, let's really dig into this example because it's a good one.

You can have a look at the transcript for the finale episode of Miraculous season five here and see for yourself that Adrien doesn't even show up on screen until the final scenes when the big drama is over. The Winx Club wiki also has episode transcripts, so I took a look to see what happened in Winx land during the arranged marriage reveal plot (I love that this is a thing. It's so useful for fact checking myself!) This is the script for the episode after Bloom learns the truth. Sky does not appear even though his lies and family drama are the fuel for this episode's events, which are a major part of the season's arc. Note how perfectly that matches Adrien's writing?

Similarly, Sky's dialogue in the reveal episode is all about Bloom. He's worried about her learning the truth and thinking less of him. To match that, here's Adrien's only real dialogue in the penultimate episode of season five (full transcript):

Adrien:(Covers his ears.) I cannot transform... (Looks at his ring and tries taking it off.) Plagg: What are you doing?! Adrien: I'm not in my right mind. I'm too angry — at myself for falling short of Marinette's love, at my father for sending me here in London, at this stupid app and these rings that use my image... it makes me sick! This nightmare is giving me the horrible feeling that, if I transform, I'll get akumatized and destroy everything with my Cataclysm — Marinette, Ladybug... (Takes off the ring and hands it to Plagg.)

Switching back to Winx. After Bloom learns the truth about Sky, bad things happen because she's depressed. This results in her and the Winx going off on a journey to learn the truth of who Bloom is. After the girls share this big plot moment and Bloom gets her mojo back, the boys show up to be their ride home and to give Bloom her romance moment where Sky wins her back by declaring that he broke off the arranged married because he loves her.

Sky notably doesn't get an arc about choosing between his arranged marriage and his true love. We don't even know that the marriage is broken off until he tells Bloom because that was never really a conflict as far as the narrative was concerned. Of course he's going to pick Bloom! He's her designated side character love interest! He only exists to be with her. We don't need to treat this as a serious thing for him. The arranged marriage plot was never about him anyway. It was about giving Bloom a reason to have a darkest hour moment that moves the plot forward. Similarly, Sky calling off the marriage is nowhere near as important as him telling Bloom that he's called off the marriage to be with her in a grand romantic gesture.

This perfectly mirrors Miraculous' season five ending where Adrien doesn't appear until after Marinette is done fighting her big girl power fight against his father. As far as the writing is concerned, that fight isn't about him. His connection to the villain only really matters in terms of how it affects Marinette's actions during the final battle. Then, when the battle is over, Adrien shows up to give Marinette her big romance moment because, while the plot may be driven by Adrien's family, he is not a Winx club member. He's just a Specialist. Or, in the words of the head writer:

[image text: She's Barbie, he's Ken. You don't like it. I get it. It won't change. Anything else?] (The full, even more damning context of this tweet can be found here.)

What else can I say other than, "I rest my case."

Oh, and also that I didn't take this as an attack. I just thought it was a good opportunity to really dig into the nuances of this and what I was talking about in that original post as I never know how obvious this stuff is if you don't closely study story telling. As this case study hopefully shows, if a show is about a group of girl friends using the power of friendship, then their love interests may have important roles, but the boys are never going to be more important than the girls and most of the boy's screen time will be focused on romance and how their existence effects the girls because it's ultimately the girls' world. Without them, the show wouldn't exist. Without the boys? Well, then we just wouldn't have a romance plot.

[cluescorner]

I cannot imagine being a Damian stan right now. You've got both Zdarsky's bullshit (where he clearly doesn't give a shit about your boy) and The Boy Wonder (where Juni Ba clearly gives so many shits about your boy) coming out on the same day. The whiplash must be insane. I hope y'all get some nice warm soup for your efforts jfc

[sebille]

The more I think about it the more unfair it feels that Zenos dies at the end of this. I'm like.....7-10? Quests away from "endwalker" and there is so much we don't know. Why did he dream of the end of Amaurot? Emet-selch experimented on him - why was that never touched upon again once it had been mentioned? What did he do? Why? Zenos can teleport???? Switch bodies? What was all that even for? Zenos yae galvus youre making me insane and I'm tearing my hair out of my head

[our-lesboy-experience]

idk what the criteria for fandom asks is but have this .sonic fan lesboys where are you

i love seeing lesboy headcanons it literally heals the soul

[honeycreammilkshake]

there will be cake.

i finally finished my first fic, and it's greenflame! it takes place between possession and skybound. i spent a few days on it and i'm still not satisfied... it still feels a bit ooc and amateur to me, but please let me know what you think. here it is...

Sitting down for dinner with the other ninja, Kai had no intention of talking about anything serious, let alone marriage, and especially not how he should go about proposing to Lloyd. But picking at his bowl of chili, he looked around to his friends, watching them talk about their day with animated expressions and exaggerated hand gestures, observing Cole and Jay arguing about every detail of their training so they could trade insults while blushing whenever anyone (mostly Zane) pointed out just how closely they'd have to be watching each other to know such minor things about their routines. And when Kai glanced over to his sister she was already glancing his way with an exasperated smirk at Cole and Jay's antics.

The only absent one was Lloyd. The Green Ninja was training late, as usual, pushing himself to his limits. The perfectionism was at first a little annoying for Kai, who tended to take any show of exertion as a competition against him, but overtime he'd learned to accommodate his boyfriend, who was typically late to dinner or outings with the rest of them. The pressure Lloyd must have felt, every single day, to not only lead the rest of them but to also make his pretty much godly ancestors proud of him had been grinding on him even more as of late, and Kai didn't want to add to their young leader's troubles. Still though… after their last battle, almost losing Lloyd to possession had made him keenly aware of how fragile the normalcy of all their lives were.

At any time, they could find themselves under attack once more. Ninajo had a reputation for attracting the most dark-hearted, vengeant, and power-hungry of villains, and Kai had to wonder if there was some kind of sign posted out for all the tyrants coming to seize this particular place. Something massive and neon was advertising how siegable and conquerable this entire land was somewhere, he was sure.

But as a ninja, bound and entangled with all the rest of his team (a fate he would never want reversed or changed in any way), he knew he would lay down his life for any one of his friends if it ever came down to it. And, naturally, he knew in his heart that no matter how much he teased or gave Lloyd trouble, he would stand behind that completely unhinged god-in-training no matter what. Wherever Lloyd led him, he would follow. And it was because of this that he knew he had to make their relationship even more official, even more sacred, so that when villains like Morro or Chen or the rest came knocking again, Kai would know there was still a chance at a normal life, even a small part of it, in their own lives. That he could say that Lloyd was his in more way than one and come back home to that small piece of stability.

Now, watching his friends continue to taunt and push each other, a warm feeling suddenly overtook Kai, not unlike the sensation he got whenever he drank a nice cup of Wu's tea. He felt it blossom inside of him, a hot and protective surge that came whenever he thought of the others, especially Lloyd. He knew he could trust them completely, he could ask anything of them and they wouldn't treat him any differently for it.

So it was without any filter that he found himself asking, "Guys, if I were to hypothetically propose to someone… someone who's very uhm… career-driven and practically all-powerful, how would I go about asking them to do something absolutely ordinary like marriage?"

A small silence briefly overtook the table as the others, except for Cole who was still digging into his plate without interest in anything else, glanced around towards each other. Nya, on Kai's left side, was completely still all of a sudden and opposite him Zane and Jay exchanged looks.

Just as the stillness was starting to become unnerving, Zane, always practical, broke in, "Logically the best way would be to—"

"Oh my gosh, you guys," Jay all but shrieked. "Kai and Lloyd are going to get married!"

"Wait what????" Kai burst out, feeling his cheeks start to heat up. "I didn't say anything about—"

"Oh please," Jay scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You're the fire ninja, Kai, so whatever you're trying to cover up, you still burn holes right through it." He was picking at his bowl of chili delicately, like most of its contents offended him, and by the way he had complained about every other dish Cole had prepared for them, you would think it was genuine. But Kai knew the Blue Ninja would sneak lots of extra helpings of Cole's meals whenever he thought they weren't looking. And seeing as how most of Cole's food was… to put it plainly… bad, Kai knew it was because Jay was simply (and not so secretly) completely crazy for the Earth Master.

"You guys thought it was such a secret, but we could all tell what you were up to," Jay continued, matter of fact, then smirked. "The walls here are really thin, you know."

Kai groaned and buried his face in hands. "Okay," he sighed out. "So what if it is Lloyd?"

"I knew it!" Zane exclaimed from Cole's side, face lighting up. When the others looked to him, he explained, "Pixal told me they have a 95% compatibility rate. Lloyd's sensitivity and high emotional intelligence counterbalances Kai's hotheadedness and temper—"

"Yeah yeah we get it," Kai huffed, feeling called out.

"My vitals monitors indicate that your heart-rate speeds up whenever Lloyd appears," Zane added helpfully. "My data also suggests that Lloyd's libido increases whenever he watches you training."

Beside him, Nya made a choking sound. "Oh my god," she gasped, wiping away dribbles of water from her lips. "Please never say libido again, Zane."

Despite the embarrassment at having his secret relationship exposed so quickly, Kai couldn't help the way that information stroked his ego. All the time that little brat had been claiming to watch so closely to point out errors in Kai's form (as he always did) he was secretly checking Kai out shamelessly. It made him flush with more than a little contentment, but he got a hold of himself quickly, and managed to grit out, "Okay guys, that's enough."

"Where would they even get married though?" Jay pushed on, ignoring Kai entirely.

"Somewhere big enough for all of us," Zane pointed out. "I can compile a list of popular wedding locations and analyze them for suitability."

"No no," Jay dismissed, whipping his spoon around passionately so that a bit of chili hit Kai in the face. He wiped it off with a grimace as Jay continued to lecture Zane. "It should be somewhere perfect for the both of them..." Jay bit down on the handle of his spoon and then grinned widely at Kai. "I know just the place—my parent's junkyard!"

Kai blinked, caught off-guard. "Jay, I'm not marrying Lloyd in a junkyard—"

Across the table, Cole's face finally unfused from his plate long enough for him to shout, "Will there be cake? I'll definitely come if there's cake!"

"Always thinking with your stomach, right Cole?" Jay snarked. But the Earth Master chose to ignore him, much to Jay's disappointment.

As the others continued to conspire Lloyd and Kai's wedding, loudly describing each lavish detail — "Lloyd should wear all red so Kai can wear all green... and there should be dragons!!!" Jay contributed while Zane added, "Kai should put Lloyd in his lap and ride in on one to the ceremony" and Cole piped in, "And there should be triple stacked cake afterwards!" — Kai's ears picked up shuffled movement in the hallway. He sat up straight. Wu and Misako were out getting "vital" supplies like flavored tea and herbal medicines — old people errands — and they weren't expecting anyone else to come calling. It could only be Lloyd.

Getting that sensation he got whenever he was about to be cornered, he felt himself start to panic. "Guys, if you don't shut up now, I swear I'll send every single one of you to the Cursed Realm," Kai hissed out. "I don't even care if we're on the same team — you will all be banished for your crimes. This conversation is over."

But, of course, cause everything and everyone hated Kai, this was the exact conversation Lloyd chose just that moment to walk in on.

With a short glance around to the other ninja, he came into the room and a crushing silence followed as they all tracked him with their eyes. He walked casually, carrying a bowl laden with an excessive amount of Cole's chili (which wasn't that bad but it also wasn't that good either, so Kai felt Lloyd had filled it to the brim subconsciously) and settled down in his usual spot to the right of Kai, slowly lifting his spoon to his lips…. Lips that were twisted up in an unmistakable smirk, the one Kai knew and adored so well, that he loved to bite on — but right now, seeing the way it melted away the usual prim and proper princely beauty of Lloyd's face into the wild rawness of the conceded brat he really was, all Kai could think was Lloyd knows…. He's been listening in on the whole thing!

"What's all this about cake?" Lloyd asked, oh so innocently, as if he didn't know already, and Kai kind of wanted to manhandle him right then and there for being such an unyielding brat.

But before Kai could say or do anything to grab at any sort of control over the conversation, Jay leaned in closer to Lloyd, conspiratorially settling his chin into his cupped hand like he was about to tell the world's greatest secret. With a hauntingly straight face he said, "Only that Kai can't keep his eyes off yours."

… And then everything kind of blew up in Kai's face.

Nya and Zane burst out laughing and Cole let out a bellowing huff before slapping Jay across the back so hard the Blue Ninja's face almost landed in his uneaten bowl of chili (Kai wished with his whole heart that it really had). Jay glared briefly at Cole but then the Master of Earth said, "I guess that's why they call you the Master of Shocks! That was a good one, Jay."

Pure pride swelled the Master of Shocks' chest, making him look just like a puffed up little blue jay — which he technically was… though Kai could barely register the humor of it as sticky hot embarrassment exploded inside of him.

"Oh wow you guys," Nya finally managed to gasp as she held her sides, like she could fall apart from the delicious humiliation of it all. She wiped at her eyes, choking out, "Look at Lloyd's cheeks — they look like cherries!"

Lloyd's mouth was pressed together tightly, and his cheeks were definitely a deep scarlet that Kai took some satisfaction in seeing, but he knew his own cheeks were probably just as red and burning twice as hot.

And of course Jay would point that out. "Guys, check out Kai's face — he's burning up!"

"Oh the irony," Nya giggled.

"Red ninja indeed!" Zane chimed in with a grin that practically spilled off his face. And in that moment, Kai had never been more certain in his life that he was surrounded by traitors. Enemies.

Kai ground his teeth together and finally managed to squeeze out some sort of response. "You're all banished."

The other ninja, minus a cherry-colored Lloyd, started laughing again as Kai sat there, gripping the edge of the table and plotting revenge. Only Cole made any kind of move towards redemption, leaning closer to both Lloyd and Kai to say, "You know we're just teasing you two… We're really happy to see you making things more official. And just so you know, I would love to be there for you, even if there no's cake for me."

"You do know the whole point is so that Kai gets to keep the cake just for himself, don't you?" Jay smirked.

Before Kai could set fire to either himself or Jay, Cole turned to the Blue Ninja and smiled. "Don't worry, sparky, I'll make sure to claim a cake for myself too," he said, and proceeded to reach over so he could grope Jay's ass as the smaller ninja let out a high-pitched squeak.

"Who's the Master of Shock now?" Zane grinned as Jay started choking.

Nya pursed her lips and said, "Really? Right in front of my chili?"

Kai moaned and buried his face in his hands as the entire table descended into chaos. But it died out quickly as Lloyd stood up, his face unreadable, that silken smirk of his erased from his lips. As Kai peeked up at him, he couldn't help but feel… reverent. Lloyd was strong, and fierce, and brave. And more than that… he was the magnet that kept them gravitating to him, to their destiny. Their fates were inexplicably tied to his for the rest of their lives. They all shared a bond deeper than mere friends: they were each other's counterparts and focal points and homes.

And nobody was more at home with Lloyd than Kai.

"Kai," Lloyd began, and Kai felt the air rush out him as soon as Lloyd turned those ember-bright eyes right on his face. "Do… do you really want to marry me?"

Kai's heart was pounding far too fast. It felt like the adrenaline spark right before a battle. "Of course," he managed.

The other ninja were finally fully silent, their eyes wide and watchful. Feeling bold, Kai pushed away from the table and stood right in front of his boyfriend. Then he sank to his knees, his eyes never leaving Lloyd's, and swallowed. "You know that all of us are bound to you, and all of us would protect you with our lives, just as you would do for us. But the bond I share with you runs even deeper. I promised you that I would protect you, and that I would follow where you lead me, that you could always rely on me, so I would like to ask you now… Will you let me follow you forever? Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, will you marry me?"

In all that time, Lloyd and Kai didn't look away from each other. The others remained blissfully quiet, but there was a current of anticipation coursing through the room.

It felt like an age before Lloyd cleared his throat and said, "Of course I will.... Someone has to keep my cake away from Cole, after all."

Kai groaned but found himself grinning anyways. "You're insufferable," he told Lloyd and pushed up from the floor.

"That only means you're even more perfect a match," Nya pointed out from Kai's side, but she hugged her brother tightly, patting him on the back. They both knew how much this meant to him...

Lloyd and Kai returned to their places at the table and tried to resume eating normally, but they kept glancing over to each other until Jay scoffed and said, "You two, honestly, go get a room."

"Quiet, sparky, you'll get yours soon," Cole winked and Jay started to protest.

"If you think I have any interest at all in a dusty piece of rock like you—"

"Yeah yeah," Cole waved him off. "Keep pretending, bluey."

Lloyd laughed and reached over to offer his hand for Kai to hold. Kai took it gently, and didn't miss the way everyone stared at their joined hands, their fingers twining together.

"No matter what comes in the future, we'll face it together," Lloyd promised Kai, and they felt each other's pulses jump at his words.

Kai nodded, soaking up the way the light hit the pale gold of Lloyd's hair, making it look just like a glowing halo. This boy would be the death of him, he just knew it. He couldn't help the smile spreading across his face. He raised a spoonful of chili towards Zane, Cole, and Jay and gave his best unhinged grin. "The future looks bright for you and me both, but right now I say we take these three down for being so obnoxious," he suggested and Lloyd grinned too, wild and full of fire, just like Kai.

"What?" Zane sputtered. "I didn't do anything!"

"Wait!" Jay cried out. "But we helped you propose to him, Kai!"

Lloyd snorted while Kai rolled his eyes. "Sure you did," the Master of Fire said, then launched the first spoonful at Jay's surprised face.

"Food fight!!!" Nya cried, pounding her fist on the table before she upended her entire plate on Kai's head.

Kai gasped, shaking sticky shrimp out of his hair. Reaching up, he felt the clingy, pasty sauce of the dish matting his once-immaculate spikes, and he shrieked, "GET HER, LLOYD!"

With a roar, the table fell into chaos again. As the ninja threw handfuls of food at each other — except for Cole who sat there lamenting the waste of it all — Lloyd and Kai looked at each other and smiled. Everything that they had ever done, all that they had ever faced and clawed their way through, had been worth it for moments just like this. With a laugh, Kai leaned in and kissed Lloyd in front of everyone, not even caring to keep anything concealed anymore.

He didn't even care when Nya shouted, "Gross!" and splashed the rest of her water on them. With a smirk, he pulled Lloyd closer and set a palm to the boy's back to dry out his clothes.

"You know," Zane said afterwards, as everyone settled down. "Someone has to clean all this up before Master Wu returns."

"Not me!" Jay was the first shout.

"We will," Lloyd said calmly, volunteering an unwilling Kai before he could protest. "We started this after all."

"They had it coming," Kai argued but stopped when Lloyd cast him a sharp look.

"You said you'd follow wherever I lead," Lloyd reminded Kai, then smirked his signature smirk when Kai let out yet another groan.

"Alright then," Kai sighed. "Lead me to the dishes."

"Get used to this," Jay said smugly. "This is going to be married life for you from now on."

Cole stood up from his seat and brought the rest of his plate down, shrimp-first, on Jay's head. "And this is going to be married life with me," he promised the Master of Lightning and walked away smiling.

"Welcome to the family," Nya said to Lloyd before standing up from the table.

"Can't be crazier than my family," Lloyd called after her, then turned to Lloyd. "Well, let's get cleaning."

Kai sighed melodramatically but didn't complain. He had promised to follow Lloyd wherever he lead him, even if it was just to another mess to clean up. So he smiled as he knelt down to pick up pieces of dinner from the floor with Lloyd. He wouldn't have traded it for anything else.

[enbysiriusblack]

au where james pays for people to pretend to be his friends and one day he hires remus lupin. as they go to parties or the theatre or cafes together, remus honestly starts liking james and actually wants to be his friend, enjoying this second/side job for the first time. they meet sirius at some fancy gala who instantly clicks with them both and then begin to hang out more at events they see each other at. remus quits his job as james' acting friend, wanting to be actually friends. james doesn't realise that and instead ghosts remus and hires a new fake friend- peter. they still meet sirius at various functions, who questions remus' disappearance but james brushes it off that he's just busy. then sirius hires a plus one to piss off his parents and remus shows up. to an event james and peter are also going to. drama ensues. it ends in all four of them playing a very dramatic and slightly violent version of monopoly where peter wins by cheating and sirius eats the paper money when he loses.

[sunnysideoflucie]

Okko co-produced Viimeistä päivää, right? And the yellow album was released in 2019? So he would've been like 17??? (Yes, he's a co-producer, he wasn't the only one producing, but still)

[stardust-vi]

Dumb ramble but I hate that you can't critique The Thing you love within a fandom space without some dude breathing down your neck like "Well actually that means you hate The Author and The Thing! And what about all the times The Author did this Good Thing? Checkmate, liberal." as if you can't be critical of something because you love it and want it to be better.

[familyofpaladins]

I finally got out my laptop again and pulled what I had written previously for my Youngest Leo Au, and so I can finally just copy and paste what I had written about the turtles dynamics/personalities once they were back with Splinter. (@sonderquill this is for you, I knew i had stuff about it written on my laptop and why I took forever to actually that part of your question)

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a link to the post describing my Youngest Leo au (which is also just my own iteration of the tmnt) and a lot of the back ground for the au.

TLDR (but really check out the other post for a lot more detail) is that, when the turtles were little (like 7 or 9ish years old), they got taken in by shredder, who they thought was a friend of splinter. Shredder wasn't always super nice to them and got even worse after shredder thought he had finished Splinter off. Mikey is the oldest, but doesn't focus well, so Shredder dismisses him as stupid. Raph is next oldest, but has anger issues and doesn't like listening to shredder. Donnie is super smart, but doesn't talk and therefore can't communicate well with others often. Leo is the youngest and easiest to scare into submission/actually get him to do what shredder says. After a couple/few years with shredder, they manage to escape with Splinter who is actually alive. Except Leo, who Shredder then takes to japan for about a year. Leo eventually gets back to his family.

And the rest of this post is how the brothers interact with each other after this (and a little speculation about what they would have been like if they HADN'T been taken by shredder). This... may have gotten a little long (between 1k and 2k words?) so im going to go ahead and put it under a cut

Once ALL turtles are back home. It’s an adjustment period. Leo spends some time trying to make sure that Splinter always stays happy and begins to panic is something happens that could possibly upset splinter. (because leo fears punishment, and that he or his brothers will be hurt like they would have been with shredder) Now splinter would never hurt them or get angry like shredder did, and logically leo knows that, but the stress Leo endured (especially when it was just him) has made him anxious and it takes a while for Leo to relax. But he gets there eventually.

They all still end up defaulting Leo to be leader, because he still knows their strengths and weaknesses best. Mikey still doesn’t like large text books and sitting still too long, but now that he’s out, he’s much more likely to sit back and relax and chill out. Pranks his brothers a lot. He is a big reason that Leo gets to calm down. He gets Leo to laugh and pulls pranks on everyone and demonstrates that no one is going to get seriously hurt as a consequence. (Mikey makes it a personal mission to get Leo to laugh at least once every day, or at the very least smile)

Once everyone is back together , Donnie really opens up and almost doesn’t ever shut up when he gets on a roll. His brothers love listening to him, even if 90% of it goes over their heads. Seriously, after years of not hearing Donnie speak, they will always happily listen to him. Sometimes he thinks too much and leo helps direct his thoughts. Leo asks him for help the most on solving problems during missions.  He gets to make things exclusively for his brothers like jet powered skateboards and jet skis and communication devices and cloaking technology to hide their home. Once he meets April, she gets him more into chemistry, and Donnie occasionally supplies Mikey with stuff for pranks (like the “elephant toothpaste” stuff) but only when he knows it’s not going to possibly ruin any tech/ or furniture.  

It takes a little while for raph and leo to work out that Leo isn’t trying to be mean/patronizing when helping with training, and that Raph would rather figure things out on his own, but that also he has always cared for all his brothers including leo. Once they find their groove, they almost become inseparable. Can often find them out patrolling together or sparring. Still get in fights over the stupidest things. Raph still gets angry, but it’s not a constant frustration like when they were at Shredder’s. (Shredder had been also purposefully trying to get Raph to be angry a lot, so that he would eventually be like a raging beast he could unleash on his enemies.) Splinter helps to teach Raph better (read: ANY) coping methods for his anger, and so his bouts of anger are far less often and over quicker.

Random fun fact. As the eldest brothers, Mikey and Raph are the ones the brothers go to when they're scared. Go to Mikey when its a silly fear and/or you just want to be cheered up. So when Donnie has a nightmare about all his technology either falling apart or turning against him as a giant computer spider monster or something, he goes to Mikey who doesn't make fun of him and is like "well all we'd have to do is drown it in water duh. When Leo has a bad time after trying to work on his fear of heights, Mikey just makes jokes or talks about something else until he calms down. (or if Leo gets stuck somewhere high because he's too scared to move, Mikey helps distract him from the heights and to look at other things instead). And when Raph gets scared by a bug that managed to get in his room, Mikey doesn't make fun of him, and just scoops the bug up and takes it away.

You go to Raph when you want to feel protected. Raph is the strongest one of them all, and has won most of the fights he's been in. So when Mikey gets spooked by a pile of clothes that looked like a person standing in a dark corner and now every shadow might hold something, he goes to Raph, because, while he knows there's probably nothing there, if there IS, Raph will be able to fight whatever it is. When Donnie is scared that the foot or other villains may get past the security he has guarding their home, he goes to Raph, because Raph will beat up anything that gets past Donnies tech defenses. And when Leo is afraid that Shredder or [redacted] is going to come and take him away again, he goes to Raph, because Raph has promised that he'll never let that happen, and Leo believes him. And big tough angry Raph has a soft and squishy heart, so he will always let his brothers stay with him when they're scared. Because he WILL fight against anything that threatens his brothers.

Their dynamic as teens:

*Listening to some bad guy monologue-ing *

Raph, whispering to Leo: what’s cognizant mean?

Leo: I…. I’m not sure. Don. What’s that mean?

Donnie: Cognizant: to be aware of or in the know of something.

Mikey: Guess Raph and Leo aren’t very cognizant of word definitions hahahaha-

BONK.

Raph: Shut up Mike!! You didn’t know eitha!

(Villain: Hey!! You're supposed to be listening to ME-)

So yeah, leo is the leader because that’s what they were used to and got good at while under the care of the shredder. If they had stayed with splinter its possible that Mikey would have lead, being the oldest, but also possible that he still wouldn’t have wanted the role/ wouldn’t focus well enough for the role. But he does know his brothers well and might have grown more serious. But since the shredder often wrote off his inability to focus as a lost cause, he happily lets Leo make decisions for him during missions. (at home though with things like dinner and movie nights, he likes to pull the oldest brother card to get what he wants lol) .

Raph being one of the strongest fighters could have argued for role as leader, but regardless of being with shredder or splinter he is a hothead and probably would still have not gotten leadership position. Although maybe with splinter he would have been able to work through some of his anger better, and channel it better and could have maybe stepped up as leader. But. As is, he never really worked out how to focus his anger with the shredder, and so there is a little bit of an adjustment period where he has to learn ways to channel his anger and frustration when he can’t just go and beat up the random foot goons in the training room anymore. (probably meets casey this way when he sneaks out to find bad guys to fight and runs into casey instead). Splinter does try to teach him some ways to cope that don’t involve beating people up. Knitting /crocheting is one of those ways (taking the time to MAKE something instead of destroy. And also yarn won’t break like pottery or glass or wood or a painting canvas if it gets punched in frustration).

Donnie is probably the least changed by his time with the shredder. He would have been talking a lot more and sooner had he been with splinter. Donnie did get to have access to more diverse technology tho and perhaps has more skills and experience because of it. Being with Shredder made him very anxious and was often close to a break down from stress, but being able to work in the lab simultaneously made it better (got to work on technology) and worse (never knowing what his work was going to be used for). Donnie is just relieved to no longer have to be building things that were going to hurt people and can now make things to help instead. Donnie really shines once he’s free. Makes friends with April (and leatherhead) he babbles and info dumps all the time, and gets lost in inventions and data, that his brothers often have to snap him out of. Could not lead because he’d get lost in the calculations and what ifs.

Leo actually has a similar problem. Often gets caught in a Do this and face possible consequence, or do That and face a different consequence. Which is better? Will he regret it? Which saves his family and which dooms it? <- this gets amplified during the time he’s alone with the foot. Once he’s back with his brothers they help to push towards decisions (with Raph’s hotheadedness jumping in anyway, Don’s analysis, or Mikey’s fun impulsiveness/instinct.) and that they’ll be there to work through whatever the consequences are anyway, because they’re in this together, good or bad. Brothers forever

[meownotgood]

Can I ask what your ✨Aki journey✨ was like? I’m a Aki girlie but you clearly love Aki more than any blog I’ve ever seen (purrr) When did you start becoming interested in him? Was it an aHA moment or did it develop over time? I’m really curious!!! What inspired you to start this blog? I live, laugh, love backstories 🫶🏾❤️‍🔥

YES I would be so happy to answer this!!!!!!!

so before I read chainsaw man, I knew next to nothing about it, I wasn't really a manga reader in general to be honest but I started getting into it because I wanted to get caught up with jujutsu kaisen after finishing the anime. when I did, I really enjoyed jjk, I wanted to read more manga and a friend suggested I read chainsaw man because it's similar. I was like okay... a lot of people are into it... it looks cool... why not.

and when I started reading and I got to that third chapter and I saw aki... I literally said to myself: yeah, he is going to be my favorite. because he's exactly my type — the suit, the hair tied up so it's long and pretty when he takes it down, the SMOKING??? THE PIERCINGS????? I thought his hair was silly but adorable, his personality was stern but quirky and likable, his kon power was so cool. he was just so cute and hot and definitely my type of character.

but really, even though aki was always my favorite character from the start, my obsession truly began when I finished the manga. aki's arc is just so good... I fell in love with him the whole way through but especially after the manga was over... I loved watching him grow as a character, he just feels so real and relatable personality wise and story wise. he's immensely flawed but kindhearted to his core. he's so human. I love how he's emotional and soft and the conclusion to his arc is genuinely my favorite thing in any piece of media ever, it's so bittersweet and compelling. (and I'm a mess for that bittersweet shit okay)

anyway after I read chainsaw man for the first time I was feeling a mix of emotions between "wow that was the greatest thing ever" and "what the fuck did I just read" but more than anything I yearned for more aki, and so I read it a second time almost immediately after, and then the aki brain infection just grew worse and worse.... was screenshotting every panel of him... I read it a third time... a fourth time in the colored version to collect more panels......... I started my blog over a year ago to post fanfic and rant about aki and the rest is history

[acaciapines]

help now that i finished toh daemon au i keep thinking about deltarune again.

IM JUST. DESS RAISES KRIS AU OKAY like this isnt to be mean to my old stuff for the most part i like the deltarune stuff i've written but. but i had to write all of that to come to Here, where for my versions of the characters dess raises kris au will be the Peak.

also i get to finally finally FINALLY explore susie/ralsei/noelle like i know its just me in this corner and it literally only works in my specific stories i like to tell w these three (particularly ralsei lol) but. but I Am Looking. okay.

[bawdy-booster]

Urgent Gifts

“Ssso what do you think of my gift?  Very pretty, don’t you sssay?”

Xaria stared in awe at the serpentine spirals flowing out of Syla’s eyes.  They had come out to see their lamia date out on the beach after receiving a frantic text earlier that evening, but when the human had arrived, Syla seemed much calmer, if a bit nervous.  “I know it’sss not that urgent,” she'd said with her usual smile, “But I found the perfect gift for you today and I jussst had to ssshare it with you.”

And what a gift it was.  Rhythmic pulses of pink and yellow shone out from her eyes like dazzling spotlights, cutting through the night sky and ensnaring their delightful pastel colors directly into Xaria’s mind.  They hadn’t expected such a hypnotic display, but Syla was a lamia, right?  Wasn’t this one of their abilities?  They didn’t know.  All they could think about was those beautiful colors that just made them want to keep staring into Syla’s beautiful eyes.

The human let out an empty, fulfilled sigh, and Syla giggled with delight.

“I know, right?”  She smiled with a toothsome grin, “All my datesss are alwaysss at a losssss for wordsss whenever I ssshow them my eyesss.  I jussst knew I you’d love them, too!”

Syla’s words sounded right as they rang in Xaria’s ears.  Her eyes were truly wonderful, like nothing they’d ever seen before.  Bright yellows swarmed over her mind like shifting sands, only to just as quickly be swapped out for pretty pinks that etched lovely whispers of desire into their thoughts.  Xaria hadn’t been sure of it at first, but they knew now only one thing; they loved it.

“Oh! And you know what I think you’ll love even more?”  Syla practically couldn’t hold back her glee as, like a powerful tide sweeping in from the sea, waves of golden scales descended upon Xaria with needy fervor.  They snaked and twisted around their limp body, inching in close with a squeezing grip as Syla held her catch like a toy she just couldn’t let go of.  “I know you were eyeing my coilsss back in the cafe, thinking about what it’d be like to let yourssself be taken up in their sssqueezing embrace.

Xaria let out a moan as Syla’s coils squeezed once more around them.  They bathed in the lamia’s presence, staring into those captivating eyes as they let their body get washed over by coil after coil of golden scales, binding them to a cocoon of serpentine affection.

Syla made everything else in the world feel so irrelevant.

[armand-dearest]

Walter acting all guarded and awkward when Gus invites him round for dinner, HELLO get OUT of my way straight boy I have a beautiful older man to service top for, MOVE

[the-kiarah-organisation]

Here have a random sketch I did

Desmond: So this is my brother..

Layton, who was in the middle of something (probably): Wh-??

My hair is fun to draw actually, even if I barely know how to draw a braid. Anyway, don't you just love being the older sibling >:)

[funkylittlebats]

I've been writing more again recently and I've been rereading some of my old stuff and I kinda wanna share some of it. But first,

I'd also have to come up with a tag for them so they're all searchable (to the extent that you can search tags on tumblr)

Here's a cute bat for your time

[love-songs-for-emma]

i was on zillow today, fantasizing about being able to live somewhere, when i came across the listing for my childhood home. it wasn't active/being sold, but it was on there with some pics of the interior. and my GOD. THEY MADE HER UGLY. THEY TOOK HER RUSTIC PUSSY OUT. WHAT THE FUCK