#dont mind the adjacent tags

[rawberry-preserves]

I know someone else made this post but I wanna throw out my own options!

[alien-enjoyer]

part two to this post

More skins i like and think we should talk about more (extended edition):

This grian mcc skin

Thornling Jimmy

Bad Boy Joel

This False MCC skin (or any where she’s got the high-waisted shorts really, they all look awesome. This specific one reminds me of E!False though)

Red Nosy Neighbour BigB

Last Life red Cleo

Wilbur’s orange vest (recommended by @pattonflowerinnit666 but I heavily agree tbh)

hatsune sneegku

this niki nihachu skin

[irradiatedsnakes]

reading the dnd comics that build up to the release of bg3 (the legends of baldur's gate idw series) and in the one about the fall of elturel into avernus there is a fucking awesome crew of hell-pirates riding mechanical land-boats headed by a one-eyed mind flayer and it's the single coolest thing ive ever seen

[rhythm-tengoku-gold]

Reminder:

As you put your computer to sleep remember to give them a goodnight kissy on their screen because they deserve it :]

[hauntingofhouses]

OH I was JUST talking to @fuukonomiko about this the other day!

Basically it's my reading of this that Mizu saw themself as the man on the right (who is clean-shaven, more youthful/feminine and softer in appearance, resembling a wakashu, and also more similar in appearance to Mizu themself).

That would then put Taigen in parallel with the man in the middle (who, it's important to note, is a samurai whose skills Mizu had admired and been impressed by, earlier in this same episode; and this is notable because in the episode right before this, Mizu genuinely complimented and admired Taigen's swordsmanship in a similar way).

So in this scene, the samurai (Taigen) turns away from kissing a woman (possibly paralleling Akemi), to instead kiss the man on the right (Mizu).

Seeing this, Mizu is reminded of their own desires and attraction towards Taigen, thus implying that Mizu sees a chance that Taigen would want them the same way that samurai wants the wakashu-like man.

Thus, in conclusion: gay samurais, your honour ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

what did they mean by this?

[strawberry-lychee]

self-care night w/ simon

self-care, charcuterie, and movie night with simon <3 he literally doesn't care what for dinner as long as you're for dessert!! tags: a little nsfw, but mostly fluff and loving on simon, i wanna appreciate the quiet moments you get with him <333 a/n: i dont think i've written fanfic since i was 17/18 but my current hyper fixation is ghost and so the brain worms need to come out

'girl dinner~ girl dinner~~~ giiiiirlll dinner~~~~' you sing to yourself, laying out slices of a freshly baked baguette, prosciutto, brie, strawberries, and other delectable little treats along the long cutting board.

youre at simon's flat right now since he's on leave and you both want to spend every second together that you can!! while simon was at the gym, you went to go get snacks for a movie night in together!! you had big plans to stay in and do nothing!! you weren't sure if everything you had planned was really simon's thing but you loveddd a little self-care night and you know that if you love it, simon's always game to play along (he's so sweet to you like that!!)

simon comes out of the bathroom, fresh out of the shower. his hair's still a bit wet and he's wearing a soft worn black t shirt and matching black boxer briefs. it takes all your willpower to not be a horny little shit and start something right now. "'m ready," he tells you.

"ooo yay!!" you cheered, excited. you had specially requested that simon let you do his skincare after showering.

he watches you gingerly setting the charcuterie board on the coffee table. he notices that there's already a glass of whiskey waiting for him. there were also two wine glasses sitting on the table adjacent to a pink wine bottle. and everything was sitting on top of these ceramic coasters you picked out and painted as a surprise for him during one of your first dates <3

simon watches you bounce over to him. you've already changed into one of his shirts and some little shorts. he's undressing you in his head as you take his hand and guide him back into the bathroom.

the corner of his lip quirks upwards as he lifts you by your waist onto the bathroom counter so you can have easy access to his face. you slide to sit closer to the edge so simon can stand right in between your legs.

your toiletry bag was already sitting on the counter. you dig through it pulling out tiny bottles of toners and serums and moisturizer. simon listens intently as you explain what each one does. you shake some toner onto your plans and massage it into simon's face. he closes his eyes and leans into your touch, content and safe. sometimes his mind wanders off to other things -- chores he still needs to get done, if his mom and dad were ever like this, flashbacks to the mission he just completed -- but your soft touch brings him back to the present. simon sits and revels as you work through each step, gently and lovingly massaging the potion you've brewed especially for him into his face. into the scars lining his jaw and cheeks. into the wrinkles of his skin from hours of stress, of laying in the sun, scoping out his target, of fretting about why you're still here, with him.

simon's resting his hands on your thighs, and he gives them the gentlest squeeze. it's a silent reassurance to himself -- that you're really there. with him. the prettiest bird he's ever met is in his little flat welcoming him home from deployment. he still doesn't understand how or why there's a soft spot in your heart for a brute like him, but he's learning to stop questioning it. he's learning that maybe he does deserve you after all. maybe simon does get to be happy.

"almost done~, just gotta do some lip balm next" you chime. simon grunts in acknowledge, his eyes still closed. he can't see anything, but he hears you pull out something else from your toiletries bag. you unscrew it, a moment passes, and simon barely registers the scent of strawberries before feeling your lips press up against his.

simon contently moans into the kiss, thinking about the passionate sex you two had last night... and this morning and right before he went to the gym. he raises his hands to firmly brace your hips against his. before simon has the chance to start nipping at your lips, you pull away and say, "all done!"

you even take a finger to swipe some excess lip balm off the corner of his mouth before you giggle and slip off the bathroom counter, absolutely aware of the effect you have on him. you love being his little minx <3

you walk over plop down on the couch and smile at simon, patting on the seat next to you, inviting him to join. for now, he ignores the growing tent in his boxers.

as soon as he sits down, you scooch up against his side and he raises his arm to wrap it around your shoulders. as you rest your cheek on him, simon feels a warmth creep up inside. you two fit together like pieces of a puzzle. before meeting you, what did he even do while he was on leave? this is the most at ease he's felt in a long time. the long lonely nights of sitting by himself on his couch, trying to figure out what to do next are in the past.

you turn to plant a kiss on his shoulder. there's a part of simon that preens under the ample attention you shower him with.

"you wanna try a bite of all this?" you asked. simon knows you're talking about the charcuterie board you put together, but he's thinking about something else he'd like a bite of 👀 👀

simon doesn't even have to give you a verbal response, he just opens his mouth and you slide in a delicate little bite of baguette and brie with a drizzle of honey on top into his mouth. he chews and chews, and relishes it. simon's never been one for 'fancy' food like this, but the fact that you prepared it for him warms his heart. it's been a long time since someone's made food for him. simon nods thoughtfully and takes a sip of his whiskey. "that's fuckin' gourmet right there," he says.

you giggle again. "im so glad you like it!!" you say. it sends a chill down simon's back.

oh, he could get used to this.

[candieduranium]

my intro post

i guess it’s about time i made one of these

(why does this have so many notes???😭/genuine)

long ass intro oml

last updated november 5, 2024

•my name is micah but i also respond to furcata and rover

•i use any pronouns except it/its. other than those, i genuinely do not care what you use for me

•im a minor

•i am a christian. i do not force it onto other people. please respect my religion.

•i make mistakes on my blog (accidentally deleting things, unbalanced polls, etc.) from time to time so please excuse if i make some errors. trying my best.

•my tag for my original posts and reblogs that i add to is “micah’s owlposting” even for stuff that isn’t owlkin-related. i have to retroactively tag my old posts with this tag so keep in mind that not all of them are tagged! i will update this post when i finish tagging.

•i am an american barn owl therian, vernid othermidst, machinehearted, and pigeonhearted.

• i am a quadrobist. i started in april of 2024.

•usually the things i post are about my alterhumanity but i also post golden texts my friends and i send each other along with some other stuff. sometimes in my posts there are mentions of sex and (mild?) sexual themes

•im also a furry. furry ≠ zoophile

•my favorite music is by greta van fleet and umbrabyte. i also just enjoy vocaloid in general, too. in fact, the original purpose i had for my blog was just to keep up with umbrabyte and her content better. here’s umbrabyte’s spotify:

•my favorite aesthetics are cybercore, mizuiro/ tenshi kaiwai, vaporwave, and rococo

•my only definite dni is if your blog is focused on nsfw, has sexually explicit images, or unsafe for minors in general. we can interact if you are in a basic dni (zoophile, radqueers, etc) but i probably won’t interact with you as much as those who arent in the dni.

•i am pro endogenic and i do not tolerate attacks on endos

•haters will be blocked unless i find them especially funny.

•im up for chatting about whatever whenever so just shoot me a dm if you feel like it (sfw, obviously)

•my hobbies and special interests are drums, classical latin, fursuit making, cosplay, and illustrating

•i’m very interested in learning how to make vtuber models and customize ball-jointed dolls

•my main fandoms are umbrabyte, tloz, pjsk, and tadc (i know some these fandoms are known for having /crazy/ and problematic fans. im not one of them)

•i have a 4 year old black cat named dumpling (i post pics of him sometimes) and a 17 year old dog named stella. i hope to get a couple of oranda goldfish someday

•i dont have a set posting schedule. i post when i post. but i generally like to stay pretty active and try to post at least once per day.

•i follow anyone who interacts with my posts positively when im not in their dni and theyre not in mine and their blog isn’t completely default/blank this is now false. i have just learned that the maximum follow count is 5k and i am already above 4k. there are too many of you for me to follow you all😭

•some random and useless stuff about me: i have mild-moderate trypophobia and a deviated septum, my favorite color is orange, i LOVE creme brulee, and my mbti is antp-t (a for ambivert)

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

mild eyestrain warning ⚠️

how the fuck does this have so many notes??😭

vent-ish/vent-adjacent warning ⚠️

here’s a copypaste from another of my posts regarding my posting schedule and status:

hey folks, i may not be posting as much going forward because my father put my email on a lifelock account, which means that he may be alerted each time i log into my tumblr account. i use tumblr on the website on safari and i frequently log in and out because im anxious that my parents will check my search history, but they very rarely ever do. im testing if they get alerted right now by logging in to ao3 and c.ai, two websites that my parents likely wont be opposed to but would tell me and ask me about it if i got an alert. deleting my account is a last resort, but it is still on the table. this change is indefinite. i have backup plans in case my parents do get alerts from lifelock, but nothing is definite. i may continue on just fine, i might not. just giving y’all a heads up in case something does happen.

tl;dr my account may be discovered by my parents and i may be punished, maybe it wont. we’ll see

and does anyone know for sure if lifelock does send alerts about logging in tumblr accounts? please dont lie to me.

my mental health is hinging largely on my tumblr account and im praying sososo hard that i wont lose all of you wonderful, amazing people. this goes for the folks i have dmed and the ones i havent. but anyway. i love you all. thank you for the time youve given me, even if it wont be for much longer.

and heres another post copypaste:

hey folks i dont know if im gonna be posting for a hot minute because im at band practice rn but im gonna have the biggest fucking argument with my mom when i get home😍 i might get my phone taken away

so basically what happened is i told her im depressed and she blew me off and didnt believe me. she also did some other stuff. i may go into greater detail at a later date.

im sorry if this discomforts or tr_gg_rs anyone but i wanted to give an explanation and warning just in case i stop posting and interacting on tumblr

thank you all for being so wonderful, truly. i hope i can get my situation sorted out quickly and remain active.

i’ll probably update this post later on since im sure there’s something i forgot. check back with me every once in a while and i might have some new content on this post

thanks for reading 👍👍

[ukegenius]

content warning : yapping about my opinions on billford and the abuse involved uh oh ! i have thoughts

i be feelin like the only person who doesnt like billford when its portrayed as romantic or whatever i like seeing the aus of "reformed bill" but they dont feel like bill cipher it feels like a triangle who JUST so happened to also be named bill like girl thats oc x canon

i dont know i dont think me personally can see billford as anything other than yaknow what it is , it is an abusive past relationship romantic or not and its funny seeing reformation aus or aus where bill has to live with the pines family because personally if my abuser got sent to live with me id be stuck in a dissociative state for that entire fuckin time he was there 😭😭

i dont like billford in general ( this will get me shot probably ) ( edit : i dont HATE billford i dont mind seeing it , since its so popular what can u do but i personally dont ship it , at least not shown as non toxic yada yada and idm billford shippers UNLESS ur a weirdo strange weirdo then i hit that block button anyway back to post ) i only think portraying billford works IF you do it with the "toxic" (aka abusive) aspects and yaknow pre betrayal as people call it aka when ford found out bills true intentions i dont post much billford but the literal 2 times i posted billford which wasnt even intended to be shipped/ship material i just tagged it as that because they are both there i portayed billford in an almost creepy evangelical light because thats how it felt to me

billford as a ship TO ME is deep devotion and obsession rather than "oh he fucked that triangle bruh oh my gosh" billford genuinely disturbs me and i like exploring those disturbing parts when i even feel like making something billford adjacent

i feel the same about any bill shipping because ion think any of them can go good but you do you idgaf ship whatever

[iknowicanbutwhy]

Rating: General Audiences

Relationship: Siffrin & Loop

Characters: Siffrin, Loop, (others show up but they're not there for long)

Additional tags: in fast and food, fast food au, depression, self-worth issues, questioning one's humanity... in a different way, POV second person, unreliable narrator, it's loop how reliable can you expect them to be, actually they do have mind-reading powers in this one. so they cant be too far off, setting is not france-adjacent or vaugarde, homelessness, suicide ideation, afab loop, but check this out, amab siffrin, universe decided to get silly with it, loop/isabeau but its not major enough to warrant a relationship tag. if that changes though..., the stress and disappointment of everyday life mixing terribly with your thoughts of self worth, and making you drift from your friends, self-isolation, chat did i make loop silly enough. i dont spot enough tee-hees

Summary:

Not bad but not good but never good for long but never rock bottom. A cycle that just keeps going keeps getting tighter keeps constricting around you burning hot like sunburn from a shrinking spotlight until you're stuck center stage and you can't move. You can feel them pressing around you the harder you try to ignore them. Your friends. If you raised your eye, would you do it at just the wrong time - would you find them looking at you? You don't think they even want to see you, really. They just can't seem to leave the blinding stage, just like you can't. You need to move. You need to do something other than stay here. Passing over the spotlight.. might be the only way you can make yourself disappear from it.

[cygnusdoesthings]

Case File 081: The Unmasking of the Aussie Anon

(Catalogue by Det. C. DoesThings)

Case Description:

On July 12th, 2024, 0108 (AEST), CygnusDoesThings received a message from an anonymous asker, claiming that they were Australian. CygnusDoesThings then proceeded to try to figure out the identity of this Australian Anon- often shortened to Aussie Anon.

From there, multiple people have joined the case as we have investigated.

This is a long post. You have been warned. It may be a little overwhelming. I will reblog this post with status updates.

Investigators:

@cygnusdoesthings (Codename: Cyg or Cygnus) as Lead Detective

@igotthisaccountunderduress (Codename: Iggy or Rosie) as Assistant Detective

@quotidian-oblivion (Codename: Quo or Quotidian) as Lead Investigator, Organizer, and Catering

Involved Suspects and Identities being Interrogated;

@brb-on-a-quest (Codename: Birb) as scribe,

@walkthruthewords (Codename unknown) as Birb's Mutual (Adjacent Role: Lawyer)

@gracefulchristiangirl (Codename: Gracie) as informant.

Jury Members (If you wish to not be involved, feel free to message me and let me know!)

@auroraofthesun1 (Codename: Aurora)

@book-girl4eva (Codename: Bea)

@thomasstaples (Codename: Thomas)

@myfairkatiecat (Codename: Katie)

Suspects Ruled Out (or not): (unless proven guilty)

Katadastical (Australian, Cyg's Mutual) (i think i got a message from her or smth, not her)

dsabian (They/Them). Has been following along most posts. Just I think likes observing (tags).

MispeltNostoglia (Australian, Cyg's Mutual) (Lack of Activity)

Iggy (Being Canadian) (And this)

foursixtwonineoh-pieces-of-lego (Evie) (Fitting Criteria)

ah0yh0y (Fitting Criteria) (Denial)

ko1e (Mutual, Australian) (Hasn't done Anything on Tumblr. Like. At All)

its-stairs-time (Stairs) (Aussie Quo Mutual) (Unlikely)

the-echos-error (Echo) (Aussie Quo Mutual) (Unlikely)

foineswoine (Pigeon) (Aussie Quo Mutual) (Unlikely)

godsenther (hasn't responded lmao)

brb-on-a-quest (Birb) (Still a Major Player) (but unlikely to be culprit)

gracefulchristiangirl (Gracie) (Still a major player)

periwinkle-the-11th (Codename: Peri). Has been following along, and has been online at the exact times of the anon asks. I have not yet pulled her into this investigation, but it is worth keeping an eye on her. (American.)

Assistants: N/A.

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

Anon Asks so Far

Original. The catalyst. If you want to see how this all happened, this is a good place to start.

Unrelated (Anon 2). Thank you for the well-wishes.

Mysterious Anon Maybe That I'm Just Realising Probably Was The Red Herring. Birb sent a reblog that outlined that we missed a red herring. My theory is that we missed this.

Anon Mentioning The Involvement of Gracie. This is... Incredibly suspicious. Gracie has inserted herself into this case (btw i totally do not mind, we have fun here), and has brought to our attention.. several other suspects.

Gracie In Disguise (Evidence: here)

Matching Fish Posting: Birb, Quo, Cyg, Walking. Fishy Anon is not innocent; but also not necessarily Aussie Anon. We need to find out who they are. (I'm pretty sure it's Gracie.)

Informant, possible code anon. Focusing on the capital letters. Code yet to be deciphered.

(right in front of you) (Binary Anon)

Series of asks, from an unknown (presumably) The Original Aussie.

Series of asks from the original Aussie Anon. Focusing on the capital letters. Code yet to be deciphered. Knows my status on discord. Possible leak.

1 (Do people lie on the internet?)

2 (A Fan of Fans)

3 (Well-Wishes from An Anon)

4 (Akabura Western Hats)

5 (Straight Shootin’)

6 (Are Hints the Norm?)

7 (a swing and a miss.)

15th July, 2024 asks:

1 (Along the Way)

2 (Still Figuring it Out?)

3 (Blind)

Binary Anon and Binary Anon Poem

Jury Anon

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

Suspects:

Birb. Sent by someone to give us a red herring. Who sent (i dont know what your pronouns are) Birb? They at least have possibly connections to whoever sent the message, and we would love to know who did, under what circumstances, and, most of all, how to contact them.

Update: Birb is the Red Herring Anon, and the Sending Information anon, but not the Aussie Anon. Evidence.

walkthruthewords. A mootal lawyer. Is kept in the loop, but seems.. suspicious. Met with cooperation, but passed the blame to Gracie.

Update: Involvement as an mooterny only.

Gracie. Possible ally. Will need to interrogate further regarding fishy anon asks and the ask about who she tagged. But.. very suspicious. Multiple people involved with the Innocence Ask have pointed to her, as well as the Fish Ask itself.

@godsenther. Has not yet responded. Aussie. Recently made a personal Tumblr account. Is in the server I posted updates to. Knows me on Discord. Can be cryptic as hell.

And one other.

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

Current Process of Investigation (outlined by Quotidian):

interrogating birb about the details of the red herring

investigating the mutuals who are most likely to find cyg's post

Go through the notes of each of the unmasking posts and see who interacted and interrogate them

Try and lure kindly convince the anon to send another ask to one of us

Beg the Aussie anon to give us a hint

Drop to our knees and surrender ourselves to the nimbleness and cleverness of the Aussie anon

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

Interrogation and Progresses

> Detective Thread 1: Process

> Detective Thread 2: Decoding

> Detective Thread 3: Anons and Identities

> Interrogation Room 1: Birb (With Walking as a mootual lawyer)

> Interrogation Room 2:

\The Final Confrontation:

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

Anon Identities

Aussie Anon

Red Herring (And Fishy#3) Anon - @brb-on-a-quest

Advice Anon @mayamohini

Fishy Anon- @gracefulchristiangirl

Fishy Anon #2 (Possibly also the Jury Anon) -

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

Last Updated: 15th of July, 2024, 6:55pm AEST, by Det. C. DoesThings.

(Thanks for joining the fun. If you want to clarify things, I'm CygnusDoesThings on most platforms, but Discord is the easiest way to reach me.)

.

.

.

CLASSIFIED ADDENDUM FOR CYGNUS ‘ONLY’

> One: Suspicions of my Teammates. (~1pm, July 14th, 2024 AEST)

> Two: Clear of Suspicions & A New Suspect. (~5pm, July 14th, 2024 AEST)

> Three: Thought Process and Private Journal (6:40pm, July 15th, 2024 AEST)

[hermes-development]

]hamlet hello, curious minds

this blog documents the ongoing effort by me to shackle HERMES, an NHP also known as specimen USB-17-23-C, and return it to its former personality, using very little professional equipment or tools.

no, you can’t know my name. call me Ham/Hamlet.

i will probably post off topic often, mostly about prefall culture (an obsession of mine). you can ask me anything, and if i don’t answer its because im on a job and someone won’t give me the fucking omnihook (im taking whatever work i can do at the moment, which sometimes involves fucking off to who knows where in a giant metal spider apparently) (I could also not answer because i dont want to).

tags are as follows:

#HERMES for stuff about HERMES.

#not HERMES for whatever isn’t.

#hams life for my life

#prefall culture for that

i think that’s it

he/it but i doubt anyone’s going to be talking about me

if you’re with union fuck off

(ooc explanation below)

hi! this is me (Medea she/her) here to tell you the true real actual deal with this blog

it is me being in character as my lancer oc Hamlet (its callsign), aka Pierce Flickin. it is trying to find stable work, and has banded together with other pilots to find work ( he also lives with them) he is ll7 and pilots a swallowtail, running basically whatever I could find to support sitting on a Lancaster and locking on a shit ton, plus technophile for fairly clear reasons. it’s currently hiding from union because of reasons related to the aforementioned reasons, as well as his last steady job. he is truly obsessed with human society predating the fall (our era and a little more), especially literature, but he gets a lot of stuff wrong. it switches between weird highbrow language and informal net-adjacent speak when he gets tired of keeping up appearances tags

#ooc <-everything out of character will ohave this

#ham speaks <-for when he speaks

#HERMES <-same as the in character explanation

#not HERMES <-see above

#hams life <-see above

#prefall culture <-see above

I'll also use generic tags for lancer and such that I won’t list here cause that sounds boring

if you wanna talk to me (Medea) then send an ask and say you’re talking out of character or use my name to address me, hopefully i’ll get back to you

[sitsonatable]

⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚ PINNED !!

hi ! im ninh, im a digital artist and infrequent streamer

he/they + ne/it |⋆| 17 |⋆| viet-american

i mainly reblog on here but i also frequently blog about doing school work! its like a motivation/accountability thing :3

𖦹˚⋆ TAGS:

#ninhblogging - original text posts (not school related)

#ninh(re)blogging - reblogs

#ninh study time - tag for studyblogging

#ninh study time prep - same as above but not really main stuff

#finished study threads - full threads without all the little updates bc i like looking through them :D

⋆.˚𖦹⋆. MORE ABT ME!! + BYF / DNI ↓↓↓

𖦹˚⋆ before you follow!

im a minor ! i dont mind older people following/interacting tho :D

i block freely and like to curate my space on the hellsite :3

i don't tag bugs, weed/alcohol mentions, or blood, i will if needed!

i often need (and use) tone tags

i sometimes post abt recreational thc/cbd usage

i liveblog a lot while doing school work

i sometimes overshare abt my life (esp while liveblogging)

i like a few complex or problematic ships but dont like to associate with the pr0sh1p community bc obvious reasons

𖦹˚⋆ interests (bold r things im very ill abt /pos):

baldur's gate 3

d&d

interview with the vampire (2022)

the magnus archives

malevolent (podcast)

my chemical romance

fall out boy

dungeon meshi/delicious in dungeons

alien stage

chappell roan

vocaloid

hozier

my own ocs

my friend's ocs

just role with it: riptide

ranboo, slimecicle, and jerma

𖦹˚⋆ DNI

basic dni (racists, homo/transphobes, sexists, ableist, etc etc)

support/neutral abt incest, pedophilia, zoophilia, and similar/adjacent stuff

ED/SH blr

i dont mind if you're a ns fw acc, just dont follow please :3

radqueers/tranx/transid supporters/neutral

anti-mogai/xeno/neopronouns

dteam/wilbur soot supporters/neutral

𖦹˚⋆ EXTRA BLINKIES!!!!!!!:

[eliluminado7]

im writing my broad opinion on AI art now that im on an autistic tangent about it. im kinda cooked from yesterday so sorry if i dont make much sense

my issue with (serious) A‎I art is not because of moral or ethical implications arising from the technology itself, but rather from the general userbase itself. like i believe most of us can fucking tell if something's ai generated when we see it right. Bear in mind i said serious AI art. you know i love a good sei‎nfel‎d screenshot of je‎rry and kra‎mer going into the void or geo‎rge dressed as a coss‎ack

anyways generally speaking the kind of people generating those serious illustrations are all either 1. recycled nftbros 2. porn freaks or 3. children. And im gonna be real i do not like that kind of AI art even if its just a harmless illustration of a pokemon or whatever. to me it feels like those ppl are either kids who i Do Not Think should be on the net, or basement dwelling deviantart incels who are like 'Computer generate se‎xy gard‎evoir vo‎re infla‎tion fe‎et pics'. the kind of people who wouldve had no problem stealing others' art. just sayin.

well actually theres a fourth category and those are companies and public institutions that use AI art (often as some sort of money laundering scheme, if i may add) and those are the ones ACTUALLY hurting artists because You See you could be actually hiring someone instead of using fucking midjourney or bing. this is a very common practice here in spain even if it ends up looking like literal shit, see:

also theres this yearly art contest in either val‎encia or cata‎lunya where ppl submit illustrations of snails and this year's winner was a very blatantly AI generated pic created by some turkish individual who is rumored to not even exist. its a rabbit hole but looking up bedhiran akagündüz (or, likewise, rubén lucas garcía) should set you on the right track

Now let me be clear: i vehemently hate anti-ai luddites and picrew fandomites and ive always been very vocal about this. and quite frankly im tired of the moral panic steeming from anything AI-generated as if it was the antichrist!!!!! you all just sound reactionary as fuck. AI art is certainly not stealing from you and the only exceptions to this rule are very very very blatant copies, and you almost never see those unless were talking about nft-adjacent ponzi scheme websites. would you consider collages theft? music samples? AI just draws "inspiration" (for lack of a better word) from the illustrations that it is fed because its like a tabula rasa and it needs knowledge, just like us human beings are inspired by other people's artstyles. the end product is something that doesnt even look similar to the data it is fed because it is an amalgamation of different styles that create something unique. is that theft? be for fucking real

this stupid myth about the brutal energy consumption of AI art generation as well as the whole ‘did you know that every time you generate one picture youre wasting an entire bottle of water????’ argument... im sorry to say none of that is true. ai isn't even the most water-intensive sector if we're comparing it with other industrial sectors like petroleum/coal factories or wineries or paperboard mills. training datasets IS resource-intensive but its normally a one-time process, inference (which is what you use daily) is not any less efficient than looking something up on google for example:

this whole 'carbon footprint' bullshit that has been sold to us is just a tactic to divert attention from the actual polluters which are corporations like coca-cola or exxon or bp. You know this you get your praxis from this website.

regarding the whole 'AI is theft' argument, im just going to share these tags that someone left in another post i made:

like a clear example of anti-ai panic actively hurting artists is the backlash that oka‎me-p, a voc‎aloid artist, got for using AI generated illustrations as the ACCOMPANIMENT for his songs:

and to be honest this is a huge problem regarding western voc‎afans who often have the emotional maturity of a peanut. youre so so so hellbent on demonizing others just for using a technology that is widely available to everyone, that youre willing to throw them under the bus and delegitimize everything they do just because it hurts your feelings well im not going to fucking stay quiet about that

who do you think youre talking to you stupid fucking bitch. god this person makes me so mad.

Anyways my point is: ai is like acupuncture; just like the latter can be used to treat or alleviate different ailments but it cant completely treat cancer like modern medicine would; AI can be complimentary, but it can NEVER replace actual labor. its merely a worktool! its merely meant to automatize daily tasks!!! its not your enemy i promise. Ok im tired of writing goo buh buh

[c0smicallyk1ssed]

hey chat i just wanna emphasize i do not care how you interpret my art of hms, see them as siblings? cool i dont care, see them as being in a romantic or platonic relationship? cool i still dont care, i do not care about jashshipping ive been in fandom spaces long enough to know shipping will always exist no matter what HOWEVER there are times especially in the vengeance au where i imply a non-platonic or familial relationship between characters, please know i see ALL of my versions of hms as pretty much ocs and have entirely separated even whole from being chonny jash, please do not get upset when i post less ambiguous art of hms, you do not have to interact with it nor do you have to continue following me! you can simply ignore it instead of harassing me (which a lot of people need to learn to do surprisingly)

in vengeance au jupiter (mind) and sirius (soul) are very implied to be more than ‘just friends’, they were canonically together (albeit secretly) if i post art of them PLEASE do not tag it as siblings or anything related. NONE of my versions of hms are blood related and never will be. as i personally do not like that headcanon, and no that is not me hating on or attacking people who do headcanon hms as siblings!

all i ask is that people are respectful of my wishes on this account. obviously ill put a cw on every jashship adjacent post as i know many are uncomfortable with the topic! just know i have been in many fandom spaces and could really not care less about jashshipping or really most shipping discourse

[plothooksinc]

If you’re still taking prompts for the No Rest For The Weary adjacent fic, can we see the guys’ first trip back to Hueso’s pizzaria? With or without April and Mayhem tagging along?

Also, I just found the series and binged it in like 2 days

I'm glad you enjoyed it, anon! Because I can't shut up, you get the weeks preceding it too-- (Note: if the formatting is wonky I apologise but my first attempt to post it took every single space out, hngngngn) Niño idiota: >> aww dont sweat it bm ill be back to dazzle your customers soon!!   

The message came in at lunchtime, and he didn’t see it until the rush had been and gone.  Hueso scowled down at it as if Leonardo had personally insulted him and tossed it into the corner of the kitchen.  Their first day re-opened was chaotic, with many customers seeking a sense of normalcy or not having access to their usual haunts—he’d like to say he was thinking of them by reopening so quickly, but in all honesty, Hueso was a businessman (and previously a pirate to boot) and knew the best way to recoup his loss from the enforced closure was to take advantage of the mess.  That it was also an excellent way to take stock of who had come through the invasion unscathed had nothing to do with it, of course.

He didn’t get back to his phone until late in the evening, having fielded a number of annoying encounters along with customers over-ordering pizza like the invasion was just taking a brief intermission—and dealing with Hop, who timidly called him to make sure the ‘crazy lady with the knife’ was nowhere in evidence before he dared to front for his shift—and by then he was exhausted.  But Leonardo had messaged him again—with a nonsense string of kissy faces and hearts followed by a row of question marks, and he sighed.  A five year old’s need for validation, honestly.

Hueso: >> 💀💀💀✨✨

The boy seemed like his normal self.  He told himself it was less of a relief and more of an annoying reminder that his break from seeing one of his most destructive customers-slash-temporary-waiters was destined to be a short one.  He should take advantage of it while he could.

He didn’t hear from Leonardo again.

Days later, he attempted a call and found the phone was out of service.

He was not worried.  One of the boys would surely come by for pizza now that he was open and he could make polite inquiries.  Asking after a customer’s health was permissible.

(Michelangelo had said he was recovering.  The phone was purely a coincidence.  Leonardo had merely forgotten to pay his bill like the irresponsible boy he was, or he had been using it before being cleared by doctor’s orders and the phone had been confiscated with great prejudice by his brothers.  That was all.)

--------- 

He did not see a single turtle in his restaurant.  

He did, however, hear from someone else; a phone call that took him by surprise, coming in on the main delivery line and asking to speak to the manager.  He came to the phone already annoyed, anticipating some complaint of my pizza is cold, or your special mystic sauce is flirting with my roommate! (It wouldn’t be the first time.  Sometimes his ingredients were very fresh.)

“This is Senor Hueso and I am busy,” he said curtly.  “Your complaint had best be of a suitably drastic nature.”

There was silence for a moment, and then a woman’s rueful voice.  “Ah.  Welp.  You weren’t a hallucination after all, huh?”

It took him a moment to place her, and then Hueso blinked and retreated into his office, closing the door behind him.  “Mrs O’Neil?”

“Just Carol’s fine,” she said.  “You, uh… I’m just trying to ground myself?  A little?  Things have been weird.”

“And so you decided to call the skeletal owner of a mystic pizzeria to feel normal again,” he said drily.  “I see. It makes perfect sense.”

“You’d be surprised.  Listen, I have two reasons to call—I know you’re busy so I won’t keep you tied up.”

He found he didn’t mind, actually.  It was rare that a human willingly associated with the yokai, though it spoke volumes that the two humans he’d found that would do so were related to each other.  “Go ahead.”

“First was just to, uh, touch base?  And make sure you got my message, and—I meant it.  You helped out a lot.”

“You are welcome, Senora.”  He nearly added any time, but frowned and thought better of it.  Hueso did not wish to encourage anyone to rely on him.  That was foolish.  “And the second?”

There was a brief pause.  When she spoke again, she sounded almost sheepish.  “...yeah.  Uh… it’s another stupid question, probably.”

“Of course.”  He braced himself for another inane question about skeletons.

“Yeah.  Does your, uh… pizzeria… even though we’re human, um—”

He blinked.  

And then, almost against his will, he smiled.  

“Senora, that is a stupid question.  Kindly remember all the times my employees have delivered to your daughter.”

“Oh, thank god.  Or...whatever you guys believe in—”

“Quit while you are ahead, perhaps.”  But now he was outright amused, leaning back in his chair.

“Yeah, noted.  Okay.  So some more spicy chicken…?  Two, I think.  We’re at a hotel right now, will that be a problem?”

“Not at all.  I will pass the order on to the staff.”  He hesitated.  “At a hotel?  Your apartment is a lost cause?”

“For now.  April’s, uh, friends?  Are paying for us to stay here, and I guess they’ll give us the all clear. Hopefully soon.”

Ah.  Sometimes it did, in fact, pay to ask sociable questions.  He leaned forward, voice rising eagerly.  “You have met her friends? The—” Turtle boys.  He stopped himself from saying it, because in all likelihood she had not met them and, annoying though they may be, that was a secret he would keep.

“No.” She paused, and then added shrewdly, “But April is staying with them, and I’m sure she’d have said something if they weren’t doing okay.”

He wasn’t sure April would have said anything at all, actually, given how tight-lipped she’d been on the topic of both mutants and yokai.  But knowing that she was staying with the boys did give him some level of reassurance that they hadn’t just vanished from the face of the earth.  

“Gracias,” he said anyway, and reached for his notepad.  “I had lost contact with them, so was… curious.  Tell me your hotel and room number and I will get your order ready.”

--------- 

His delivery girl came back with a hotel business card in one hand, Carol’s mobile number scrawled on the back, and a brief message:

Just in case. I’ll ask April about them in the meantime xx Carol

Well.  That certainly was an offer.  A perceptive woman, indeed.

He tucked the card into his business card book, face down so the message was hidden.   

--------- 

Perhaps Leonardo was avoiding him.  

The idea filled him with annoyance.  He also knew it was extremely unlikely, but he far preferred this irritating potential reason over anything more serious.  Hueso let himself believe this for a day and a half before he had to acknowledge that, foolish though the boy might be, he would not avoid the pizzeria just because Hueso had made a comment about an extra shift to pay for damages.  He would own up to it, if only to make childish comments about how much Hueso could rely on him and filch extra slices of garlic bread when he thought nobody was looking.  And potentially cause even more damage, because that seemed to be par for the course these days.  

The thought made him smile faintly-- until he realised he was very close to daydreaming about Leonardo accidentally trashing his pizzeria, and he nearly snapped poor Hop’s head off when he fumbled a serving a few moments later.  What a ridiculous thought.  (And he was annoyed at himself, not the staff, so he made sure to let Hop leave a few minutes early as an apology.)

Perhaps Leonardo had attempted to open a portal while concussed and had accidentally stranded himself in some remote farmstead.  That seemed as likely as avoiding him.  Or he had been portal jacked by pirates, and any moment now Piel would open the door to his restaurant and drag the turtle in like some waterlogged kitten, draped in seaweed and clinging to his ridiculous sword and wearing both those ridiculous eyepatches again, good grief what had the boy even been thinking (clearly he hadn’t been) and Leonardo would beam at him and launch into a tale of all the mermaids he’d met and flirted with until Piel dropped him mid-spiel and stormed out again.  

Perhaps he had quite deliberately portalled his family to Tahiti this time to recover in luxury.

...doubtful.

Perhaps…

Perhaps he was thinking about this too much.

Hueso put it aside and went to serve the family of googlyschmootzes that had just arrived and didn’t think about it again.

For a good twenty minutes.

--------- 

He broke.

Hueso: >>Buenas noches, Carol.  Could I ask if you have any word? >>This is Senor Hueso.

Senora O’Neil: >>Evening!  I will see what I can do.  I’m sure they’re fine.

-------- 

They were not fine.

Carol did not text him.  But the following evening, his waitress Gloriana knocked on his office door to tell him that one of the turtle boys had arrived and was asking for him, and he barely let her finish before Hueso was moving past her and through the kitchen at a speed a little too risky for an area full of sharp implements.  

April was at his front counter, peering listlessly at one of the menus, and he took a moment to observe just how tired she looked before he took in the hunched bulk that was Raphael slouching next to her, and he froze.  He already knew April had been injured—had seen her arrive with her face a mess, knew about the attack—but it was the sight of the large snapper that made him feel the first unfamiliar touch of… anger.  

Fear.  

Raphael’s arms were thoroughly bandaged, swathed above his plastron and neck, and his eye was covered in a patch that made him think nonsensically for a moment, ah, so it was pirates after all.  But it was the large chunk missing from the curve of his shell that horrified him, the sight of a near miss that was far above and beyond their usual shenanigans.

They are children, he thought.  This is too much for children.

If Raphael was the only one to visit him, how badly off were the others?

He did not ask.  Instead, Hueso regarded them with a face he hoped was impassive, and tugged the brim of his hat down slightly.  

“I see life has not been kind to you lately,” he said.  “I hope you do not think this entitles you to a discount.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” April said politely, but the knowing smirk that curved onto her exhausted face warned him ahead of time.  “Especially as we’re not here for pizza.”

...ah.  Carol had ratted him out.  Very rude, considering he had not once mentioned he was concerned.  He flicked his gaze to Raph, who gave him a wan smile of his own, blinking slowly with his one good eye as if he were considering going to sleep right there at the counter.  

Hueso sighed.  It wasn’t the end of the world.  

“I suppose you had better come through to my office.”

--------- 

April’s nose was newly bandaged and her bruises were that particular array of colours that always arrived in the process of healing.  That was something, at least, though Hueso couldn’t help but note the smaller bandage patch behind one ear.  She had been hurt more since he last saw her.  Perhaps they all had.  It made him fret over Leonardo’s last message and out of service phone all over again.  

“My doctor insisted on checking it out, but it’s all healing well,” she said, taking the mug of coffee from him. She was sitting on one edge of the worn couch he kept in his office, slouching against its side with a carelessness that made him wonder how long it had been since she’d slept well.  Raphael was taking up the rest of it, sitting there with his hands clasped on his knees and clearly trying not to fidget.

“I did not ask,” Hueso said levelly, and held out another mug to the turtle.  He didn’t seem to notice.

“No, but I ain’t blind,” April retorted.  “Mikey’s right, you are a big softie.”

He sighed.  “A terrible slur upon my reputation.”

“Sure it is.” She grinned over the rim of her mug, and elbowed Raph in the side, who started and then finally noticed Hueso’s outstretched hand.  “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us.  Right, Raph?”

“Right,” Raph said automatically, taking the mug.  Then he blinked.  “Wait, what?”

Dios mio.  Hueso raised an eyebrow.  “Raphael.  How long has it been since you slept?”

“Uhhh…”

The fact that he trailed off and frowned spoke volumes, and Hueso sighed again.  Well, he hadn’t been fooling them anyway.  Or, at the very least, he hadn’t fooled April.  He turned on his heel and went to the cupboard. “I assume your mother asked you to stop by.”

“You assume right,” she said, relaxing back with her coffee.  “Guess I’m doing a proof of life tour today.  I checked in with her, she asked me to follow up.”

“I see.  I feel you should have left this one home to sleep.”  

Raph frowned at that.  “Yeah, well, this one thought April could do with company.  It’s been a, uh, week.”

That gave him pause.  “Does this ‘a, uh, week’ begin before or after the zombie attack at the O’Neil apartment?”

“Man, don’t ask him to count days at this point,” April said wryly as Raph took on a more confused expression.  “Just assume things have been chaotic as hell since the day the sky opened up and rained bubblegum on us.”

“Such a misleading way to describe an alien invasion.” Hueso snorted, hiding his worry.  Not that it seemed to matter with this company.  “That almost sounds cute.”

“Never had bubblegum in your hair, huh.”

Hueso served her with A Look.  “In my clearly bountiful hair?  No.”

Then he threw a blanket from the cupboard across, hitting Raph in the face, and pointed.  “You, nap.  You.” To April. “Tell me what has happened, and why Leonardo’s phone is out of service.”

Raph blinked as the blanket slid off his face and landed in his lap.  “Wait, it is?”  And he started to fumble for his phone, until April put a hand gingerly on his shoulder.  “April?”

“Yeah, uh, it’s okay,” she said, eyes wide.  “We didn’t know it was out of service, but it makes sense.  I remember the last place he had it.  I think Leo needs a new phone.”

That was at least vaguely reassuring that Leonardo was alive and in need of technology somewhere, but April’s dancing around the point only served to irritate him.  “You are both very tired, it seems, if you did not realise before now.”

“Yeah well, you try dealing with two invasions in the space of a week,” April shot back.  “Leo’s phone getting eaten is kind of less important than, you know, Leo himself.  And Mikey.  And everyone losing their freaking homes and—”

And Raphael put out one of his giant hands to settle her back on the couch before she could get to her feet, grimacing faintly at Hueso, and he put up his skeletal hands in a gesture of apology.  

“I did not mean to imply any stupidity,” he said faintly, reeling a little at the sheer amount he needed to unpack in that small rant.  “I am merely… concerned at how exhausted you are.”  There, now he was being honest.  What was the world coming to?  He didn’t know where to start, so he started with the most bizarre.  “His phone was eaten?”

“It wasn’t me,” Raphael muttered, and April broke into a laugh before she could help herself, slapping a hand over her mouth.  

Hueso texted a message out to his kitchen staff and took a seat, feeling far more brittle than he had a few minutes ago.  Teenagers.  Very tired teenagers.  The laugh had sounded less amused and more borderline hysterical, so when he spoke again, he was as gentle as he could be.

“Perhaps you ought to start from the beginning.”

--------- 

Gloriana knocked on the door ten minutes later with a platter of cheesy bread sticks and spicy meatballs.  By then, April had finished telling him about the attack on the lair, Agent Bishop’s involvement and mistakes, and Leonardo and Michelangelo’s rescue.  The mention of Bishop would have set his hair on end if he had any; he was familiar with the man, given his restaurant straddled the line between the Hidden City and New York, and there had been harassment before certain rules were put in place and Bishop promptly lost interest.  

Raphael had fallen asleep during April’s spiel, and she had tucked the blanket over him without so much as a pause and carried right on, and the practised move was doing something unfortunate to Hueso’s emotions.  Or perhaps that was just the realisation of just how terribly things had gone after Leonardo’s last message to him; how close the family had come to tragedy.  

They were children.  

(Also, Leonardo’s phone being eaten by a possessed train was nowhere on his spiralling bingo card--)

He took the platter with a nod of thanks and closed the door, sliding it onto the coffee table in front of them.  April needed no encouraging and snagged two breadsticks with the flash of a grateful smile.  He sat and politely let her wolf them down before he spoke again.

“They are all right now?”

“Mikey just overextended himself and is sleeping it off,” she said, and he wondered how much of an understatement that was.  He did not pry.  “Leo’s… not doing great, given the timing, but he’ll be okay with time.  Might be a while before he’s back to pester you, though.  Or take any shifts.”

“I will somehow manage without this added disruption in my life,” he said with a straight face.  He was partly relieved; mostly, however, he was quietly calculating just how hurt the boy must be to be gone for a while.  To be taken straight from a hospital bed before he had a chance to recover-- “And you say both of these aliens are now dead, yes?”

“With extreme prejudice,” April said with satisfaction.

“I am sure my customers will be relieved to hear the danger has fully passed, then.”  He sipped his tea.

“Oh yeah, sure.” She grinned at him, snagging another bread stick.  “And I’ll let Leo know you were worried about him.”

He frowned at her over his cup.  “You will not.  He is insufferable enough as it is and I will confess to nothing.”

“Hmm, I dunno…”

“I can still charge you for those bread sticks you are eating.”

“Man, you think my silence can be bought?”   She waved at him with the bread stick in question before biting it in half, and he sighed.

“I was under the impression humans were easily corruptible, yes.” 

“Oh, we totally are.”

The O’Neil women were definitely going to be headaches in his life, weren’t they.  Hueso found he wasn’t particularly annoyed by that fact, but he made sure to sigh again.  It gave him an opening in any case. “Would you like to take some food home with you?  The family must surely be quite exhausted, if they are all dead on their feet like the two of you.”

“That would be amazing and my lips are sealed,” April said sunnily.  “Only can we get stuff that isn’t pizza? We kind of, uh, wanna hold off on that for a bit.  Long story.”

Odd.  But he didn’t care enough to question it.  She had overloaded him with enough stressful exposition already.  “I will put together some other options.  It...may take a while, if you care to rest until it is—”

A green hand landed flat on top of the meatball pile, and they both jumped.  And watched as Raphael grabbed a full handful of meat and shoved it into his mouth, chewing slowly before letting out a snore and sinking back into sleep again.

Well, then.  He was beginning to understand why Raph had defended himself about eating phones.  

“Does he do this often?”

April cackled.

--------- 

Mayhem was in his kitchen.

Having a staring contest with Hop.

Hueso counted to ten.  And then tapped the rabbit yokai politely on the shoulder, pretending he didn’t see the boy jump more than strictly necessary.  “You have work to do.  I will deal with the interloper.”

Hop nodded vigorously and then took off the front counter, stumbling over his own big feet on the way out the door.  Hueso sighed.  And took his place, staring down the tiny yokai with the most unimpressed look he could manage.

Mayhem stared mildly back.

“I am going to put together some pasta and burritos for the Hamatos,” Hueso said finally.  “When I am done, kindly make sure it gets back to wherever they are staying and deposit the two in my office directly into their beds.  Then I will consider us even.”

Mayhem tilted his head as if he couldn’t possibly know what Hueso was talking about; as if the little sneak hadn’t dumped humans in his lap not one week before.  His tail dipped off the ledge he was sitting to wave dangerously close to a pot full of bubbling mince.

Hueso pointed a finger bone at him.  “Do not threaten me, pequeña mierda.  I know where you came from.”

Mayhem stuck his nose in the air and turned away.  But his tail curled around him obediently and his ears twitched back.  

Just so long as they were agreed.

--------- 

April was snoring on top of Raphael when he returned.  He took a picture, careful to cut Raphael out of the shot, and sent it to Carol.

Hueso: >> You told her I was concerned.  A lie and a terrible betrayal.

Carol’s response took a while in coming.  He wondered if she was laughing at him.

Mrs O’Neil: >> Which is it? 👀 A lie or a betrayal it can’t logically be both 

Hueso: >> We will have words about this later.  For now, I am sending your daughter home to bed.

Mrs O’Neil: >> Gracias, Senor.  

--------- 

Knowing the family were okay did set his mind at ease somewhat.  His restaurant seemed much quieter without the turtles coming through, but it wasn’t as if Run of the Mill was a picture of serenity without them.  Not with his customer list including mob bosses and smugglers and the occasional pirate, but largely his customers knew very well to treat his restaurant with respect and cause no issues (providing, of course, he did not double-book certain parties ever again.)  

Life settled into some semblance of normal over the next week as the invasion became more distant; for the majority of the yokai it had been merely a source of hushed gossip, trapped as they were quite safely in the Hidden City’s lockdown.  (Hueso was under no illusions.  If the invasion had not been halted on the surface, the Krang would have found them all eventually.  He kept that to himself.)

Carol messaged him some days later, minutes after closing, and he glanced down at the message and couldn’t help his faint huff of amusement:

Carol: >> YOU DIDN’T SAY HER FRIENDS WERE GREEN >> also thank you for the complimentary cheesecake how did you know

Hueso: >> I didn’t say they were human, either. >> I have my ways. You can work them out yourself I’m sure.

Carol: >> A lie and a terrible betrayal!!! >> You saw the delivery address.  More stupid questions?

Hueso: >> I do not think that is the clever retort you think it is.  I neither lied nor betrayed.  I am an honest man* >> * Terms and conditions apply >> Also yes, but you are welcome.  Your home is intact?

Carol: >> For the most part.  Some minor repairs needed.  >> The boys are fine.  I only met one, but he’s charming in an awkward sort of way.  They’re coming for dinner next week!

Ah.  Hueso closed the door to his office, leaning against it, and felt… lighter.  That was promising.  In more ways than one.  If the boys were going to a family dinner, they were okay.  And Carol had met a turtle and invited him to dinner.  Truly, a unique human being.  He suspected he was going to enjoy their conversations.

(He wondered if she threatened the turtle with a knife first.)

Hueso: >> All of them?

Carol: >> As far as I know.  Does that help?  Would you like me to pass on a message?

“Like you did last time?” he muttered.  But he appreciated the offer even so.

Hueso: >> That is quite all right.  If they are well enough for dinner, I’m sure I will be seeing them myself sometime soon.  Gracias.

He saw the dots come up and vanish again, then reappear, and he waited patiently.  

Carol: >> You’re welcome 🥰

He wondered what she had been typing.  But his curiosity was only mild, and it had been a long day; Hueso collected his briefcase, checked in with the closing staff, and made his way home in a surprisingly good mood.  

--------- 

The following weekend, he woke to find she had sent him a picture.  He opened it over breakfast and promptly spat milk across the table.  

It was a picture of April, holding up her phone with a wide grin, her camera panned back to catch Donatello perched on the back of a couch like a menacing and mildly deranged vulture.  Those strange machine hands of his were extended down with markers in their pincers, scrawling on the side of a sleeping Leonardo’s face.  Michelangelo was leaning over one side of the couch with a marker in his hands but it looked like he was laughing too much to contribute, and he could just see Raphael—a much less exhausted and less bandaged Raphael, for which he was quietly relieved—looking at the camera with a grin and gesturing at his brothers, his mouth smeared with… chocolate?  That was probably chocolate--

Carol: >> Proof of life 🎊🎊

Hueso: >> A terrible invasion of their privacy.  

Carol: >> I’m innocent!  My daughter is the fiend here.  You don’t hae to worry, I didn’t say a word >> *have

If Leonardo was sleeping at this dinner, he was still healing—but clearly in safe territory, if his brothers were… well.  Being brothers.  He’d certainly woken up several times as a child to find his bones decorated in all kinds of rude messages.  Hueso grimaced at the memory and took a closer look.  

The boy had lost weight.  Not enough to be frightening; enough that Hueso contemplated whether he could get away with inflicting more food on them without the repercussions of Leonardo’s smarmy grin and assumptions.  Probably not.  Besides, he had faith that Carol would have fed them well and Michelangelo was an excellent chef in his own right.  He was not needed here.

Hueso: >> Gracias. >> Is it all right if I print this?

Carol: >> You may do with it what you like.  April knew what she was doing.

Like mother, like daughter.  The girl was a menace.  But in this case… he smiled and tucked back into his breakfast, wiping up the spilled milk with a napkin.  April was all right.  He would have to let her know that her family was welcome at his pizzeria, provided they were not easily shocked by some of his clientele.

--------- 

Carol🗡️: >> Maybe a quieter night.  Do you have quiet nights?

Hueso: >> First Wednesday of the month is Human Night Out.  It only attracts the younger yokai.

Carol🗡️: >> Sounds ominous.  Human Night Out?

Hueso: >> Wherein we hide all traces of the Hidden City and pretend we are a human pizzeria.  There are costumes.

Carol🗡️: >> ...that’s actually something yokai are interested in?

Hueso: >> You don’t have theme nights in your own restaurants?  The younger yokai are fascinated by humans.  The older… not so much.  It is quieter.  There are ‘exotic’ dishes which I think you would find fairly mundane.    The yokai would think you were just in disguise.

Carol🗡️: >> Okay that’s amazing.  Don’t you lose money though?

Hueso: >> Not when people pay a premium for the exotic dishes.

Carol🗡️: >> I detect a con.

Hueso: >> I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.  Booking for 7pm?

Carol🗡️: >> We’ll be there.  I’ll review your exotic dishes.

Hueso: >> I’ll give you a discount for your first time if you review them positively.

Carol🗡️: >> We’ll see 😁

--------- 

[unknown number] >> I know I know youve been so worried about me I amhere 

Hueso: >> New phone, who is this

Niño idiota: >> Ohohoho OUCH we gotta work on ur meme skills u did it wrong

Hueso: >> I’m sure I don’t care.

Niño idiota: >> well when u decide u do care as u inevinnev something something do its ‘new phone who dis’

Hueso: >> ‘inevitably’.

Niño idiota: >> that’s what i said >> anyway sorry i was out of touch i lost my phone??  prolly left it somwhere u know how it is >> I owe u a shift just lmk when

Hueso is typing… Hueso is typing…

Niño idiota: >> did I break u with like responsibillity want me to be an idiota just to balance things??

Hueso: >> I will not need anyone for a few weeks.  But do not think you are off the hook.  I am sure I can find something tedious for you to do. >> You are already an idiot no need to rub it in.

Niño idiota: >> u love me and u know it

Hueso: >> Debatable.

Niño idiota: >> Debatable!!!  thats not a no u no

Hueso: >> Get some sleep and learn to spell.  I am busy.

Niño idiota: >> ✨🎊👏👏😘😊😏 >> in that order or

> Read 3.48pm

Niño idiota: >> you leave idiota on read???  rude tbh jail bla bla bla >> 🥺🥺🥺 >> 😎see u soon✨

--------- 

“—get it, but I wish you’d told me before this!”  The voice was whining and petulant and very, very familiar. He felt a Pavlovian sense of annoyance rise up almost as fast as the sheer relief, and Hueso opened the kitchen door a crack to peer out.  

Sure enough, there they were.  Finally.  Leonardo was leaning against the closest booth to the alleyway portal, but he was on his feet and that was good enough.  Michelangelo was latched onto one arm and Hueso couldn’t tell if it was clingy affection or for extra stability.  Perhaps both.  Leonardo’s pout was ridiculously overdramatic, which told Hueso the boy was perfectly fine with whatever he hadn’t been told, and if he had eyes, he would roll them.  Teenagers. 

“Sorry, Leo, we kinda forgot.”  Raphael rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  The eye patch was gone with no sign of wounds beneath.  “It was a spur of the moment thing, but the kid’s never had pizza, so—”

“Nah, I get it,” Leo said, waving his free hand.  “But I’m totally complaining about this injustice for the rest of the night, just so you know.”

“Oh nooo, a surprise no one could have foreseen, however will we manage your-- oh wait, I have headphones.” Donatello, moving around them with a look of complete disinterest and his phone in his hand.  

There.  All four of them.  

Hueso breathed.  Hop had already picked up his notebook and was rounding the counter; he managed to catch him by the shoulder before Hop could get further (another jump, were all rabbit yokai so anxious or just this one?) and took the notebook from him, gesturing with his bony chin toward the kitchen.  The message was clear:  trade places.  

Then he waited until all four were seated—pretended he wasn’t paying attention to the way Michelangelo helped Leonardo into the booth—and sauntered over, the picture of nonchalance, grateful that his voice was dry as the desert when he spoke.  “Ah, my most destructive customers.  I thought it had been quiet around here.”

Donatello didn’t even look up from his phone, which was the very picture of normal for him.  But the other three did, with Raphael and Michelangelo throwing him cheerful smiles.  Leonardo lit right up with a flash of teeth in a smug grin that said he was about to say something incredibly obnoxious.  Good.  Business as usual.  Even if he wasn’t currently flailing at Hueso with his usual dramatics, which he suspected meant the boy was still sore, at the very least.  

“Bone man!”  Leonardo beamed, then sprawled in the booth with a barely-there wince, propped up by his little brother.  “Toldja it’d be soon.  Miss me?”

“Yes,” he said flatly.  “But my aim is getting better.”

Donatello snorted at his screen, and Leonardo made a face.  “Seriously?  That’s like… so old, you need to hang around someone younger with better jokes—”

“Someone like you, perhaps?”  Hueso pinned him with a look, tapping his notebook.  “You seem to have forgotten where I heard that from in the first place.”

“Memory issues,” Michelangelo said solemnly, pushing Leonardo delicately upright again.  “Concussions will do that to ya.”

Hueso raised the notebook to hide his smile as Leonardo shot him a betrayed look.  “You told him?”

“I’m sorry, was that meant to be a secret?”  Donatello glanced up finally.  “We’ve been incommunicado for weeks after an invasion and he called you while you were sleeping it off.  What do you think we told him?”

“I told him, technically,” Michelangelo said cheerfully, “But it’s okay, Leo!  I didn’t tell him anything else! Pinky promise.”

Raphael raised a hand sheepishly.  “Yeah, uh, but April and Raph might’ve...”

Leonardo’s expression flickered from surprised to guilty to mildly distressed before it settled on the sulkiest frown he’d seen on the boy yet.  “Well, that’s not fair.  I was gonna like… derail him with tales of our epic adventures and everything, and you beat me to it.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘regale’, Nardo.”  

“Derailing may still happen,” Hueso said dryly, tapping his finger bones on the edge of the table to get their attention back.  “If you intend to continue this fascinating conversation rather than order your food?”

“Hah,” Leonardo muttered.  “That’s totally what I meant—”

“Hush up,” Michelangelo said, leaning past him.  “I’m hungry.  Can I get the mystic lasagna?”

He took their orders after that, watching them carefully as they talked.  Raphael’s eye was a little red, but was tracking correctly and obviously focused.  A good sign, he hoped.  Donatello seemed utterly like his normal self, and Michelangelo was wearing what seemed to be compression gloves.  Leonardo… was still thin, and looked very tired, but Hueso had seen him far more exhausted.  There were splashes of vivid colour creeping over the top of his shell which he couldn’t help but stare at, trying to work out what they were.  

Leonardo tilted his head at the curiosity, and then smiled more genuinely, twisting slightly so that Hueso could get a better look.  “Like it?  My little brother is awesome, as usual.”

“And don’t you forget it,” Michelangelo huffed, but he was grinning as Hueso stared at the beautifully painted marigolds, petunias, and tulips winding their way across Leonardo’s shell.  

The boy was an impressive artist; not just for the careful love and detail on such an unusual surface, but the way he’d crafted his art to disguise injury.  Because Hueso had to pay very close attention to see the repair job to the shell beneath.  

The damage had been… extensive.  He’d thought Raphael’s shell had been bad; no wonder he had been incommunicado for so long.  

Leonardo’s smile shifted strangely on his face, and he sounded almost uncertain.  “What do you think?”

Ah.  It was hard to translate what Leonardo really wanted to hear.  But given the way Michelangelo had gone so far to hide this injury… he leaned back again, humming thoughtfully.  “I think the next time I would like new art for the restaurant, I should see if your brother is free.  It may perhaps be a less destructive option than waiting tables.”

Leonardo grinned in pride as Michelangelo brightened next to him.  “Really?  I would love to do some art for you, Senor Hueso!  I could bring my portfolio next time!”

“You have a portfolio?” Raphael looked confused.  “Wait, what’s a portfolio?”

“It’s a port just for me, duh,” Leo drawled, and then reeled back as Donatello threw a wad of napkins into his face.  “Hphh!”

“That was terrible and you know it.”

“It was pretty great, actually.”  Leonardo spat a piece of napkin at him and smiled lazily.  “You’re just jealous I thought of it first.”

Donatello resolutely ignored him and turned to Raphael.  “It’s a collection of sample works that illustrate an artist’s skill and range.”

...had they forgotten he was here?  Typical.  He coughed loudly, and watched them all swivel back to him attentively.  “Yes, bring your portfolio.  I suppose I am interested.  The flowers look very lovely.”  He paused, but in the end he couldn’t resist.  “Though it does make you look like you’re about to be thrown at a wedding.”

“Sounds like a fun sport,” Donatello drawled.  “Let’s get Kendra married off so we can bowl Leo at her bridal party.  If she has enough friends for that.”

“Can—can we wait until he can survive that first, Raph would like not to panic all over again—” 

“Why should Leo get all the fun?  I’m the small one, let me be the bouquet!”  Michelangelo had literal stars in his eyes.  “I’d love to be a bunch of flowers.”

“Yeah, but you can hardly paint your own back, Miguel.”

“Challenge accepted.  This bitch yeet!”

“Okay, one:  language, and two:  even Raph knows that’s not how it goes—”

“What’s wrong with yeet?”

“Leonardo--”

Maybe he shouldn’t have made the joke.  Hueso sighed heavily, and this time it didn’t stop them from continuing on with... apparently inventing a brand new hobby.  Teenagers.  But lively ones, and he would rather they were here giving him a headache than go through the weeks of quiet that had preceded this one.  

“I’ll take your orders to the kitchen,” he said, and turned on his heel.

“Hey, wait—”

There was a tug on his sleeve, and he turned in surprise to find Leonardo half out of the booth and trying to keep his balance; Michelangelo had an arm wrapped around him to stop him falling, but was still arguing with the others.  Apparently he’d lunged to get Hueso’s attention without thinking it through.  Good grief.  He stepped forward and put his bony hand under Leonardo’s elbow, gently pushing him back into his seat.

“Do not do that again,” he said quietly, and Leonardo made a sheepish face.

“Sorry.  I just wanted to, uh…”

He trailed off.  Hueso raised an eyebrow and waited patiently until he glanced away.

“Did we worry you?”

What an odd question.  Or rather, what an odd delivery.  He would have expected Leonardo to be smug, taking it as proof of their friendship, but Leonardo seemed more anxious about the prospect.  And Hueso thought back to their text conversation.  To the boy’s completely nonchalant dismissal of his silence and missing phone.

“Only a little,” he said, voice mild.  “In truth, I was more impressed by the tale.  One could say that you and your brothers acted like…”  

And Hueso smiled.  Pointedly. 

“...champions.”

Leonardo mouthed the word back in confusion, before realisation lit his face.  Hueso took advantage of the pause to move away, heading for the kitchen with his notebook, listening briefly to the conversation behind him--

“Raph!  Raph!  Hey, gimme a lift, I need to go check the Wall of Champions—”

Hueso vanished into the kitchen and passed off their order to his kitchen hands.  He only had two photos of the boys, after all.  One was still quite firmly pinned to the Maze of Death cheaters wall.  The other--

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?”

His staff shrank back; both at the yell and at Hueso’s wide grin, which admittedly looked downright unnerving on a living skeleton, he could admit--

“Omigosh we’re champions!”

“With this photo!?  YOU’RE DRAWING ON MY FACE!”

“Well, someone had to.  I, at least, look suitably championlike—”

“You look like a deranged gremlin is what you look like.  Couldn’t he, like, edit out the chocolate first?”

“I mean, it could be worse, Leo!  We could have been drawing something that wasn’t PG-13.”

“Where’s April?  I’m gonna kill her.” Leonardo was wailing.  “She sent this to Hueso!?”

Hueso swept through the kitchen and into his office, shutting the door behind him so that nobody could hear him laugh.

[4th-make-quail]

wrt the proship/antiship discourse you have posted a little about im such a believer in bringing back “your kink/ship is not my kink/ship, and thats okay” because i hate the pro/anti labels because they don’t mean anything to me. ive been told im more proship but i dont really consider myself pro anything but minding your own business. fiction does not affect me, nor does ‘problematic’ content. everyone loved GOT and that was incestuous but when someone ships something incestuous everyone is up in arms and i don’t like that double standard.

anyway, all that to say more people need to remember that people will like things that they don’t like, and thats okay! that’s your own space to curate! in the context of tvc that you mentioned, i don’t like marius for example, but it doesn’t stop me from following people who do because i like their blogs and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter, they’re having fun and i just won’t engage. no one needs to be harassed over fiction, make your own spaces and block liberally, and if people are getting really upset over these made up concepts of pro and anti then maybe they should go outside and talk to people (pro/anti discourse always just makes me think of that “online people: discourse, people irl: hey man how’s it going” tweet lmao.)

(sorry for invading your inbox a little about this but thats my two cents on things i guess.)

lmaoo you're so fucking right about the GoT comparison!! everyone i knew in my office at an old job was constantly talking about GoT and not one of them were fandom people!! also like, the sheer amount of incest-adjacent literal pornography is huge! it's a thing people enjoy to explore!! it means literally nothing about their morals lol

also re: curation, tumblr has a very robust muting system, so it's actually incredibly easy to just not see shit you dislike on here! just put that word in the muted tags/words and boom, sorted (this is what i do with ffxiv tbh cos you couldn't pay me to engage that fandom without my frankly ginormous twitter blocklist XD)

no need to be sorry either, i appreciate you! 💚💚