#drew this when it was actually going around but I guess now that the movie is out it is relevant again anyway | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yenonnoff · 6 months ago

Text

TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE! 28. what comes after heartbreak?

note: word count is 3.2k (^O^)

atsumu was face-to-face with the person he used to call his “love.” what would usually be the feeling of butterflies or warm rush of affection through his body was replaced with pure contempt. now, he only saw a witch—a girl that had insidiously beguiled him into falling in love.

atsumu was already inside the record store when he saw emma. long hair, rosy cheeks, full lips—the epitome of pretty privilege. from afar, she looked as approachable and friendly as a lily; however, get close and she might bite you like a venus flytrap.

atsumu understood why he was so charmed by her all those years ago. nevertheless, that was then and this was now. a switch was flipped the moment the two broke up, and all the sweet affection was drained from him.

one moment, atsumu was inside the record store; the next, he was sitting across emma in a nearby cafe. this was against everything atsumu stood for. however, he needed answers and he didn’t want to rush headlong into a sudden confrontation. he didn’t want to destroy his one sanctuary just because of emma.

“why are you here? how did you know i was here?” atsumu demanded firmly. a vexed wrinkle formed between his eyebrows, matching the guarded way he sat with his arms crossed over his chest. his body was completely tense. atsumu miya’s defenses were all up and his system was working overtime on full alert.

“oh, please. it’s a public place for crying out loud,” she retorted.

atsumu stared at her in disbelief, his frustration completely inflamed. “first, it was that photo you posted. now, you appear in front of me in the record store. how much more selfish can you get?”

“what? selfish?! this was the only time i’ve been back to that scruffy place filled with junk. besides, i just asked around for your schedule. today’s your break and i know you always go there to clear your mind.” she drew in an exaggerated breath, her index finger twirling a strand of hair. she continued with a scoff, “especially after everything that happened last week, i had a feeling you’d come back here.”

one thing about emma was that she always got whatever she wanted. but not here, not with atsumu.

“never come back here again. i thought i made that clear when we broke up—guess i’ll have to drill it into your brain for you to actually understand. if you don’t leave me alone, i’ll reveal every single detail of what you did during the time we dated to the public.”

emma’s eyes widened. “are you crazy? are you threatening me right now?”

that was another thing about emma: she only ever cared about herself.

“our agreement was that i keep your shamefulness a secret. in exchange, you were to never associate with me again; never message or mention me; and never step foot near the places connected to me. this included the record store. you broke the rules first, i have every right to ‘threaten’ you.”

atsumu’s body was less rigid now, but his eyes were still narrowed in earnest hatred. his disdain for emma ran deeper than anything anyone could ever imagine.

when a waiter stopped by, atsumu waved an absent hand in dismissal. “i’m not ordering. i won’t be staying long enough for a drink anyway.” awkwardness swirled in the air and atsumu could feel the thundering displeasure coming from across the table. after the waiter walked away, emma grumbled, “could you have at least saved me some face? now i look desperate.”

“funny. that’s rich coming from you.”

“listen, i think there’s been a misunderstanding. i didn’t come here intending to break our agreement. i came here because i was worried about you.”

emma’s third thing: her dedication to her cruel artifices, honing them like a mad lady. that was how she’d fooled him into becoming so disastrously lovesick. if he didn’t know better, he would’ve been swayed by her endearing concernment.

“why would you be worried about me?”

“because of the movie theater incident obviously. i recognized the denim hat you always wore, and that hoodie, it’s the one your brother gifted you, right?”

atsumu’s gaze bore into her. he wanted to laugh at her absurdity but her words had brought up another issue he’d been dealing with: you. he hadn’t been able to talk to you all week. his mind was restless wondering how you’ve been doing.

he wanted to talk to you in person, be surrounded by your warmth again and experience the fervid comfort you bring him just by being there. even now, in the disturbing presence of his ex-girlfriend, all he could think about was you. he thought about your worrisome craze for coffee, wondering if you’d like the small cafe he was currently in. he thought of all the puerile topics he’d talk to you about if you were sitting in front of him instead of emma.

“still obsessed with me are we?” atsumu asked.

to be honest, he was exhausted. he’d only come here to be alone in the record store absorbed by all the captivating music it had to offer. but no, he was wasting his time talking to a brick wall. he wished you were here instead.

emma huffed, crossing one leg over the other. “honestly, how could you be so reckless? how could you get caught with a no name actress? good thing that guy cleared things up. do you know how damaging it could’ve been to you?”

the fourth thing about emma was her shameless ideology: reputation and prestige mattered more than anything else. obviously this was all masked during the time they dated. for two years, she concealed her dishonesty and false compassion—even her friendliness and good nature weren’t real. she had played atsumu miya like a fool. and he often wondered if she ever went to sleep laughing quietly to herself while being cuddled in his arms.

atsumu rubbed the bridge of his nose. of course he didn’t realize how damaging his actions could’ve been, he wasn’t even the one getting bashed on by randoms. it seemed—similarly to them—emma also lacked critical thinking skills. she failed to see that her fans were targeting you instead of him. so while she sat here blabbering ludicrously, you were probably still dealing with crazy fans in your comments.

there was another thing atsumu couldn’t let go. how could she call you a “no name actress,” when you weren’t the one that paid your way into the industry? her comment was just ridiculous.

“never talk about y/n like that ever again. i’m serious about my threat, emma. i wasn’t the one that wanted the agreement in the first place. you’re the only one who'll get hurt if i release a statement.”

he prepared to stand when emma reached over and caught hold of his arm. he pulled away immediately, disgust written all over his face.

emma let out a defeated sigh. “wait, please. look, i don’t think we ever got the closure we needed, so i came here to say i’ve changed a lot after we broke up. i don’t do that thing anymore…”

atsumu rolled his eyes. it’s been more than a year since they separated. what closure did she need now?

“and by ‘that thing,’ you mean your habit of bribing people,” he sneered.

emma’s gaze faltered. his words had made her hesitate. “yes, i’m just grateful to director sage and his film. it allowed all of these opportunities and sponsorships to come in.”

atsumu’s hands curled into fists by his side, his knuckles turning patently white. at that moment, he wanted to scream at her. she’d learned nothing; this whole time, she barely needed to lift a finger. all those opportunities were handed to her after she paid for a role on director sage’s film. it was still bribery. she still paid her way to success.

“then what about your current role? why am i hearing people say you paid for that too?”

“what? where are you hearing that?” she asked, enraged. emma’s fifth thing: she hated being criticized and proven wrong.

“you forget that everyone in the industry hate you. staff members talk shit behind your back and actors despise your guts. even director sage hated working with you. it’s astonishing really.”

emma was too dazed to reply. she didn't know if it was true or not, but she hoped it was just an attempt to rankle her.

atsumu continued after her silence: “tell me, did you or did you not pass the audition?”

“this again? i told you, i stopped doing that stuff a long time ago!” emma groaned, tapping her index finger against the table frantically. “obviously i passed. that’s why i have the role in the first place.” her finger continued to tap, her feet flicking up and down in a similar rhythm.

“liar,” atsumu said plainly. “you’re lying right through your teeth. you did it again, didn’t you? used your dad’s money to buy the role you failed to get.”

“i’m serious!” tap, tap, tap— everything about her was becoming a nuisance. she was a disturbance to the cafe’s homey atmosphere; her honeyed voice, the one he’d once loved so dearly, had turned rough and utterly annoying.

atsumu shook his head. “oh, c’mon. you claim you’re an actress but you can barely lie to save your life. stop doing that thing with your finger and foot whenever you lie, it might help you save some embarrassment.”

“are you being for real right now?”

“extremely. so stop it, emma. stop trying to be so glorious. stop trying to act like jolie.” he scoffed in disbelief, “did you really have to stoop so low?”

he watched as her face twisted in confusion. “i know you tried copying her personality. did you know she still gets hate for it? when your quote-unquote fans noticed similarities between how you both acted, they went rampant on jolie for ‘copying’ you. you’re poison, emma. you only cause people harm.”

emma waved a dismissive hand in the air as if his words were a pest. that action alone embittered atsumu beyond belief. he could still remember how jolie felt after receiving hundreds of tirades from people online. she was torn between being true to her selfless nature or containing it. she’d chosen the latter, and it was only recently that she started loosening up again.

“i’m done. i don’t know why i wasted my time here with you. if you post another picture as a ruse to get people talking, i really am going to expose how you cheated on me.”

that garnered an immediate reaction. “it wasn’t like that!”

“right. on our business trip, in our hotel room, on our bed. who were you even fucking? some a-lister you randomly met?”

“i was drunk!” her exclamation received stares from nearby staff members. emma’s drink had been on standby for a while now, except no one was brave enough to bring it to her. they didn’t want to get caught in the heated conversation, preferring to tend to other customers.

“you already gave that excuse,” atsumu said, his voice barely above a whisper. he was reliving hell just by sitting there. the memories of the heartbreaking incident were unfolding in his mind—the memories he wanted so badly to suppress.

it just had to be on valentine’s day of all days. the two of them were invited overseas to partake in a modeling event; they were there for three days and on the last, emma reid got bored and messed up.

atsumu learned two things that day: first was his girlfriend’s incompetency, and how she resorted to bribery to get acting roles. the next was her disloyalty and how their relationship was a complete lie. it all happened in a single evening.

the last day of their trip was dedicated to solo activities only. emma had finished her duties early and was free to do whatever she wanted around the city. atsumu, on the other hand, was stuck at a stuffy and formal gathering. people of various reputable statuses were there and atsumu was invited as a guest by a brand he was modeling for. being social and talkative was one of atsumu’s strong suit—but it also led him to discovering a truth he never wanted to know.

that night, a young man around atsumu’s age approached him with a smile. he was another model that was invited as a guest, and the two got along quickly. then, when the man asked about atsumu’s relationship, atsumu watched as he started to laugh boisterously. apparently he’s worked with her before. the world really was small.

“oh, but isn’t her family really rich? i heard her dad’s loaded! looks like he dotes on her a lot.”

“and?” atsumu asked, wondering where the conversation was going.

“well, i heard she only gets roles and gigs through underhand tactics. y’know, like bribery, using her family’s name and wealth to—“

“but you only heard that though. it’s not true, just gossip.”

he gave atsumu’s arm a playful slap. “hey, man! stop hurting my feelings, i have lots of connections so i know everything that happens in that industry. it’s fucking twisted honestly,” the young man laughed again. “i heard a director talking about it once, so my suspicions are cleared. do you want another dri—“

by then, his words were already drowned out by atsumu’s racing thoughts. his mind was engaged in a futile debate, but he already knew what was true and what wasn’t. atsumu was slowly piecing together all the coincidences during the time they filmed with director sage. he was always so distraught by her for no apparent reason; he was also much harsher on her compared to the others in the main cast. he was more displeased, more spiteful of the film despite it becoming a large success. connect that with everything else and a complete puzzle was formed.

atsumu was too lovesick to see anything at the time. he was too convinced and blinded by her geniality to notice her hateful schemes. still, this was something the two of them could overcome… they could talk about it, resolve things, and he could help her become better.

but could he? would his conscience allow it? would he be able to sleep soundly knowing he was with someone who stole opportunities from others?

the rest of the event was a blur. when everything ended, atsumu rushed back to his hotel room, clinging onto the diminishing hope that everything would work out—that the two of them would still be okay after this. then, he saw someone leaving the shared hotel room: a man atsumu was sure he’d seen on one of the city’s billboards. the attractive man faltered when he saw atsumu in the hallway, and atsumu felt his world falling apart.

a million assumptions ran through his mind and he reached the door in hurried steps, bypassing his girlfriend’s accomplice completely. the sight of her naked on their shared bed had said enough—said everything.

clothes on the floor, crumpled sheets, tangled hair. all atsumu could do was whisper her name in crushing anguish. he stood there as she fumbled to shield herself with the blanket, shame overriding her previous smiling expression. she’d been caught. she’d messed up.

he watched as she clothed herself, a swarm of emotions rushing through his veins. he swallowed his heartbreak and bore his defenses. he needed to prepare himself for the next few agonizing minutes.

at first, he was calm. perhaps a bit shaken up, but he’d just returned back from an exhausting event. the collar of his dress shirt was digging into his skin, and he feared he didn’t have enough energy to argue.

emma—beautiful and serene, the one person atsumu confidently loved with his whole being—sat in front of him avoiding eye contact. she didn’t say anything; she didn’t even apologize. the gesture made atsumu question their whole relationship.

through her silence, atsumu found his strength to speak up. defend himself. he inevitably triggered a tug of war, a painful back and forth between him and her. both were persistent and defensive, becoming increasingly inflamed with anger.

their words sharpened into blades that pierced one another’s hearts at different angles. atsumu continued to sit while emma stood with ire surging through her body. she was on the verge of tears, overwhelmed by his barrage of accusations and questions directed at their relationship.

did she even love him? did she even care about their future? about him? what was he to her?

then, atsumu brought up her bribery and her facade instantly cracked. she didn’t give him any honest answers. the only thing that increased with her excuses were his sighs. so this was how they were going to end things.

caught in the heat of the moment, emma admitted that atsumu was only a publicity stunt to her. she’d only dated him for more recognition and immersion into the acting industry. his good looks and charms were only a bonus. she’d said out of spite, hoping to hurt his feelings, and it’d accomplished just that.

it was done: their relationship, their future, everything.

atsumu moved past emma to pack his belongings. he’ll get a new hotel room and flight tickets; he’ll get to see his brother again, maybe even visit rin in his studio, or just invite all three of them (omi if he’s not too busy) to play beach volleyball. yeah, he’ll be fine. everything will go back to normal when he lands in tokyo again.

then, emma grabbed onto his arm. she begged him to keep everything a secret—to have the faintest sympathy towards her. if emma’s cheating schemes were exposed to the public, even her family’s wealth wouldn’t be enough to calm down the media. her bloodshot eyes and tear stained cheeks had convinced him. while he might’ve been in love with a facade this whole time, he’d still experienced happiness. she’d kept him content and smiling for two years; keeping this a secret was the least he could do.

however, if he was going to do this, she needed to agree to his conditions as well. peace was all he wanted and he’d set up the agreement with it in mind.

back in the cafe, emma continued to insist on a false reality: “atsumu, honestly, i didn’t know!”

he saw her tapping finger and felt something ugly and twisted wrap around his tattered heart. he felt regret for ever comparing you to her. clearly, you were far greater and more special than emma will ever be. he truly wished her the worst.

“we’re finished here. i don’t ever want to see you again; i know how precious your reputation is to you.” he stood from his seat, his sudden action surprising the nearby weary staff members. “oh, and, stop with your stunts, they’re embarrassing. you should know better than to drag rin into this. he hates your guts as much as i do, maybe even more.”

“what?” she craned her head upwards to stare at him. “but he always waves back when i see him in the studio. he… smiles sometimes too.”

“here’s the nice thing about rin: he’s not an actor but he can still lie. did you know he tells us everything behind your back? he always has a good laugh, saying how stupid you are.”

“he—!”

“go buy some acting classes with your dad’s money for god’s sake. you have so much at least put it to good use.”

atsumu didn’t wait to see her reaction. he left the cafe immediately, calling for a taxi home.

masterlist ⌒☆ previous ⌒☆ next

fun facts:

atsumu was able to hang out with osamu, rin, and omi when he got back to tokyo. however, he fell into long periods of stagnation afterwards, finding it difficult to stop thinking about emma and their previous life together. it ultimately led to his year long hiatus.

the cafe staff members were lowkey eavesdropping, but they were completely clueless about what was happening. they're just teenagers trying to get a paycheck, someone help them. all they knew was that the girl messed up and the blond guy was right (as they should!).

please join the emma hate group along with me, atsumu, jolie, and rin (there are probably more members we hate this girl)

emma actually fumbled. why would you cheat on atsumu in the first place, please!!

TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE! ｡ｏ♡ an atsumu miya smau

synopsis: when y/n l/n, a rising actress, decides to star in a romance film that could make or break her career, she’s unable to showcase her skills, revealing her inexperience within the romance department instead. worst of all, atsumu miya, her co-star and the main lead’s love interest, seems to hate her guts! with absolutely, unbearably zero chemistry between the two, an idea was proposed: spend time with one another in the upcoming weeks. will y/n be able to ignore her professionalism and listen to her heart? and will she, a clueless romantic, be able to pick up on the signs her co-star is sending her?

a/n: idk if my writing is inconsistent pls tell me if it is actually no actually yeah. hmmm anyways act 3 guys !!!

taglist is open! dm or ask to be a part of it! (those bolded were unable to be tagged)

⌒☆ @kqbukimono @empathum @clyver @chosoluv @oceansfloor @sunarots @marga-j @rukia-uchiha-98 @wyrcan @thechaosoflonging @rintarousgirl @ast4rg1rl @seiamor @saiewithakatana @usermins @literally-a-ferret @terrarain @iuspired @haruskatana @wolffmaiden @ris-krispie @vellichxrr6782 @animenaces-world @reignsaway @emii4evr @writing-for-the-hell-of-it @yuminako @tojirin @v3nusplanetofluv @vyvixen @secondary-character-25 @tenjikusstuff4 @444choso @mylahrins @deimmortales99 @hisfuture @staywhelmed8801 @dl-yum @nessaasstuff @milesmoralesluvs @101tsumu @ryeyeyer @cherrypieyourface @azharyy @mimi3lover @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21 @dazball @whykirbo

94 notes · View notes

poke-me-with-a-stick · 7 months ago

Text

Chapter 31 of 'Artificial Wingman!'

for the entire story, click Here!

Enjoy!

---

Jason eyed Danny from his position on the couch, pretending to be completely engrossed in his book. Ever since the other morning, the teen had been acting... weird. At least, weirder than normal.

It had started when Jason had got up the day prior. As per usual after a gruling patrol, after breakfast and a shower, he had passed out as soon as his head touched the pillow, and stayed asleep until the sun was just an hour or two from setting. He probably would have slept in longer, but his stomach had made it's need for food known, and his bladder wasn't too happy with him either.

When he walked into the kitchen, intending to put together the world's greatest sandwich to tame his hunger, he had come in to the sight of the Demon brat and Jazz fast asleep, Jazz curled up like a content cat in the arm chair and Damien sprawled ungracefully on the couch. Both had been covered in throw blankets, and a Disney movie played on in the background. The only person not asleep had been Danny, who on first glance seemed to be back to working on his gun. And Jason would have left it at that, if not for the teen seeming to panic as he walked into the kitchen.

He had startled, flailed a bit as he whirled around to face the man. The gun had been hastily shoved under a pillow, out of Jason's line of sight. "Heeeey," The kid had drawled, his midwestern accent making the word roll off his tongue naturally. "I, uh. Didn't hear you get up?"

"...Okay?" Jason had raised an eyebrow at the teen, still not awake enough to deal with whatever was going on with him. "I got hungry. It's almost dinner time." He pointed out, his tone dry.

"It is?" Danny blinked owlishly at him before looking at the time. "Huh, I guess it is."

Jason couldn't help but smirk at the kid. "What, to absorbed in your work or something?"

It was meant to be a joke, just some light ribbing that was natural between him and his friends and family. Instead of laughing or rolling his eyes, like Jason was used to, the teen seemed to grow tense. His eyes drifted to the wall above Jason's shoulder, obviously trying not to look directly at the man, as he tried to laugh it off. "Me? Absorbed in my work? Psh, nah! I would never! Haha..." his laugh was audibly strained.

An awkward silence fell between them, Jason staring as the teen figited in place. "Uh-huh. Right, okay." Jason had to force himself to break the silence. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starved. How's about you wake those two up, and I'll make us all some sandwiches?" He had barely finished talking before Danny nodded enthusiastically, practiacally leaping to wake the others in the room.

Jason didn't mention Danny's weird behavior to either his sister or Damien, but he couldn't let it go either. And the more he observed the teen, the more he was convinced that Danny was hiding something.

That led to now. With Jason's face half-burried in his book and Danny fiddling with the gun's casing. Fiddling, not actually doing anything besides screwing and unscrewing the screws that fixed everything together. Every few minutes, he would put down his weird glowing screwdriver and pass his hand over the odd glass beakers on the back, almost as if checking for a change in them. Jason was left to assume he didn't find what he was looking for, as he would flip the gun and pick up his screwdriver again and repeat the process.

Finally, Jason had had enough. He closed his book and set it aside with an overly loud sigh. Just like he knew it would, his movement drew Danny's attention immediatly. "Okay, I can't stand this anymore." Jason let the exasperation leak into his tone and he stood from his arm chair, only to walk a few feet and flop down next to the teenager.

Danny let out a startled half-chirp, half-wheeze sound that shouldn't be possible for human vocal cords, quickly shoving the gun under the nearest pillow. "W-what do you need?" He asked, clearly trying for casual.

Jason shot him a look, one that conveyed just how much Danny wasn't fooling him. "What I need," Jason began, "Is for you to tell me what the Hell is going on with you. You've been acting off since yesterday, and I want to know why."

"Nothing is going on!" The teen answers, a little too quickly. He looked away from Jason, his eyes going his hands. It was way too obvious that he was lying. 'We definatly have to work on that,' Jason couldn't help but think, frowning at him.

Sitting up, Jason sighed. "Yeah, alright. The thing is, you see, when you look away like that, it makes it kinda obvious that you're lying to me." The teen jerked his gaze back to Jason's immediatly, swallowing hard as he met the deceptivally relaxed facade that the man wore. "Now that I have your attention, lets try this again. What happened between yesterday morning and now that has you so..." He trailed off as he tried to think of the word to descripe the teen. "...Paranoid?"

Danny seemed to hesitate, guilt shining through his unnaturally blue eyes. "I-" He stopped, as if searching for the words. Sighing, he seemed to deflate in defeat. "I've been lying about something." He admitted, his voice quiet.

Caution rose steadily in Jason. "Lied about what?" Had he lied about his feelings? Or maybe the potion? Was this about the 'cure' they seemed to have? Or maybe the original Love Potion? Jason's mind ran wild with thoughts and theories. "Is it something to do with you and Da- I mean, Robin?"

The teen seemed to sense the double meaning to the seemingly innocent words. "No!" He shook his head frantically. "No, no no! Nothing like that, I promise!" His assurences, despite the desperation in how he expressed them, seemed genuine enough.

A small sigh of relief escaped him as he nodded at the teen. "Okay, not to do with that. Then, what is it?" His suspision fell back to the gun, stashed not even a foot from him. "Does it have to do with that?" He gestured to the weapon, where it barely peeked out from the cushion.

The halfa's flinch was all the comformation he needed. "Y-yeah." He mumbled, his head dropping in shame.

"Is there something wrong with it?" God, Jason hoped not. The kid was the only one who seemed to understand how it functioned. Heck the only person that Jason could think of that might be able to help would be Tim, and that was if he didn't have an anrism at the spare parts that were used to make the damned thing.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it." Danny chuckled sheepishly as he reassured the man, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck nervously. "The opposite, actually. It's, um..." His other hand came up in a slighly aborted gesture. "It's fixed. Tada?"

Relief that he didn't have to try and understand whatever rocket science went into that abomnible creation temperarily stopped him from realising the full impact of the teen's words. "It's...fixed?" The teen nodded, not looking at him. "Like, fully functional and ready to use?"

"Well..." Danny's hand fell from his neck as his other came up in a so-so gesture. "It's functional, but it can't be used yet." Finally, the teen's head came up, though he still refused to look Jason in the eye. "It has no energy to function yet, so it's in power-collection mode, I guess." Turning slightly, the halfa pulls the gun from under the pillow, handing it to Jason for a closer inspection.

"So, it's fixed, but you can't use it yet?" He turned the gun this way and that, examining the Sci-fy weapon for anything odd. Well, odd-er than a gun that's soul purpose was to shoot a hole in the fabric of space and time.

"Nope. It's basically like a toy without it's batteries. It's cool, and fun to goof off with, but it doesn't do any of the things it's supposed to." His fingers grazed over the glass tubes on the back. "It'll take a few days for it to absorb the needed ecto for us to get home, so it's basically just a waiting game." As he spoke, a slight green sheen formed along the glass's surface, seemingly following the motion of his hand. When Danny pulled his hand back, the glow faded, but didn't disappear.

Satisfied, Jason handed the gun back to the teen. "Okay, so it's fixed. Why does that have you acting all weird?" It didn't make much sense. The whole reason they came here, to one of his more secret safehouses, was so that Danny could fix his gun. Why would he try and hide the fact that it was done, charging up and safe to use?

Obviously, Danny thought the answer was more than obvious. "Your serious?" He asked, his face screaming his disbelief. "You can't think of the one reason I wouldn't want to tell everyone?" When Jason shook his head, Danny let out a shocked giggle. It faded a bit into a whine of distress, making Jason eye the kid worriedly.

Before he could try and comfort the kid, as awkward and stilted as it would be, he spoke up. "If mine and Jazz's way home is ready to go, then what excuse do I have to stay?" The words were whispered, and wouldn't have been audible if Jason hadn't been right beside him.

The words struck him like a wooden plank to the head. Of course, how dumb could he be? Of course the kid would see it like that, like the only reason he was there to begin with was because he had no way home. To suddenly have a way home again? Why would he stay? He had no reason for remaining in this dimension. No reason, other than the fact that he was falling in love. But someone like the kid, like Danny, wouldn't see it that way. Especially if he still thought that Damien's feelings were purely caused by that potion.

Jason bit back a curse. Shook his head. Now was not the time to figure out the thought process the teen had gone through. Not when he was actively curling in on himself. Jason got the feeling that the kid hadn't really processed what completing the gun meant either. He knew what it meant, obviously, but it hadn't sunken in until his hand had been forced. Until he'd had to say the words out loud. The look of desperation and despair and acceptance on his face was heartwrentching to look at.

"Y'know, you don't necessarily have to have a reason to stay." Jason pointed out, speaking in a hushed voice.

"What do you mean? Of course I have to have a reason!" Danny turned to look at Jason again. "If I don't have a reason, that means I have to leave. I have responsibilities, a home, a life! I can't just up and disappear without having some sort of excuse for it! People would be worried, or want to know where I was!"

And that was the root of the problem, Jason realized suddenly. It wasn't that Danny thought he needed a reason to stay, it was that he needed to justify his absence to others. "Danny," without meaning to, Jason's voice softened, something that ususally only happened when comforting small alley children. "You don't have to justify yourself to anyone. If you want to stay longer, then you can. No one would blame you for it, and if they did, then they shouldn't be important to you anyways."

Danny huffed out a laugh. "I know that," He admitted. "I know I don't have to have a reason. But it just feels..." His words tapered off as he tried to think of what to say. Groaning, he burried his face in his hands.

"It feels wrong, because you think it's selfish."

"Well, yeah. It is selfish, isn't it? Because first I was staying because I didn't have a way home, and then it was because Robin needed my help with the potion's effects. But the cure is done and ready for Robin to take, and I have my way home charging up as we speak. The next step should be to just... go home." His hand rested on his chest, gripping tightly at his shirt. "But it, it hurts to even think of leaving. The thought of leaving Robin behind, or Robin taking the cure and me being right? It makes my core ache."

Jason could tell the teen wasn't really paying attention to just what he was admitting. The confusion on his face as he basically poured his heart out, the way he clutched at his chest as if the pain he felt was phyiscally effecting him. It took everything Jason had not to smile as he realized just how far the teen had fallen for his demon of a younger brother.

'It's like he came straight out of a Young Adult romance novel.' The thought, while true, was not helpful in the moment. Instead of bemoaning that his younger brother got to live the fantasy, he tried to think about what would get through to the kid.

Jason wasn't the best at comforting people in dire situations, he was basically flying blind here. Talking out feelings was not any of his families strong suits. But listening to this scrawny adoption bait practically wax poetica about his little brother, the one everyone was sure would either end up filling the mansion with cats, or marrying Jon, because of poor social skills(a distinct lack of interest in pointless civilian matters), made him search through all his people skills for the right thing to say.

"You know, you don't have to stay gone." That was part of the problem, right? Danny didn't want to leave Damian and never see him again.

"...what?" The confusion broke through the heartbreaking agony that the kid had been wallowing in.

"Yeah, you've got that gun fixed, at least enough to get back home. What's stopping you from coming back?" The panic and pain faded from the kid's face for a moment, before returning.

"But what if I'm right, and the potion works? Would Robin even still want to see me again?" The teen pulled his knees to his chest, tucking his feet beneath him and burying his face in his knees. "I know that after the love spell that made me fall in love with Sa- I mean, one of my friends, things were super akward between us. Would he still want to hang out around me?" If the kid didn't have density shifting powers, then Jason would be sure he coulnd't shove his face any further into his knees. He winced in sympathy, knowing that the kid would feel the imprints of his jeans later.

"Well, that sounds like a lot of 'What if's' again, kid." He decided that he'd question that 'Love Spell' bit later. Right now, he had to pull this kid's head out of his own doubts. "And we did talk about that already, didn't we?" Danny made a relunctant sound of agreement. "Right. So what changed? What made that conversation fly out of your head?"

"..." Danny was silent, his chest barely rising as Jason waited for an answer. Finally, a noise barely above a whisper, so quiet that Jason almost missed it. "I don't know."

"You... don't know what brought on all these thoughts?" The man tried to gently press the teen to think about it more. "There must have been something that made you spiral, right? It's not just about Robin not wanting to be around you, is it?" Danny hesitantly lifted his head, side eyeing Jason as he continued to prod. "And it can't be because your scared of what people would think of you. No offence, but you seem more of the 'doing things regardless' type."

"...well, I did mention that thing about my core, right?" The teen brought up hesitantly.

"Yeah, you did." Jason remembered. "The way you talked about it, you made it sound like it was your heart or something."

Danny laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, something like that." The teen sighed, uncurling slightly. "Okay, so to just call a core a heart is a massive understatement. A core is... like a heart and a brain and an immune system and a filter all in one." Jason couldn't help but blink blankly at the teen, his brain trying to process the amalgamation of words that he used to describe whatever a 'core' was.

When he felt like he had a handle on it, he nodded for the teen to continue. "So, cores do all these things for ghosts that the human body does for normal people. It's super important, and if anything happens to the core, it can hurt or even destabilize a ghost, which is basically like a more painful second death, one where you fade from the world instead of existing as a different entity." Jason nodded, focusing more on the core thing than the teen infront of him hinting at dying at some point.

"But it's not just physical injuries you have to look out for. Ghosts are emotional beings. My parents think that ghosts are just emotions imprinted on ectoplasm, not thinking or feeling being. They only got one thing right in all of that." The agony had faded from the teen's face finally, and in it's place, an intense focus as he tried to explain. Jason was counting it as a temporary win.

"So ghost are made of emotion?" It was the only thing that could make sense out of all of that, if only one part was right.

Danny snapped his finger and pointed at the man. "Got it in one. Ghosts are born from ectoplasm rich areas and an intense emotional output upon death. Smaller, less sentient ghosts that are born from emotions imprinting on ectoplasm without a death are blob ghosts."

"Blob ghosts?" Jason asked.

"They have a more technical name that Frostbite uses, but I usually just call the blob ghosts. 'Cause they're litteral blobs with faces that float around. They actually have an important job, keeping ectoplasm from getting stale or too thin in places close to portals and such..." The halfa physically shook his head, black hair fluffing up in a small cloud before settling messily again. "That's something I'll get into later. I was talking about cores."

"Right. Cores, something about... emotions?" The man leaned forwards a bit, resting his elbow on his knee as he reminded the teen where he had diverged from the original topic.

"Oh! Thanks. So, ghosts are made partially from emotion. We have obsession, things that we liked in life, or bring forth a particullarly strong emotional responce. Like, I have two, a main one and a passive one. Both are really good at bringing up emotions like contenment and excitment, which helps to generate ectoplasm and feeds my core. Because I'm half human, I don't have to rely on just my obsessions or the 'Zone to keep my core running. But just as much as emotions feed ghosts, the wrong emotion can hurt them. Things like rejection have to be handled delicatly, or you risk a core cracking. And ghosts being emotional being, we tend to get... attached, pretty easily. Even when we try not to." The kid let out a bitter laugh, running his hand through his hair.

"Wow. That's, uh. Definatly a lot to take in." Jason leaned away from the teen a bit. "Okay, so we should probably do a 'Ghosts 101' sometime. But for now..." Jason sorted through all the information he had just been given, internally thanking his bat training as he did. "So bad emotions hurt you, and things that bring up strong bad emotions can hurt you just as much as a physical injury?"

"If not more so, in some cases." Danny nodded. "Actually, emotional hurt is way worse than any physical injury. We can litterally lose limbs and regrow them in a day or so."

"I'm... gonna think about that later." Jason steered the conversation back on track. "Anyway, negative emotions are bad for ghosts. And you tried not to get attached, right? So you wouldn't hurt when you had to leave?"

"Lot of good that did me!" Danny huffed, crossing his arms.

"So when you think about leaving... oh. Oh." That made a lot more sense. "Huh."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't really register it until a few hours ago. I thought that it wouldn't be as bad with me, because of my, ah, unique situation." He gestured to himself vaguely. "But it appears that still being mostly alive does not exclude me from the side effects of emotional attachment." The way he said those last two words made Jason's lips tip up at the corners.

"So leaving would physically hurt you?" Jason clarified the true situation at hand. Danny looked like he wanted to protest, but let his shoulders droop in defeat as he nodded.

"Leaving without knowing if the emotional bond is truly broken or not would be like slowly being poisoned, especially if I never saw him again. And having the bond break quickly would be like breaking a bone." The teen grimaced, rubbing his hand over his chest again, as if he could feel the sensation. Knowing what he does now, it honestly wouldn't surprise Jason one bit.

"Well, what if you left before he took the cure?" Jason didn't know where the thought came from, but it made the teen pause and think again. "You could leave knowing the bond is mutual, and come back later when your more prepared for a negative reaction. Would that work?"

Danny considered it for a minute before hesitantly nodding. "I...guess that would work? At the very least, I could talk to Frostbite about it. If anyone knows how to safely break an emotional bond, or at least prepare for one to break, it would be him." Danny's face screwed up in a mixture of very identifiable emotions as he spoke.

"Hey, chin up." He gently bopped the teen's head, grinning at the indignant look he was faced with. "It would be good to talk to this Frostbite person, whoever that is, and be ready for if it happens. But," he looked Danny directly in the eyes, "that doesn't mean you have to focus on the bad outcome. Robin could be right, and he might keep his feelings, or he might not be in love with you, but still want to be friends." The halfa didn't look totally convinced, but he nodded anyways.

Jason sighed, leaning back into the couch. This was the best he could do on that front for the time being. Deciding to drop the topic for now, the man changed subjects. "You know that you'll have to tell Robin and your sister about the gun, right?"

Danny flinched slightly, but nodded. "Yeah, I know. I had planned on telling them...eventually..." He ducked his head again, this time out of embarrassment. Jason cracked a grin before forcing his expression back to a serious one.

"Well, I won't say anything." The teen perked up, a look of disbelief on his face. "But you need to tell them. Perferably sometime soon." He gave the teen a pointed look as he finally stood up, stretching as he turned towards the kitchen. "The other two should be back soon, so I'm going to get started on dinner. How do you feel about spagetti?"

----

Dick stared in horror at the mess that had been made in Alfred's kitchen. The man had gone out shopping randomly, stating that he had run out of some ingrediant or another that he needed for dinner that night. Barely thirty minutes later, and there were bowls and mixing utinsles littered over every surface. A pot bubbled threateningly on the stove, steam thick enough that Dick almost mistook it for smoke. And right in the middle of it all, sat Stephanie.

She barely looked up from where she was trying to cut a pineapple, the knife making a sawing motion as it stuttered through the fruit. "Steph?" He asked cautiously, making sure that he stayed firmly out of the kitchen. Alfred was not going to be pleased when he came back and saw this mess, and Dick did not want to be incriminated by setting a single toe into the disaster zone.

"Hey Dick!" She called out happily, not looking away from the mess she was making of the pineapple. "What's up? Did you need something?"

"Uhh, no. I'm alright. But what are you doing?" Wait... "Does Alfred know you're in here?" There was no way Alfred knew she was in here. Practically all of the family, barring Jason and Cass, were banned from the kitchen.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She asked, expertly dodging the question.

'It looks like you're making a huge mess.' "Um, I have a good idea. But I might be wrong! So can you tell me what you're doing?" His smile was slightly strained as he tried not to grimace from the smell of burning sugar.

Steph turned around, letting out a startled noise as she moved to remove the bubbling pot from the stove. Turning off the eye, she set it aside on a pot holder, she grabbed a spoon and stirred vigurously before dumping half a cup of what Dick could only assume was milk into the pot. A horrible hissing noise arose, making the man take a step backwards. Steph completely ignored the terrible noise, using a fork this time to whisk the mixture.

Finally, she set the nightmare concoction aside and turned back to her butchered pineapple. "I told you, after I ruined your suit, that I would find a way to make it up to you!" She sent him a smile that in any other situation would be sweet, but now it only doubled the dread building in Dick's stomach.

"So you're trying to... cook for me?" It was hard to call whatever this was cooking, but he wasn't going to rain on the girl's parade. Alfred would probably chew her out once he gets back and sees what she's done to his domain.

"Would you call this cooking?" The qustion was mumbled, low enough that Dick barely heard it. Lifting her gaze to meet his, she smiled a bit wider as she spoke up. "I'm trying my hand at homeade candy! I tried to make you some homeade cereal, but..." Her gaze drifted over to a baking tray covered in black little balls that Dick now knew was supposed to be one of his favorite comfort foods. It was hard to keep the grimace off his face. "When that failed, I decided that caramel sounded like a great alternitive! But the recipe that Alfred had was a bit boring, so I thought, hey, doesn't fruit go good with caramel? I wanted to try apples, but Alfred said we were out. Then I saw the pineapple and thought, hey, that's kind of the same thing, right?"

Oh, she had to be doing this on purpose. Did he do something to set her off here recently? Siding with one of the others over her? A joke that irritated her? A villian that she had to take care of instead? No, nothing like that had happened. So what was it? What did Dick do to piss her off this badly? She didn't even look like she was mad, which was infinitly more terrifying than her being openly hostile.

"Riiight," Dick drawled out, taking a small step backwards as she brought the knife down with more force than necissary. "I'm just gonna... go look for one of my spare suits... they aren't where I left them last..." Slowly, he backed away from the doorway and down the hall, until he was out of sight of anyone that could be watching from the kitchen. Once he was sure that Steph wouldn't be able to see him, he turned and rushed back down the hall.

He had done something to invoke the scarrily petty side of his baby brother's ex, and if he wanted to survive the next few hours with all his hair and a settled stomach, then he needed to call in some backup. Normally, he would try and hide behind Damian, but with his littlest bat MIA, he had his second option avalible to him. "Duuuke! I need your help!"

---

(I know that there are probably spelling errors/grammer mistakes, but it's okay because I tried my best!)

For the amazing person who made this prompt, as well as the lovely people who have been following along!

@halfblackwolfdemon @manapeer @xxwintrynightzxx @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 @blu-lilac @academicpurposes @secretdestinywerewolf @passivedecept @naluforever3 @postit-nope @spiteismymiddlename @2t-productions @plague-daisy @feet-achy @bubblecookies16 @thesapphiredragon13 @justwannabecat @magicalcollecter @adeniumdream @amuseofminds @lupagrim @readerkayden @dr-syko-pharm-4 @ladythugs @angelheartgamer @markthespot68 @kyrianclawraith @michikoy-yuki @servasvictoria02 @your-emo-nightmare @vala-dreams @scarlett-green-rose @t1dwarrior-of-earth @charlie-the-frogie @akikoyuii @mysticalcomputerdetective @roseuniverse999 @im-totally-not-an-alien @thefearfullone @weird-droplet-309 @jaytriesstuff @raventao @jacquelynwinchester @dragongoblet @tlise21 @longlivethefallen @the-archer-goddess @temple-of-jalebi @adepresseddwightsblogofjunk @plainly-colorful @the-legalHe-shipper @49saltpeppershakers @igotafewbadideas @tumbling-darkling @sparklygardenbouquet @sarcastic-yami @blueneko9314 @starscreamlover @liedboutmurder @do3y @roze-realm @some-mildly-happy-human @yinari-uchiha @azuera @chaoticmistake @altairsarts @kawaiikenna @heartsong18 @thetoyboxs @tricksovertreats @mnemovoid @lim4b3ans @horribly-lost-and-gay @keimiwolf @dryeraseslime @joey394

#dc x dp #danny phantom x dc #batman x danny phantom #dead serious #danny phantom x batfam #danny phantom x damian wayne #love potion #miscommunication #long post #fic on ao3 #dcxdp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dc x dp fanfiction

81 notes · View notes

midnight1nk · 1 month ago

Text

So, this week's episode...

[Spoilers below cut]

oh my spaghetti gods.... they actually made the episode

Ha ha, I love that for them honestly. I figured that the Team would put out one of these after WOTFI, it would be either a regular silly episode, a "Mario Reacts", or a Remaster.

...OMG I haven't clicked on the episode and I just realized something: you know how at the end of WOTFI, Four proposed the idea of taking some of the abandoned stuff in Puzzle Park and bringing them to the Showgrounds? He can now have the teacup ride

that was slick as hell

(the following is my live reaction:)

of course, you GOTTA present the WOTFI merch

also james and luke just goofing around gives me serotonin :)

Mr Puzzles: "...Now you're 5% less disgusting to look at." :0 that has so many implications but I'm not gonna say it

ANYWAY That's-a so nice!

THE TEACUP RIDE

Alright, everybody who drew baby Four, we gotta get on it again

sorry,,, just them :)

also, Three, it was your idea dude

THE OATS "Now with less fun! :)"

just the way Four hid behind Three [*head in hands*] chat, I'm not going to make it by the end of this episode

The Star Trio (TM) everyone

...wait, does Three actually smell like peanuts or is it just for the meme? [*writes that down*]

Four: "My only suitable parental guardian!" Four, Karen's right there

I can't believe the retirement home is in America smh (like no seriously)

AY there's Old Man Hobo

this reminds me of that one scene from the "You Used to Be Cool" episode

(if you couldn't tell, Three's one of my favorite characters)

PFFT HAHAHAHA THEY KEPT THAT IN I'M DEAD DUDE

Three, why do you need medicine? you just got turned into an old man

MASTER OF DISGUISE

PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA?! MARIO WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, ITALY IS GOING TO REVOKE YOUR ITALIAN CARD

the nurse jumping out the window... [*thinks back at Mr Puzzles' Clubhouse when Max jumps out of the window*] sorry WOTFI flashbacks

anyway, they're adorable

huh i guess prison-UH I MEAN- the retirement home has a basketball court, who knew

HE DROPS THE SOAP I'M SO GLAD THEY KEPT THAT IN

...wtf is that slop?

also blue goo- [*loud airplane noises*]

Three: "Meggy? Is that you? You look uglier than usual-" DAMN well, it's good to know that you're still Three

The two frames-per-second running animation, ah a classic

BINGO NIGHT (no no Ink, bingo night was last week) (aw man)

Three, it was your idea bruh

also you're in the SMG4 universe for how many years? plot convenient devices are the norm, Three

HEY SWAG

Hal's here too!

they do be scheming

...wait [*DRAMATIC GRASP*] THE SONIC X THEME SONG!!! 🎶ROLLIN' AT THE SPEED OF SOUND (MAKE TRACKS) QUICKEST HEDGEHOG AROUND, GOT OURSELVES A SITUATION, STUCK IN A NEW LOCATION WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION, NO TIME FOR RELAXATION-🎶 [*gets shot*]

despite everything, it's still you :)

if I had a nickel for every time an old guy says "No Mario, don't", I'd have two nickels. It isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

THE OATS CAME BACK FULL CIRCLE BABY

Frof the SnOATman :)

"On that day, the FBI learned the true meaning of Christmas: oats" SOMEONE MAKE THIS INTO A MOVIE

wait, FBI, you JUST noticed Four and the getaway car?

"dig a hole...poison the guards...KILL the the witness."

The hole, the poison, the old man being the "witness". Wow, Three's plan actually worked! Well, except for the "kill" part, the old man still lives. BUT STILL!

this part was actually emotional wtf

"Good to have you back, SMG3! ...SMG3?" aw 💙💜 (i ask for so little)

Three: "man, I think that was my dad..." Four, once again knowing they came out of USBs: "...ok"

CARNIVAL YAY you better not drop something on me bc (1) it's too soon and (2) you Team like to torture me

PFFT just putting Four's regular head on a baby body is everything

ferris wheel jumpscare

and AY james got to be credited for the writing (i mean, obviously)

And congrats to ggf0ur for having your art in the end credits 🎉

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

Another fun and silly episode, just what I needed after school work and WOTFI. Still can't believe they made it into an actual episode haha! Having the Star Trio in an episode is always a blast! I truly enjoyed this one.

As much as I find it funny that Four needed Three as a parental guardian to be on the teacup ride, it would be a bit better if the reason for the age gun was that they never got to be actual kids, unlike the rest of the crew. Then we could've gotten baby Four and Three, oh the possibilities. Maybe that's just me idk, but I'm happy with what we got.

And the Ferris wheel in the Showgrounds again, at this point it's a sign. I have to gather my thoughts together for my "Ferris Wheel Wedding" idea.

Fun Fact: for those who are wondering, the WOTFI website is surprisingly still up! Ofc you can't put submissions in anymore but I find it hilarious.

Fun Fact 2: the guy who made the faces for Mr. Puzzles has a proper Twitter now (link)! Go and show some support to the Team! I do want to bring it up because the Team may have made some editing/animation errors (like the subtitles having SMG4 instead of SMG3) and people are getting upset about that, but it's literally not a big deal. I know the Team is trying their hardest to bring out episodes every week. Besides, mistakes could go under the radar, it simply happens.

Now, if you excuse me...

DON'T BLINK, DON'T THINK, JUST GO GO G-G-G-G-GO GO (n-n-n-n-n-na, n-n-n-n-n-na) SONIC'S ON THE RUN, SONIC'S NUMBER ONE! SONIC, HE'S COMIN' NEXT, SO WATCH OUT FOR SONIC X! GOTTA GO FAST (SONIC), GOTTA GO FAST(SONIC)! GOTTA GO FASTER FASTER FASTER FASTER FASTER- [*gets shot again*]

#smg4 #smg4 spoilers #smg4 mario #smg4 smg3 #the star trio at it again #ink reviews #ok but #triples born *gets shot a third time*

32 notes · View notes

cerealkilleratmidnight · 1 year ago

Text

A few kids were gathered around in one bundle, Billy was curious as to what was going on but he wasn’t curious enough to approach the circle that was forming. Then he saw who it was in the middle of the circle, full attention on this one child. He appeared to have a cast or something. ‘Oh that must be why all of them are so interested, someone broke their arm and everyone is amazed’ Billy sighs as he moves his head from afar, trying to see the boys face to make out who it actually was. Some adult joined the gathering as they tried their best to make the kids leave him alone or something, some left as their attention was occupied with something else that was plain and boring. Now Billy could see the boys face. ‘Huh? It is Stu, when did Stu break his arm? He was fine yesterday?’ Billy looked around , waiting until the boy was alone before approaching him, he made his way over.

Stu knew him and they hang around a bit already before, but still Billy was shy. He stops as he stands in-front of Stu, Stu looking at him with his expecting eyes as he waits for Billy to say or do something. Billy moves his arm, pointing at Stu’s cast on his right forearm. Stu blinks as he looks at his cast and then where Billy is pointing at , before he speaks:

“Ooh… yeah I got a cast yesterday! I broke my arm” he says , voice chipper and unbothered. His smile wide as he moves his arm up to show off the cast to Billy.

“Pretty cool! People been drawing on it all morning and-“

Billy interrupts him as he speaks quietly, it probably wouldn’t have been heard over Stu talking but Stu reacted to it so quickly , immediately shutting up.

“Did it hurt?” Billy speaks with his quiet voice, not looking up at the boy.

Stu’s eyes wander as he musters Billy, before the smile reappears.

“No not really!” He says proudly.

Billy gives out a small huff as he stares at the cast, he hits his fist against it with a bit of force, making Stu squeal.

“Ow..” He mutters as he retracts his arm. Billy chuckles for a split second.

“So it did hurt! “ Billy says with a stronger voice than before , happy that he proved a point.

“Well yes if you hit it, it hurts! Ow…” Stu seems a bit hurt by the fact that Billy would just hit it like that. The two share some awkward silence for a while until Stu speaks again.

“Do you …want to sign it?”

Billy’s eyebrows furrow as he examines the poorly written on names and drawings on his cast. He seems to think about it before he nods. Stu takes out his sharpie as he lends it to Billy, who takes it and starts to scribble something on it. Stu is quiet as he watches Billy draw something on, a scrawly looking face. When he’s done he gives Stu back the pencil without further comment. Stu moves his arm closer so he can see what Billy drew.

“Woah you can draw! It kinda looks like that dude from that Halloween movie” he says as he smiles at Billy , who actually smiles back as he nods.

“Is it from the Movie?” Stu takes his nodding as a cue that’s Stu guessed right, even if it only was by chance (definitely did not look very much like Micheal Myers) since he watched that movie with his sister a few nights ago and had it on his mind ever since.

“Micheal Myers” the boy simply replies. Stu grins.

“I loved that movie !!” Stu exclaims.

That’s how Stu would learn the fact that Billy is obsessed with horror movies , making it his mission to watch them all behind his parents back in an attempt to get to know the quiet boy better.

I see them as being around 10 years old maybe? Had to think about it randomly so why not try and write it down, I always like writing but I never really think I’m good at it nor am I satisfied with it. There are probably so many grammar mistakes and all but still. I wish dyslexia would not exist :)

largely inspired (and the thought originally sparked) by @sharpth1ng fic Butterfly eater (hope it’s okay that I tagged you, don’t want to annoy you 🙇🏼‍♂️)

#scream 1996 #stu macher #stuilly #scream #scream art #billy loomis #fanart #my art #scream fanart #ghostface #billy x stu #young billy loomis #young stu Macher #oneshot

180 notes · View notes

n3onwraith · 9 months ago

Text

I forgot to post that I drew Needles! You can't tell, I haven't made the HC doodles comprehensive yet, but hisbneedles hide under his skin and eject when needed, like those spike traps but millions of needles!

I'm gonna put all my HCs below the cut just to spare yall

He's def a natural redhead to me, but bleached it a lot before becoming an avatar

Technically, this would only be his human disguise thing. Full eldritch is reserved for attacking ppl and defense, which is rarer than attacking people, and in that form he's all lanky with all his needles out all the time like a fucked up longhorse and pincushion had a baby and it got possessed

He just has no sense of pain most of the time, at least related to intrinsic issues. Getting stabbed or shot hurts, but when his bones constantly break as Eldritch Needles or when his limbs fall off (like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas) he doesn't feel all the pain, just a tinge or a pinch

Can remove his needles from his skin, but their 'slot' stays open until he puts them back or replaces them (like shark teeth, he grows them but can also swap them out for found ones) and he uses that to sew himself back together as needed

Lots of piercings, most home-done. Really only his lobe and one of three cartilage rings is professional, he did the rest as an angsty teen for fun

Was turned as a late teen/in his early twenties, and therefore his disguise stays looking that age because that's the only way he really remembers who he is and what he looked like. Eldritch Needles is just a fucked up skinsuit really, a puppet for what he needs to do, and Needles himself can't remember or guess what he would look like by now (bones, probably, with his luck, but he was taken as an avatar/eldritch in the 90s/early 2000s so realistically only around 40-50 or so)

Got in a ton of accidents as a kid, always was and always is banged up somehow

Flashes his needles and puffs up on instinct when things piss him off, has to stop himself from doing it around people

A gifted kid for the institute who ended up being neglected outside of schoolwork and what he could do (projection?)

Glitters in the sunlight even with the needles put away. Its just bcs he's got so much metal in him and the sunlight catches the slots weird enough to glint briefly

The jacket reacts the same way his hair and needles do, like an external organ, but it's only due to it being part of his avatar influence shit and its not actually a part of him. It goes dormant when removed or unwanted

Like a hedgehog hair-wise, it's harmless and like regular hair until it's Needle Time (TM)

Easily offended/angered, as seen in the 911 call, and likes to fuck with people. I'd guess older sibling if he had any, but the kind where you matured too fast and then slowed your roll so late you were the immature one (projecting)

Likes to be colorful but in a dull way. Washed out colors just suit him better in his opinion and let him express himself without drawing attention to himself and the fact he's not quite human anymore

Gap teeth <3 Wanted to get braces as a teen but didn't, still pissed about it because now he can't and it doesn't matter since hes not human anymore anyways. slowly learning to like the gap when his angel fangs don't get stuck in em

Didn't draw it but he has snake bites too, just rarely wears them. It's either angel fangs or snake bites but never both because they tend to snag for him

A parallel of both Nikola and Michael, kind of. He's got little bits that Norris, Chester and Augustus would recognize if they ever met him, like his speech pattern and penchant for never giving straight answers, but he's got his own thing going on more than the parallels ever could be.

Rip off Cheshire Cat. Alice in Wonderland, the animated one, was his favorite movie growing up for the colors, and when he got older for the story

63 notes · View notes

hellonerf · 8 months ago

Text

suicide is discouraged in the workplace

im not even gonna try to be coherent here. this is not an analysis post i am braindead. if i was a better artist makima wouldve been my muse when i was deep into chainsawman. actuallt she kind of was but i pussyed out

OK everyone here can subconsciously understand this connection. dont get too hung up on makima's strong motherhood theme and i just thought about what if ame was motherly and i couldn't kill myself right aftee thinking that as i have no means to it. that was a joke its late and im just me. i decided i wasnt a fan of motherly ame though so all suicidal thoughts erased. i am really chill now

old makima fanart i drew that im trying not to rip my hairs out over thinking about it with ame. also dont worry if this makes tou find my mainblog or main accounts whatever

actually theyre really different in many ways now that im looking at these. ame is so much of a son and makima is so much of a mother its like oppsoite spectrums. but thay makes the commonalities fun actuallt. i keep thinking about the movies and makima hating bad movies. ame is not an art kid by any means does he even care of the beauty of the world? i doubt it. but he likes bad movies and he likes cheap entertainment so who knows... they'd disagree on that. well i think makima's opinion on that was pretty extreme so i think most would disagree with her really

i could imagine ame going "Chainsawman. Doesn't spit." and smoking for the first time to look cool like in movies only to pathetically cough. thats their common trait... artifice... humans... but in a way that loops back to being Really Human i guess. holds a kind of arrogance and hubris that is so associated with humanity. it cant be anything else. ame should kill himself i think he should get moments of clarity and awareness and want to kill himself rqlly bad

both concepts of control. awesome. SUICIDE IS NOT ENDORSED IN THE WRKPLACE. ame goes to protestant church once or twice and sleeps because hes useless. makima is baptised and goes to local catholic churches not the cathedrals she supports the local christians.FUCK i just remembered the country mouse city mouse thing. ame is a liar and hates everything and loves everything and never feels content. i like to imagine him as a country mouse so fucking bad i want him to chill out one day and go to those middle of nowheres i know exist in america(can i shove cana in here and get away with it). why are they in the city if they are country mice? because..... you know..... you understand..... another w for eternal unhappiness (refer to title of this post)(suicide is discouraged in the workplace)

they are evil bosses i am the employee and when i ask for a break they gaze at me with a vacant stare and smile and i know in my heart they are viewing me like i am beneath them. i get scared and run away but truth is they didnt hear my request. they do not register individual people

if they met they would know immediately and viceversa. because everyone knows subconsciously because lying is futile and everything melts away. ame:i know a toxic boymom when i see one... okay im kidding makima is a toxic boymom if u push the chainsawman in ur head 🙂 ame as a kind of control devil works inmy head. i really believe ame was a polite child but demanding in many ways. sincerely wanting.

ame:gun devil i'll give you one year of the lifespans of the american people. in exchange i want you to kill makima—that is... the control devil (i never got around to drawing this)(ame and gun devil can you imagine)

or:gun devil i'll give you one year of the lifespans of the american people. in exchange i want you to kill alfred f jones—that is... the united states of america (paradox)

throughout all this i wanted to cite the best makima artist in the world ever but i'd feel bad if they wouldn't want to be associated with evil hetalia america blog. also i want to be normal and not cringe at being cringe just becayse i think makima was a thunderstrike of genius that i shouldn't taint. ame is a more flexible character to me for obvious reasons. this is how i'd shove ame into makima's role. but u couldn't put makima as ame. only one way. im okay with that. concept idea consensus words fear control blablabla u get the point i hate using words dont care sleepy now

#ame bible #hetalia & chainsawman #maybe this post disappears later i dont know

38 notes · View notes

lavellenchanted · 10 months ago

Note

I love these snippets so much! If you're not tired of writing about them, what about Japril + 💗? :)

💗 Slow Kiss

The Fox Foundation Charity Galas were fun . . . the first two or three times April attended one. It had been a novelty then, getting to pick out a fancy dress to wear, guessing what sort of canapes would be served or who might be attendance.

It didn't take long though, for the novelty to wear off.

Sure, there's still the excitement of seeing some of the most pre-eminent surgeons in the country (and occasionally even the world) in attendance, but April rarely has the chance to pick their brains or talk to them about their latest achievements the way she would like to. Most of the evening is spent schmoozing the rich potential donors that the Foundation would like to make actual donors and they're very often more pompous than interesting. Not to mention poor dancers. Usually by the time the galas end, April's cheeks are aching with all the smiling, her throat's hoarse from talking up the foundation and her feet hurt from being in heels too long.

If getting those donations wasn't so crucial to the incredible work the Foundation was doing, she would skip them in favour of staying at home with a blanket and a good book. But they are crucial, and she can't leave Jackson to take it all on by himself. Unfortunately his face isn't enough to sway every donor, no matter how pretty it is.

She has, at least, managed to grab a few moments for herself tonight. The ballroom they've hired this year has several alcoves dotted along the walls that are very conveniently hidden from view by large, decorative potted plants and April's managed to slip into one so she can slip her shoes off for a few minutes. The cold marble of the floor is lovely against her warm, abused feet and she lets her head fall back against the wall and closes her eyes.

"If you think you're getting out of cozying up to Mrs Walker by hiding back here, you are wrong."

April jumps in surprise and opens her eyes to see Jackson watching her in amusement from the other side of plant.

"Shhh! Get back here or they'll see." Leaning out, she grabs his arm impatient and pulls him into the alcove with her. "I just needed a break, that's all."

"Really?" Jackson lifts an eyebrow. "So I don't have to remind you that I won the coin toss fair and square?"

They always toss a coin to see who will have to talk with Mrs Walker - a very wealthy old lady in her eighties who won't let anyone else get a word in edgewise and has an unfortunate case of bad breath to boot. Whoever goes to try and charm a little more cash out of her inevitably has to spend an hour listening to rambling on about how different the city is now to when she was a girl and an excruciatingly detailed report of her cat's health.

April pulls a face. "No, I will go and talk her. Just . . . not now."

Jackson laughs and looks around at her hiding spot. "I never realised you could even get back here. I just saw you disappear behind the plant. I thought maybe you'd found a hidden passage or something."

"I wish," she sighs, and he smiles softly at her and she knows he knows she's thinking about her childhood dream of being Nancy Drew (April can't wait until Harriet's old enough to start reading them). "But it's still fun. Makes me think of old movies or books where they're spying on people, or shady deals are happening. We could be getting up to anything back here."

"Anything?" Jackson repeats suggestively and April feels herself flushing.

"You know what I mean."

He just steps closer, so that he's leaning over her and she has to lean right back into the wall to look up at him; suddenly the alcove feels much smaller and warmer than it did a moment ago, but April can't say she minds, not when Jackson's eyes are darkening in that tell-tale way and trailing slowly down her body, making her heart race.

"Maybe, but I can think of much better things to do back here than spy on someone else." One of his hands comes up curl around the back of her neck, his thumb lightly stroking over her cheek. "Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"No, I don't think so," April point-blank lies, because he told her she looked gorgeous before they even left home. She'd been very pleased; tonight's the first time she's worn this dress, a strapless number of dark green silk that's fitted to her hips and then falls in a loose skirt to the floor with a slit up to her knee. And she's been hoping that Jackson will enjoy taking it off her when they get home.

He grins and bends down closer, so his nose grazes hers and his lips are so close she can feel the warmth of his breath as he whispers, "You are very, very beautiful."

"You think so?"

She brings her hands up to his hips, finding the belt loops on his pants and using them to pull him even closer.

"I do."

He closes the space between their lips bit by bit, pulling back teasingly every time she pushes herself upwards to try and speed things along, chuckling when she actually makes a noise of frustation.

"So impatient," he murmurs, and then finally kisses her.

With the hand on her neck he tilts her head to find the deepest angle possible, moving his mouth against hers in one long, steady stroke. His tongue sweeps out over hers, sure and purposeful, and he captures her bottom lip his teeth, and it's a good thing April's already backed up against a wall because already her knees feel weak and she's completely breathless.

He kisses her like they're not hiding behind a plant at his Foundation's biggest event of the year, but like they're at home and he has all the time in the world to kiss her thoroughly, until her body's on fire and she's desperate to feel his skin against hers.

Maybe he does take all the time in the world; she's not sure how long he kisses her for before he finally pulls back, leaving her panting and just a little dizzy.

He looks out of breath himself, his pupils wide and his chest heaving as he looks down at her.

"How long do you think we can stay back here before they notice we're gone?" he asks.

"I don't know," April replies, "But I'm up for finding out if you are. If you don't mind me taking a little longer to get round to talking to Mrs Walker."

"She can wait," Jackson says decisively, and bends down to kiss her again.

#thanks for the prompt!!#sorry for the delay it was a busy weekend #japril #jackson avery #april kepner #otp: I want the whole damn thing #my fic

40 notes · View notes

slightly-nerdy-rambles · 5 months ago

Text

Robstar Week Day 5: Romance and Roller Coasters (Prompt: Date)

Admittedly, this is probably the combined-prompt fic that most loosely follows this year's prompt. I'm originally from Central Florida and pretty much grew up going to theme parks, so I really had fun with this one, which was originally based off of last year's day 2 prompt of "Carnival/Amusement Park". I based the theme park the Titans visit here off of the Disney and Universal parks, especially Islands of Adventure's Jurassic Park area (as if that won't be obvious to anyone familiar with it, lol). Ironically, despite the presence of a raptor-themed roller coaster in this fic, I haven't been on IoA's Velocicoaster (it opened shortly after I moved out of state, and I haven't gotten a chance to visit the park since then) and I had in fact forgotten the coaster existed when I first got the idea.

Romance and Roller Coasters

It was a pleasant surprise for Robin whenever he could get Starfire excited over something new.

Of course, “surprise” hadn’t always been quite the right word. He still remembered a few years back when just about everything on Earth was new to her. Starfire was as curious as she was optimistic, and quite nearly as impulsive when it came to casual outings, so she had a habit of diving headlong into everything from team sports to sandwiches.

But as time passed, more of the unknown had become known and things that were once strange and magical became normal. And while Starfire never lost her zeal for life, it was sometimes easy to forget the sheer enthusiasm with which she approached new experiences.

When she first set foot in the Adventure Studios theme park, that enthusiasm came roaring back.

“It’s like we are in another world!” she marveled aloud, lifting a foot off of the ground and turning every which way to take in all the sights at once.

Robin grinned as he cast an only slightly more subdued gaze around. “Yeah, that’s the idea.”

Adventure Studios was one of those big amusement parks that had whole sections themed after different movies and the like. The other Titans had been needling Robin to schedule a day trip ever since he had, as Beast Boy put it, “rediscovered his fun side” in Tokyo. Now, all five of them were gawping up at the stylized buildings, decor and rides that drew the gaze every which way.

“Ooh, ooh!” Beast Boy practically shrieked, shaking Cyborg’s arm in his excitement. “It’s the Kraken Whirlpool ride from Terrors of the Deep! Let’s go, last one there’s kraken chow!”

Robin frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe we should wait to see what everyone – and he’s already gone.” Cyborg had run off as well, leaving him standing in the middle of the shop-lined central street that Adventure Studios had named “Hollywood Road” with Raven and Starfire.

Raven shrugged. “They’re big kids, they’ll be fine. Even if the word ‘kid’ applies more than it should.”

Robin rubbed the back of his head, still frowning a little. “Yeah, I guess they can do their own thing and just call us when they want to meet back up.”

Starfire, meanwhile, had busied herself looking over a map of the park. “Oh!” she cried, pointing out one of the map regions in particular. “This area is styled after that dinosaur movie we watched last year.”

Robin craned his head to look. “Yeah, that’s a pretty popular franchise so I’m not surprised. Do you want to check it out?”

At Starfire’s enthusiastic nod, he turned to Raven. “You coming?”

Raven shrugged again. “Maybe later. I actually wanted to check out the Wizard Barry land before it gets too crowded.” She spared a moment to scowl at the small flood of people that was already starting to pour into the park, despite the fact that they’d arrived shortly after it opened for the day.

Robin nodded and took Starfire by the hand. “Okay then, call us if you want to meet up later!”

*******

While he felt a little guilty admitting it, Robin was kind of glad that the team had split up. He enjoyed spending time with all of his friends, of course, and he still hoped that once they all had their fill of running off to the first thing that grabbed their attention, they’d at least get to meet up for lunch or something. But for the moment, he got to focus on letting Starfire’s sheer enthusiasm for everything infect him.

“Oh!” she cried out again, lifting a few feet off the ground to inspect a looming Allosaurus animatronic. “Fascinating. It’s so lifeli–”

The animatronic suddenly moved to face her and leaned forward with a gaping, tooth-filled maw and a screeching roar playing out over its speakers. Starfire squeaked and flew back down to duck behind Robin.

Robin himself had admittedly taken a startled step back at the dinosaur’s sudden threat, but then he craned his head to fix her with a playfully teasing smirk. “What are you hiding behind me for? You’re the one with the starbolts.”

Starfire huffed and settled her feet on the ground. “Perhaps, but I doubt the owners of the park would appreciate me damaging their lifelike robots.”

Robin chuckled. “Fair enough.”

The two of them continued on down the path, marveling at the thick jungle-like landscape pressing in around them and the Mesozoic facsimiles dotted throughout the foliage. They took their time, pointing out familiar dinosaurs, trying to remember which of the forms they’d seen Beast Boy take in training and battle, and reminiscing on their favorite parts of the movie it was all built to resemble. It was like an impromptu date, and Robin was enjoying every moment of it.

Starfire squeaked again – in delight this time – when the path turned to reveal a looming building that resembled the movie’s infamous dinosaur lab. She lifted off the ground curiously to approach its doors, but before she could make her way in, something else caught her eye.

“I do not recall that from the movie,” she said, cocking her head thoughtfully at the big sign for a coaster that proudly identified it as “Raptor Pack Attack!”

Robin smiled. “It’s still an amusement park, so even the themed areas have roller coasters and other rides. They just have to be more abstract about the theme – like, if I remember it right this one’s all about speed, so it feels like you’re being chased by the raptors.”

Starfire’s eyes widened in understanding. “Oh, so it is a ride! Is it like the roller coaster at the pier?”

Robin’s smile widened into an anticipatory grin. “Sort of, but that's kind of a small and simple one compared to what the big parks can do. Want to try it out?”

Starfire nodded enthusiastically, a grin overtaking her own face as she caught on to his knowing excitement. She thoroughly enjoyed all of the rides at the pierside park back in Jump, and he could tell she was eager for a chance to experience something like that on a grander scale.

It had been ages since Robin had gotten to ride a big steel coaster, so he matched her energy as the two of them ran up to join the queue. Luckily it was still early enough in the day that the wait time hadn’t gotten excessive, so it wasn’t very long before they could see the start of the ride looming up before them. Starfire leaned over the railing to watch the ride attendants and mechanisms at work, as enraptured by the process of loading and unloading riders as she had been by everything else.

Robin let out a contented little sigh and leaned onto the railing as well. “You know, I’ve kind of missed this.”

Starfire blinked and gave him a questioning look. “Missed what? The roller coasters?”

Robin flinched a little, heat crawling up his cheeks – he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “No. I mean, yeah, a little, but uh… I was talking more about seeing you get excited over new stuff.”

Starfire blinked again and tilted her head. “You think I have lost some of my enthusiasm over time?”

Robin shook his head. “Oh, not at all! It’s just… Well, there’s kind of something magical about experiencing something for the first time, and you are the best example of that I’ve ever seen. It’s great that you’re more familiar and comfortable with Earth now, but I also like how you get when you’re trying new things, you know? It’s like… it gives me a fresh appreciation for those things, if that makes any sense.”

Starfire hummed in thought for a moment, letting her gaze drift back to the roller coaster entrance. Finally, she smiled again, and Robin could swear it not only reached her eyes but made them sparkle.

“Well, I still maintain that Earth is full of amazing things to discover,” she said. “And I do not believe I will run out of such discoveries anytime soon. Perhaps we can experience some of them together?”

Shooting a meaningful glance at where the line had shuffled forward while she spoke, drawing enticingly close to the coaster, she held out a hand to him. “Such as, for example, a roller coaster that I believe you referred to as being ‘all about speed?’”

Robin smiled back and wordlessly took her hand in his, and as they approached the front of the line, the adrenaline of anticipation for the thrill ride wasn’t the only reason for the tingling rush just beneath his skin.

#Teen Titans #Robin #Starfire #robstar #robstarweek #writing #prompt #fanfiction #drat now I want to go to a theme park again #an impromptu theme park date is still a date right?#sounds like my kind of date tbh

19 notes · View notes

likeadevils · 4 months ago

Note

what songs so far do you think were daydreaming exercises? to the best of your knowledge?

obligatory i’m just some guy

songs i’m pretty sure are fictional

I'm Only Me When I'm with You: it’s a 2003 song, before she moved to nashville, so she didn’t have any super close friends at the time. the romantic connotations are almost definitely made up

A Perfectly Good Heart: could be her being dramatic about a middle school breakup, but i think it’s more likely she was just daydreaming about being really sad

Fearless: taylor’s said she was just daydreaming about the perfect first date a million times, look at any concert she played this at in 2007/8

Timeless: she wrote it sometime in 2009, likely sometime after june because she mentions antiquing as a new hobby in the lover journals from that month. so it could be about somebody we don’t know about, or maybe taylor lautner, but my guess is she was just wandering around an antique store and daydreaming about being in love

Stay Stay Stay: she says she was just daydreaming, and while she definitely bent the truth with the red secret messages in particular, i’m prone to believe this one. she wrote it sometime in 2010, so “daydreaming about real love” could be a really sick burn about any number of people, but i think this was just her in between relationships fiddling around

Death By A Thousand Cuts: you can get into conspiracy theory stuff about just how on and off again her and joes relationship was, but it’s a pretty direct retelling of something great, so i believe it when she said she watched the movie and then got inspired

like, the vast majority of the unreleased tracks

song that kinda blur the line

Stay Beautiful: cor(e)y passed her in the hallway and she thought he was kinda cute, i don’t think it was a big thing as the song makes it seem

You Belong With Me: taylor’s said it was inspired by one of her band mates apologizing to his girlfriend on the phone, but everything else is made up

Mine: she said a guy put his arm around her and she saw a whole life flash before her eyes, so like, it kinda happened? it wasnt anyone she got super serious with though

Speak Now: she was the +1 to hayley williams’ ex’s wedding, joked about speak now-ing, then had a nightmare about one of her exes getting married

too many songs on folklore and evermore to list out

anything she’s ever written for a movie soundtrack

songs that probably have a muse but not anyone we know about so could be daydreaming

Cold As You: there’s an unreleased song, love to lose, that parallels cold as you. so possibly there’s some guy that inspired two songs, or she was just circling around similar themes

Electric Touch

Foolish One: possibly joe jonas angst, possible pre-relationship john mayer angst, possibly someone else, who knows what taylor was up to in 2009 man that girl had a fucking roster going

Everything Has Changed

Message In A Bottle: i like to think it’s about eddie redmayne but genuinely i have no clue

Wildest Dreams: iirc she said it was her being dramatic and thinking no one would ever want to really fall in love with her at the grammy museum performance but like who knows if it was general discomfort or a specific person that inspired it

Crazier: could be a drew song, could be her daydreaming

Beautiful Eyes and I Heart ?: don’t know enough about these songs to say one way or another, but i believe she’s claimed the i heart ? thing actually happened? cant remember where though

#asks*

13 notes · View notes

los-ninos-tortugas · 2 months ago

Note

I’d love your thoughts on…Bayverse tmnt.

This has languished in my inbox for far too long. Quite honestly I was gonna try to come up with some sort of funny meme answer to this and drew up completely blank so instead I'm gonna do sincerity,

It's... it's bad but I still kinda love it? In a weird way? These movies give me weird emotions because I did genuinely enjoy watching them but I'm also very aware that there's... Stuff going on. I've definitely taken my fair share of pot shots at these movies in the past because it's funny, But after seeing this behind the scenes video I do think there's something kind of interesting to talk about; how much thought went into this... for it to still come out pretty mid. Which probably sounds a little mean, and not for nothing I do commend the crews insistence on using a practical set and effects where they could because honestly yeah, it does look awesome. And overall I do think the movies have pretty impressive visuals and the action sequences are a lot of fun but I don't think those things can really save these movies from the weaknesses that just come out of the script itself.

Now I'm not gonna lie it's been a hot minute since I watched these movies so I'm kinda going off my memory here. Could I have taken the time to rewatch them before answering this? Probably. But I didn't so here we go.

The Turtles:

I actually don't really hate their designs? I have a very vivid memory of people making a big stink about how they looked when the first movie came out back in 2014, although back then I wasn't a fan so it all just kinda went over my head. I'm still not a fan of them having lips as opposed to beaks but that's really the only part where I kinda draw the line. I weirdly kinda liked that they tower over all the humans and that their physicality matches just how strong they are in this movie. Their first fight scene is so chaotic because you can't see them yet (again, their ability to sneak around so effectively in spite of their size also adds to the impression they make) but enemies are just flying. Karai is quickly losing control of the situation, Foot Clan grunts are getting thrown into the walls and cracking the subway tile with the force with which they're thrown. The way the scene builds the anticipation for the reveal is really well done in my opinion. Do the turtles look like teenagers? No. Absolutely not. And admittedly this did give me a little bit of cognitive dissonance because I kinda kept forgetting that they are kids with the exception of a few scenes. But they do look like mutants so points for that I guess. And it's pretty cool to see what elements from these turtles seemed to end up carrying over to Rise and Mutant Mayhem. Stuff like the tech on Donnie's shell and his glasses. Raph's bandana, and the turtles wearing more clothes overall. The fact that they're purpose made science experiments this time rather than the result of an accident. Like as much as Bayverse gets kinda treated like the black sheep of the turtle iterations it would be unfair to say it had zero influence on what came after.

These turtles in particular are also really riding the coattails of the superhero movie genre back before we all got tired of it. I feel like unlike a lot of the other iterations-- and while TMNT does kinda fall under the superhero umbrella from their comic origins they also kind of originated their own specific subgenre within that that has a very specific... TMNT-ness to it if you know what I mean (i.e. street sharks, battle toads, gargoyles if you really squint)-- these versions of the turtles are more like straight up superheroes than any other version. They're literally bulletproof, they have super strength, speed, and agility. They can survive in hostile environments that would otherwise kill normal humans- really they might as well have slapped capes on them. There's also this weird cartoony-ness to them. Like they specifically operate on cartoon logic while the rest of the world still operates on regular real world logic. It does take me out of it a bit when it does happen.

As far as personalities go (and this is where my memory gets a bit foggy so bear with me here) Raph and Donnie stand out to me the most and I think that's because they both end up being really empathetic characters. The first movie actually kinda becomes Raph's movie and he gets a lot of screentime and character development. The second movie is definitely a bit more Leo focused but I think it's split a little more evenly overall between all of them. But Raph and Donnie are definitely my favorites in this version. Leo is a bit bland in my opinion. At least compared with other versions I've seen. Maybe on another rewatch I would reassess that but for now he just seems like he's kinda there. He's the leader and that's his job. (Again, the BTS video does more to explore his personality than I think the movies really do, so it's like, how did all this thought go into this for it to still not show through?) I feel like the writers just didn't know what to do with Mikey. He gets a bit more development and character in the second movie (the line delivery on the "we aren't monsters" scene comes to mind. Real gut punch every time) but in the first one he's unfortunately just kind of annoying.

Master Splinter:

Oh is Splinter here? Coulda fooled me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, his one purpose is to provide exposition and then exit the plot as quickly as possible when he is no longer useful. Yes he gets critically injured in the first movie and I feel like it's supposed to raise the stakes- it does not. I do not care about him even a little.

April O'Neil:

Okay I'm conflicted because I love Megan Fox and I really think she tried her best with what she was given to work with. The movie almost did a good- there was kind of a weird but self aware joke about April wanting to be a real journalist and pursue more hard hitting stories but the news network very obviously hired her to put her on television to objectify her and have her do puff pieces and boost their ratings because she's attractive. And I'm like "wow that's actually some really self aware commentary on how Megan Fox has been treated by the industry and by Michael Bay in particular it's really cool that they put that in a movie produced by him- oh nevermind there it is they're objectifying her for the rest of the movie." Which is really unfortunate because the way she plays this kind of more manic and slightly unhinged version of April who is maybe not super socially aware is very funny (cue April slapping a conspiracy board and presenting it as serious evidence to her boss). I think her having a connection to the turtles pre-mutation is a pretty cool play on their origin since usually after being dropped in the sewer they cease to have any connection to the kid that bought them from the pet store. But having April and the turtles remember each other is honestly kinda sweet. (Along with the fact that she gave them their names.)

Casey Jones;

Fuck that guy. That's not Casey Jones because Casey Jones is not a goddamn cop.

Vern:

Exists.

The Bad Guys:

Eric Sacks: Okay I haven't seen anyone else point this out but it's driving me nuts. Has anyone else noticed that this guy's origin story is just The Karate Kid but if he turned out evil? Like he tells the story and I literally had to pause the movie because it blew my mind that they just Did That. I was just going "that's just the plot of The Karate Kid. He just explained the plot of The Karate Kid in this movie as his origin story, they just stole it. AND IT"S THE FUCKING JAIDEN SMITH VERSION NO LESS WTF???" Like is it just me? Am I crazy? They fucking did this earnestly and it's driving me up the goddamn wall.

The Shredder: Motivations, what are those? Crime? Money? I guess? If someone could tell me what the hell this man's actual motivations and goals were in this movie I'd appreciate it because I have no idea. This character has zero personality, I can remember zero of his lines, his costume is dope as hell. I don't understand why he's here except that maybe the writers were contractually obligated to put him in the movie. He's literally The bad guy in all the turtleverse how is he so goddamn unmemorable in this movie??? And in the second one? Sir I feel like you should have more of a reaction to finding out extradimensional aliens are real than going "Okay we work for this guy now." and then proceed to tear apart the fabric of reality for him based on like a two minute conversation. What were you hoping to get out of this arrangement, I know the movie probably said it but like everything else that has to do with the antagonists I cannot remember.

Karai: Is here. I guess. Also just way too cool with learning that mutants and aliens are a thing, never reacts to anything. I'm sure she has lines in these movies, could I tell you anything she said or anything she did that would be indicitave of her having a character or a personality? Nope. She exists to be a henchwoman and that's about it.

Bebop and Rocksteady: Probably the only memorable villains in all of these movies, and that's only because they're funny.

General Krang: Why did they even bother dude. Disappointment.

Honestly after writing this I might go rewatch these movies, because this has just reminded me that their whole deal is kind of wild to be honest. And I probably could go on even more but this has already gotten pretty long. Thanks for the ask and I'm sorry it took so so long. But it was fun to do this kind of break down, and I kinda wanna do more in the future with other tmnt stuff, idk I'll see where that goes or not.

Thanks for reading <3

#answered asks #teenage mutant ninja turtles #bayverse tmnt #tmnt bayverse #tmnt 2014 #daboyau #katnip talks

10 notes · View notes