#from like the dialogue writers

[luxraydyne]

wait, dude, wait. aini was supposed to be cosmic horror??

girl, seriously? i dunnooooo i’m not really feeling it fellas

[lunarin64art]

That feeling when he can't stand to see you that way, no matter what you do, no matter what you say😩😭💔

[so-that-was-okay]

The witty lines of this show are lost, even wasted, on buddies. They're missing what makes the show special.

[akwardsilince]

Person A: "Don't you think this is a bit extreme?"

Person B: "No."

[Insert very loud chainsaw noises.]

[arlesposting]

hello 17776 nation how do we feel about genderfluid/all pronouns hubble (stemmed from a looooong story, but one person's misremembered moment is that same person's new character headcanon!!)

quick visuals if y'all need a little extra to get on board with this:

tl;dr/tumblr-accurate version:

also please, PLEASE excuse any grammatical errors it's 1am and i had to immediately put this idea into text form or else i'd forget about it (sleep can wait away, keep calm and dribble² on) ok byebye

[robinfollies]

me and the guy i pulled by accidentally implying i like jazz music

[lavendel081]

Expecting🌻

[sunsetsandsunshine]

Hiii! Great job on finishing your WIPs by the way! 😁

For requests, I'm curious as to how you'd write tmnt 2003, so maybe lee Mikey, if you're up to it? (Ler can be anyone, your choice!! 😘)

I hope you're doing well! 😊

~ 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚃𝚅 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎! ~

💙🐢🧡 𝙵𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢: @savemeafruitjuice 💙🐢🧡

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚈𝙾𝙾𝙾 🩷💓!!! 𝙷𝙴𝚈𝙰 𝙹𝚄𝙸𝙲𝙴 🤩💕💘💕💘!!! 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚃𝙼𝙽𝚃 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟹 (𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢’𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝙼𝙽𝚃 𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚕) 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝙾𝙾𝙲 𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚔𝚢 🥲💔. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚋𝚛𝚘 😗💖— 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝙷𝙸𝚃 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚢𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚢. 𝚂𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚝’𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 😅…˚*• ̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*＊·̩̩̥͙

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜: 𝟷,𝟺𝟽𝟽

𝙻𝚎𝚎: ��𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚢 🐢🧡

𝙻𝚎𝚛: 𝙻𝚎𝚘 🐢💙

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝙼𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚓𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚑𝚎’𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚜𝚔? 𝟷. 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝟸. 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝? 𝙰𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙻𝚎𝚘’𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚜…

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚜: @itzsana-kiddingmenow @saturnzskyzz @tmntalways

@shut-up-jo @someone1348 @rice-cake-teen10 @turtletimewriting

(𝙰/𝙽: 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚐𝚘 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 😵‍💫…𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟹 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 🫶🏾💖💕💗! 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢: 𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚞𝚢! 𝚃*𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚔/𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙸!!!)

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝚃𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐— 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 😌👍🏾💓 

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚃𝚄𝚁𝚃𝙻𝙴𝚂 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃 𝙸𝚃 𝙾𝙵𝙵!!! 🌚𝙾𝙽𝙴🤪𝚃𝚆𝙾👁️𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴💅🏾𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁🌝˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

“Leeeoooooooo!!! Come watch TV with meeee…” Mikey whined loudly, resting his head on his eldest brother’s shoulder as the other sat quietly on the dojo floor, meditating. 

“I’m obviously doing something here, Mike.” Leo said calmly, trying to concentrate on his meditation. 

Which…was kind of hard when his little brother was literally breathing down his neck. 

The orange banded turtle huffed, hugging onto his brother’s arm like the clingy koala that he was, “I thought you loved meeee…”

The slightly taller turtle sighed longly, stopping his meditation for a quick second as he opened his eyes, looking down at his brother, “Don’t be ridiculous. You know I love you.” 

Mikey smiled at the slightly defensive response, hugging the other’s arm tighter, “If you love me so much then watch some TV with me!!!” 

Leonardo fondly rolled his eyes, squeezing the freckled faced teen in a side hug, “I’ll watch TV with you later, okay? I promise.” The blue banded turtle exclaimed as he went back into the sitting position he was in beforehand. He put the both of his hands in his lap, closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate quietly. 

Mikey sighed loudly, resting his cheek on his older brother’s shoulder, causing Leo to stiffen slightly. The taller turtle opened his eyes once more, glaring at the other as the smallest turtle just grinned back, batting his eyelashes dramatically. 

“Mikey.” Leo hissed. 

“Yes~?” The younger sang innocently as his free hand started to squeeze at his big brother’s side. The blue banded teen’s eyes widened, biting back down the laugh that was bubbling in his throat. 

The youngest snorted at his brother’s reaction, raising an amused brow, “What’s going on, man? I thought you were concentrated with meditating.”

“I. Am.” The other said through gritted teeth.

“Really? You sure about that, bro?” The younger asked teasingly. 

Leo sighed knowingly, cracking his knuckles at he took one more glance at his baby brother. 

So this is the way Michelangelo wanted to play? Fine by him. 

If he was going to interrupted during his personal meditation/training session, he should at least take what he’s learned to good use, right? Right. 

The elder quickly and swiftly got out of the hold the youngest had him in. And as soon as he did, Leonardo pinned his brother’s arms on the dojo floor as he sat on his legs effortlessly.   

The orange banded turtle’s eyes widened in panic, his cocky demeanor immediately crumbling as he realized the situation he practically dug himself into.

But the eldest did take notice how his younger brother wasn’t really fighting and/or resisting all that much.

If Mikey really wanted to get away, Leo would’ve gotten punched in the gut right now.

“Waha— wait wait wahait!!!” The smaller turtle squeaked out, kicking his legs behind his brother “C-Cohome ohon— cahan’t we tahalk about thihis first…?”

“I don’t even know why you’re acting so surprised. You knew this was going to happen, Mikes…” Leo said as he couldn’t help but chuckle at his now flustered brother. 

“Buhut Ihi— *snort* Leeheeo!!” Mikey whined, shaking his head back and forth repeatedly as his giggles raised an octave due to the fact that his mean brother was wiggling his fingers above him teasingly. 

Okay…well on the bright side of things, Leo and him were hanging out now!

Although, them 'hanging out' was just Mikey about to get his shit absolutely wrecked, but hey! Maybe Leonardo would go easy on him…?

I mean, Mikey might be the smallest turtle out of the four, but he was also by far the cutest out of all of them (April definitely said so at one point in time so therefore it’s automatically correct), so Leo couldn’t and wouldn’t be…that malicious, right?

If he would, the youngest would file a restraining order. 

“What? You what, Mikey? You saw I was meditating and I said I would watch TV with you later. And yet you still persisted on bothering me.” 

“I-Ihi’m *snort* sohORRY, okAHAY?! Juhust pLEHEASE *snort* d-dohon’t—“

“Please what?” 

“TIHICKLE MEEHEE!!!”

“Tickle you? Oh, whahat a wonderful idea.” Leo mused as he scribbled his free hand against his little brother’s side. Michelangelo shrieked at the sudden sensation to his sides, squirming and wriggling as he tried to get out of the hold.

“Gehet *snort* oHOFF *snort* OHOF meehee!” The youngest whined loudly through his laughter, kicking his feet on the ground repeatedly. 

The eldest turtle huffed out a small chuckle, letting go of both of his brother’s hands and letting them flail around before digging his fingers into his brother’s underarms. 

The orange banded teen let out a loud squeal, putting his hands down as he pushed on his brother’s arms, “GOHOH *snort* A-AWAHAHAY!” 

“Your snorting already? I’ve barely done anything yet.” 

“S-SHUHUT *snort* *squeak* UHUP!” 

“Ehexcuse me? What did you just say?” Leonardo asked, ceasing the tickling for a second as him and Mikey rustled and tussled with each other’s arms.

“NONONONOHO— *snort* PLEHEASE DOHON’T!!!”

“Then moohoove your hands, Mike!”

“IHIHI *snort* CAHAN’T!”

“Then you put this upon yourself…” Leo said as he leaned in and blew a raspberry in the crook of his baby brother’s neck while kneading his hips.

The younger basically screamed in loud laughter, throwing his head back as happy tears shined in his eyes, “EEEEEHAHAHA!” 

“Wow. This must tickle really bad, huh?” 

“BEEHEE QUIHIHIET!!!” 

“If you really want me to stop, you can just say stop, y'know.” 

“NAHAHAH— *snort* SHUHUSH SHUHUSH!!” 

“Unless…” Leo hinted teasingly, his fingers clamping down on the other’s thigh as he squeezed it mercilessly, still blowing raspberries on the orange cladded turtle’s neck. 

“JAHSHHSJAKAHAH!!!” Mikey stuttered through his laugh. 

“What was that?”

“MABSGHAJAHAH— *snort* *snort* JDHDHAHAH!!!” 

“Oh, you don’t say…”

“MANSHSJWKAHA— *snort* *squeal*!!”

“Really? Wow. You don’t hear news like that everyday.” The blue cladded turtle joked, going back to squeezing Mikey’s hipbones.

“NOHO *squeak* STAHA— *squeak* IHI— *snort* L-LEEHEEHEEO!” 

“Yes~?”

“PLEHEHA— *squeak* PLEHEASE NAHA— *snort* STAHAP I-IHI CAHAN’T!!!” Michaelangelo cried as happy tears ran down his cheeks. Leo couldn’t help but giggle at the adorable sight of his younger brother completely lost in his own cackles. The eldest stopped, sitting to the other side of Mikey so the youngest could catch his breath. 

The orange banded turtle slumped on Leo’s shoulder once more as the eldest wrapped him in a comforting hug, “Yohou’re freeheeaking *snort* evil…” 

The leader in blue snorted softly at the remark, “Ahand yohou’re annoying as hell.” 

“Tahakes one toohoo know one, dear ohold brohohother ohof mine.” The orange banded teen grinned, the two enjoying each other’s company in comforting silence before the eldest spoke, “What TV show did you want to watch with me anyway?”

“Star Trek! Dad brought new DVD’s and—“

“AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!” Leonardo basically screeched, leaping unto his feet as he quickly helped his brother up, taking his hand and almost dragging him to the living room. “I-I just said I wanted to watch TV with you!” Mikey yelled as he was being dragged along the hallway, “I didn’t know Star Trek was that important to you—“

Leonardo stopped in his tracks, slowly turning around to his brother, “Star Trek is very important to me.” He explained, turning back around as he saw the TV starting to play his favorite Sci-Fi show. The blue banded teen sat down next to his Father on the couch, becoming almost entranced by the television. 

Not so far from where the leader in blue was sitting, Raph was leaning on a wall as he was talking to the second youngest. Mikey approached the two with a big, happy grin on his face, putting an arm around Donatello.

“You got Leo to come out of his meditation cave, I pressure?” The scientist asked. 

“Yessir!” The youngest said happily, “But I just don’t understand how he meditates for, like, three freaking hours. I can barely do one!!! It’s impressive honestly…” 

“More like concerning.” Donnie added on.

“Well…impressive or not, Fearless over there needs to take a break every now an' again. So thanks for doing what you did, Mike. We all appreciate it.” Raphael said, a small, embarrassed blush appearing on his face as his little brother’s looked at him teasingly. “Awe…Raphie you looooove us~!” Donatello grinned.

The red banded teen rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “I take back everythin' I said about lovin' any of you dunderheads…” He muttered, although his voice lacked his usual snarky and cocky tone— which the two youngest turtle’s definetley took notice in. 

“My sons, are you going to come and watch the space alien science fiction show with me and Leonardo?” Splinter asked the three teens. “Sure, Sensei.” Donnie said as they walked over.

“SHHH SHHH!!! IT’S ON MY FAVORITE SCENE!!!” Leo hissed as he was still looking at the television.

“But…every scene is your 'favorite scene'…” Raphael laughed.

“SAME. DIFFERENCE!!!” 

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

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

[rosenfey]

things that are hard to find: writing advice that isn't condescending.

[old-skyguy]

Look.

Ace Attorney fandom.

I know why people don't like Turnabout Bigtop. I am among the people who dislike Turnabout Bigtop.

But I GET why people like the case. I'm not going to be one of those annoying people who just blindly dump on it because I hate those mfs too.

Thing about Bigtop isn't that it sucks. Thing isn't the weird grooming stuff (though that is a huge part of it). It's not that it could've been good.

It's that - in my personal OPINION - it could have been *great*.

I think it had the potential to be one of the best third cases in the trilogy. It had everything; a fun and goofy setting fit for a pretty dang goofy lawyer game - where the environment itself had jokes and quips and one-liners and mishaps and tomfoolery written all over it, it had the previous case introducing a very interesting and important plotline that gave background for one of the more well-loved characters while also introducing an equally fucked up and lovable new one who was a child forced into a shit childhood of naivete in a CIRCUS with another character who was very naive and childish - whose interactions could have been funny and cute and reflective of said shit from the previous case (seriously she becomes such an important character in the 4th case, WHY would they not include her in this one for some character development? How did they fuck up letting a CHILD explore a CIRCUS?? That would have made the interactions flow MUCH better).

They had a pretty good, sympathetic killer imo, a morally dubious victim, an asshole of a client (who was pretty flat admittedly in-game, but I like his weird, topsy-turvy reasoning for it in the anime. Also, I think Max being kinda a dick would have bode well for the themes of Farewell since most of his clients up to this point have been like...nice? Not nice, but sympathetic, but him having to defend someone who's innocent but a prick would have shown him that just because someone is an asshole, doesn't mean they deserve to suffer for it and that they have the potential to grow as people, which is almost a complete foil to what Matt was. Ultimately, I would have loved the contrast of them as clients and I think it would have also served as character development for Phoenix, especially with his low-empathy tendencies).

They just didn't think that far ahead. They just didn't execute it well enough. They just decided to make three of the adult characters fight for the hand in marriage of a teenage girl. (Bat's part of the story was actually kinda good if he was just YOUNGER, I think him doing that for Regina would have been a stupid thing someone in the circus would do to impress their crush. Damn you Ace Attorney and your weird treatment of underage girls!!)

It just flopped and that's ok.

Even though it kinda sucked, it can still mean something to me.

Also I'm a Moe Curls apologist. I liked him, shut up.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

me everytime anyone on youtube begins their take about totk saying it's "one of the best stories in the franchise"

[oneluckydragon]

got hit with the echo+sora brainrot so i am once more rambling in your askbox about it. because reasons.

anywho i think there is something truly saddening about echo's struggles to make peace within herself and how she truly finds it hard to find that peace when she is so certain that if the truth about her origins were to be revealed to the world, much less to *sora*, everything she achieved, everything she worked for, all of which matters to her most, will crumble away in a moment's notice.

but the fear of losing all your life's work is none compared to the fear of losing sora. the feeling of poison that settled itself within themselves and between each other out of fear and tragedy of what had happened to them is familiar. echo's resemblance to dusknoir was already enough to set the two off because of how much it had all hurt to see someone you love and yourself turn into a mockery and a splitting image of someone who had pretended to care yet showed he never did at all, but this poison is louder. it hurts to bare, to carry, and to have none but yourself to be its sole holder.

but this poison, this feeling of heartache is different. because whereas the previous pain was something both of them felt, sora was lucky enough to not have known the truth about the person who she cares for so dearly.

echo knows that she used to be darkrai. and it haunts her to have known that her previous incarnation was so *cruel*, all for the sake of it just feeling right. wishing to engulf an entire world in darkness, solely for whatever desire she used to have.

and for how much she knows, how much she will hammer it into her own head that she is *not* like that anymore, that she looks at her past with sneer and disgust and that she will not be the barer of evil anymore, it will not matter in the slightest when she will have to look at sora if she were to ever find out.

how afraid, angry and dejected she would look when finding out, and how she will go on the defense/offense because of how much this will overwhelm her.

because when echo looks at her own shadow, she sees herself for what she is. she knows what she is, be it out of shame or guilt.

but when sora will look at it, she will see a tall, contorting and menacing shadow, towering over with a bright cyan eye doing nothing but looking at her, as if tempting her to make the next move.

and she defends herself. from someone she knows will not harm her. she raises her arms up in self defense from a hand that would never hurt her more than the world has already did.

she knows echo will not hurt her. and thats why she is afraid.

Oh my oh my OH MY, Sinnoh!!! YES YES YES!

HOW!!! IN THE WORLD!!! Are you so good at crawling into my head and creating these vivid analysis/snippets on my OCs??? I've barely shared ANY information about Echo and Sora because I've been wanting to hoard most of my stuff for when my fic is finally finished... but... I think you've broken my resolve a bit, if I'm entirely honest.

You know what? I'm so inspired by your accuracy and eagerness to talk about my girls that I'm gonna forgo my crippling anxiety regarding my writing skills and instead post a snippet of my WIP fic here as a treat for you. A teaser, if you will. Since I have no idea when the fic in question will actually be done and ready (or when I will be satisfied with it, cause the thing is currently 36,000 words and still slowly climbing). And now you've got me eager to share SOMETHING of my fic with you and anyone that might want to take a peek at it.

Please enjoy this conversation between Dusknoir and Echo. The topic deals a lot with what you'd described up above!! c:

[Note: this is an unedited part of my fic because I am still in the process of writing and it may change in the future, so please be gentle w/ me but I'd love to read any thoughts/comments that pop up while reading!! pls send asks or replies or anything really cause I love you guys]

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“I’m going to tell you something now, and you are going to listen.” Echo commands with a sharp bite in her voice that Dusknoir cannot fathom ignoring. He pauses and then offers a slow nod, waiting, wondering what she could possibly desire to tell him at a time like this, of all things.

Minutes pass as Echo remains rooted in place, still as her own shadow, and her eyes dart around as she stares at the patches of dry grass and sand beneath her paws. Her claws clench and unclench, digging into the earth like daggers as the wind of the forest (it’s trees so close, just behind them, a looming sort of presence that could engulf them whole) whistles through the surrounding branches, carrying stray leaves of many bright greens through the chilling breeze. Dusknoir watches them dance around Echo, twirling, floating down, down, down… but it’s quiet, too quiet, and Dusknoir feels a shiver pass through him when Echo’s voice finally rings out through the silence.

"When I evolved, Sora was petrified," She says, nearly a whisper, an admission that melts away her confidence and appears to bring her a flood of both shame and regret. Her face twists up then, strangely, like she’d felt a twinge of pain from somewhere deep inside the very fabric of her own soul and was unable to quell it. "She couldn’t even bring herself to look at me most days. At first, my appearance… well, it reminded her too much of you. And eventually of someone I used to be.”

Someone I used to be. At that, Dusknoir’s immediate reaction is to recall Echo’s previous life as a human, as the miserable shell of a creature surviving alongside Grovyle that he’d relentlessly hunted in the dark future. A human made of contempt and anger and apathy, who never smiled or laughed or cried or screamed like the old legends said humans would-- an entity that simply existed rather than lived. An echo of a life long dead and buried. But, judging by her tone, by her voice, by some uneasy intuition itching in the back of his mind like a swarm of pestilent Ninjask… he knows that she means something else entirely. Something that she isn’t willing to share. And frankly, that concept utterly terrifies him.

Someone I used to be. Dusknoir wants to speak, to break his own silence, wants to ask the myriad of questions bubbling up in his throat because this isn't the first time she's hinted at another life beyond being human, but those questions die at the source like a flame doused in water. And always the coward, coward, coward, instead he takes the easy way out by doing nothing at all. Whether Echo notices his surge of inner conflict or not-- the nervous wring of his hands and the tremble in his spine that he cannot control under her gaze-- she does not react.

“I’d take a step and Sora would flinch away.” Echo confesses, her markings flickering with light before going dark and dead, as if her body wished to snuff them out entirely, a deep seated rejection, a self-loathing so strong that Dusknoir cannot help but recognize it and empathize, and his heart aches, “It took ages for her to stop shaking when I’d speak. To stop looking at me like-- like I was going to…” 

Echo grimaces like she’s enduring waves of grueling torture and doesn’t finish that string of thought, but it’s not hard to make an educated guess on what went unsaid. Like I was going to betray her. Hurt her. Break her heart. She’s been through so much already and I couldn’t bear to be another influence in the history of her suffering. I hate myself because of how I made her feel. When her eyes went wide in fear and through them I could see myself staring back like some sort of burden, some sort of curse.

“I am not my past.” Proud and true, Echo straightens up and holds her head high, a spark igniting in her eyes, a glint of determination, a will to keep going and going despite such circumstances and strife, despite this horrid, unspeakable past that haunts her so, “And I am definitely not you. It’s taken a while, but I know that much now. I’ve accepted it.”

I am not my past. And I am definitely not you.

A sigh, a breath, and Echo glances at him with a certain sorrow that cannot be described, a sorrow that lingers even through the veil of her tenacity, "But no matter how I feel, no matter my conviction, my shadows still find ways through the cracks. Every time I think I'm getting a grip and that I might finally understand myself… I change all over again." She admits, sounding more angry and tired than defeated now-- like a mirror of her old self, her human self that had clawed and damned and cursed him, despised him more than anything. "I hate it. I hate that I never truly know who I am. That I have to learn about my past through stories others tell me, or through fragments of twisted, broken memories that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Through conflict and pain and… and..."

"Echo," Dusknoir murmurs her name softly, an offering, a potential escape if only she would wish to drop the subject and forget this conversation had ever happened-- if she'd overstepped and needed an excuse to back out, a diversion, an understanding. And briefly, Dusknoir wonders why she is opening up about this particular information, why she would delve into something so vulnerable, so personal. Why she would bring up this hurtful history when it obviously brings her great discomfort.

And then, he gets an answer.

“You’re lucky, Dusknoir." There it is, that wildfire burning in her eyes again. A spark that’s new and bold and startling. But lucky? No, never. He'd have to disagree, accounting the mountain of evidence that was his life and regrettable deeds.

"You already know exactly who you are and what you’ve done, and most importantly why. You have more than a tattered picture of yourself that reflects broken answers. And you can change with that knowledge. I see you trying.” She tells him, searching, looking for something so deeply and Dusknoir wishes he knew what it could be so that he could give it to her, because he would, he would gladly give it to her without a second thought if it meant they could be close again. But he isn’t a fool, and he’s wise enough to know they’ll never be like they were before. “And if somehow I could change, even as half-assed as I have. Well, then what’s your excuse?”

You can do it, say her unspoken words, I believe in you.

[aq2003]

i saw a post saying boom was good bc it feels like it could be done with any doctor/companion duo and honestly that was one of the things i felt was wrong with it

[hella1975]

my dramatic ass pacing circles in the kitchen like im never writing anything ever again bc nothing feels great anymore it just feels good and apparently i will not apply myself even to my most longterm and beloved passion if i can't feel prodigious at it. fym ur gonna stop trying altogether ur also gonna get ur period in the next few days but im sure there's no correlation

[wizardsix]

about 30 hours into veilguard and while I have an essay worth of my problems w the game and how this is absolutely not ten year's worth of developing I do want to say what I do like. the maps (visuals/progression/exploration), combat, and the companions (only five of them. neve and taash annoy me and I would absolutely not recruit them if this game didn't force you to)... overall it's all right on its own but it's no dragon age game.

[cozymochi]

I love that you give Tia a relationship with pretty much every character. It makes her feel so real. There’s a lot of ocs that only talk to one character but I never knew how much I needed adeuce and jack friendship with her!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH 😭💖💖💖💖 THANKS SHE IS FRIEND (or not friend, depends on context and what feels right)

Low key, tbh I kinda hesitate on showing her relationships with other characters most of the time publicly, regardless of the nature and in spite of her literal role because I’m scared of… things. Some fans scare me and I fold so easily, so I kinda limit myself on ever indulging on anything in specific unless prompted. So that’s nice and reassuring to read in it’s own way😭