#gonna kill that mouse my fucking self

[edvicsrich]

say sike right fucking now.

[an-ruraiocht]

sometimes self compassion is the opposite of letting yourself off easy. sometimes self compassion means holding yourself to account and demanding you do better which is so much more work than just punishing yourself. making yourself feel bad so that you feel better is a lot easier than putting the work in to actually repair harm and be less shit. it doesn't feel like that when you're down in the self punishment instinct hole and your brain is telling you that you don't deserve not to be hurt but. it's true.

[theemporium]

Sirius Black was the bane of your existence.

In this world, it was a hunt or be hunted kind of world. Humans always assumed they were at the top of the food chain. They were ignorant and self-assured and always seemed to assume they were the predators everyone else should fear. They were stupidly arrogant with their own worth, and it was what made them the perfect prey for the true monsters at the top of the food chain—the vampires.

But that was where your kind came in, the true predators at the top of the food chain. 

You were the hunters. You were the ones who got rid of the fanged pests that roamed the Earth. You were the ones to protect the humans, to rid the world of the monsters that were nothing but parasites. 

And you were a good hunter. 

You were trained from a young age to be a killer of the killers. You were trained to be ruthless, merciless, unforgiving when it came to vampires. You were trained to evade their manipulations, to outsmart them, to beat them even if they are stronger and faster and older. You were trained to spot these monsters before you could even write your own name. 

It was your destiny, your fate, your legacy.

“Gonna poke me with your wee stick, love?” 

But for a reason that was beyond your understanding, the one vampire that always seemed to slip away was Sirius Black.

“Shut up,” you grumbled, panting softly as you straddled the boy with your knees pinning his arms to his sides and the stake in your hand just hovering over his chest. 

“What if I like the sound of my own voice?” He retorted, a teasing grin on his face as he looked far too relaxed for someone who was potentially seconds away from dying. 

It had been like a sick cat-and-mouse game. You would find him and trap him and have him in your grasp, and then he would slip away. He loved it. You hated it. But now you got him when he least expected it. The woods were currently swarming with other hunters that were looking for him, but now you had him. 

“I would say sorry to your ears,” you replied bluntly, pushing the tip of the stake deeper into his chest—just enough to make him a little hiss.

“Fucking hell, love,” he breathed out with a laugh. “You really don’t play about it.”

You ignored him, eyes narrowing in focus. “Any last words, Black?” 

“I have many words I would like to say to you,” Sirius confessed, the smirk still plastered on his face. “But I have a feeling they will just make you kill me faster.”

“You don’t seem scared,” you noted in annoyance.

“Why would I be scared when you’re on top of me, love?” Sirius remarked, watching in amusement at the way your face faltered a little with his words. “I happen to like attractive women sitting on me.” He paused as his grin widened. “Or on my face.”

“You’re gross,” you commented with a frown.

“But you’re not that disgusted, are you, love?” Sirius snapped back, raising his brows in a teasing manner when you fell quiet. “I can smell you, love. I know exactly how my words make you feel. I can hear how fast your heart is beating.”

“That’s just adrenaline,” you argued weakly.

“You want something that really gets your heart racing?” Sirius questioned, flashing you a glimpse of the sharp teeth poking his bottom lip. 

You barely had a chance to react before he had flipped you both over. Your body was pinned to the ground, the stake long gone and Sirius now covering your body with his own. He had your wrists pinned above your head, his other hand slowly tracing down your face despite you trying to jerk away from his touch.

“I could rip your throat out,” he mused as his fingers gently traced over your pulse point. “One move and you could be dead before you could even think about screaming for help.”

You squirmed beneath him. “Then do it.”

He just laughed, shaking his head. “But that’s not fun, sweetheart.” 

“Wanker,” you spat out, ready to say so much more until he rolled his hips against yours. An embarrassing noise left your lips, your cheeks burning when Sirius only grinned in response.

“Oh, you like that,” he hummed as he began to rock back and forth, letting out a low groan of pleasure. “Fuck, you don’t know how badly I wanted to fuck that attitude out of you.” 

You tried to pull on your wrists, tried to pull away from him but your attempts were weak, and you both knew that. You closed your eyes, trying to convince yourself that you didn’t enjoy it or that this was a part of Sirius’ sick game before he killed you. 

But then his head dipped down to your neck, his fangs scraping over a sensitive spot below your ear and you were arching into him. 

In another flash, you were pressed against a tree. Your hands were still pinned above your head, not that you were really fighting his hold now. His dark eyes found yours, something heated and primal shining that had you clenching your thighs together.

“I would have done this ages ago if I knew it shut you up so easily,” he commented jokingly, but your witty retort was lost on your lips when he was slipping his hand beneath the waistband of your training leathers. 

It was embarrassing just how quickly he had you crumbling, how quickly you gave into his touch despite the years of training to evade and avoid vampires’ tricks—including seduction. But he knew just where to touch you, knew just what spots tipped you over the edge, knew just how to make you whimper in that pretty, high-pitched way that he always dreamed of.

And before you knew it, both of your clothes were long gone, ripped and abandoned somewhere on the woodland floor as he fucked you against the tree. 

“What would your lil’ hunter friends say now?” Sirius teased as he gripped your thighs and guided your legs around his waist. “What would they say if they saw what a slut you were for some vampire cock?”

“Fuck you,” you muttered out between breathless moans as he thrusted into you, your tits bouncing with each move.

“I already am, sweetheart,” Sirius retorted, looking far too smug for your liking but you couldn’t even bring yourself to say anything. “And don’t you look fucking gorgeous when you’re all fucked out. My new lil’ toy, aren’t you, love?”

You whined, shaking your head but your walls clenching around his cock said another story.

“Gonna keep you around, sweetheart,” Sirius groaned, his teeth nipping your skin enough to make you choke on a gasped moan. “My pretty, cock-hungry hunter, hm? Think all my buddies are gonna be jealous.”

“Sirius,” you whimpered, feeling the coil in your stomach tighten at his filthy words. 

“Gonna fuck that stupid hunter training out of your head, love. You’re gonna be my cock-drunk whore, hm? My pretty slut.” 

And he could only take your response as a solid yes as you came on his cock, completely under his seduction and control.

.

[supernova41st]

ok but like I loved ur mercy!reader post and considering my love for crossovers ESPECIALLY character interactions I was wondering if u could do more???

Nerf this! ₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎

Tf2 x Dva!Reader

A/n: If you’re not familiar with Dva then I suggest watching the Dva Cinematic. It’ll sum her character up and she’s a fun one at that ^^. A lot of my tf2 x ow fics are platonic so unless I outright say that it’s romantic you can imagine it however you’d like, enjoy <33

Warnings: None

Divider creds: Sister-Lucifer on Tumblr

Engineer

Since you guys were forced to share a workshop it looks pretty similar to the bedroom from Sam and Cat, one side being dull and grey with little to no decorations while the other is pink with cute plushies/figurines around the place.

After a bit you grew closer, sitting around in silence while working on your projects got pretty awkward so it was about time before someone broke the ice.

“You ever name your bots?”

“Huh, don’t think so.. you?”

“Yes! I call her Tokki, she’s cute isn’t she?”

“And one hell of a shade of pink”

Engineer is really competitive when it comes to you, being that you both are engineers/inventors. You guys have fun 🫶

“That’s 10 kills! Can you do that grandpa?”

“Haha! Just wait til’ you see what my other babies can do”

Will gladly show you some old tricks that he’s learned over the years since he’s more experienced. Plus he’s the only person you’ll ever trust your dear Tokki with.

Speaking of which-your self destruct sequence is always done by him, any of the other mercs will FUMBLEEE

“how do I friggin do this?? Is there like a joystick I can move around?”

•

“Too many dæm buttons on this zing! I zon’t know what I’m doing”

•

“pulls out glasses your mouse controls the small pointer on ze screen, use it to-WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS MEAN?”

“IT MEANS YOU’RE STUPID HEAVY.”

Interactions/Voicelines 🎤

Team kill with Self Destruct

“How’s that for a shade of pink?”

•

“Definitely haven’t seen somethin’ like that in my years.”

•

“Thanks Tae-I mean!-Engie!!”

Domination

“Too slow, peepaw!”

•

“Hope that wasn’t hard on your arthritis -3-“

Medic

Medic gets so excited when you’re on a mission with him. Loves pocketing you, partly because you’re the nicest when it comes to asking for help

“CMON THEN DOCTOR”

“heal me pussy.”

“DOCTOR, HEAL NOW”

“heals plss 😚”

He also enjoys how you’re full of surprises, he thought you were gonna die when your mech broke down but no! You jumped out that thing and pistol whipped the whole team’s faces off like the diva you are.

“PISTOL TO THE FACE!!”

“Y/n slow down 🙂”

He loves you but you overstimulate him.

Interactions/Voicelines 🎤

Ubering

“LETS GO!”

•

“RAHHH!! GET OUTTA MY GAME!”

Spawn Interactions

“Vill you surprise me out there, Hase?”

“Of course! You know I always do ^.^”

•

“Nett mech”

“Nett coat!!”

“Aw, vy thank you”

Spy

This ho won’t stop talking shit. Every time he opens his mouth about you it’s him complaining about how “you’re too young to be on this team” or “your ‘experience’ with video games doesn’t serve a war” or “stop playing video games y/n we’re in the middle of battle”.

He avoided you for the most part until you decided to make some small talk while you both awkwardly stood in an elevator, big mistake 😬

“I bet your gun does a ton of DPS”

“Must you always muster up your video game vocabulary with reality?”

“Must you always be so petty?? 😒 old Frenchie fuck you and your dps gun”

Clearly he’s not fond of youngin’s joining the team. Though he does find you more “tolerable” than scout since you at least have some experience with fighting in a war (kinda)

He hates that he has to crawl to you for tech help, he doesn’t know what he’s doing-you’re the tech expert!!

“Y/n.. something is wrong with the radio.”

“..oookkayyy??”

“Can you help?”

“LOL!!”

Meetings with you always end up in him taking your game console away, he just won’t leave you alone 🙄

“Hey! I was in the middle of beating a boss!!”

“You’ll have it back once you listen to what I have to say, girl.”

“Ughh fine”

Interactions/Voicelines 🎤

Spawn interactions

“Don’t you think your little pink robot will be a distraction?”

“That’s.. just the way I like it!”

Blaster light gun kill

“See that, Spy? Pure skill.”

Spy callout

“Ping!Ping!Ping! Spy around here!!”

[beez3eee]

Portal-ing Into the Stone Age

A Portal x Dr. Stone Fanfic

Title in progress, because I'm really bad at naming things.

As I've mentioned In one other fanfic here, my target audience is me. I just so happen to decide to share my self indulgent ramblings with the greater world. As such I have decided to make a Portal and Dr. Stone cross over because neither hyperfixation reduses to fade and I crave more content.

Also, it's 2nd person reader insert because why the hell not?

Just like VALVe, I will be retconning stuff in Portal just to match the Dr. Stone timeline better. You don't need to know portal lore, but it'd probably help. I can't think of anything else to put here, okay byeeeeee 👋

(if you see a typo, no you didn't.)

Prologue

-----------

You’ve had quite the rough last few days.

As if waking up from, what is essentially, suspended animation wasn’t bad enough, you got flung around, woke up your toxic robot situationship, broke up with her again, broke up with your other toxic robot situationship— british edition—, got back together with the first one but only after being tossed into the depths of a salt mine, and now you’re here trying to kill your second situationship. Is this a sign to stay out of the dating scene from now on? Well, you technically weren’t really dating anyone— or anything— to begin with, but the point still stands,

Your ears had yet to stop ringing from the explosion; you think you might be bleeding, if the moisture running down the side of your head meant anything. Muscles have been aching from traversing hundreds of miles underground, fighting to get to the surface. Aperture really did drill super far down. Being flung backwards via a pile of bombs probably, definitely, didn’t help the throbbing pain encompassing your entire body whatsoever. On the bright side, you may have busted an eardrum and gotten a concussion, but at least you don’t have to hear the grating sound of Wheatley’s gloating. Something about still being alive…?

‘You and me both, man.’ The words echo through your mind, you don’t know how you haven’t died yet either. At this point, you think being in this god forsaken facility seems to have just given you immortality or something of the like. The white from your vision slowly subsides as you push yourself up. You blink a bit aggressively, desperately trying to regain the ability to see before anything else happens. There’s still yelling behind you, what is it with sentient AI and being unequivocally fucking annoying?

With your last bit of strength, you snatch the dual portal device from in front of you and will yourself to turn around. As expected, the hunk of ugly mechanicals suspended from the ceiling had yet to stop tweaking out whilst the facility crumbled, as it had been for at least the past day, if not more. It’s a bit hard to tell time when you’re deep underground in a definitely-not-legal science facility that has an aversion to clocks for some odd reason.

Any monologuing from the both of you is abruptly cut off as another thing crashes and burns, the ceiling this time, lovely. Your gaze is drawn in by the new hole above you; expecting to see more depressing metallic grey or maybe an equally depressing stone grey, you’re instead greeted with the night sky. Better than the alternative, making direct eye contact with the sun would be a bad idea. It’s been a hot minute since you’ve seen the stars, or any celestial body, really. So you’re lucky to be graced with an almost breathtaking view of the moon right before you die, if you ignore the fire everywhere.

“Oh you HAD to play bloody cat n’ mouse, didn’t you? While people were tryin’ to work. Yeah, well now we’re ALL gonna pay the price. ‘CAUSE WE’RE ALL GONNA BLOODY DIE!”

You can’t even get words out to respond to that— as if you’ve been talking much this entire time to begin with. How the hell was this your fault? It’s a three way blame, maybe the AI around here shouldn’t enjoy murder so much. You just wanted to leave, not wreck the already musty facility. How many years had it been anyway, for the once pristine halls to look that decrepit when you woke up. It had to have been a while if that voice over the intercom glitching out in your room meant anything. ‘Nine- nine- nine- nine.’ Like, what, nine years? Ninety? Nine-hundred, perhaps? You shake your head to get rid of the thought, there is no point in dwelling on that right now, you’re seriously about to die. With neurotoxin still floating around the room and the threat of being caught in an implosion, your chances of surviving this bullshit were not very awe-inspiring.

Wheatley, ex robo-bestie/situationship turned current mortal enemy, seems to have noticed where your squinting gaze was pointed as well. Deciding to mock you one last time before you both likely get charred. Oh, grilled food sounds great right now. “Yeah, take one more look at your precious human moon! ‘Cause it cannot help you now!”

Ah, help, isn’t that the thought running through all three of your mind’s; or rather, your mind and GLaDOS & Wheatley’s circuit boards. You’ve almost accepted your fate, there’s really no feasible way out of here. Unless you can find a good surface to teleport to, but all the portal gel is in the facility that’s trying to blow up. Suddenly, without warning, the thought hits you (and a stray piece of metal, but that’s besides the point). This is likely the dumbest, most nonsensical way to escape your current dumb, nonsensical situation. The most idiotic plan you’ve ever conceived; something no one in their right mind would willingly take part in.

You mentally thank whatever gods may or may not exist for giving you this opportunity and Cave Johnson for yapping so much. Moon rocks! Truly a genius.

You take aim and quickly pull the trigger, there's no time to lose. ‘Please let this work,’ you think to yourself, ‘because it would be so fucking funny.’ All seems to go still for a moment as you think you see the moon twinkle. Just a few seconds as your disappointment builds, quickly replaced by sheer joy and adrenaline. As abruptly quiet everything had become, unparalleled entropy shattered that silence. You said no one in their right mind would do something so insane, so, for once, it’s probably good that everything in Aperture caused brain damage.

‘Wheatley was right,’ you think to yourself, ‘People with brain damage really are heroes.’

Your portal device slips out of your hands in the chaos of being sucked into a vacuum. You can lament the loss of your technologically advanced toy for not even a millisecond before you leap up and latch onto the metal ball currently being dragged through a portal. How convenient for the last bit of portal gel to be right under Wheatley. If you’re being spit out on the moon, he’s sure as hell coming with you. And to think you were almost perfectly fine with dying on Earth when the void of space was right there. “AHHHHHH!! SPACE! LET GO! WE’RE IN SPACE!” It’s a little hard to hear his yelling while wind whips past your ears, but there was no way in hell you were going to listen and let go. That last bit of self preservation has kicked in and you were hanging onto it by a thread.

“Space? Space! SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!” One of the corrupted cores fly by your head as Wheatley oh so graciously takes a hit for you. Your grip slips as you’re almost whisked away, out into the vacuum of space, devoid of air. Certain death. Woo hoo!

As scrap metal and concrete dance around you two, your attention turns to the state of the moon. A lunar base was nearby, a tiny thing, probably just for launching a NASA rover or something. Or maybe this was from the moon landing in the 60’s? You think you see what may or may not be a flagpole. But, really, what else would a chunk of white fabric attached to a pole be used for?

Actually, how long has it been since someone swapped the flag out? It’s sunbleached to hell and back. There's nothing even there anymore. You get that moon missions don’t happen very often, but surely they’d replace the flag once in a while, right?

You can feel the creaking of Wheatley as his connection to GLaDOS’ old body wanes, the space core bashing into him combined with that much air force was definitely going to cause some problems. “AGH! LET GO! LET GO! I’M STILL CONNECTED! I CAN PULL MYSELF IN! I CAN FIX THIS!”

Just as you think you can hold on no longer, another CLANG blares right under you, the sound of metal on metal, and you feel the cool touch of a familiar robotic arm grip onto you just before you’re flung out with the core. “I already fixed it! And you are NOT coming back!” GLaDOS yelps, her voice sounds significantly louder. No longer stuck in that potato if you had to guess, good for her. Whether or not that's good for you remains to be seen. You whip your head back around behind you, making eye contact as Wheatley’s pleas to be held on to fizzle out with distance.

Your head tilts down, almost going limp from exhaustion; just before your consciousness fades, from an unholy cocktail of all the stress and injuries from even just the last hour alone, one more interesting little phenomenon catches your eye. Or, more accurately, one very large phenomenon.

You squint, looking ahead, yeah that’s definitely not just the inky blackness of space. You’re no astronaut, but even you were sure that a mass of a bunch of tiny dark space pretzels wasn’t always on the moon. Or actually, NASA is government owned, you wouldn’t be surprised if they were hiding information. Didn’t they confirm the existence of aliens a few times?

Wheat.

There was just wheat everywhere.

You get rid of Wheatley and the first thing you see outside is an almost horrendous amount of wheat everywhere. From what you could recall of your hazy memories from the first time you killed an evil robot and escaped Aperture, you were definitely in a company parking lot. In or near a forest, and you were pretty sure there were trees. So why were you standing in front of a tiny metal shed, in the middle of a wheat field? Where are the trees???

You’d assume this was someone’s farm, but surely you’d see a farm house, or maybe a fence somewhere. But nope, just wheat. Besides, why would no one question where this shed came from if it was just on their property. Unless the person who owns the farm happens to work at Aperture. Which still makes no sense, because you were 87% sure everyone else is dead. Plus, you’d have seen signs of another person nearby, if there were any, no?

You sigh, letting words spill out of your throat for the first time in… well, you couldn’t really remember. “Alone…in a wheat field. With nothing but the clothes on my back and a possibly sentient cube.” You look down at your mildly roasted friend, the pink hearts on the center of each face staring back. It was quite surprising that the companion cube you were forced to leave behind forever ago actually made it out relatively unharmed. It was even more surprising that GLaDOS actually gave it back.

“Let’s go find civilization, I'd rather not starve to death in the wilderness.” You sigh as you bend down to pick up the cube, somewhat soothed by the familiar weight; if not mildly confused on why it felt heavier than usual. You’re likely just used to holding it with the portal gun rather than your hands.

It’s actually quite annoying to walk through overgrown wheat. The grass keeps rubbing against your arms in that uncomfortably itchy way and it’s just a mild hassle to push through in general. You really have no earthly idea where you are, or where you’re going. Thankfully, it’ll be a few hours until nightfall at the very least.

“I should give you a name. You and I are the only things that left that hellscape. We’re trauma bonded now, whether you have a consciousness or not.” You hum, you really can’t see much of anything else. If this, hypothetically, was the same place you exited Aperture for the first time, how long would it have had to have been for the land to change so much?

“I better not be hopelessly in the middle of nowhere, please let there at least be a small town nearby…even if it’s full of weirdos or something.” the sound of your whining is the only thing that fills the air. Truly, you’d take hillbilly hell over the crushing silence and solitude. Which is a sentence you never thought you’d utter in your life. You’re hardly able to finish your sentence before you trip over something and eat shit, hard. You squeeze your eyes shut on instinct, thankfully. A wheat stalk in the eyeball sounds quite painful.

You cannot catch a break, freshly free from human experimentation and you immediately injure yourself. Back luck, it’s all you got. Your hands sting as you push yourself up for the umpteeth time in the last few days. It could be worse, your already calloused palms are used to getting hit by a myriad of materials. “Ah- shit-. What the hell?!” You yelp as you brush off dirt, whipping around to see what just attempted to assassinate you.

“ah…shit, seriously. What the hell?”

There's only two explanations you could come up with for whatever you’re staring at. Either someone decided to dump an incredibly realistic statue out in the middle of nowhere, or you were suddenly transported to ancient, mythological Greece and Medusa is somewhere nearby. All you can really do is stare, in mild horror. It looks way too realistic. Human in a way someone like Michelangelo could never hope to emulate in his sculptures. Humanoid, yes, but cold and unfeeling. This on the other hand was just uncanny enough to set off every alarm in your mind, yet your brain recognized it as a living thing.

If this was once a person, what unfortunate happenings have occurred on the surface while you were in that facility? If not, what artist had the skill to craft something so terrifyingly beautiful, only to leave it out in the middle of nowhere?

You slowly take a few steps back, watching where your feet are so you don’t get a repeat of a few seconds ago. Were you in a horror movie? Did GLaDOS prank you again? Is this her fucked up version of The Truman Show? Aperture basically defied the laws of physics, realistic simulation tech isn’t that outrageous to think of. Virtual reality headsets have been more and more prominent, you think you recall hearing something about one being released in the next few years. Well, before you entered Aperture, you don’t know what year it is right now.

You will yourself to break away from this one sided eye contact, swiftly picking up your companion cube from where you accidentally launched it out of your hands. Spinning around, you walk away, careful to watch for any more of those…”statues.” Seriously creepy things, like those sculptures in cemeteries that move the second you turn your back. Weeping angels, is that what they’re called? You think you just found one.

You stay silent for a bit longer, like speaking would awaken that statue. Your ears only hear the rustle and crunch of the wheat under your boots and your gaze frequently flits around to watch for anything unusual. It feels as though the whole world has gone still, not even the wind daring to caress your surroundings. It’d be unnerving, the lack of noise and your earlier discovery, if you were anyone else. However, anything that isn’t circuit boards and wires brings you peace.

As soon as you think you’re far enough— or maybe the silence was beginning to get unbearable— you allow yourself to speak out loud again. You hold out your companion cube in front of you, eyeing it with contemplation. “Like I said, you need a name…and I am so horrendously bad at naming things.” You patiently wait for a response as you continue your trek through the field, eyes peeled for any more objects embedded in the ground. Despite the futuristic design and the practicality of long fall boots, they were easy to trip in. At the very least, they made you taller.

You continue on this journey for minutes, likely hours. Lack of contact with the outside world truly fucked over your time perception. The crunching of wheat, occasional blow of wind, the sporadic conversation that no one but yourself had the ability to hear; it was therapeutic in an odd way. Like going on a walk around your neighborhood in the dead of night. Something that requires the utmost vigilance yet is soothing all the same.

On the distant horizon, you think you recognize some trees. Ah, it’s beginning to make sense now. It’s quite silly of you to assume Aperture only had one entrance. They may have used OSHA’s violations as a to-do list, but even they would have multiple exits for such a big facility, right? Who knows, maybe you’ll find a staff member…if any of them escaped GLaDOS’ neurotoxin. A highly improbable situation, but you don’t think the chances are 0%

[randombuddys]

Self-Aware Medkit, Subspace, Hyperlaser With Toxic Tryhard Player(Reader)

Note : Player use They/Them, also its my first time making a story or headcanon idk. My english sucks, enjoy

NO ROMANCE FOR NOW (sorry)

The player is Rages Quickly at the opposite team, constantly tells the Enemy Team that they’re trash and call the character stupid, etc etc. Basically throwing insults to everything in the game. Some teammates tried to calm Them down (it doesn’t help) the player basically tell them to fuck off which making some of the Player Teammates to leave the match.

Medkit

He would just do nothing. He will force himself against the Player control and stand still and letting Himself get attacked/jumped by enemies team.

Player kinda confused when Medkit didn’t move even though You already press W,A,S,D which make you more raging because you watch yourself get beaten up by enemies team.

He didn’t give a fuck if You will Lose or Not, he just want some respect

Subspace

Subspace can be annoyed because he had to Controled fighting the emenies and listening The Player insults at same time.

Probably gonna rant to Biograft about this

He gets annoyed by the insults at every little miss hit Player did and blame it to the character

He didn’t want any of this, He want to fight in the match without any of the harsh word directed to him for miss hit at the enemy (Player skill issue) But did you just insult Biograft? You CANNOT insult his Creation besides himself (lol)

He just want to tear up The Player apart or use Them as Test Subject for his new invention if he could

Hyperlaser

He not sure why The Player screaming about “Slingshart”

He does not like it when The player is Rages and screaming

‘it’s getting annoying‘

Of course some time where Player was calm, he tried to do every single move from Player keyboard, mouse like They want to, but one single miss shot/killed by enemies when already pressed F (ult), He will sigh and hear back the rage comment and insults. (You could imagine his face already like ‘i’m tired of this bullshit’ face inside that helmet)

He can’t wait till the Player stop playing and take a break from the game

He just want to go home and spent time with his cat Princess and going to drink with his drinking buddy, Katana.

Done!!!1!!

Its my first time making this thing headcanon or story i dunno and sorry if this too short or boring, maybe i will make other where is romance between phighters x reader

[jwithsusdoingstuff]

Shitty drawing warning

His outfit inspired by me, except his socks (I regret).

Okay now seriously, this art was supposed to be Shrimpo in my "outfit", I needed to take a picture of myself and then draw it from string to thread, BUT I forgot about that, and remember when I already draw text on his top, but I decided that it's not over, one small detail like this is fine, even tho I didn't have this print on my top, and so I started to paint. After that I realized, this looks shit on Shrimpo, line work with folds wouldn't even be seen that clearly, and print is now looks shit, and all of this caused by color of my top, which is black. So after this, I just take icon of Shrimpo, to take color of his shirt, I make it more darker and so here it is, I do almost the same to his pants, but made it more gray.

Now eyeliners, I love them. My plan was about to make him look much more open about his love for a certain music taste and self-expression or something idk. Like, if he was actually listening to this sort of music (which I think was real) he woudn't hide it, if he wanted to look like a Punk, he's gonna look like a Punk, fuck you say to him for that? Go on, he may not take that as funny as you would.

Of course, punks like him have other emotions, he's not an emo, he's mothertrucker, an absolute bitch ass from the streets, which doesn't mean that he would never fall in love, and his behavior didn't come from anywhere. That's the vibes he gives me tbh, a tough bitch with traumatic past, or even early growth, becoming adult in seconds, and there is NOBODY that can help you understand it, only you, and your rage to the world, only few people can make your life actual enjoyment, instead of empty words, faces, personalities, when it's so hard that you don't wanna spit it out like this, so world can hear you, fuck the world, you better then this, "I AM BETTER!" - Homelander. I hope you get me.

This is one of the reasons I love Shrimpo, his character is actually nothing more but a bully, with no brains in his head, but this is also opening so much for community to think about, he could be emo, lovely man, or even just actual bitch, that just wanted to hate everyone, he could be gay, trans, bi, and so on and so forth, but for me he is that punk that i describe, the best character of 'em all (my personal opinion, other ones deserve same treat). I love to think about how he could act when he knows someone little more then nothing, I love to see him grow from what he was in the game, to someone that can talk to toons like a normal fucking person, and of course, I love to see him killing Dandy (not because he hates him this much, I have other reasons to think like that).

In general, I never let a thought that some game in Roblox can make me this hyperfictioned, I'm seriously addicted to this bullshit, I wasn't able to sleep the night I found out about Dandy's World. Thanks, again, to "UnusualYikes" from twitter for giving me this addiction, especially to Shrimpo, this shit make my life little more brighter, I don't think they even realize how much it's mean to me. Seeing characters from DW is, no kidding, makes my day dude.

Also, BONUS LITTLE COMIC. Drawn with mouse, yeah.

I hate Glisten. Gay ass twink, stinky. Fuc kyo u

[voiceofthesilly]

Hi, uhm.

Your designs for the voices in STP are..

Genius.

The premise of their design are simple (birds(?) with animal skull heads(?)) yet it makes them so distinguishable!

Also your art is very yummy- It's beautiful.

Ajsjadhdja thanku!! this means a lot, espeically since i love your designs for them a LOT Gonna take that as an opportunity to explain them some bc i havent really done that so beware, long rant under the cut

The general idea was for them to have masks of various woodland creatures, as a general reference to the cabin being set in the woods and to add a bit of a fairytale twist, as often in fairytales guiding voices in form of animals appear But thinking about it skulls are such a sick idea and might use them for less cartoony iterations honestly

From left to right!

Cold was actually pretty hard to pick an animal for - @3zethe3zr has been immense help figuring those out with various voices and we went through options like wolves and bears before i settled on lynx (quick, efficient and solitary assassin). I wanted Cold to feel big and overpowering, blocking out everything else. In a way that silence is big, sorta. You might also notice that they're the only voice without markings - its partially because everything i could come up with felt too on the nose, and partially because well. what symbol better than vast emptiness. Largest voice! 8'2" tall

Paranoid is a mouse, i feel like the association here is pretty straightforward. Big wings to hide behind and bald patches from overpreening. Their pattern is the eyes, they can't seem to get rid of them. Some on the feathers, some straight on the skin.

Hunted gets a hare mask because i said so and hares have amazing prey eyes. It's rather large, but always crouched over and ready to bolt, making it much smaller than it could be - Hunted always says we're small, but there's a moment where Wild refutes that. Of course it's not in reference to physical size there, but I wanted to use that nonetheless. Target mark on their chest and mask. Eyes on the side of the head - not sure where i heard it first but it was sych a good take i had to do it

Hero !!! I struggled a lot with the animal for them, went through a bunch of deer, wolf, even bird at some point (birds were off limits). In the end went with 3zr's squirrel suggestion - a little kind voice sitting on your shoulder. Hero also gets a cape, as a treat. for being there always. And because they're a hero and im no edna mode. Markings are the slits in a knight helmet!

Stubborn was im pretty sure the first one who got designed at all, due to intense stubborn brainrot. Animal is a boar, due to the mfs being extremely hard to kill, though i did want to go with a wolverine for a while. His mask is moved aside, he's straighforward and has no need for hiding anythin. Masks off and knives out, am i right . He's the shortest voice in the lineup (whole 3'7"). this is because im not tall and i like him. I tried to strike a balance between squarish and triangle build. His wings are proudly on display, and so are his scars - a testiment to our resilience.

Opportunist! my littlest guy who missed being a weasel by like 3 milimeters and ended up fox. because of course he did. He's fucking tiny - i usually like making voices who dont consider us strong bigger than they think, but in this case it felt fitting to make it something he works with. The markings are pointed knives, pretty self-explanatory i feel. Usually partially hidden under the chest feathers. Also, his arms are hidden behind his back here but the palms are red - blood on him hands

Smitten is a deer! They always felt very noble to me, and, well, heart shape in the antlers! The mask is somewhat ill-fitting and she can't see well but that's alright, love is blind. The largest marking by far - he's not one to hide his nature, and his heart is as big as the markings would suggest. I wanted to give her this sorta chivalrous fairytale knight build. Wings folded into a wing shape!

Contrarian is another long boi, i felt it would work well for whatever silly limb contortions hed do. The animal is a natterer's bat specifically - again, 3zr's genious idea

Neck feathers meant to resemble a jester's collar. Funky patterns meant to be confusing and disorientin. In the lineup in particular i didn't do it, but the idea is that with the mask slightly more up and beak open it almost looks like he has three heads, paralleling Stranger

Skeptic i wanted to have a very solid build, so square he is. The markings are question marks - both on the mask and feathers. He's a little silly with his saying wink out loud, so he gets to have a question mark tie. Wings folded behind mimicking a trench coat. He deserves glasses

Broken is actually second longest! It doesn't matter though, does it. They can be as large as they want, doesn't change anything. Mask is a raccoon dog - felt fitting vibewise. Bald patches around neck, wrists and ankles, as if remnants of shackles locked around them. The markings are meant to mimick both cracks (in shape) and chains (in layout). Mask pulled up for them double sad eyes and because there isnt even a point in hiding

Last up, cheated! Hedgehog bastard. I guess kinda paralleling Razor in that regard? They're not particularly big and their feathers are ruffled. Uses wings for extra expression! Markings meant to both resemble scars and diamond suit

Also, earlier verisons!

[forthechubbies]

Dirty Hands// Cho Gue Sung Imagine 🔞 Ex! Chubby Reader ♡

How did you get here? You hate sports...You hate exercise in general-you, like your thickness, and that's that's. Moving away from your self-love for a second, If memory serves me right, You were dragged here by you're fit friend, Sumi.

Speaking of, she's looking at you in disappointment right now. Time to tune back in-

Sumi clicked her tongue, obviously annoyed by your space-out expression. "Are you high or something? Why are you not cheering or at least stand up when I do." One might say you're being selfish, but you refused to take fake interest in this stupid sport (no offense just for the story).

Your silent protest stuck out like a sore thumb...and your well hot in his eyes.

He admired your boredom and actually found it rather amusing. You could sit still if your life depended on it; He watches you bunch up your dress just to ensure you didn't step in anything.

Possibly food or not...You never know with hundred year old bleachers.

She's so snobby. He thought with a slightly playful grin. I guess that is my fault.

Sumi noticed the flower player ogling her friend; she gasped, alerting you in the process. " Shit, Do you think he likes you? Soccer player, sugar daddy?"

"As if, " You scoffed. " I can smell him from here."

Sumi beamed. " If you don't want him. Can I have him, please?"

.....

Your plans for today didn't involve waiting thirty minutes for Sumi, who decided to run to the bathroom at the last second, leaving you alone to stay put in the entrance tunnel-

"This tunnel is disgusting.." You cleared your throat in an attempt not the dry heave at the used condom flung aside like a snot rag. "I'm gonna died here."

" You're so dramatic." A man's voice nagged behind your head.

You sighed, rolling your eyes. " And you're so domestic, Watching me like a little puppy." You turned towards your ex-husband.

Gurl, Did I forget to tell you he was your hot ex-husband who blew his chances with you after a sexual/emotionally draining physical altercation between the two of you took place in public?! Oops! The tea is hot today.

What a mighty mouse you are, mouthing off to a man who has you, trump, in literally everything strength, speed, you name it.

You step back, not favoriting his sweaty smell. "You kinda smell like a wet dog -" You fanned yourself. " It suits you."

"If I'm a dog then you must be a bitch in heat for coming to my game-"Gue Sung exclaimed, nudging her forehead back with his finger.

She retaliated by smacking his heavy hand out of her face. " If you ever put your filthy fingers near me again-And, for your information, You pompous little-your not the only player on your team!" She roared in his face, stretching her heels to their maximum limit due to the size difference.

The cheeky bastard met your face halfway, tapping the tip of her nose with his; his hazel eyes gazed into hers. "Why else would you be watching for? " He was even daring enough to take two steps forward to feel you on him. "You hate sports, and you think men are stupid-"

"Not all of them, but I'm truly doubtful when it comes to you-." Yn rudely interrupted, sassing him with her eyes.

The joke was harmless, to say the least, yet a large hand shot up to her neck, gripping it into a tight squeeze between his large fingers.

She gasped but wasn't surprised; this wasn't the first time Gue Sung had let his temper control his actions.

Gue Sung clicks his tongue. "Wah unbelievable, that mouth of yours." He stared at your beautifully painted lips, weighing his next decision; he said, "Ah, Fuck it." before completely dominating your lips.

"Mmm!" You yanked at his hair; pulling away from his lips just to be brought back in. "Mmph! Im gon-mm gonna kill you."

You fought well, but god, he's ripped-Honesty, you didn't stand a chance in the first place.

Gue sung kept you flushed against his chest so tight your plump breasts pushed up to escape his squeeze.

[bloody-wonder]

Top five mangas?? 👀👀

thanks i'm gonna include manhwa too tho bc i read it more often :)

semantic error made me unlock hitherto undreamt of levels of fun that can best be compared to the profound enjoyment a hetero woman experiences when watching a really good self-indulgent romcom. i previously thought i'm only into exceptionally fucked up bl but this manhwa taught me i'm not above very basic romance if it's well-written, hilarious and sexy and frames weirdness as something that can be appealing and awaken desires

killing stalking was the first bl manhwa i ever read and what an introduction to the genre it was! it's very good but very dead dove do not it so i wouldn't rec it to just anyone. for me, it was very fun binging the whole thing overnight bc why sleep when you can instead plunge deep into the darkest corners of human psyche while scrolling cartoons

twittering birds never fly has the audacity to maintain that slowburn since *checks wikipedia* 2011?? what the fuck?! if semantic error is a romcom twittering birds is a soap opera with no end in sight - and it has me in a chokehold. yashiro is one of the most characters of all time, i hope he admits his feelings for doumeki sometime before i turn 50 but it's still fun to watch him get into increasingly dramatic situations in order to avoid doing just that lol

painter of the night is just self-indulgent. i don't think the plot is any good at all and i don't particularly like the main character but i'm sufficiently compensated for these flaws by the historical setting and yoon seungho. the joseon period costumes are just so fun to look at - at one point i went down a rabbit hole researching those fascinating gat hats. more bl should be set in the past tbh but it probably takes more time and research for the creators. and yoon seungho is just your classic bad boy you want to fix and do in fact fix. the drrrrama of it tho!

the cornered mouse dreams of cheese / the carp on the chopping block jumps twice is probably the least well-known on this list? this short two volume manga was recced to me by a friend and i really liked it bc it features a protag struggling with his sexuality in a way that to me read very aro. it's also about the quarter-life crisis so. all the themes very near and dear to my heart lol

[shannonsketches]

I'm just ranting about DBS' anime under the cut again don't mind me I'm having a Time

I was so confused about why Goku Black/Zamas is such a popular skin in Fortnite and then I learned that Toei once again missed the whole point of that arc. Both of them. One is Vegeta being inescapably confronted with how loved he is and how much he loves his family, which we knew Toei was never going to allow, but my god, Zamas??

The point of Zamas is that he's a wildly privileged chronically online 4chan fascist deciding an entire way of life which he does not participate in, has a surface-level understanding of, and is not personally affected by, is morally disgusting. Like, that's it that's his whole character. He's a young god with every possible comfort deciding that anything that is not like him is immoral and should not exist.

It has nothing to do with Trunks or anyone, it's solely because he's a shitty little Light Yagami kinnie in his extremely sheltered bubble of (perceived, not lived) experience. Dude is intolerable in the manga, and that's the point. His justice is not justice. His reasoning is outright fascism.

But they also missed the point of Trunks being Alone in the future (save for Mai) and Bulma not being there at all (her murder and subsequent absence in the future timeline is a vital component of the arc's emotional weight for Vegeta and Trunks, in fact, which of course they made about Goku instead :))) y'all really work so hard to pretend goku has any kind of social heirarchy and that scenario wouldn't play exactly the same way with anyone goku loved, but it's too late! we have the freeza saga on your own show to show you he would)

There's no militia, there's no resistance, there's no Help. Trunks is isolated and out of options, his Time Machine only has enough fuel for one trip and he has to take it without Mai. He didn't leave anyone behind, he thinks she's dead. He got out because he thought it was the only thing he could do. He didn't try to bring Goku and Vegeta back, he didn't think there would be a back. He was just keeping his promise to Live, for his mom.

Trunks has no one else in his Timeline. Just him and Mai against Zamas, who has murdered Bulma while she went out to do routine maintenance on their power supply. And Zamas isn't even actively trying to kill Trunks until that point. He's purposefully keeping him alive as a way to make himself stronger. He doesn't hop a ring and go to the AU. He's chillin at his cabin. He's enjoying the cat and mouse game, and is stoked when Goku and Vegeta show up for the same reason. Zamas is abusive and corrosive and DEEPLY self-obsessed (as most fascists are), he panics whenever he starts losing (as most supremacists do), and blames everyone but himself for his situation (as many extreme narcissists do).

And of course this arc wouldn't be complete without Toei's classic 'take everything that was about Vegeta and give it to Literally Anyone Else, just throw him under the bus and completely rewrite how his only time referring to himself as the prince of all saiyans was to goad and distract GB while Trunks healed Goku because Vegeta told him to heal Goku instead of himself for their best chance at winning,, Trunks has to ask Vegeta to go with him to fight Zamas?? Vegeta was like "I'm gonna beat this man to death" the second he found out he killed Bulma lmao be so fr rn!! so this can be about how Goku is morally righteous and a very normal person' but it's fine it's whatever why would I be mad that Vegeta and Trunks aren't doing the intense emotional bonding that losing Bulma would force them to do when we can have (checks notes) Yajirobe be a part of things, for some reason

like i don't--

And Toei just. Nah. We're gonna focus on his power ups and his being mean to Goku, Specifically, is what makes him a bad bad man. "His power is unstable he has complex emotions-"

No he doesn't.

No he absolutely does the fuck not.

He wants every mortal to die and he's having a breakdown that three mortals are standing in his shitty little way. That's it. Very simple emotions. He's behaving like a spoiled brat because he is one.

bruh they even changed it to Vegeta taking an unconscious Goku back to the Present, I'm aksjdkaj

That was fully Vegeta, who snapped at Goku for leaving Trunks behind. (And again, Bulma just??? Being mad at Everyone?? And going to the future?? When in the manga she's running support on the home front?? and then talking up Goku and Vegeta getting mad, despite Vegeta also being like 'i want this mf dead in my hands but Kakarot's our best shot' in the manga?? Adding to his whole motivation in Super of wanting to be strong enough to Not Have to Rely on Goku to protect his family, since his whole thing is consistently not being enough to beat the bbeg? And wtf Little Trunks being super jealous over tiny Mai even though that ALSO is not a thing? He's just "Tiny Boy Laments because his de-aged 42yo Crush has a crush on a 30yo Version of Him after showing No interest in child him because he is, in fact, A Child")

And then had it be Bulma, Trunks, and Mai's fault the seal didn't work when Goku did the ma-fu-ba and accidentally brought one of Roshi's Girlbar coupons instead of the seal?? God Toei's team is really allergic to anything being Goku's fault. Don't think I didn't see you skip over the part where Buu failed his written exam and Goku only barely passed with a 50% and then got mad at Vegeta for suggesting a written exam.

god everything I learn about the anime is the worst thing I've ever learned about the anime aksldjsal

First deciding that ALL of the Z-Fighters, including Gohan and Piccolo, would get their asses collectively beat by Ginyu, who has been a frog for a decade (a frog which was used for the sole purpose of him not being able to switch out of that body, mind), because apparently being a frog is way harder than idk fighting cell and majin buu and beerus, and despite the strongest guy in Freeza's army being Roughly as strong as Cell was, but okay -- just so they could rewrite Gohan's baller action scene of kicking ass and saving Piccolo into Picowo Dead Pls Daddy Save Me I'm Not Stwong Enough Despite Toei Deciding Piccolo Died in Front of Me and My Whole Thing is Rage-Induced Beating Everyone's Ass Syndrome U_U,

but also that Goku Black is doing this because ... Trunks? Upset the timelines? And that, of all the thousands of years of fuckery and 5+ rings from others doing the same shit and having watched a tournament in which one guy's whole thing is altering time, is what we're gonna use to try and drag out this fight and validate Zamas?

And then giving Kale lipstick and making her transformation about a Man? And not about Caulifa getting beat to shit by Freeza to have Kale go 'I thought you'd hate me if you found out I was strong' and Caulifa go 'yo that was fucking rad are you kidding me shine on you crazy diamond'??? Toei that shit was already Highly Lesbeans you didn't need to make it fucking weird and centered around Cabbe and Goku??? FUCKS sake, my man.

I remain so glad Toriyama took Daima away from those writers holy shit lmao Just rehauled the entire thing

and you know what even if I hate it I know it'll be better than whatever the fuck Super's writer's room was on in 2018.

[homosexual-radio-host]

141 x male teen reader (Platonic)

Teen as in like 19. I know it's not military accurate but you're in the military, not 141 but a recruit that has wormed your way into their hearts. Enough so Price promises to let you in 141 once he thinks you're ready. Anyways they discover you're s/h and basically how they react/help. No use of y/n but I give you the callsign "Mouse" cause it's cute

Tws: Self harm obviously, suicidal ideation

You where doing your usual training, Ghost was spotting you- of course he refused to actually help until you where literal moments away from dropping the weights on yourself, you knew he was just pushing you but you where sweating like hell with your long sleeves. "Fucking hell Simon help me you useless arse" You cursed him out strained "You're fine" He said, a hint of amusement in his voice. as your arms violently shook- the moment was quickly ruined.

Simon grabbed the weight for you and put it in it's holder "What's that?" He asks, You had a moment of confusion before thte panic hit, Your sleeve had rolled up, you quickly fixed then "Uh nothing" you stammed "Mouse" He says, staring at you, you could see that look in his eyes, behind his mask.

He stared at you a moment, the air was tense, He sighs "Come" and so you did. You followed him out into the hall, internally screaming at yourself. Fuck he was going to tell Price and everyone and they would think you're so fucking pathetic and you'd be discharged and- "Mouse" His voice came, You where outside Price's office, you backed up "No- No Simon don't, I'm fine"

He sighs "Well clearly you're fucking not" He says "... I failed my psych, Price won't have you kicked for this" He says after a moment to assure you "... Alright well lets talk about that, why'd you fail-" "Not changing the subject, Mouse, c'mon" He says, practically dragging you into Price's office.

Price looked up "Mouse, Ghost" he nods in greeting, gesturing for the two of you to sit, which you do, staring at the ground, Price notices the tension and sits up straighter "What happened?" he asks with a more stern voice, Simon glances at you before turning back to Price "He's been cutting himself" he says bluntly.

Price is silent a moment before quietly saying "I see..." He sighs and rumaging on is desk for a cigar and lighting it, taking a drag. "Mouse, Son can I see?" he asks with a soft tone. You stare at the floor. "Why?" "I just want to see, please" he replies, outstretching his hand, you give in and give him your arm.

Price asseses the damage, Simon watches silently, you wish he didn't

And the worst fucking thing happens, Soap bursts into the room "Alright in my defense-" he begins as you tug your arm back. he pauses and looking between you three "What the fuck is happening in ere?"

"Kinda Busy in here, Johnny" Ghost says. Soap stands there for a second before sitting down "Alright what's goin on?"

You sit back in your chair, folding your arms "Well fuck lets just invite Gaz, get the whole crew in here"

Gaz poked his fucking head in the door "You called?" "Fucking hell" you groaned slumping into your chair. Price looked around the room, grunting "Mouse, it's your choice if you want to speak or not, either way you're getting help" you sigh "Fucking fine" you say

"i'm cutting myself, Simon found out. Great to have a crowd to hear it" you say sarcastically, pissed.

The room went quiet before you felt arms wrapped around you, you turned your head to see Soap looking at you, a look of concern, Gaz had his hand on your shoulder gently. "We're a team lad, what's going on?" Soap asked.

It was like the anger dissipated, seeing your team, they didn't pity you, they just loved you.

Soap remained hung over your shoulders as you began to speak "I don't know. I've always been like this"

"... you're not gonna... uh, you're not going to like..." Gaz stammered, trying to find the right words without outright saying it, you clocked it "I'm not going to kill myself, I don't think"

This didn't lower their worry.

"You don't think?" Price asked "Do I need to have you're psych eval done? Are you going to be a danger to yourself?" "No" you say. "I don't... please" Price sighs.

"I won't make you, but at least talk to us, please" He said.

"Fine"

And so you speak, you tell them your woes, You can't put it all to words, but you do your best, by the time you're finished your face feels stiff, you realize you've been crying.

"Oh m'eudail..." Soap says quietly. You felt like such a burden.

Gaz placed his hat on your head in an attempt to lighten the mood "Hey man, i'm here for you anytime, really, come to my room, I don't care if it's 3 am, just please I'd rather be sleep deprived than have you hurting yourself like this"

"I'm sorry" You say, you're met with a sea of "Don't be's"

"... I will ... see you guys if uh... you know" you say quietly, god this was so embarassing. They nod.

At some point Gaz and Soap leave upon Ghosts request, he turns to you "... Mate, I've been in the same place as you" he begins, you glance up at him, his eyes where watery. "It's gotten bad, But I got my family here right? So've you" You stare wordlessly a moment "I'm sorry if I brought up any old memories or urges or-" "Shut up" he interupts "Like we said. We're a team, you can speak to any of us, alright?" You nod and Ghost stands, you also stand.

He pulls you into a hug, before releasing you. "I expect you to come to me semi regularily for check ups" He says, heading out the office.

Only you and Price remained , He stands and pats your back. "Son, Listen, I know the military's hard, that alongside your life... I get it really. My doors always open" you only lean into him, he wraps his arms around you "There you go, I got you, you're alright" he says softly, holding you tightly, it felt warm, it felt safe.

"I can't expect you this to be easy, and i'm not going to pull any of that 'stop for me' bullshit, but I'm here to help you stop, and it's not really a choice, alright?" You nod "Understood, Captain" you say, with a hint of a smile, he chuckles an ruffles your hair "There's a good lad" You sigh "All this cause Ghosts a shit spotter" Price laughs "It's a good thing we caught you, can't have you doing anything drastic"

A brief silence "You should get to bed, soldier. Got training early tomorrow" you sigh and release yourself from the hug "Right, sorry- thanks" he smiles warmly. "Stop apologizing" he pats your shoulder and opens the door for you "Goodnight"

[pigeonrocks]

tell me about birbo buddy friend please

YESSSSSS. of course of course. there is so much for me to talk about.

Stryx is my favorite freak ever, I love it so much. I'm going to cover like. as much as i possibly can.

(for convenience, bc god knows this is gonna be so long..)

So Stryx is apart of a very very smart species of outworld shapeshifters. They can only really appear as animals through varying degrees but as a whole Stryx enjoys owls and effectively decides to major in them for 90% of the time. Naturally they're not owls? no 'true' form nonsense. They live in big numbers & have a crazy concept of self and how their society works

(they do however, lack a concept of family. siblings & parents are understood but theres nothing in depth about it to them, other than they exist & their blood is all but the same ^_^)(Like, Noctis knows Stryx is his parent to some degree but there's nothing else besides that, no concept of "blood is thicker than water" or whatever. That's just Stryx to them tbh)

-- I also just remembered they have barely any concept of gender either. they're not anything but themselves :)

Now, besides all of that! Stryx is kind of like a mercenary, it dgaf really. It's tryna make money, it needs it more than you. But like at that time they also worked with Shao & them bc it got shot out the fucking sky during one of the many conflicts bc it was mistaken for some vampire & stuck around for a little until it was offered better than sticking through some rebellion by Havik (which is not no damn better.) and it helped kill people when Seido got flooded by Rain (what is life to something that believes in nothing after death? uhm. not much.) before left cause it got a little too tense in outworld and Havik did NOT pay that mf if im honest. Stryx is still mad asf about it.

And y'know, cause stuff got hot & Stryx was exiled from its society entirely for the crimes it did with Havik (🍅🍅🍅) but whatever, killed some people. probably would've gotten tossed in jail and also would've probably gotten out really quickly (mouse is small) but it leaves for Earthrealm where it thrives bc woawww.... it eats anything smaller than it & theres lots of things there but also its like. maybe 8? 9? ft tall so thats like goddamn anything 😭

My favorite detail is that in technicality with Stryx's voice claim: it's russian ^_^

But like, Stryx carries itself as being very very apathetic. Not an ounce of pity or sympathy in this one. and as much as it wants to swear up and down that it cant feel anything - it does, and at worst is thinking with the heart which has very skewered views from the way it grew up & whatever. Very anarchical in the way that's really alien? but also very much reserved, a pariah, too independent, detached and too solitary. + being far too proud to admit when it needs help. Which is definitely one of many reasons that'll lead to its downfall & probablyyy being made a martyr of.

butttt thats the bird :) i like shoving it & noob saibot together cause i think its funny + the owl & crow symbolism devastates me. anyway! heres all 3 of the timeline designs for Stryx <3 Ily big giant Russian bird... ily forever & ever.

Another background detail i really enjoy about Stryx is that they have hobbies! They like woodworking :) they like sculptures. & they have more than just the owl look (seen below)

anyways, Stryx is both a play on words of Styx! and Strix :) for y'know... the river styx. and that a Strix in mythology is like this vampire bird thing + its also a genus of owl :) the earless ones like the big great greys & barred owls! I think that's all I've got but STRYX ❤️ my sillyyyy

[ramennoodlezzzao3]

nobody asked me to answer, but I’m gonna anyways 😝

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats 

Idk how to do that lol

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

I couldn’t find any fics that I wanted bc I’m too specific, so I started writing. It was purely for fun and I wasn’t fully thinking about the fact that people might actually read it AND enjoy it lol

  🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

me and some of my moots from TikTok created this playlist lol (it’s, like, 14 hours long)

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that? Idk what that means but ima go off of what I’m thinking and that is just editing while proof reading and I enjoy it! 10/10

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🙏👉😁🔥💀 (no, it’s not abt the burning church 💀🙏)

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

I’m new here, I have no EXTREMELY close moots so idk. But @paul-ster seems pretty chill so probably them (

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

I HAVE SO MANY I LOVE! But if I had to choose rn Soracha for the author and “Ron Weasley and His First Year at Hogwarts” by snoopy_owl. Two of my favs!

💌 ⇢ how many unread emails do you have right now? 

none, believe it or not. I constantly check it for ao3 updates. But I also have three separate yt accounts so I get regular emails abt comments and updates and I normally check them everyday. The only exception is one email I use for spam sites like grammarly, that email has 408 unread emails.

🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

@fictionalcharactergraveyard

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 

ooo, neither tbh. Unless its a one-shot or a mini fic where I add a S/O or like my unpublished Uber fic where I had to add several OG characters, I don’t like adding new ones bc I think it disrupts the story a lot and I normally don’t read fics when people do that. And personally, unless it’s the ones that are supposed to be halrious and satire, I think self-inserts are kinda cringey bc most people who write them over-sexulize the characters and add weird stuff in that makes me cringe (key word: MOST not ALL) but also I just cant imagine myself dating someone let alone my comfort characters.

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

I don’t think I have any

🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time?

I just can’t get into the writing mood. But when I start it’s really hard to stop

  🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

PURLY! I love to think Curly calls pony “Mi Amor” or like calls him pet names in Spanish. I think it’s really cute

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

literally don’t be fake as hell. Don’t be all shy and sweet like, if you are comeback or Yapping king/queen then tell me bc we can yap together. Like, If I can call you Pookie within the first four interactions, we are besties, considered us married at that point

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

I’m redecorating my room, I got a new puppy, and- wait, bitch, who gives a fuck, let’s be honest 💀🙏

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?

can’t say bc it’s an unpublished chapter of a on going fic 😝

  🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Harry Potter is kinda an ass

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

I don’t write anything too bizarre so I can’t think of anything

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

strive to accomplish what you set as a goal, not what society set as a standard or a must

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

My comfort character gets ignored hard core, makes new friends, get into shenanigans, and then a lot of angst ensues. Who would write it best? Mmm…Fictionalcharacter graveyard or Soracha

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

if you have a scene you want to write for a fic, start writing it but ONLY WRITE THE DIALOGUE. You can add who said it but I do it all the time and it gives me new ideas and gradually helps me continue a fic. It’s also easier to add detail in between when you are focused on that instead of getting to the next dialogue scene.

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh 

Nick Sturniolos iconic “Then he will taste the rainbow while he goes out”

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

“I LOVE THIS, I CAN’T WAIT FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER!” Then they go on an entire yap session about how they think the fic will turn out or parts they’re excited for. It always makes me happy to see someone enjoy my hobby as much as I do even though we have different perspectives 🤭

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

Alr, ik im gonna get backlash but i cant stand Cherry Valence. 1. I will give it to her, she’s a downright badass.

2. her hair is really pretty

3. She was nice to pony at the drive in, I’ll give her some points (still don’t like her too much tho)

🥝 ⇢ do you lie a lot? what's the most recent lie you told?

Not much. Okay, this is gonna sound so fricking clique but that last lie I told was “Yeah, I’m fine, just tired” even though I know damn well I’m probably depressed asf

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately

I have only older siblings and every time one moves out, I stop talking to them so I don’t become the annoying youngest sister, so I’m afraid their gonna forget about me, and they probably will. I only have two siblings that still live with me so that’s only two more people left to forget me before I’m totally alone lol. (Depressed, see?)

  🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

book writers that can describe really well.

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

I think I’m too impatient and give myself an unrealistic deadline for stuff

🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?

I like them a lot!

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

I’ll add that later lol

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

it was a name my family wouldn’t be able to find. I’m embarrassed to write bc my family LOVES to pick out your insecurities and hobbies and never let you live them down.

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

again, I’m new here, so nobody here is my “supporter” but @shae-pine has liked all of my posts so ig them? I got to say, that “The Youngest (The Favorite)” fic I really liked! Ur also just the sweetest person ever! 😭🫶🏻

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them

I have 7 (I had 8 but my cat passed away yesterday, RIP in the comments for Sophie 🩵)

I won’t post pics because that’s a large file 😭🙏

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

I DONT HAVE THE LINK BUT I LOVE THIS

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

self insert, too much OOC scenes, pairings I don’t like, oc’s/characters unless it’s the character I’m reading abt, pure smut or p*rn, over sexulization or romanticizing R*pe, over detailed non-con, specific characters are dead, and the fic doesn’t focus on a character that I wanna read about.

[beecreeper]

3 and/or 12 for the most recent durge asks? :) for all of the sillies

These questions are SO good! Answers under the cut!

3.) Was kid durge a usual child before the Urge awakened or were there some signs indicating smth was off about the kid? How did the environment react to them?

Oh yeah my durges were both fucked up out the gate.

Even as a baby Briar was clearly a little... off. She had the white hair and red eyes combo, which was an odd appearance on a human but not necessarily *too* out of the ordinary, especially in a fantasy world. But then as a baby she was clearly socializing... wrong. Like not responding to pointing or not mimicking speech and stuff like that. But that’s still an acceptable level of off, right? And then it branched out into things like. Huh are babies always this bitey? Hey why is our toddler obsessed with rotten meat? Google search how to make your toddler stop collecting mouse bones under her bed. Briar grew up in a super rural area on a small little farm, so she was doing things like playing with dead chicken heads and whatnot when she was a toddler and was a little too enthusiastic on the rare occasion she was allowed to help with slaughtering livestock. She also was in such a small village that there was only one other kid her age in the area, about a year younger than her, that was pretty much her only source of peer socialization. And that relationship was very much a “I’m gonna see what I can get away with doing” bullying friendship, you know? Where it’s like “yeah they’re a bully but they’re also my only option so...” Picking on him and play fighting and, like, daring him to do dangerous stuff because she wants to see what would happen. Her urge officially started to manifest when she was about 9 or 10 and she drowned this kid in the creek they were playing in. But yeah she was always VERY low empathy and completely self interested and fascinated with death and rot and violence and stuff. Full sociopath. Her parents were definitely creeped out but they had invested too much into getting their black market baby to admit it or do anything about it. They spent a long time in denial about it and by the time she killed them in her teens they were disillusioned husks of people.

Ferox was adopted by a tribe of goblins, so like. It’s hard to separate what parts of his childhood were from the urge or from his surroundings because it was definitely both. Like sure it was goblin child number four who told him to throw rocks at the wargs but it was the urge that made him like it, ya know? The goblins adopted Ferox specifically because they found him having just RIPPED his way out of his surrogate mother’s womb and they thought that was the most metal badass thing ever. He was raised to be a big scary weapon for the tribe (for Maglubiyet specifically because adopted chief dad was particularly devout). Goblin chaos and violence surrounded him and was encouraged from the beginning. If anything, he was a little passive and quiet compared to the other goblin kids, usually just going along with whoever was the loudest and most aggressive in the group, which was usually his older “brother” Ramik. Whenever he did show something that in normal society would be clocked as off, like taking play fighting too far or eating meat off the bone with disquieting enthusiasm, the goblins around him would have just gone “FUCKING SICK! FUCK YEAH!” The moment his urge really manifested outside of typical goblin violence was went he snapped and killed his adoptive parents (I still need to work out the exact specifics of the moment, but I do know that in the fallout Ramik spun Ferox’s spontaneous murder as a deliberate coup in order to protect both of their asses).

12.) What did the promise of death at durge’s hands mean to Gortash

Oh maaaaaaaaaaaan this question is juicy and I don’t think I can articulate it as well as I want to but I’ll try.

I think, despite his dynamic with Briar and Ferox being VERY different, his perspective on this is actually pretty similar. With Briar its more partners in crime and with Ferox it's more boss/bodyguard, but the ultimate point is that dying by durge’s hands means that he’s *last*. Everyone else can die worthless, indiscriminate deaths but he gets to make it to the *end*. In this way, he *wins*. There’s also an element like, if he’s gonna die by durge’s hands, it means he won’t die by anyone else’s. It becomes another thing he can control. Especially in his dynamic with Ferox but Briar too to an extent, this means that he can count on durge as a body guard, to protect him from anything trying to kill him that isn't *them* (see what I just wrote about Briar yelling at Orin for "touching her things" lol). And, like, there’s kinda the vibe that if they promise it enough, it has to be true, right? His other enemies can’t touch him because he’s destined to die by durge’s hands. That’s not actually sound logic and he would never suggest that it is, but that’s what it *feels* like, you know? The plan can’t fail because it HAS to end like this. It HAS to.

[yourlocalartsonist]

ROTTMNT Moths Fly In Packs - Chapter Seven

A/N: Please kill me my soul has left my body writing this god forsaken LONG ASS CHAPTER but hey it was very worth it imo. Uh sorry for the month long wait. I think the AO3 writer curse found me and my poor beta reader since shit kept happening to both of us delaying this chapter even more. But hey! It's finally out, so I hope y'all enjoy while I go lay down bye- Credit to: @sweaterrat for being my beloved beta reader! Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Chapter One

Disclaimer: Chapter involves obsessive behavior, obessive language, demeaning language, injuries, manipulation, degrading language, bullying, shaming over having emotions, panic attacks, spiraling thoughts, gross creepy motherfuckers, recorded without consent, slight physical harassment, implied verbal harassment, getting restrained, uncomfy thoughts, self-degrading language, light s*icidal thoughts, violence, and curse words. This one's a heavy chapter folks so if you're sensitive to that stuff, scroll past and stay safe!

Alright, Salena. You got this. Just remember: if you’re quick and quiet, he won’t notice you. ‘Tis the rules of ninja stealth mode, baby!

Finally back at school but am I gonna face my problems? Nope! I’ve decided to take Splinter’s advice on just doing things when I’m ready. Even though sometimes I feel like I’ll never be ready. Every time I even thought about talking to Jaiden or Zane, I’d find myself getting strangely mad. I know I’ll screw things up if I talk with a temper. 

But hey! That’s not my focus right now, anyway. I’ve been searching for a good opportunity to finally meet and talk to Draxum today! It turns out the world really is fucking miniature since he works at April’s old high school - aka my current one - as that scary mean lunch aid everyone fears to death. Who knew, right? I’m hoping I can make a good impression on him today! And maybe possibly get my very own weapon but that’s totally not my first priority at all… 

I already planned to skip study hall to try and sneak into the kitchen. I know that lunch is next period but Draxum gets pretty busy when he actually has to work so I'd rather not bother him during those moments. Besides, it’s May! I would’ve spent my study hall sitting there doing jackshit, anyway, so I doubt the teachers care if I’ll be missing. There’s just one hurdle to my otherwise flawless plan. The reason I’m perched up on top of the fluorescent light trying not to cry from how dirty it is up here instead of in the kitchen by now: Zane’s been tailing me all damn morning.

He and I share a study hall so not seeing me there probably prompted him to run out looking  for me. Guess I can’t blame him too much, I haven’t really talked to him or Jaiden so I know he’s just worried. But my god, the dude’s more annoying than an actual hall monitor right now. I’ve lost track of how long this little cat and mouse game’s gone on. 

I watched in agony waiting for Zane to pass by. He stopped, looked both ways, and turned the corner, successfully convinced I wasn’t right above him. Man, I knew parkour would come in useful someplace but never have I ever thought that place would be in school. 

I victoriously hopped off the pretty bright light and bolted towards the cafeteria, checking behind me to make sure Zane didn’t come back this way. I can’t wait to finally meet Drax and get my very own weapon! I hope it’s something cool! I mean, I don’t even know how it’s supposed to be picked but holy hell I am so excited and everything’s playing out so perfectly right now I genuinely can’t believe-

“Oof!” 

Of course, I accidentally ran into someone. So much for ninjocity. The poor guy fell to his knees, and rubbed his head, messing up his fluffy black hair.

“Omigosh are you okay!? I am so so so sorry!” I stepped closer to him, reaching out my hand. “Here, let me help you up.”

“Argh… yeah, thank y-“

He stopped mid-sentence, wide teal eyes staring right at me. His expression looked strange, it wasn’t happy but it wasn’t sad either. Or actually, it was a little? He’s not saying anything or moving, it seems like he’s about to simultaneously laugh and cry. 

But maybe I’m reading too deep into it, he could just be in shock or something. 

“Um… I hope I didn’t bump into you too hard. Are you gonna take my hand…?”

“O-oh, right, sorry! I uh… I spaced out.” 

“Don’t worry, totally get that!” I laughed, pulling him to his feet. “Ya know, I don’t recognize you. Are you new here?” 

“Yeah, I actually just joined today, tenth grade! My name is Ca-”

“There you are!” A hand grabbed my shoulder from behind.

“Z-Zane!?”

“I’ve been looking all over for you, Salena!” His arm wrapped around my shoulder, possessively holding me close while shooting daggers at the stranger. It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out what message he’s trying to send. “Hey there, new guy. Nice to see you again. I didn’t know you and Salena already met.”

“We just bumped into each other, that was it.” He turned towards me, his look switching back from hostile to friendly “So, it’s Salena?”

I wanted to respond but got cut off as always “Oh, getting bold now, are we? What, just because you’re new you think you’re some kind of hotshot?”

“What? No, I’m literally just talking.”

“I know, that’s what I’m saying. Don’t talk to her at all.”

“Uh, why? You’ve been rude to me the entire time in class and now you’re trying to monitor who I talk to? Honestly, what is your problem?”

“My problem is cute guys like you who think they can do whatever they want with whoever they want just because they look good! I’m warning you now if you try to play any mind games on her, you’ll be hating every fucking second of being alive.”

Fucksake, what is he doing? “Zane, come on, you’re being extra.”

“Salena, don’t.”

“But-”

“Just don’t! You’re too nice to everyone and never know what’s good for you!” As he said that, I glanced over and saw the new guy looking at me with expecting eyes. Zane turned to him shortly after. “And you, stay away from her, got it? I’ll say this once and only once: she’s not interested.”

“Dude, why are you getting so worked up? I’m trying to talk to Salena, not you. I want to befriend them. It’s their choice if they don’t want that and I’ll respect it. But you don’t get to decide that!”

“Yeah, okay, look at you trying to white knight the situation. Look, Salena might be naive but I’m not!” Ah, there it is again! If the word naive were a person, I’d be on death row by now! “I know exactly what you’re trying to do, you little freak, and it’s not gonna work, ya hear me?”

“Zane, stop!” He was starting to get way too physically close to him and way too metaphorically close to breaking my patience. “He’s new to the school, we just met! Why are you acting like this? You’re being mean for no reason!”

“No reason? You haven’t said anything to me the entire day, Jaiden texts saying you’ve avoided them too, and now I just happened to find you here giggling with the new transfer and you’re telling me there’s nothing funny going on?” 

I groaned. As much as I felt tempted to clock him in the face, I didn’t feel like dealing with the aftermath of having to somehow make it up to him. For now, gotta focus on making sure the new guy doesn’t pop a blood vessel on his very first day. Defeated, I reached out and grabbed Zane’s shoulders, keeping him facing towards me.

“Of course, there’s nothing going on! Hey, I’m gonna talk to other people but you and Jaiden are still gonna be my best friends.” My hand signaled the boy behind him to run while he could. “I’m not gonna just replace you guys for no good reason!”

“Then why were you avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t avoiding, I just… I had something important to do, alright?” At least that’s only half a lie.

“Oh really? Important with some guy who just transferred here?”

FOR THE LOVE OF- “Ugh, no, I told you I ran into him by accident! Like, literally ran into him. The important task is something else.” I peeked behind him, noticing the boy left. “And speaking of that, I gotta dash! It’s time sensitive so… yeah!”

“Huh? W-wait!”

You bet your ass I skedaddled away from him as soon as I could. I finally entered the cafeteria, resuming my mission from before. It’s quite empty, a stark difference from what I’m used to. You could probably hear a pin drop in here. I decided it got too eerie, so I took a page out of Mikey’s book and proceeded to swing the kitchen doors open in the loudest, most obnoxious way I could, getting greeted with a scream followed by a very annoyed groan. 

“Oh, it’s one of you annoying brats. I thought I had to be worried for a second.” He didn’t roll his eyes but he might as well have, honestly. 

“Sorry! I just wanted to ask-” I paused, looking past his body and catching a glimpse of something he was trying to hide. “What’s that behind your back?”

“Nothing that concerns you. And shouldn’t you be in class?”

“Eh, it’s study hall so skipping’s not a huge deal.”

He sighed “Do what you want, kid, but why insist on pestering me? Can’t you see I’m busy enough?”

“Oh! Right! My bad.” I lightly bumped into the door frame as I walked inside “Um, so like… I was just wondering, do you happen to know a Baron Draxum around here?”

The purple vines swiftly tangled around my waist, snatching me from the ground and suspending me in the air while a couple others pointed sharp at my head.

“How do you know that name!? Who sent you, tiny assassin?”

“Yo yo yo, chill, chill! I’m a friend! O-of the turtles! Ya know, your sons or something?” 

He scoffed “Likely story! Those idiots get themselves a new ‘friend’ every week. Tell me, assassin, if you’re on such friendly terms with them then why would you refer to me as Baron Draxum? They don’t call me that anymore!”

“Dude, I dunno! I wanted to somehow indicate that I knew about the whole Yōkai ordeal and I thought if I called you Barry you’d think I was just another kid, ya know?”

“And why exactly wouldn’t you just say that?”

“...Good point. You know what, I did not think this through. And actually, thinking about it now, it honestly makes way more sense you’re a Yōkai! I mean, the occasional random vines in the flooring, the weird forestry state of the kitchen, yada yada. But I guess I just thought you were some sort of extreme nature lover or something, ya get me?” 

SHING!

“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!” I looked at my arms and gasped “Wait! I can prove it! My arm-wrap-glove-thingies!”

“What about them?”

“They’re Genius Tech, a gift from Donnie!” I took one of them off and threw it, landing on his eyes with a splat. “See? Donnie wouldn’t give me these if we weren’t friends! O-or at least close acquaintances on friendly terms! So ha!” 

He inspected the clothing, grunting when he saw the all too familiar logo “...Fine. I suppose he wouldn’t let a thief get away with all their limbs intact. But why are you even wearing these in school?” 

“…They go with my aesthetic, okay?”

“That was rhetorical, I didn’t actually care.” He finally set me down, not looking any less bit irritated, though. “Now, what do you want? I don’t have all day for your childsplay.”

“A weapon!”

“What?”

“I want a weapon!” I beamed at him, instinctively flapping my hands. “Like the ones the guys and April have! April told me they all got their first weapons from you since you’ve got a whole stash of them! So, I was wondering if I could get one, too? Please?”

“Of course you are.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself. “And for the record they didn’t get their weapons, they stole them! But anyway, I can’t help you even if I actually wanted to. My weapons are down in the Hidden City, I cannot simply wish them into existence.”

Darn. “Well… is there some way to portal down there maybe? Mikey and Leo can open portals so maybe you can too?...”

“As a matter of fact, I can.”

“Great! Then lets-”

“Not doing that, though.”

“What!?” At this point, I feel like he’s just dicking with me for the sake of it. “Oh come on, you’re supposed to be some sort of great mystic warrior alchemist guy! Surely you can do something to help me?”

“Listen, kid. Barry Draxum has far too much work to do to take some random student on a lab tour, especially just to get them a weapon to fit in with their friends. Go away and stop bothering me.” 

He walked past me to start prepping for lunch next period, his towering height only further emphasizing his authority. Still, I’m not backing down. Not this time. 

“I’m not trying to fit in. I know you’re busy but I’m not asking this for shits and giggles. I want a weapon to keep me safe! My life has been one chaotic run-in after another with mutants and giant cats and every time has had at least one near-death experience guaranteed! Look! I’ve even got the scars to prove it!” 

I held up my left arm, the bandage now visible with my arm wrap off. “Something bad almost happened last time and I got everyone worried. I just wanna make sure I don’t have to constantly need protection and burden them again. I wanna be useful, you know?”

He glanced at my arm and sighed. He may act like he didn’t give a rat’s ass but looking more carefully, it’s clear a part of him might’ve softened a little. 

“I’m not opening a portal and I mean that, I promised Mikey and O’Neil I wouldn’t use my mystic powers on the surface. With that being said, however…”

Draxum walked back to where I initially found him crouching when I came here, beckoning me to join him. I gasped when he opened the cupboard, revealing two giant blades hidden in them.

“Wow…”

“You’re lucky you came at the perfect time.” He took them out, gripping the seafoam green handles. “Usually, a warrior such as I would be entrusted with the safekeeping of numerous weaponry. But after gaining a criminal record, the Council decided I wouldn’t be allowed any more than I currently have.”

“Then… how’d you get this one?”

He scoffed, “Obviously, I stole it. Besides, I wouldn’t have been able to obtain them even with the Council on my side. These don’t belong to them.” He proudly presented the weapons, the silver blades shining in the light. “They’re a privately owned contraption, made by a very famous pristine Family in the Hidden City. No one outside them owns these sickles except now, of course, me.” 

“Hold up, these giant things are sickles? Aren’t those, like, usually way tinier and kinda useless compared to other ninja weapons?”

“Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Well, this beggar can and will.” I pointed at myself, skeptical he was still trying to sell me short. “I’ve done my fair share of research on weaponry, sickles are lame! Their blades can barely do shit and they’re way too close range to keep the wielder safe.”

“Stop sassing me, child, I’ve done my own fair share of more accurate research. These are mystic sickles, they will be different from your pathetic human tools.” 

He began polishing them while continuing his rambles. “If you’re concerned about their sharpness, then you’ll be satisfied to know their blades can change by the user’s will. One minute, they’re strong enough to slice diamond and the next minute, they can’t even shatter glass. And all my sources confirmed they can turn the wielder invisible for varying periods of time, depending on their strength. It’s incredibly difficult coming across any information on them, but apparently, they were made to manipulate reality.”

“Apparently? I won’t lie, this all sounds legitimately cool and stuff but like, have you ever tested them out? Why’s all this just based on research when you have the weapon itself?”

“They don’t work from my touch.” Bruh.

“Come again?”

“These sickles are the only weapons that don’t seem to activate when I use them. So, my offer to you is if you can get these to work, I’ll allow you to own them permanently as long as you send me any new information you gain on them.”

“Oh, joy! You think that I - the ordinary human person - can get these things to work when you - the mystic magic Yōkai guy - cant?” I sighed, scratching my head before ultimately reaching out. “You know what, fine. Even if I get scammed, it’s worth a shot.” 

He plopped them into my hands as I fell forward, grunting from the weight. Jeez, I can barely even pick these up. “God, for a scientist you sure are pretty bad at educated guesses- Woah!”

I flinched and stepped back when the sickles suddenly sharted floating in the air. Draxum copied my actions, both of us staring intently at them. The pink details on the handle lit up, spiraling around the grips and spreading to the blades, shining it all in a soft aura of the same hue. A part of me felt drawn to the light, as if it were calling me. I realize how incredibly stupid that sounds but in the moment, that didn’t really matter. 

I reached out and held the sickles again, the aura spreading to me before fading away. They felt much lighter now, I can actually hold them with ease! The silver blades got dipped in deep, dark pink. If a rose could bleed, it’d be that color.

“Fascinating…” He adjusted his glasses. “Seems like my guess wasn’t so stupid after all, was it?” He smirked at me, genuinely emoting this time.

“I… I guess not. Aight, I’m sold! Although, I feel like the sickles chose me more than I chose them.” So, like a person getting claimed by a stray cat, I had no choice but to keep them.

“Wonderful, these are now yours, congratulations.” He held me by the shoulders and pushed me out the kitchen. “And remember, update me on any and every new bit of information you learn while using this. It was nice to meet you, blah blah blah, now don’t bother me during work ever again.”

He closed the door and almost instantly the school bell rang. I jumped, frantically shoving the sickles into my backpack right as people started coming in through the doors for lunch. I had no idea this much time passed. I should probably get out of here before-

“Salena?” 

I’ve been jinxing myself a lot today, haven’t I? Jaiden’s standing right in front of me now. Might as well leap off a cliff and call it quits, to be honest.

“H-Hey…” 

“Quite the busy gal today, aren’t you.” They’re speaking slowly, this isn’t a good sign.

“Oh, um, yeah, kinda. I just had to take care of something.”

“Cool, I guess.” 

We both stood there awkwardly. My chest feels so heavy. Jaiden’s barely looking at me but I swear if they did I’d downright die from their glare. What do I even do? How do I face this?

Just… run away. You’re… you’re good at that. So run away.

“…I need to go.” 

“What? Okay, that’s it. What is up with you? You didn’t come to school Monday or yesterday and you’ve avoided me all of today. Now when I finally catch up to you, you have to go?” 

“I just got into a small accident, is all. I had to stay home.” Not like you tried to reach out, anyway. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you ask?”

They groaned at me. I don’t usually bicker back but the way Jaiden was treating this, as if they don’t know what they did, it’s just… it’s just getting to me. I don’t want to be like this but it’s getting to me.

“Salena, snap out of it, will you? You’ve been acting so pissy, lately! I literally didn’t even do anything!”

My body chose to scoff “Yeah, not with me, that’s for sure.”

They squinted at me, only half understanding what I meant. “Are you… mad we didn’t hang out this weekend?” They facepalmed, framing me as the idiot for being upset over that. “Dude, you can’t be serious, I said something came up! It’s not like I totally ghosted you or anything!” 

It’s not like you totally ghosted me?

“...Jaiden, I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Why not?”

Shut up. 

“I don’t feel okay talking about this.”

“Oh really? Like how you never feel okay confronting anything? What, do you just expect me to drop this because her highness isn’t feeling okay?” 

My face feels boiling hot, I can’t help clenching my fists. I’m trying to breathe. Everything will be okay if I just breathe.

“A-are you crying? Ugh, seriously? It’s like all you ever know is how to run away or cry! We’re not thirteen anymore, just grow up!”

Stop.

“It was annoying when you were such an emotional crybaby back then but now it’s just getting ridiculous!”

STOP.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t tell me you’re upset that I’m right. That you’d rather selfishly push this to the side instead of just dealing with it like a normal person!”

Why are you being so mean?

“Salena, say something already! Stop with the pity party, the world doesn’t revolve around you-“

“I SAID SHUT UP!” 

They did.

I didn’t mean to say that.

I don’t know for how long, but somehow I tuned out the noisy cafeteria, my ears bugged with a faint buzz. My eyes were fixed on them, and theirs on me. In all our five years of friendship, I’ve never not once yelled at Jaiden before.

“…Who even are you?…”

Those words sting. They sting because they’re right. Who am I?

“Moni! Reeves!” Draxum’s voice snapped me out of my daze. “Stop standing in the middle of my cafeteria and causing traffic!” 

I guess that was our cue to sit down. And continue. Even though I don’t want to.

“Where do you think you’re headed, Moni?” For whatever reason he was still yelling at me from behind the food rack.

“T-to go find a seat?”

“I told you to head to the nurse! If that cut you got while helping me in the kitchen gets infected thanks to your horrid luck, I’ll be held responsible. So go there right now!”

Huh?…

“Y-yeah, sorry, I’m going.” I rushed out before Jaiden could say anything more. I’m a little shocked he was listening, even more so that he actually helped me. 

Whatever, I’m just grateful for the excuse to get away. 

I gently touched my heated forehead. 

Plus, maybe going to the nurse isn’t such a bad idea, anyway. 

***

The shiny streets reflected my steps as I took in the familiar damp scent. The gray fog left over after rain always gave the city a different vibe.

I got sent home early by the nurse. Apparently, another panic attack arose after talking with Jaiden. The nurse took pity on me when she realized and got me the rest of the day off, giving me a pass and everything. Told me to go home and take it easy. Come back tomorrow when I’m feeling better. I laughed at the memory. Oh, if only they knew going home meant the exact opposite.

So instead, I’m out here. Wandering in New York in its post-rainy weather to clear my mind. Maybe that’s why I keep having these thoughts. I don’t usually dwell on the whole shitty situation of my life. But right now, in the colorless skies and the somber silence, I can’t help but feel pathetic.

A pebble found its way into my boots. Annoying. I didn’t feel like dealing with it, though, so I just kept walking.

I walked more and more and more, trying to forget being present. Trying to forget this stupid mess I somehow got myself into. Wordlessly wandering, hoping the city would just swallow me whole so I wouldn’t be seen. I feel sick and ashamed but so enraged at the same time. How could they still continue to play dumb? After seeing me like that they pretended to know absolutely nothing. I’m not misreading anything, am I? What if I got the situation wrong? I can’t tell if I’d be happy Jaiden didn’t actually ditch me, or depressed I’d have yelled at them for nothing. They’re right but they’re wrong but they’re right. Or, at least I think they’re right? Maybe that’s wrong. Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But that could mean so many things. What am I even talking about? What’s-

“Hello? Anyone there?” A pale hand waved in front of my eyes. I glanced up at its owner. “Welcome back to Earth, sweetheart.”

A tall blonde boy stood in front of me, a couple other boys whom I can only presume were his friends looked down at me with him. 

“H-h-hi?...” My brain, still adjusting back to reality, only spoke in stammers “C-can I help you?”

One of his friends chuckled “We were wondering the same thing. You were just walking blindly into a dead end!”

For the first time since god knows when, I scanned my surroundings realizing I have no clue where the fuck I am. Somehow, I wandered into an alley, not too deep but still pretty disorienting. There’s a wall behind them, I guess that was the dead end they’re talking about. Two of them snickered while looking at a phone.

“You seriously recorded her?”

“Course I did. I knew girls were ditzy but this? She ran into a building, like, three times! And apologized to it!” Okay, I admit, not my best moment but still, feels a little weird for them to record it. I wonder how long they were filming before deciding to actually check in on me.

“Guys, stop. You’ll make her run away.” The blonde boy spoke again. “Don’t worry kitten, we’re not here to hurt you. You just looked lost. If you want some help finding your way, we’d be glad to assist!” 

…I know he’s not saying anything inherently wrong, but the way he speaks makes my skin crawl. There’s something about his tone. It’s sweeter than it should be. That specific type of sweetness no human being shows without having ulterior motives. 

His gaze grew more intense. “Do I… know you?” I don’t like how close his face is to mine.

A part of me got suspicious, too. We might indeed know each other. Or at least, I might know him. Blonde hair, green eyes, creepy as shit. But it’d be ridiculous if he’s actually who I think he is. I mean, not every blonde white guy’s gonna be related to-

“I do know you! You’re that cutie my brother keeps talking about!”

Yep, it’s him. Because my luck couldn’t get any worse, I ran into Cole Evans, Zane’s freakshow older brother. 

No wonder my fight or flight feels triggered.

Play it cool. “I think you have me mistaken for someone else. And thank you, but I’m not lost.”

Right as I turned around to leave, my shoulders pricked up. He put his grimy hands on them, firmly grasping onto them as if any of this is fucking okay. “Oh, don’t be like that! What’d he say your name was… Salena, right? You think I’m as boring as Zane or something?” He spoke too close to my ear. My legs are trembling, aching to run. I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. “Why’re you being such a killjoy, hm? You know I’m not that much older than you, right?”

I need to go.

I spun around and elbowed his side as hard as I could, forcing him to stumble back. I desperately wanted to sprint but his friends blocked my path, grabbing my wrists when I tried reaching for the blades hidden in my backpack. They were laughing and poking fun at Cole and he himself didn’t seem all too phased either, straightening up as the pain died down.

“Let me go!”

“Seems like she’s more tiger than kitten aye, Cole?”

“Good thing I like the feisty ones.”

I thrashed around kicking and stomping, trying to hit anything I could or at least break free but nothing was working. They’re dodging everything and the grip on my wrists only gets tighter. All the while they’re mocking me like I’m a dog or something. Is this just a sick joke to all of them? 

“Aww, look at her! Is that really the best you can do to fight back?”

I need to keep trying, I need to find a way out. But they have me trapped. I can barely move around. I can’t dodge, I can’t run. I don’t know how to fight, I’m useless if I can’t run. What do I do? What do I do?

BAM!

I didn’t realize how unstable my balance was. Not until I found myself fallen on the ground finally able to freely move my wrists. The guy restraining me earlier was now groaning on the ground too, holding the freshly bruised side of his face in agony. 

“You wanna fight? Then pick on someone my size!”

“Raph?...” I watched from the ground, mouth hanging open.

Without hesitation, Raph charged at them. They were cocky at first but the atmosphere quickly shifted after seeing how powerful the “person” in the gray hoodie was. I don’t even blame them, I’ve never seen him punch anyone so hard before. He’d slam them into everything: the walls, the ground, I might’ve even heard bones crack. He’s taking all of them on.

Meanwhile, I’m here uselessly watching. 

I should help. I want to help. I know he’s strong but there’s a good number of them and they’re not exactly weaponless. But what do I do? What could I do? I have my sickles but what if I make things worse? What if things get too messy, what if things go too far? If the police get involved-

Wait, an opening! 

They’re so distracted dealing with Raph, no one’s blocking the way out! 

Run! JUST RUN!

“Come on!” I grabbed Raph’s hand the first opportunity I could and fled from the scene, him confused but not stopping us. 

We ran for what felt like forever. Just chose a direction and bolted, not much logic behind it. If anything, it felt like pure instinct. Traffic lights and stop signs didn’t seem to matter to me and frankly, I’m surprised we didn’t get run over. We only stopped when my lungs gave out and forced me to gasp for air. 

Raph seemed fine, a little concerned, but fine. “You okay? Was passing by and heard ya scream. When I ran in, I found ‘em surrounding you.” 

“Y-yeah, I’m just… I just, I-I don’t know. Sorry, can I just have a minute?” I continued heaving in the air, can’t tell if it was from running so much or another god forsaken panic attack.

Regardless, Raph stayed crouching by me as I held my throbbing head, trying to not cry. He's quiet but attentive, noticeably making an effort to avoid physical contact for now. Strangely enough, his presence alone is making me feel better. 

I steadied my breathing “Th-thanks for jumping in, Raph. Um… sorry I couldn’t, ya know, handle it myself.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Not your fault those creeps were messing with you.” 

“Still…” I wish I did more. 

And just like that, my breathing progress backtracked “Sorry I… A-a lot happened today. Too much too soon and I have no clue how to just… Gosh, I don’t even know, I-I guess get it out?” 

“Uhh, well uh…” His eyes lit up “Ooh! Actually, I’ve got a good way to deal with that kinda stuff, if you don’t mind comin’ over to the lair for a bit!”

“Oh, um, really? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Course not! Plus, Raph could use the company, anyway.”

Well, I’d definitely be safer in the lair than out here. 

I gave a weak smile “Alrighty then. I’m down!”

He reached for my hand, only taking it when he was sure it was okay. We walked along the city streets for a while. His large hand practically engulfed mine, I felt like a little kid next to their big brother. Is it weird to say I feel a little safer that way? 

We reached the lair, entering through a manhole and strolling till we reached an abandoned subway track. The familiar scent shot back to my brain. It’s strong but not overwhelming. 

“Here we are! Home sweet home!”

It’s surprisingly empty today. “Where’s everyone else?” 

“Probably doing their own thing. Hopefully safe. Raph, uh, doesn’t like thinkin’ about it too much.”

“Then Salena shall not question! So um… what exactly are we gonna do?-” 

“Catch!”

I stumbled back in shock, peering down as whatever he threw now landed in my arms. They’re… boxing gloves?

“The fuck?”

“We’re gonna deal with your thoughts the best way I know: by punching ‘em in the face!”

I blinked as I realized he’s being completely and entirely serious. I hesitated at first, but then I really gave it a good thought. I’ve read before that working out can boost your mood. A little harmless violence is a strangely good way to let out anger, especially. Plus, if I make a habit of this, I might be able to boost my strength along with it! Then I wouldn’t have to solely depend on running all the time! 

“Worth a shot!” I finally shrugged in acceptance and put on the boxing gloves, staring at the bag in front of me. “Do I just go ahead and punch it?”

“Yep, basically! But when you do, try thinking about whatever’s bugging ya and pretend it’s the bag. It’ll help you smash harder and make ya feel better!”

“Okie dokers, here I go.” 

Smack!

I gave it a light punch to test it out, making sure to catch the bag as it swung back so it didn’t punch me instead. It hurts a little since I’m not used to the impact on my fist but it’s nothing that makes me scream and writhe in pain.

“Good job for your first hit, Salena! Now try and put some more force into it!”

I repeated my actions but with a stronger punch like he instructed. I kept doing it until I got a decent enough rhythm I could keep up with. So now it’s time for the second and arguably harder part: letting my thoughts out. I don’t really wanna think about the… situation in the street. So I guess what’s left is thinking about Jaiden instead. Ugh.

Smack!

Where do I even begin with this? I mean, I can’t even properly figure out how I’m feeling, let alone word it. All I know is that there’s a shit ton of guilt associated with it. I never meant to yell at Jaiden, it just sorta happened. 

Smack!

But it’s not like it came out of nowhere, either! They’re the one who ditched me! Jaiden and I planned ahead of time to meet up and hang out, I made it explicitly clear I missed them and wanted to be with them. They said they were busy and didn’t even give me a reason for it! And then they hang out with Zane the same day? They basically chose him over me!

Smack!

But I shouldn’t have yelled either. I made things so much worse now, it’ll be too awkward to ever bring it up. They’ll just tell me off for getting mad and completely ignore everything else. God this is so frustrating! 

SMACK!

Why did I have to be so stupid? Why did they have to be so mean? The things they said and the things I did! It’s all spinning around in a giant whirlpool of bad and dangerous thoughts and I hate it! I can’t stop thinking about it and I hate it! Have I been a bad friend? Is Zane that much better than me? Am I just not interesting? What did I do for them to just ditch me! 

SMACK!

We’re best friends, why are we acting like this!? I let my temper get the best of me! I yelled at them, I fucking yelled at them! I’m mad and upset but fuck I yelled at them! I’ve never yelled at Jaiden before. We’re best friends. How could I do that!? 

SMACK!!

I’m awful! I’m terrible! I feel like an asshole! I am an asshole! I should know better! I do know better! How could I fuck up so badly!? How could I do this!? How!? How!? HOW!? I DESERVE TO FUCKING-

“Salena!” 

SMACK!!!

Raph’s arm went in between me and the bag, taking the hit in my place. I know he’s strong but judging from how loud the crash was, I doubt it didn’t at least sting.

“That was close. Everything okay? Why’d you stop punching? If the bag hit you it could’ve done some serious damage!”

“I didn’t realize I did…” I ran my hand through my hair, sighing heavily. “Ugh, fuck! Sorry, Raph. I don’t think I’m in the right headspace to do this. It’s just making everything feel more clouded than before.”

He stared at the bag for a moment. “Alright, well…” Then he let it rest, and faced me with his fists up. “We’ll spar instead.”

I tilted my head to the side, communicating my confusion.

“The whole point of this thing is to let your thoughts out, maybe if you’re just thinkin’ about it, it’s still keeping it in. If you’re cool with it, we could try talking instead of only venting while we fight and it might clear things up!” He chuckled lightly. “And don’t worry, Raph goes easy on first-timers.”

Honestly, he might actually have a point with that. “I’m open to trying!”

We’re starting off with some light jabs at each other. I felt a little out of place fighting Raph, partly cause I don’t like hitting him and partly cause I’m terrified to let him hit me. I’ve been dodging and blocking decently enough, though. HIs punches feel way lighter than normal so he wasn’t kidding about going easier.

“So, tell me. What’s bothern’ ya so much today?”

“It’s kinda my friend. I think I did something since they hadn’t talked to me much for days. And then one day when we were supposed to finally hang out, they told me something came up.” I punched a little harder, getting blocked by his forearm. “And then I found out that ‘something’ was them hanging out with our other friend who posted it on Instagram! They totally ditched me!”

He jabbed at my right, barely missing when I dodged. “Did you try talking to them? Could be a misunderstanding.”

“That’s the thing, every time I wanted to I just kept getting so mad thinking about it. And then when it actually happened, I wasn’t prepared and I screamed. They were being kinda mean but still, I never yelled at Jaiden before.”

The pace picked up some more. Raph’s hits were getting quicker and harder to dodge, I’ve had to shield myself more often. He did leave some opportunities, though. I’m gonna assume it’s on purpose to let me have a few hits but either way, it’s training so I’m gonna take full advantage of that.

“How long have you two been friends?”

“Five years, we’ve known each other since middle school. That’s why it’s killing me inside. You should’ve seen their face Raph, they looked so… shocked! Shocked that I had it in me, that I’m a shitty enough person to yell at my friend!”

“I mean, I get it but, you’re still human. No normal person’s gonna go through life never yelling at their friends.” He swung at me. “And if you’ve been friends so long, why don’t y’all just talk it out? Dontcha think apologizing would help?”

I ducked, narrowly missing it. “I mean, yeah it would, but that’s not gonna stop it from being an issue. Sometimes I’ve had to fight myself really hard to stay calm around Jaiden but I always managed to do it. Now that I blew up, though, it’ll just keep happening.”

“What do ya mean?”

“Anger issues.” I attempted a jab. “I’ve had anger issues growing up.”

“Ah. Yeah, Raph knows a thing or two about that.”

“It sucks because like, I try not to let it show. And I think I’ve done a good job. But everything’s been so overwhelming lately that I’ve been snapping left and right! I keep getting mad and forgetting to control my temper and doing stupid things as a result! It’s so annoying!” 

The anger’s helping my punches get faster. I’m barely even focusing on it but I can tell I wasn’t moving this quick earlier. Somehow, I actually managed to land a hit on his plastron, though he didn’t even flinch. Still, it’s definitely helping me build up some power. 

Maybe I shouldn’t have celebrated too quickly, though. He countered with a jab at my shoulder, forcing me to pause and regain my stance. He let me take my time, bouncing with his fists up like before and waiting for me to resume the fight. I did so shortly after catching my breath.

“Ya know, I’ve dealt with anger issues growing up, too. It’s why I got into working out so much, it’s a good outlet.” He started blocking more, letting me get a few more hits in to help me practice.

“Yeah, but your brothers love you a lot, you couldn’t have hurt them too bad. If you did, wouldn’t they just hate you?”

He laughed. “You’d be surprised! I was a real problem-child growing up, even worse than Donnie. I mean, I still loved my bros back then and acted the way I do now but… I still had a huge temper and wasn’t as good keeping it in check. Actually speaking of Dee, I did hurt him pretty badly once. Physically.”

My arms were getting tired. “What’d you do? If you’re okay sharing.”

“Well, uh, turns out anger issues and pre-teen hormones don’t mix well. It’s a little fuzzy but I know it was over something dumb. I was having a bad day so I started punching my room’s walls. It made a lotta noise and Donnie came in telling me I was bein’ too loud and it hurt his ears. I shoulda just stopped like he asked me to but I didn’t and started yelling at him and taking my anger out on him. Don didn’t back down, either, so we ended up arguing. I don’t even know how things got so heated but it got physical and I accidentally hit his shell.”

“What!?” I stopped for a moment, trying to take it in. I know Donnie’s a softshell and judging from how hard Raph’s been hitting even now when he’s being light, I could put two and two together. “Sorry that happened, Raphie. For both of you.”

“It’s fine, he wasn’t too badly hurt thankfully.” He threw a punch to signal me to keep going. “But he built his battleshell a few days later. I don’t think it was out of anger towards me, I don’t even think Dee remembers what happened other than us getting into a fight. But it still stung when I figured out why he made it.”

“And why was that?”

“...I think he built it so I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting him again. He knew I felt guilty and I wouldn’t stop apologizin’ to him for days. I think the battleshell was his way to keep himself safe but for my sake more than his.”

Raph began using a more offensive style, letting me play defense and rest my body a little. Perfect timing since I don’t think I would’ve been able to focus on giving strong hits. I’m just trying to process what happened. I knew Raph could get mad easily and shouts a bit. But I’ve never seen him really act violent towards his family, quite the opposite actually. It never even crossed my head that maybe he had to learn this the hard way.

“We’re both past it now and I’ve def gotten better with the whole temper thing. Plus that battleshell’s like, his favorite thing he ever made now. So all’s well that ends well, I guess!”

I slid back, shielding another hit. “Does it… still hurt you to think about it?”

He paused and chuckled. “You kiddin’? Hurts like hell.” Then went right back to fighting.

“So… how’d you do it? You seem so different compared to how you described yourself as a kid. Just… seems like a lot of change.”

“It was! I found better ways to deal with things. I worked out, listened to older songs, that kinda stuff. Still not the best I could be but it’s a work in progress!”

“I already do those things, though. I mean, not working out but like, I’ve got ways to cope with my anger. It just still happened.”

“Then there’s only one thing I can tell ya. It’s the hardest thing but also the most important.”

I freaked out when he swiped his leg at mine, knocking me off balance. I raised my head to look at him crouched by me again.

“Never give up on yourself. If you do that, it’s over.” He picked me up by my shoulders, me weighing absolutely nothing to him, and set me back on my feet. “But ‘till you do that, there’ll always be hope.” 

He smiled, the snaggletooth gleaming. “Think we’ve done enough today. You look tired.”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” Truth be told, I didn’t entirely realize how worn out my body was ‘till he pointed it out. “Thanks for, well, helping me out with this stuff. You’re… a good friend, Raph.”

“Anytime.” He pointed at his shell. “Want a ride home?”

I grinned and nodded, my nerves washing away from me. I know from experience this relief is only temporary, but maybe it’s okay to enjoy it anyway.

We had a nice and pleasant walk back to my place, me on his shell as we talked about more lighter topics. He shared a lot about his music taste especially, R&B is his favorite and helps him chill out often. I’ve never given it a try myself but I’m always happy to have an excuse to. I got dropped off at my building’s entrance, strolling in as I thought about the last thing I asked him before bidding him goodbye.

“Raph… do you think I’m a bad person?”

“Not even close. Like I said before, you’re just human.”

I hate to admit it, but there’s a lump in my throat from thinking about it. Weird thing is, I don’t mind it. The elevator’s quiet hum only made this peace more apparent. 

Ding!

And there goes my phone ruining that peace once again. I saw the notification, Zane texted. I guess his brother told him about our little “introduction”, if you can even call it that. 

Ding!

He also told him about Raph. And he’s mad at me now, asking who the guy in the gray hoodie was. He’s more focused on Raph than on his brother’s bullshit. Lovely.

…You know what, this can wait for another day. One thing at a time, Salena. One thing at a time.

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