#hashtag no regrets✌️✌️✌️

[darth-sonny]

What if... Maybe a year or so after Leo starts becoming a more active parent... Kirby goes missing? They're only gone for a day or two, but Leo is obscenely worried. Going insane looking for them, when Kirby returns, quiet as ever. Leo holds them in his arms, demanding to know where they were, when quietly, Kirby asks;

"... How was I born?"

They know. They got tired of Leo's half answers, the states they'd get from Uncle Donnie and Aunt April. They looked for the truth themself, and they found out who their other parent really is.

Obviously this is just me spitballing but if you couldn't tell I'm in love with his AU didysbsjsm

okay, okay, okayokayokayokayokayokayokay

personally, for me, Kirby wouldn't know. like, they know that they're half-Kraang, but Leo just told them that it was because he got infected and that messed with his biology and that resulted in Kirby. like, not the obvious truth, but just a smidge of what actually happened. a very watered-down version of everything

but T H I S ??????? oh-hohohohohohohohohohohohohoho~~~~~~~

this i like~~

Donnie and Raph try to say something about that question - either to answer it or to somehow change the subject. Anything, really - while Mikey tries to stop them. Splinter is trying to calm everyone down when Leo tells them to leave.

——————————————————————————

Leo would go quiet. He would freeze.

None of them want to. But Leo insists, quite sternly, and they leave.

So it's just Leo and Kirby.

Leo leads them to the kitchen and makes some chai, Kirby's favorite. "How was I born?" they ask again. They wish they hadn't said anything. Because things were going great, and they didn't want to ruin that, but they were curious, and they wanted to know why their family treated them the way they did.

They just want confirmation that what they learned wasn't true and just... nasty stories.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Leo asks, staring at the pot.

This was the point of no return.

And Kirby decides to pass it.

"Yes."

So Leo tells them.

He tells them about the key, about Casey Junior's true origins. About how a clan called the Foot released an ancient evil called the Kraang. Tells them about how the end of the world almost happened right there and then.

He tells them about how he decided to lock himself in the prison dimension to save everyone. Tells them about the weeks of torture and abuse, about how he lost his arm. How his leg got fucked up so badly that he now can't walk without a cane.

He tells Kirby about Prime.

Over their favorite tea, Kirby learns everything.

How Prime possessed their dad, took pleasure in it. How they abused him – emotionally, physically, mentally, and even...

Leo stops himself from finishing, but Kirby gets the picture.

He ends the "story," and Kirby wants to run away again.

They regret asking, they regret being curious, and they regret being born. They regret not running away when they had the chance back then. They regret staying and hurting dad, reminding him of what he went through, reminding everyone–

Leo pulls them out of their beginning spiral with a hug.

"I never blamed you," he whispers, and that breaks them.

"Why?" they ask. Why doesn't he blame them? He should. Uncle Donnie does it. Auntie April does it. And Uncle Raph, even though he tries not to. Dad should blame them, he had every right to...

Leo holds them for a long time, rocking back and forth, shushing Kirby's tears and sobs.

"Because you didn't deserve any of this," he says. "I chose to keep you. I chose to have you grow up, to live in the aftermath of that whole situation. It's my fault everyone treated you like that. You didn't do anything. You aren't at fault for anything. You're just as much a victim as I was. Am."

Kirby tries to shake their head, but Leo doesn't let them.

"I'm sorry," he continues. "I'm sorry I was never there to start with. I'm sorry that I forced you to grow up so quickly. I'm sorry that I brought you into a family that was never going to truly love you the way you deserved to be. And I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you from this."

Leo hugs them tighter and gently places his forehead on top of theirs.

"You deserve so much more than this, than me. You deserve a normal childhood, a happy one, full of uncles and aunties that love you without question. But you got us. You got me. But I promise you that I'll do everything I can to make it up to you. And if that means you want to leave, then-"

Kirby shakes their head. They don't want to leave. They don't! They had those thoughts before, but they were dumb thoughts now. They can't leave!

"I-I'm sorry!!" they sob. The tears fall harder when dad rubs soothing patterns on their shell. "I'm s-sorry I hurt-hurt you!..."

"You didn't hurt me," he soothes, "you never hurt me."

They stay in the kitchen for a long time, Leo holding them and doing his best to stop the tears.

Neither of them feel like they'd apologized enough, but they console the other that they have.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

hi to chrom hater anon i'm a professional chrom enjoyer

if you get deranged enough about awakening i think chrom is a very well done character :) he's ignorant but well meaning which meshes in interesting ways. he's not overtly prejudiced to the plegians he knows personally but still *generally* prejudiced because of his upbringing.

additionally in discussions of the ylisse-plegia war he tends to focus on how ylisse came away from it because that state of ylisse is what shaped his formative childhood years (seen particularly in his feelings about emmeryn's early years as exalt). this is UNDERSTANDABLE but still an extremely DEEPLY FLAWED and naive stance when doing politics on a larger scale, which chrom is incredibly ill-prepared for. it's a very childish view of a large scale conflict.

chrom's propensity for violence is a trait that actually deeply fascinates me. he has intense admiration for emmeryn's desire for peace yet he has a very short temper in tense situations (seen in basically all of chrom's interactions with gangrel), and he tends to lash out easily at anyone he views as an enemy. he admires peace but sees no other means to achieve it than violence. isn't that interesting. the implications here. like, he's the inheritor of the falchion, he's the only son in his family, in all likelihood it was expected that HE would take the throne and continue his father's war, but he was so young when the exalt passed that the crown went to emmeryn instead.

it really seems like emmeryn intentionally kept her siblings away from politics, which results in BOTH of them being naive in vastly different ways, with the expectation that she would always shoulder the burden of the crown yet left all the bigger a void when she died.

mind, intentionally being raised to behave this way isn't an excuse either. it's ultimately still something chrom, as an adult, SHOULD examine critically. this is, in fact, a character flaw, and i think its great.

you can then of course do nice little compare and contrast at the shitty dads, i.e. chrom's dad vs validar. robin's first act as an awakened god is murdering validar. robin became the monster everyone saw them as, the one their father thinks they were born to be. it's a neat lil nature vs nurture comparison if you really get into the depths of grima-ology (hi grima ✌️ mutuals).

to dig more into points the chrom hater anon makes.

"chrom is transphobic for killing excellus" do you hear yourself. excellus was an enemy commander. chrom has no personal grievances against the commanders other than they are part of the army with the known intent to raze ylisse.

SAME WITH ROBIN BURNING DOWN THE BOATS. THEY ARE AT WAR. IF ROBIN DIDNT DO THAT THEY'D ALL GET KILLED. they would have to fight the valm forces ON FOOT and BE KILLED VIOLENTLY because they are vastly outnumbered. it would be weird if he WASN'T at least happy about this.

he could stand to be regretful about the massive loss of human life but honestly hashtag robin warcrimes W.

"chrom makes sure to only recruit white ylisseans" i think this is just dev colorism actually. like you know how robin's dad (who is evil) is brown, but robin (who is good) is white? and how that makes no sense and robin should logically also be brown? i dont think chrom would've turned down if like, mustafa joined him. it is simply that intsys was still in their racism era (which is, tbh, only really ended with engage, like, cmon, look at literally all of FE, this isn't a chrom flaw, it's a FE being racist flaw.)

same with the sexism things actually FE is just homophobic and sexist a lot so all the characters are also by extension. this is called doylist analysis

Chrom tells Aversa "One person's life means nothing in the shadow of millions" Chrom is a hypocrite i hope this helps. additionally what aversa is doing is "help the dark god literally causing the apocalypse rn" whereas the sacrifice/save robin choice is "doom people in some hypothetical far off future" which is FAR less personal than "all of humanity RIGHT NOW".

TLDR: the real chrom enjoyers know about his character flaws and love him anyway because it's nice flavor to chew on

also never insult my beautiful daughter lucina ever again. she is deeply compelling even if she is narratively underutilized. anyone who calls themself a chrom fan and hates lucina is a faker and will not survive the winter.

also learn the difference between flaws of the story's writing and flaws of the character otherwise everybody in awakening is sexist.

anon you should read chrom/grima fanfiction unironically we fucking love tearing this dude to shreds for his flaws. this has all been a ploy to say that. chrom is naive and selfish and hypocritical and i love him very much he is my wif e :)

.

[darth-sonny]

Has Kirby ever thought about running away? And I'm not talking about the passing thought of leaving, I'm talking about literally thinking about it, reasoning about it, thinking about the consequences of running away, about what he would do after he ran away.

well, Kirby has thought of running away, but since they're still pretty much a child, to them running away means leaving for a few hours and then coming back. they don't have a good grasp between the difference of "running away" and "going out"

maybe, when they're a little bit older, they meet a group of slightly bigger teens. mostly mid-to-late high school age. and, well, they're somewhat of a bad influence. Kirby, having been raised mostly in the Lair with their only influence on friendships being television and comics, has no idea about this

all of them come from shitty backgrounds with even shittier parents, and all of them talk down about them on the daily. Kirby just feels uncomfortable whenever they do, but they're too nervous to leave when that happens. they think that their friends probably don't mean any of what they say

(they do. they very much do)

and, being from shitty backgrounds, they can probably smell that Kirby's homelife isn't as good as they believe. and it kind of isn't, but Kirby tries to make it work. some confusion and misunderstandings lead their friends to believe that Kirby needs to get out of there, and all of them are willing to help them

the friend group were planning to run away from their homes and move somewhere else, maybe to the East Coast. and now they're planning on bringing Kirby along. all of them know that they can't outright ask them to come along since they're still very much a little kid, and they're very obviously not going to run away from their home at the drop of a hat. so the friend group tricked them, telling them about a sleepover they were going to have in one of their homes when their parent's weren't around, so they better pack some clothes and toiletries

and Kirby is excited. very excited. their first sleepover! sure it's in somewhat of a bad side of the Hidden City, and their dad is very worried about the location and that their friends are older kids, but a sleepover nonetheless! it's great!

they pack up quickly and get there early, with dad's help. a couple of hugs and goodbyes later, Kirby is climbing up the stairs to their friend's apartment, only to be met with all of them ushering them to the window so they can climb down using the fire escape. they're worried about leaving their stuff, but one of them says, "take 'em, you'll need them", which just confuses Kirby even more. all of them cross through a portal, put on some cloaking broaches (or, in Kirby's case, pull their hoodie up), go to a bus station, by some tickets, and get onboard

Kirby, by now, is panicking. they don't know what's happening, and by now they wanns go home. they try to get up and get out, but one of their "friends" holds them back and keeps them seated, telling them that everything will be better now once they leave New York

and that... sort of makes something inside Kirby snap

they don't want to leave New York. they don't want to leave dad. they don't want to leave their family, or the Lair, or their toys and comic books. they don't want to leave any of that behind

and this is the instance that Kirby's ninpō shows up

they land on their bed, shaking and this close to tears. they don't even think about what will happen next. they just run to their dad's room and don't let go for the longest time

Leo has no moderate idea what just happened, but by instinct, he wraps his arm around kirby's tiny frame and hugs them back

they'll talk in the morning

[darth-sonny]

Hahaha ohhhh I have a painful thought for you, so please bear with me-

But Leo in this new route or timeline seems pretty different — more serious and downtrodden and a whole buncha stuff! I mean, Leo’s definitely super traumatized and all, too, so. The personality change is totally fair. BUT! Insert generic plot contrived reason for convenience, anything from magic to… more magic, probably, now that I think about it? But anyways, if Kirby ever had the chance to see their dad or uncles as kids (you know, pretty much any time before Krang Prime appeared), how would they react? Because everyone is so different compared to how they all individually used to be.

Insert anything from time travel to de-aging to amnesia, haha.

okay, so it would definantly be time travel since it's pretty much a garantee in whatever TMNT universe

Kirby would probably land somewhere after S1, so after dealing with Shredder for the first time

UNCLE RAPH doesn't act that much differently from how Kirby knows. he's very active on patroling, but this younger version does it for "hero" reasons. he's less quiet and very rambuncious. he's also less stilted when hanging around Kirby, something that catches their attention

UNCLE MIKEY is a mirror image of his older self. the only difference was that this younger version doesn't float, has no hair, and isn't a mystic warrior-in-training. still a cook, which Kirby finds nice

UNCLE DONNIE is... well. surprising. he's not dismissive, or cold, or quiet. he's loud whenever he wants to be, a bit manic but in a fun way. he's theatrical, pompus in a funny way, and lets Kirby hang around without it being awkward. it's... it's sad, in a way, since Kirby now has a glimpse into a life where their Uncle Donnie treats them like family, and they don't know how to feel about that

PAPA is.... seeing him hurts Kirby the worst. Leo is loud, openly happy, emotional in a good way, touchy, laughs a lot, smiles just as much, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy...

Smaller Leo gets along with Kirby, leans on them the same way he does with his brothers... Kirby doesn't tell him who they are, they has a mask on. no one can see their markings, that looks oh so very similar to Leo's. Leo hugs them a lot, and Kirby tries not to seem too desperate when they hug him back

Kirby goes back to their own time, and the contrast between the family they have now and the family they hung out with is so massive they almost got whiplash

Kirby is quiet for the next few days. Dad asks what's wrong over chai. Kirby answers that they're in mourning. Leo doesn't ask for an explanation, but he gets it

[darth-sonny]

Does Leo ever think about moving from the Lair? Specially after becoming an active dad, it seems unlikely he'd be okay with how Kirby is treated by the others (i'm surprised April would treat them weird but you mentioned it in some other ask). So. Does Leo ever think about it?

If Leo were to be honest, he's thought about it a few times.

Saying that it never crossed his mind would be a lie, and claiming he thought about it every day would be an untruthful exaggeration. But... he's thought about it.

He's thought about moving out, moving away. Taking Kirby with him. Taking them away from their not-so-great life in the Lair. Because now that he's not being a shitty parent, he sees that this isn't a life a little kid deserves.

Donnie is cold to them, and April doesn't acknowledge them much – or at all – whenever she visits. Ralph tries, and Leo sees that he tries, but there are moments when Leo can't tell the difference between him and Donnie. Mikey and Splinter do their best to make up for that, and Junior helps, too. But it's not enough.

It's not fair.

A little kid shouldn't be forced to be quiet whenever their uncle enters a room. They shouldn't have to stay up late trying to find good conversation starters in old comic books. They haven't even said their first words yet, and Leo is afraid that his family is the reason for that.

Kirby is seven, and they deserve a childhood with a family that loves them unconditionally. Leo wants to give them that, and he knows that if he wants to make that dream a reality, they need to leave.

The problem comes from the fact that he doesn't know where to go. Hueso isn't allowed in the Hidden City, and he doesn't have any cloaking broaches for them to use if they want to go out.

Big Mama is a definite no. As much as Leo knows that working for her would give him enough money to make them both comfortable, he doesn't want to owe her shit. He still doesn't trust her, and he's not going to bring his kid anywhere near her.

Draxum isn't even an option on a general standpoint.

He sighs.

Kirby sighs, too, still asleep curled next to him, Spider-Man figurine clutched tightly in their little hand.

Leo wonders if his real reason for not leaving is because he's being selfish. Because he's too scared to leave and start anew.

The problem with only knowing one life, he supposes, is that it makes you terrified of starting a new one.

He brings Kirby in closer, finding a small bit of comfort when they wrap their itty-bitty arms around his shell as far as they can go.

They're very small. Smaller than he was when he was seven. It worries him.

He's terrified of moving out, but he can't stay here forever, not when it jeopardizes Kirby's mental health and general development.

Leo sighs once again.

He'll think about it some more in the morning. Right now, all he can think of is wanting to sleep.