#haven’t seen the whole game yet but i care her so so much

[drasticdoodling]

ashley resident evil literally so so brave and badass.

[emphistic]

hi emm! Since it’s prom season could u make basketball sukuna reacting to someone from the team asking you out for prom?

A/N: hii! i actually received a vv similar request a long time ago and i deleted it because i didnt know how to write it, so maybe this is a sign from God — my redemption time, LMAO

PS: sorry to all my readers who are actually jelly lovers, i am not one of you

“So,” Gojo started, while shoving fries into his mouth, “have you got a date yet? Prom’s comin’ up real quick, y’know?”

The basketball team had just won their last game of the season, and all the players were eating out together in celebration. Sukuna was planning on just spending the rest of the night celebrating with you, like usual, but Gojo dragged him away and you only gave a thumbs up in encouragement. What a girlfriend you were, Sukuna scoffed, handing off your dear boyfriend to Gojo Satoru.

“Why do you care?” Sukuna grimaced at Gojo’s messy eating habits. How could one dare to speak while stuffing their face? Sukuna thought Gojo grew up wealthy, and, hey, aren’t rich people supposed to be, like, super into decorum? Where is this man’s etiquette?

“Sheesh, sorry for asking. I just wanted to know if my friend here,” he nudged Sukuna with his elbow, “needed some help getting a date. No need to be ashamed, Captain. I could hook you up with one of Utahime’s friends.”

“Yeah, no. But since you’re so curious, Satoru, I do have a date, actually.”

“No way, seriously? The big, bad, captain of the basketball team, has a date? For prom? I have to tell Suguru this.” Gojo whipped out his phone and, with his sauce-covered fingers, started typing like a madman.

Sukuna cringed, looking away and biting into his burger. This did not taste as good as your cooking. Why oh why did you let Satoru take him away? he thought. Sukuna would much rather be with you right now, even if it meant having to sit through one of your godawful rom-coms. Any of those would be better than Gojo fucking Satoru.

“I cannot believe he is missing this because he’s sick. Sick! That’s actually sick of him. Haha, get it?” Gojo leaned back in his chair, and Sukuna wished he would slip and fall backwards.

“There’s nothing shocking about me having a date, Satoru. I’m not some kind of loser.”

“Yeah, well. Yorozu’s not attached to your arm right now, so I thought—”

“I told you, I don’t like her like that. I don’t like her at all, matter of fact.”

“She’s, like, obsessed with you, dude.”

“I know,” Sukuna ran a hand down his face. “Just wish she would leave me alone, I’ve been trying my best to avoid her. And I haven’t seen her as often, so I think it’s working.” If Yorozu didn’t take the hint sooner or later, Sukuna would make your guys’ relationship known to the whole campus if he had to. Hell, Gojo didn’t even know yet. No one did, actually.

“Damn, so cold. You just gonna ignore her and break her heart?” Gojo laughed, but that quickly came back to kick him in the butt when he started choking on a fry.

“If you’re not joking, that fry will be the last thing you eat. I swear on your life, I do not want anything to do with that bitch.”

Gojo continued coughing and choking and shaking, but when all subsided and the white-haired man regained most of his posture, he posed the question, “So, you’re not gonna, like, ask me?”

“Ask you what? Ask you to prom? The fuck?”

“No, no, no. I mean, unless you wanted to,” Gojo tucked an overgrown strand of hair behind his ear, a stupid expression on his stupid face. “But, I’m talking about what I asked you. So, you gonna ask me if I have a prom date?”

“I don’t give a fuck if your lame ass has a date or not,” Sukuna spat out.

“Have you any idea how hurt I am now, because of you? Ehuhwaaa,” Gojo let out the fakest ugliest cry Sukuna had ever heard. “You think my ass is lame? Do you know how many would pay to see even a glimpse of my tush?”

“No. And I hope it stays that way.”

“I—how dare you.”

That night, Sukuna had to run away from Gojo in the parking lot of an In-n-Out. Otherwise, Gojo would’ve probably never left him alone. And, you might be thinking, Gojo is a fast runner. How did Sukuna get away? Well, it may or may not have been because Gojo had scarfed down three double-doubles prior. And he could barely stand upright without having to lean against Sukuna.

But, fear not, Sukuna did make it home, into your arms. And even though he did have to sit through your stupid rom-coms, he was so fucking glad to finally be away from that white-haired idiot.

Unfortunately for Sukuna, that peace and tranquility was short-lived. The next morning, he was woken up by your overly obnoxious doorbell. Seriously, when were you going to replace it?

Sukuna groaned, whispering into your hair, “Didn’t know you were expecting visitors, babe.”

“Hm?” Your voice was muffled; your face pressed impossibly close into Sukuna’s bare chest.

“Visitor, sweetheart. Someone’s at your door.”

“Huh?” You stuck your head up from your human pillow, and though missing the warmth, you were quite confused. Visitor? Since when?

It’s safe to say you were even more surprised to see Gojo Satoru outside when you opened your door. But you weren’t the only confused one, not for long, at least. Gojo raised his brow when he saw Sukuna emerge from behind you in all his glory: shirt nowhere to be found, hair unruly, and sweatpants hanging low on his hips.

“Captain? What are you—?” Gojo cleared his throat, “Whatever. Anyway, will you, Y/N, do me the honor of being the jelly to my peanut butter and going to prom with me?” Gojo flashed a smile so bright Sukuna almost fell backwards.

“Uhh, I’m sorry—”

“She doesn’t even like jelly, dumbass. And what’s with this horrendous sign? That’s seriously the best you’ve got?” Sukuna gestured with his chin at the poorly drawn and colored peanut butter jar and jelly. Not to mention, Gojo was also dressed as a sandwich, with two slices of bread on either side of his body.

“What the hell? How would you know if she liked jelly or not?”

“Because I’m her prom date.”

“And—and, what are you doing at her house?”

“I’m her boyfriend.” Sukuna glared at the white male, and slung an arm around your shoulder, out of spite.

Gojo paused, finally putting the puzzle pieces together. “Ohhh. So that’s why you didn’t want to come eat with us yesterday. And that’s why you were so desperate to go home. And that’s why I haven’t seen you with another girl in months.”

“Uh huh.”

“Anywho,” Gojo turned back to you, shoving his sign all up in your face. “Will you go to prom with me?”

“Dude.”

Taglist: @beyond-your-stars @sad-darksoul @mochimoee @r0ckst4rjk @lillycore @deepchromatose @yinyinyinyinyinyin @fivehoneyharg @desihopelessromantic @taiyakii @hannas16 @acroso @msvalsius @call-memissbrightside @kelerina-ballerina @emikokomura

[yukioos]

show me how — simon riley x reader

summary: simon comes home to you and your daughters when him and the team need to hide out. however, they never knew he has a whole life outside the military.

warnings: allusion to sex, not proofread

authors note: first simon writing :3 sorry if this is inaccurate, i haven’t played the games! hope u enjoy reading, a logan post will come out soon too.

word count: 0.8k

“‘re we there yet?” johnny asks, leaning his head against his fist, “didn't even tell us where we’re goin’!”

but simon doesn’t respond, keeping his gloved hands on the wheel as he drives down a long driveway, a house is seen in the distance. trees pass by the car and surround the cream house, a white picket fence protects it. he parks the car next to a cute, pink car that makes johnny turn his head towards simon. his eyebrow raises as the masked man continues to stare at the house before opening the door and closing it, walking toward the house.

the scot turns his head towards the two men in the backseat, just as confused as one is. kyle shrugs and opens the door, causing the captain to smile and open the door as well. they all follow after simon, who opens the picket fence door so carefully, as if he would break it if he applied just a little more pressure.

he follows a concrete path that leads up to the porch, and heavy, fast footsteps are heard from inside the house. quick figures speed past the windows, and the door opens in less than a second. the blonde takes his mask off and tucks it deep in his pocket as he hears giggling from inside the house.

“daddy!” two little girls scream out, running out of the house in their stay-in clothes, both with open arms. he bends down and scoops them both up with his arms, seemingly with no effort. the smiles on their faces are wide as they giggle and hug their father, his smile mirroring theirs.

the sergeants’ behind them have shocked expressions, never remembering simon mentioning a family or children. they never even thought he’d have a family he made on his own, because of his past.

simon looks up from his daughters to see you walking down the porch in your white socks and loose, comfortable, white shorts you love wearing at home. but what tops it off is your tight, pink tank top he loves to see on your body. he feels like he’s fallen in love again, and his heart melts at the sight of your messy but cute hair. although you look tired, he still thinks you’re as beautiful as the day he first met you.

his body heats up when you send a sweet smile his way, softly walking toward your husband, who you haven’t seen for months. he gently places his daughters down on the concrete path, pressing small, soft kisses on their foreheads. as you walk closer to him, you wrap your arms around his large chest, all the way to his back.

he encases your body with his strong arms, wrapped carefully around your waist. his large hands rub your back with so much care and love, as if you’re the only two people in the world. he mumbles sweet words to you, kissing your cheek as he tells you how much he’s missed you.

but when you look up at his tired, dark, brown eyes, you kiss him with passion and affection. as his lips move against yours, you place your hand on simon’s chest, softly whining at not feeling closer to him.

“should take all this off, si,” you mumble, referring to his gear and layers of clothing.

“eager, aren’t ya?” he teases, kissing your neck as you giggle.

your daughters continue to hide from the strangers behind simon, grasping onto his and your leg in comfort. one of them, mary, looks up with her dark but sweet eyes, a man with a thick beard and a bucket hat catches her eyes. he stares back at her with wonder, causing her to smile and press her cheek into her father's leg, shyly smiling at the stranger.

he chuckles and waves back, and you and simon unwrap your arms from each other, making you feel so far from one another.

he rubs circles on your back, apologizing, “‘m sorry i didn’t get to warn you that we were comin’. just need a place to lay low for a bit, is that okay?”

you don’t even need to think for a second before nodding, adding, “we should probably explain this to the girls, i don’t think they know what’s going on.”

he nods and turns around, ushering his teammates into his house, not before you and your daughters, of course. johnny’s almost the last one to walk in when he clasps him on the shoulder, “y’ never told us about the missus,” with his eyebrows raised, a grin on his face, “or the kids.”

“can’t expect me to not keep her all to myself, johnny,” he sends his friend a smile he rarely sees, enjoying seeing the lieutenant outside the military. the way johnny saw his friend smile at his daughters, his wife, his girls, made his own heart melt. the cold, violent, man-killing ghost wasn’t all those things when he was around his family.

[tangledinink]

whoa, i wrote a thing. the first chapter of my tmnt "sorry, teenage mutant what now?" au is live on ao3, or can be read below the cut!!! complete with sketchy title card and dumb chapter title. do i have any real experience writing fics??? no!!! am i gonna do my best anyway!?!? yes i am!!!

“Did you drink all the milk AGAIN!? Dude!—"

“What?! You know I need an exact milk-to-rice-chex ratio in order to enjoy my breakfast, Leo!”

“Have any of you seen my dance bag? It’s not where I left it!”

“Why do you need it, anyway? Isn’t dance on Thursday?”

“Leo, today is Thursday.”

“What? No, it’s not. If it was Thursday, then my American Literature essay would be due, and I haven’t even started it yet, so there’s NO WAY—“

“If my toaster is destroyed, I will be making whichever child is responsible pay for the replacement!” The warning rang out over the general chaos of the morning.

“Oh shoot—“ Yoshi could hear the frantic scrabble of a belated attempt to rescue the burning pop tart, which Yoshi could smell from all the way in the living room. Parked in his reclining chair, the TV playing in front of him, he munched contentedly on his own breakfast which he had acquired earlier before his teenage sons descended upon the kitchen. He was not much of a ‘morning person,’ but it was a necessity if he was to eat in any sort of peace in the mornings.

This was a typical morning in the Hamato household.

Yoshi was used to it by now. The bickering, the bumbling, the hectic last-minute "wait I forgot something's--" it was all just a part of the routine. Sure, it had been a bit exhausting at times when they were all still children, and he had to scramble about like a madman each morning to ensure they had everything they needed to get where they were going. But at this point? He could more or less just ignore them and allow them to work things out by themselves, only occasionally needing to step in and offer a bit of guidance. He had always been a bit of a... Hands-off parent, for better or for worse, but he was fairly certain that he had finally found the rhythm of things over the past several years. Not that that made him a perfect parent by any means, there had certainly been plenty of occasions--

"APRIIIIILLLLLL O'NEIL!!!" The battle cry and hearty thud of his poor front door put a sudden end to his narration, and, though it happened near every day, he startled in response, just barely avoiding dropping his tea.

"April!" He bellowed from his chair, turning just enough to peer into the kitchen, where his honorary fifth child (as if he needed any more…) and next-door neighbor had just appeared. "How many times must I tell you?! If you break my door, I will--!"

"Aw, c'mon, Yosh, you know I gotta make a bold entrance at the start of the morning, or my mojo is gonna be off for the whole rest of the day! Besides, I haven't broken the door yet, and it's been how many years?"

“Bah! Haven't broken my door yet, maybe, but what about my bed frame? Or my printer? Or my third-favorite koi fish figurine?!"

"Oh, you wanna play that game now?" O'Neil countered, narrowing his eyes behind scarlet frames, crossing her arms across her chest and cocking one hip to the side. "Okay, then, how about my window? Or my mom's antique vase? Or my literal entire bathroom--"

"Okay! Okay, enough!" Yoshi spluttered with a dismissive wave of his hands. Dammit. The fact he was technically responsible for his sons’ occasional partaking in light property destruction was still, in his opinion, the most unfair and annoying part of parenting. "Fine! Break down the door for all I care! Burn the entire place to the ground! See if I do anything about it! Teenagers..." He muttered with a scowl, shaking his head and returning to his program, an exaggerated scowl on his face. The kids, to their credit, knew well enough by now not to take his rants and mumblings too seriously and quickly re-engaged themselves in whatever gossip and chatter they had previously been wrapped up in.

Yoshi smiled just the tiniest bit, listening with one ear as Donatello explained to a devastated Leonardo that it was, in fact, Thursday, bringing up evidence on his cell phone, and Raphael and April pulled Mikey's dance bag out from inside the oven, where he had forgotten it for the third time this past month.

This was not where he had imagined his life would take him when he was young. Not even close.

He would not trade these moments for anything at all.

By the time his television show was ending, he was just finishing off his tea and shoveling the rest of his bagel into his mouth. Game shows, he had found years ago, were an excellent means of timing routines, and he had it to a science by now. He pulled himself to his feet, stretching and cracking his back loud enough that his children yelled at him from the kitchen, before shuffling his way into the kitchen to begin the work of chasing the teenagers out the door.

"Alright, come on, shoo shoo! You are all going to miss the subway and be late!" He scolded, occasionally swatting at a stray child with his sleeves. "And do not forget anything, because I will not bring it to you!"

"Dad--" Leo began, his eyes blown up huge and pleading. "I don't feel well, I'm pretty sure I've got, like, a tummy bug, or something? Sooo, I should, like, probably stay home--"

"You are not skipping school just because you forgot to do an assignment." Yoshi immediately responded.

"What?! Noooo, Daddy, please, I'm really sick!"

"I was not born yesterday." He scoffed, shooting his son an unimpressed look. "And I have seen you do assignments in far less time! Besides, I'm sure April and your brothers would be happy to help."

A chorus of groans rang from around the table.

“Enough bellyaching! Come on, out of my house! Let's go, chop chop! Anyone who stays home today will be giving me a pedicure!”

That threat always worked. On cue, everyone fell into action. The boys gulped down any remaining breakfast still left uneaten, (whether it was theirs or not,) in between conversations, TikTok videos, and, in Leo's case, loud mourning about the day of the week. Donatello began to long process of buckling up the seventeen different straps on his chunky boots, Michaelangelo passed out lunches to each of his family members, narrating his culinary decisions as he went, and Raphael hurriedly tossed bowls, spoons, and plates into the dishwasher with clatters and clunks.

"I can't find my eyeliner pen-- Nardo, did you steal it? Did you go through my bag?! You DID, didn’t you!!! I am going to delete all of your Minecraft save files--"

"What?! I cannot believe you would make such an accusation, I would never stop to such petty thievery--"

"Mikey, hurry up and grab your skateboard if you're gonna--"

"OW, Dad, Donnie pulled my hair!"

"Oh, what are you, five?"

"HEY, both of you knock it off because Raph makes ya!”

"Wait, did we have a quiz in geometry today--? Because I did not study!!! Raph, this note had better be a joke--!"

After a few final moments of mayhem, Yoshi finally managed to get all five high schoolers out the door, closing the door firmly behind them with a loud sigh.

He loved his children. Truly, he did. But thank god for school.

Grumbling a bit to himself, he got to work straightening the remaining mess left behind. His sons were more than old enough to clean up after themselves and help out around the house, but that still didn't necessarily mean they did it particularly well. Maybe by their late twenties, they'd start to figure that out, if they were anything like their father. He swept up spare crumbs and wiped down the table, putting cereal boxes away in the pantry where they belonged and closing cabinet doors left open.

Boys.

Truthfully, he had very little room to complain and he knew it. Compared to the first four years of parenthood, things were a breeze. Sure, there was still plenty of work to do, but aside from the occasional exhausting day or difficult conversation, he could practically just put things on autopilot by now. He could hardly imagine how his younger self used to get through each day.

Well, perhaps he could, because, if he was being completely honest, he didn't really "get through" most days back then as much as he was bodily dragged in and out of them. But he had realized long ago that lingering on his past shortcomings was not in anyone's best interest.

With school, extracurriculars, friends and neighbors, babysitters, and a shit-ton of parenting classes on his side now, in addition to the general concept of the passage of time, given that his children were no longer children and now teenagers, he had at his disposal something that he had not had even a scrap of for years before "the move."

Free time.

It had been nearly ten years since "the move." Ten years since he and his sons had donned these disguises and bodily forced their way back into society on the back of lies and forged paperwork. Or, well, he had forced his way back into society. His children were just along for the ride-- and new to it all.

Not that you would be able to tell now, he thought to himself, smiling ever so slightly. Ten years… They had lived this way for a long time now.

It had been so long… Some days, he nearly forgot that he was anything but a man.

--------

"Donnie, here, it's your turn."

Donatello sighed loudly, pausing in whatever he was doing on his phone, (Scrolling through Twitter? Purchasing uranium off the dark web? They were equally likely,) but accepting the laptop shoved into his hands anyway.

"Why am I getting the impression that my turns are longer than everyone else's?" He questioned, his brows pinched with gentle annoyance as he glanced at the other four, all piled together on the subway. There wasn’t enough space for all of them, but even finding a couple of open seats was a near miracle this time of day, so they could make do. Stacking Mikey on Raph's shoulders and denying Leo a place to sit, seeing how it was his American Literature essay that they were taking turns writing, did the trick.

"Because you're the smart one," Leo said, his arms wrapped around the nearest subway pole, leaning so he could read over their shoulder. "This is the consequence of referring to yourself as a 'genius' all the time."

"I'm pretty sure I've always made it very clear that I'm a man of science, not literature." Donnie quipped in reply, even as he hunched over the screen, his fingers tick-tacking across the keys.

"Hey, I'm helping too! That whole third paragraph is mostly me." April protested, crossing her arms and slumping against Donnie, purposefully jostling them a bit in retaliation.

"Me too!" Mikey chirped from atop his brother's shoulders, slumped forward to avoid smacking his head on the roof. "I changed all the punctuation to fourteen-point font to make it longer!”

"Smart." Donnie hummed, not looking up, in such a tone that it wasn't quite clear if he meant it or not. Mikey beamed at the praise nonetheless, a bright grin lighting up his face as he crossed his arms over his brother's forehead.

"Look, it doesn't have to be good. It's just gotta be three pages before third period." Leo said. "I mean, Donnie could also always just hack into the school's gr—“

"Hey!" Raph barked. "We all agreed that that was for emergencies only!"

"Okay, okay, fine!" Leo sighed, a bit of sulkiness saturating his voice, holding his hands up in mock surrender. He reluctantly accepted the laptop when it was passed back over to him, propping up a knee to balance it on and hunching over to type.

"I thought Mikey set up that whole system with you. With the reminders and that agenda app and everything?" April questioned, glancing up at Leo curiously-- perhaps suspiciously.

"He did. I've just been..." He paused, hesitating in his words for just a second. "Busy."

"Oh no." April groaned.

"Not again." Donnie sighed.

"Who is it this time?" Raph asked, quirking a brow.

"What! I have noooo idea what you guys are talking about--"

"Leo."

"Okay, fine. Chase DeFerro." Leo muttered, his eyes immediately flicking to the side to avoid the inevitable reactions of his family.

"Chase DeFerro?"

"The same Chase DeFerro from five months ago?"

"Didn't you two have, like, a horrible break-up?"

"Didn't you block him on, like… Everything?"

"Didn't you say, and I quote, "If I ever have to even see that nasty bitch again in my entire life, it'll be too soon, and I swear to god I'll chop off--"

"Okay, okay! Hey, come on! That was five months ago. Things are, like, totalllyyyy different now!" Leo insisted.

“You said that about the last, like, three guys you’ve dated,” April said, unimpressed.

"Leo, have you ever stopped to consider that, perhaps, your need to constantly be in some kind of a relationship may have some kind of deeper connection to your own feelings of self-worth and the way that you assign value to--"

"Whoa there, Doctor Feelings! Chill! It's not that deep!" Leo scoffed, shooting Mikey an annoyed look. Ugh, he knew he shouldn't have brought it up. "Seriously. I'm just bored, okay? Quit trying to read into it."

"Bored?" Raph echoed, looking at the other with big eyes. "Leo, you can't treat love like it's a game like that! Come on!"

"It's not love, Raph, it's high school dating." Leo scoffed, giving a dismissive wave of his hand. “Anyway! Look, I'm only, like, fifty words short and then I'm home free. Who's got the next turn?"

"Fine." April sighed, rolling her eyes. “Only because your girl here writes a killer BS essay conclusion. But you owe me. Hand it over."

True to her word, the last-minute literature assignment was wrapped up shortly, and the remainder of the train ride was instead occupied by chatter and gossip, discussing upcoming tests and assignments in school, rumors circulating the hallways, and plans for weekends and far-off holidays. On the occasion it got too loud to hear each other properly, they’d sign to each other instead, and then switch back once it quieted down once more. The five scrambled their way off the subway when they arrived at their stop, making their way up the stairs and back to street level.

Leo inhaled deeply as he hopped up the final few stairs, his sneakers giving a satisfying thud on the concrete below them with each step. He had no complaints about the subway, (well, no more than the average person, anyway,) but there was always just something especially refreshing about getting to breathe fresh air after spending any amount of time underground. Even if the fresh air was New York City air. Call him crazy, but he'd never get tired of it.

The group began the final length of their journey, closing the three-block gap between the subway station and their high school-- most of them on foot, Mikey on his skateboard, though he was less skateboarding and more standing on his skateboard and hanging onto the back of Raph's shirt so his older brother would drag him along. Leo wondered absently if he could get away with that, too, before April's voice finally snapped him back into reality.

"You busy after school today?"

"Until six!" He replied, stretching his arms back to lace his fingers behind his head as they walked. "Dee and I have gymnastics."

“Next competition is tomorrow.” Donnie hummed, not looking up from his phone. "So we're getting in the extra hours."

"You know we've got a rep to uphold!" Leo sing-songed, his mouth stretching into a wide, smug grin. "Gotta keep that flawless record for the rest of the season."

It was very well known, to anyone who ran in such circles, that the Hamato Twins were all but sure to take the top two places in any gymnastics meet that they showed up to-- it was just a question of in what order they would do so. Of all the various sports that they participated in, gymnastics was just about the only one where it was truly a coin flip. The only other two extracurriculars they shared were swimming, where Donnie consistently took first place, and martial arts, where they both knew Leo was more likely to come out on top. But gymnastics? It was anybody's guess, and they flip-flopped from first to second just about every other event. For just a moment, Leo caught his twin's eye-- coz he knew he was thinking the exact same thing right now.

Coz he knew they both wanted to win.

Coz they both wanted to rub it in the other's face.

(Of course, they both also knew that the only reason they got to have this little song-and-dance to begin with was because Mikey was still in the age bracket below them. Wouldn't everyone be just so delighted to finally see the Hamato Twins usurped in the coming season... By another Hamato.)

“And Raph has work… Ugh! Y’all are too damn busy!” April huffed, leaning her head back and wrinkling up her nose.

“I’ve got a little bit of time.” Mikey chimed in, leaning over just enough to offer April a grin. “I don’t gotta be at dance until four. I was gonna go work on that mural I’ve got going up north. Wanna come?”

“Beats sitting at home doing homework.” April reasoned, giving a shrug. “I’m in!”

“Shweet!”

Leo smiled a tiny bit. Though he did, in fact, have complete confidence in his little brother’s ability to traverse the city safely, it was still kind of nice to know he’d be with someone else. If, for no other reason, then to know that Raph would now worry about Mikey at least 80% less during the coming evening.

“Alright,” Speaking of worrisome older brothers, Raph began his typical pre-school speech as they approached the front entrance. “No one be late. No one skip class.” Who, him? What was that pointed look for? He would never… Get caught more than once in a week. “And no one get in any trouble. Don’t do anything Raph wouldn’t do.”

“Yes sir!” The four of them barked in reply as they approached the entrance of their high school. Mostly, they were all just making fun of him. But Leo figured humoring him wouldn’t hurt, especially if it helped him chill a little bit. Raph had always taken his role as “the biggest brother” pretty seriously, ever since they were really little, though Leo wasn’t exactly sure why. He was always the one in charge whenever their dad wasn’t around, and Leo suspected he had a hard time ever completely dropping that mindset.

I mean, don’t get him wrong, Raph was just as capable of fucking around, goofing off, and getting into shit as the rest of them, for sure, he just sometimes wished he could… Relax a little. It wasn’t like anything bad was gonna happen, but Raph always kind of just had this air to him like he was expecting enemies to leap out from behind the corner and attack them at any moment. Like he always had to protect them all. Which Leo could get, sure, but, like… Wouldn’t it be kind of cool if someone did try to start some shit with them or something, just so that they could see the look on their face when they totally kicked their ass? Leo could only imagine it’d be pretty hilarious.

The five of them went their separate ways, parting with various promises to see each other at lunch, after school, at home, etc. April and Raph went one way, Mikey went another, and Leo and Donnie split off in a different direction still, heading towards the East Wing.

And as they cleared the corner, Leo whipped around to face Donnie, stabbing them in the side with a spare elbow. “Last one to homeroom gets second place at gymnastics tomorrow!” He declared, immediately taking off down the hall.

“Wha— Leo! This is unfair, I’m wearing platforms! You know I’m wearing platforms!” Donnie shrieked in protest, even as he broke into a run behind him.

Leo whooped in reply, throwing himself over the railing of the nearest staircase, knowing his twin brother was right on his tail.

-----

“Come on! Harder!!! SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!” Raphael roared, pumping a fist in the air. “LET’S GO! GIVE IT TO ME!”

The gaggle of six-year-olds in the water in front of him, all clinging to the pool wall, giggled loudly in response to his over-the-top encouragement, kicking their legs even harder in a flurry of limbs and dousing him in chlorinated water.

“Whoa, whoa, okay! You gave it to me! I surrender!” Raph chuckled, holding his hands up to shield himself. “Alright, alright. Good job, team! You did great today. Okay, let’s wrap up—“

“Raph! RAPH!”

“What?”

“Raph, we gotta do the ferry!” Penelope, the loudest of his students, insisted, her face all screwed up with determination. The other four children nodded along fervently. “We can’t get out until we do ferry!”

“Oh, RIGHT. Ferry. Sorry, Raph almost forgot!” He chuckled, thunking his own forehead with the butt of his palm, feigning forgetfulness, as if he hadn’t always intended to do their usual wrap-up game. Class ended with a game of “Ferry” every time, without fail, especially given that he touted it as the ‘reward’ that they had to work for each week by following directions and working hard. He shifted slightly in the water, turning his back on the kids still clinging to the wall. “Okay— hop aboard”

The five elementary schoolers squealed in delight, launching themselves off the pool wall to clamber over the teenager instead, climbing over his broad shoulders and hanging off of his arms. Raph gave a soft little ‘oof,’ at the impact, though it was mostly for show, snorting softly in amusement as Penelope all but climbed on top of his head. Reminded him of Mikey.

“Okay— GO!” She shouted once she was sure all her cohorts were fully boarded, the whole group buzzing with excitement despite the fact that they did this every week. Raph gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, slowly setting off on their lap around the pool. In the shallower end, where they started, he didn’t even really have to swim at all— He could just walk with his body lowered enough in the water to give the illusion of swimming. Or, more precisely, the illusion of ‘ferrying.’

“Welcome everybody to Penelope’s Ferry Ride. I’m Penelope, the tour girl. Over there’s the Empire State Building.” Penelope narrated happily from her perch, gesturing to the bleachers. “And over there is the Statue of Liberty.” The pool noodles. “And over there’s the Milky Way. And that’s the, uhhh, the Big Bridge…”

“Wait, how long’s this ferry ride? Raph didn’t sign up for no world tour!” Raph protested teasingly, to which Penelope sharply shushed him before continuing her narration. The other children bubbled with laughter at her increasingly ridiculous tourist attractions and descriptions. Reminded him of Leo and Donnie.

Raph chuckled softly to himself as he moved into the deeper end of the pool, transitioning into an easy breaststroke to keep them all afloat on their way. It was, admittedly, a bit more difficult to swim with five kids on his back than it was on his own, but Raph was a strong swimmer. This was no problem. Besides, it’s not like he was in a rush or anything.

Honestly? This was his favorite part of these lessons. No worrying about everyone paying attention or being involved. No worries about anyone wandering off when he had them all on top of him and undoubtedly accounted for. No stressing about remembering the lesson plan or rules… He could just swim. He knew it sounded dumb, but sometimes, with all the kids piled on top of him like this, he felt like some sort of big plodding swamp creature, floating lazily down the river with the world on his back.

He took his time about it, but he eventually made his full lap around the pool, coming to a stop by the stairs and gently chasing the kids off of his shoulders.

“Alright, come on, squirts. Ferry ride’s over.”

“Nooo!” Penelope whined, clinging to his head. “One more lap! PLEASEEE!”

“Hey, come on, you know the rules! If you don’t listen to Raph, you don’t get a ferry ride next week!” He warned, slowly peeling her off of his back. “Go on. Get outta here.” He insisted, though fondly, smiling a bit as she huffed and scowled… But she got out anyway, joining the rest of the kids running to their parents, all with towels in waiting arms, listening to the children excitedly chatter about what they learned today.

Raph smiled just the tiniest bit. He remembered when they had been that small, taking swim classes here. He, Donnie, and Leo had all been thrilled to take to the water, adoring each and every lesson.

They all loved it— Except Mikey. He recalled listening to his littlest brother scream bloody murder as their father attempted to coax him into the water, trying everything from reason to bribes to threats of consequences.

“You don’t need to like to swim, Michelangelo. But you need to be able to.” He remembered his father saying. “I need to be sure you will be safe if you ever end up in the water by yourself.”

If anyone asked, he’d tell ‘em that he took the job just to make some extra pocket money. But, at least a little bit, that was kinda why. He liked the idea of helping to keep people safe. Even if it was just teaching kids how to doggy paddle.

Doing all the small talk at the end of the lessons with the parents was definitely his least favorite part, however, and he always found himself kind of stammering and stuttering his way through it. After some short, “Oh, yeah, she’s doin’ great!” and “For sure, perfect behavior’s!” tossed at some parents, he was, thankfully, able to duck away into the office, his own towel flung over his shoulders to try to avoid tracking water everywhere.

“All done?” The office receptionist, Jessica, chirped in her usual friendly demeanor, glancing over at the other as he entered.

“Just about. I just gotta clean up as soon as the kids are all gone and we’ll be done.” He replied, ruffling his hair dry.

“Did you remind the parents that we’re closed next week?”

Raph froze.

“… Uhhhh…”

Jessica sighed a bit, glancing over her shoulder to give him a look. “I reminded you before the lesson started!”

“I know! I just— Raph forgot, okay? I can only hold so much stuff in my brain at one time before stuff just starts to fall out! I was thinkin’ about swimming stuff!” He defended. “‘Sides, it was your job to remind me to remind them! So obviously we both dropped the ball.” Jessica didn’t look quite convinced, but Raph was pretty sure his logic was solid. “Can’t we just, like, put up some flyers and send out an email and all that junk?”

Rolling her eyes, Jessica turned back to her computer and began to type. “Yeah, yeah… Can’t really do flyers, but I’m working on that email.”

“Why not? Just put a sign up on the door.”

Jessica looked over at him again, raising a brow. “You haven’t heard about the paper shortage?”

Raph blinked slowly.

“… The what.”

“Yeah! It’s a whole thing. I dunno, I guess there are, like… Paper thieves or whatever robbing all the paper stores and stuff in the city? We haven’t been able to get any new orders in for a few weeks now.” She explained.

“Paper thieves?” He echoed, incredulous. “And they... steal paper.”

“Yeah. They steal paper.”

“Who the heck steals paper?”

“I dunno! I just saw it on the news.” Jessica shrugged. “I guess the police are working on it or whatever.”

“I guess.” Raph said, shrugging a bit, though he still couldn’t help but find the whole thing a bit amusing. I mean, come on. Paper thieves? It was only paper. -------

"Dadddd!" Mikey called as he swung his way into the door, kicking his shoes off into the general direction of the pile where shoes were typically kept, tossing his duffle bag to the side. He'd come back for it later and put it away, he swears. "I'M HOMMMEEE!"

It had been a long day, in between school, painting, and dance practice, so it was almost nine by the time he got home, but he didn't really mind. He liked being busy! If he didn't have stuff to do, it was just, like, all the energy would build up and up and up in all his limbs and his body and his chest like something sticky and hot about to boil over, condensation gathering at the top of his skull, and then he just went kinda crazy. That makes sense, right? He was pretty sure his brothers were kinda like that, too, so he figured it was probably mostly normal. He sometimes wondered if that was why their dad let them sign up for so many after-school activities. The only downside was the limited time leftover to tackle homework and personal projects. Walls weren’t just gonna paint themselves, after all!

"What's for dinner?" He shouted across the house, shucking his backup off and beginning to unpack, collecting his various textbooks and notepads.

"Oh, since you were not home, Michelangelo, I have had no choice but to cook for our family--"

"Dad."

"But do not worry, my son, I am making the most delicious meal--"

"Dad."

"Boiled liver and onions! You boys' favorite! With chopped earthworms, yum yum yum!"

"DAD! You're not funny!" Mikey yelled, even though there was laughter in his voice. Their dad did this bit every time, and he hated how it was always kinda funny.

"Pizza is on the table." His father called back, and Mikey let out an excited cheer.

"YEAH BABY! That's what I was hoping you'd say!" He shouted, hopping up to his feet and beelining it to the kitchen. His brothers had clearly already done a round, based on the empty boxes and missing slices, but he knew they wouldn't dare leave him without his fair share. That's youngest child privilege. They knew damn well that he’d cry at them.

"How was school today, my son?" Dad always asked about school first and everything else second, every time.

"Id'was gooh'." Mikey mumbled, in between the pizza slice already hanging out of his mouth, piling several more slices onto his plate. "We're readin' th' O'ssey--"

"Orange, I cannot understand anything you are saying."

Mikey spit the half-chewed pizza slice back out onto the plate, which earned a really fun look from Dad, and he grinned.

"Sorry! We're reading the Odyssey in English class, which is fine, I guess, but it's kinda a lot to get through, so we're translating it to, like, real human words, annnndddd we gotta do a group project presentation thing, and I like all the people in the group project but you KNOOWWW how group projects are." He reported, rapid-fire, giving a dramatic sigh. "Oh! And I got my Algebra test back and I got! A seventy-nine!"

"Oh! Very good, Mikey. I am glad your studying paid off." His father replied with a small smile, and Mikey beamed. "And how was dance?"

"Awesome! I killed it, as per use'." Mikey said proudly, puffing out his chest a bit. "Miss Vega said that I just gotta tighten up my turns and I'll be all ready to destroy the competition next weekend!"

"Excellent. Good job, Orange." His dad said with a chuckle, patting Mikey's shoulder before making his way back into the living room, no doubt to reunite his butt with his beloved reclining chair and put on some TV series that no one else in the family appreciated. Mikey grabbed three more slices of pizza while his dad’s back was turned, and then scampered off, heading deeper into the apartment.

Considering they lived in New York City, they lived in a pretty spacious abode. Mikey couldn't remember a time in his life when there wasn't lots of room to stretch out and run and jump around. He remembered, back when he was really little, some of the hallways being big and long enough to even echo-- though he sometimes wondered if that had just been his imagination. Some of the stuff they would make up back then was pretty wild. Their dad had bought this big old brownstone apartment way back when they moved into Brooklyn, buying up the entire building so that they had all four floors, plus the basement, to themselves. Mikey recalled, vaguely, all the renovations that had gone into it when they first moved to New York, adjusting the fixer-upper into something where four very active children could be raised without feeling cramped. The building was tall and skinny, slotted neatly in with the rest of the city, and Mikey had always loved that. This meant it they had the perfect hallways for running back and forth through, and there was a surplus of staircases for him to slide down or jump over. The hardwood floors were perfect for both Tokyo Drifting and dance practice. They each had gotten their own rooms as they grew as well, with himself and Raph on the second floor, Leo and Donnie on the third, and their father taking the master bedroom on the ground level.

But the best bit was the basement. Lovingly dubbed "The Lair," their dad had designated it the hub for childhood shenanigans, (and now, teenage activity,) from the get-go, all but sacrificing the space to his sons from the moment they moved in. The house was technically his, sure, but the basement was theirs, like, for real for real. Arcade games and consoles lived down here, hooked up to the big TV on the wall and surrounded by beat-up beanbags. Raph's weight-lifting equipment was in that corner there, and Donnie's bigger, more mechanical projects were over there by the stairs, (with the yellow tape and the "do not touch" signs.") This big wide open space here with the mirrors on the walls and the punching bags mounted on the ceiling was perfect for both martial arts, acrobatics, and dance practice, depending on which kind of matting they laid out. And, best of all, the Lair was the one place in the house where their dad had reluctantly conceded that, yes, Mikey. You may paint on the walls.

The Lair was typically the best bet for finding any of his brothers, especially if they weren’t holed up in their rooms, and Mikey did think about heading down there, too… But, as very tempting as it was to hang out with brothers first and do math worksheets later was, he was pretty sure he could get through his homework in, like, thirty minutes, tops, and just get it all out of the way. Plus, this way, he didn't have to worry about anyone else making any grabs for his dinner.

With this in mind, he tromped his way up the stairs, nudging his sticker-adorned door open and dumping all his stuff on his desk, immediately shoving the previously-abandoned pizza slice back into his mouth again. He flipped open his textbooks, switched his speakers on to fill the space with some chill lofi beats to study to, and nudged his desk lamp awake as he settled in to get to work.

His workload had been pretty light recently, with way fewer teachers than usual handing out paper worksheets and questionnaires to bring home, so it didn't take him very long to get through all the assignments and readings. (Also, lowkey, it was times like these that he was, like, wow. Thank god for Adderall.) He was nearly done with the last of his work when he suddenly paused.

Dang. Artistic inspiration was truly a cruel but wondrous mistress. Okay, homework later. He scrambled for his phone, rewinding the song playing over the speakers. Ooh, yeah, okay-- That bass? Oh, hell yeah, this was really good! He could absolutely see the movement in his mind's eye-- he could picture the way the color swooped along with the beat and brightened along with the melody. Oh-- and what if he added some black outlines? What was the title of this song again...? Maybe he should look up the artist. He wondered if this would be better as a direct homage to the artist, (maybe the title up on a wall, in big curved block letters, yellows popping along the edges to pull it into the foreground, and that red in the center to sink it in--) or if this should be a more narrative piece. It made him think of that one movie that they watched two weekends ago-- with the spy and the watering can factory?! And this one line, about the lightning, he could just see the way he could paint a figure to answer that directly. Was it too ambitious to do a zig-zag line of action? Oh, but if he had the leg out like that...

He flipped the page of his notebook, his pencil skritching feverishly on the sheet as he moved to put these thumbnails into reality while they were still ticking through his mind in a slideshow. He paused only to command Spotify to play the song on repeat, his tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth and his eyes narrowed. Ohmigosh, yes! This would be perfect. He couldn't believe he had never thought of this before. This song had been on his playlist for how long? He had just kind of been spacing out until now, but suddenly, he was so excited about this project.

And it would be the perfect excuse to use those metallic spray paints he's been hoarding! He practically vibrated with excitement, thumbing the paper with a grin. Oh, that would look amazing. Just a bold streak of shimmery color, bursting out from the composition, like an explosion, he could see it so clearly--

Half a thought later, the spiral-bound notebook in front of him burst into flames.

[ next ]

[invisibleperiwinkle]

i haven’t seen may people talk about this but it’s one of my main gripes with the percy jackson show so here we go.

annabeths character is so poorly written.

and before we begin, leah is an AMAZING actress and i’m PUMPED for her and black girls everywhere who can see themselves represented in such a badass character.

that being said, the folks in the writers room are FAILING annabeth. her character in the show is incredibly one dimensional, and again it’s not at the fault of the actress, the writers simply aren’t writing the character well. which breaks my heart for two reasons

1) there’s representation for a strong independent black character but if you take away all the things that makes annabeth such a cool and interesting character it feels so tacked on and not cared for. if you want to have representation do the character justice so the moment is important. not just lack luster and anti climactic

2) the writer of the books is writing the show. and rick has forgotten his own characters. which isn’t new information but it never stops pissing me off.

annabeth is a character i see myself in a lot, so having her not be written well for the show is so upsetting. the fact being she isn’t a hard character to write. she’s smart (of course), calculated, but also very reserved. these are the parts of her we see, but even then not much of it.

the moments i feel took so much character development away from her were

a) not having the spiders in the tunnel o’ love

b) not having her play fetch with cerberus

c) the zoo truck scene not being focused on percy and annabeth getting to know each others backstories and more making it “oooo guys did you know they fall in love with each other in four books?!?!?!??”

d) the aunty em scene being changed and not getting to see annabeth just be a kid for five minutes and want to eat burgers and fries

e) annabeth not being giddy over the gateway arch/not playing the architecture game in the lotus hotel

f) ZERO trace of her crush on luke

annabeth is a very closed off character but those moments in particular showcase her being more human and also the trust she has in percy to let him see that side of her.

A) while yes, we do get to see annabeth scared in the tunnel o’ love scene thinking she’s going to lose percy, there’s a difference in the fear of thinking you lost your best friend vs seeing something you’re genuinely scared of.

the mechanical spiders are so huge to annabeths development because she lets percy see her scared and not just this strong wall of calculations she’s been portrayed as this whole time.

it makes her seem more human. we remember she’s still just a 12 year old girl who’s spent most of her development years at camp because she didn’t have anyone

B) this scene in the books is hands down one of my favorites. annabeth plays fetch with this dog and teaches him tricks and then she cries

we get a wonderful exchange of percy saying that everyone needs a little love and attention sometimes which is something annabeth never got

also she cries!! AND AND AND!!! we get more backstory, that she had a doberman before she ran away

i guarantee, and in fact we KNOW annabeth doesn’t like reminiscing on her past at home. but she did here. even for a second. we see her breaking down her walls yet again. slowly but surely.

also i want to showcase the significance of her crying, i’m gonna infer here from how i am as a person, but i hate crying in front of people to the point that i simply can’t. and i’ve only cried in front of like four people? two over a facetime call, and twice in person (my parents). and they are all people i trust with my life, i don’t cry to people often. so if i do cry in front of you it is a HUGE sign of trust for me. and i feel like from all i know about annabeth, she is the exact same way. crying in front of someone is a huge sign of trust. so there lol.

C) again, with reminiscing on her home life, we get the zoo truck

the show is WAYYY overdoing percabeth. and for someone who that’s their favorite ship of all time to say that, you know it’s an issue. i said it. there’s too much percabeth. specifically, coupley percabeth. THEY ARE STILL TWELVE.

and the zoo truck scene in the show was changed from percy and annabeth getting to know the more personal and intricate “this is what i hide from the world that whittles away my soul, but here i trust you, we’re friends. you deserve to hear this” side of each other, to “when did you two become an old married couple”

excuse me while i roll my eyes into next century.

taking away them getting to know each other pissed me off so much. because again. we don’t get to see annabeth be vulnerable and human.

percy existing and breaking down her walls is HUGE to her character development throughout the books and they are just taking it away from her

D) these last three are all gonna be shorter because it’s all more or less the same point, it all showcases how annabeth is still just a kid at heart

this is the first time we see annabeth not care about the next step or if there’s something else going on. when they’re at the garden gnome emporium and auntie em offers them food annabeth jumps at the chance to just hang out and eat food

she is still a kid. the show provides none of this. the show doesn’t make annabeth seem like a kid at all. just a very calculated human trapped in the body of a preteen.

E) annabeths whole schtick for the entire series is her loving architecture and it being that one thing (in the first book) that brings out that sense of childlike wonder and whimsy in her

in the book she gets all giddy about the arch and makes them pause the quest so she can go to the top of it. also talking about how it’s held up by math and having her sparkle and wonder and awe that comes when talking about your passion.

do we see this in the show? no. why would we!

also the architecture game is just cute. of course the one game she’d gravitate towards is about building things. LIKE CMON NOW. ugh

let my girl be a kid and have whimsy. PLEASE.

F) now i HATE luke but this is a character thing for annabeth. seeing her have a crush on luke cause ofc she would. he’s the one guy to show her any love and care and he’s handsome i suppose.

she’s still just a girl. so naturally she would have a crush on him. and it’s something that again just makes her a human.

and there isn’t enough of that.

annabeth is a really special character to me and to see her be failed by the writers is heartbreaking. especially when you have an amazing of an actress as leah playing her. you cannot sit there and write an underdeveloped version of one of the best female protagonists of modern YA literature. be serious with me for a sec

to quickly state my point. annabeth isn’t a difficult character to write, the writers just don’t seem to want to put in the time of reserching and developing already developed characters. literally ALL you have to do is go back and read and comprehend the books. THATS IT.

annabeth is a smart, independent, calculated character. but that’s not THE ONLY SIDE OF HER. as the show would have you believe. she has emotions and she is human, behind her walls she’s just a twelve year old girl figuring out life and wanting to be loved and appreciated and taken seriously like all of us do. and it’s killing me that they aren’t doing justice to her character, especially when because of the show, she gets to be a role model for black girls everywhere. they deserve better than that.

rick, i’m asking you kindly, just give me the pen and let me in that writers room so annabeth can be done right. 🩷

[skyloftian-nutcase]

In regards to that ask about Legend, I've always liked the idea of him being Fable's half sibling or something, because it is a different Link/Zelda dynamic. I also think Legend wouldn't really be interested in relationships after the whole Marin thing. It does get tiring when Link is always paired with Zelda.

That being said, what are some of your favorite Link/Zelda dynamics? Or who might a Link be interested in instead? Sky and Sun are the only ones I can't see with anyone else, and I know you like Mipha/Wild. Which if I had actually taken my time with BoTW I probably would too, but I don't know enough of the story there to really have an opinion

There are some who like the whole “Link & Zelda are destined to be soulmates no matter what and that means romance all the time,” and if that floats your boat, sure. But I do definitely prefer variety. Also I could make a really cursed observation about Zelink through the ages based on the reincarnation that’s mildly implied, but for the sake of my lovelies who adore all the Zelink, I won’t 😂

I’m probably just gonna sound like I’m repeating myself from other asks, sorry, I haven’t played all the Zelda games so I can only truly speak to the ones that I have, but I’ll throw in my two cents for the ones that I’ve at least seen play through snippets/vibes I get from LU/ideas I liked.

Skyward Sword: They’re definitely, 100% in love, and they are adorable. 10/10 pairing

Minish Cap: They’re childhood friends to my knowledge, so it could go either way, I think. They’re so young in this game, I can’t say what’s gonna happen to them. Definitely would stay friends though.

Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask: It’s so complicated. I can see Adult timeline Zelda having an attraction to him, having hoped and prayed for his return to see a handsome young man appear. I can see Link physically being attracted to her while not entirely comprehending what that means because he’s still nine, and I can see than becoming an issue when he does naturally grow a little older. I can see Link being unable to separate the Zelda in the “nonexistent” timeline he fought alongside from the Zelda in his current timeline, who didn’t have to endure the same trials and therefore isn’t exactly the same, and I can see that messing him up too. So I feel like they’d be friends at best, have a professional relationship with maybe some fondness being likely, or cold and distant at worst. It seems most likely that they’re friends but Link keeps her at an arm’s length… by Majora’s Mask he seems to keep everyone at an arm’s length, tbh.

Twilight Princess: Eh. They could be friends, they could become lovers, it could work. But there definitely isn’t enough in the game to say for sure with the latter option. Link very clearly finds her beautiful based on his reaction to seeing her the first time, but he also had the same reaction to Midna lol, boy just goes :O with every pretty girl he sees. 😂 I think he had more chemistry with Midna but he also had time to develop that relationship, and since she’s gone that’s a sadly moot point anyway. But most likely, I think he’ll either end up with Ilia (he does seem to genuinely care about her, and you can see she has some strong feelings for him… you can make them a sibling dynamic or romantic, I haven’t played through the entire game yet so I can’t say for sure, but I can see them getting together) or someone completely different, despite his restlessness at the end of the game, he seems very much a guy who would settle somewhere quiet and have a family eventually. He’s very domestic and gentle and stuff ☺️ And honestly it would be interesting and fun to see the quiet, regal, stoic Queen Zelda get invited to middle-of-nowhere country village to wind down, or for her to invite Link to the castle and his kids sneak along and cause chaos or something 😂

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass: I’m pretty sure Tetra and Link found New Hyrule together, so it’s heavily implied they’re a thing. From what I’ve seen they have cute chemistry together, so I’m down for it.

Spirit Tracks: I’ve barely seen anything about this game, but given Zelda is the companion for this one she at least is one of the likelier Zeldas to be in a romantic relationship with Link. Dunno 😅🤷🏻‍♀️ everyone seems to think they are, so I guess I’ll go with it

A Link to the Past/Link’s Awakening/Oracle games: I honestly really like the implication that Zelda and Link are siblings. It’s very different from the others and could have so much potential for either fun or angst! Or both! Link obviously has feelings for Marin, and I do think he’d definitely need a break from romance after Koholint. I can’t say he’d never be interested in another relationship after that, but definitely not for a while.

A Link Between Worlds: 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ not a clue, never seen an interaction between them

Four Swords: Also not a clue lol

Legend of Zelda/Adventure of Link: I mean, clearly they’re at least friends if Link’s still helping her out six years later, that’s all I’ve got 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Hyrule Warriors: Ugh. This game lol. They give each other lovey dovey looks, so sure. Why not. At least make Zelda interesting if you’re (general you, not specifically you) gonna write it though. Idk. Honestly, them being war buddies is awesome. But the way this game portrays Zelink grinds my gears so I usually struggle to get beyond that. Link honestly should probably just be left alone after he has Cia’s creepy self stalking after him while simultaneously trying to kill him (girl did not know what she wanted, nor did she know what clothes were). Of Link’s options, he definitely wouldn’t want Cia, Lana would be sweet and loving and kind but he probably couldn’t get beyond her being a part of Cia (RIP poor girl, I really do like her and she genuinely loves Link), and Zelda would be ok. Both Zelda and Lana could be war buddies with Link, which is fun. I don’t think Link/Lana could happen because Cia, and I can see the war and politics after the fact impeding Link/Zelda. LET LINK JUST FIGURE HIMSELF OUT DANG IT HE’S A TRAUMATIZED WAR VETERAN WHO HAS BEEN SEXUALLY HARASSED.

Age of Calamity: Link/Mipha all the way! It’s heavily implied in BotW canon that they were a thing anyway, and here they get the chance to actually live! And be together! As such, I feel like Link is a very caring friend to Zelda, and I also think a strong friendship/siblinglike relationship between Zelda and the Miphlink couple would be adorable (and very beneficial for diplomatic relations between the Zora and Hyrule). I know in botw Zelda had a crush on Link prior to the calamity after he rescued her, not sure if that’s the case in AoC because I haven’t finished the game but it seems less pronounced. Either way, a crush isn’t the same as a strong friendship changing into a romantic one. Also I had this idea that Zelda, being the scientist she is and far more interested in just helping rebuild her kingdom (and perhaps not knowing how to cope with being alone when the guy she crushed on is married), announces some kind of competition or presentation for eligible bachelors and Link and Mipha are facepalming and Link (and Urbosa) is 100% gonna vet all the men by glaring at them from behind the queen and Mipha’s gonna be the Vibe Check girl (Daruk thinks they’re all nice, mostly; Revali is like “keep me out of this nonsense” but will low key stalk all the bachelors to make sure they’re up to snuff)

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom: Given the fact that these two traumatized beans only have each other for points of reference/mutual understanding of their trauma and entire viewpoint, they very likely get together. I have a hard time with it only because people are so insistent on botw Zelink that they completely disregard Mipha and ship Link with Zelda before the calamity as well, which I do not. But honestly, botw/TotK Zelink is fine with me. Though TotK keeps it so vague sometimes, I feel like you can reasonably imply that maybe they haven’t gotten together yet by that point but they’re very close to doing so. Or it’s early in their romantic relationship.

Echoes of Wisdom: TBD! They haven’t interacted much yet from where I am in the game (Gerudo Desert), but considering (MILD SPOILERS) they didn’t even know each other until he rescued her, it’s gonna take a lot to convince me they’re gonna fall in love. Also, it’s hard to tell how old they are with this chibi style but I get the vibe they’re on the younger teenager side? Nothing’s set in stone for relationships at that age.

…I think that’s all of them?

[liloinkoink]

ok. uh. Hoe does everyone meet in the dnd campaign? I havnt heard much outside of you guys arting about it

Syyrin and Ellery met first. Ellery is the only person w a longer-than-human lifespan, and he’d been wandering the world aimlessly as a traveler and lone worshipper of Myrkul for a few decades

eventually he met Syyrin. we haven’t fully fleshed out what their first meeting was, but cj was thinking they met on the road on a heavily rainy day. they’d started off formal and polite but by the end they were both drenched and covered in thick mud and felt a closeness after seeing each other at their worst and most disgraceful. they kept traveling together after that

Ellery started the Myrkul temple specifically bc he’s a few centuries old. he’s seen a lot of deaths but even with all his experience, he’s terrified of dying, and he hates losing people. he worships myrkul as a way to try and be comfortable with it and make it less daunting for people around him. myrkul worship is shunned, so eventually he starts the temple as a way to make it less hidden or shameful, in part bc spending time w Syyrin lead him to realize how little he wants to be alone

Syyrin joins him in founding the cult and does a lot of the administrative half (while Ellery handles the religious aspects)

Flint joins not too long after. he grew up alone on the streets and i’m sure has seen his fair share of death. he loses his last tie keeping him there at the same time he meets Syyrin and after a bit of shenanigans she invites him. at the end, they play a card game—Syyrin says if she wins, Flint joins. Flint, a master at cards, throws the game

Iscariot is the last actual member of the cult. a group of Cyric worshipers fake converting as an attempt to get in and take over, and Iscariot is among them. he’s been raised on violence as he only form of connection available to him his whole life, and secretly fascinated by the softer and more caring approach to death presented in the group. this culminates in him neglecting a ritual sacrifice of an anime and letting it live, breaking his paladin’s oath to cyric, losing his faith and magic entirely

Ellery is the only member of the Myrkul trio he actually properly meets before the sacrifice. Ellery finds him in the midst of his crisis of faith—Iscariot had cut open his own hand just to test his ability to heal himself and been left bleeding and afraid. Ellery bandages his wound up, the first kind touch he knows, and expresses sympathy and care. he thinks of killing Ellery as a test of his faith to Cyric, but his magic never returns. he swears a new oath to Ellery once he’s revived

Mar isn’t part of the temple at all but is brought in by Mabuz and the Cyric gang as a sacrifice. she meets Flint bc he’s also detained to sacrifice, and meets Iscariot bc he kills her. she meets Ellery bc Ellery goes looking for her after his revival and Syyrin bc she sees the three of them wandering around and helps them all escape (which is about when Iscariot also officially meets Syyrin and Flint—mess of a moment). Mar has the least history w everyone and her bonds w the others are the most fraught

the first meetings aren’t all thought out fully yet? but this is about what we’ve got

[thepumpkincorsair]

So, I watched the first episode of “Those About To Die” on Peacock.

I enjoyed it, and Im willing to do write ups if folks would be interested…

Since I wana talk about details, and I dont wana spread spoilers, everything is below the readmore.

What I liked: 🔵 And what I disliked: 🟠

Total Ranking: 8/10 - very good, worth the watch 👍

🟠 It dove into the Intrigue right away, which made it hard to watch while doing other things, but I can appreciate a show that grabs you by the shoulders and shoves you down into the couch to pay attention.

🔵 It wasn’t boring, quite the contrary, I felt fully engaged throughout the episode. Theres a lot of small moving parts to the story, and it orchestrates together incredibly well so far, even for Episode One. The writing is very well done, which is a lynchpin for me on a show like this. You cant pretend to be an intrigue type series without a proper plot. And, in my opinion, they’ve set their plots well right away. Tenax getting those shares in Blue was a great con, which had clearly been going a while, but we only saw the tail end of it. I see this little setup as a great look at how the writers DO their work. Connections matter, money does more than talk, and if you play the game wrong, you die. Don’t trust anyone.

🔵 I REALLY enjoyed the historical aspects of the first episode. Like, yes, this plot happened, its a historical fiction and a number of these characters exist in history, but its not just that. Its the small details, the different knives in different cultures, the veterinary care of race horses, the deities from more than just the main roman pantheon, the drinkware, the VARIOUS clothes from various cultures and climates…. And yes, women often went topless when they were a sxwrkr. Gotta advert.

🔵 ON THAT SUBJECT: can we talk about “3 sesterce… and Im tighter than both of them.” MY BOY, YOU ARE RIZZIN TOO HARD AND I LOST IT. Please, please let him be in future episodes. Omfg….

🟠 I am forced to concede the accuracy isnt PERFECT, the horses wore modern driving bridles to go with their ancient styled chariots. However, Im realistic about how many horses are trained today to pull anything without blinders, and how much safer modern bridles are. I’ll also note: I absolutely saw the animal handler grab the horse differently (calmly) before the riot surrounded it, then direct the horse to dance in the crowd. Great training with the horse! Bad camera angle. Lol

🔵 I also really like this cast so far. Everyone fills their roles incredibly well.

Hopkins doesnt even need an introduction, the mans a legend and brings all his experience to the stage with him every time. -chefs kiss-

Rheon was great in GOT, he plays calculatingly unhinged exceptionally well. But I wont lie, seeing him in a more commanding, level headedly calculating person?

Hashim….. HASHIM!!! Im SO excited to see where his character goes. We haven’t seen much of him in Ep 1 just yet, but he’s clearly going to be one of the main players. Im not familiar with him as an actor, but I’ve enjoyed his performance so far, and I REALLY appreciate the story being told.

Martins is also incredible. She does a fantastic job of knowing the danger her characters children are facing, but also knowing she HAS to play her cards right to save them. She personifies the strength and determination of a mother perfectly.

🔵 Quite honestly, I have to give points to that whole plot-line in general. That point of view is something we’ve had hidden from us (in America) for so long, that I think a LOT of people have… become calloused. I hope seeing it will potentially help others come to an empathetic understanding. This isn’t glossing over what happened, or whats likely to happen to any of the three children.

🔵 I also want to gush over actually SHOWING the wider Roman Empire, we get to see the direct effect of their influence in both Africa and Spain so far. Egypt was their bread basket, and without that grain, youve got problems. The Berber Coast has animals, and people they want, and we see money exchanging hands for the purpose of those ends. We see how the locals were told they’d be treated fairly, paid properly, and even eventually become citizens, like the Spaniards, only to have those promises thrown aside as soon as the Romans have better money to make. These people gave the Empire everything it wanted, but the Empire is never satisfied.

We also get to appreciate how far west the empire went when the Spaniards are trying to sell their horses. (Plot-bunny: Andies are dancing horses, exceptionally athletic, and a prime choice for chariots, though, a standardbred is the usual choice for modern cart racers)

🟠 I will say the CGI isnt the best. You can tell exactly when they change from live action to CGI. But this is a minor issue for me tbh. Its passable CGI, and they use it to avoid putting animals or people in danger which, obviously, I appreciate. A chariot wreck was shown, annnnnd it was pretty darn accurate to how messy those would have been. Not good times y’all. Not good times. Also, the ramifications of a major concussion. Oof. At least the guy would have barely knew what was happening? Still.

🔵 The sound effects were enough without being over the top. Often times when theres gore to show, theres all these extra squelching noises and gratuitous blood… not this time. It’s actually… pretty durn accurate. Don’t ask how I know. I don’t wana tell you, and you dont wana know.

Overall, it was a really solid first episode, and I plan on watching the rest.

[mrfartpowered]

Do you have any Heidi headcanons ...

HIIII SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!! as an apology I have written approximately two hundred headcanons for her :3 I’ve never given her much thought before this, so thanks for the excuse to finally do that hehe !!

I don’t think Heidi has any desire to be a mom, regardless of what timeline. She’s too busy girlbossing (and also she’s way better at being an aunt than a mother, it’s more fun for her that way). This is my first headcanon bc it’s a defining characteristic of her in my post-canon timeline LOL

She is a certified gamer girl. Just an absolute beast. She still speaks, yknow, Like Heidi, and this does earn her some nasty comments in games w voice chat (like COD). But then she slaughters everyone in 10 seconds flat so it’s okay <3 if u haven’t seen @cunningweiner’s markiplier!heidi art WHAT are u even doing

Sushi lover. I have zero evidence for this it just feels right

I’m a junior!Heidi truther but everybody is shocked when they find out. They can’t believe she isn’t a senior yet

SO eager to get her driver’s license but objectively a bad driver. She’s honestly too eager. It’s terrifying to be in the passenger seat while she’s at the wheel (stolen from @maslosstuff hehe)

A decent C- or B-grade student. I wouldn’t call her stupid but academia isn’t exactly her Thing. People skills OFF THE CHARTS, but when it comes to book smarts i might go so far as to call her ditzy

Hot take (maybe??) but I don’t think she has a ton of friends. Popular, yes! But in the sense the student body knows Heidi Weinerman by face and name. Like a small-time celebrity… Honestly there’s a possibility that she throws herself so deep into the work of her show/her fame that she forgets to make time for relationships (platonic & romantic). She’s only a teen! :(

She IS a lesbian I will not be considering other options at this time

Vocal stimmer 5ever 🫶 mostly singing under her breath, I think :) but also narrating to herself. It’s the vlogger effect :/

Has a secret Reddit account that she uses to blow off steam. She’ll just go and argue w people on subjects she is extremely well-versed in. What I’m getting at here is that, though her temper is not quite as bad as Howard’s, it’s worse than Mort’s for SURE. She’s the middle ground

(stolen from The Trans Bro Code, one of my fave fics in this fandom) Regardless of how u perceive Howardgender, he and Heidi had sleepovers when they were younger. They’d do each other’s hair and nails and makeup, and maybe even dress up, and gossip back and forth. They still do it as teens, but less as a tradition and more as a major form of sibling support. Some douche broke Heidi’s heart? Howard’s doing her nails w cute little designs on each finger. Howard got into a bad fight w their mom? Heidi is giving him a full glam face of makeup.

On the subject of her relationship w Howard (oh, you thought u could go a whole post of mine with just one Howard mention?) — they’re not friends, not by a long shot, BUT on some level they respect one another. I like to think Heidi admires Howard’s ability to not care what ppl think of him. She will never admit this, of course, and she shudders at the thought of being associated w him in public. But, yk, fair is fair because Howard thinks she’s kind of a freak. He does, however, respect her commitment and crowd skills

Their gossip goes CRAZYYY like ofc they had fun conversations as kids, but as teens? They trade dirt abt Norrisvillians back and forth trying to see who has the craziest insider knowledge. It’s awesome and terrifying to witness

In any timeline where she is not the in-universe equivalent of Markiplier, she has a Master’s in Public Relations and probably owns her own PR firm

[bibiwrld]

The Sweet Babysitter🧁🎀| Miguel O’Hara

previous: –eight.

–nine.

KENEDI’S POV

Gabby’s soccer game was so fun. I was out of my seat the whole time, chanting her name along with Lorelai and Miguel. Her team won 3–0, which were all scored by her. I was so proud of her.

Miguel and Lorelai, flirted most of the game, well just Lorelai flirted. Miguel seemed rather annoyed, trying to keep his focus on the game.

Why did they even get divorced? They seem quite fine to me, but then again, what do I know?

But afterwards we all walked through the parking lot, Gabby hugging me and telling me she was so happy that I came.

Before I got into my car, Miguel came up to me.

“Hey.” He breathed out.

My eyes found his. “Hey.”

“You had any plans after this?” He asked, rubbing his knuckles.

“Yes, I was headed home to take a long nap.” I replied. “Pretty exhausted.”

The little light in his eyes seemed to go out., looking off into the distance. “Oh.”

My brows furrowed in concern. “Was there something you needed me to do?”

His eyes found mine once again. “We were gonna go for ice cream and maybe you could come over and stay for a while, but I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your sleep.”

I smiled brightly, admiring his cute he was.

“Miiigggguuueeeelllll!” Lorelai’s voice sang.

Miguel exhaled in annoyance.

I laughed. “You should get to your ex wife.”

The expression on his face was one that I’ve never seen before, it was expressionless, but spoke so many volumes. “Please, don’t call her that. It’s Lorelai.”

Did I overstep? Is he offended?

“Oh I..sorry.” I grew embarrassed.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I just hate being reminded is all.” He cleared things up. “Just Lorelai is fine.”

I opened my car door, nodding in response. “I understand, I’m sorry.” I sat in the driver’s seat, gazing up at him.

He leaned into the space between my car door, his arms resting on top, looking at me intensely. “Text me when you wake up?”

“Of course.” I flashed a smile.

🎀

Before succumbing to this exhaustion, I began taking out my braids. I texted Mommy to come over and help me if she could, then I fell asleep. The sounds of her knocking woke me up, she came in like a knight in shining armor to help me with my hair. I helped as much as I could, but the weariness in my body took over and put me to sleep once again.

I woke up on the floor, with a blanket over me and Mommy was gone. She cleaned up all the hair and everything. I shot her a thank you text, and went into the bathroom to see all the braids were out, and my hair was pulled into a large puff.

Going into the kitchen, rubbing my stomach from hunger, I scanned my fridge and realized that I needed to go grocery shopping.

I sighed, going into my room to grab my Hello Kitty tote bag with all my necessities. I typed on my phone while walking out the door.

Me

Woke up a little while ago😊

Well..I was in and out of sleep, but I’m finally up. Mom came over to help me take my braids out. About to go grocery shopping <3

How was the ice cream?

In a matter of seconds, my phone vibrated in my hands while walking down the stairs of my apartment building. I bit my lip with a smile, knowing it was Miguel.

Miguel

Grocery shopping this late? Please be careful.

Ice cream was great, I got rocky road, Gabby got strawberry shortcake. Lorelai was talking as always, I really wish you could’ve came😕

What style were you planning to do next?

Finally in my car, giggling to myself at his texts, I typed back a few replies.

Me

Yes ofc. We’ll get ice cream together soon.

I haven’t decided on a style yet.

I started my car and reversed out the parking lot and drove to my destination.

Strolling down the aisle slowly, I grabbed white bread, then scanned my phone for the grocery list.

“Kenedi?”

I looked up from my phone to see a guy with brown shoulder length locs. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Smiling shyly with furrowed brows, I answered. “Uh, hi?”

He smiled. “You might not remember me, I’m Croy from high school.”

I still didn’t know who he was. “Sorry, I don’t seem to remember.”

He let out an embarrassed laugh. “Damn, uh..” He scratched the back of his head. “I’m Trent’s best friend, was always with him, but you were too into Trent to really notice me.”

Then it clicked. He was the guy with the short, curly hair who would always hang out with Trent, my old crush.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” I apologized, laughing at my horrible memory. “It’s nice to see you, how have you been?”

He smiled brightly at me. “It’s very… very nice to see you, I’ve been good, just graduated.” He got closer to my shopping cart. “How about you?”

“Oh congratulations.” I beamed. “I graduated a few months ago, I’m a secretary/assistant, but I do baby sitting on the side.”

“Oh that’s cool. You should come to Trent’s birthday party next weekend.”

I slightly tilted my head. “I don’t know, Trent probably doesn’t remember me—”

He put his hand on my shopping cart, swiveling it playfully. “You still like him.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. “Oh no no, trust me I don’t.”

“So come.” He frowned, then dug into his pocket. “I’m the one inviting you, lots of people will be there, Trent doesn’t even know half of them, it’s fine.” He handed me his phone. “We should catch up, it’s okay for me to have your number?”

I took it, quickly typing my number in. “Yes, it’s totally fine.”

After that interaction, we said our goodbyes and I continued my grocery shopping that I was almost done with. I picked up the strawberries, thinking of the delicious shortcake I could make for Miguel and Gabby.

My phone began blaring in my bag.

Miguel’s name made me smile and answer quickly.

“Hey Miguel.” I greeted sweetly with a smile on my face.

“Hi Kenedi, you didn’t text back and I got a bit worried, it’s so stupid.” He grumbled over the phone.

Worried about me? This man kept getting cuter and cuter.

I pushed my shopping cart to self check out with one hand very slowly. “No it’s not. I’m sorry, I bumped into someone from high school, but I’m going to leave the grocery store in a minute.”

I scanned my items and bagged them.

He sighed, almost as if he was at ease. “Okay that’s nice. You didn’t forget our date tomorrow, right?”

I paused my actions, smiling shyly like a kid. “O-of course not, I’m very excited.”

“Me too.” He admitted.

“Can you stay on the phone until I get home?”

“Of course.”

🕷️

Next part: –ten.

[lady-potato-ninja]

Prowling the inbox like a half tame thing, just confessing that I saw your art tutorials and was like "Neat!" and then saw the potato in the name and that clinched it for me <3 /origin story sharing for free!

Anyway! I'm asking you to this dance of an ask game, because I enjoy the stories in the tags you write and then I was like, there is a function built in for being more candid~ Please tell me more lady-potato-ninja lore, as they say. ^^ Referring to this post here: >> https://www.tumblr.com/shreedle/762344461629112320?source=share <<

🧠🌂👀🌹 Okay bye! See you on the dashboard!

Ah 🙈🙈🙈 I'm so glad you liked my tutorials! I am actually in the mist of making a new one on how to better your artistic workflow! I'm not done yet- still trying to make it make sense but I hope it might help you in some way once it's out😉!

🧠- What fictional character do you relate to the most?

I’m gonna be extra because you said you liked my rambling and go for more than one character. I’ve mostly been into podcast fandoms thus far and it feels like those characters were really easy to relate to.

Mollymauk Tealeaf from Critical Role: I learned so much about myself throught this character. He’s the embodiment of change and self-love and just living life the way you want it. I was very envious of the joyful way he lived his life and it stayed with me long after I stopped watching Critical Role and I feel like now I got to this point where I love myself and the multitude ways in which I change everyday.

Martin Blackwood from the Magnus Archive: I think we’re awfully similar; in a made from the same cloth kind of way. He’s a very attentive character who tries his best to provide help, care and support to the people around him and it’s something I pride myself to do as well, one of my friends said I was an approachable person and I wear this quality as a badge of honor. I strive to be a kind-hearted person.

At a time, I was also really relating to his loneliness which I sometimes still am. Hearing about how he felt made me realise that I felt the same about me. And it actually made me take care of myself more because I couldn’t let such a deep sadness continue on in me! But don’t fret, now I’m a much happier person and I feel like it’s in part because of him, weirdly enough.  

Jang Hee-Soo from the kdrama Moving: This kdrama is so good and it really struck a chord with me for multiple reasons but mostly because I had never seen a media better portray the relationship between a parent and their child.

With her dad, Jang Hee-Soo sees what he does for her and his sacrifices and she understands him, she takes the time to know her dad as a person more than just a parental figure and she tries to give back and sacrifice what she can to help him. I feel like it’s the same way I love and cherish my parents. I see myself in the careful way she takes care of him while supporting his dreams and cheering him on. (It honestly made me cry and that’s why I haven’t finished this series yet I KEEP CRYING!)

She also has this whole motif about rage that really speaks to me. A part of me is like a fire that is inextinguishable and she’s the same.

Special mention to Hong Cha-young from Vincenzo because my gf said I was like her > The style, the goofiness and the evil not evilness🙈

🌂- You have to choose three fiction characters to help you survive in the apocalypse, who are you picking?

Senshi from delicious in dungeon: I need someone who knows enough about fauna and flora to know which plants/animal parts are good to eat in the wild and which ones are poisonous! I know how to cook and bake well enough but not enough to utilize everything in the best way and how to keep food well stocked. I feel like we would get along well plus he would remind me to actually eat and drink which is fairly important.

Aragorn from LOTR: Having a ranger in the team is essential because I lack most of what he has to offer and while Senshi might cover a similar ground, I feel like Aragorn would be helpful in many other ways such as, finding/creating shelter and keeping us from getting lost. He would be longing for his wife; I would be longing for my wife; we would be partners in long lost love stories.

Doctor Mccoy from Star Trek: I know how to give first aid + CPR, take care of burn wounds and other small wounds but in this situation, I feel like a real doctor should be a part of the team. Plus, Bones is used to critical situations with the amount of bathshit crazy things happening on the enterprise and he quickly adapts to changes. He also has great bedside manners so if I end up dying well at least my last moments will be nice lol. I almost forgot his massive balls of steel – this man is unshakable!

I think we would make the dream team: I know how to fish, mend/make (bad) clothes, bake and cook, ect. And three out of four of us know how to fight: I am a green belt in karate + I can throw handheld axes; Senshi has his axe + his shield/cauldron and Aragorn got his sword skills. I mean we’re pretty much covered in terms of leadership, nutrition, health, living quarters, troc strategies and defense… We could survive this!

👀 -Most tame ship you enjoy

Daisuga? Maybe? It’s very soft, they’re basically already married at this point lol. It’s a sweet, no conflict ship!

🌹 - What's a small fanbase you're a part of?

Gekkan Shojo Nozai kun: I watch this every summer and I can’t wait to see more if there’ll ever be more…. It’s just such a charming and chaotic show! The characters all have hilarious gimmicks that make them so endearing and you just want to see them succeed. It’s honestly really worth the watch if you haven’t seen it already!

Professor Layton: I think about replaying the games every other week < I could ‘cause I still have my DS and multiple games but I want to be able to cast it on the TV so I can play with my gf or watch her play!

[sweetlummie]

Rainbow

Joel Miller x fem!reader

A/n: Hello all, I’m not doing too good so here’s a little something I wrote to comfort myself I suppose. Also not proofread so any and all mistakes are mine! Btw this story was made with both game and show Joel in mind! As always constructive criticism is welcome! Enjoy! Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated! 🫶🫶💗💗

Warnings: depressing stuff and a little bit of suicidal/death thoughts (if you’re struggling with these thoughts and think you might be a danger to yourself please reach out and get help. You’re not alone and you are loved 💗)

W/c: 1k+

* ・‥…━━━━━━━ *˖◛⁺♡ ━━━━━━━…‥・

Stillness. Silence. You laid in your bed, staring up at the ceiling. You weren’t quite sure what you were feeling. You felt nothing. You couldn’t even find joy in the things you loved to do anymore. You couldn’t find it in you to interact with anyone either. You just disappeared. “I don’t belong here.” You often thought. You were certain no one would care if you just stopped, if you just left, if you just died. You felt your life as you knew it was insignificant and meaningless. Everyone else in the settlement seemed to be having fun, seemed to enjoy their life despite the horrors outside the walls. You should be more grateful that you found a safe place, you found somewhere to live a somewhat normal life in the apocalypse but you weren’t. You wished you weren’t here. The monotony of your life was suffocating your every fiber. When mornings would come you stayed in bed later than usual. You’ve let your responsibilities slip away from you as you simply didn’t care anymore. Maria would come to your house, you looked disheveled in a dirty oversized sweater and some tattered sweatpants. Your hair wild and greasy from lack of care. At first she was gonna scold you for being irresponsible but she took one look at you and just felt bad for you. The scolding words dying on her lips as she noticed the lackluster look in your eyes. You just looked dead.

A few more days pass and there’s a knock on your door. Sighing you willed yourself to get up and open it. Your eyes widen when you see who was standing on the other side. No one other than Joel Miller himself. You haven’t really spoken much to him, you both have been patrol partners once or twice and you volunteered at the school his kid attended often, helping them out in the library. Ellie became a close friend of yours as you had similar interests and hobbies. Joel himself was quite fond of you. You were a quiet girl yet you were such a spitfire. You never let anyone, even himself, boss you around or treat you badly. He liked that about you, you carried yourself well. So seeing you like this, broken and hopeless really surprised him.

“Hey sweetheart..” Joel gave you a small smile, he held a tub of something you couldn’t make out in his hands. “Oh- hey Joel.” You returned the smile and stepped aside. “Come in, what can I do for you?” You said as he made his way inside your house. He took a look around. A little messy, yet cozy. He wasn’t being judgemental because he knew you were going through a rough time. This whole visit came about when Ellie asked if he’s seen you, when he shook his head, the girl expressed her concern about how you essentially went missing for a few days that no one has seen you except Maria but she said you weren’t doing too well. He wasn’t one for caring about other people that weren’t his brother or Ellie but for some reason he felt worried about you, he felt compelled to check up on you.

“Jus’ wanted to see how ya were doin’.. uh I brought some cookies me and the kid made together.. nothin’ too special.” Joel said as walked into your kitchen, setting them down on the counter. You chuckled for the first time since your depressive episode. “You? Baking? Wow, color me impressed. You wanna take a seat and have some milk and cookies with me?” Joel laughed. The request was so innocent and truth be told, just seeing you, Joel would do whatever to spend more time with you. “Sure.” Joel replied as he took a seat.

You prepared the milk and brought it to him, placing it on the table along with your own. You went back to get the cookies from the counter and you set it between the both of you. You picked up a cookie and dunked it in your milk. Taking a bite, your eyes light up. “Woah- Joel these are amazing!!!” Joel smiles as he takes a cookie for himself and eats it. “Thanks, I take full credit- Ellie jus’ preheated the oven and mixed some ingredients. She got tired easily.” You laughed, you were really enjoying his company and his presence. Just this one visit alone made you feel so much better.

“So.. ya haven’t been around lately.. Ellie and I are really worried ‘bout ya darlin’. Everything okay?” Joel asked as he looked at your face, you averted your gaze to your hands. You were tapping your foot on the ground as for some reason you grew nervous. You weren’t used to anyone asking if you were okay, no one really cared about you. Why did he and his daughter care? “Uh yeah. I’m all good, don't worry..” Joel could immediately tell you were lying. “Darlin’.. it’s okay.. y’know you can talk to me right? I may not be good at givin’ advice or be any good at any of this emotional stuff but I’ll listen to whatever you need to get off your chest..”

Joel was honestly surprising you. You never expected him to be here let alone asking you to talk about your emotions. What strange times. You nodded as you both ate your cookies. Perhaps you wouldn’t tell him now what was wrong since it’s a whole lot of trauma you have to unpack and you don’t want to frighten the poor man. But the mere fact that Joel was in your house offering you emotional support and delicious baked goods warmed your heart and made you think that maybe there are people who care about you. People who would be affected if something were to happen to you. If there was anything you learned today was that in your bleak, gray life there were still slivers of rainbows in the form of people like Joel and Ellie who valued you more than anyone else did in your life.

* ・‥…━━━━━━━ *˖◛⁺♡ ━━━━━━━…‥・

[shamelessliarkickapow]

Arrvatarr! The Last Arrbender!

Chapter 3, part... the rest/3

A Zutara pirate AU - comedy/romance/action

Here's part 1/3 on Tumblr or Read the whole thing (chapters 1-3) on AO3

This story is rated M for Mature (Ole Salts only, yarrr)

Detective GoodBrother Sokka, anyone? ^.-

((this one might be boring? idk, things got plotty on me and i've been framing a roof, which has involved climbing around on the inside of gables about 14' off the floor and lots of trips up and down the wobbliest 12' ladder carrying heavy rafters in 90 degree weather and. dudes. i'm tired and all my clinging muscles are like wtf is wrong with you we never do this? so here's a finished chapter to celebrate the framing being done and the roofers coming to finish decking and surfacing yayyy))

.

.

The sun rested low and soft in the east, peeking through scattered clouds and Katara was just finishing off her porridge when Sokka came sidling up on deck. He spotted her where she was sitting on the port gunwale and made his way over, stretching his arms above his head in the super-casual move that clearly meant he was here for a classic brotherly chat.

Katara heaved a sigh. He must have really gobbled his food to follow her so quickly.

“Ahh, nothing like dish duty with Toph to really top off an action-packed night of pirating!”

“You cannot be done already.”

“Right, yeah, no, I just mean I’m looking forward to dish duty with Toph. You know, because her playful and fun-loving attitude makes the chore go so much quicker.”

That could be true. Or it could mean Toph had tried to metalbend the tin dishes again and they were all dinged and bent - and still dirty. Katara sighed a second time and rolled her eyes. Sokka hoisted himself up to sit on the rail beside her and laced his fingers together on his crossed legs.

“So! How are things?”

“Great. I’m the only pirate in the world who has to rewash the dishes for the other pirates. How could I not feel extra special, Sokka?”

“You don’t have to rewash them. We haven’t even first-washed them yet. I’m kind of just here for your bowl, but I was trying to be cool about it.”

Katara frowned at his demure expression and held out her bowl. He accepted it graciously - and then did not go away.

“You seem tense, little sister.”

He said it with gravity and quiet care that made Katara’s frown fade. It also made her aware of how the pucker in her brow had started to ache.

“Usually after a good plundering, you’re as cheerful as the rest of us. But today it’s like you’ve got a rain cloud on your shoulder. Toph seems to be getting to you more than usual. What gives?”

Katara let out a little huff. “Are you really pretending that you didn’t just gang up on me with the rest of them down there?”

“We might have taken the teasing a little far,” Sokka admitted with a half-repentant shrug. “It’s just… it was kind of a surprise to see you take your intimidation game so hard in that direction. I mean, I’ve seen you tease a guy before but… damn, Katara.”

She blushed and turned her head up to examine a very interesting cloud. She had forgotten her brother was watching that play out… “It got out of hand.”

Sokka was quiet for a long moment, then sighed and, sounding like he really didn’t want to, asked, “Was it, though? Because in the moment, you really seemed to be having a good time.”

Katara snapped a glare on him. “Not you too.”

“What?”

“You are not going to pressure me to-! To-!”

“Pressure? Who’s pressuring you?” Sokka’s alarm suddenly became outrage. “Was it those soldiers? Toph mentioned the crew-”

“It’s Toph! She’s out of control! The guy is a Fire Prince - obviously an evil oppressor of all our peoples - and she wants me to jolly his roger like the most-”

“Horrible turn of phrase.”

“-important thing is me getting off!” Katara scoffed and threw one arm up in the air, still disbelieving. “It’s so much more complicated than that. He’s not just some guy. He’s everything that’s wrong with the world, but in a person!”

“Well, not everything…”

Katara turned wide, disbelieving eyes on him. Sokka just shrugged extra-deep.

“Don’t get me wrong, the guy fights like a war machine. But I’ve seen enough firebenders to know he wasn’t exactly going for kill shots.”

“He burned Toph!”

“She was touching her shield and it got hot. Besides, who wouldn’t take a swing at Toph? She’s a powerful bender and powerfully annoying. Risk of the trade. If she’s pressuring you to go after him, she clearly isn’t holding a grudge.” He squinted and raised an eyebrow as if thinking about it, then shook his head and went on. “I’ll talk to her about that. Or get Suki to do it. Kid needs guidance. Anyway, something about this whole situation feels off to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on. The Fire Lord only has a few kids, right? What’s one of them doing so far from home on that crappy little ship with about half the soldiers it’d take to fully crew it, much less defend it?” Sokka stroked his chin as he talked. Katara half expected him to whip out the detective hat and pipe. “That wasn’t a fighting force. Prince Zuko wasn’t out here leading any excursions to put down resistance factions.”

“What resistance?” Katara muttered sourly. “The last resistance in the South Seas disappeared with Dad.”

Sokka peered at her, and she could see the burning heart-deep sting, the horrible grieving aloneness in her chest reflected in his eyes. “For a long time, that was true,” he said carefully. “But now there’s us.”

“We’re one ship. A handful of kids.”

“And we’ve sunk how many steamers in the last year?”

Unbidden, Katara’s eyes slid sideways to the railing on the stairs up to the poop deck. It was scored deeply, one for every steamer sent down. The freshest notch was a quarter of the way up, with many older ones marching behind it.

“And now,” Sokka said quietly, “we have and are training the Avatar.”

“Nobody knows about that. Aang has been really good about keeping quiet.”

“Aang is a goofball kid with too much energy and not enough sense to protect himself. He’s not ready to go public and yet here he is trying to yuck it up and get philosophical with the first firebenders he meets since coming out of the ice. I mean,” he half-laughed, half-scoffed, “did you hear that arr-bender joke? Terrible!”

“I know…” Katara rubbed her arms as if to chase off a sudden chill. “I tried to tell him to stay away from them before dinner but he keeps talking about his friend from the Fire Nation. I think it’s hard for him to really internalize that it’s been a century and everything is different now.”

“Well he needs to get with the program quick.”

Sokka’s tone was all seriousness now and he turned his head to meet her eyes, concern knotting his brow.

“The ship’s log indicated their heading was for the South Pole. There weren’t any specific coordinates cited - just a note that the commanding officer intended to continue his search there. Katara, Prince Zuko was on his way to look for our village.”

Katara’s heart pounded for more than one reason. “Do you think he came here for us?”

There had been a few Fire Navy ships in recent months sent to capture them. Ambushing and sinking those ships was easy enough. It was much scarier to think that the Fire Lord might have sent his own son to target them…

…but the thought that this particular muscle-bound prince had come here to get her had a whole swarm of flutters battling it out in her belly. That Prince Zuko might have tracked them and laid a trap with himself as the bait, and now he was locked in the brig - perhaps as a part of his own plan… It gave Katara a wild tingle thinking about what might happen. What he might try to do.

She would stop him, of course, but… whatever he did, it’d be exciting to watch him try.

But Sokka just shrugged, wide-eyed. “I don’t know what he was after. With a fighting force that small, he’d be lucky to subdue a crew of normal pirates. And if he was hunting us specifically, he’d have had some reports about Toph and probably would have prepared his men to counter her somehow. I don’t think he came here planning on a direct fight. Maybe he meant to take the village hostage while we were gone and force us to surrender that way.”

“You think he wanted to take Gran-gran hostage?” Katara fumed, horrified and furious at the mere notion.

“I’m just not sure what else he could have had planned.” Sokka shook his head and scratched the back of his neck, leaning back on one arm. “And yet… I’m speculating on all that. Whoever wrote the ship’s log was wordy and did not follow standard reporting procedures so it might take some serious digging to figure out what Prince Zuko was really searching for. There’s a chance it wasn’t us at all. I mean, he seemed pretty surprised when we took his ship. And he adapted quick to Toph’s metalbending, but he made a big deal about her being blind. If he’d heard of us at all, he hid it well. Which is kind of weird all on its own…”

“Sokka, just because we’re the scourge of the South Seas doesn’t mean everyone’s heard of us.”

“No, but you’d think a prince sailing into dangerous waters would have at least gotten some kind of warning. They stopped at a Fire Nation shipyard near Whale Tail Island to refuel last week. Why wouldn’t the commander at that outpost tell him he was heading into our territory?”

“They probably did and he figured he could handle it because he’s an arrogant, entitled asshole.”

“Or maybe they were hoping he’d get captured because he’s such a charmer.”

Katara smirked, but it quickly faded. “His crew seemed to like him. If the commander tried to sabotage him, it might have been some kind of political thing. Jealousy or something.”

Sokka assessed her face for a long moment. “What did those guys say to you?”

“Ugh. Toph.” Katara rolled her eyes, then shrugged. “They overheard her loudmouth personal advice and started extolling his virtues like a pack of used boat salesmen.”

He scoffed, trying to hide a short laugh. Katara couldn’t help the grin spreading over her face.

“So I said - get this - ‘What is this? The FNS Wingman?’”

“Classic!” Sokka laughed, then slung an arm around her shoulders. “My little sister, making jokes and witty repartee. I’m so proud.”

Katara looped an arm around his back and leaned her head on his shoulder. The sun was beginning to grow warm in the east, cutting through the chilly night air. For a long moment they were silent, basking in some of the last sunshine they would see before autumn hardened the air and tucked the sun away for winter. At length, Sokka broke the quiet with a gentle, teasing tone.

“A whole ocean of guys and you let it ‘get out of hand’ with the Fire Nation prince who might be plotting to sabotage us. What is it about this guy?”

Katara didn’t really mean to answer, but she breathed it out anyway. “The way he looks at me when I’m winning.”

Sokka chuckled and squeezed her shoulders. “Well, you just keep on winning. And if you ever don’t win, don’t worry. Ole Sokka-” He grinned, bright as the rising sun. “-has a plan.”

.

.

The warrior, Suki, came with bowls of some manner of gruel shortly after dawn and, several hours later, Sokka appeared. He wore a simple blue tunic and a mild smile and he carried Zuko’s broadswords sheathed and tossed casually over his shoulder.

“Rise and shine, it’s sword-fighting time!” he chortled as he unlocked the door. “Ya like that? I came up with it just on the way down here.”

Zuko, who had been meditating (stewing) on his bunk and certainly not sleeping during the day like some kind of sluggard, practically leapt past where Iroh snored to get out the door.

“Finally. It’s hours past midday. I thought you weren’t coming at all.”

Sokka relocked the door and gave Zuko a once-over before starting for the stairs. “Aw, and you got all dressed up just for our fight? I’m touched.”

“It’s a training tunic,” Zuko snapped as he kept apace. “I don’t fight in my pajamas. Unless my ship is being attacked in the night.”

“But barefoot is normal.”

“…No.”

Sokka only kept walking, that easy smile irritatingly unchanging. “Forgot to grab your boots?”

Zuko glared at him and did not speak. He had to fall behind to follow Sokka up the narrow stairs to the next level of the ship.

“Oof, that’s gotta be tough. Forgot your boots and now they’re lost forever, sunk with your ship. Why, you might even get frostbite walking around with no shoes on-”

“I won’t get frostbite.”

“-but luckily ole Sokka has an eye for fine footwear.”

He shoved open a sticking door along a hallway of shut doors and Zuko followed him into an untidy cabin with a wide rumpled bed and shelves crammed with dusty objects. …And several items that Zuko immediately recognized as his. He surveyed the chaos with a scowl. Sokka paid him no mind as he threw open a trunk and fished around.

“It’d really be a shame to let quality leatherwork be lost at sea.”

He emerged with Zuko’s scuffed training boots and held them up like a specimen he was examining.

“Just look at this stitching! It’s so fine, you can’t even see the individual stitches. And you were just gonna leave these behind!”

In the trunk behind him, Zuko spied some of his other, less broken-in boots. “You took all my shoes? When did you do that?”

“Less questions, more deals,” Sokka said, dangling the boots just in Zuko’s grasp. “I’ll let you borrow these for our first round on the condition that they become your prize if you win instead of the swords.”

Zuko considered it for a moment, then tipped his chin up and met those clever blue eyes. “Alright. But I want an immediate second round for the swords.”

“I guess that’s not totally unreasonable.” Sokka smiled like a closing trap. “If I win that one, I want to know how you got that scar.”

Zuko thought about refusing, but what did it matter? He was going to win anyway. “Fine.”

He snatched the boots from Sokka’s grasp and shoved his feet into them, peering around at the packed shelves as he did.

“This is your room? What do you need with all this junk?”

“You never know what might turn out to be useful later,” Sokka said, picking up what looked like a lantern intended to float on a candle’s heat - though it was not quite like any paper lantern Zuko had ever seen. “Sometimes I look at this stuff and get ideas. Build stuff from other stuff. That kind of thing. Sometimes I just like knowing it’s here and not in the Fire Nation’s hands. All set?”

Zuko wanted to go back to the brig for some of his socks - which he had remembered - but he was impatient to get those swords back in his hands.

They made their way up to the deck where Suki and Toph waited, loitering around a little table and tossing bits of food - nuts or something - into the air for that strange little animal to swoop down and grab. Zuko had gotten only a glimpse of it last night. By daylight, though, the big ears and luminous eyes were much more recognizable.

“Is that a flying lemur?” He asked, stopping just past the door to watch it perch in the rigging and munch on whatever it had caught. “I’ve only ever seen those at the Air Temples.”

“Yeah, yeah, super rare animal companion,” Sokka huffed. “At his current pace, Momo’s gonna steal more food from us than we can steal from the Fire Nation. He’s a pirate among pirates.”

Zuko kept staring at the lemur. He had never been this close to one before. They had all been so skittish when he had spotted them during his search.

But then… he also remembered the desolation of the ruins, the ancient blast marks and lingering signs of devastation. The skeletal remains of air and fire people alike, bleaching just the same in the long years of weather but still telling a story of horror and murder and ruthlessness. Genocide.

Perhaps it was inevitable that a creature that lived in such a habitat carried some resonant awareness of the nature of the terrible deeds done there. The crimes and who had perpetrated them.

The lemur presently licking itself and making unsettling eye contact with Zuko, however, seemed to have left such reticence behind.

“Are you guys gonna wail on each other or just stand around sharing precious moments?” the warrior asked, making smirking eyes at Sokka.

“Yeah,” snickered the metalbender. “Would you two girls rather go back to swapping shoes and admiring cute animals?”

Zuko glowered at her, but Sokka was already talking.

“Suki, my love, I’m saving all my precious moments for you. Toph-” His tone dropped to prim annoyance. “-I don’t even know how to respond to such sexist generalizations, being as I am a confident man to whom girls and girly activities are totally fine and not demeaning in any way.”

“Haha, yeah, you almost believe that, Snoozles.”

“Do they have to be here?” Zuko demanded.

“Trust me,” Suki said with an unpleasant smile. “If Sokka gets hurt through no fault of yours, you’re gonna want as many witnesses as possible.”

“Uh, a little faith here? C’mon.”

“You should probably keep it down, too,” Toph added. “Sweetness is taking a little nap and she’ll probably turn you into a permanent prince-cicle if she finds out you’re cheating on her with her brother.”

“What?”

“Okay! Sword time!” Sokka suddenly swung the scabbard around and into Zuko’s chest - he caught it, but barely - and then strode across the deck, stretching out his shoulders. “Remember the rules. We stop at first blood, and no limb-chopping, throat-slashing or other lethal moves. No firebending,” he added with a smirk. “I think that covers it.”

“That’s not all the terms,” Zuko protested. “If I win, I keep my boots. If you win, I’ll tell you about the portrait. The second round is compulsory.”

“Right right right.”

Sokka wore an almost placid look on his face as he reached over his shoulder and drew the weapon waiting there. The blade was oddly dark, and the craftsmanship seemed especially fine - but it was difficult to tell from across the distance separating them.

Besides, Zuko had other things on his mind besides assessing more of Sokka’s stolen goods. He slowly drew the broadswords from their scabbard and tossed it aside. And then he began.

He separated the blades in the artful slashes of an opening sequence, then faced his opponent, whose standard beginning stance had sagged slightly. Sokka watched him with an incredulously curled lip.

“Aw shit,” piped the metalbender. “Better watch it, Sokka. Prince Pretty-hair came to play.”

“I came to win,” Zuko corrected. Then he attacked.

[itjazzbicch]

Looking Out For You

Pairing: Draken x Fem Reader

Summary: Being a girl in a gang is unusual in the readers conditions, but she uses that to her advantage, specifically in a fighting ring between gangs where she earns herself money, but also makes some enemies and when she thinks she’s done for, her friends come to save the day, Draken being the one to take care of her…

Warnings: Swearing, Male x Female fight, mentions of blood

Word Count: 3.6k

I DO NOT OWN THIS GIF:

“You gotta be kidding me!”

All of the guys at the fight were laughing hysterically whenever I stepped up, all of them pointing at me, some small girl, popping bubble gum with my hands in my pockets.

It looked like I was lost, but this exactly what I wanted.

“Who would bet on you, shorty?!” This guy was sure he had this fighting in the bag, poking my forehead to send me back some before going into stance, “I’m gonna get a whole lot of money out of this one.”

“Don’t go easy on me,” Pop went my bubble gum, shooting a smile as he ran after me.

All of these guys were so typical and easy to read. They were just street fighters, the crowd cheering him on as they thought he had the advantage:

“Show her who’s boss! Kick her little a-“

That boy threw his punch and it was so easy to dodge, raising up my knee and spinning to the side with my left, leaving the back of his head wide open for my right leg to shoot up and kick him in the head.

Silence fell as he dropped like a ton of bricks, knocked out cold, slumped murmurs falling out of his mouth with drool onto the concrete.

“What was that about kicking my ass?” I snickered, blowing another bubble, “Didn’t even lose any flavor in this gum yet!”

“Wha- Did she just knock him out?!”

They were all flabbergasted, meanwhile I was smiling, eyes locking onto my next contestant.

“You got lucky! But that won’t work on me, girly!”

Some shaved head idiot started raging toward me and right as he approached me, one kick up right under the chin.

He was tougher than the last guy, that one didn’t knock him out, but it wasn’t done just yet, smashing his head with an elbow and that one did the trick, having him falling to the ground just like his friend.

“Anyone here actually gonna give me a challenge?”

Looking around, all of the guys here we frozen, jaws on the ground with all eyes on me.

“No?” I popped my gum again, shaking my head, “What a shame. Make sure you’re all ready for next time. You haven’t seen the last of me!”

This was such an easy game. Considering my mother worked all night long and still didn’t make much money, I fought in these little tournaments between gangs to earn some money.

No one would ever bet on me because I was the only girl who would stepped up to a man, let alone gang members too.

I was a member of the Tokyo Majin Gang, but I rarely showed my face, so I was a mere stranger to everyone.

But I had a friend on the inside. He’d bet the money, I win the fights, we split the profit and we both get good money from it.

“You never fail, Y/N! Look how much yen we got this time!”

Heading over with Joko down the alley we always took home, he sure had a bright smile on his face and it went right onto mine.

“Oh hell yeah!” I smiled, taking my half, “Just imagine all cash we’ll get if we keep it up!”

“No kidding, sis!” He laughed, cheering as he skipped down the alley, but suddenly coming to a halt as he stumbled into a tall stature.

“Oh, hey Draken,” I nodded up at him, but his face was as stone cold as ever. Something told me that he wasn’t happy with me.

“Excuse me! I’m so sorry, sir!” Joko immediately bowed his head and kept posture.

I was close to Draken, so I didn’t bother, but did stay still whenever Draken commanded to Joko:

“You go on ahead home. Y/N and I need to have a talk. I’ll walk her home.”

“Yes, sir!” Joko bowed once more before waving to me and running off.

“Aww, Kenny. If you missed me that’s all you had to say,” I giggled, joining his side as we began our walk.

“What did I tell you about calling me that?!” He growled, making me laugh more:

“Don’t be so serious, my man! Anywho, what we do we need to talk about?”

“You can wait till we get to your place,” He murmured, hands in his pockets and following me along.

That wasn’t a good sign. Was something happening with the gang that I needed to know about?

Regardless, during our walk I prepared myself. Thank goodness my mother left already, heading in and getting us two colas , sliding on to him over the counter.

“So, we’re here. What’s the deal?” Some cola eased my nerves a bit, and finally Draken spoke his mind:

“So, why do I still keep hearing about a some short girl, who likes to pop bubble gum, showing up at gang fights for money?”

“Uhhh-,” I giggled softly, sipping my cola and clearly lying, “I have no idea! She sounds dangerous.”

“What did I tell you about fighting in those little rings, huh?” Draken wasn’t messing around this time.

Just great.

“That’s what this is about, man?” Why was he so worried about this?! “You know that I’m a taijutsu master! Those guys are so easy to beat! It’s easy money that I put towards the gang and take care of myself with. You know I don’t have it easy, Draken!”

“I get that, but it’s dangerous,” He glared deep into my eyes, he seriously didn’t want me doing this and I already knew why, “You’re a-“

“Girl?” I shot an intense glare right back at him. I hated whenever someone told me not to do something because I’m a girl. It’s such bullshit.

“And one of these days, you’re gonna run into a big dude that you might not take down!” Draken slammed his hands on the counter, already towering over me and that made him feel even bigger, “Or you’re gonna piss them off so bad that they’re going it try and jump you!”

“Like that’ll happen!” I slammed my hands down right in front of him and attempted to size him up, “I get why you worry, but come on! You’ve seen me fight!”

“For fucks sake, Y/N! What would you do if one day those guys get you alone, huh? And you have to fight a whole group of them without Joko or someone else with you? Tell me!”

His scenario did make me think and I truly didn’t know what I would do. Even my cockiness wouldn’t kick in while thinking about it.

“Listen,” Draken sighed deeply, trying to settle the tension between us, “I just want you to be careful, okay? You’re fighting between multiple gangs and I don’t want this to turn into a big issues when it’s stupid.”

Again, I just stayed quiet. I guess there were other ways I could earn myself some money, but fighting is one thing I’ve always known and it was the easiest route.

Coming around the counter, he placed his hand on my shoulder, looking down into my eyes:

“Do you at least understand where I’m coming from?”

“Yeah, I understand,” I whispered softly, staring at the floor till his fingertips lifted my chin so our gaze reconnected:

“I know you can kick ass, Y/N. You are a badass, you just can’t be so reckless.”

“Aww,” I couldn’t stand the seriousness anymore, getting him tongue tied when I twirled the strand of blonde hair in his face, “Who knew you were such a big softy.”

“Softly?! How dare you!” He growled, swatting my hand away, making me laugh more:

“Chill, man! You’re blushing, by the way.”

“Blushing?!” That only made his face more red and I held my stomach from laughing so much!

“It’s kinda cute though,” I just had to keep poking at him, till he booped my forehead:

“Whatever. I’ll see you later, shorty.”

“No hug goodbye? How rude!” I teased, thinking I’d get a cold shoulder, till he wrapped one arm around my shoulder and side hugged me:

“There? Happy now?”

That made me smile, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Draken hug anyone, let alone me!

“Yeah,” I smiled softly, stopping him before he walked out of the door, “And hey, I promise I’ll call it quits with the fighting ring for a while You did make a good point.”

“I always do,” He smiled softly, looking away for a moment thinking, and he made me smile even more, “Tomorrow the guys and I are gonna go for a ride and do some talking. Tag along, I know that bike of yours can ride.”

“Faster than yours,” I giggled, left smiling as he rolled his eyes, shutting the door:

“Whatever you say, shorty!”

*the next day*

Today was as typical as any other. School was easy, I went to taijutsu practice after and on the way out, I got the text to meet up so we could have some fun racing before the meeting.

I wasn’t paying attention while walking out the back door into the parking lot, sending Draken a text that I was leaving practice, but my head jumped up as I heard metal crashing.

My bike! That asshole I knocked out yesterday was smashing it with a bat!

“You dick!” I yelled at him, charging right for him till I felt someone grab me by the hair.

“What do you think you’re doing, huh?! Haha!”

The other guy I knocked out too?! I quickly grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm down and elbowing him in the joint as hard as I could.

That was enough to make him let go, backing away quickly to see that I was surrounded. That guy and all of his buddies were here.

Shit, this was bad. Very bad. To think Draken was right about this.

“You think we were just gonna let you off the hook after the stunt you pulled yesterday, huh?”

This was the first time in a long time I had to take my fighting stance in a real fight. I was surrounded, all of them closing in on me.

In that moment, I thought of what Draken said, what was I gonna do?

Looking around the circle, I was left with only one option. I picked out the smallest guy and punched his lights out to kick off the fight:

“I don’t go down easy! Bring it on, bitches!”

It’s been a while since I’ve been in a situation like this, but I didn’t go down without a fight. I actually took out a good bit of them.

It was just so hard to watch my back, that being the one disadvantage when I felt my hair get gripped up tight.

The grip left a burn in my scalp, but I wasn’t giving up, trying to kick the one guys away, but he kicked my knee out then kneed me right in the ribs.

That instantly knocked all of the wind out of me, about coughing up a lung, eyes heavy and head woozy whenever he picked my head up by the hair again:

“Told ya we’d teach you a lesson! Coming to our fight club and thinking you own the place!”

A punch right to my gut made me collapse, but he kept me up by the hair. All I could try to do in that moment was breathe, but the sound of motorcycle engines caught my attention.

Tires screeching made everyone come to a halt, hearing from behind me:

“Y/N!!”

Baji?

“You get your damn hands off of her!”

There was Draken right in front of me and he sent that dude into another atmosphere with just one punch.

Finally, I was let go and I fell to the concrete, curled up into a ball, coughing and heavily panting. Those punches and knee strikes were so strong I still couldn’t breathe right.

“Wait? She’s with the Tokyo Majin Gang?!”

That sure took them all by surprise. Glancing upward briefly, Draken, Baji, and Mikey were kicking all of their asses.

“Hey, Y/N! You gotta breathe! Don’t worry, I got you,” Mitsuya scooped me up in his arms softly and I tried my best.

Along with his coaching, I was finally breathing right, but damn did I feel like crap.

“You listen to me!” Everyone stopped what they were doing, all of those guys beat up and on the ground while Draken had their leader by the shirt.

I’ve never seen Draken so intimidating and terrifying before, that guy about pissing himself, shaking in fear as Draken growled in his face:

“If you ever even come near her again, it’ll be the last thing you ever do!”

“Now, fuck off!” Baji made sure to get one last hit in, laughing while they all picked themselves off and ran for their lives.

“How is she?” Mikey was the next to come over and I hated that they had to see me like this.

This was the first time someone managed to put me down in a brawl, attempting to stand up as I groaned:

“I-I’m fine.”

The moment I stood up, I collapsed again, but Draken was there, holding me in his arms:

“No you’re not, Y/N. You got a bloody lip and all.”

“And they destroyed your bike?” Mitsuya observed, and I was defeated, just laying my head against Draken’s chest:

“I have no idea how they found out where the dojo is. They completely blindsided me.”

“Baji, Mitsuya! Take care of her bike. I’m gonna take her home.”

“On it,” Mitsuya and Baji both came to my sides, helping me up to my feet.

“Don’t worry, I can hang on to your bike,” Holding my stomach, I limped alongside Draken, making sure to thank them all, “You guys really came in the Knick of time huh?”

“We planned on meeting up here after all, it’s a good racing start,” Mitsuya informed me, “Good thing we came when we did.”

“You know we always have your back, sis,” Baji smiled softly, Mikey smiling at me too:

“Always.”

“Thanks guys,” I said softly, head down as I went to Draken’s bike.

“You sure you’ll be okay for the ride?” Draken was hesitant to hop on because of my condition, but I climbed right on and just nodded.

This pain was like burning in hell. I was clinging onto Draken for dear life during that ride and it wasn’t even five minutes.

I was so grateful that my mom worked nights, if I came home like this and she saw me? Dear goodness, she’d lose her shit.

When we walked in the door, I had my back turned, ready to take care of myself alone, telling Draken:

“Thanks for bringing me home. I’ll take care of myself, I promise.”

“Y/N,” He sighed, shaking his head, “You can’t even walk.”

“Barely, but I’m still walking,” I went to take another step forward, but Draken shut and locked the door, coming and scooping me softly.

“You got anything to clean that cut?” He asked, taking me to my room and sitting me on the bed softly.

“Bathroom on the shelf,” I whispered softly, sitting there trying to hold back tears from how my ribs hurt.

I was so pissed that I allowed this to happen to me, that Draken was right about the bad side to this fighting ring stuff.

I never lost a fight and the fact that they had to jump me? What cowards.

“Alright, I got some wraps for your ribs too. I can tell they’re banged up,” Draken came back to me, kneeling in front of me as I sat on the edge of the bed.

“No kidding, guess I’ll just get it over with,” I went to take the wraps, but I stopped as he instructed:

“Lift your shirt up. It’s gonna be hard to do yourself.”

“O-Oh, okay-“

Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? On top of that, it hurt like hell when I lifted my arms up, biting my lip to hide the cry trying to come out of me.

“Here,” Draken slipped my shirt off like it was nothing, leaving me in my sports bra and when he looked down at me, gosh my cheeks were hot.

“T-Thanks,” No one ever made me stutter like this, I hope I wasn’t being too awkward, but it was like nothing to him:

“You’re welcome. I’m gonna try to be as easy as I can. You should ice this too.”

Running his large hand across my side, his hands were soft, which surprised me a little, the both of us noticing the bruises forming on me already.

“Ready?” Draken looked up to me for assurance before wrapping up my ribs and I just nodded, sucking in a breath, eyes shut tight but it didn’t stop the tears.

Even when he was as gentle as possible, the stings and pains were a lot.

“Hey, all done. It’s okay,” My eyes were still closed, but I felt his thumb wipe away the tears running down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Draken,” I cried softly, wiping the rest of my tears, “I should’ve have listened to you. I tried to fight, but there was just too many of them. I would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you and the guys.”

“It’s not your fault those guys are a bunch of punks,” Draken sighed, trying to help just because I was crying but I shook my head:

“You told me to stop fighting before something like this happened and I didn’t listen. I’m so stupid!”

“Listen, all that matters is that, we got you out of that fight,” When I felt him holding the side of my face, I finally looked him in the eyes, his gaze settling me along with his deepening voice, “There’s nothing we can do to change it, but it’s all gonna be alright.”

Nodding softly, I whispered softly, “Thanks again, Draken. I don’t think I can thank you guys enough.”

“Like Baji and Mikey said, we always have your back. Always.”

That put a small smile on my face and it was nice to get a smile back from him. It made all of the bad emotions start to drift away.

“Need anything else? Don’t worry about the little meeting. We can handle it another time,” I was so appreciative of him taking care of me and I did want to ask him something, but I was so nervous.

I always had the, fuck it, mentality, so I went ahead and asked softly:

“Do you mind s-staying the night?”

“Your moms not gonna get pissed, is she?”

Wait, he’s cool with it? That about made my eyes pop out of my head, snapping out of it a bit to reply:

“She crashes in her room as soon as she comes home. Literally always. I’m not worried about it. It’s just-“

“Just what?” No one’s ever seen me like this and I think that’s why Draken was being so understanding, extremely hard to get off my chest:

“That was the first time in my life I think, that I was truly scared. You know how some of these gangs are and what they do to girls. Let alone one who kicked their asses.”

“Now, you know I’d never let anything like that happen to you,” He assured, hugging me softly as he stood up, “Let’s get you laid down, you need to relax.”

That I surely agreed on, fixing my pillows and laying back as softly as I could, groaning through some pain, but relaxation waved over me as Draken turned off the lights, trying not to watch him too much as he tossed off his shirt, left in his tank top and shorts, definitely not admiring his tall, muscular stature.

He got into bed next to me as softly as he could, but the little bounce from his weight made my head hurt more, and he noticed how hard I closed my eyes.

“I’m sor-“

“It’s alright,” I cooed quickly, fixing my hair, “That guy about ripped my hair out and it still hurts.”

Everything came to a sudden halt, the pain I was feeling, my heart, time almost, whenever Draken scooted closer to me, kissing the top of my head softly.

“Hair pulling is such a bitch move.”

I went to speak, but nothing came out, my heart going double time as pet the top of my head softly, slicking my hair back.

“You alright?”

Sometimes he was so oblivious to others feelings, and I managed to get something out when I whispered:

“Is it okay if I tell you something?”

“What’s up?”

Again, completely oblivious. Hopefully, my actions made things more clear as I took his arm that was close to me, placing it over me softly, fighting tears again as I admitted to him:

“I feel so safe with you. Like nothing could ever hurt me.”

“That’s because you are,” Another kiss, but on my forehead, made those tears happy ones, feeling the drowsiness guiding me to sleep along with his whisper: “I’ll always protect you, Y/N.”

[trihallow746]

Rating Batim Ships (At least the ones I’ve actually seen people shipping)

(Also as a note, I don’t judge anyone based on if they ship any of these and the following are just my opinions so pls don’t get mad at me 😭 it’s all for goofs)

Henry/Joey

4/10

I don’t ship them at all but them being divorcees is funny as hell so they get points for that. This was definitely one-sided on Joey’s end at some point

Also I should mention the Ink Henry x Memory Joey variant of this. While I think it’s interesting and definitely less toxic than the original, I’m still not about it. Tho the score went up a point because of it

Sammy/Joey

3/10

This one also gets points for being funny as hell despite the fact that I don’t ship it at all. Just Joey pathetically pining after Sammy while Sammy does not care at all (and is annoyed by him). Incredible.

Tho I saw someone shipping them fr once and it was just

Sammy/Jack

8/10

While I see them more as being friends I still think this one is pretty cute. I love their duo

Tom/Allison

10/10

These two are really cute, very healthy, A+. I’m glad they at least have each other in ink hell

Susie/Allison

8/10

It’s pretty cute ngl. I think they could really help each other grow and be happy. Quite solid

Henry/Ink Bendy

-100/10

That is a father and his son absolutely not

Buddy/Dot

2/10

They are just friends. That was a whole thing in the book. Don’t like this one at all. Only got points because Buddy and Dot are a top tier duo

(Don’t mind my annotation)

Henry/Sammy

100/10

I really like the idea of them bonding in cyclebreaker jail and helping each other heal post BATDR. Also I’m biased because they make up 2/3 of my favorite batim characters trio

Sammy/Grant

6/10

I think these two would definitely vibe but I don’t know enough about Grant to feel too strongly about this one. Maybe there’s more of him in one of the books I haven’t read yet or I’m just uncultured on Grant idk

Susie/Sammy

4/10

I don’t really care for this one. I can’t really explain why I just don’t like it that much. Something is off but idk what. Maybe it’s because I like to headcanon Sammy as being gay. That’s really it tho

Wally/Sammy

5/10

Kinda confused by this one ngl but I’ve seen a couple people shipping it. It’s definitely not terrible I just don’t understand it. If you ship them pls feel free to explain why so I can better understand

Sammy/Ink Bendy

3/10

Not a fan of the vibes on this one. It does not seem at all healthy or able to grow into something healthy. I gave it some points tho cuz someone I follow on here likes it and I think they’re cool. Also I know this one is pretty popular so I’m sorry ya’ll 😭

Norman/Sammy

7/10

I like the idea of them being weirdos together. It has some interesting implications or possible angst due to the fact that Sammy killed him. Not my fav but still pretty solid

Joey/Bertrum

4/10

I mean sure? Bertrum didn’t really seem to like Joey at all in the games but in DCTL they were acting buddy buddy. Maybe it was the drinks idk. Either way this one kinda just exists to me but I have seen it before so it’s on here

Henry/Linda

8/10

This one’s only marked down a couple points cuz we’ve never met Linda before or know really anything about her, but I bet these two are a cute couple. This ship also has really sad implications for Ink Henry but at least Irl Henry is happy 😭

(I’m also now realizing that there are a lot of Sammy ships geez)

[cait-writes]

Breathe

I could feel it the moment you saw her. I could see the change in expression, your eyes trailing her movement as she walked by. The second she turned and winked at you, I knew you would be a goner.

It hurt when you told me that you’d be right back, that you were going to use the the restroom - or whatever excuse, I honestly don’t remember. I knew it was a lie when I saw you shove that napkin in your pocket, obviously a phone number was written down.

I see your face in my mind as I drive away, ‘cause none of us thought it was gonna end that way People are people, and sometimes we change our minds. But it’s killing me to see you go after all this time.

Our relationship started to change when we went from hanging out a few times a week, although on the phone every day, to only getting to see you once a week and maybe talk on the phone twice a week. Our vibe was different. As time went on, we started to talk less, laugh less. Everything went through one ear and out the other and your eyes were glued to your phone.

I vowed that last night when you promised to meet me for ice cream and you didn’t show, that I would stop pining for a man that would never be mine. I knew I should’ve said something when I had the chance but I couldn’t. I was scared. We haven’t seen each other since. No text messages.

It’s two am, feelin’ like I just lost a friend. Hope you know this Ain’t easy, easy for me.

When Colby messaged me today to invite me over for a small get together at the new house, I originally told him no. I was sick, I had so much to do, every excuse I could think of. Colby and I were close, but not as close as Sam and I. But he knew how things were going and promised that he would be by my side the whole night, said he missed me too. It took a lot of convincing, but I did eventually give in to him. Little fucker.

Have you ever been around people were once close, but now felt unwelcome? It was awkward and I immediately wanted to leave. Colby stood by the door and slipped his hand around my arm and guided us to the kitchen.

“He’s hanging out near the game room which is down that hallway. I think he’ll be occupied for a while. Let’s get some alcohol in our system and have fun, alright?” He asked, looking up at me through his lashes, a smile playing on his lips. I rolled my eyes before accepting the drink he held. The clear liquid burned as it went down, but it was better than what I was feeling in my mind. After a few more shots, Colby was whisked away by a few of our friends and I was left standing there at the kitchen island. A roar of laughter broke my thoughts and my eyes immediately landed on the cause. Sam with his arm draped around his girlfriend’s shoulders and a few others were making their way towards the kitchen.

Panic began to set in, it was hard to breathe, as I quickly looked for an exit, but his voice said my name and I ran for it. A group of people were blocking the patio door as I shoved through, receiving a few dirty looks. I didn’t care. I needed away. I couldn’t handle seeing him. Not yet.

I followed the concrete path to the pool where very few people lurked. I sat down on the and dipped my feet in.

Sam and I met this way. We were both invited to a party of a mutual friend and the house was small and cramped, shoulder to shoulder. He was there first with a drink in his hand, shoes and jeans unrolled in the pool. I called him a goof and he complained his feet weighed a ton. His cheeks were crimson as I pulled his legs up and he fell onto his back laughing. He said I had a pretty laugh. The next morning I got a text message from him. Our friend gave him my number.

A pair of legs appeared in my peripheral and the sound of shoes clunking onto the concrete broke me from my thoughts. His scent invade my senses and my eyes burned with the threat of tears. His arm slowly snaked around my shoulders as he pulled me to his shoulder. His breath was shakey, “I miss you too, ya know.” He whispered softly.