#i'm implying the splinter problem

[kraangdroidz]

I really enjoy looking at Donatello's characterisation - especially the 2012 version of Donnie.

I don't know why, but something specifically about the 2012 iteration of our favourite brothers draws me to them. Maybe it's because I think they have the most interesting and unhealthy brother dynamic to explore out of any version of the Turtles. But just to say right off the bat, I don't agree with the statement that Raphael is abusive toward Mikey in this version. I don't think this to be true at all.

But in the 2012 version of Donnie, I think it's the obsessional aspect of his character that I find interesting. People flame him hard for it - which is very valid - the way he treated April was very creepy, and some of the things he did April had no knowledge of, (Like Donnie taking a photo of her and having it as his laptop wallpaper). But I like doing a little more when it comes to characters' less-than-ideal traits. Yeah, what they're doing is bad, creepy, etc. But why exactly might they be acting that way?

For Donnie, I think his problem is how he looks.

In the 2012 iteration, we never really see the turtles have a strong desire to be human. Mikey sometimes doesn't understand that humans will be scared of him, but he never lashes out and has a big moment like, 'I want to be a human so I can make more friends!' We see Mikey wonder what he'd look like as a human in an episode after Donnie creates retromutagen - with Mikey assuming if he used retromutagen on himself he'd turn human and not back into a regular turtle.

It is played as a joke, though, and he doesn't seem genuinely upset by the fact he's stuck as a turtle, as he is seen smiling after saying he wondered what he'd look like.

Interestingly enough, Donnie is the one to be portrayed as having a negative view attached to being a mutant more than any of his brothers.

Outside of being a mutant, it is implied that Donnie already has a fragile self-image anyway.

Remember the episode Turtle Temper? I think it's the third episode of the first season. But at one point, the other turtles are instructed to shoot arrows at Raph, while Raph has to try and avoid the arrows. Splinter makes it clear, however, that Mikey, Leo, and Donnie are allowed to insult Raphael during the exercise.

I've seen another content creator say that the insults they throw at Raphael could be more them self-projecting views they have on themselves rather than them actually thinking these things about their brother. Leo says, 'And you're always whining, poor me, nobody understands me.'

While this is easily applicable to Raph as an insult from Leo - Leo does have his own fair share of moments where he has gone to Splinter complaining that the others aren't listening to him or respecting him, that they don't understand the burden he has to hold as leader.

Mikey tells Raph he moves like a bloated buffalo - which, although never hinted at in the show, could imply that maybe Mikey is insecure about how much he eats. Maybe his brothers have made comments about his greediness.

Donnie says, 'Oh! You can't keep your back straight during Omote kote Gyaku! And you're ugly!'

I think the first part is interesting as Donnie is the tallest out of his brothers - gangly limbs could mean Donnie has more difficulty knowing how to stand, how to sit, so on so forth. A lot of tall people can feel really awkward as a result of their height.

Donnie most likely is sat over a desk all day, and again, being tall, Donnie has more of a slouched posture out of his brothers. I think it was Karai that also insults Donnie in an episode by calling him scrawny, in which he responds, 'And I'm not scrawny! I'm svelte!' Svelte meaning slender and elegant.

Raph has also insulted Donnie's looks before in an episode, and again, it is unclear if this is a common occurrence, but knowing 2012 Raph's character, it's probably happened on more than one occasion.

Donnie : And why do you keep grabbing me by the face? What is wrong with my face?!

Raph: Do you want me to list the reasons alphabetically or in descending order of grossness?

So regardless of being mutated or not, it seems Donnie just has a generalised lack of confidence and some issues surrounding how tall he is.

But to his issues regarding being mutated.

Donnie might've previously not had any issues with being a mutant. Before, it might've been just a general lack of confidence, as I have already said. But in society, looks are always seen as a good trait to possess if you want to have any shot at a love life. You need to fit into the beauty standards and be attractive if you want a partner.

Before April, his brothers would've been the only thing to compare himself to. He lived in a home with only mutants for fifteen years of his life - so had normal teenager issues of going through puberty and insecurities. A lot of people can feel odd/uncomfortable and dislike their growth spurts, which is why Donnie's issues at first might seem like normal things for a teenager to worry about. Donnie's biggest issue would've been how scrawny and lanky he saw himself.

But when they meet April, there is a glaring difference.

Suddenly, there is somebody in his life who isn't a mutant like him. It becomes abundantly clear to Donnie that from somebody else's standpoint, their biggest issue with him wouldn't be his tooth gap or his height, but just the plain fact that he's so different. Inhuman. Out of the ordinary. A mutant.

When he's rambling to Timothy (Mutagen Man at this point) about why April might be on a date with some punk kid (Casey) the conclusion he resorts to is, 'Because he's human, that's why.'

At the end of the episode A Foot Too Big, when Donnie apologises to April, he says, 'I'm just... a mutant.' Again, this shows Donnie jumps to the conclusion that this is why April doesn't want to be with him, not his overbearing nature or the fact that she just genuinely might not be interested. The problem in Donnie's mind is that he's mutated.

The fact that Donnie used the word 'just' implies that being a mutant is all that Donnie has boiled himself down to. He thinks that his other traits aren't worthwhile or good - like him being funny, smart, inventive - because he thinks that nobody would pay attention to those aspects of his personality. At the end of the day, he thinks nobody will be able to see him outside of being a monster.

In Fungus Humungous, the hallucination of April that Donnie experiences calls him an 'ugly mutant freak'. It is unlikely April actually thinks this of Donnie, but it's what Donnie thinks she does because it's his biggest fear. I'd like to split Donnie's hallucination into two parts. April insulting Donnie about being a mutant, and Donnie's hallucination of April kissing Casey.

We see April kissing Casey. I think the fact that this part of the hallucination comes second is meant to represent this fear of rejection and insecurity surrounding being a mutant are two sides of the same coin. His fear of April choosing Casey is a by-product of his main insecurity. We are shown April calling Donnie an 'ugly mutant freak' first. Donnie isn't afraid to lose April as a person to Casey. He's afraid of losing his only hope at feeling confident to Casey.

In the first half of the hallucination, it shows that April uses a sharp tongue like a whip.

This tongue is shown to go through Donnie's heart and subsequently breaks it.

"To have a sharp tongue" means to be quick to criticize, speak harshly, or make cutting remarks; essentially, someone who is often unkind or sarcastic with their words.

I think this represents that, over anything, it is April's words that break his heart more than her actions. It is her disgust at him being a mutant that shatters him. It's what makes him crack in the episode. He starts screaming, runs away, and shouts that he, 'doesn't want to hear anymore.' This is Donnie's breaking point. Her sharp tongue and words, over her actions like kissing Casey, that is Donnie's true biggest fear.

Donnie doesn't want to be with April purely because he loves her. To Donnie, it would be more than April simply making a choice on who to partner up with. It would be confirmation for Donnie that the issue all along was because he's a mutant.

The point I'm trying to make is that Donnie is more obsessed with trying to improve his own self-image than he is obsessed with April as a person.

He wants to use April as a means to prove someone could love him despite appearances because, as I said earlier, looks are important to a lot of people. Gaining a romantic partner would most likely grant Donnie the confidence, the consolidation that he 'isn't ugly after all' because someone managed to fall in love with him. That is why he so desperately chases after April.

He chases after the feeling of confidence.

His character kills me.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

was rereading the convo dirk has with dave and was captivated by the subtle work done to indicate how very much this was not actually a good or productive convo for dirk, and a capstone on the toxic mess that is him and hal

in the exact same conversation that dave is explaining, and dirk is seemingly accepting, that beta!dirk/bro should not have been allowed near a child, dirk chooses to bring up hal. and he does it to be really shitty.

DIRK: Creating him was an interesting exercise I guess, but over the years I came to see his development as one of my biggest mistakes. DIRK: He sort of turned into a monster. But I could never bring myself to get rid of him, or even really blame him for being an asshole, because he wasn't actually that different from me.

like... hal is dirk's younger brother/kid, right?

that's part of the reason that when hal starts using a different color, it's dave's red. in one part, the orange/red split is evocative of dave/davesprite, casting dirk/hal as foils, but... i don't think the lil bro/"kid i'm responsible for" vibe is unintentional, either. especially when paired with the fact that the brainscan is of 13-year-old dirk, and that the words "nascent" and "emergent" are used to describe hal's consciousness, all implying an element of youthfulness or childishness to him that isn't applied to dirk.

hal is fully sapient, has real feelings (by dirk's own admission, too), and is also, like, completely his own guy. he's not a dirk splinter, he's a computer housing a dirk splinter, and he and dirk only think they're the same guy because their individual issues happen to perfectly align in the worst possible way.

so if you look at their relationship through that lens instead - a frankenstein/frankenstein's monster scenario (which is also directly and intentionally an exploration on parenthood) at best and dirk Pretty Much Actually Just Making A Child at worst - doesn't it become really fucked up that Dirk tried to kill him?

Doesn't it become really fucked up that Dirk is outright calling him a "mistake" and a "monster"?

the other really interesting thing here is when he talks about Jake - specifically, the way he chooses to "make it up to" jake. which is to say, he doesn't.

DIRK: I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to avoid me as much as possible. DIRK: I'm sure that's for the best. DIRK: I think I need to stay out of his business for a good while, so I don't risk poisoning another innocent kid's life.

This isn't a solution. Hell, this isn't even an apology. This is just self-isolation, self-punishment, more of Dirk's martyrdom complex and teen boy diva bullshit.

yes, dirk hates himself, but the actual toxic loop he's stuck in is one where he doesn't address any of his problems. he identifies what his issues are, he feels really bad about them, he can enunciate them very clearly to other people, but then, instead of fixing them, he inflicts punishment on himself and then calls it a day.

We know that this is a bullshit thing to do to Jake because we know the situation from jake's side of things.

GT: Do you think you could relay the same sentiments to dirk? GT: I was thinking about all the stuff he said to me while we were all telling him to dance. GT: And yeah i was really being a prick when i ran away to lomax. GT: He was right about everything. I should have come clean about wanting some space.

jake wants reconciliation! jake wants to address the fact that he failed and apologize! jake wants to be friends again!

self-punishment is not a solution, and while I don't think dirk is entirely cognizant that he's doing it, by venting to dave - who literally has no idea what's been going on in dirk's group - he's able to frame the story - ahem, control the narrative - to justify his own shitty choice to not actually improve as a person, but instead to wallow in his own self-inflicted misery. If he'd said what he did about Hal to Jake, Roxy, or Jane - all of whom recognized hal's personhood and emotional reality to some degree, and spoke with him extensively - how would they respond? If they knew he'd tried to kill Hal, how would they respond?

The answer to that is why he doesn't tell them, and has got to be ticking in the background to explain why Dirk chooses to isolate himself from them. Put simply, I think the reason why he seems to think his friends never know the worst of him is because he deliberately avoids showing them. If he showed them, they wouldn't stay quiet, and if they didn't stay quiet, he'd actually have to... do something about it, instead of just indulging in some self-punishment and walking away feeling like the problem was solved.

and i think part of why he's so terrible to hal is because, on some level, he recognizes that he does kind of owe it to hal to be better. because, you see.

Hal is his kid.

hal's existence, hal's circumstances, and hal's suffering are a direct result of dirk's decisions, and hal is taking him to task for them. the things dirk really resents about hal are less the ways that hal is a reflection of dirk, though that's in there too, but the fact that hal is asking dirk to take responsibility. actual responsibility. that hal keeps confronting him with the fact that he's the one who caused hal's plight, he's the one with the power to fix it, and he's the one choosing inaction and avoidance.

TT: I'm guessing she's touching base to remind me about the party tomorrow. TT: I don't know what to tell her yet. Or Jane, for that matter. TT: It could get pretty awkward. TT: I have no idea if Jake will be there, and I'm not about to write another cringe-inducing message of desperation for him to ignore. AR: Would you like me to calculate the probability of his attendance? TT: Fuck no. AR: Are you sure? AR: My probabilities are extremely precise. TT: Your probabilities don't mean dick. AR: I could hack his chats, and determine what his plans are. TT: No. Don't do that either. [...] TT: Just don't do anything. Seriously. TT: No hacking, no calculations. Do absolutely nothing.

That's why Dirk takes such exception to the AI thing, too.

AR: In any case, my use of the responder responder is ironic. TT: It's not ironic. TT: YOU were ironic when I made you. TT: Then you became self-aware, and ruined irony forever.

then you became self-aware - in other words, "then you became a free-thinking entity and those jokes became reminders that your situation is fucked up, and i'm the one who put you in it". in other words, "and then you were born, and i had to be responsible for that". because, after all, the AI jokes that dirk hates so much? those aren't a reflection of dirk. that's all hal, baby. dirk can't use his "i hate you because i hate myself" excuse on that.

now i don't want to make it sound like i'm saying that dirk is a monster or anything. he does care, very fucking deeply, about his friends. and i think this conversation was genuinely very cathartic and helpful for dave. and it is, genuinely, very tragic that he does actually hate himself to the point where he finds it difficult to believe that he can get better, or even that he deserves to get better.

but those feelings have transformed into a vastly more harmful attitude of wilful, obstinate refusal to change, and even outright resentment and fear towards those that would ask him to. it's subtler than some of the others, but his convo with dave really highlights that dirk has not finished developing as a character yet. and i think it's really neat.

[thecomicsnexus]

TMNT: 40TH ANNIVERSARY COMICS CELEBRATION

July 2024

By Kevin Eastman, Edgar Alan Poe, Jim Lawson, Tristan Jones, Gary Carlson, Chris Allan, Erik Burnham, Lloyd Goldfine, Ciro Nieli, Andy Suriano, Tom Waltz, Ronda Pattison , Tom Napolitano, Steve Lavigne, Paul Harmon, Frank Fosco, Adam Guzowski, Sarah Myer, Luis Antonio Delgado, Shawn Lee, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Michael Dialynas, Pablo Tunica, Freddie E. Williams II, David Petersen, Ken Mitchroney, Aaron Hazouri, Dan Duncan, Sophie Campbell, Jodi Nishijima, Stan Sakai, and Emi Fujii.

Come and enjoy stories that will remind you of the 40 years of turtle history.

SCORE: 10 *

* Assuming you are familiar with these iterations.

This is a strange read, and curiously, there are three or four highlights for me, and they are not exactly the ones you would imagine.

Spoilers after the break...

The first story by Kevin Eastman is in the Mirage section of the book but... well... I'll leave at that... I wouldn't call it the Mirage we knew.

There is a story by Lawson and Lavigne with the Rat King that... it's fun. But, you know... I wouldn't even try to fit it in canon... the amount of continuity physics you need to bend to place this story is not worth the time. Just enjoy as a new story by these two iconic Mirage artists.

This other story by Tristan H. Jones and Paul Harmon requires more analysis. I'll revisit it on my gang wars video and try to give it more context... but unfortunately... it's just too vague. All I can say for sure is that it happens in the future of that incomplete saga, but the narrator just takes too many artistic choices to be taken at face value.

Also... I believe this is the first official (frontal) appearance of Agent Bishop (unless I got the character wrong, but Jones already tried to introduce him in this saga). I think he is still holding on to it, and I really hope he gets to tell his story. I wouldn't mind a mini-series... just saying!

The Volume 3 story was... not for me. The dialogue alone felt tired.

The Archie adventure was short, eventful, and funny... and it looks amazing too!

In just four pages a new character was introduced and... a new love story was implied! And it's not just a gratuitous cameo... this is a funny sequence.

The Saturday Morning Adventures (the de facto 87 story) looks amazing as usual, but I didn't find the story that interesting. However, it started a theme that would run across most of the stories in this special after this one: Master Splinter.

The 2003 story is a... loose canon?

Hun is Slash, and Shredder is back... so make of that what you want. All I'm going to say is that this felt a lot like watching the beginning of a 2003 episode, with the narration setting the tone.

The 2012 story was one of the least interesting in the previews, but I have to say... it was probably one of the best. It brought back a villain and it technically serves as an excuse to continue the series?

But to me the best thing about the story is the art. I am surprised Ciro Nieli didn't do more comic book work for the Turtles all these years. In fact, if they somehow decided to continue the 2012 universe in 2D in this style... I'm all in. Well, who am I kidding... I would be in anyway... but this looks amazing.

Andy Suriano did probably the most interesting story in the book. Now, I am not sure if his style doesn't translate well to static panels or what the problem is with the comic format... but it doesn't matter... this small story brought in a lot of things that ended on the editing floor after the show's second season was reduced to a few more episodes. There was a rumor about a female turtle, and not only it is here in all its glory, but there is also a brother?

And come on... it's so Lou Jitsu to die with a cliffhanger.

There are two IDW stories. One is another Splinter story, but the other one is perhaps one of the best in this book.

The Ronda Pattison story takes place just before the Armageddon game, and it shows the five turtles in full sibling dynamic (even Jennika). It was refreshing to see these turtles having fun for a change.

There are no stories by the new team, but... well... that's just starting.

[beevean]

You know what. I'm salty at the defenses I am seeing towards Lenore from her stans who swear she's morally grey and tried her best, so here's a collection of ways the show told us she has good traits, but showed the complete opposite.

Under cut because I like my images.

Lenore is said to be an animal lover, so kind and selfless that she'd tear the castle upside down for the sake of making a splinter for a spider. She also describes Morana as someone who enjoys torturing people because she finds it calming. Yet, when Carmilla is called out for beating up and dragging Hector to Styria in precarious conditions, it's Morana who points out the pragmatic inefficacy of such a treatment, using more or less the argument of someone who disapproves of torture, while Lenore simply giggles as she speaks, and only intervenes to propose to "solve Hector's problem". She looks like she isn't taking Hector's situation as seriously as a supposed animal lover would if they heard of a dog getting abused, and is only enjoying the schadenfreude of her bestie getting reprimanded: her proposal, therefore, only seems to come from a place of wanting to flex her skills to one-up Carmilla, like an insecure girl trying to keep up, and not out of pity for the "mistreated animal" that is Hector.

Lenore's reaction to Hector threatening her, which she takes more as an insult to her demure appearance than a real concern, is to savagely beat Hector to a pulp and then molest him with a forced kiss, in what is clearly not self-defense, or even a fair punishment, and more of a way to make him feel weak. This is completely against the point of a supposed pacifist who doesn't need Carmilla's brutal methods to wrap people around her fingers, and the only reason she got away with this is that she found a way to blame Hector while Carmilla could not. She never raises a finger again, not even when justified, like when Isaac actually threatens her life, making this act feel OOC at best and utterly vile at worst, painting her as a lying bully who picks on weak people when it's convenient to her.

Striga, the one Lenore describes as a "warrior", is the one denouncing that using Hector to create an army would kill too many people, and Morana, the one Lenore describes as someone who delights in torture, is the one who proposes the more peaceful compromise of hiring mercenaries. It is all for pragmatic and not moral reasons, but by all means, they have found a way to make an army by causing less bloodshed than Carmilla had planned.

Lenore, who loudly denounces hating war later on and has overheard the two talking, ends up forcing Hector in the position of slave anyway, meaning the others have no choice but to use him, and we do see in S4 that they deliver fresh corpses for Hector to turn into Night Creatures. More people died than necessary, because of her. This implies that Lenore does not care in the slightest about humans' wellbeing and to prevent needless death, and makes her choice to enslave Hector all the more self-serving, to prove herself and to get herself a cute fuckable pet.

You don't get to cry that you don't like when people die when you had a much better solution in front of you and you sabotaged it all so that you could parade your success to the council for the sake of looking cool and efficient.

Also, notice the wording. It's not that war and mass extermination is wrong and atrocious: after all, "Carmilla's plan buys [them] security for hundreds of years," and that's all Lenore cares about. But it makes her uncomfortable. God forbid she isn't living in perfect peace with herself.

Lenore uses rape by deception to force a slave ring on Hector that would physically bind him to the castle and stop him from harming the council. This feels highly unnecessary, considering Hector clearly liked and trusted Lenore by the time she gave him that book, and the only reason he hesitated to accept her deal was his fear of Carmilla... a problem that solved itself once Lenore said "actually Carmilla no longer needs you" (although the show forgets about Striga's reasonable concerns about using a Forgemaster to build an army). She could have sweet-talked Hector into accepting to be her pet, since she was the only one left in the castle who wanted him alive and well, and were she a good manipulator, he would have accepted. Hell, she could have given him the ring too, if she really wanted him to work (she could have simply not mentioned that effect of the ring until it was too late). No need for violence and submission with a prisoner this pliant. Lenore clearly draws pleasure out of humiliating Hector - see also the leash, which had no purpose other than to make Lenore aroused at the mental power she holds over Hector (this counts as psychological torture, by the way) - and if she eavesdropped on Striga, who also complained about Lenore taking too long to "domesticate" Hector, then the choice to rape him into slavery seems to come out of spite against her for underestimating her and from a desire to prove herself, because she couldn't handle the idea of being considered useless or obsolete, compounded by the disgusting way she gloats to the council afterwards like she's looking for approval from her evil sisters.

Lenore, the supposedly highly skilled diplomat who is on good terms with her friend Carmilla and who despises being seen as "soft and weak" for her pacifism, only cowers into submission when she rants about wanting to expand her plan of conquest. She makes zero effort to talk her out of it, or to strike a compromise with Striga and Morana when they're set to slaughter armies of innocent farmers (which they show more pity for!), only going to pester Hector while he's working because "he listens to her" (not pointing out that he literally doesn't have a choice). She comes off as a massive coward who can only talk the talk with mentally vulnerable people but doesn't try to make her voice heard when it becomes time to actually be a real diplomat, not just a sexual dominatrix. (I'm also personally disappointed that her idea of "protecting" Hector from Carmilla's increasing ire is to essentially call him too much of a retard to be plotting betrayal, and not, say, to physically put herself in harm's way to show how she truly cares about him.)

Lenore, the supposed animal lover who prides herself in her desire to "make peace", shows no moral concern about Carmilla's nightmarish plan of turning the world into a penstock. No talk about the terrible living conditions humans would be forced in, the diseases that would kill thousands, the forced breeding and all that it entails. Nothing of this. Not only she admits that she went along with the plan because "the pen was about securing our survival and safety for centuries to come. It was an insane idea, but we could stretch and make it work", confirming that she's fine with massive "animal" abuse for the sake of food, but Lenore's major concern is her own self-esteem, as she feels sidelined by the others and like there's no place for her skills in Carmilla's view of the world, which makes her feel useless:

[...]

[...]

(her complaining to the man that she raped into slavery that she feels sad that "he was the last problem she had to solve" is only the cherry on top of the shit cake. something something "oh shush you were having fun")

She could have made a more general point about how she's concerned that the time of peace seems to be over, but then why make it all about what she can offer? Remember: she chose to rape Hector into slavery so that he'd be forced to lend his Forging powers, rather than let Morana hire mercenaries, heavily suggesting that her main concern was not Hector's wellbeing, but her own reputation as an indispensable part of the council. This is only confirmation.

The finale truly clinches how little Lenore cared about the moral implications of Carmilla's plan, echoing the "war makes me uncomfortable" sentiment from S4E2:

She was not horrified by the fact that Carmilla would have brought incommensurable death and mayhem, but that she would have upset Lenore's comfortable life too much. Zero character development or coming around. Her "animal lover" trait was only an excuse to treat Hector like a dog, not any shade of true compassion.

Lenore, who allegedly has come to care for Hector as a person and someone worthy of love, not only never once asks him his opinion or how he's doing, but she viciously rebukes him when he dares to complain about the way she "solved" his problem (which, as a reminder, was lying to him that she wanted to run away with her, to get him to have sex with her under the false pretense that she was his ally, so that she could put a painful slave ring on his finger and then smirking while he was in agony - she shows no remorse about any of this)...

... and then doesn't seem to even consider the idea of freeing him of the ring once the castle is under attack, knowing full well that the ring, that she put on him and she gloated about and she was reminded of some days prior by a disgruntled Hector, traps him inside.

I talked more about the appalling and one-sided way Lenore treats Hector in S4 here.

Lenore, who allegedly is "different" from other vampires and strives to be more human, by the end of the day behaved no differently from them: she lived and died as a hedonistic, sadistic, treacherous, self-centered, arrogant, power-hungry, possessive, stagnant, cowardly bastard who folded the moment things got a bit uncomfortable for her. If the idea was that she wanted to be better than her own nature, she failed spectacularly, as she clearly enjoyed all the perks of vampirism like feeding on human blood and hoarding "lost" technology she could flex to the stupid human and beating up humans and owning human pets that would make her feel better about herself. Her "diplomacy" is nothing more than a façade and looks more like a refusal to rock the boat than a real principle of hers. The most one can say about her that is different from other vampires is that her sense of self-esteem was incredibly brittle, as most of her worst actions seems to be driven by a desire to be accepted by her peers, and it's what makes her so weak and petulant in S4 - the writing's "attempt" to make her look like an immature girl, I suppose. Her only "good" actions were keeping her promise of improving Hector's living conditions (but moslty because she needed him to be in top working and fucking conditions), choosing him over her old friend when Isaac attacked (although I don't know what she planned to do with him), and removing herself out of Hector's life so that he could finally be free of her toxic influence. For the rest, she was in short a selfish centrist with no alliance other than to herself, whose main concern was her own comfort and pride, whose biggest source of pleasure was lording her power over the one creature more pathetic than herself, and who, as she put it, "lived a lie" of being a better person than she was willing to admit.

It's almost impressive how Lenore comes off as a bigger hypocrite than Carmilla, who is one canonically. She could be such a despicable villain with even a hint of depth, if the writing (and its fans) didn't lie to me with a bold face about her "inner goodness" or shit. She's not morally grey just because she didn't kill people on screen (although, given that she's an old vampire...), she's just a two-bit antagonist in the grand scheme of things and a waste of true moral complexity.

[teesy738]

Okay, so I've been playing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles couch co-op game with my partner recently (I've been a fan of the Turtles since the early 90's) and am shocked I've only JUST made certain connections:

Hunter and Leo: The Stoic Leaders, the souls of the team

Hunter and Leo are the eldest and most mature of their teams. They're the wisest and are often the strategists and the ones giving the orders. They see the team as their responsibility and see the team's failure as a failure of their leadership. Also, blades.

Tech and Donnie: The Techno Geniuses, the brains of the team

These two are so similar. They both love technology, they're both autistic (Donnie is canonically autistic whereas Tech is heavily implied to be), and are the smartest members of their teams. Need I say more?

Wrecker and Mikey: The Loveable Dudes, the hearts of the team

While Raphael is the muscle of the TMNT team Wrecker's personality so much more like Mikey. They're fun loving goofballs who have a passion for life. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and laugh freely. Even though Wrecker does become more mature in season 3 I feel he's still the least mature member of the team, much like Mikey.

They also both have food on the brain a lot. Mikey talks about pizza WAY more than his brothers.

Crosshair and Raph: The Snarky Loners, the mouths of the teams

Again, this is less about their abilities and more about their personalities. They're both the angsty hotshots. They're quick to anger and quick to anger others. They'd rather face their problems alone and often antagonize the team leader. The team bad boys.

Outside of the Batch and the Turtles I'd say April's closest parallel would be Phee, but beyond that I'm not sure. I can't think of an Echo or Omega equivalent, and while I'd love to say 99 is like Splinter, 99's involvement in the Batch's upbringing is purely fanon.

Either way, let me know what you think!

[mangomode]

[Authors note - I found this in my drafts and decided to publish it cos I'm never gonna finish it. I'd appreciate any sort of feedback! Seriously, Tumblr notifications fill me with unbridled joy.]

Camping!!

Rise Raphael X GN!Reader

(Self-deprecation, teasing, implied romantic feelings, the very slightest bit of suggestiveness at the end <- does it even count? Idk)

Raphael sits next to you at the campfire, impaling a marshmallow with a roasting stick as he distractedly sings along to the music coming from Leo's speaker. The night is serene. A slight breeze ruffles the green grass and leaves around you all, and the stars and moon bathe everything in a silver light. The fire sparks and crackles. 

Raph had pulled up a chair to sit next to you, even though he could have sat anywhere. Is that a sign? You glance at him nervously and look away just as quick. He doesn't notice, doesn't look at you with those big kind eyes of his. Hopeful expectancy, that's how he always looks at you. Like you're about to do a backflip or solve world hunger. You wonder if he finds himself disappointed when you're nothing special.

"Y/N? You good? You don't seem to be having fun." He snaps you out of your thoughts. His eyes look good in the firelight, and the corners of his mouth turns down in a worried frown that almost catches you off guard, or it would, if he wasn't so much of a sweetheart. It's been a while since he spoke. You can't just keep admiring him. You need to reply. 

"Oh, um, no, I'm fine. Just lost in thought, zoning out. I tend to just stare into the fire and lose track of everything, you know?" You laugh, ha-ha, convincing, right? 

He hands you a s'more, the marshmallow exactly how you like it, and you manage a small genuine smile that he returns. "Thanks, Raph..." 

"It's no problem." He grins. "Man, it's nice that we get to be out in the open like this, without being too worried about being seen." 

"I hope Splinter's ok." You say between bites of the delicious treat. 

Donnie answers. "He'll be fine, I have S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. catering to his every desire." 

"He's probably passed out on the couch as usual." Leo chuckles, his usual smirk accentuated in the firelight. Everyone laughs a little. "Not to change the subject, but where's your tent, Raph? It's not exactly where you left it, you know..."

Leonardo gives the most shit-eating grin, and Raphael looks so distressed that you look to where his tent used to be, and, low and behold, it wasn't there anymore. Raph is very audible, although he doesn't say anything at all, it's mostly stuttering and struggling to respond. His brothers laugh. 

"How is that funny?" You almost laugh. It sounds like such a ridiculous think to laugh at. You look at Raph curiously.

"I-its just, um... y-you know... it could be dangerous out here! W-wolves and stuff! So I just, uh, just thought that maybe you shouldn't be all by yourself! Is... is all..." Raph makes out, visible sweating, causing his brothers to laugh. You can't tell if it's the orange firelight or his blush, and you hope it's the same for you, because you can faintly see his tent in the distant darkness; a few feet from yours. "You could get ramshackle-d!" He finishes.

"I do not think you even know what ramshackle means." Donnie looks at Raph with an expression of annoyance, and Mikey responds. 

"Y/N seems like the kinda guy that would get ramshackle-d!"

"Man, I'll ramshackle your face!" You laugh, very grateful for the relief of awkwardness and glance at Raph, who looks absolutely anxious. You stare at him for a second. "It's getting late, I think I'll turn in now. Night, guys." 

You walk into the dark, the chorus of "good nights" following you before the only sound you can hear is the crunching of rocks under your feet and Leo's annoying voice faintly saying, "I think your girlfriend wants you to go to bed now, Raph." 

You blush and shake your head. Leo is a jerk, that much is certain. As for the rest of it...

[quirkwizard]

I'm not sure why I made this. I just thought it would be fun to do and now all you have to see the fruits of my labor. So, without further ado, the Pro Hero Parent Tier List. Hope you all enjoy it and try not to take it too seriously.

F Tier: Gran Torino, Recovery Girl, and Yoroi Musha: The simple fact is that these three characters are way too old to be parents. Maybe if this were a grandparent tier list, they'd be higher, but it isn't, so they're all going in the F Tier.

D Tier: Endeavor: Look, do I even need to explain this one? You all know what he did. One of the biggest problems in the story is the result of all the messed up stuff Enji did as a dad. His attempt at redemption was to remove himself from his family. Easy bottom tier.

Nana: While I'm someone who tries to understand Nana's position and decisions in regards to her kid and her role as a "One For All" user, she still didn't seem like a very good parent even when she was around. She herself even admits that, so that is what puts her so low.

Gang Orca: What few interactions we see him having with kids is screaming about their failures and throwing them when he is dissatisfied with their answers. That is bound to cause some trauma later. Like some Pavlovain response when they think of Free Willy.

Hound Dog: He may be a guidance consular that works with kids, implying some understanding of child psychology, but if his first reaction is to yell and growl at any emotional problems in front of him, he probably isn't going to communicate with his own kids.

Thirteen: I get that Thirteen is someone who takes a lot of care and consideration with her power and is quite safe to be around. That being said, I don't think that someone who is at risk of destroying their own child at the atomic level should really be handling children.

C Tier: Edgeshot: There really isn't a lot to say about Edgeshot as we don't get a lot of personality outside of being stoic, which could certainly be an issue for a parent. That being said, being willing to sacrifice yourself for a kid does push him above the bottom of the tier list.

Mount Lady: If we're considering her early in the series, she'd definitely be at the lower tier given how irresponsible and self-centered she is. Though considering her development and how mature she's gotten in general, she barely scrapes by as an average parent.

Kaumi Woods: Kamui Woods is just kind of average. There just isn't a lot going on with him that could give or detract merit from the little hero work he's done. He's here by default. His inability to hug his kids without giving them splinters would certainly be an issue.

Manual: Again, he's average. The most we have is that he seemed to do pretty well with handling Iida's whole situation but didn't seem to notice it in the first place. Otherwise, he's pretty plain. I could see him being the lame dad his kids don't want to talk to or be around.

Miruko: Definite Tiger Mom. She'd be making her kids do all kinds of sports stuff and getting them to exercise all the time. She cares, but she shows it by trying to make her kids excel at what they're doing. Great if they're into that, but I can see it fostering a lot of resentment.

Sir Nighteye: Like Miruko, but at the other end of the spectrum. He would be the kind of dad to make his kid study a lot because that's what he would think would be best for them. Cares and can loosen up when needed, but is emotionally distant most times.

B Tier: Ms. Joke: She is a teacher, meaning she must have some understanding of kids. She'd definitely be the "Fun Mom". She'd always try to keep a smile on her kid's face, even if that meant making terrible mom jokes. Be ready, she has been working on them for years.

Ectoplasm: He seems to be pretty good with kids, but the real clencher is his power. No matter what, he could always be around to be present in his kid's life. And hey, family dynamics are always changing. Who is to say a family can't be just a kid and their thirty-six identical dads?

Ryukyu: She can be hard on herself, but she seems to have a soft spot for children and do well with her wards, given how well they have turned out, being commanding without being harsh. And let's be real: who wouldn't want to have a dragon for a parent? That alone would put her pretty high up here.

Eraserhead: This may be a controversial pick putting him so low, but hear me out. I think Aizawa would try to be a good dad, but he's married to his job, being too tired and absent to really make it work. And did you see what he bought for Eri to wear? What self-respecting father would ever do this his child?

Fourth Kind: A good role model to any kid who tries to foster strong moral foundations and understanding of community in his wards. All around, a pretty stand-up guy to have as a dad. He loses points because punching kids is not a good way to punish them, even if it hurts him more than it hurts them.

Midnight: This could be because I read Vigilantes, but Midnight actually shows quite a few parental traits, like being highly empathic and understanding of those younger than her. Then again, I can only imagine the kind of teasing and general awkwardness that would come from having the R-Rated Heroine as a mom.

A Tier: All Might: If we're counting him without "One For All", otherwise he'd be working too much to be a dad, I think that he'd be a parent. If his students are anything to go by, he'd be a pretty effective parent. We can also tell that he plays favorites with his kids, and that knocks off a few points.

Present Mic: This may be a surprise pick, but I can see him doing pretty well as a parent. He can be the fun, comic dad that plays with his kids and can get on their level, but he can instantly go into serious mode if he needs to. The fact that he can do both so well, which you kind of need as a parent, puts him pretty high on the list.

Best Jeanist: Another stand-up guy, just trying to be a good role model and look amazing while doing it. I mean, the guy had an actual positive impact on early series Bakugou. That has got to count for something. Probably has all kinds of weirdly good life advice if you can understand fashion metaphors.

Rock Lock: One of the few real parents on this list, Rock Lock just seems like a responsible parent. He did try to call out the kids for being on missions, but he was kind of right in that regard and just looking out for them. Probably try to keep his kid from doing stupid stuff. He'd be a good, but restrictive father.

Hawks: Like Present Mic, I could see Hawks being a chill dad who doesn't seem to know what's going on but actually knows everything that happens and always has one eye open when it comes to his kids. He'll give his kids their freedom, but he's going to be there to catch and guide them when they really need him.

S Tier: Mandalay: Another one of the few real parents here, and one with a pretty bad hand. Mandalay not only had to take over as a guardian out of nowhere but had to do it with a heavily traumatized child while trying to lead a team as a pro-hero. The fact that she seems to be doing as well as she is puts her this high without question.

Fat Gum: No one should be surprised that Fat Gum is this high. He's super protective without being overbearing, tries to instill valuable lessons to make them develop, and does his best to encourage his wards to be the best they could be. And could you imagine him giving hugs? That would make any problem vanish.

Tensei: Tensei is just such a good guy. He's a good role model and leader for his team without it being detrimental. He knew Koichi for about a day and he was able to understand Koichi and tried to set him up for success. Imagine how well he'd do with his own kid. Plus, he's an older brother. That's like a being a parent with training wheels.

[antspaul]

sorry my response to that ask probably came off a bit callous. since (perhaps against my better judgement) i'm relatively open on here about being a cult survivor maybe i should specify what that means to me in one post where i can direct people whenever the subject comes up lol.

i'm generally usually willing to talk to people about my experiences! a lot of people find it interesting, and it's genuinely helpful to me to talk casually about that part of my background.

sooo idk unorganized list of thoughts:

genuinely, i will answer your questions about my experience. you won't trigger me by asking. the things that still make me uncomfortable to discuss are more like very specific turns of phrases that only other members of the group would know

the word "cult" has a lot of baggage and i don't always love using it. people, like anon i'm guessing, see the word and think of things like the jonestown or waco massacres -- highly sensationalized cults which ended in publicized mass violence. most cults are FAR more ordinary than the ones most people have heard about.

personally, i think the term high-control group is a more apt phrase. It implies that the problem is within in-group power structures and insularity, and divorces it from its singular association with new religious movements.

unless you literally live under a rock, you know people who have been or are currently in cults. if you've spent time in an area where the majority of people are American Protestants you probably run into people who are currently or were members of a cult every single day of your life lol. there are also plenty of groups that are experienced as a cult by some members but have very little impact on the day-to-day lives of others (this is how i'd categorize a megachurch like hillsong, for example).

as for me: the cult i grew up in is a relatively small nondenominational christian group that was an offshoot of a much, much larger group that fractured in the 80/90s after the leader's death. you probably haven't heard of the larger group; you most definitely have not heard of the smaller group. mutuals can ask me privately for the name of the larger group if they want. i'll describe it in a few specific words that might not mean much to a lot of people, but will mean a fair amount to those from the fundie world: fundamentalist evangelical; pentecostal; nontrinitarian; antinomian; home church; prosperity gospel.

my parents met in the larger organization, which they both joined in the 70s as teenagers. my dad was pretty involved; he relocated for several years to evangelize the cult. my mom on the other hand was VERY involved, and was part of the super super involved leadership track subgroup which required her to live and work at the group's hq. most of my crazy stories about the group come from her. the splinter group i grew up in was much more chill and mostly just really fucking boring.

anyways that's all i really have to say on the subject. ask me whatever you want, seriously i don't mind, just know that if you approach the question like i'm the star victim of a true crime cult thriller im gonna give you the side eye LOL

[ascesabo]

the pjo/omori brainrot have unfortunately come for me at the same time so i'm going to make it everyone else's problem. sorry

soooo... assuming the di angelos were a well-off family (which i think is implied, but don't check me on that), it wouldn't be so far-fetched to believe that bianca would have had the opportunity to learn the piano. and nico, who adores his sister and wants to be closer to her, thinks they can bond if he learns an instrument too, right? but he can't impose on the piano. that's hers. so he takes up the next best thing, something he can play by her side- the violin.

in a hypothetical AU where bianca di angelo doesn't join the hunters, she and her little brother nico spend their time shut inside the big house's piano room, going over the same pieces again and again. to bianca, it's her last connection to her mother, to the life they'd had before the lawyers and the lotus hotel and camp half-blood. to nico, it's a way of desperately trying to bridge the distance he can feel growing between them. to both of them, it's everything.

but it isn't enough.

and so she practices harder and her temper gets shorter and one day she snaps at nico because his violin doesn't sound right, just what aren't you getting, nico? and nico is only ten and just wants to make his sister happy, because everything should be alright as long as they're together- but what was supposed to be a shared hobby has only driven them even farther from each other. you can probably imagine what happens next, right? he storms away from her, maybe to a secluded part of the forest, and relishes in the way his violin shatters against the big rocks when he swings. and bianca is so, so angry and she's coming closer. her face is red and she's shouting at him, and nico does the only thing he can think to do in his panic and frustration- he pushes her. he pushes her into the same rocks that hold the splintered pieces of his instrument and can only freeze in horror as the snap of her neck makes the same sound.

maybe in this universe, he'd also befriended a certain son of apollo a little earlier on. will solace isn't very popular with the other campers- they love pointing out how ironic it is that a son of apollo couldn't play an instrument to save his life and he knows, even if they try to hide it, that his older siblings are embarrassed by him too. but then this enigmatic new demigod shows up, with nothing but his mythomagic cards, his violin, and a big sister who takes will under her wing, and they offer to let him listen to them practice- and all of a sudden, he isn't so lonely anymore.

nico is will's first and closest friend. so when he follows the sound of their argument and sees nico push his sister in a fit of anger, all he can think is nico wouldn't do that to her.

kind, earnest nico, who loved his sister more than anything... couldn't have killed her. it had to be something behind him, and he can't let them punish nico for what SOMETHING else did. will has to help him. everything is going to be okay.

everything is going to be okay, he says when he shakes nico out of his grief-induced stupor.

everything is going to be okay, he tells himself when they steal a coil of rope from the stables.

everything is going to be okay, even as tears blur his vision and he swears that the lifeless body swaying in the wind is looking at them.

he takes nico's cold, shaking hand and lies to himself.

everything is going to be okay.

[slayerdurge]

Secure Your Soul: A Cyberpunk 2077 Fanfiction

This fic was previously published under the title “Before the Event Horizon.”

Summary: Six months ago, V’s boss at Arasaka ordered her to assassinate his rival. Instead, with the reluctant but invaluable help of her old friend Jackie Welles, she pushed them both off their thrones and claimed one for herself. Now the new Director of Arasaka Counter Intel has a problem. She’s uncovered information that indicates that Yorinobu Arasaka, the heir apparent to the Arasaka dynasty, is a traitor. But without solid proof, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands.

An AU in which Corpo!V never leaves Arasaka.

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE BEGINNING IS THE END IS THE BEGINNING

[read on ao3]

SIX MONTHS LATER

"Johnny Silverhand?" Frank Nostra repeated, incredulous. “The old-school rockerboy?”

"That's correct," V confirmed. "His engram, anyway. On one of our Secure Your Soul relics. My source doesn’t know why NetWatch wants it, but he’s sure that’s what they’re purchasing."

Nostra furrowed his brow, his gaze shifting distractedly to the holographic koi fish circling outside the windows of V's office.

V rapped her knuckles quietly against the surface of her desk as she waited for him to speak. She respected Nostra, and their quarterly reviews proved they worked together far more harmoniously than their predecessors had, but the burning knowledge of this particular piece of intel would not allow her to remain inactive for long.

"And you're sure—one hundred percent sure—that the seller is who you think it is?"

"Yorinobu Arasaka," V enunciated the name clearly. "You can say it, you know. My office isn't bugged."

"You'd better hope it's not," Nostra retorted sharply. "That's the emperor's son you're accusing. The heir apparent. If you're wrong—"

"And if I'm right," V interrupted him, "then there's a crack in the very foundation of Arasaka's legacy. If a splinter like that is allowed to spread—"

"Okay, okay," Nostra interrupted her in turn, "Let me think for a minute."

"All right, Frank. I understand your caution completely. But we're on a sensitive time table here."

"So you've mentioned. This source of yours at NetWatch—what did you say his name was?"

"I didn't." V frowned. "And I won't now, either. He’s risking his life by bringing me that intel."

"I'm sure he is, V, but without proof, I don't see how we can go any further up the rungs with this."

"We are, respectively, the Directors of Counter Intel and Spec Ops, and you're telling me there's nothing we can do about intel that indicates that Saburo Arasaka's son is a traitor?"

Nostra winced, and despite her earlier claims of security, V felt a slight twitch in her neck. She had to restrain herself from turning her head to check that they weren't being overheard. 

"I didn't say that," he clarified. "I said we need more proof."

"Nostra, I told you, the deal's supposed to go down tonight."

"Yes. At Konpeki Plaza. I understand." 

“Then you understand why we can’t afford to wait.”

“I’m not telling you to wait, V.” Nostra’s face was thoroughly neutral. “I’m telling you that you need more proof.”

V was silent. Her heart began to beat more rapidly. She realized what he was implying. He wouldn’t officially recommend that she obtain proof on her own, but he was letting her know that that’s what was necessary. It was a risky endeavor, and she wasn’t entirely sure yet how she’d accomplish it. But the idea filled her with eager anticipation. 

“Okay,” she told him, folding her arms neatly on the surface of her desk. “Understood.” 

Nostra nodded. “I hope so.” He stood. “Keep me updated, Director Locke.” He left the room with one last backward glance at V. 

His use of her official title was deliberate, she was sure. Almost everyone she knew at NCHQ called her V. The single letter alias had been assigned to her during her first year at Arasaka Academy as part of a particularly challenging group project—a simulated undercover operation. V’s plan had led her team to victory, and she’d spent a blissful two weeks of fame at the top of the student leaderboard before someone knocked her off it again. Since then, the nickname had just stuck, even though it was an atypical form of address between coworkers. By using her title instead, Nostra reminded her of her position and her responsibility to look out for Arasaka’s best interests.

V swiveled her chair slightly to the right so she had more room to comfortably cross her legs. She leaned back into the cool, supple leather. As always at the start of a new mission, V began by considering what she already knew about her enemy—Yorinobu Arasaka, Saburo Arasaka’s second-born son and presumed heir, since the death of his first-born son way back in the 2020s.

She knew his sordid history, a rebellious youth messing around with Japanese gangs. By all accounts, however, he'd been brought back into the fold since then, becoming leader of the Taka Faction and the most likely of Saburo’s potential heirs to actually take control one day. 

Even as a Department Head, V was far too low-ranking for her viewpoint on the issue to truly matter, but she privately thought that all of Saburo’s potential heirs fell short of him in various ways. His daughter, Hanako Arasaka, was reclusive and cautious—she was unlikely to be able to command respect to the degree that her father could, and her preference for playing the waiting game could result in missed opportunities. On the other hand, Michiko Arasaka—Saburo’s granddaughter via his first-born son—was well-loved by the public, but not so much by high-ranking executives in Arasaka, and the reform policies her faction lobbied for were too restrictive for V’s taste. And Yorinobu himself…

His faction’s namesake was the hawk for a reason: Taka was the most militant faction, and they were also globalist in scope and innovative in approach. All this, V appreciated. Yorinobu himself struck her as quick-tempered and headstrong, qualities that he shared with his father, but overall he seemed to have more passion and less restraint. That was a useful insight, at least. Emotional people were always easier to predict and manipulate.

All right then. That was the gist of what she knew about her enemy, little though it may be. Now onto her goals. Step one: getting into Konpeki Plaza. 

Luckily, as Director of Counter Intel, there were myriad possible excuses she could come up with for her presence at a place like that. She had several upcoming meetings in the pipeline that she could easily reschedule to tonight. What could be more natural than to apologize for the abrupt scheduling change by choosing a highly comfortable meeting venue, like say… Konpeki Plaza, for instance?

But then she'd have to figure out how to sneak into Yorinobu Arasaka’s suite while working around the schedule of the meeting, which might not leave her with sufficient time. And sending a delegate to replace her at the meeting would be suspicious at worst and extremely rude at best, considering she’d be the one who’d demanded the meeting occur on such short notice in the first place. No, that wouldn’t do. She needed an excuse that explained her presence at the hotel, but didn't draw anyone's attention to her specifically. 

Time for another approach. 

She used the optics display on her Kiroshi to pull up a calendar of events at Konpeki Plaza. She scanned through the conferences scheduled for tonight. If she could find one that could function as a realistic cover story, she could purchase a ticket and use it to get into the hotel. Her early exit from a large, crowded event was unlikely to be noted. And, better still, the conference rooms were on the ninety-eighth floor of the Plaza. Yorinobu was almost certainly on the hundredth floor—the penthouse suite. Anything less would be unseemly. She'd only have to find a way to go two extra floors higher.  

She scanned the possibilities. She was hoping to find a talk on something related to her work to buff up her cover story, but no such luck. One event did stand out to her, however. At 8pm in the Sapphire Conference Room, Hideyoshi Oshima, the famous braindance producer, was hosting a conference on the implementation of multifaceted emotional states in next-gen BDs. The timing was perfect, though the content of the meeting was ill-fitting with the type of events V typically attended. It certainly didn’t have much to do with her career. Still, she could plausibly claim a personal interest in the topic. 

She pulled up the event’s seating details and purchased a ticket. They were pricey, but what was the point of that ample Arasaka paycheck if not to spend it? She checked the time. She had about twenty minutes to change into a fresher suit and get to Konpeki Plaza, if she wanted her timing to seem realistic for the event. This called for her fastest ride. 

—

Fifteen minutes later, her Rayfield Excalibur touched down near the Arasaka waterfront, just outside Konpeki Plaza. She exited and was immediately greeted by a young, gold-skinned valet. Literally gold-skinned. One of the requirements of a job at Konpeki Plaza was a uniform you could never take off—you had to replace your natural skin with a shiny coating of metallic, gold Realskinn. V appreciated that level of dedication. 

“Hello, Director Locke,” the valet said. “Welcome to Konpeki Plaza. I’ll take care of your AV for you.”

She didn’t miss the excitement in the kid’s eyes. He may have been accustomed to luxury vehicles, but the Excalibur was the best of the best. V understood his enthusiasm. It was the fastest street-legal vehicle in the world, not to mention safe, comfortable, reliable, and absolutely gorgeous. V’s was off-black in color, exterior embellished with the Arasaka logo, and so polished that it gleamed even in the low lighting of the parking area. She smiled at the valet, waving her right hand in the signal that transferred a generous tip from one of her bank accounts to his. “Take good care of it."

“Of course, Director.” He nodded deferentially.

V made her way through the front doors of Konpeki Plaza, breezed through the security scanners, and walked up to the check-in desk. The receptionist recognized her on sight. “Director Locke,” she said. “Welcome back. Here for another meeting?” 

“Not this time, ” V answered, already placing her hand on the scanner to verify her SID chip. “I’ll be attending a conference tonight.”

“Ah, yes,” she responded. Her eyes lit up momentarily as she received the upload of V’s data. “Hideyoshi Oshima’s talk. He’s very good.” Her eyes faded back to their normal color and focused on V again. “Are you interested in braindance advancements, Director?”

“I am,” V responded, smiling warmly at the receptionist despite the irritation she felt at the question. She always strove to be courteous to the help—they were perfectly placed to overhear a treasure trove of gossip. Besides, she’d rehearsed a point of view on the topic during the AV ride. “I think Oshima has an interesting premise, but I maintain that experiencing a heightened sense of passion is actually a major selling point of BDs, and that therefore complicating that would actually counterintuitively cheapen the experience. His ideas, in my opinion, might not apply as well to the medium as he expects.”

The receptionist nodded earnestly. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. You may be right, Director.”

“Well, we’ll see if his speech impresses me,” V said, leaning towards her over the countertop with a conspiratorial look. “If you see me leaving early, then you’ll know I haven’t changed my initial assessment.”

The receptionist laughed. “Come down to the bar if he bores you. No sense in wasting the evening.”  

“None indeed,” V agreed. “Perhaps I’ll take you up on that offer.” She threw one last smile her way, then turned to leave. “Have a good evening.”

“You as well, Director,” the receptionist responded cheerfully. 

V heard her voice from a distance. She was already halfway towards the elevator. But as she passed the bar, a snippet of conversation caught her ear. 

“You wanna know what a bearer of bad news looks like?” A drunken businessman was gesturing wildly at a disinterested bartender and shouting loud enough for half the bar to overhear. His speech was slurred, and he occasionally interrupted himself with a hiccup. “What’s four hundred yards long, weighs a hundred thousand tons, and is nuclear powered? The answer’s docked in the bay. Hanako Arasaka decided to take a little vacation!”  

Hanako Arasaka was in Night City? V slowed down, her mind reeling. Her source at NetWatch hadn’t mentioned anything about that. It was possible he was unaware of her presence, but the odds of it being merely a coincidence were not great. 

V adjusted her course, heading towards the bar. By now the drunk had calmed down a bit and was staring morosely into a glass of golden liquid the bartender had handed him. V slid up next to him but faced the bartender, who turned his attention to her as well. “Evenin’,” he said. “What can I get you, baby?” 

That was the second time tonight she’d been addressed casually. No wonder the Night City Konpeki Plaza ranked below so many of the others in quality of customer service. “Evenin’,” she responded, mirroring his tone. “A glass of Centzon, please.” 

“Of course,” he said, pulling the appropriate bottle and a lowball glass from the shelf behind him. He poured the tequila and handed it to her. “Enjoy.” 

V took a small sip, savoring the taste. It was her favorite drink, but she wanted her mind to remain clear tonight. She watched the drunk from out of the corner of her eye and plotted her opening line. 

“A word of advice, if I may,” she spoke to him quietly, without turning her head. “Be careful what you broadcast for all the world to hear.”

He jumped slightly, no doubt pulled suddenly out of some private train of thought. A splash of his drink flew towards the floor. He stared at the stain for a moment, then looked up at her with wide, uncomprehending eyes. “What d’ya mean?”

“Your speech earlier, about Hanako Arasaka’s visit,” she reminded him. When he startled again, V explained herself. “You were loud enough that I could hear you from the other side of the room.”

“Was I?” he asked, momentarily abashed. Then a flush of anger returned to face. “Well, good! ‘Cause this affects us all. It’ll slap everyone in the face!”

“I get it,” V said. She propped her elbow up on the bar and placed her hand on the side of her neck, turning her full attention to him. “You’re pissed off. That’s fair. But you’re not gonna fix anything by mouthing off in a bar. You’re just gonna make things worse for yourself.”

At first, he looked angrier, and V feared she’d taken the wrong approach, but then all at once, the anger drained out of him, and he just looked tired. He took a swig from his nearly empty glass. “Why do you care, anyway?” he demanded, his voice a desperate whisper. 

V shrugged. “I guess because I’m in the same boat. I’m a tech specialist with Arasaka Counter Intel. I know how this shit can get.”

“Yeah,” he admitted, a trickle of relief creeping into his tone. “You would, wouldn’t you?” He scratched his head, a thoughtful gleam lighting up his slightly more lucid eyes. “Didn’t you have a big crisis a few months ago? Some psychobitch director shooting up the competition?”

“Something like that, yes.” V looked away from him, fixing her gaze on a point in the distance and letting her eyes glaze over like she’d seen Carter’s do when he’d spoken to her about finding the bodies. “It was terrible. If you’d have seen it… all that blood…”

“Hey, now,” he said, adopting a soothing tone. “You can’t go getting worked up over a little blood. You’re gonna see way worse things if you stay in Counter Intel. You need to be prepared.”

V analyzed his demeanor, checking if he noticed the irony of their role reversal. But he seemed too pleased to care. If only she knew how to cry on command. She took a deep, shaky breath instead. “How do you cope with it?” she asked him. “Is it always like this for you?”

“No, not always,” he reassured her. “I mean, I’m a liaison. That’s a sort of go-between from one branch of Arasaka to another. I represent the Night City branch in negotiations with the Tokyo branch. It can get stressful, but situations that get me this stressed aren’t usual.”

“I feel like things like this happen all the time.” 

“Nah, of course not. I mean, there’s no way something like this happens all the time.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

“No, really,” he insisted. “I mean, Hanako just had to follow her father…” 

He broke off his sentence hastily. V struggled to maintain her composure while she waited for him to resume it. Saburo Arasaka was in Night City??? Did he know about Yorinobu’s plan? Was he trying to stop him? Was he in the building right now? 

But there were some dangers so great that even intoxication and a pretty girl couldn’t make a man walk into them. When he began stuttering and trying to take a sip out of his empty glass, V knew she’d lost him.

“Look,” he said, finally putting his glass off to the side. “I should really get back to my room. It’s getting kinda late, and I’m probably gonna have a killer headache tomorrow.”  

V was far too shaken to try to convince him to stay. “All right,” she said simply. “Be careful.”

He looked at her strangely. It wasn’t until after he’d walked off that V registered why that must have been. Unlike everything else she’d said tonight, that warning had been genuine.

[nerves-nebula]

Knowing that he has memory problems does neglected Raph struggle to trust his own judgment?

Like not even just for things gaps in memories makes sense to hinder. I’m talking even when he knows stuff or when memory doesn’t factor in at all, he knows he can’t trust his mind on some things so he struggles to trust it at all

If so, does he ever recover from all that?

(Side note: it’d be super interesting to see them face a villain like Mother May-Eye from Teen Titans 2003)

here's the thing about raph, Raph doesn't trust ppl other than his brothers, april, and casey, so he wouldn't let someone else fact check him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't doubt his own memories. especially since Donnie has rambled at length about how fallible memories are.

There more than a few times where Raph has a memory of something, but Splinter kind of tweaks it or implies it was just ever so slightly different in away that changes things. and if Raph is like "wait that's not what happened" Splinter would imply he doesn't know what he's talking about. never calling him crazy outright, just saying he's remembering it wrong. but isn't it kind of weird that, for some reason, Raph's memory is always "wrong" in a way that benefits Splinter? (Mom Reference)

so anyway, Raph doesn't like being told he remembered something wrong cuz of that, so that's why he only lets his close friends check him and might get aggro if someone he doesn't know well casually implies he's remembering something wrong. (this includes stuff as small as someone saying "i think you remembered this wrong" or "that's not what I remember" even just really small stuff like that can trigger him)

But his defensiveness is just because he does genuinely worry that since he forgets things so much, there's a chance the solid memories he DOES have aren't real. and if that's true then like what is he even doing, right? like how can he be a person in a meaningful way if the things his internal experiences and emotions are based on aren't real? That's what he thinks, at least.

i watched the mother may-eye episode to answer this ask so im gonna address that under the cut now:

I forgot how good the teen titans theme song is. also i forgot about the hive five they're are so fucking cool i wish i was every character in this show wtf. also why that guy sexually harass starfire. kinda like that starfire appears to swear all the damn time but since it's alien swears no one cares.

and the DAY is SAVED by the power of THATS NOT HOW CONCUSSIONS WORKS <3 my favorite storytelling technique tbh. just hit 'em on the head i'm sure it'll work out fine.

SLUR in early 2000's children media: OBSERVED.

really fucked up that they gave it to the Hive Five not knowing if they were gonna escape or get baked or anything. that's. wild.

there's something about a villain who forcibly makes you regress to a childlike state in order to manipulate you that is so fucking uncomfortable, oh my god. especially when they use, like, overly cutesy language. if i did something like that to the neglected gang it would be really gross. so i might do that later then, idk.

[gouraminnow]

WIP game!

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

---

I prefer Read-mores just so things are more readable hsdfdsf

Tagged by my friend @hannahbarberra162 thank you!!! Heehee! All but one of the published ones are still on chapter one... I do not write fast :') Honestly, the one person I'm comfortable tagging is the one who tagged me, soo... breaking the rules already lol. Anybody who sees this and wants to, please do! (It's not bc I have problems with anyone, she's just the only one I talk to regularly. I'm kinda new to this lol)

No Rest For the Wicked - Yandere modern serial killer Sabo/Koala x Goth reader. (Literal hurt/comfort. Stalking implied, murder is gonna happen. Was meant to be a one-shot debut of sorts on Halloween, but it got too long...)

You're a goth student at a small university, and someone you thought was your friend lures you into a Carrie-style Halloween prank- But it goes wrong and the bucket they drop cracks your head open. Luckily, the Grad Student Instructor and his partner happen to be there and are awfully eager to help you out.

Galley on 4th - Yandere Modern (but with dfs eventually) Thatch x reader. (Also hurt/comfort. Gonna get increasingly sketchy as time goes on. Stalkng. Maybe smut? Omg nooo hot chef don't intrude on my life and insist on caring for me noooo)

Raising your kid sister all by yourself is hard enough on it's own. But add classes, poverty, and several jobs to juggle and the pressure builds awfully fast. Most employers will drop you on a whim and it's all you can do to stay afloat… So when you somehow manage to land a well-paying position at The Galley on 4th Avenue, a famous, high-end place run by some well renowned Chef- You're desperate to hold things down. Good thing your new Boss is so friendly and understanding, huh?

Birds of a Feather - Marco & OC (entirely platonic. Hurt at the start, comfort, tooth-rotting fluff. Has artwork for it!)

Marco the Phoenix is found by an orphaned harpy child that mistakes him for one of their own kind. It takes less than a day to commit to adoption- he really is taking after his father.

Unpublished:

Bleeding Heart - What was meant to be one fic for my self-insert OC has splintered into several snippets. Born with CAVC, they thought they were lucky to receive corrective surgery as a child, only for that surgery to be botched. They now have to use the blood-blood fruit- a devil fruit with countless horrific urban legends attributed to it- to compensate for their faulty heart by manually managing their blood flow in secret. Very grumpy and easily overwhelmed bc who wouldn't be in their situation? One version they go with the WBP and in another, with the Strawhats.

Untitled Whitey Bay oneshot- sweet, smutty f/f oneshot that ends in reader eloping to a life on the seas. Reader is a lonely, wistful barmaid who dreams of something more exciting than waiting tables in a dingy bar. One day, a striking lady pirate docks on your island, stopping by your bar... and just your luck, the tall, blue-haired woman seems just as interested in you as you are in her.

Untitled Isekai idea- Reader is brought to the world of OP by a devil-fruit reader with portal-related powers. He's a self-proclaimed mad genius but is actually a jackass wannabe-Ceasar who piggybacks off of the works of others- even utilizing his ability to hopefully grab something useful from other realms rather than making shit himself. But it's random most of the time... cue reader.

Untitled dark Thatch oneshot- honestly not sure if I want to post this when it's done. Non/dubcon. Yandere Thatch finds a promising little chef and lays on the charm, but they won't leave with him. Months later, he finds them cowering in the Galley of a Marine ship and assumes they're in bed with the enemy. Unaware that they were forced to work there and too amped up to listen, he steals them away like he wanted to on that damn island. Meaner than what I tend to go for, but ends with him doting on them. Very unsure abt this hfdsfg

Yandere Nami idea

Second set of ASI hcs, but centered around Marco

I want to elaborate on the Crocodile x Selkie reader idea

[love-killed-the-superstar]

the more i read through issue one, the more i think the stone situation isn't caused by some enemy - i'm more convinced the cause of it is odyn himself.

(i had about half of this typed up before hashing this concept out in a very cool conversation with @last-ronin earlier today... but i fell asleep before posting it last night, lmao.)

these kids are Developing Powers, guys. they can communicate telepathically, not just holding entire conversations but also projecting imagery into each other's minds. it's unclear at this point whether they can all project images psychically or if that is specifically yi's gift, but it does seem to be implied that this makes her retellings different from uno's and favoured by odyn. i'm on the fence about whether uno's colour-changing ability counts as a power or not since it's something other lizard species can do and he's been doing it since he was a baby. moja is also noted as having an 'overactive nose' literally smelling something 'wrong' which is like... either a very odd character quirk or another sign of enhanced abilities. if she has heightened senses in general, that might have been subtly foreshadowed by the times in lost years where she's seen wearing her headphones even when she's not listening to music.

much like casey growing to inherit enhanced strength and reflexes from interacting with mutagen, it seems like the turtles bodies are also starting to get all funky from ooze exposure. hence the title, re-evolution.

at the end of the chapter, when the babies finally get their chance to fight a real fight, odyn clearly doesn't want to. he's very much giving michelangelo in the lost years - it's making me nervous that at some point we're going to get a 'GET UP FOOLISH CHILD' moment with casey and odyn, because as much as she loves her kids, casey marie is a complete hard-ass on the battlefield. i HOPE that we get to see it play out differently if history repeats. that always felt painfully unresolved in lost years and it really made me resent roninverse splinter. if this happens i'd like casey to have to confront the fact that she DID make these kids to fight a war, that was incredibly FUCKED UP and they DON'T have to accept that.

(this scene is so hard to read no matter how many times i come back to it. sincerely, FUCK YOU roninverse splinter.)

anyway. here are just a few moments in that final battle where he hangs back while the other three jump in with weapons swinging:

free my boy. clearly odyn doesn't want to be here rn. he seems rooted to the spot...

...like a statue, wouldn't you say?

so yeah. in a life where he's been raised to fight or fall, this feels very "third option" to me. this poor kid is in an impossible situation so his body gives him an out where he can keep himself safe like his family want without having to experience the horror of fighting lethal opponents. the problem is, if he's completely frozen solid like this, how does he know when the fighting is over? how does he know when or how to snap out of it?

my prediction is the turtles are going to use their telepathic abilities next issue to break through to him and coax him out of this stone state (possibly creating more hijinks if a new power is discovered in the process). i have NO CLUE if april and casey marie know the turtles have these powers, but they sure as shit are going to find out when they catch their babies performing a seance around their brother lmao.

there's also the possibility of this 'insidious foe preparing to spring a trap' from the issue 2 synopsis... i wonder if they have a way of messing with the turtles' new mutations?

much to think about. anyway, VERY hyped for issue 2!

[critter-core]

Super Kappa Bros AU

Major Bullet Points

Woahhh everything’s mario now!

The Hidden City is actually the mario world

The Yokai are actually just mario creatures, as are mutants

Will go into the brothers’ species in quick summary

Baron Draxum made the four brothers to enslave humanity

Same gist, but he used mario world (species) dna

I’m gonna keep most info the same, for the simplicity of it

But there’s definitely changes and alterations

Quick summary:

Firstly, let’s get this out of the way. Speed round!

Splinter is a variant of either mouser or little mouser

Raph is the same species as Bowser, maybe a koopaling?

Leo is a koopa (hear me out)

Donnie is a dry bones (BAM)

Mikey is a yoshi

April’s just a human, and all the other humans are normal-ish

MORE TO BE ADDED AS REFS ARE MADE

The four turtles were born as regular turtles, but got changed when they were given human dna, and the dna of specific ‘yokai’ species we mean mario species, and when this happened, they became members of the Hamato kingdom, and also were given myyyyystic powwwwerssss ooooh how maaaaagicallll!

OH MY GOD I'M GONNA MAKE THE SANDO BROTHERS FIRE & ICE FLOWERS CAUSE THAT IS SUCH A FUN IDEA OMG

April will always have a dangerous amount of hammer power ups on hand, and will literally just pull one out during a fight.

Making up a power up for Baron. A green and yellow daisy-esc flower called Flower Power! Which gives Barry the ability to make flowers rise from the floor as his platforms.

OKAY, I DECIDED that mutants are the only ones with inherited powers, because the Piders, now called Goopiders (which are our oozesquitoes), are what gives the powers.

This means that any non mutants that I specify a power for just happens to have A LOT of that specific power up item.

Hypno will have the Pal Pill ability

Groundhog will have the drill berry ability ofc

I think Honey Badger should actually have the rock mushroom

And then I think Prairie Dog should get a spring mushroom ability

Maybe Repo Mantis gets the pickaxe power up?

(For the simplicity of it, I may be more lenient about making up my own power up ideas for background or lesser known yokai or mutant characters. For instance, I don’t know a good plant power up for Baron Draxum that has to do with flowers :’])

These powers are in the form of mario power ups. The four turtles can’t use other power ups, unless it’s the consumable or touchable object that associates with them. Their body will reject it, and they may even feel dizzy (if they touched it) or sick (if they ate it). If the turtles eat or touch the item associated with their core power up though, it grows much much stronger for a temporary time.

So back on the unfamiliar-power-up thing real quick. The unfamiliar power ups can actually work, but they are INCREDIBLY unreliable for the turtles specifically. Often the power up will glitch, randomly turn off and on, and of course, the dizzy or sick feeling lasts till the power up is over. This is why the turtles try to avoid foreign power ups if possible. 

Also, for another balancing thing, like how mystic magic works, the turtles do channel their powers better with weapons. Though the more magically skilled of the brothers can use powers without weapons. Also, also, while I imply that the turtles can use their powers whenever, it does take significant energy. This won’t be a problem usually, but if the turtles haven’t had lunch yet, or haven’t eaten in a while, they’ll feel more tired each time they use their powers.

Raph’s power up is normally granted by the Mega mushroom, which allows him to turn even bigger than he was before. He turns about half his mystic’s size, and with a Mega Shroom on top of that, he can grow as big as his mystic size too. Thankfully, Mega Shrooms are very common, and Raph runs a little garden to grow these shrooms. Raph was the first to awaken his power.

Leo’s power up is normally granted by the P-Wing (super specific, I know lol), and specifically the one from the game “Super Mario 3D Land”. This allows Leo to teleport anywhere that’s in his eyesight range. This may seem overpowered, but he has to be able to focus on the place he wants to teleport heavily, and can’t get distracted mid teleport, or he may go somewhere else, or teleport into an object. Leo got his power up second to last.

Donnie’s power up is normally granted by the Drill Mushroom, which would turn Donnie into a drill (haha drill out of beta lolol). Donnie took the longest to unlock his powers, partly because of an envious jealousy about not being able to understand the logic behind the innate core-ness of the power ups within them, and also because he was scared of using his power up. We’ll get into that in a bit…

Mikey’s power up is usually granted by Bulb Berries, which usually turn specifically Yoshis very bright, like a light bulb. While it can provide a light source, the bulb power up can also be great for blinding foes, since Mikey can decide how bright he wants to be. That being said, the brighter he makes himself, the more energy it takes. Mikey was the second turtle of the brothers to unlock his power up.

So, as we stated before, Donnie was scared of using his power up. I don’t know exactly how I’m gonna make this work, but Dry Bones can rebuild themselves, and I head-canon that they need to do it themselves, and can only rebuild themselves if they have all their pieces (kind of like the dark armor kettle if you remember). I’m gonna somehow have it that Donnie was missing a few pieces of his shell after an incident.

I think he’d still be okay, as stated, Dry Bones can build up again, but it’s much easier to break his shell, which doesn’t really hurt since it’s not as attached to him as it used to be, but it also makes his unprotected body hidden within the shell a lot more fragile. So yeah, one day he and Mikey (teens) are hanging out, and Donnie accidentally does his drill power when he starts to get a bit too frustrated.

This actually does hurt him quite a bit, and his shell shatters again, likely from the messy bone tornado that Donnie became when his power activated. He and Mikey both panicked, even after he stopped spinning around, and he was rather badly injured, since he probably ran into a wall or two during the mess. I think he would assure Mikey he would be able to take care of himself, and probably plead to his little brother not to mention the power up thing (out of embarrassment). 

Mikey would hesitantly agree, and you know how he hates lying and keeping secrets, so you’d see the stress until Donnie finally comes to terms and tells his brothers about it. I think he would eventually make something like the battle shell, like a stronger, more durable covering that keeps the shell in one piece when he does the drill spin, and eventually he’d learn to stay in one piece and navigate better during the power usage.

Wow, this is getting really long… Uh… I’ll put more info later I guess. We’ll see, lol. I might put more in a fic if people would want to read a fic on this thing. I think it’d be super fun :]

So yeah, I’m still calling them yokai btw for the simplicity of it. I also don’t think it’d be too farfetched either, since the Mario company is Nintendo, and that originated in Japan anyways :’)

Dang, I'm gonna have to reorganize this later, but whatever...

Refs are here

Fanfic Link:

A fic is in the works and will be linked here >:33

[thedawningofthehour]

OK! I really didn't expect this! THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!?

We're entering the war arc, SERIOUSLY! Where did this come from! Oh my god, oh my god! I swear I thought it would happen at the end of the arc, you know! Like a big end of season event! The fuck!

Bella in jail, dammit!!! You better set her free, Fai!!! The world needs her!!! Does that mean they arrested Pax too? GOD, I HOPE SO! That boy needs a good chat so he finally understands what his beloved uncle is doing. Besides! Pax is technically Draxum's accomplice!

BTW, I had forgotten until I read BO smell that I remembered this fun fact, the vast majority of east asians have a mutated ABCC11 gene that causes them to lack the bacteria that produces that BO smell. Unless you are near a military base, it is virtually impossible to find deodorant in Japan. What you learn in a Kung Fu Panda video by a Chinese person.

So, unless turtles produce BO, all that odor in the lair is not the BO's fault.

Ahhhh I really don't know what will happen from now on, I hope it won't take you another two weeks for the next chapter, I don't care if they are shorter, just please bring Bella back.

*Fetal position* everything will be fine, everything will be fine, I haven't forgotten that we have a Turtles vs Draxum fight scheduled for the end, please make it hurt him.

'looks up some stuff'

Huh. That's really interesting. I knew East Asian people were frequently lactose intolerant, (it actually looks like lactose intolerance is the baseline and Europeans are the ones who mutated to be able to digest lactose into our adult years, which is linked to extensive dairy farming) but they also don't stink? I legitimately didn't know that.

It does also say that the frequency of this gene is low among the Ainu people, the people indigenous to the Hokkaido region. Which is where I set up the Hamato clan. (most of Hokkaido is pretty rural, so I figured it was a likely place for a clan to set up in the mountains and stay relatively undisturbed while still being close to civilization) I've been writing it as Atsuko was close to 100% Ainu-and somewhat inbred, because small rural communities like that often had everyone related to each other, so there was no way to really avoid marrying your third cousin-while Splinter's father was from Honshu and had a more varied genealogical background. (they met in Sapporo when Atsuko was attending college, and Grandpa Sho hated him even before he dipped) So it kind of depends whether Splints takes after his mother or father. I think it's stated that Splinter also stinks a lot, which implies that he didn't get this gene.

There's also the whole problem of turtles don't have sweat glands, but hey we're working with pseudo-science here, and the boys are definitely seen sweating. Also alligator snappers have scent glands on their asses and I'm pretty sure at least red-eared sliders and box turtles also have scent glands, so the stink might also be partially turtle-based.

In any case, I've made too many comments and jokes about them stinking to turn back now. They're teenage boys. Teenage boys smell awful. That's just a law of the universe.

[thornstocutyouwith]

Reply here for @ofwondersandhares

"Unfuckingfortunately." Julian muttered under his breath. But it also upset him more. The seeming implication that Seti, of either of them, was sleeping around. Julian rolled his eyes. Sean was insufferable. And unfortunately his father, 'repairing a long done wrong'. Julian shook his head "You're pathetic." He commented sourly. But after a moment he had cooled down. Sage's words reminding him, circling around in his head still. He sighed, hoping she could wait for him. As Sean spoke up again Julian looked over "What the fuck ever." Julian commented. Not believing in such a thing. Let alone with the hatter attached.

"Blah blah blah. I doubt that. Asher lost part of his kingdom. He's hollow." Smirking, then, he looked a Sean, angry "All it takes is one wrong move, and I think he'll die. Sage will have won." He pulled away, amused by this thought. Sage's fight against all that was wrong was started with needing Asher dead. The others were weaker without that diamonds shithead getting in the way of their plans. But then there was his father, who was the next problem. Whatever he did to stop Sage. Send her off to another dimension. He was going to learn how to undo it! Julian promised himself this. Staring at Sean, he listened when the other went on.

Looking away again, he lift his head up "You can start by not implying I'm a bastard, and that your husband, who you also abandoned, cheated on you, creating me." He said. Tapping a foot, he let the silence spread between them, then. Then laughed, hollow, he shook his head at Sean's next comment "And what about it? What if it doesn't work? What will you do to me then? Lock me up? Leave?" Julian narrowed his gaze, sure it was one, if not both of those. Sean would choose, probably want that, in the ending. He was sure. As Sean spoke about his hare bloodline, he glared. Of course he knew all of this! Julian laughed "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

Julian moved in close to Sean, cold, angry eyes locking onto the other "Maybe that's all just you! Huh? You leave, you coward, my aunt didn't. Seti didn't. Just you! You're the one that leaves. You choose to leave. So why don't you stay fucked off, hm? You hitting your retirement arc don't fucking impress me you old piece of shit. How many other families do you plan to abandon? Lost loves that you didn't have a desire to come back to? I needed you! And I got fucking this! And you tell me I'll be the same?! Fuck you! I'll never be like you. I'll stay!" He shoved Sean away then, "Because that's what you do when you love someone. You stay!"

He was tired of these apparent excuses, it wasn't really an apology, now was it? Calming down again, he closed his eyes, Sage's voice in his head even more before he could control himself. He had to focus on right here and now. Because, even if he was mad at Sean, for all the shit he hadn't done. He wanted a connection with his father. But he was still so angry his father waited his entire life, to decide to start one. Feeling cold, empty, Julian followed Sean. Staring at the mirrors, he listened to Sean speak of them. His eyes lingering on the covered one for a time. A sense, suddenly hit him. Sage's words coming back 'It's a trap'. She warned.

Julian pauses, his gaze following his fathers movements, paying attention to Sean's words, he squint a bit. Was Sean telling him a truth right now? Julian frowns, not sure "No." He then said before raising a hand, a force coming out of it, the mirror cracked before splintering apart. "I won't let you manipulate me against her!"