#jeezie creezie this is long

[duskkodesh]

Dusk Reviews: Lisa Trusiani 90's Morbius #2 (Issue 26)

Here we go again. Hopefully in reading these you'll get a nice overview of the plot without having to suff... read it yourselves.

So we open with Morb still standing with Lena post rescue. Getting wayyyyy too close to her despite her REALLY not liking him.

Oh ya'll thought I was joking. No, he goes full creepy stalker IMMEDIATELY. Anyways she tears into him about taking lives again, he says he was defending her, she realizes she's hurt, He follows her for a while despite her yelling at him to leave. The sun chases him off FINALLY after he says to go to Morgan Michaels for injuries (While touching her AGAIN. DUDE stop touching her!). We're all brushed up on that. Back at Morb's apartment Martine is sitting and thinking to herself that he must be late and that MUST mean he had a breakthrough in the lab with her condition. She decides to do something nice for him.

Guys at the club Lena escaped from get yelled at by their boss to find the missing girl pronto. Morb comes home and starts kind of acting like an ass to Martine now too.

So Lena finds food. narrates that the men at the club have her purse and that she put all else she owned somewhere safe. Guys at the club same page find a locker key. You know where this is going. Morb and Martine talk over breakfast. She eagerly asks about the lab. He admits he wasn't in the lab last night. They argue but Morb is tired AF and waves her off to crash. The scene is very waspy and awkward and just doesn't fit them and she's supposed to be dead inside so why so angry? Lena buys some clothes while a creepy dude sexually harasses her outside. These pages serve no fucking purpose and flow more like it's Lena's comic rather than Morb's. We could have easily just cut to her with 'Poof' new clothes. Guys are at the locker. Lena's now headed to the locker. WE GET TWO PAGES OF LENA BEING LOST ON THE SUBWAY and this 'darling' diatribe.

Can we focus less on Lena and how 'hot' she is? Jeezy Creezy. It's like every damn page! We get it. She shows up at Port Authority and argues about her locker but has no key. The dudes go 'boo'. She runs. Morbs heads into St. Judes for work, Lena grabs a cab and evades the two doofs. Lacking anywhere else to go she goes to St. Judes. He promptly acts like a CREEP.

He x-rays her, she has a cracked rib. He presses her for details about her life then invites her to talk over dinner. She spills her tragic past and he lets her use the room in the hospital the docs nap in on long shifts. She gives him a peck on the cheek for it and thanks him. THEN HE IMMEDIATELY CALLS MARTINE TO TELL HER TO GTFO. He goes home, they argue.

It escalates when she rightfully deduces he's been hounding after another woman. Martine goes for the hits, like she does NOT mess around.

but an ill timed leap sends her flying through Morb's window.

Dude, she's a vampire! She's not freaking dead! Well.... you know what I mean. We get a to be continued and that's the end of the issue. You see what I mean about it being a crime drama and Morb being insufferable? It only gets worse from here.

[canipetthatdeaddove]

I wish I could understand why it's been so difficult for me to update either blog. Probably just because there's so much going on.

I'm in my 5th week of my first semester of courses - accelerated semesters. At 3 credit hours, I'm considered full-time, and jeezy creezy, it feels like it. Comms and Eco Literacy are the classes, and I feel like I've learned so much in such a short amount of time. The most intimidating thing is learning how to engage research material in an ethical and effective way. Imposter syndrome is going to be very difficult to manage, as is maintaining a high level of personal and academic integrity. I already know I have a tendency to confirm biases, so I need to be prepared to check that regularly. I cheated several times through a college-level course in high school and one of my last-semester course finals in my first go-around in college. Since then, I've learned about how to prevent myself from being in a situation where I might be tempted to cheat in the first place, etc. But I worry about myself. I always will, probably. Probably because I judge myself on a core level about being someone capable of that. That's a whole 'nother discussion.

Aside from the most intimidating thing, the most CHALLENGING thing is maintaining my schedule. Wait, back up, it's actually creating a functional schedule in the first place. A couple of weeks ago, I was 3 days late turning in an assignment because I didn't fully comprehend the timeline or number of submissions an assignment required. 50% deduction. I have precious little room for bullshit mistakes like that on accelerated courses. I'm anxious about this because I was declined funding from the Choctaw nation because in my very last semester at KU (the semester I was spiraling, and, ya know, cheating on exams) I fell below 2.0 gpa (big surprising yeah?). I know I'll manage well above that by the end of this term, but... WORRIES. ALL THE WORRIES.

Aside from school, I'm running my own SMART Recovery meeting finally, still helping out with Wellbriety (that situation has changed SO much and it's very... sobriety testing), volunteering for the PTO, volunteering my time with a native plant nursery, doing the part-time job, making and selling jewelry, still grooming and dog sitting, still gardening and landscaping...

It's so much. It's too much.

I have ended my participation in a leadership program where my "mentor" ghosted my for nearly a month. I just left the voicemail today, so I'll likely be dealing with the fallout of that tomorrow. Maybe I'll blog about it lol.

Today was also my final session with my rehab therapist, and I didn't realize it. So two mentors down in one day. And I'm kind of crushed. The one that ghosted me promised me all this help with getting my finances together, and it was, like, possibly the most valuable carrot you could have dangled in front of me. In a Long List of Things, it's The One Thing that must be tackled before I can start making my dreams come true. It's also the one problem I can't find a single source of help for. Today I went to the library to check out the library databases and just spend time in between appointments NOT BUYING BEADS AT MICHAELS CRAFT STORE and perused the finances section. Not a single book on basic budgeting. It was all how-to-get-rich stuff.

And while yeah I'm definitely taking note for, like, the FIFTH non-profit I need to create to address this educational shortcoming for adults in recovery, I would like to not have to do something entirely from the ground up. A mentor would be so, SO nice. It seems demanding or needy, but I need someone to sit with me once a week, twice a month maybe, and help me create and go over my books with me until I've gained the skill and accountability to do it myself. The credit counselor said, "You need to start with a budget."

Sir. SIR. There is a big ol' gap between where I'm at and competently creating and following a budget. There's like... many steps. And maybe most people learned those steps from a parent, or in some way had access to that education in a way that impacted their behavior patterns, but many many people did not. And from what I can tell, those folks and myself are utterly left behind by almost every program. State aid, DCF, EBT, TANF, Bridges Over Poverty, none of these government or non-profit private sector agencies provides financial literacy/competency training. I asked my regular therapist where I could start from a behavioral stand point, and while we did come to a solution-based answer by the end of the session, there were crickets for several minutes while I challenged my therapist to tell me something other than "start with a budget". I'm seeking and trying and still not gaining any ground on this. It's depressing because it's interconnected to so many other things, but just living in poverty in general. It inhibits my ability to do so much.

Anyway, there's been a lot of isolation despite being busy. I'm lonely to the max, and trying to stand up for myself lately has been draining. I'm not good at it, I never know if the timing is correct or if its justified, if I'm doing it the right way or did I just ruin a connection/friendship, etc. I can't tell if I'm being negative laying out my challenges or just being real.

I do know that I'm in full relapse-mode, and I've been mindful of the substance cravings. I have 7 days to go before I reach 1 year sobriety.

There have been good and wonderful things lately, too - took my daughter to a Bee Fest, all the lovely time spent out at Lake Cheney working with native plants, my beadwork, a glorious morning walk the other day, fall and my garden, and all the growth I've experienced.

I miss being here, though. It's such a regular part of my processing and emotional health to have my blogs, and it's largely absent right now and I feel it pretty hard. In all of this "becoming", it's hard to spend any time just "being".

The olive oil store (part time job) got robbed while I was in it. (A widow's mite. It's a xtian owned shop so of course there were widow's mites.) I'm really tired of xtian music but could dedicate a whole blog post to it XD The robbing thing was weird. Ren fest this coming weekend. Hope I get to go!

I miss you folks. I appreciate knowing that anyone is still keeping an eye out for me at all. The holidays are on the horizon and like all good bi-polars, it's time to get crazy. But I gotta try and not this year and stay stable and sober, and I should try and learn on this space for some grounding. Okay I gotta stick to that sleep schedule - sometimes its the only thing between me and oblivion lol.

[quidcumque]

Fuck it. I have no idea what I'm doing, but perfection paralysis is a parasitic wasp jamming her fucking eggs into my neck so let's get this party started

Meet Experiment A. Her name has been changed to protect her privacy

She is soft in the middle, but has somewhat posable arms and legs. She's got bloomers, a hairband, and a doll-ugly dress. First let's free her hair

Problem: the hat was hot-glued to her hair. I can get SOME of this out, but either I'll need a new hat or we'll have to bubblegum this shit with scissors

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Okay

"It was not without a certain wild pleasure that she ran before the wind" -Jane Eyre

Either I'll need a clothing design that covers those bits or I'll need to commit to her being more unsettling than originally envisioned

I'm also realizing my mental image of the finished thing is... vague, and I don't know how to design or sew doll clothes. I have scarves I want to use for the fabric but that's about it. Pinterest it is

I don't like the babydoll style that I'm seeing everywhere, but I'm kind of doing something a little Victorian? Even though I don't like most of the doll clothes diy I'm seeing, they show them pre-sewn, which shows me how to wing it maybe please

Close enough

Oh my fucking sweet chili corn chips why. Why. Pro tip for the weary: fabric that is soft often is so because of its loose weave. Which means that it FUCKING FRAYS. I'm trying to hand-sew bits of fabric that have been cut by eyeballing and if I go too close to the edge then the pull of the thread just rips out a bit of the weft. Cool. Cool cool cool coolsauce

I am sewing this directly onto her, now. Seams be damned. She originally had stuffing in her sleeves and pants, so I'm putting s little bit back to get the mutton leg look or whatever it's called

This is usually the stage of a project where I start berating myself an ass for doing a half-assed sloppy leap-before-you-look job that will end in disappointment and a reevaluation of my creative skills. But. I've done enough things over the years that hit this point and I did fine. It won't be my original vision but I actually really like the rough style I tend to run with. So we'll see what we actually get

But jeezy creezy she looks like she was drawn by a kindergartner. I'm going to bed. Part 2 tomorrow because I'm not done with this by a long shot

[blazeball]

mr. priest is a blackwing subject

more specifically, he’s project cain

i’ve been holding off on making this post for a week and a half or so bcos i’ve been trying to compile enough research but like... might as well do it now?

this is gonna be a long post. i. hope people will even bother to, like, read this skdjnsdkjvn. just in case! here’s the tl;dr:

mr priest, aka osmund priest, is a blackwing subject, more specifically project cain. evidence of that can be found in the events of the show. he was conditioned by blackwing and ended up the way he is bcos they wanted a weapon.

first of all, we need to bring up the list of blackwing subjects

this one, tweeted out by max landis before season two started. first row, third from the right, is project cain, which proves that. a project cain exists!

all of these names have a history behind them- i’ve compiled a google doc here, but you don’t need to read it. they’re all from various religions; greek, norse, canaan, judaism, along with a few others. i’m not gonna go into detail on any of them except cain (but if you want to talk about the other subjects feel free to message me, i’m always hungry for more people to talk about this with!!)

cain was the first murderer, and he killed his brother abel because the lord favored his sacrifices as compared to cain’s. he was punished to a life of wandering, and when cain said that he’s rather die, he was given the mark of cain, a curse in which anyone who harmed him would suffer sevenfold.

over the course of the show, mr. priest is only referred to by his last name. however, in an interview with alan tudyk, priest’s actor and max landis, it’s confirmed that his first name is osmund. the meaning of the name osmund?

god’s protection

furthermore, over the course of the show, mr. priest is only harmed once, by panto. nasty scissor cut bisecting his face. what happens to panto?

he, and everyone he cares about, dies.

if that isn’t retribution sevenfold, i don’t know what is.

let’s move on to priest’s introduction scene, because it really is... something.

friedkin wakes up after passing out bcos martin drained his energy. mr. priest chastises him, telling him that one can’t get too close to the rowdies without stunning them first, especially if they’ve been starving. mr. priest knows a lot about the rowdy 3; he did capture them, as confirmed by max landis in some unfortunately deleted tweets. he has several insights into the holistics that every other antagonist doesn’t, actually. but we’ll get back to that later.

they talk a little bit more, and then priest says this:

“i help people get got and gotten absolutely.”

and this is true, backed up by canon! he caught 30 of the original 42 blackwing subjects, including bart, dirk, and the rowdies. he did the impossible and caught those who shouldn’t be able to be caught. he helped cage some of the tools of the universe!

and that’s something i think only another tool of the universe can do. i think that priest is a holistic hunter

it would fit! what other kind of person could catch 30 holistics? no normal human man would be capable of that. and, also, in season 1, martin says that when they do their.. energy vampire, thing, it really fucks up normal people. thats evident in what happened when martin huffed friedkin. but when vogel does that to priest? all he does is stumble a bit. thats it. now, we could blame that on priest just being... fucked up... but i really don’t think thats the case. coupled with the fact that vogel is visibly and viscerally terrified of priest, i think he KNOWS that he can’t do anything to priest without getting hurt. hell, he tried, and he got his fingers broken and was subsequently captured by the kellum knights.

let’s move on, but not too far from our last point- this show really likes to mirror scenes. it’s most obvious in season 1, with bart and ken’s conversations and dirk and todd’s conversations sometimes quoting each other exactly. there’s also more minor things, like this scene, or even what priest says to dirk in the cardenas house in s2 e6 compared to what ken says to dirk in s2 e10 or what riggins says in his confrontation with dirk in s1 e3.

lets look at another line that priest says in his first scene:

“i’m a very bad person. i’m, i’m no good, hugo, i’m troubled.... i’m just a gun, friedkin. i don’t do anything unless you pull the trigger.”

that sounds familiar... huh! i wonder where i’ve heard this sentiment before?

“i thought i was a leaf on the stream of creation. but i’m not. i’m on a wire. i’m a puppet. i’m not even a person. i’m a weapon.”

ohhhhhhh

and after that, where does bart ASK to go? blackwing. where she feels like she belongs, where ken is, because who else will take someone- something like her?

a nice little segue into our next point!

priest was ABOLUTELY conditioned to act this way by blackwing

and blackwing is more insidious than it may seem. hell, it starts at the base level- the project names

first of all, theres the fact that they’re projects in the first place- the use of the word project instead of subject inherently dehumanizes these people, implying that they’re less a person and more a weapon in progress. because, yes, blackwing is absolutely trying to figure out how to weaponize these people.

while i was compiling the information in the blackwing doc, i noticed something; over half of the projects are named after demons, personifications or heralds of death, or just... generally Bad Things. i was originally trepidatious, wondering how so many of these subjects could be so dangerous. but then i remembered the subjects that we do know:

project lamia, mona wilder. named after a shapeshifting monster that eats children. we know that mona has the ability to be dangerous, but generally doesn’t want to. the only time she’s ever harmed someone was when she was being searched for and was undoubtedly terrified, and even then, friedkin didn’t have any lasting damage.

projects moloch! canaanite god associated with child sacrifice. its root is in the hebrew word molekh, meaning king. if we didn’t know who this was, we might be alarmed, but, well, it’s francis. and, again, he has the ability to be dangerous, but he doesn’t want to. the only times his dreams have ever caused harm are when he had nightmares. and naming a kid whose parents were killed in front of him, whose brother gave him up to the government out of fear, after a god associated with child sacrifice? what the fuck, blackwing?

i firmly believe that most of these subjects are not as bad as the history behind their names leads us to think.

but the blackwing subjects are still taught that they are.

can you imagine how valuable someone with priests abilities would be? a hunter that can’t get hurt without the other party facing retribution? if they can recruit him to their side, condition him into thinking that all he’s good for is hunting and killing, then they have a very valuable asset on their hands

and that’s just what i imagine happened.

lets look, again, at priests introduction scene. specifically, this line:

“i’m a very bad person. i’m a scary monster.”

those aren’t ideas that just pop up in your head. those are things that are told to you, ideas that are given to you by other people

the short story is i think priest was conditioned into thinking he was a horrible person and, trying to find comfort in that fact, started enjoying the job that blackwing eventually gave him, which was hunting down other holistics. you can see how much fun he’s having playing cat and mouse with vogel in s2 e3, toying with dirk’s emotions in the cardenas house in s2 e6

and theres even more! the fact that he understands the holistics powers better than any other antagonist on the show, how visibly terrified everyone is of him to an extent that isn’t given any other character, etc etc. but this is way too long already, and i gotta wrap this up.

tl;dr, osmund priest is a blackwing subject, or more specifically, project cain, and was conditioned to act this way by blackwing so he could be used as a weapon for the government

[shikai-the-storyteller]

No spoilers but episode 11 of Cyberverse season 3 was easily one of the most fricked up episodes ever

(It was 100% made with me in mind and I loved it)

[fisherrprince]

Anon I can’t quite parse what you mean here, which is probably my fault, but by default that means I can take this into whatever interpretation I please, which means you’ve unknowingly opened pandora’s box, and I’m allowed to shove as much stuff that I drew/wrote while watching Skybound again with my friend (who’s never seen it we’re watching the series together and we’re both screen/writers and hiss at its writing Often) in here as I possibly can.

Here’s one image, because I love them. idk why Mystake’s there, but the rest is under a readmore. the rest being... we reconceptualized a lot because we could (and I know a lot of people have done this, but I wanted to take a stab at it)

First of all doodles because the outfits are cute. But we’d scrap the dress entirely because it would be no longer relevant if we were in charge of the plot. Because if we were in charge, this would be a revenge story for killing the Preeminent/Sister Realm (on the surface, at least). And Jay would keep the darn eyepatch i’m very specifically salty about this Very Specific Thing. Secondly...

Some thoughts with little context going off of scenes that already exist — you know we love angst in this house, but we also love 1) the hydroelectric dragon, so they can stay, but that original scene sure can’t, and 2) what if instead of Nadakhan coming in in wishmasters, Clancee was sent to clean up (because EXCUSE me what happened in there? Why is Jay on the floor in the corner? What happened???) and Cole and Jay hide on the ceiling spider-man style and jump him. Cole’s a ghost it just looks like Jay’s floating now you’ve thrown Clancee off his rhythm. STREET SMARTS!

Lastly we have a google doc that’s entirely too big and not NEARLY complete in ANY form -- in fact, most of these sentences will probably be edited to kingdom come if we actually keep messing with these ideas. But here are some highlights

these images are all the same size which is really inconvenient, theres no emphasis or order to these.

And there’s actually more, but that also doesn’t make sense out of context! We haven’t even gotten to the last episode, though, so she doesn’t know what happens, and there has been no *gestures* formulating. Soon. But not yet. Anyways, thanks for letting me dump all this somewhere, anon!!!!! I feel so light

[mad4turtles]

May Ii request for Rottmnt story. But with Leosagi please?

Heya! Sorry this took so long and sorry if it's not exactly what you wanted, but here you go!

---

Splinter knew he wasn't the best father out there. Far from it.

Of course, he'd ensured his boys had everything they could ever need: food, shelter, beds, clothes and toys—no matter what it took, no matter how it came to them, he wouldn't let his sons want for anything. Within reason.

(Donatello could beg on his knees all he wanted, he was not getting uranium for his birthday.)

Growing up, he'd let his boys know they were loved every day in his own ways with hugs and kisses goodnight, with washed-out books or toys he'd dug from the sewers or dumpsters in alleys, with their favourite snack on a bad day. Sometimes with noise-cancelling headphones for when Purple needed silence after a meltdown. Sometimes with needles and spools of yarn for when Red needed to calm down or Blue's favourite brand of tea when he couldn't sleep. All the little things Splinter didn't have after his mother left.

And even then, he'd nearly missed them.

He can be lazy, he knows. Lazy, flippant, dismissive to the point he wonders how much he'd actually raised the boys rather than the boys raising themselves (or Red, as the biggest and oldest. The mother-hen tendencies must come from somewhere). Invested in his shows, his comfy chair and bed, sleeping the days away when the boys reached their teens, he'd barely been a part of their lives. And when he was, he was stealing their tanks for joyrides or sending them out on errands in his stead.

Shredder's return, and Draxum's meddling, had opened his eyes and then some. And it became clear how badly he'd failed his children.

Yet despite his failings, they proved how capable they were without the family's traditions or disciplines he'd discarded as a foolish young man. They showed him how he'd succeeded in teaching them love above all else, the importance of family first.

Their love for each other, and their fool of a father, had won the day in the end. Pride couldn't begin to describe how he felt.

Still, one incredible victory couldn't erase years of absence, so he sought to rectify that. Thankfully, he wasn't too late.

His sons are no longer babies or turtle tots, growing into fine young men, but he does his best to be more present. He starts their training schedule back up and takes more interest in their personal lives. Sure he's still lazy and lax, but he's here, far more than he'd ever been, and he makes it known that no matter what, he wants to be a part of their lives. 

He doesn't need to be the greatest father or teacher. He just wants to be a good one. Two years after Shredder's defeat and he thinks he's doing alright.

But then—

“Hey, Pops? Can I talk to you?”

Ear twitching, Splinter turns from the screen. Blue stands with his fingers pressed together, shifting on his feet. Already that's concerning, but Splinter narrows his eyes. “What did you do?”

“What—nothing, I didn't, no, I just—“ Leo runs a hand over his scalp, sighing roughly. “I-I need—can I just talk to you, please? In private?”

Oh. Okay then.

Splinter shuts off the projector and hops out of his chair. “Okay, Blue. Come, we'll speak in my room.”

Leo shuffles quietly behind him. Another red flag. Leonardo Hamato-Jitsu does not shuffle. And he's never this quiet. He doesn't have Red's 'fear stink', but Splinter can feel his son's nervousness.

Gods, what have I missed this time?

He shuts the door after Leo and motions him to sit on the bed with him. “Now,” he says, facing Leo, “what is it you wanted to talk about?”

Leo folds his legs and plays with his fingers, not meeting his father's eyes. He purses his lips, eyes shifting around the room. Splinter waits in the tense, awkward silence for a full two minutes before Leo speaks:

“U-Um—so... y-you know how you told us about the—ugh, the birds and the bees a few years back?”

Jeezy tap-dancing Creezy, what a way to start a conversation!

Splinter fights to keep an even face and nods. “Yes,” he says slowly, cautiously, fear deep in his bones, “I do. It was—”

“One of the worst effing moments of our collective lives, yes,” Leo says quickly. He's still not looking at Splinter, rubbing his neck. “A-Anywhizzle, you—back then, you said it was, like, when—when a guy and a girl like each other and stuff—”

Please, God, Splinter prays with a desperation he hasn't felt since Shredder's return, if this is what I think it is, give me strength—

“What if... What if it was, like... not a guy and a girl?”

A pause. 

“What?”

Leo starts to sweat, fidgeting where he sits like he's about to run off. Sure enough, he sits up abruptly—“Y'know what, pssht, it doesn't matter!” He forces a laugh and starts to shuffle off the bed, “It's stupid, it's dumb, don't even worry about it! Sorry I wasted your time, you can go back to watching your show I'm just gonna—”

Splinter's tail catches him around the wrist. 

“Leonardo,” he says. Leo goes very, very still. “Please. Talk to me, my son.”

When Leo finally looks at Splinter, his eyes are wide and shining, his shoulders trembling and—oh. Oh. 

Splinter's heart breaks into a million pieces. He's messed up. Again.

How did I miss this?

Gently pulling Leo back to the bed, he unwraps his tail and takes his son's shaking hands in his own, his thumb gently stroking calloused, scaly knuckles. He mulls the words carefully in his head, conscious of the silence and Leo's bouncing knee as it stretches perhaps a bit too long. Finally, he looks up—“How long have you felt this way?”

He's not sure if it's the right or very wrong thing to say as Leo bursts.

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!” he cries, gripping Splinter's hands hard enough to hurt. “I didn't—I-I know I'm, like, the farthest thing from normal in the history of all things normal, but I—I know this—this isn't normal either, I looked it up online and, yeah, no, it's really not normal, 'cos like, I'm a guy and, and guys don't like other guys, and, and, and—”

Splinter yanks him forward into a hug tight enough to bruise a human's ribs, curling his tail around his shell. Leo's still so tense, face damp with tears, and Splinter cradles the back of his head. 

“I love you so much, my son,” he says. “I know I have not been... present as much as I should have, and I have missed so many things. But you—all four of you—are my world. I would not trade you for anything, nor will I ever forsake you, no matter who you choose to be or who you love. You will always be my Baby Blue.”

His only warning is a choked sob before Leo bursts into tears. He buries his face against his shoulder, squeezing Splinter and curling up against him as he did when he was smaller. When Splinter could pick him up and hold him and take all the hurt away with a hug or a kiss on the forehead. He's much bigger now, older and stronger, with scars inside and out that won't go away so easily, but damn him if that'll stop him from holding his son now. Six, sixteen or sixty, it doesn't matter. He's still his baby.

“I'm sorry,” Leo whimpers. 

Splinter hushes him. “Nothing to be sorry for.”

Leo sniffles, nuzzling Splinter's cheek, smearing his fur with tears. “I love you, dad.”

Splinter holds him tighter and grins. “I love you too, Blue.”

The following day, Leo struts out of his room in his favourite hoodie and a pride pin with bold white text: 'BABY BI-BI-BI!' 

Raph spits out his soda and grabs him in a hug shy of breaking his shell. Mikey is beside himself, leaping across the lair and finally onto Raph to join the hug. April has tears in her eyes—“You're amazing, baby,” she says, and Leo's eyes glisten.

Donnie smirks. “Called it.”

“What?” Leo wheezes from Raph's arms.

“You knew?” Splinter asks.

Donnie rolls his eyes. “Please. Leon's 'closet' was made of glass.”

Raph nearly passes out he laughs so hard, falling back and taking everyone with him to the floor. Then Donnie joins the pile, bumping foreheads with his twin in silent congratulations. Splinter watches from the couch and smiles.

Yes, he's missed a few things, some bigger than others. But he's here now, and he thanks god he didn't miss this.

Then three months later, Leo brings home a boy.

“Everyone,” he announces with a flourish as he gestures to the flustered-looking rabbit Yokai waving awkwardly beside him. “This is Usagi Miyamoto. We're dating. Have been, actually, for like three weeks, so, yeah." He drapes his arm around the blushing rabbit boys' shoulder, grinning wide. "We're boyfriends now.”

Splinter chokes on his sake.

A boyfriend. 

Usagi--the boyfriend--turns to Splinter and bows. "It is an honour to finally meet you, sir. Leonardo has told me so much about all of you." He smiles, small but polite. 

Splinter grimaces back.

I am not ready for this.

---

Send more requests if you'd like!~<3

[wanderinthedeep]

ughhhhhhh I’m not saying therapy isn’t helpful but jeezy creezy it feels like I’ve been stagnant for so fucking long

[theassthatquits]

Blupjeans Week Day 2 - Ghost

Lup Taaco founded the premier science camp for teens - Camp Rocks! - this side of Faerun almost a decade ago. She did it by herself (mostly) and has the awards, articles, and accolades to prove that it’s a success.

So where does Davenport, her investor, get off going behind her back and hiring someone new without consulting her? Sure, enrollment has plateaued in the last couple of years, the main complaint being that they needed to shake up their staffing and curriculum, but she had it handled. She could take care of it herself, this was just a bump in the road. She didn’t need the help of some fancy doctor, this ‘Dr. Hallwinter’ that Davenport worked with at the university.

Lup scoffed while thumbing through his resume and cover letter. Top of his undergrad at Neverwinter U, a triple major in chemistry, astronomy, and physics. A brief stint working at a funeral home - a little weird, but everyone goes through a quarter life crisis, right? Returning to school a couple years later to get his masters and PhD and now taught at the same university while simultaneously doing interplanar research with Davenport. At the bottom of his resume with “related skills” he put ‘huge nerd’, as if that wasn’t obvious enough.

“Well, at least he knows what he’s talking about,” she muttered to herself as she threw the papers aside. There was no use fighting it now, she had spent weeks arguing and it wasn’t getting her anywhere. And it wasn’t like this was a bad idea, it just wasn’t her idea. This was her camp, after all.

---

Okay, maybe this Dr. Hallwinter guy wasn’t such a bad fit. They got off on the wrong foot, having a couple of heated discussions (fights) about things that she could barely remember. But now, she was standing in the corner of the pavilion, watching him give a very animated lecture on stars and planets. Angus McDonald, one of their first campers and the only one who came every single year, kept raising his hand to ask new questions and Hallwinter loved it. The two of them could go back and forth for hours, talking about theories and experiments and life itself. Angus had signed himself up for all of Dr. Hallwinter’s classes for the summer and loved every minute.

And he wasn’t so bad to look at, she supposed.

Lup was snapped out of her reverie by the class laughing very loudly at some Fortnite reference he made. Without realizing it, she smiled too. Dr. Hallwinter looked up at that moment to see her and his grin grew even bigger. With their eyes locked together, he dabbed and the class lost it all over again. When she giggled at that, she could have sworn he was blushing.

---

Every year towards the end of the summer the staff throws a “spooky soiree” to celebrate the end of camp. Everyone dresses up in a science-themed costume, they use the different things they have learned to create gruesome and cool decorations and effects, and they end the night with a ghost story bonfire. It’s easily Lup’s favorite night of camp. She loves amazing all of the younger kids with the cauldrons of “witches brew” (just dry ice in some punch) and grossing them out with the “eyeballs” (peeled grapes). This year she sewed some LEDs into her black vest, creating stars and constellations. Lup glowed in the dark and she fucking loved it.

She was in the middle of a (spooky) explanation of the witch's brew when she caught sight of Dr. Hallwinter walking up to the party. He was wearing a white shirt with lines drawn across it like a measuring cup and a long red robe over it. She was pretty sure he was wearing a graduation cap, too, which would mean…

“Holy shit you’re a graduated cylinder!” Lup shouted at him from across the way.

Immediately squeals of “language, Miss Lup!” began in front of her and she apologized to them as Dr. Hallwinter walked over with a smile on his face.

“Sure, am! This is pretty much my only Halloween costume, but I do love it.”

“Well, it certainly works for you, Dr. Hallwinter.”

He blushed before saying, “Lup, please just call me Barry. We’ve been having this discussion all summer. The only other person who calls me Dr. Hallwinter is Angus.”

As if to prove his point, Taako swooped in at that moment in a chef’s costume with the letters “FE” written on his shirt and yelled, “Excellent costume, Barold! You look even more like a nerd than usual and that’s saying something.”

Barry laughed. “Thank you, Taako, or should I say Iron Chef?”

Taako bowed deeply. “At your service, sir.”

“Dr. Hallwinter, sir!” They saw smoke before they saw Angus and Lup was a little alarmed before she realized that it was part of his costume. The boy had dressed up like a volcano with fake lava and smoke coming out of the top of it. “Look, it works!”

“All right, buddy!” The pair high fived and a weird fuzzy feeling struck Lup while watching the two of them.

“I think they’re about to start the scary stories over by the bonfire, are you coming, sir?”

“Pshh am I coming? Miss Lup asked me if I could host the festivities. Now you go get a good seat and I’ll be right over to start us off.”

Angus saluted him and ran off, eager for the frights ahead.

“Hosting the ghost stories, that’s a big deal Barold. Lup has hosted the bonfire herself for the last - oh, I don’t know, 2 decades?”

Barry turned to Lup, confused. “Is that true? I don’t want to impose or ruin any traditions.”

She waved him off. “Nah, it’s fine. We got off on the wrong foot, think of it as a peace offering.” Stepping closer to him and putting a hand on his shoulder, her voice got quiet. “You’re a member of this family, Barry.”

It was a good thing it was so dark, otherwise she would have seen his face turn a deep red. “You said my name.”

“Yeah, yeah, go get ready to spook some kids, Bluejeans.”

“Bluejeans?”

“You’ve worn the same blue jeans every single day since you started, even when we do activities by the lake. I’m absolutely convinced that you only packed that one pair for the entire summer.”

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you’re not entirely wrong.”

“Barold. My dude. You only packed one pair of jeans, no shorts, no swim trunks, for an entire summer at a camp?”

“There might have been a slight mishap on the way here in which I lost my shorts, swim trunks, and half of my underwear.”

No one moved or said anything for a second before Taako finally said, “Barry, you know we go into town once a week to get food for the camp, right?”

Barry just stared into space, regretting all of his life choices that led up to this moment. Lup busted up laughing, harder than anyone had seen her laugh all summer. As she wiped a tear from her eye, she patted his shoulder and said, “Well, I guess you know for next year, right?”

He raised an eyebrow playfully. “Next year, huh?”

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t make any promises until I see how well you do at our bonfire fright fest. Speaking of which, we should definitely be heading over there. I am a little nervous to see how Magnus has been keeping the kids occupied.”

---

Lup stood in the back of the crowd, letting Barry take over the hosting responsibilities of the bonfire. It was one of her favorite parts of camp, but it felt right to let him do it. He was doing really well, enhancing his performance with shadow puppets from the fire and interspersing the scary parts with science puns to ease the nerves of the younger kids. She found it absolutely adorable.

“I think Barold is giving you a run for your money, Lulu.”

“He’s better than I expected, that’s for sure.”

“I’m glad you gave the guy a chance. He’s a good dude.”

She smiled. “He is, isn’t he?”

Taako took a moment, watching his sister watch Barry. “You have the hots for him, don’t you? Jeezy creezy, I should have seen this coming. Those arguments you two had at the beginning were spicy.”

“What?!” Lup said, a little too loudly, face flushing. “I do not have the hots for Dr. Bluejeans. He’s just funny and good with the kids and very smart and looks good in jeans and oh my god I have the hots for Dr. Bluejeans.” Her eyes got wide and she clutched Taako’s arms. “Taako what the fuck am I supposed to do?”

“Lulu, I say this with all the love in my heart: don’t follow your instincts. Right now, your instincts are telling you to let him walk away tomorrow and not say anything, and they are dead wrong.”

“Ughhh but what if he doesn’t feel the same? It ruins the professional relationship we have and then I have to ban him from the camp and then Angus will hate me and we will lose our best customer.”

“Something tells me he also feels the same way.”

“But how do you know that?”

30 minutes earlier

Lup went ahead before the boys to make sure that Magnus hadn’t started a revolution of sorts and that left Barry and Taako to quickly clean up the food before following. Barry’s eyes lingered a little too long on Lup as she was walking away.

“Barold. Are you checking out my sister?”

“What?! No, what makes you think that?”

“I rolled a Nat 20 on perception, Barold. Legally you cannot lie to me. Now tell me: do you have the hots for my sister?”

Barry covered his face with his hands. “Maybe? Yes. Absolutely. Completely. As soon as she called me a poorly-dressed poser on my first day I was done for.”

“Rad. You should do something about that.” Taako started walking towards the bonfire, witch’s brew in hand.

“What, like tell her?”

“Tell her, kiss her, fight her, just something so I get to stop looking at you two making eyes at one another,” Taako yelled back without stopping.

“What - we don’t make eyes at one another, that’s not…she makes eyes at me?”

“Yeah, I think you’re good, my dude.”

The kids started clapping, signaling the end of the story that Magnus was telling.

“All right, thank you Magnus. Very scary, that story about zombie dogs. I think next up we have everyone’s favorite camp director, Miss Lup!”

The kids cheered and Lup had to pull herself together to nail this story that she was definitely going to pull out of her ass because she most certainly hadn't prepared anything.

“Are you kids ready to get the pants scared off of you?”

They screamed enthusiastically.

“All right, this story is about our very own Lake Igneous here at Camp Rocks. Legend has it that there was a woman who used to live in these woods by herself, not letting anyone else get near her. She refused help from anyone that came by, wanting to do everything alone and remain independent. The campers nearby could hear her blowing shit up in the woods and they knew to steer clear. One day, a man stumbled into her home, lost and confused. She lit off several explosions in an attempt to scare him off but he didn’t want to leave.”

As she talked, her eyes found Barry’s.

“He saw how lonely she was and helped her blow shit up. Eventually she grew to really like the man and really enjoyed blowing things up with him.” Barry laughed at that. Lup, suddenly remembering that this was supposed to be a scary story, abruptly tore her eyes away from his.

“They thought it would be a good idea to light some fireworks on the lake, so they took a boat out to the center and created the biggest and most beautiful explosion known to man, taking both of them out. They sacrificed their lives for the dopest light show, and sometimes, on a very clear and quiet night, you can see them in the lake, hand in hand.”

Lup bowed to signal that the story was over and she took her place back next to Taako.

“Lup, that was...pretty rough, not going to lie. Not your best work, that’s for sure.”

“I just got so distracted looking at his dumb face.”

“Yeah, that whole story was glaringly obvious.” She glared at him.

“I just need to get through this night without further making an ass of myself.”

He snorted. “Good luck.”

--

After the bonfire had wrapped up and all the kids were sent to bed, Lup sat at her favorite spot down by the lake to stare at the stars. She always sat here on the final night, reminiscing over the summer.

“Mind if I join you?” Barry’s voice came out of nowhere, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t expect it. Lup didn’t respond, just patted on the ground next to her. “So, your story was -”

“It’s okay, you can say it was shit, because it was. I definitely did not prepare this year like I usually do.”

“-good. I really liked it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Especially the part where they die a fiery but beautiful death.”

She snorted and he took the opportunity to move closer to her, their shoulders touching.

“Thank you for letting me join the team this summer.”

“I would say you’re welcome, but I honestly didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

“I know. Thank you for giving me a shot.”

“Again, not much choice in the matter.” He laughed. “You turned out alright. Better than I was expecting.”

“High praise from Miss Camp Director.”

“Would you be interested in coming back next year?”

“Absolutely. Pretty sure Angus would boycott if I didn’t show up.”

“He would just show up on your doorstep. Expect a lot of emails this year. So I’ll see you next summer, then?” He hesitated. “Unless you already have other commitments, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Lup, I’ll definitely be here next summer. I was just hoping that maybe we could see each other a little sooner than that. Like maybe this Saturday, dinner?”

She smirked. “A little forward, aren’t we, Dr. Bluejeans?” His face dropped.

“Oh, God. Did I totally misread this situation? Fuck, I am so sorry, I am going to just walk into this lake and never come back -” Barry started to get up, mortified.

“Barry, stop.” He looked at her, eyes wide in embarrassment. She shifted so her face was directly in front of his. “You didn’t misread this situation.” And then she kissed him.

@blupjeansweek2021

[snowdice]

Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 13)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Deceit, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned, explosions (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 My Master Post

Remy was slumped down in his seat as Emile continued to lecture him on all the possible consequences of his actions over the past 24 hours. Jeezy creezy was Emile miffed about all of that. Remy had been trying to blow it off, but Emile was fully, painfully aware that he’d almost had lost his brother today and Remy was going to hear about it until Emile’s lungs aches.

“And another thing…” he said.

“Wait,” Remy said, and Emile did because there was a lace of panic to his tone.

“What?” Emile asked.

“The tracker stopped working,” Remy answered pushing buttons a little bit desperately on his device.

“It went completely offline somehow,” Remy said.

“Did it get turned off?” Emile asked. “Or run out of batteries?”

“It doesn’t turn off and the batteries are designed to last for years,” Remy said. “It can even track through 20 feet of water. The only way it could stop sending a signal this abruptly is if the thing was destroyed.”

Emile paused. “You said Virgil knows what the blinking light means.”

“Yes.”

“Is it possible that he knows, or well, ‘knows,’ you’re dead? Barbara did send a man after him, he could have mentioned it.”

Remy stared down at the device in his hands.

He pressed a couple of buttons and studied the screen for a moment. “You little shit,” he groaned. “You threw it out the fucking car window, didn’t you?”

“How do you know?” Emile asked.

“Because if I look at the history, it was going at 65 miles per hour down the interstate, suddenly stopped cold, and then went offline probably when another car inevitably crushed it.”

“Ah.”

“Well, at least the fucker’s probably okay. Dammit Virgil! Where are you going?” Remy pushed a few more buttons almost idly as he thought. “Let me get into Virgil’s head for a minute: emo music, dark clothes, would rather have his toenails ripped out than go to parties, makes split second decisions based on little info. Yep! Got him.”

Emile rolled his eyes, but Remy wouldn’t have noticed as he had his own eyes closed. “Hmm. So, I’m Virgil. My bitch mom killed my dad and sent someone after me. I have no idea what’s going on, but I bolt out of there because fuck mom. I want to get the hell out of dodge so I convince someone to drive me somehow, I guess, but where would I want to go? Someplace safe. Where’s safe? Maybe Emile, but obviously that’s not where he went. Or Janus, but he’s too connected to mom. I don’t really know anyone else, especially not someone who could help with this sort of stuff.”

Remy thought for another long moment. “Oops.”

“Oops?” Emile asked. “What oops?”

He could tell by the expression on Remy’s face that he was not going to like the answer. “I may have let something… slip.”

“What do you mean, Remington?”

“Um, well you see,” Remy said. “A couple of months ago Virgil was being, you know, himself: a little shit. He may have, possibly, found some papers.”

“What kind of papers?” Emile asked.

“They were nothing important!” Remy assured. “There wasn’t any dangerous info in them or anything, but…”

“But?”

“It is somewhat possible that they had the name on them.”

“How possible?” Emile asked, eyes narrowed on him.

“He asked what Green Bellow Foods was and why they needed 50 top-of-the line computers outfitted at an old factory.”

“And what did you tell him?!”

“Nothing!”

Emile glared at him.

“Okay, well I had to tell him something,” Remy mumbled. “I just kind of said that I knew the owner well and was working with him on some stuff. Then I told him not to worry about it, which was probably a mistake, because he’s Virgil. So, then I found him snooping in my car. At that point I had to sit him down and talk to him. So, I told him a bit about Logan.”

“Remy that’s not nothing!”

“I didn’t use his name or anything. I just told him a couple of really, extremely, tremendously, vague stories, so he didn’t think I owed money to the mafia. Which, yes, he did suggest.”

“That’s worse!”

“What do you want from me Emile?!”

“Some common sense!” Emile answered. “I’ve been comparing you to the rat in Ratatouille for years, but I’m starting to think you’re more of a Pinky from Pinky and the Brain.”

“Hey, ouch,” Remy replied. “Also, I personally subscribe to the theory that Pinky is actually the intelligent one who is foiling Brain’s evil plots from the inside. So, there.”

“Now is not the time,” Emile said.

“Oh, it’s not the time to discuss cartoon theories?” Remy mumbled into his lap. “Must be serious.”

“It is serious! Virgil is missing!”

“Don’t you think I know that?!” Remy snapped. “I know, Emile.”

There was quiet. Emile took a breath. “Okay,” he said, calmer. “Do you really think he’s going to Logan?”

“He’s headed somewhere,” Remy answered, “and wherever that somewhere is, it’s inexplicably down the most direct route towards base.”

“Well, Virgil is smart. I don’t think he’d just keep going so quickly without a destination in mind. We should call Logan.”

“Do you honestly believe Barbara doesn’t have your phone tapped when Virgil is missing? If you had one of Logan’s phones, I might agree with you, but as it is, we’d be giving away our position, and possibly clueing her into Virgil’s plan. If he shows up at base, Logan will take him in no question. It’s less dangerous for everyone this way.”

“Fine,” Emile said. “We’ll just keep driving towards Logan and hope you’re right about where he’s going.”

“Of course, I’m right,” Remy said lightly. “I’ve got the paternal instincts going on. Course, they didn’t stop the knife throwing incident of ’09. I blame Janus for that, though.”

Emile shook his head at him.

“It is good for when he tries to steal sweets, or that one time he brought home a baby piglet and tried to hide it from me in his bedroom. Or when he’s feeling anxious about something but won’t tell me because he thinks it’s silly.” Remy’s own fingers tapped out an anxious pattern against his knee. “It also worked with the golf cart incident, but it was too late. Again, I blame Janus. He messes with the paternal instinct meter. He’s far too unpredictable and I make the mistake of thinking he’s responsible, which he is half the time, but the other half of the time I remember that he’s still mostly a kid and one that grew up in an unstable environment. Did I tell you that last month they went and won a bunch of tickets at the arcade and used them to get those 5 ticket rubber ducks and just unloaded them all over my room? Honestly, you’d think a 21-year-old would have a better use for his money or at least have the brains to go buy them at a store. He could have gotten like 500 more ducks for the same amount of money. Of course, it was his mom’s money, so I guess I can get behind wasting it on arcade games and rubber ducks. The prank was apparently based on some comedy sketch Virgil found online.”

“You’re doing the thing again,” Emile pointed out calmly.

“Stop psych evaluating me,” he shot back.

“Fine, fine,” Emile said. “Keep distracting yourself from your emotional responses with silly stories. See if I care.”

“Thank you,” Remy replied. “I will.”

Emile sighed as he started back up again mumbling something about having taken away Virgil’s Gameboy after catching him playing it at 3 o’clock in the morning. He claimed this wasn’t because the boy hadn’t gotten any sleep on a school night, but because he’d insulted Donkey Kong to Remy’s face. After that story had run its course, Remy continued to babble at an increasingly fast pace about all sorts of things. Emile imagined most of the stories he sprouted off were quite embellished.

Emile had tried to turn on the radio once, but Remy had slapped his hand away saying, “The next one’s a really good one.” So, he had resigned himself to his fate of tuning out Remy’s coping mechanism to the best of his abilities and just focusing on driving for the next 45 minutes. Which is probably why he noticed that traffic had strangely decreased. He didn’t really pay the fact that much mind until the traffic suddenly increased… in the form of a wall of stopped cars.

“Jenkies, what’s going on?” he asked, as he came to a stop at the end of the line of cars.

“Um…” Remy said looking out of his car window. There, staring into their car with beady black eyes was a cow. As Emile watched, said cow leaned forward to drag its tongue across the passenger side window. “Shit.”

Want to read more? Click below!

Part 14

[ice-feast]

Apple Opinions, Empyre: Aftermath

I'm really glad we got this extra issue for Empyre. I enjoyed the last one, but definitely thought it needed a wrap-up issue. Just to trim the loose ends, add some shading, little bit of polish, etc. I'm glad Ewing got the time to do this aftermath issue!

Jeezy Creezy POOR ANELLE.

I'd be interested to know who wrote that initial dialogue between Anelle and R'kll - was it Oliveira, and Ewing used it, or did Ewing write it for Oliveira? My gut says Oliveira, given the Shakespearian vibes of it all, but maybe I'm selling Ewing short here. Either way, loved seeing the continuation of that scene - though again my main take away was JEEZY CREEZY POOR ANELLE.

Evil Grandma favours a tits out look and I must say, I don't hate it.

Kaplan-Altman waaaaah :')

My boys... Once they were awkward teens who could barely hold hands on panel... And now they are married... To each other... My boys...

Is the green cowl thing going to be a permanent addition to Billy's outfit? I Would Be Cool With That. Just a cute little reference to Teddy. (It reminds me of the thing in She-Ra, where marriage is signalled by wearing each other's clothing).

Prince-Consort AND Court Wizard, Billy getting that double pay cheque

I already made a post about Kree McKelvie and Skrull Gillen but god do I love it. Hanging out with Heineburg and Cheung! The main writers of the Young Avengers! Gillen's clearly making bad jokes again!! We Love To See It

The writers are Skrull, the artists are Kree, IS THAT ANTHONY OLIVEIRA WITH THE GLASSES I hope it’s him that would Bode Well

ELIIIIII he didn't get a single line ELI IS HERE!!

I literally just noticed Rebecca and Jeff up there in the crowd shot with Billy and Teddy aaaaaaah Ewing and Schiti sure know how to give to the fans huh

My main issue with this issue: lack of Loki content :'( Why does Marvel consistently forget that Loki had a relationship with the Young Avengers :'( They made him feel guilt and that was the catalyst for his character change :'( Only Oliveira gives me the Billy and Loki interactions that give me the serotonin I crave :'(

(Wife suggested it's because Loki generally doesn't fare well in rooms of superheroes, which is fair, but also... Loki content :'( )

(Just had the thought: Empyre has clearly been in planning stages for AGES, maybe the intention was that Loki's solo series wouldn't be unjustly cancelled and so he would be busy doing his own thing at this point in canon?)

(Either way, Loki is absolutely going to turn up later to bestow his blessings/annoy the shit out of the happy couple, this is my headcanon, You Cannot Change This)

Carol's hot sister is the new Accuser hell yes Teddy fill your court with gays

(I always figured Mar-vell was dead by the time Mary-Jo made it to Earth? That's what I'm sticking with, I've written way too much of my Mary-Jo fic to go back and change that)

It's Not A Wedding Without A Fight 👏

Thank GOD for whatever Marvel editor remembered Roberto is Black and is enforcing this

Their New Avengers team :') Champagne robot callback :')))))

I love Kate Bishop. I love her so much.

Does Tommy have a mullet now

Tommy has a mullet now

What FOOLS we were not to think Tommy would have a mullet!!!

That shot of Billy and Teddy with their teams... Get that tattooed on my forehead... The Found Family of it all...

I STILL think Kl'rrt should GET WRECKED for killing Mary-Jo but reassigning him for diplomacy is a more in character punishment from Teddy. Still. Get FUCKED Kl'rrt.

I'm gonna assume the Ominous Foreshadowing bit at the end is a reference to the Infinity War briefly mentioned in Ewing's New Avengers? The important thing is that I don't spy Billy or any of the other YA in the corpse pile, so we're good. An worried about the sword though :(

Overall:

Thank you Ewing for this Content, I miss Loki, I'm so glad to finally see Teddy acknowledged as the Big Fucking Deal he is?? I hope this isn't the last we see of our boys in 2020, and that next time Tommy gets a line...

Empyre was 9.9/10, highly recommend, may have to go sub to Guardians of the Galaxy for that Ewing content, reminded me of why I love Marvel comics in the first place, -2 for the lack of Loki but +1.9 for making me actually care about Reed Richards

Long live Space Gays! 🏳️‍🌈💫🏳️‍🌈🌌

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 263

November 30 Okay, trying to journal a little bit earlier than normal like a responsible adult person, but I'm distracted by my little Fallout Shelter people persistently failing to produce enough electricity for their subterranean home. And after all the nuclear power plants I've given them!  Another quiet day, though it started poorly with me waking up at 7:58 am when kiddo's school starts at 8am central. This was complicated further by the fact that he let the Chromebook die over the weekend, and it can be tetchy to wake up when it is plugged in but not charged, stupid thing. It was also also complicated by the fact that kiddo's login is his school email, which is a series of numbers followed by an @, followed by literally four or five modifiers separated by dots. It is impossible to memorize and a pain in the ass to use. So he was ten minutes late to school this morning, but technical difficulties are the virtual school equivalent of a late bus, they happen to everyone occasionally.  With the kiddo set up, I went with my mom to drop my dad's car at the shop so I could drive her home. On the way we dreamed of happy future days when we will drop casually by Starbucks in the morning, or have lunch at our favorite sushi place. We went right home instead, where I worked for awhile on fixing the Christmas wreath where two of the four hundred-light strings have gone bad. It was an extremely tetchy job to unwind them without hurting the wreath, and I have full confidence that winding the new lights on will be at least as annoying. The kiddo has been roping anybody who sits still long enough into playing Exploding Kittens with him. He's getting quite good at the strategy part, now I just need to teach him to shuffle cards.  In the evening, my mom got some bad news about her brother, my uncle, who took a nasty fall on Saturday and now has to go to the hospital and get a bunch of scary tests done. She was very upset, of course, so I cooked and cleaned for dinner. We had ham loaves from the freezer, made by the Methodist Womens' group at one of the local churches and extremely delicious. These were marked 2019, and we realized we didn't know if there'd been a ham loaf sale this year. A lot of those Methodist women are no spring chickens, so there may not have been any available to buy in 2020. Bummer! We also had a butternut squash soup, made with the largest butternut squash I have personally seen. Sliced in half, it covered basically all of a normal sized cookie sheet, and I didn't even have to scrape it to get six cups of squash meat from it. It was lorge. My mom didn't have bouillon cubes, so I had to punt with bougie bouillon paste and salt, but it turned out pretty well.  After supper, my folks went to my aunt's house to wish my other aunt a happy birthday and take her a present. The original offer was for all of us to go over and sing and eat cake, but while my "are they _crazy_?" response may not have been the most politic, it did appropriately frame the debate. The birthday aunt is a substitute teacher who was in school at least one day last week, and the other aunt and uncle just spent Thanksgiving with kids and grandkids, including an attorney, a teacher, and a police officer. So yeah, we're not talking safety podded here. Eventually my mom and dad went, wearing their N95 masks, did not eat cake, dropped off the present, and we all sang over the phone. My mom reported upon returning home that the birthday aunt was all set to blow out the candles over a pie that everybody else was then going to eat, before my mom was all "Really?" and they were all "Oh yeah...." Jeezy Creezy. I need there to be an emoji that combines equal parts “lol” and “yikes” and I need that emoji to be named 2020. My biggest news of the day was that I finally bought a new laptop! HP was having some very nice Cyber Monday deals on their website so I bought straight from them. It's nothing special, a very basic laptop with 8gb RAM, an Athlon Gold chip, a 15 inch screen and no CD drive. I did spring for an upgrade to 256GB solid state drive for storage because I am a digital packrat from small times, but even then the entire thing came out to just over 300 dollars which is not bad for a laptop that is not a dumbass Chromebook. It won't be here for a couple more weeks, but I'm looking forward to it!  We ended the evening by doing hot cocoa bombs, which was very fun. They're like bath bombs, but they are hollow chocolate balls decorated with sprinkles and filled with high-quality cocoa mix and marshmallows. You put the bomb in a cup and pour hot milk over it slowly, and the ball cracks open and spills cocoa and marshmallows everywhere. Very cool and very yummy. Expensive as hell, too, but not that much more than a Starbucks cocoa and at least we were supporting a local candymaker. My mom bought enough for everybody in the family to have one, so she was very happy they worked out. Feels like Christmas already! 

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

Do the boys ever think about getting kids in the future? I feel like they all would have worried but also be for it?? (Oddly enough I think Virgil or Logan would be the most chill about getting a kid)

Winterbloom

Deepin the heart of the forest, there is a witch-hazel tree, hollow andhuge.Ithas not bloomed in a very, very long time.

Pairing:romantic LAMP, background remile, background Thomas/Heart “Harley” (from the shorts), a whole mess of platonic family dynamics

Wordcount: 4810

Warnings:the usual things irt Virgil and Logan’s immortality and everybodyelse’s Lack Thereof but that’s about it – this is mostly fluff

Notes:part of the expanded universe of Love and Other Fairytales, takingplace about ten years after the end of the main storyline (so thehumans + Logan are all late twenties, essentially)

from these prompts as well:

“I was wondering maybe we could see the uncle babes for the firsttime? Like when Thomas has a kid? And Virgil being all soft and notknowing how to hold a baby and when he does????? Just falls infucking love???? My heart can’t take it god” from @thiamuniverse (this is not… quite exact, feel free to send it again)

and

“Soin Grandmother, May makes a quip about grandchildren. Do the boysever consider having kids,or is that something they’re content toleave to Thomas?” from a nonnie

contains gratuitous shorts characters

—

Virgil woke up tosomeone tapping him on the nose. He wrinkled his face, grumbling.

Someone laughed.

“Rise and Shine,Sleeping Beauty,”

“Too early,”Virgil said, gruff.

“Agreed,” camethe uncharacteristically petulant voice of Patton, his breath puffingagainst Virgil’s neck.

Roman laughed again,and pressed a kiss to Virgil’s temple that made him finally blinkhis eyes open.

Roman was alreadydressed, and smiling down at the two of them still in bed, entirelytoo awake for the hour and making Virgil’s heart do things alsotoo much for the time of day.

“Wealready let you sleep in,” said Roman fondly, “Logan’s madebreakfast, and if you let it get cold you’ll hurt his feelings,”

Virgilgroaned.

Romanhuffed a little.

“Doyou even remember what day it is?”

Virgilgroaned even louder.

“Ican not be expected toremember things like mortalcalendar dates before nineo’clock,”

Romansighed even louder.

“It’sDean’s birthday,Virgil,”

Pattonwent rigid immediately.

“Hisfirst birthday with Remy and Emile?” Roman continued.

Pattonshot out of bed faster than Virgil had ever seen him move.Virgil sat up a little slower, though he did feel slightly sheepish.

“Oh,oh, oh!” exclaimed Patton, grabbing the first shirt he saw out ofthe drawers and pulling it on over his bare chest. Virgil wasn’tquite sure, but it was either his or Roman’s from how it hung offhim.

“Gottamake the cake, you said Logan made breakfast, did he use up theeggs?”

“Havewe ever managed to use up eggs in this house?” said Roman dryly,leaning down obligingly when Patton tugged on his collar for a kiss.Patton darted over to give one to Virgil too, and then bolted out ofthe room before Virgil could really react.

Romansat on the edge of their bed, smiling softly.

“Goodenough reason to get up?” he teased.

Virgilleaned in a little, and Romantilted his head up automatically.

Thekiss was short, but there was nothing perfunctory about it, even ifRoman responded to Virgil nipping gently at his bottom lip by pullingback and giving him an unimpressed look.

“Wehave a nine-year-old’s birthday party to be atbynoon. Up, Mr. Lord of TheForest,”

“I’mgetting up,” said Virgil, “Will you make them save me somebreakfast?”

“Nopromises,” smirked Roman, swooping in to kiss him again and thenfollowing Patton out of the room.

Fifteenminutes later, Virgil was making his way to the kitchen. He saw May,in her wheelchairby the front window, and detoured in that direction to greet her.

“Goodmorning, Oma,” hesaid quietly.

“Mornin,’”she grunted.

“Doyou need anything? I’m going to the kitchen,”

“Younot to hover like a helicopter parent,for one,” she said.

“Who’shovering?” he said, grinning at her, “Fine, sulk at the window,crone,”

Shesnorted, but she really didn’t seem to want anything, so Virgil letit be.

Bythe time he got to the kitchen, Patton was already wiping down thecounters. There was a plate at the table, but every thing else wasput away, and Logan was shutting the loaded dishwasher.

“Isee you have arrived just in time to avoid cleaning, dear,” saidLogan without turning around.

Virgilsmiled sheepishly, coming up behind Logan and nuzzling his neck.

“Mybad,” he said, “I’ll make dinner,”

“Itisincredibly amusing you seem to think you are volunteering,” saidLogan, and Virgilcould feel him smiling.

“Nope!”said Patton, inserting himself between them and wagging his finger atVirgil, “Kitchen is a smooch-free zone until further notice, lasttime you made me burn the cupcakes,”

“Pat,”said Virgil, exasperated.

“Don’t‘Pat’ me, honey, no kisses in the kitchen till the cakes done,”

“Eatquickly, then,” Logan told Virgil, nodding toward the plate, “Youhave not properly kissedme good morning, and I find myself irritated by the imbalance,”

Pattonwavered. After a moment, he sighed.

“Well,okay,” he said, “Good morning kisses are different,”

“Ido not believethere is any functional difference between a kiss experienced in themorning versus-”

Virgilcut his youngest husband off with a propergood morningkiss, but Logan didn’t seem all that upset about it, so he figuredit was fine.

—

“Hey,Verge, can you holdBrianforaminutethanks!”

Andthen Thomas was bolting off to break up what looked like some kind ofpinata-bat based altercation, and Virgil was holding aninfant.

Helooked around for Thomas’s husband, Harley, but he didn’t see himanywhere, so Virgil found a lawnchair to settle in for theforeseeable future.

“Hello,”he said. Brian didn’t sayhello back, because he waseight months old and long wayfrom talking, though he did let out a very enthusiastic stream ofbabbled nonsense that Virgil obliginglynodded along to.

“Wellyou certainly soundlike you know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“Ofcourse he does!” came Patton’s bright face as he lunged overVirgil’s shoulder and pressed a whole smattering of tiny kisses allover Brian’s face, “He’s the smartest baby there ever was,aren’t you? Are you having fun with Uncle V?”

Brianmade even more enthusiastic noises, reaching up his arms and grabbingfor Patton, who cooed in response and plucked him out of Virgil’sgrasp without so much as a by-your-leave.

“Where’dyour daddies go?” he cooed, “Where’d they go, left you allalone, didn’t they?”

“Hey!”said Virgil.

Pattonlooked down at him, a teasing expression on his face, and Virgilrolled his eyes as he stood from his chair.

Hewrapped his arms around them both, setting his head on top ofPatton’s.

“Ido have some kid skills, you know,” he said dryly, “I’m a great uncle. Took careof Trudi all the time, and she wasfine,”

Pattongrinned up at him.

“Ofcourse you do, honey, I’m only picking,” he giggled.

Briantwisted in Patton’s grip, looking around and still mumbling. Pattonwatched him with an expression of adoration that was becomingfamiliar but that Virgil still didn’t quite know what to do about.

“Thereyou are!”

Pattonstartled, and then gave Harley a grin.

“Hereto rescue him from Uncle Squad?” he said, as Brian squealed andlunged for his father.

“Ifanybody needs rescued it’s Thomas,”Harley grumped, taking himfrom Patton, “I walk awayfor ten minutes-”

“Hewas helping Emile break up some bickering kids,” said Virgilfairly, “Though I, uh- don’t have any clue where he went afterthat,”

“Right,”sighed Harley, “Well, thanks for watching B. If you do see Thomaslet him know I’m looking for him,”

Heturned, encouraging Brian to wave over his shoulder as he walkedaway, and Brian did. Patton waved back.

Patton’sface went a little tense around the edges, still smiling at Brian butwith something melancholy just underneath the surface.

Thatwas familiar too.

Butwhen Patton turned back, beaming up at Virgil and looking just thesame as he always did. Virgil swallowed the question.

Itseemed he did that a lot, these days.

—

Itwas a week later when Virgil finally managed to work up the nerve toconfront Patton.

Hewas making dinner, and Virgil stood in the doorway for a good tenminutes before he could bring himself to speak.

“Pat?”he said hesitantly.

Pattonjumped, turning with his hand pressed to his chest.

“Jeezycreezy, sweetheart, you gave me a bit of a startle,”

Virgilhunched in on himself a little.

Patton’sforehead furrowed, worried.

“Honey,what’s wrong?” he said gently.

“Canwe talk?” Virgil blurted, and then immediately wanted to punchhimself in the face.

Pattonraised his eyebrows.

Andthen he turned, clicking off the burner and moving the pan off theheat.

“I’mlistening,” he said seriously, “What’s wrong?”

Virgilbit the inside of his cheek, worrying it.

Betterto do it quick. Just get it over with.

“Doyou want a kid, Patton?” he said quietly.

Pattonrecoiled, just barely. His mouth pinched.

“No,”he said.

Itwas silent for several seconds. Virgil felt distinctly nauseous.

“Togetherfor ten years, married for seven,”he said, a little hysterically, “And this is the first time you’veever lied directly to my face,”

“I’mnot lying,” said Patton, his voice wavering.

“Youthink I can’t tell?”

“Virgil,”said Patton warningly.

“Whywould- why would you lie about that?”

“Virgil,”

“Andyou didn’t- you didn’t even bother to talk to us about it, youjust-”

“Wedid talk about it,”said Patton wetly.

Virgilpaused.

“Ithink I’d remember that,”

Pattonbit his lip.

“Not…we as in- us. We as in… me and Roman,”

Virgilfrowned.

“Whywou- it’s kids,Patton, why- why on earth would you think me and Logan shouldn’t-”

“Whathappens if we adopt a kid, honey?” said Patton desperately.

“I-”Virgil stared at him, incredulous, “We would- we would have a kid?”

“Yeah,”said Patton, his voice thick, “A kid. A kid who’d be yours.You’d be a dad,”

“I’mfamiliar with the process,”

“Andthen a kid who’d be an adult,”said Patton wetly, “A kid who would grow up, and age, and-”

Heshook his head.

Virgilfelt like he’d swallowed molten iron, hotand swirling, acidic in his stomach.

“Meand Roman is one thing,” said Patton, his eyes spilling over,“Logan’s parents, Thomas, evenThomas’s children, butyour children?”

Virgilswallowed.

“Idon’t want anythingthat hurts you,” said Patton, firm and nearly vicious, “Or Logan.Not ever. Nothing isworth that,”

Heshook his head, smiling through the wetness of his eyes.

“MaybeI do want a kid,” said Patton, “But it’s- it’s toomuch. And it’s not likethere’s a lot of fae children up for adoption,”

Pattonwiped his eyes with his wrists.

“Iam sorry I didn’t talk to you, though,” said Patton, “I didn’tmean to. It wasn’t supposed to be a secret really, I guess I just-”

Hesmiled a little wryly.

“Idunno,” he said, “Told myself I’d talk to you later and then hopedyou’d never bring it up? Seems stupid now,”

“It’snot stupid,” croaked Virgil. Virgilknew quite a bit about avoiding conversation topics that upset him.

Likethis exact topic.

Pattonsniffled again, and Virgil crossed the room, drawing Patton into hisarms.

“I’msorry,” he whispered.

Pattonshook his head.

“No,it’s fine, I understand you getting upset. I shouldn’t have lied to you, I know youhate it,”

“No,I-”

Virgilsqueezed him a little tighter, pressing his face into Patton’shair.

“Ican see how much you want them,” he said, strained, “I’m sorryyou- I’m sorry you feel like you can’t,”

Pattonshook his head even harder,pulling back and cupping Virgil’s face.

“Notyour fault,” he said firmly, “Nothing to apologize for,”

Hewasn’t lying, that time.

Didn’tstop him from being wrong.

—

Virgilwinced as Logan none-to-gently pulled yet another plant from theground.

“Areyou supposed to yank them like that?” he said before he couldreally stop himself.

“Areyou the Seelie?” snapped Logan.

Virgilwinced again, and Logan deflated.

“I’msorry,” he said quietly, “That was… needlessly aggressive,”

Virgilgave him a sad smile. Logan swallowed, snipping off the stemfrom the bulb and placing itin the basket next to him. He discarded the excess in the bucket onhis other side, beforeremoving his gardening gloves even though Virgil knew very well therewere more bulbs that needed dug up.

Loganglared at his hands in his lap.

“Couldwe do it?” he asked quietly.

Virgilbit his lip.

“Youhave more experience on the subject. Though you do not have toanswer, if- if it is too much,”

Virgilleft the bench swing, crossing the grass between them to sitnext to Logan and cup his face.

“Beloved,”he said brokenly, “I already don’t know if we can do it. WithBrian, I-”

Loganflinched,squeezing his eyes shut.

“Iwasn’t there when they buried Trudi,” said Virgil, “I don’t-I don’t know how I would’ve reacted,”

Helaughed bitterly.

“Notwell, that’s for damn sure,”

“Idid not even notice,”said Logan, a littlebitingly, “You saw, andRoman knew, but I didn’t even-”

“You-”said Virgil, kissing Logan briefly on the forehead, “-areso excited to be an uncle I sometimes catch you casting sunbeams likethe world’s happiest lightbulb,”

Logansnorted.

Virgilpulled him forward, and Logan ducked his head under Virgil’s chin.He left his hands in his lap, one of them picking at the rubber bandon his opposite wrist.

“Virgil?”

“Hmm?”

Virgilfelt Logan swallow.

“Absentof the obvious flaw,” he said thickly, “Do youwant a child?”

Virgilbit his cheek. He thought of tossing Trudi inthe air, and letting herteeth on his fingers, and making shapes in silk between his handsfor Brian until B put his chubby little fingers right through themand waved his arms, covered in trails of silver.

“Youknow,” he said, “I don’t think I realized until I knew wecouldn’t. But, um… yeah. Yeah, I do,”

Loganjust barely trembled in Virgil’s arms.

“Me,too,” he said weakly.

Virgilflinched, and cupped the back of Logan’s head to press his faceinto Virgil’s neck.

Aroundthem, silent and unnoticed, the shadows beneath the flower bedsrippled.

—

Virgilwoke up to cold air behind him, which was decidedly bizarre, becausehe knew for a fact Roman had been on that side when he’d gone tosleep.

Slowly,so as to not wake Patton as he pulled himself out of his grip, herolled over.

Romanwas standing in the window, looking haggard and slightly nauseous.

“Roman?”Virgil said quietly.

Romanstartled, turning, and for a moment he smiled in a way Virgil hadn’tseen in years, brittle and too-perfect. Virgil’s stomach twisted,but it was only a second before Roman winced, shook himself, andreached out his hands.

Virgiltucked the blanket around Patton and crossed the room. Roman wrappedhis arms around Virgil’s waist immediately, hiding his face inVirgil’s neck.

“Howare you?” Virgil whispered.

“Mostly…”Roman muttered, hesitating, “Mostly confused. Been a while,”

“What’swas it?”

“Therewas-” Roman swallowed,pressing his forehead to Virgil’s throat.

“Thetwo me’s,” said Roman, “They were fighting,”

Virgilnodded.

“You’rejust one you,” he said, “Just Roman, night or day,”

Romannodded.

Virgilconsidered telling him – but he didn’t know what to say.

Thiswas the third consecutive night Virgil had been woken up by one ofhis husbands nightmares.

Thefirst had been Logan – trapped at a full moon revel, and returningto a ghost town collapsingfrom age. A creature had been hiding in the ruins, but he hadn’tfound it. He’d woken up to Virgil gently murmuring, because Loganhad dug his nails into Virgil’s arms and wouldn’t let go.

Thesecond, Patton. He’d been singing in the dream and couldn’t stop,and the longer he did the closer the shadows figures around him hadgotten, until he’d woken up and nearly screamed because Virgil’sblack hairhad been in his face.

Romanslept so still, even in nightmares; if he hadn’t left the blanketopen behind him Virgil might not even have known, and could pass itoff as coincidence.

Itcould still be coincidence– but it was enough to make Virgil feel on edge.

ButRoman was just barely shaking. And they ought to all be awake for it,when… if he brought it up.

Soinstead, Virgil led him back to bed, and fellinto a fitful, restless sleep..

—

TheSaturday that dawned thefirst day of Autumn wassomething of a holiday, if not in the celebratory sense.

Loganalways woke up with a headache, and it was one of the few days heconsistently allowed himself to sleep in to a truly unreasonablehour. He responded to Pattongetting up for his shift at the bakery, Roman getting up to makecoffee and breakfast,and Virgil getting up to get dressed and go make sure the transitionbetween the Summer and Autumn courts didn’t end in bloodshed with theexact same petulant grunt and demand for a kiss.

Thetransition did go over fairlysmoothly, asfar as violence went –admittedly with some liberally applied glaring – but it took hours.Fae were slow to change; every time the Summer court gave up controlof the forest in the fall, they were expecting it to be withheld fromthe Springs come March. It didn’t seem to make a difference to themthat Virgil was marriedto a Spring.

Virgilunderstood the trepidation, but it made the Summers near impossibleto deal with. He desperately missed the days when he could mostlyleave the Courts to their own devices with the caveat they not harasshumans. He wondered if he was ever going to get them back.

Heexited the hill with the kind of relief usually reserved for peoplegiven stays of execution, and started making his way back toward thehouse so he could take a nap.

Heshould have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

Ashe started moving from the part of the forest that constitutedfairyland into the (very, very slightly) more mundane part,a shadow under a bramble bush suddenly lunged, barring his way.

Virgilstared.

“Whateverit is,” he said, too tired to even care that he was definitelywhining, “Can itplease wait untiltomorrow?”

Theshadow trembled, and Virgil felt Mother tug on his mind, back towardfaerieland but not quite the direction of the hill he’d come from.

Virgilthrew his hands up in frustration, and began to follow the pull.

Motherwasn’t speaking to him, which was just as irritating as it alwayswas. More bizarrely, his sisters were equally silent, and wary, likethey knew something but weren’t mentioning it, which was…decidedly weird behavior.

Hewas deep in the forest now, well past where any human would come, oreven could come,maybe. Virgil wasn’t sure, and he’d never tried to bring Roman orPatton. Even he rarely camehere, if only because he had no reason to, rather than anykind of fear.

Butthe longer he walked, the more familiar the area became – the treesand the paths. He was beginning to feel a lot more nervous than justirritated.

Andthen he broke out of the treeline, and his stomach dropped.

Therewas a witch-hazel tree in the center of the clearing, bigger than anymundane tree could possibly be, huge and achingly familiar. Virgilknew it was hollow, though he couldn’t see from here.

Itwas blooming. Hundred ofyellow blossoms stared back at him.

“No,”he said immediately.

Ashadow pushed at his ankle.

“NO!”he snarled, “No. Notthis. I can’t-”

Anothershove, more insistent, and Virgil felt like the branches were closingin on him like a cage.

Heremembered waking up in the witch-hazel – and he remembered theonly other person who had. He remembered a brother who’d beenanything but. He remembered losing everythingbecause of it.

“Iwon’t,” he said, his throat closing, knowing it didn’t matter,knowing that if she’d brought him here it was already too late-

“Please,”he choked, “Please, I can’t- I can’t do it again, Mother,”

Noshoving this time, and silence. Even his sisters had left. Virgil wasalone.

Thewitch-hazel knocked, twice.

Heshould leave. He should turn around and walk away, and leave whateversibling his mother had tried to build him this time to fend forthemself and leave him in peace.

Therewas a small sound from inside the tree, awhimper, partly curious andpartly scared, and Virgil’s resolve crumbled.

Heclimbed the tree, slowly, like if he put it off long enough theremight be nothing when he looked in. He reached the hollow, took asteadying breath and peered over the side.

Yelloweyes blinked up at him.

Virgilrecoiled, immediately disappearing from the other fae’ssight and pressing his back tothe tree trunk. His breath shudderedout of him, and Virgil bit his tongue so hard he tasted blood.

Whoeverit was, they knocked again on the inside of the tree.

Swallowingthe lump in his throat, Virgil looked back over the side, and got hisfirst proper look at the child.

Hereyes were yellow,though the pupils were round. Her hair resembled nothing so much as abird’s nest, both in color and disarray. She was also much tannerthan Virgil.

Well.At least Virgil had a better track record with sisters.

Thechild wobbled to her feet, looking up at Virgil again, and reachedher arms toward him.

Hisresolve crumbled. He could no more leave her than he could have leftBrian.

Hereached in, grabbing her under the arms, and as he heftedher he realized she was muchsmaller than she ought to be. Or at least, much smaller than he orhis brother had been. They’d been born adolescent - If she’d been human, he would have thoughtthis child couldn’t possible be more than four. Asmall four.

“Hello,”he said.

Sheblinked, silent and staring.She scratched the side of her head, and Virgil nearly flinched whenhe saw her nailswere black and sharp.

Great.She came with pointy parts.

Andspeaking pointy parts – her ears were strange. At first he thoughtthey weren’tpointed, but when he looked closer he realized they were, but thetips of them were black, nearly blending into her hair. Like somekind of camouflage to hide the tips.

Sheseemed to have no intention of speaking to him, though she did lookaround herself curiously.

Virgilblew out a long breath.

“Well,”he said, “Offwe go, I guess,”

Andhe made his way back toward the house.

—

Thechild remind silent the whole way, and didn’t move much at allexcept to occasionally glance around her. Mostly she gnawed on thesleeve of the brown dress she wore, and resisted any attempts fromVirgil to stop her.

Loganwas up now, and in the garden. Already the flowers looked slightlyless vibrant, but Logan was nothing if not tenacious. He seemed tohave picked up the chore he left off a few days ago, digging upbulbs.

Heglance over his shoulder with a wave and returned to it, froze, andthen whirled around and stood in one motion.

Virgilgrimaced.

Logantook a step forward, cautious, and after a long pause approached themfully.

“You,um-”

“Yeah,”said Virgil.

Loganwatched the child like it might bite him.

“Shewas in my tree,” said Virgil.

“Ah,”

Andthen in the first real move the child had made since she’d reachedfor Virgil, she lunged.

Logan’shands came up automatically, and he caught her with a short grunt.Virgil very nearly had a heart attack, especially when she startedgrasping with her sharp-tipped fingers, but all she did was makefists in the shoulders of Logan’s shirt and cling until he had herproperly held.

“Um.Hello,” said Logan.

Thechild waved, though she didn’t lift her head from its position onLogan’s shoulder. Thecorner of Logan’s mouth ticked up, barely.

“Hasshe eaten?” he said, sounding a little worried, “She’s… she’svery small,”

Virgilwinced even worse.

“Yeah,about that,” he said, “I was, uh- sorta carnivorous, exclusivelyfor a… very long time, after I was born. So she might…”

Loganwrinkled his nose.

“Iunderstand. But also, to quote Patton – yuck,”

Virgilsnorted.

Loganbrought one hand up, touching the child’s hair with a strangeexpression.

“What?”

“I…have a theory,” Logan muttered, “I will share it when I haveaccrued more data,”

Heturned then, and began to carry the child into the house.

Virgilfollowed, vibrating with nerves, and a significant part of him waswaiting for the child to turn violent. The other part told him he wasbeing stupid, that his brother hadn’t been more than slightlysarcastic for years, and that she weighed maybe thirty pounds anyway.

Neitherpart was very coherent at the moment.

Ithad been a bad day for May, when Virgil had woke up this morning.Monosyllabic and grumpy, she’d waved Roman off angrily when he’dtried to get her to eat, and nearly snarled at Virgil when he’ddone the same.

Butnow she was smiling, looking up from her wheelchair at the child inLogan’s arms.

“Prettygirl,” she croaked, reaching.

Thegirl whined a little, shaking her head and pressing herself closer toLogan. May made an expression that resembled a pouting child morethan a woman in her eighties.

“Mamaw,who are you talking to?” called Roman, his voice coming closer ashe spoke, “Are Logan and Virgil ba-”

Hecame around the corner and stopped dead. Virgil shrugged, helpless.

Romanbeamed immediately.

“Well,hello!” he said, walking towardsthem and already reaching.

Shelurched forward again, exactly like she had with Logan, and when Romangot hold of her she beamed right back at him. Her canines were justas sharp as her nails, and Virgil felt a little lightheaded.

“Lookat you!” cooed Roman, “Anyone care to tell me about our littleguest?”

“Shewas in the witch-hazel,” said Logan bluntly.

Thesmile slipped of Roman’s face immediately. He looked down at thechild, who hadn’t stopped smiling. She had taken Roman’s lefthand, and was tapping curiously on his wedding ring.

“Oh,”he said weakly.

“Iam going to call Patton,” said Logan, subdued.

Whilethey waited for Patton, they learned a variety of things about thelittle girl, in spite of the fact that she still didn’t speak. Shedidn’t like to be put down – any attempt to do so resultedin little whines and at one point her eyes had outrightfilled withtears.

Butshe also wouldn’t go with May, who looked increasingly put out by thisas the hour drew on. She especially didn’t like it when one of them left the room.

Finallythey heard tires in the driveway, and a killed engine anduncharacteristically hurried footsteps and then Patton burst throughthe door.

“I’mhere, what’s the emergen-”

Likeall of them, he fell silent the second he saw her.

Unlikethe previous times, the girl reacted immediately, squirming andreaching for him and humming wordlessly.

Patton,wide-eyed, took a single step forward, and then moved all at once tolift her out of Roman’s grip, smiling softly and placing one handon her head.

Shefairly shrieked with delight, and when she turned Patton followed hergaze, until they were both looking at Virgil. Her yellow eyes weresparkling.

Virgil’seyes flicked between the child and Patton – theireyes.

Notyellow. Gold.

“I’mLinda!” she chirped.

Thetwisting of Virgil’s stomach had taken on an entirely differenttone. He hadn’t noticed – he’d been so focused on the fact thatshe existed at all he hadn’t actually lookedat her.

Tannerthan him – the exact sameshade as Roman’sskin. Curly hair, Patton’scurls, but brown, likeLogan’s, and eyes the color of ripe wheat.

“Whatthe fuck,” hechoked.

“Vati,that’s a badword!” she exclaimed, andVirgil felt like the floor had come out from underneath him.

Mother,he thought, What the hell did you do.

“Don’tswear in front of the baby,” said Patton, who was lookingat Linda with stars in his eyes and clearlyalready completely gone.

“Yes,well,” said Logan, “That would confirm the theory, then,”

“Thiswas your theory?” said Virgil, strangled.

“Virgil,”said Logan patiently, “Shelooks like my mother,”

“No,no, she looks like you,”Patton crooned, his eyes filling with tears and his smile so wide itlooked painful.

Loganmade a soft, weak noise.

Romanstood suddenly, crossing the room in three strides and cupping hertiny face in his hands.

“Hello,Princess,” he said, his voice thick, “It’s so nice to meet you,oh-”

Shegrinned at him, her nose scrunching up and Roman made a thrillednoise.

“C’mere,”said Patton, reaching for Logan and Virgil and shaking his handdesperately, “Group hug, c’mon,”

“Grouphug!” Linda cheered, throwing her arms straight up, and Virgil’sheart throbbed and his throat closed up and he was across the roombefore he’d even registered it, showering her face in kisses, whileLogan pressedher tiny fingers to his mouthand Patton and Roman held herbetween them.

Deepin the forest, the witch-hazel shed it’s flowers, a soft rain ofvibrant, shining gold.

—

Main

@toujours-fidele @guardian-of-the-bears @patton-loves-coloring @nonbinarynerdbot @cloudchaser7 @lesbian-velociraptor @fall-chemically-atthedisco @alien–puppy @constantly-fatigued @idiotauthor @pinkeasteregg @mantha-has-fallen @v-blue-writer @lucifer-in-my-head @pearls-of-patton @221biotchplease @jungshookaf @sporadiccheesecakecat @greeneggsandham1998 @generalfandomfabulousness @never-saygood-bye @sleepyssnail @moonstone-fox @sos-fandoms @radioactivehelena  @jemthebookworm @runofthemillnb-pan @friedlieb-ferdinand-runge @erlenmeyertrash @flix-net @burningpersonflapsuitcase @whizzie72 @crazyfangirls-stuff @justadamfangirl @holy-anxiety-batman @starrycari  @flamingfawkes @hiddendreamer67 @storytellerofuntoldlegends @animegirlz7 @acoustic-sodapop @magimerlyn @quietwords-loudthoughts @bluebellflames @anxie-teaa @sweet-and-sour-shadowling @edgy-gremlin@theultimatemomfriend @hamilsandersfam

Love and other Fairytales

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[indridthemoth]

Bro give me some soft Fraxus bro. In any form you’d like, hc’s, a sonnet, a haiku idc

finally!!! i’ve been wanting to write but i’ve had no idea what to write. now i’ve taken the liberty of giving you all of my headcanons for this lovely ship! or: in which jae is too lazy to write a whole fic so take a bullet point fic (the timeline is after tenrou btw)

freed and laxus danced around eachother for so freaking long before they got together. like, even natsu knew they had feelings for eachother before they did.

freed has been in love with laxus for a while now, hence the overwhelming amount of loyalty he has to the man. he just doesn’t think laxus sees him that way so he’s content with just being the captain of the raijinshū.

laxus hasn’t been in love with freed for a long time, but when he fell for him he fell hard. he realized that he was so lucky to have a person like freed in his life to keep him grounded.

when freed and laxus finally got together, they both wanted to keep it a secret, naturally, because the guild would make a huge deal out of it.

the only person who they trusted to know was bickslow, since ever was the gossip of the group.

of course bickslow kept it a secret. from most everyone. ever was scary when she wanted to figure something out

ever kept it a secret too, but she may have laid a rumour here and there in the guild.

everyone had their suspicions, of course, but nobody could know for sure

it was driving everyone crazy so they decided to get to the bottom of it

they would watch the pair carefully over the next few weeks, looking for any signs at all that the rune mage and the dragon slayer had started dating.

alas, they’re interactions at the guildhall didn’t change one bit. an idle touch, here or there, but nothing concrete enough to solidly say they were in a relationship.

finally one day, their curiosity snapped. it was, surprisingly, levy who asked them frantically to freed, “are you two dating? i’ve been trying to figure out for weeks if you guys finally took that step but nothing- seriously! nothing! has told me you have. so have you?”

freed merely chuckled and looked at laxus with an adoring look. everyone was on the edge of their seats at this moment. laxus hesitates, but nodded in agreement.

“yes,” freed said, “we’re dating.”

laxus put an arm around freed’s waist, smirking as the guildhall cheered.

laxus dipped the greenette dramatically, and placed a loving kiss on his lips.

“i love you.”

jeezy creezy i apologize that this took so long, christmas kind of snuck up on me. with that being said, merry christmas, happy hannukah, happy candlenights!

[adhdalistair]

how is tomi doing

the session before last we were attempting to take over an imperial carrier that had gotten damaged in a fight by pretending to be volunteer repairmen. the whole party went to go fix the hyperdrive but tomi hung around the bay to try to get access to the bridge in case they shut the blast doors.

he ended up convincing a stormtrooper to let him use the crew bathroom and so he just. takes a shower? but then my shitass dumb party members kill a dude, but not before he sounds an alarm. so cleanrat tomi is taken to the bridge and just. sits there for most of the rest of the campaign until the party breaks in and kills the imperials on the bridge

then space pirates showed up and were like “our ship now” so we have to rush to avoid them and quickly plot a jump into hyperspace, but not before we have to ACTUALLY finish fixing the hyperdrive which involves rebooting the whole ship. and so at some point Tomi is furious like “I put myself in the perfect position to allow us access to the bridge, and you didn’t even finish FIXING the ship?”

anyway we managed to jump away but there’s still a few troopers on the ship to deal with. so he’s ok but very tired after that adrenaline rush.

also, I invented some new npcs from pantora, including a lesbian togruta in her 50s who is the Chief Operations Executive for Tomi’s dad’s shipping company, F’jlk of Fashions by F’jlk, and a bartender named Jim.

Also, I wrote a back cover blurb for the novel Tomi wrote when he was 22: 

Siphoned shipments. Terrorist intrigue. A recent truce. Michen Korachand runsthe third best bar in the capitol, but when supply problems start affecting his business, he becomes an amateur sleuth. With the help of Tidam, a recent Talz immigrant from Orto Plutonia, he must save Pantora from the most sinister force the planet has ever faced: political manipulation.

the novel deals with a fictional situation in which some corrupt assembly members create a false flag situation in order to create racist fear of the Talz.

and yeah that’s the latest with Tomi. i think his next book with be about a shitty bar on the planet where he was blackmailed into doing crime, and will deal with Why Good People Do Crime.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

My (drafted) TF fic rec list is getting a little bit too long, so I'm thinking about slimming it down to "absolute top faves" then making another "general rec" list, and out of curiosity I counted how many I currently have written down and it'S OVER 115 FICS LONG........