#leo reads worm

[ewingstan]

Another fun thing about arc 20: it was happening in Arcadia. The school that everyone knows all the Wards go to. So when Taylor was calling on the student body to form around her, a bunch of people who know they're classmates with some of the heroes in the room went up and helped Skitter anyway. They're looking at Clockblocker and Kid Win, and knowing that they're also students here (maybe someone they interact with often, underneath the mask), and getting in their way anyways.

Clockblocker is watching Kim from History class and Patricia who sits next to him in Social Studies aid and abet a criminal—what is it like going to school again the next day as Dennis? Running yourself ragged trying to keep things in the city from falling apart, then seeing a sizable portion of your fellow students—the people you're trying to protect—choose to help this villain over you? It shocked Taylor to hear them talk about how Skitter had helped them. After hearing her justify herself before the echidna fight, what's it like for Dennis to realize so many of his classmates feel like she helped them more than he did?

[saccharind]

from Prokaryote Season by Leo Fox

[ewingstan]

Hm. So by my reading there's two main criticisms of the genre going on here (op feel free to correct me):

Progression fantasy is founded on bizarre ideas regarding stakes and conflict, such as a reader never feeling frustrated that the main character doesn't solve X via the obvious solution Y. This often translates into a story having no stakes, as setting up a real believable threat to something a character values would require them not instantly being able to solve it, which is unacceptable.

Progression fantasies hold little real entertainment value because all aspects of the story are ultimately subservient to descriptions of how characters get stronger, without doing anything interesting besides making the reader feel cool and powerful

In my opinion, I don't really think that Worm falls victim to either of these criticisms. Wildbow is pretty good at setting up threats and framing them as real problems for a character. I talked about this in my post about the mannequin fight: Wildbow has the first fight Taylor gets into be one where she gets in trouble because she can't just bite her way out of an encounter with an armored enemy, and then later has a setpiece fight with the same enemy which is only solved by cleverly attacking a crack in the same villain's armor. This sets the audience up to believe that Taylor cannot really deal with armored foes and can only exploit their chinks, which makes her going up against a guy whose whole thing is not having any chinks in his armor feel really impressive.

It almost reminds me of the famous argument for why Spider-Man lifting a wall is impressive. Superman lifts up walls every other issue without it being presented as a problem, but having Spider-Man spend an entire issue talking about "agh oh god its so hard to lift up this wall....but theres so many thematically important relationships depending on me lifting it! I'm gonna think about how important those relationships are to me for another ten pages while muttering about how heavy this wall is!" And its all just framing and focus; a superhero is as strong as they need to be for an issue and the writers could have just had Spiderman lift up the wall and go about his adventures. Writers setting up a threat as a believable obstacle is all about how much they can sell the audience on it being a problem, which typically means how much a author can sell us on a character's weaknesses—we need to believe that Spider-Man couldn't lift the wall, and that Skitter can't deal with someone like Mannequin, for them doing so to be impactful.

A formulaic power fantasy, then, would fail due to not being willing to sell its characters as limited, or not doing so convincingly. Worm is pretty good at selling the audience on Taylor being limited, especially in the first 3/4ths. This is only highlighted by comparing it to Ward, falters in writing engaging action while for the most part having really engaging emotional conflicts. The text doesn't really bother trying to sell Vicky as being limited in a combat capacity, but spends a great deal of time selling her as being limited in a "healthy relationships with others" capacity. The brief sections where Ward's action gets really good, its in situations where the text has spent a lot of time making us think people would have limited combat abilities. The standout examples are an fights from Rain's perspective, since the text really likes talking about how much Rain sucks at fighting and how useless his powers are, and the Goddess fight, both because it dealt more directly with Vicky's well-established emotional vulnerabilities and because the whole prison arc was spent on selling Goddess as a powerhouse. While I wouldn't call Ward a progression fantasy, it's lapses into formulaic territory resemble the more pat examples of the genre because both suffer in the same way from not selling a character as limited.

As for the second point, while its obviously subjective, I don't think Worm can be criticized on the grounds of not doing enough besides create an escapist power fantasy. I've written before about how the setup of Worm's style of action meant that every advancement of Taylor's combat tricks and abilities necessitated an advancement in our understanding of her character. I wouldn't necessarily say this is necessary for an action piece to be fun; most JJBA fights don't end with anyone advancing as a character, and they still end up being engaging due to fun setups and creative uses of powers. But again, that works mainly because Araki is good at selling a threat as being a problem given character's limits.

I will say that I don't actually think that "everything is devoted to making the main character and reader feel powerful at the expense of thematic depth" can be applied to HPMOR, to the extent that I'm not sure it can count as a progression fantasy. It has the opposite problem, everything is devoted to showing why the main character's worldview is right. The character getting more powerful is always a result of, and way of showing the reader, how a certain worldview is rewarding and true.

Hell, despite what Yudkowsky himself says about how to write intelligent characters, most of the power progression in the series comes from the character thinking some thing Yudkowsky believes is true really hard until it helps him, rather than the character solving a problem. Rather than the story being devoted to power progression at the expense of themes, the story is devoted to expressing its themes through the power of the main character at the expense of Yudkowsky's own principles of engaging storytelling. Take the main examples of the character advancing:

Learning a super special kill-dementors spell after reflecting really hard on the horribleness of death and the greatness of the quest to vanquish it.

Learning how to do partial transmutation by thinking really really hard about how our perception of the material world is misleading, leading to a lot of speeches about the need to reconsider old natural-seeming assumptions based on scientific evidence

Defeating a big bad using a technique he learns in a much earlier scene, which itself was focused on the characters being sad that they couldn't figure out a way to use magic to cure Alzheimer's and led to a lot of discussion on the obligation to use power for others benefits.

HPMOR doesn't really suffer from putting "feeling powerful" before anything else at the expense of themes. It's built to make a reader feel correct about their worldview more than feeling powerful or intelligent, and suffers from being especially didactic about it and needing to show how they're right in a way that prevents the character from feeling limited or the reader from being especially challenged.

so back in the day i read HPMOR, right? like many people. and as it went on (& yudkowsky kept talking about his writing process on tumblr) it became more and more clear that this was fiction approached from an angle i had never really considered before. i had been vaguely aware of places like the spacebattles forum or the dark lord potter forum, where apparently people wrote stories that were mostly just a long-form way to debate “would the USS Enterprise win against a star trek star destroyer”, or whatever. yudkowsky kept saying wild things like “the point of this scene is to vicariously enjoy somebody solving a problem” or “all characters should always do smart things so the reader doesn’t get frustrated with them” or “i wanted to add a short arc where this character doesn’t instantly solve all his problems but i was worried it would alienate the reader”. (see also.) just like, expressing this conceptualization that the point of fiction was to… write a character stomping through a little fake world going from victory to victory so that the reader could enjoy the vicarious glow of having a hard problem presented to them and then immediately resolved. how smart you are for following the line of thought of the main character, who did this smart thing!!

so that was very weird, but it was mostly a singular kind of weirdness. another weird, out-of-touch artifact from the rationalists, like roko’s basilisk but harry potter fanfiction instead.

anyway a while back i stumbled across “Mother of Learning”, and i think my initial response to it was ‘this is less a story with a plot and more a series of obstacles that are presented to the main character to be sequentially overcome’. there was a furry webcomic years ago that was a calvin & hobbes knockoff – small child, stuffed animal companion who became alive when they were alone, whimsy, etc – only where calvin & hobbes left the premise unstated, this comic, roughly 30 strips in, had a whole plot explaining: okay so these are a special kind of magical creature that bonds with children. in this metaphor susie’s mr. bun is also a magical creature. eventually they start going on adventures together. my overall thought was like, oh i guess i was assuming this was a narrative framing device structured around the themes of the work, but actually this was all meant to be fully diagetic and fully explained as part of the work’s “worldbuilding”.

anyway mother of learning is like that but for groundhog day. the time loop isn’t an unexplained device used to inspect a character through a lens, it’s a dragon ball-style training chamber. there are “plot developments” as more information is revealed, but all of that takes a back seat to extensively and exhaustively describing every ability and technique that the main character learns and how they use them to be more powerful. mother of learning is 800,000 words long. the time loop is because they’re actually duplicates of the ‘real people’, in a pocket universe constructed inside of an eldrich monstrosity that was designed to be used every x years by some kind of fated hero to keep it sealed. the main character has to escape partly to make sure some evil cultists don’t unseal some stuff, but mostly so he doesn’t lose all his experience gains.

anyway so reading that brought me to royal road. (i’ve always found the name very funny since my main familiarity with the term is the phrase “there is no royal road to geometry - euclid”, aka there is no shortcut to learning something; you always have to put in the hard struggle of comprehension. it’s actually named after… something from a light novel or something? it used to be a fan forum for a specific work before branching out into a publishing platform.) anyway it’s a place to post stuff, like fanfiction.net or fictionpress or whatever. there is a strong genre constraint: they mostly want to hear about their protagonists getting endlessly more and more powerful, and sometimes collecting a harem of sexy women. it’s for that kind of fiction. reading a few stories there was very illuminating, in that finally i could place HPMOR in a genre: that of the ‘progression fantasy’, a profoundly self-indulgent and formulaic genre that’s mostly just an action story with a lot of the bits stripped away so they can describe how much more powerful the protagonist is getting. a subgenre of this is the 'litrpg’, which are stories with a diagetic video-game-mechanics layer. people are checking their stats and getting experience from killing monsters and leveling up and all that. a lot of them read like text LPs of videogames that don’t exist. where the author is, of course, executing a min-maxed run.

(there’s a lot of overlap here between progression fantasies and like, xianxia stories? cultivation stories are generally all progression fantasies, and so there’s a lot of overlap thematically.)

anyway so that was kind of a grim awareness of a dark corner of the literary world. this stuff is popular. royal road is pretty aggressively farmed by publishers wanting to license stuff so they can make ebooks or w/e; there are author patreons there that make like, thousands of dollars a month for writing chapter 1394 of “my character with a cool spear levels up more”. i’ve read a bunch of progression fantasies but i wouldn’t say i really enjoyed any of them, partly because a lot of them are really bad at like… constructing a narrative with any kind of stakes. it’s all gonna be jettisoned away in favor of talking more about level ups. it is actually almost exactly the experience of grinding for levels in an RPG: it’s not really fun, but it can be engaging in the moment, and also you get to see a number go up, so that’s like a reward.

(i started writing one of my own as a writing exercise b/c i wanted to try some short-paced serial work that wasn’t porn, and it shot up to uh #40 top-rated on the entire site. it was in the top 10 for a few days. i have some complicated feelings about that.)

recently, i’ve been reading a lot of, uh, gay incest teenage mutant ninja turtles fanfiction. a lot of it is incredibly overwrought. 200k words of characters pining guiltily over each other! soap opera antics with miscommunications and secrets! genre cliches piled up in a big heap and remixed! and like, fanfic as a genre can be real formulaic too, right? a lot of people who read&write fanfic don’t read much else, and there’s absolutely a 'house style’ for most fanfic. but when i read fanfic i get the sense that the authors are, you know, aware of some literary conventions, of the various aspects that make up a story, and they’re struggling to convey concepts and themes. apparently i’m responsible for inspiring somebody to write what i think is the only sincere donkey/shrek porn fanfic in existence, and personally i think that porn fanfic has a million times the literary and artistic merit as chapter 1400 of randitly fucking ghosthound, because porn, overwrought incest soap opera dramas, is at least saying something about the nature of human desire, whereas most progression fantasy stuff is an utterly self-absorbed thesis on “writing somebody cool and powerful is escapism so i can feel cool & powerful”, stretched out to a million words.

like i guess 'i want to feel powerful’ is an expression of human desire but it’s a particularly flat one. i think a lot about that bit in dead zones of the imagination:

Violence’s capacity to allow arbitrary decisions, and thus to avoid the kind of debate, clarification, and renegotiation typical of more egalitarian social relations, is obviously what allows its victims to see procedures created on the basis of violence as stupid or unreasonable. One might say, those relying on the fear of force are not obliged to engage in a lot of interpretative labor, and thus, generally speaking, do not.

[…]

To be more precise: violence may well be the only form of human action by which it is possible to have relatively predictable effects on the actions of a person about whom you understand nothing. Pretty much any other way one might try to influence another’s actions, one at least has to have some idea who they think they are, who they think you are, what they might want out of the situation, and what their aversions and proclivities are. Hit them over the head hard enough and all of this becomes irrelevant.

a fantasy of having power is, i think, fundamentally a fantasy of never having to know anything you don’t want to, of never having to deal with the consequences of your actions. i feel it’s a particularly grim thing to enshrine into a millon-word epic.

anyway, hi, i’m back on tumblr, i guess. who can say if this will last. i’m still not happy about the porn ban! for reasons hopefully partially explained by the whole bit about porn above. also the increasing sidelining of custom layouts in favor of a uniform interface. sadly even with that it seems like tumblr is basically the only well-travelled social media site that’s not a total algorithmic nightmare, although the first thing i did when i remade this account was to go into the settings and turn off like a dozen algorithmic switches that were all defaulted to 'yes’.

i ended up moving cross-country during the peak of covid b/c my former housemate started having screaming panic attacks literally any time somebody stepped outside the house (literally literally, not emphatically literally). i would not recommend it. now i live somewhere where 'fire’ is a season, which is introducing new complications to my life. we’ll see how things go from here.

oh yeah, also my icon has more points now. i leveled up V:

[wormspoodle]

drew them very quickly bc i found out they all had canon human designs in the 2nd power rangers crossover comic now

[midnightkolrath]

Time for another chapter of 'Leo analyzing DMC stuff' with something that woke me up at 4 AM to think about, as a sudden ponder point

So, the series has a running joke of impalement, namely with Dante being impaled by some sort of sword. Mostly his own sword, though. This little running gag comes full circle in DMC5, when Dante laments on why he was given Rebellion and decides to impale himself with the handle that then proceeds to combine with the Sparda sword to unlock his Sin Devil Trigger form.

But thinking about this more, I realized that this sort of thing has been common, not just with Dante himself.

Though, I'm gonna start talking about his thing with DMC3 here.

With the DMC5 screenshot I've included with Dante's dialogue, plus thinking back about that very moment in DMC3, we know Dante unlocked his devil trigger thanks to Vergil through impalement of his own sword. This is THE main moment we see of a form like devil trigger be unlocked this way.

But, funny enough, if we fast forward into DMC4...we get yet another moment where we have our protag be impaled and awoken to atleast a FORM of their devil trigger...with Nero.

As a side tidbit, the details of this awakening are elaborated in the DMC4 novel, Deadly Fortune, where Nero recalls a dream he had after gaining his demonic arm, featuring a familiar voice (that we know is Vergil) that he remembers again as he went temporarily unconscious. (Though in the novel its implied he temporarily died before reviving...it states his 'heartbeat stopped', though the way its pictured in the game...who completely knows).

This moment of remembrance is what triggers not only the first (incomplete) form of Nero's devil trigger, but the reconstruction of the Yamato. This is the second time the domino effect of being stabbed (or perhaps simply overwhelmed in Nero's case...though Agnus did rub the salt in similarly to Vergil against Dante...not with his own sword but with a sword-like object...maybe its a parallel) resulted in the awakening of a devil trigger, or a newfound power.

Now, if we do the fun thing and roll both forward and back, we'll see that Dante and Nero weren't the only ones that experienced a power awakening this way. Thanks to Visions of V, we get a short flashback of Vergil's childhood. This included the very moment there was the demon attack that killed Eva and separated the twins, sending them on their own paths.

A VERY significant moment we (tragically) get to see is a young Vergil getting attacked by these demons, while he's alone. Its horrifying, but also shares a similar theme though much more brutally.

In fact, its similar to Nero's case, which involves impalement like Dante but grows into being overwhelmed to the point of helplessness. ALSO funny enough, its this bit of helplessness, of feeling that power is NEEDED to get themselves out of the situation they're in to survive for one way or another...that Yamato comes right to their side. When its needed most.

This is, for Vergil, an awakening to what would become his path to gain power at any cost, to never have to feel this helplessness again while also being haunted about the lack of strength he had to protect his mother.

Its interesting that this moment mirrors Nero's claim to yamato in DMC4, with even the desire and call for more power led to Yamato returning to its restored form and going to Nero's side. Like father, like son.

My original point, though, was how a funny ironic running joke of being impaled one way or another in this series apparently leads to awakening of power or resolve for the Sparda clan. This series has many running themes if you look for them, but this is one I've noticed lately. I wonder if Sparda himself went through something like this in his time (heh).

[therapeutic007]

🌟 The Savior Complex: When Helping Crosses the Line 🌟

Let’s talk about something many of us can relate to: the savior complex. It’s the instinct to swoop in, fix someone’s problems, and “save” them—whether they’ve asked for it or not. While helping others is a beautiful thing, there’s a fine line between support and overstepping.

What is the Savior Complex?

The savior complex isn’t about being kind—it’s about feeling a need to fix or rescue others. It can show up in relationships, friendships, or even at work. Here are some signs:

🌱 You feel responsible for someone else’s happiness or success.

🌱 You prioritize fixing others over taking care of yourself.

🌱 You feel validated or worthy when you “save the day.”

🌱 You struggle to let people solve their own problems.

Why It Happens

The savior complex often comes from a good place, like:

💛 Wanting to ease others’ pain because you care deeply.

💛 Finding purpose in being needed or helpful.

💛 Avoiding your own struggles by focusing on someone else’s.

But here’s the thing: over time, trying to “save” people can create unhealthy dynamics. It can:

Leave others feeling dependent or powerless.

Drain your energy and lead to burnout.

Prevent real, mutual connection based on equality.

What Healthy Support Looks Like

You can still support and uplift others without falling into the savior complex. Here’s how:

Listen without fixing: Sometimes, people just need a compassionate ear—not solutions.

Ask instead of assuming: “How can I support you?” respects their autonomy.

Set boundaries: You’re not responsible for someone else’s choices or outcomes.

Focus on empowerment: Encourage others to find their own strength and solutions.

A Simple Reminder

Being a helper doesn’t mean being a savior. True connection comes from meeting people where they are—not carrying them where you think they should be. 💛

_____ Overcome Your Saviorism Now !

[serenhob]

Jttw Percy Jackson Au

(Jttw is fair use, this is possible) Btw this is me thinking of things as I go along So I was thinking, Hazel had been previously dead for ages so wouldn't it be nice if Frank and her (potentially others, like maybe Leo or someone) took a gap year to travel and show Hazel everything she's missed, in a calm no stakes environment. So they go touring round the states and eventually come to like, idk, Toronto or smth and suddenly are beset by monsters who come to kidnap one of them, idk who but one of the members of this roadtrip. And lo and behold when they go to rescue them who is also trying to save someone, Sun Wukong Now why would Sun Wukomg have trouble saving Tripitaka Here's what we know about him Sun Wukong: -Mischievous -Secretly very wise -Op -Except in water -also that one time that guy had an artifact that kept eating his hair monkeys

So reasonably speaking, they could totally be underwater demons stealing tripitaka to eat him (idk how he would be coping with that, water can't kill immortals right? Probs) So maybe Percy is the one getting kidnapped, which could be interesting as he always tries to be the one to save everyone else and i don't think, correct me if I'm wrong, he's ever been in the damsel position. So obviously, he can breathe underwater so he'd be fine. The underwater demons would need a motivation but isn't 'its the guy who killed Kronos and defeated Gaia' enough, probably not but we can work that out later. It could also be really interesting seeing Percy, who would probably want to escape by himself and be self sufficient, with Tripitaka who normally just hangs put waiting for monkey to save him.

Why is Tripitaka even there and getting kidnapped in the first place: Well I'm imaging he's immortal and he decides that him and Wukong could go down to the mortal realm to do...something idk maybe it could be related to someone or something in the percy jackson verse. Anyway, so they haven't been there in centuries so miss the mark, aiming for China but getting really lost and ending up in the middle of Missori (honestly I haven't got a clue about the states, I'm not American) so their off to complete the mission even tho modern 'China ' is really strange and different. And boom Tripitaka gets kidnapped. Cause of a combination of eating the golden cicada and whatever he was doing. So they all have to struggle with the water without Percy and come up with action plan to save him + slowly uncover what the demons are up to. We can have alternating chapters, with Sun Wukong and the Road trip buddies and then Percy in the water cave.

Maybe they want to sacrifice them or smth. Idk Please add to this if you want, or correct me on anything I got wrong :)

[just-the-dia]

I knew Anna Karenina was a masterpiece but didn't expect to be so impressed after reading it.

Leo Tolstoy antisipated future changes in the country as well as in the social life and created a very progressive story about life, about people and their thoughts, their attempts to find place in life, it's meaning and personal happiness. He showed how society influences people and their destiny, how rules and what is believed to be right may be in contradiction with what is actually right. The author makes readers think about a wide spectrum of things: from love and family issues, the state situation, moral and social obligations, to the existential problems and crises of faith. Love and hatred, happiness and devastation, family and lonliness, social and personal, right and wrong, life and death. As he said, Anna Karenina was about the present.

Anna Karenina, as I see her, was a controversial character- she may have behaved without a proper thinking, but did she have any option? It was her honor and dignity she gave up trying to become happy, her son whom she had to leave to be with her loved one, her whole life in exchange for love. It was an impossible decision. All her sacrifices led to the great fear- fear of being alone (remembering the reality of the 19th century, it would have been a horrible ending) , of becoming unloved by Vronsky. It was a tragedy, the final end, which set her free from social pressure and fear.

I find myself impressed by her bravery and strength but at the same time I'm not sure her way of leaving husband and son was completely morally right (in the beginning of the book it seems, she loved them and couldn't wait till coming back to them). But again, was there a choice? Were there other ways? - I doubt that.

She said to her brother : "You cannot understand. I feel I'm lying head downwards in a sort of pit, but I ought not to save myself. And I cannot do it." (in the original version, she was "flying in some sort of gulf" which I find a better metaphor).

We can only hope she found her peace after the end.

P. S. It's only my impression of the book and I may be wrong or could have understood it differently from you, so if you'd like to discuss the book or share your thoughts, please feel free to do it❤️

[alberta-sunrise]

In the meantime 🙊🙈

[mihai-florescu]

actually that is a question i had, was there a specific reason that leo didnt end up as one of the eccentrics ? i always accidentally group him in as one of them in my brain before i remember hes not. i assume if theres an answer its covered in checkmate or something so fdkdksj

Yeah, it's covered in checkmate lmao but basically. Oh i actually wrote a little something something about checkmate a few weeks ago, i can send it to you after this. I focused on izuleo so i don't think it's worth posting now, but i did touch on leo and eichi a bit too. Basically Leo was the prototype for what would happen to the eccentrics. The destruction of Chess was a result of the implementation of the dreamfes system. The reason he wasn't an oddball is because eichi met and took a liking to Leo before the oddballs had even been conceptualized (Checkmate actually shows Tsumugi and Eichi's first interaction actually btw, in a hospital room before Leo gets admitted too). Much like with the oddballs, Eichi admires Leo and is conflicted, he doesn't want him to actually break, but he needs it for his revolution... and there are multiple factors that then lead to Leo's downfall. I think that happens before Shu's execution even, but don't quote me on this part, it's just what i remember.

[gildedbearediting]

A Look At: The Three Hermits

The Three Hermits was written by Leo Tolstoy in third person past tense. The main character is a bishop on a ship with pilgrims, a fisherman, and the ship’s crew. The story starts with bible verses, Matthew 6: 7-8. Jargon included in the story would be cassock, steerman or helmsman, and benediction. A cassock is a full length garment that’s worn by Christian clergy and other members of church. A…

[ewingstan]

Take the following observations:

Taylor kissed Rachel to cure bonesaw's miasma (wildbow 2012, part 14.11)

Taylor could have spit on a bug and had it fly into Rachel's mouth to cure the miasma (@ty-bayonet-betteridge, 2023)

Wildbow has stated numerous times that neither of these characters are supposed to be taken as queer.

Taylor kissing a girl on the lips in a scenario when there were other options she likely would have thought of to cure her is Gay

These three observations all seem to contradict with each other, such that we cannot take them seriously without one of them giving. Most would place their doubt on 3, claiming that wildbow intentionally created a yuri moment for his readers and then backed away from the implications this would have on the larger story. However, careful reasoning reveals that there is no necessary contradiction:

A normally gay action isn't actually gay if all your alternatives in the situation would be more gay.

The most-often stated alternative for what Taylor could have done involved flying a bug down Rachel's throat.

Taylor's swarm is noted numerous times to be an extension of her body.

We can thus conclude there is no contradiction between are initial quartet of observations as long as we accept the following: Taylor having a bug fly down a girl's throat is more gay than simply kissing them.

With this out of the way, we can turn our attention to a section from 19.7:

We have an instance of Taylor doing what she was fully capable of doing in the miasma incident, and sticking a bug down her teammate's throat—in this case in order to stop talking. Based on our above reasoning, we can conclude that Taylor did the equivalent of dipping Lisa into a surprise kiss sloppy style to shut her up. The fact that this strategy worked and Sundancer did in fact nuke those guys is an important piece of evidence for my ongoing theory that Worm acts on the logic of a romantic comedy—

[cupcakeslushie]

Important question, does the Foot/Saki/Leo think Three is Draxum's son or is he just the weird thing that follows him to their meetings sometimes?

I’ll draw it some of it officially in the comic soon—whenever Leo tells the whole family their connection. We’ve seen a brief glimpse of the two boys talking from Three’s perspective. But from Leo perspective it’s basically…

First meeting is Draxum only. The man looks shocked for maybe two seconds (if Leo wasn’t so well trained—and naturally good—at reading people, he might’ve missed it) but then it passes. Draxum shakes Leo’s hand but focuses on Saki for the rest of the negotiations. Leo doesn’t think very much of it.

Meeting two, Draxum brings his….assistant(?) to help carry all of the equipment they’re looking to sell to the Foot. Draxum offhandedly introduces the kid as “Three” which is super weird—but hey, the kid is weird as hell, so it fits. Draxum spends the meeting talking up his weapons and what they could accomplish by working together. While Three looks way too comfortable waving about said weapons, when prompted.

Meeting numero Three-o, Leo and Three are actually forcibly left alone together. Kitsune wants to discuss confidential matters with Draxum and Shredder—just them. Three talks nonstop the entire time, and only half of it makes sense. Leo blocks out almost all of it, while he tries to eavesdrop on what Kitsune is planning with Saki and Draxum. He’s starting to feel less trusting of her and her schemes.

Meeting four, Leo is recovering from his little coma, and is in a lot of pain. He’s only focused on standing upright. He snaps at Three when he can’t take any more, but then excuses himself, feeling bad, and also needing a break. Karai slinks in and he begs her to take his place for a moment. When Leo gets back, Karai—no surprise, obviously bailed after growing bored. Three remains mercifully silent for rest of their time alone, but he does look terrified when Draxum finally steps out, and they go to leave. Leo feels a twinge of remorse, but buries it and moves on.

Meeting Five is when Leo finally stops and listens to what Three is saying. Leo has caught glimpses of his own brothers (actual physical glimpses—not just his mind playing tricks, by bringing up memories that are better forgotten). Three reminds him too much of them. It’s very unsettling for Leo, who’s begun subconsciously fighting with Kitsune’s now enhanced form of spellcasting. But thanks to his coma allowing for Gram-Gram to solidify their connection without interference, he’s succeeding at pushing Kitsune’s magic away. So even though Three isn’t a part of it, he’s still like a neon sign that reminds Leo of his past…however, Leo is too scared to ask any questions that might open the can of worms he’s desperate to keep shut. Even though his mind is fighting Kitsune’s magic, there’s still a big part of him that is fighting even harder to hold onto his safe normal.

And that’s all their meetings. They happened over the span of a year—spaced months apart. Leo didn’t really spend more than a handful of hours with Three, and solely thought of him as Draxum’s assistant.

[rosenclaws]

I got the mental image of Leopold as a dad in my mind and now I can't stop thinking about it. He would be such a good dad!!! Like, supportive, doting, playful, protective. Imagine him with a toddler who's just baby babbling away and he's listening with full attention and eye contact. Gahhh! I want to have his baby, he needs to be a dad.

a/n: hello you have now infected my brain with the Leopold as a dad worm and it will never leave me thank you and as my payment u now get a drabble. Also I’ve made the executive decision for him to be a girl dad and his daughter is named after his mother. Okay thank you

wc: ~650

The best moment of Leopold’s life was the day he married you. Love deep in his heart as he said his vows. Promising to love you and no one else for the rest of his life. That you would be the one and only to capture his heart.

He meant every world and when he kissed you it was like everything fell into place. This is where he was meant to be.

The second best moment of his life was every single day with his daughter.

They’re all tied for second. Being a father was always something he wanted but to truly become a father. It was amazing.

“Dada!” He looks up from the morning paper to see his little girl waddling towards him.

“Oh my don’t you look gorgeous.” He smiles from ear to ear as he holds out his arms and picks her up.

Lifting her up in the air just to hear her giggles. She had a costume dress on and a little tiara. She was his princess so it was only fit she dressed like one.

“This princess refused to put on anything else.” You huff as walk down the hall. Leopold walks over to you and kisses your cheek. Then he kisses his daughter’s cheek.

“Is that true miss Adeline?” Leopold asks in mock surprise.

“I’m a princess!” She giggles and Leopold can’t help but agree.

“Are you going to be okay today?” You had gotten called into work for an emergency leaving your family plans for another day. You felt horrible but Leo assured you everything was alright.

“Of course my love, don’t fret I’ll handle everything.” You kiss him once more before heading out for the day.

“Now, what does the princess demand for breakfast?”

He can’t remember the last time he got this much quality time with Adeline. He swears up and down that just yesterday she was still a baby. The memories flash in his mind as she munches on her apple slices.

Holding her in his arms. Feeling his heart break at the sound of her cries. Wanting nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and protect her from everything he can.

Now she’s three years old and he savors every minute he can. Being sat on the couch as he listens intently to his daughters babbling. Smiling as she talks like she understands the whole world. He nods along and indulges whatever her imagination can create.

Soon she’s tired and the sounds of Cinderella play from the television. She stands on his feet as he dances around the living room. He hums the music as she laughs.

Leopold spins her around and picks her up. He remembers his first ball, learning to dance with his mother. Now he returns the favor. It may not be the 18th century but his daughter will be treated like royalty.

“M’tired daddy.” She yawns and rests her head against his chest.

So he takes her to her room. Letting her fall asleep in his arms, just like she used to. Sitting in the big chair by her bed, the same one he used to rock her in and read her bedtime stories. The one he’d sit in after she had woken up in the night and cried out for him.

He’d hold her tight and whisper that everything was okay. That he would never let anything hurt her. No monsters and nobody would hurt her.

“Well looks like you had a busy day.” He looks up to see you standing by the door.

A warm smile on your face as you take in the sight of your husband and baby girl. Leopold is everything you could have asked for as a husband and a father.

“Do you want to put her down and eat?” He shakes his head as Adeline stirs in his arms. Clutching his finger in her little hand.

“I think I wish to stay here a little longer.” You walk over sit on the arm of the chair.

Leaning your head onto Leopold’s head and slowly rake your fingers through Adelines hair. Leopold takes it all in.

So much time has passed in the blink of an eye that he wishes he could slow everything down and just live right here. He doesn’t know what the future may bring but he does know one thing.

He’s a lucky, lucky man.

[dandylovesturtles]

this is a brain worm that spawned as soon as I read the second injury prompt, bad future timeline, from the prospective of someone outside the family (civilian, fellow resistance fighter, etc), where one of the brothers/april/or either of the casey’s are injured, “Someone get the medic. Get the medic!” and the medic is leo, unknowingly responding to a gravely injured loved one

shit this is a good prompt anon, thanks

credit to @promptsbytaurie for the injury ask meme!

cw: ROTTMNT bad timeline, mentions of blood and injury

———

He finds her leaned against some rubble, the carcasses of four krang hounds strewn around her. They don’t bleed like earth creatures, but the stringy bits of their mutilated bodies are strewn across the ground, and all he can think is, Good.

There is blood, though: her blood, gushing from a set of lacerations in her side. She’s so still that he thinks, for one awful minute, that she’s dead.

Then she shifts and groans and he stumbles quickly to her side, dropping to his knees and putting pressure on the wound, the way he was taught in ROTC a million years ago.

She sucks in a breath, gritting her teeth, and then her eyes open. They rove the battlefield with a dazed confusion, and he wonders if that’s a concussion or just the blood loss. Or both.

“Commander O’Neil,” he says urgently. “We need to move you.”

Her head turns and her searching eyes find his face. She blinks rapidly and squints at his face.

“Who…?”

He smiles, because it’s a kindness he can give her. Kids in school used to make fun of his buck teeth. Weird how an alien invasion makes some things easier. “Jake West. I joined your squad last week.”

“Oh, right.” She grunts and starts to shift. “New guy. Help me up, will you?”

Jake shakes his head. “I don’t think you can walk with that wound.”

“Well, I’m not letting you carry me out of here like some damsel in distress,” she says stubbornly. She slings an arm over his shoulders, gritting her teeth. Her brow is sweating, but she repeats, “Help me up.”

Jake’s only been part of this resistance colony for two weeks, since the tattered remnants of his last group was found by one of their scouting parties, but he already has a lot of respect for O’Neil. She’s a foot shorter than him, but she embodies toughness in the set of her shoulders and her refusal to back down. She’s more fearsome than most of the old military guys Jake’s ever met.

So he helps her up.

She stumbles when she’s on her feet, and he moves in to keep supporting her. The blood drips down her side, and she hisses when she sees it.

“Can’t believe I let those hounds get a piece of me. Dee’s gonna be insufferable.”

Jake wonders who “Dee” is, but doesn’t ask. They have to get out of here - the onslaught may have calmed for the moment, but the krang always come back.

O’Neil can’t move very quickly - Jake finds himself dragging her more than he helps her walk. He suggests carrying her again and she turns it down, though only with a shake of her head this time. They stumble through the rubble in mostly silence, making for the base’s hidden entrance.

Above their heads, there is a noise like a sonic boom, a streak of orange lighting up the sky as it goes past, latching onto an approaching krang drone ship and pulling it out of the sky.

“There goes Mikey,” says O’Neil, without even looking up.

Right; Master Michelangelo, one of the turtles. Jake had felt a little trepidation, when he had first learned this resistance group was full of - and even run by - inhuman mutants.

Then he’d seen what they could do, and that feeling faded fast.

He hasn’t actually met the turtles, only ever seen them in passing. He’s heard from those have been here longer that they’re actually really friendly, or at least all of them but Master Donatello are. More importantly, they put their lives on the line every day for what remains of the people of earth. Jake hasn’t needed to be here more than a few weeks to see that.

They fight like they have everything to lose. Jake respects that.

Master Michelangelo’s cover makes the trip back to the base easier, even as O’Neil flags more and more against his side. By the end he’s carrying her whether she wants it or not, draped half across his back in a fireman’s hold. She’s too out of it now to object. He hopes that doesn’t mean he’s too late. He’s so tired of losing people, even those he hasn’t known long. He likes Commander O’Neil.

He stumbles through the tunnel and into the bright synthetic lights of the entry checkpoint. Most combatants have already returned by now, but there are still people milling around, checking for any signs of krang infection in those coming back.

“Someone get the medic!” he hollers as he enters. “Get the medic!”

There’s a few echoing shouts, and then a door flings open and out walks Master Leonardo himself. He’s wearing a makeshift surgical apron, covered in blood, gloves, and a mask hanging loose around his neck. Jake’s never seen him this close, and now he’s a little taken aback, the way the turtle towers over everyone, moving so lithely despite the bulk of his shell, a commanding but easy air to his presence that seems to demand respect but also offer reassurance to everyone else in the room.

Every time Jake’s seen him from afar, he’s been grinning, laughing, smiling. He isn’t now.

“Don’t yell unless someone’s dying,” he says, eyes scanning the room until his gaze locks with Jake’s. He sees the body slumped across Jake’s back and grimaces. “I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.”

He crosses the room and directs Jake toward one of the cots. “Alright, put ‘em on the triage bed and let’s see what we’re working with.”

“Lacerations, sir,” says Jake, as he lowers O’Neil to the cot. “She was conscious when I found her, but she’s lost a lot of blood. Maybe a concussion.”

He trails off as he turns back and sees Master Leonardo’s state. His eyes are locked on O’Neil’s face, like he’s only just recognized who it is on the cot. His mouth hangs slightly open, and there’s an open, vulnerable devastation, a naked fear on his face. One Jake recognizes too well.

Even the mutants, with all their powers and all their strength, can be afraid.

Then, just like that, he pulls it together again for a fleeting glimpse Jake saw Leonardo, but now the Master is back, and barking orders.

“Marta!” he calls, turning his head to address a woman standing at the inspection line. “Prep OR now! And get us ready for a blood transfusion- B positive if we have it.”

“On it,” says Marta, and she’s gone just like that. Jake turns his attention back to Leonardo, who has taken O’Neil’s wrist in his, feeling for a pulse.

He’s quiet for several seconds, then he nods to himself and starts asking questions.

“Any idea what did this?”

“It was hounds, sir. I found her with several dead ones.”

“Sounds about right.” Master Leonardo sounds almost amused, though he doesn’t stop his work. “Any sign of infection?”

“No. She was talking and able to walk most of the way.”

Krang infections take over the host so quickly, they would know by now, with a wound like that.

“Hounds can only infect with their bites, and these look like scratches from claws.” Leonardo comes out again, as he reaches for O’Neil’s hand and gives it a squeeze. “Knew you wouldn’t let them get a bite in.”

The way he looks at O’Neil is so tender. They clearly know each other, and not just as fellow resistance commanders. Jake can’t help but wonder how they know each other; how a human and a mutant came to have a bond this close.

He doesn’t have time to ask, of course. Seconds later, O’Neil is being moved to OR, and Leonardo is making to follow them.

“Sir!” Jake calls after him. “Is there anything else I can do to help the commander?”

Master Leonardo barely pauses. “Get yourself checked for infection, and donate blood if you can. Then get some rest. You’ve done enough today.” He glances over his shoulder. “And stop calling me ‘sir’. Makes me feel so old.”

Then he’s gone.

Jake watches the door Leonardo just disappeared through for a second, then moves to do as he was told. He thinks about the way Master Leonardo looked at Commander O’Neil. Like she was part of what he was fighting not to lose.

And he thinks, maybe, that they’re lucky here. That this just might be the resistance that saves the world.

[rottenzombrainz]

Tokyo Debunker; silly headcanons for each ghoul!

Just little silly traits for each ghoul. They're not meant to be good or bad, just silly!! :3

Frostheim

Jin Kamurai - Jin has a one-of-a-kind limited edition Hello Kitty lighter with a pink flame.

Tohma Ishibashi - Tohma's the type of guy to say "it's a quarter to one" "it's half past nine" "It's three eigths past six" etc.

Lucas Errant - Luca has absolutely no grasp on satire. Like, imagine Kaito showing him one of those "blink if you need help" videos and Luca is just like "Kaito?!? Why are you laughing?!? This person needs help!!"

Kaito Fuji - Kaito unironically likes "I'm 14 and this is deep" content.

Vagastorm

Alan Mido - Alan wears the same Halloween costume every year. Every single year. If it gets damaged or doesn't fit anymore, he just buys a new one that's the exact same.

Shohei Haizono - Sho would be really into collecting designer shoes. Bro probably has an entire wall of fancy basketball shoes.

Leo Kurosagi - Leo will just randomly say "*sucks teeth* Don't worry I'll edit it out in post" during normal conversation. You'll never know if he's actually recording or not

Jabberwock

Haru Sagara - This is already kinda canon, but Haru definitely falls for any and all scams. He probably buys things like dehydrated water and a treadmill even tho he's running around Jabberwock all fucking day.

Towa Otonashi - Towa loves gnarp gnarp alien cat videos. He loves them. immensely.

Ren Shiranami - I feel like Ren would have a really hard time pronouncing certain words like "anomalous" and "anemone" (just like me fr)

Sinostra

Taiga Hoshibami - Taiga would really easily fall down YouTube rabbit holes. Like he'd start off with watching a firearm review or something... and two hours later he's seventeen parts deep into SpongeBob conspiracy theories

Romeo Lucci - Romeo is deathly afraid of piss. human piss, animal piss, dirt ( he thinks it's all just worm poop...which it kinda is).

Ritsu Shinjo - Ritsu is one of those people who can't sleep if there is a single spec of light.

Hotarubi

Subaru Kagami - I feel like Subaru would have one mobile game on his phone that he's reached level 844 on or something. Something like a word puzzle or match three game.

Haku Kusanagi - Haku fucking loves cunty scene crunkcore music. S3R3L, Millionaires, 3OH!3. Inside, he's just a pretty rave girl.

Zenji Kotodama - Whenever he plays online games, Zenji would mistake NPCs for real people. I feel like he'd also say "thank you!!" to virtual assistants too.

Obscuary

Edward Hart - Ed would fucking love those Tiktok videos with the TV show clips and subway surfers gameplay at the bottom.

Rui Mizuki - Rui has an uncanny obsession with the Sims 4. He has all the dlcs, an entire hardrive of mods, hundreds of save files, and is a top creator on the Sims 4 Gallery

Lyca Colt - I think it'd be really funny if Lyca had a pollen allergy. Especially since Obscuary is full of plants.

Mortkranken

Yuri Isami - Yuri is incredibly bad at ice skating and roller skating. He always falls on his ass, bruises something, takes a bad fall, etc. Which is the real reason he hates going to Frostheim!!! /j

Jiro Kirisaki - I feel like Jiro has one thing that he just absolutely loves that isn't medicine. a special interest, one might say... And it's probably the most niche thing ever too. Like sea cucumbers. imagine - he just fucking loves sea cucumbers. You're getting your health checkup and you ask him "read any good books recently?" and he's like "Yeah, I read this book on sea cucumbers the other day" and then you just have to listen to him talk about sea cucumbers for the next 20 minutes.