#leo sacrificed it all for this code

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Exhausted - John Wick X Female (Wife) Reader - ft. Boy

Title: Exhausted

John Wick X Female (Wife) Reader - ft. Boy

Additional Characters: Boy the best Boi

Requested by @fujinswife!

WC: 1,713

Warnings: Hitman stuff mentioned, killing people insinuated, wounds mentioned, bullet grazes mentioned, blood, one curse word, Reader takes care of John after a long day sort of cute fluff, massages cause John deserves them, Donald Glover mentioned), slight angst like the tiniest of angst, and fluff

You watched the clock on the wall, sitting on your favorite chair with a book in your hands. Though you had originally been enraptured with the new romantic drama you bought at Barnes And Noble, your mind began to wander and your eyes landed on the clock on the wall; tick, tock, tick, tock. It was almost ten, pretty late for you, but not for your husband. While you would probably be in bed by now, snuggled up with Boy, and cuddled in the arms of your beloved, your husband, John was out on the job.

Being a Hitman was a hard and stressful job, going out to find your hit and, in better words, eliminate them. It was taxing on the body and mind, and it was for you also at times. You always became overwhelmingly worried whenever you found John gone from bed and a Post-It note on the fridge. The words, 'going to the store' in black ink. You knew by now that that was code, code for 'I'm going to go and fight people and possibly come home with a wound or two.'

Now you didn't mind taking care of your John. Cleaning his bloody knuckles and bullet grazes helped you rationalize with your brain that your Johnny was alive and with you. That he came back, somewhat safe, but he was there with you in the flesh. Though you had to admit, the blood on your hands after helping your husband haunted you and made your skin crawl. But no matter how many times John tried to let him clean his own wounds, knowing how much you hated the sight of his blood, you'd stop him. You didn't think your husband was a burden, you were beyond willing to take care of him. You'd do anything to make sure he was alright.

As your gaze broke from the clock, you tried to re-read the page that you were on, glancing up when you heard the pitter-patter of clawed paws, watching with a smile as Boy entered the room, making his way over to you and sitting at your feet. You hummed, leaning down and past your book to rub Boy's head, his eyes closing in bliss as you scratched behind his ears. You hummed again, leaning back against the back of your chair, and looking at the front door. "I bet," You began, glancing at Boy with a smile, "He'll be home in ten minutes." You finished before tilting your own head. "When do you think Dad will be home? Hmm? Soon, right?" You asked Boy, who only whined a bit before laying his head on his front paws, making you sigh, nodding knowingly. "Yeah, another thirty. You're right."

For the next forty-five minutes, you sat and read, periodically making sure Boy was alright or taking a bathroom break. The room around you was dim, only a few lamps lighting it as you listened to the owl occasionally hoot outside, and the constant sound of crickets chirping outside in the garden. The book in your hands was as anticlimactic as you thought it would be from the first sentence. You regretted giving it a chance, really. You thought it was going to be a heartfelt book, with drama but a happy ending, like Pride And Prejudice or something, but you felt extremely underwhelmed when the main character, Maryanne, ended up marrying Lord Leo after her childhood friend Steven confessed to her. After all they've been through!? You thought as you stared blankly at the page. Steven sacrificed everything for you, and this Lord Leo had been caught cheating on you with your cousin Claire! You couldn't find it in yourself to even finish the last two pages, tasting a sourness in your mouth. 

"Should've called off the damn wedding." You muttered, earning a head raise from Boy as you shut the book and sat it aside, before you could say anything more to Boy, you watched as he looked over at the door suddenly, his tail wagging, and you smiled, staring at the door yourself as you felt your heart hammer in your chest. John was home. You watched as you heard the keys jingle in his hands before you jumped out of the chair and slid across the hardwood floor with your socks, almost hitting the door as you looked out the peephole just in case before hastily opening it. John stood there, blood on his bottom lip, hands, and dotting the collar of his white suit shirt, and yet, he still gave you a smile. 

Entering, you closed the door behind him, instantly taking any weapons from him to put away in that safe of his, before rushing back to find him standing where you left him, shoulders slightly slouched as he stared down at Boy at his feet, still fiercely wagging his tail. Breaking their stare down, you took John's hand in yours, leading him to the bathroom. As John sat on the lid of the toilet, you grabbed the first-aid kit from under the sink, and for the next half-and-hour, you cleaned any and all his wounds. It was silent as you worked, your tongue sticking out slightly from your mouth as you dabbed the cotton ball on his knuckles, cleaning off the blood. John just watched you, like he usually did, mesmerized by the thought of you caring for him, and just you in general. You were so careful when treating him. It warmed his heart, body, and soul.

After you finished cleaning his wounds, you helped John into the shower, before rushing off to find a new fresh pair of pajamas for him, throwing them, and his towel, in the dryer for a couple of minutes so they would be warm for John when he got out. For the rest, it was like clockwork, helping him out, giving him clothes, brushing his hair for him as he brushed his teeth slowly, and finally holding his freshly bandaged hand as you led him to the kitchen for some dinner.

Sometimes words were exchanged, but most of the time, there wasn't. The silence engulfed the two of you and it was nice, peaceful. You both basked in it. After you and John finished your food, you traveled to the couch where you turned on the tv, handing John the remote for him to browse through channels. Your hands then landed on his shoulders, gently putting pressure in all the right places, easing the tension in his muscles. You kissed his cheek softly, giving him what he needed to relax as he leaned further into you, sighing as your fingers trailed up his shoulders to his scalp, your fingernails scratching gently, running your fingers through his slightly damp hair.

Pulling away, you walked around the couch to sit beside John, smiling and chuckling lightly at the smile of content on his face. You sat down, leaning into his side as John's arm wrapped around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him. The two of you watched the TV for a good while, which ended up being a Donald Glover movie, before you felt John's head turn, the stubble of his beard softly grazing your cheek, causing you to giggle quietly, turning your head a little to meet his gaze. Before you could say anything, John leaned down to press his lips onto yours, You smiled against his lips as you placed your hands on his stubbly cheeks, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss. His hands ran down your body until they reached your waist, gripping you tightly, protectively, his thumb rubbing small circles on your hips, sending tingly shivers throughout your entire being before you both pulled away. 

You hummed, gazing lovingly at your husband, your eyes beholding the man's beauty, your fingers gently brushing against his cheeks, chin, and jaw. "What are you thinking about?" John mumbled, his voice husky with sleepiness. You opened your mouth to answer, but a yawn escaped you instead, shaking your head as you hid your face in his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed. 

"Just you." You answered softly, snuggling further into his neck as his arms wrapped around you, holding you close. You smiled as you laid your hand against his chest, you could feel his heartbeat quicken, a soft chuckle escaping him. "I'm glad you're home." You told him as his hand cupped the nape of your neck, pulling you closer to his shoulder, his fingers running through the hair on the nape of your neck; kissing the top of your head.

"Me too. I missed you." He answered, kissing the top of your head. 

You sighed contently, nestling your face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent deeply. You could feel your eyelids growing heavy. "I missed you too." You muttered against his neck, closing your eyes as you fell asleep in his arms. 

John sighed, holding you close as he watched Boy waddle over from his food bowl, looking up at him with big brown eyes. John took his time, scooping you up in his arms before standing up, grunting slightly as he strained his side a bit. Boy followed after you and John as he headed to the bedroom, hopping up on the bed as John laid you down gently in the bed, tucking you in the soft, fluffy covers. When he stood back up, he looked at Boy, staring at him for a moment before reaching down and petting the dog, smiling slightly as Boy leaned his head into his hand. 

“Good Boy.” John muttered, not wanting to wake you, as he rubbed Boy’s ears before Boy moved to lay beside you, your arm subconsciously wrapping around the pup before going back to sleeping peacefully. John sighed slightly before he got in bed on his side, pulling the blankets over him before turning on his side to wrap his arm around your waist, pulling your back into his chest. The night went on peacefully like this, the three of you falling fast asleep and waking up to each other. This process continued like this, every day, for months and years to come. You wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Just you, John, and Boy, against the world.

[ramons-elevator]

Thinking about the remaining OG Eggs

Thinking about Chayanne being the eldest and having the mentality of a warrior. How guilty he feels about putting all of his siblings in danger when he received the threat. How he is arguably one of the most clingy eggs, always being with Phil and Tallulah, and gets bad anxiety when he is away from them. How he blamed himself for his siblings dying and saying he failed. How he cooks and provides for his siblings and family and makes sure they are safe. How whenever he sees his siblings he always checks up on them and makes sure they are okay. How Phil raised him on Hardcore mode and how careful he has to be.

Thinking about Ramon being very independent and curious and knows that so much weights on his shoulders. How Ramon loves explosives and probably is the egg with the most ‘downs’, but yet loves flowers and cats with his whole heart. How Ramon saved his siblings due to him investigating, only to basically have a panic attack in Fit’s Gym and thinking he hasnt done anything useful. How Ramon nearly died because he wanted to save his siblings from getting killed by the Code. How he knows about Fit’s mission and created a giant satellite for him because he doesnt want his Dad to go back to that hellscape.

Thinking about Dapper and how he is smart, resourceful, kind and yet self sacrificing and scared. How Dapper was hunted by the Code Monster more than any other egg. How Dapper grew up in paranoia and moving around, keeping all his stuff in his backpacks. How Dapper made his siblings proper graves and visits them every month to sing happy birthday to them. How Dapper was hurting himself and experimenting so he could make things useful for others. How Dapper has been writing down notes and information about plants and animals so people can use that after he dies. How Dapper couldnt celebrate his sister's birthday because it was the same day he died and it consumed him for that day.

Thinking about Leo being the youngest out of their remaining siblings and how much she love she has in her tiny eggshell. How Leo went out of her way to give Chayanne a hug when they woke up from their comas because Chayanne protected her the whole time. How Leo shot out of her bed that one time Bobby was downed and was begging Foolish to go help Bobby even though they had no way to get to him. How Leo built giant pixel art around Foolishs dragon and how every part of Foolish’s base and the surrounding area around it was decorated by Leo. How Leo was one of the first people to arrive to Ramons house to try to save Ramon during his nightmare and held Ramon’s dead body, refusing to even move an inch away from him ; later on hopelessly begging Foolish to revive Ramon like he did earlier with one of her pets.

Thinking about the remaining OG eggs and how they watched their siblings die over and over again. Thinking about all of them surviving on one life basically since the beginning. Thinking about how they watched this island unfold into horrible prison, just like their parents did. Thinking about how they had death knocking on their door multiple times and yet are still alive. Thinking about how much they love and care about each other. Thinking about how much of themselves are spread all across the island.

Chayanne, Leo, Dapper, and Ramon are the oldest siblings, but they are still kids. They had to grow up too fast and fight for so long. They have been through hell and back. They all feel responsible for their younger siblings and want to protect them as much as possible. They've always had the weight on the world on their shoulders.

Chayanne and the Triplets grew up in a world that hated them, but never stopped giving love back to the world.

[soaking-wet-cat-punk]

“hozier arsonists lullaby is leo coded” no you fool, think!! its about FRANK.

Frank, who was fascinated by fire, and the e second he got his firewood, willed it to burst into flame to see what would happen??

Frank who was tormented by the two sides of his godly father screaming in his head for all of mark of Athena???

Frank who harnessed these voices in order to save Hazel and Nico????

Frank who had to deal with body dysmorphia after suddenly changing against his will in Venice?????

Frank who charged ahead into the house of hades sure he would die, got a mid battle promotion to praetor, got shot in the arm, and didn’t even flinch??????

Frank who was literally slapped straight from defeating EVERY SINGLE GIANT to fighting Gaea and Octavian, and immediately took charge of people he’d been seen as ‘lesser than’ for his entire time in the legion without falter???????

Frank who grew up around the highest standards in a shrinking family, and even his mother died sacrificing herself for her companions in battle????????

Frank who took constant jokes and put-downs from leo and never once snapped back at him despite being scared and feeling alone?????????

Frank who saw leo die, and then wasn’t there to see Jason die, and then even still sacrificed himself to save new Rome at the Caldecott tunnel by finally BURNING HIS STICK AND TAKING CONTROL IF HIS DESTINY??????????

anyway you’re all wrong and this is a Frank Zhang stan account now and you should go listen to Arsonist’s Lullaby.

[mishacakes]

tomiko is done with Leo bc he always sacrifices himself for others to the point she feels she just about to lose him all the time just reminds me of catradora

if i had a nickel for every blonde coded magical sword wielding hero with self sacrificing tendencies next to a cat coded sarcastic mean girl in love with them.... you know how the rest of the saying goes

or three if you count magnus chase and alex fierro!!

.......there's a venn diagram between tomiko, catra, and alex and a lot of it is just a circle huh.......

[serenthest4r]

!!!MUTANT MAYHEM SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

mutant mayhem just got released in Australia so I’ve finally been able to watch it and I wanna talk about a theory I have. This theory is that Mikey is the one who is going to be getting the Leo treatment this time around.

mutant mayhem does a very good job of balancing out each of the turtles screen time and they each play an important roll in the film but while I was watching something felt a bit off, the film wasn’t focused on more Leo and Raph’s but rather Leo and Mikey.

evidence from the movie:

In the backstory scene when the humans find out that there are mutants among them Splinter drops the turtles, most are around him but Mikey somehow rolls onto the road and almost gets run over. Fans of previous iterations will know that almost dying is a very Leo-coded thing so it seems odd that they would give it to Mikey.

When the turtles are walking back to the lair they have a moment where Mikey looks out longingly at the human world through a sewer grate before going after his brothers. It’s odd that this scene is just Mikey as we know that all the brothers want to have a life in the human world. The fact that it is just Mikey seems to hint at him having a larger roll within this universe.

Towards the end of the movie there is a scene when Mikey is standing alone looking around. He’s seeing things on fire, people injured while looking for his brothers. There’s ringing in his ears and everything is muffled, at one point he sees Mondo’s in some rubble and assumes he is dead before Mondo shows up at tells him that he’s okay. After that Mikey looks forward and sees Donnie stumbling towards him clearing out of it and has to watch as Superfly throws a car directly at him. This entire sequence seems like a Leo scene so the fact they gave it to Mikey just seems weird unless it’s going to link to something in the future.

At the end of the film it shows the turtles getting ready for their first day of school and once again Mikey is the last one to go, he has this moment where he’s looking back at Splinter and he then drops his mask to show that they’re entering a semi-normal life, in any other context the slow motion of the mask dropping could be taken as Mikey dying . Again this seems like a very Leo-coded scene. WHY DOES MIKEY HAVE ALL THE LEO-CODED SCENES???

In the post credit scene we can see all the brothers at prom, it then zooms out and shows Cynthia Utrom watching them through what I assume are security cameras, they’re all labeled as targets 001 through to 004, MIKEY is target 001. I do actually have a side theory as to why this is the case, when the turtles are getting ‘milked’ Mikey is the one with the most mutagen taken from him so that could be a reason for him being target 001.

evidence from the posters:

Starting with this poster the divide between Mikey and his brothers is really all I have to talk about. I just find it weird that they would give him the main spotlight for this.

THIS ONE is the one I wanna talk about. This is from a series of posters with the turtles weapon next to an ordinary object, the first different thing about Mikey’s poster is that the main focus goes fully across the page whereas the others are all in the centre. Secondly the object the chose were a pair of shoes on a wire which, if you don’t know, represent someone’s death. Which ties into the next poster:

This is again from a series of posters with a drawing of each turtle and than something about them such as Leo’s saying ‘double swords, quadruple anxiety’. Mikey’s says ‘he’ll risk his life for the last slice’. Risk his life? AS IN DEADTH???

all of these posters seem to foreshadow Mikey dying or at least pulling a Leo with a self-sacrificing move in the future and I am scared. Of course I could just be reading into it to much but I know the producers did not just put this stuff in the posters for a few laughs.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my ted talk I hope you enjoyed it :)

[invadericee]

THIS!!!

I've been screaming about what percy and mark have in common!!

-living in the constant shadow of their father and being punished for who their dad is

-blamed for things out of their control

-adhd/adhd coded

-in love with the super smart badass who he took forever to realize he loved

-surprise little half brother who's mom is a creature of some sort (Tyson and Oliver)

-stepdad Paul

-has watched many of their friends die

-*regret*

-awesome super sweet mom who is also a badass when she needs to be

-friends with a cyclops

-traumatized to all hell

-a fucking nerd

-associated with the color blue

-gets beat up a lot but always seems to win

-drools while they sleep

Also wanna point out some direct comparisons in writing so spoilers for the titan's curse, the last Olympian, blood of olympus, trials of Apollo, and season 3 of invincible

Also Rex and Leo have a lot in common:

Mark saying "What about Rex?" Hits the same as Nico saying "Where's my sister?" And Leo saying "Where's Jason?"

Also, in the battle of Manhattan, Percy screams, "No one touches her!" While protecting Annabeth, and the same thing happens when Mark is fighting Conquest. He screams at him, "Don't touch her!" While trying to protect Eve.

Orphan boys who had a being of great power (government/Gaea) take interest in them. They have fire/explosive powers, the comedic relief, and both sacrificed themselves to save people they love.

I’ve been watching Invincible, and while watching S3 Ep3, I noticed that Mark Grayson and his family have a lot of similarities to Percy Jackson and his family. Debbie and Sally are both married to god like figures who have done bad things, and after D and S move on, they reappear attempting to explain. Percy and Mark are overworked 17 year olds with supernatural powers who keep getting sent on irritating quests. They also have similar color palettes and the same hair. They both have younger siblings who showed up ( in Percy’s case, were born ) after their fathers left. Both of their mothers move on by dating a man named Paul who thinks that he can’t live up to their previous husbands.

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

More ROTTMNT Headcanons: I wrote this instead of sleeping so excuse the typos

Raph puts his siblings in air jail

Donnie is overworking himself? air jail!

Mikey is staying awake to finish a big art project? Air jail!

April is acting a little too reckless? Air Jail!

Leo is being a self-sacrificing little shit? AIR JAIL! 

It’s their least favorite thing in the whole wide world so he does it at least once a week

So in my mind, I feel like the boys hang out in each other's rooms more than they hang out in their own

And I was thinking about where they would sit

Raph has beanbags for his siblings (they’re color-coded and everything) 

Because his bed barely has enough room for him (it’s overrun by stuffed animals)

Leo doesn’t have any chairs or beanbags in his room 

If they want to hang out they have to sit on his bed or on the throw pillows he has on the floor 

And even though this sounds incredibly unappealing his siblings still hang out in his room the most

Donnie only has a gaming chair in his room so they’d either sit on that or the floor (they usually just steal the beanbags from Raph’s room)

And Mikey doesn’t have any chairs in his room so he gives up his hammock and he sits on the floor (again they usually steal Raph’s beanbags) 

I also love the headcanon that the twins have a calming effect on each other 

So I got some ideas 

After Donnie has a panic attack he finds Leo and sits with him

Everyone knows what Donnie looks like after a panic attack 

So they don’t touch him and they’ll tell him where Leo is

And when Leo has a really bad flashback (we love PTSD) he’ll text Donnie to get him

Cause no one wants to move after revisiting the worst moment of their life 

So Raph has a peanut allergy

So I think Leo always has an EpiPen in his little pouch

I honestly feel like Donnie gets random little cuts all the time so Leo keeps his favorite Atomic Lass band-aids in his pouch

And I’ve seen a lot of people headcanons that Mikey has diabetes so the boys always keep a little snack on them at all times 

I also said in this post that Leo and Mikey had asthma so I think Leo would keep an inhaler in there for both of them just in case

He also keeps some bandages and other medical shit 

But at the very bottom are two photos the one Casey had (I imagine they all have one) and the photo they took on the bridge at the end of the movie 

During Halloween, the group always does group costumes 

Strawberry shortcake, and then scooby doo, the dynamos, and then the sailor scouts

When April feels comfortable in a space she’ll take her glasses off

It shows that she knows the space well and she trusts the people around her 

When she hangs out in the lair she leaves her shoes and glasses at the door

[mad4turtles]

I see that you're taking requests and after reading that adorable Leo & Mikey fic, could you maybe write Raph and Donnie bonding fic, going off that little pattern for the brothers?

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH let's do this!

(Set after the movie, because I like to feel pain).

----

Donnie is doing it again.

Woken by the sound of bare feet travelling past his bedroom, Raph rolls out of bed, disoriented (still half-dreaming of tentacles seeping through his skin and into his eyes, of his clenched fist reared back to impale his little brother struggling to breathe in his grasp), and gets to his feet. 

His right eye itches something awful, and it's all he can do to keep from rubbing at it. It's a miracle he can still see out of it.

There have been a lot of miracles, actually. Not enough to outweigh the horror, but enough, and Raph is grateful. So damn grateful.

One of those miracles has their eggheaded genius awake at hell-o'clock in the morning. Again.

Raph slides his door open, peering along the row of subway cars. He doesn't have to squint to find Donnie. The artificial light cast from his wrist tech breaks through the gloom of the lair and bathes the purple turtle's face as he stares at the holo-screen. Bloodshot eyes trace lines of code, medical jargon Raph could never decipher, the lines of a steadily beating heart...

Oh, Don.

Raph lumbers over. He doesn't bother to mask his approach, Donnie knows he's there. He doesn't look up from the monitor, not even when Raph stands right over him, arms folded. “Donnie.”

“Have you taken your meds already?” Donnie's voice is a soft, lifeless monotone of exhaustion and barely hidden stress. It makes Raph's heart ache to hear it, the deliberate detachment of heart and mind.

Still, he answers. “Yeah, Don, I did. You saw me take 'em. Six hours ago.”

Donnie hums distractedly. “Mikey change his bandages?”

Raph shifts his stance, impatience brewing behind his plastron though he knows it's unfair. “Yep. You did that too. Six hours ago,” he says. “Right before I told you to get some rest and stay in bed this time.”

“Can't,” Donnie says shortly, “too busy.” His eyes don't leave the screen, watching Leo's heartbeat with an intensity that dares it to stop. It won't, they all know it won't, Donnie first and foremost.

Yet here they are.

Raph sighs, arms flopping to his sides. Donatello is a genius beyond his years, and everyone knows it. His brain is what's telling him to monitor Leo's vitals constantly as he sleeps off the worst of his injuries. His heart tells him to sit outside his door every night until his twin wakes up for a few hours before succumbing to exhaustion again. Then Donnie will come and sit at his door. Rinse and repeat.

It's taking its toll on him. He can barely walk in a straight line, his temper is shorter than ever and, when he's not at Leo's door, he's locked in his lab, working tirelessly on projects that will prevent this (alien invasions, possessed brothers and self-sacrificing twins) from happening again. Not impossible, but not feasible, not right now. Not like this.

So Raph drops to the floor beside his little brother, folding his legs. “You don't gotta do this to yourself, Donnie,” he says as gently as he can manage. Donnie's eye twitches, jaw clenching. He doesn't look at Raph. Raph shuffles closer, trying for a smile. “Leo's gonna be fine, we're all fine. I'm back, Pops is back on his feet, Mikey's hands are healin', and Leo's here. Turn that big brain off for one night and—”

“You don't—!” Donnie snaps and whirls on Raph with a rage he hasn't seen since he launched a mystic drill at Kraang's face. He's breathing hard, shaking, tears pooling the corners of his eyes unbidden and Raph can only stare. The fuse is burnt out and the canon has fired, smouldering and loud in a way only Donnie can be without waking everyone in New York (or the sleeping turtle in the car behind them).

A sob shudders out of Donnie before he turns away, hugging his knees. The hologram drops. “You don't understand, Raph,” Donnie hisses as tears drip like rain down his cheeks unchecked, and Raph knew this has been building, but not this much, and he feels like an idiot for not seeing it. “He—Leo, he—he could've died in there, Raph, he—stupid, brainless, dumdum just had to jump into the portal, didn't he? Just—just had to pull one last bullshit stunt to make my life difficult before fricking off into oblivion to save us like he couldn't have asked for help, like he, like he couldn't have portalled us up there with him to shove that asshole back to the shadow realm!”

Donnie's rambling now, working himself up. Raph shifts to his knees as Donnie hunches forward, fingers yanking his mask tails, breaths short and angry—“and yeah, sure, he's back, Mikey's the absolute goat with his mystic burnt hands, but I had to reset his leg, his shell was cracked in three freaking places, he stopped—did you know he stopped breathing once? Because—because he, he did, and, and I know you're the big—big brother, the brother who is the biggest, but Nardo, Leon, Leo, Leonardo he—he's my twin, my twin brother and I almost, we almost—!”

Donnie shoves his face in his hands, tucking his legs in and oh, Raph thinks, this is a bad one.

It's not been this bad since Shredder nearly tore Donnie's shell open, ripping through his battle shell like paper. Donnie had pulled the same stunts then—isolation, obsession, short fuse and all—and they'd pulled him back down together. Right now it's just Raph, and he prays he's enough.

Leader or not, he's still the big brother, the brother who is the biggest. He'd sooner let the city burn before he's anything less.

So he carefully wraps his massive arms around Donnie's heaving shoulders and pulls him against his plastron. Donnie goes rigid for half a beat before melting against him, still curled up and crying silent tears. He never sobs like Mikey does, heartbreaking cries that tear Raph in two, nor does he sniffle or weep like Leo does when he's trying to be quiet, hiding his sadness the way he hides everything else with jokes and showy stunts. Donnie has always worn his sadness differently, even now, days after his world was nearly ripped asunder by the loss of his twin.

The fact that he admitted it—Leo has always insisted, biology be damned—is a testament to how not okay they are. Miracles can only do so much, Raph supposes.

“I know, Donnie. I know,” Raph hushes as Donnie hiccups on another sob, biting down on his lip to muffle the worst of them. Raph puts his cheek atop Donnie's head and squeezes him a little. “I know. I was scared, too. Scared out my goddamn mind. But it's over. They're gone and Leo isn't. We're all here. And I'd let the world burn before that changes. Okay?”

Donnie sniffs, nodding. Looks like he's reached his limit. Raph adjusts him in his arms into a bridal carry and stands. Donnie doesn't fight him this time, wrapping trembling arms around Raph's neck instead.

Good, Raph thinks, relieved. It was enough.

“Want me to carry you to bed?” he asks, already turning for Donnie's room until Donnie shakes his head hard. Raph raises a brow. “I ain't taking you back to the lab—”

Donnie points to the living room. Raph looks over his shoulder and, really, he shouldn't be surprised to see Mikey and April halfway through making a blanket fort, but he is. More so when Casey Jr pops his head out from under one of Leo's weighted blankets and flashes a bashful grin, waving at Raph.

Raph can't help but chuckle. “And how long have you guys been in there?”

“About the same time you got up,” April replies, flicking the fairy lights on; they're Donnie's favourites that look like constellations when you set them up a certain way. “We figured it was about time if Donnie's up to it.”

Raph looks down at the turtle in his arms, not shaking anymore but mostly non-verbal still. He smiles wryly. “I think he is.”

“Room for one more, hermano?”

“Mother f—!” Raph jumps half a foot and sees Leo leaning against his doorway, lazy smile and all. He still looks like hell warmed over, favouring his left side with something rattling in his chest with every breath, and Raph opens his mouth to dish out a reprimand—

Donnie beats him to it, scrambling out of Raph's arms and marching over to Leo, anger and worry in every line of his face. “You—you—mmm, you—!” he pokes a harsh finger against Leo's chest as he fights to get words out. Leo keeps smiling and moves Donnie's hand out the way, stepping close enough to butt their foreheads together. Donnie stops, frozen.

“Thanks for looking out for me, Dee.”

Donnie deflates like a balloon, the tension leaving him as he holds Leo's left bicep in a grip that might bruise; a silent 'I love you but I'll kick your ass for this later.'

Raph lets the moment sit a little longer before reaching out for both of them. “To answer your question, idiot,” he says, and the twins look up, eyes red and watery and Leo with that damn smile that they'll talk about later, “there's always room. But don't think you're off the hook, Leo, I'm gettin' your ass for not resting like you should be. And I'm tellin' Pops.”

Leo pouts. “Bummer, but I'll take it.” He also takes Raph wrapping an arm around him and Donnie and hauling them off their feet to join their family in the blanket fort. Mikey must have dipped to the kitchen at some point, their leftovers and treats scattered across the cushioned floor.

They decide on 'Back to the Future', another movie among the infinite list that Casey Jr hasn't seen, and settle down in a cosy pile of limbs, pillows, blankets and meat-lovers pizza. Leo and Mikey doze off about halfway through, the slider's head pillowed on Mikey's lap. When Mikey lists too far sideways, April wraps her arm around him and brings him close. Casey pulls up a blanket to cover the trio before leaning back against Raph's arm, eyes fixed on Marty McFly. On Raph's other side, tucked snugly under his arm, Donnie shifts.

“Love you, Raph,” he croaks softly, low enough for his ears only. When Raph looks down, Donnie is already looking away, but Raph grins all the same. He gives Donnie a quick squeeze.

“Love you too, buddy.”

Miracles can only do so much, but for now, here with his family around them, alive and safe, it's enough. They can figure out the rest later.

---

Please keep sending requests! I love writing for these boys!

[junsei-draws-rotasu]

You know the fucked up speech about sacrificing anything for the mission that Splinter gave to Leo.

I’ve been thinking about on why Splinter, the helicopter parent, the rat that went beast mode on a Kraang Droid for cracking on baby Ralph’s shell, say that to his son?

My bet on the part of the speech “No matter who it is”, Splinter is referring to stranger. Like Splinter doesn’t expect Leo to take the advice on only sacrificing himself or his brothers or their friends. Splinter is expecting Leo to sacrifice a random person, which Splinter would be perfectly fine with seeing his family made it all back home.

Because if the weapons says anything, where Splinter gave twin katanas to Leo to symbolize there are hard decisions to come by and will effect his moral code, then yeah. Splinter is banking on some rando dying.

[astrolovecosmos]

The Signs and Boundaries

Aries typically doesn't have issues with people breaking their boundaries, but if they do, one tip to rebuild those fences is by protecting the self through privacy, be more mindful of who you tell secrets to or share your intentions with. Aries don't have a problem saying no but through their openness and trusting nature can their boundaries be unhealthily crossed. Growing a skeptical and realistic side may be beneficial next time they jump to help someone or have the desire to please another without considering their needs.

Taurus can easily be pressured into pleasing others or keeping the peace. They are a sign that highly desires stability and contentment. But they need to remember to use that stubborn side to say no more often, to stay on the path of what makes them happy. Overcoming fear of instability or losing someone is important for a Taurus building up boundaries. Accepting change is the constant can be helpful, letting go of control or expectations in relationships is empowering.

Gemini’s talent for talking their way out of trouble can actually be a good defense for those trying to break through their boundaries. Their natural desire for space and independence can also help with those trying to control them, guilt trip them, take advantage, or impose. But Gemini is a social, forgiving, supportive, and flexible sign that can have a huge desire to befriend others, gather information, learn, and fit in. A tip for healthier boundaries is a practice in assertion and giving solid stances. Of course a Gemini's opinions may change, they can be change and duality itself, but it is about being firm in what they are saying and feeling in the moment.

You would think Cancer's guarded nature would help them build strong and healthy boundaries, but this sign is giving and sacrificing, having a desire to take care of others. Discernment is needed when dealing with those who would take advantage. But there is a line Cancer must learn to balance between protecting their own heart and becoming closed off due to fear or bias. A Cancer must be careful of not becoming all or nothing when it comes to building up boundaries, are those healthy boundaries or stone cold walls?

Leo does have a huge desire to entertain and please! Their generous and trusting side could get used and abused. You'll hear a lot of themes about self-empowerment via confidence and self-expression with a Leo, and these themes can help with setting boundaries. For Leo there is an importance in possible detachment from expectations, admiration, and possibly ego. They may seek "applause" either tangibly or metaphorically and there's protection in valuing what is authentic and intimate by separating public vs. private, want vs. need.

Virgo despite any hard or overly practical reputation can certainly struggle with keeping healthy boundaries. With a desire to serve and care combined with a flexible, humble, and appreciative personality you can imagine how easily they feel imposed upon or used. Sometimes a Virgo needs to learn how to say no or to refuse to get involved - especially when no one asks them to. Other times Virgo must not rationalize their way out of a situation because despite the logical impulse to do so, it could generate guilt in the future, maybe instead value protecting one's self, value not getting burnt out or drained, approach a situation mentally in this way instead of giving a purely logical reason not to help someone or be used by someone. 

Libra - the famous people pleaser. For Libra the goal is to say "no" and overcome fear of conflict, but the work up to that takes inner honesty, understanding what they want, and to be real - practice. Practice makes perfect and Libra is a sign that could use some practice in asserting themselves and setting stronger boundaries. Libra's relationship with independence and dependence can be a topic to discuss when it comes to boundaries. Is there a fear of being alone or just a desire to partner with another? Is it about status, competition, or companionship? There are no wrong answers, just self-reflection and honesty for Libra. Taking care of the self, learning to love being alone with the self is important, fostering independence can be so empowering when it comes to building stronger boundaries for Libra, after all being an air sign - independence and space may be something they fall in love with.

Scorpio’s boundaries can easily be crossed, and they may cross other's boundaries frequently too. Their desire for rawness and intimacy + water's compassion, reception, sacrificing nature, and caring makes them susceptible to burn out, over extending, being used or abused due to unhealthy or non-existing boundaries. For Scorpio accepting that they cannot control people is helpful along with understanding you may get hurt but that is the nature of love and trust. Objectivity or being able to put themselves into other people's shoes can be helpful. Scorpio’s black and white take on the world can cause misunderstandings and disappointment. Sometimes it just takes a lesson learned via experience that not everyone has good intentions for better boundaries, but they need to be careful of being paranoid or distrustful to the extreme. 

Sagittarius ain't one to let you hold them back, most burn out is due to themselves and they are self-focused, they won't get caught up on other's guilt trips or manipulation BUT they can be overly open, naïve, and have high hopes which shows where their boundaries can be broken. Coming down to earth with skepticism or realism and understanding not everyone is as honest or good-natured as Sagittarius is one step towards better boundaries. It is Sagittarius’s  high expectations that is the hardest to overcome. This is the sign of hope, belief, and optimism, and I don't think it is right or fair to say they have to curb this completely but learning when to let go of an impression or belief of something/someone is important. 

Capricorn is usually a sign that does not struggle with loose boundaries, but a desire to conform, provide, protect, be part of/give back to society, or to prove something may give a window of opportunity for boundaries being crossed and them feeling used, underappreciated, or burned out. It is Capricorn’s own guilt, self-criticism, and pressure they must be careful of. You bet there are people out there who will take advantage of how a Capricorn beats themselves up. Capricorn must know their worth, rely on their stability, and accept love or help from others when it is offered. 

Despite Aquarius's detachment and aloofness they can be a sucker sometimes for peer pressure and at times their humanitarian trait can be taken advantage of. Aquarius is independent, is the rebel, but their desire to belong to a group, to fight for a cause, to connect socially, to connect mentally can all lead to being easily influenced by a group of people, by trends, by the collective. Aquarius’s  celebration of individually and separation is one way to help overcome this, another is through intimacy with another. One super supportive friend or adoring lover could give them better insight into why the "few" can be more powerful at times than "the many". Living by the code, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" may be something an Aquarius who struggles with boundaries may want to pick up. Learning to help those who want to help themselves.

Pisces, the queen/king of dissolved boundaries. First there is an upside to crossing boundaries but that is for a whole different convo, in this piece we are talking about unhealthy lack of boundaries. Pisces desire to merge, help, care, and sacrifice creates this atmosphere. Before Pisces can say no and concentrate on protecting the self they need to recognize the downside of crossed boundaries. It comes so naturally, even recognizing a lack of boundaries can be a challenge. There must be awareness about how nonexistent or thin boundaries can cause Pisces to be used or abused OR can even cause them to drain another or a relationship. It isn't always about asking what they want or need but protecting those things and going after those things.  For Pisces it's about not fearing being alone or being separate. It can be about fostering their individuality or general confidence. The merging of souls, feelings, individuality can be a beautiful thing, but so can being your own person.

[flightofaqrow]

YOUR CHARACTER IN FIVE QUOTES!

( repost, do not reblog. ) Tell us your favorite quotes from your character. Give us an idea of who they are by five things they’ve said.

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Alright, buckle up, I’m stealing this meme and repurposing it for my own use. Probably more than five, and including some quotes from others about him, though I’m going to try to keep it in groupings, and also not meant to be exhaustive of qrow’s character, but rather, to point out some very poignant lines that have effected my portrayal and... some possibly in an unpopular way compared to what I’ve seen in the fandom? I think Qrow Branwen is more complex than fitting the broody broken boi trope would give credit for (though he at least fits it as an overall stereotype).

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1) I’m absolutely sure Qrow had a rough start and transition from the tribe to ‘civilized society’, coupled with typical teenage hormones and mood swings, but generally, Beacon was a good time, and he sees himself as a good huntsman, and (though we may joke about it sometimes) he absolutely does not have an active nor passive death wish.

Yeah, yeah, I know he has a song all about how he self depreciates and carries shame, but that’s a theme of his attitude, not backed up to be every single aspect of his life by actual canon. Quite the contrary. 

I don’t know where fndm gets the idea that he constantly lost his battles (especially to Raven) or was perpetually looked down on or stayed an angsty, broody teenager (who could never possibly have ever even breathed a single happy breath on his own without Summer??) all four years. As if school was hell and he never came into his own until STRQ was a graduated unit or something? If ever?

Leo tells Raven she and her brother are evenly matched. Raven herself - who takes pride in being stronger and more clever than others - describes them as a pair: “we were good.”

“you're talking to a member of the coolest team that graduated Beacon! ...we were pretty well known back in the day. ...hey, we looked good! and I have a number of inappropriate stories to back that up!”

“let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age. ...well, not better than me, specifically...”

“a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible.”

The way Qrow talks about his past, as well as carrying a memento of team STRQ around with him, it’s very nostalgic for better times. The way he talks about his work, if not himself, can actually be to the point of being self-aggrandizing, instead of depreciating. He’s even able to admit that his dreaded semblance, Misfortune, “comes in handy in a fight.”

“lots of us thought you were just layin' low. eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. but the stories about you, i based my weapon off of yours. i wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper.”

Qrow talks about himself as striving to be better. It seems he never really sees himself as reaching that standard, but it certainly implies he knows he’s not at the bottom - he had an ideal he wanted to reach and likely worked towards. Notice the use of “us” and “we” as well - he talks about himself as part of a group of larger huntsfolk circles. Who knows if this refers to students or licensed professionals or both, but this heavily, heavily implies that he was more than just a sad, outside loner, at least for a time; he chatted with others and traded stories about goings-on and missions and idols.

Somewhat related and leading into...

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2)  At least around this blog, Qrow does not have an inferiority complex because of Raven.

Does he have some internalized shame about being soft that he can’t quite shake? A few insecurities about being unwanted compared to her natural leadership and competence? Yes. Does he consciously view himself as lesser than her? No. 

Also... he’s not co-dependent on her. To a degree, for while? Yeah, there was probably an unhealthy reliance going on there. But Qrow and Raven establish themselves with their own identities at some point, they’d have to, to chose different paths so stubbornly. There’s a rift there, eventually, if not always having been at odds in some ways and comfort in others.

“Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. [The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules.]”

“...they were killers and thieves.”

We are shown that the twins were raised with this weak/strong dichotomy. Raven bought into it, but Qrow explicitly separates himself from that belief. Shown again when he mocks Raven with, “because that was your rule, right?”

He believes in true family, he believes in protecting the weak, he believes in doing good, he believes in standing up for what’s right. He may not like being emotionally vulnerable, but he shows softness and kindness to others, and for as much as he likes his flourish when fighting, he also isn’t afraid to look an absolute fool either.

He is shown de-escalating conflict time and again, even if he also falls back into violent, defensive patterns at times, too. He resents Raven for the choices she made, and as far as I interpret, thinks she’s the lesser one for running away and abandoning her family and her mission. (Meanwhile, she thinks the same of him for turning his back on the tribe.)

He all but spits on the tribe’s way of life, is willing to attack them outright to get the Spring Maiden. Why would he judge himself by those standards any longer? No, he lives by his own code, a huntsman’s code, and even has some pride in that. It’s why he can call Clover out on it. It’s why he folds when Robyn holds him to it.

It’s why it hurts when he finds out what gave him more meaning, aligned more with his own heart, than the tribe’s dogma may not actually have any purpose at all...

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3) There’s so much to unpack here:

“No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good... Meeting you... was the worst luck of my life...”

No one wanted him? I believe this means the tribe, maybe even Raven, maybe trying to make friends, but no one until Oz? Does this include STRQ? I have trouble reconciling that one with everything else we’re shown. I still maintain he was part of bigger circles, but we get confirmation that these were probably fleeting or superficial. He knew people and was known, but no one stuck around.  Also more confirmation of his values. Gave me a place sounds like so much more than refocusing to me. It’s not gave me a direction, not told me what to do, it’s took who i am and gave that person a place to thrive - despite the bad that comes with - to work towards something better. Just like he always wanted.

But then he backtracks. What is it he regrets?  We do know how he likes to go into dramatic hyperbole about these things when he’s upset. [eg. “we’re not family anymore.” “i shouldn’t have come. i shouldn’t have let any of you come.” “we can kill the man who put us here.” “gone. like everybody else.”] (I love that crwby lets their characters do it. we all say things we don’t mean in the moment, give voice to those intrusive thoughts.)

I’ve talked before about how I picture him having flashes of all the lives he could have had instead. Would he have gone back with Raven and at least still had her? Would he just have been a normal huntsman defending people from Grimm without the crushing extra knowledge? Might he have been able to have a relationship or family of his own had he not signed up for the vagabond spy life? Does he just resent losing Summer and Raven because of how things went down? We don’t know, and I think the point is that he probably doesn’t either, but the weight of sacrificing all those alternatives and putting so much faith in Ozpin, stacking so much of his life’s work and identity on being part of the inner circle, comes crashing down on him all at once. 

also quite fitting...

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4) "Nice place to raise a family. ...If you're ...into that sort of thing."

This is from his World of Remnant narration, talking about Patch, but it hits so damn hard. The softness and warmth in the first half of the statement, followed by the harsh need to qualify it in regards to his own outlook... We learn all we need to know about his opinion of the subject. 

We see the conflict right there - the possibility of such a thing brings a wholesome lilt to his voice, yet he implies that it’s not something he personally intends to pursue. Is that because he doesn’t want it or because he thinks he can’t or shouldn’t have it? I don’t think that’s clear, and he may not know either. 

At the very least, I fall into the camp of him believing he doesn’t want it. Combine that with the fact that he does pick up that spy life, which makes keeping his distance a necessity, and makes settling down near impossible, and then he definitely knows it’s not in the cards for him. 

So I think it ultimately falls somewhere between. Why would he make the commitment to being a lone spy if he had dreams of love and a family? ...But then why would he resent making the sacrifice of that possibility later if he didn’t? 

Having his nieces around probably softened him up to the idea, but he’d already made his decision by that point. He’s also solid and generally happy with his choices at the point it would most matter. He’s married to his job. He’s fulfilling his missions well, in well-suited ways for his strengths and flaws. He has his nieces around as a balm on any sort of biological clock. He has his purpose with Oz.  Until he doesn’t.

This is an incredibly long-winded way of restating that one of the headcanon hills I do stand to die on is: Gray-romantic Qrow.

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5) “some people are just born unlucky... my semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something i... do.”

I am constantly confused by the amount of people trying to do character analysis around Misfortune and Qrow based on standard semblance lore, when he has yet again stated explicitly to the contrary. We all have carte blanche ya’ll. We can do whatever we want with this, because he’s already told us his semblance breaks the rules. 

My full headcanon for it is here and my opinion about the direction I hope it takes is here but tl;dr

Unless we learn otherwise, there are very, very few ways I believe Misfortune is a reflection of Qrow’s soul, if at all. This is from the first headcanon, but it’s worth restating, because it’s important to me, aaand fits the theme of pulling in some quotes from other characters:

Everyone likes to quote Ren and his description of someone’s personality being incorporated into a semblance. I don’t buy it for qrow. Here’s the FULL quote: “A common philosophy is that a warrior’s Semblance is a part of who they are. Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that it is the other way around. Of course, there are still many who don’t see a connection at all.”

So unless we find out otherwise I will also die on the hill that qrow is an example of the middle part. Qrow’s personality/soul has nothing to do with why his semblance is what it is, but being forced to grow up and live with Misfortune has defined him tremendously.

OKAY, there are some smaller quick ones, but I’ll stick to my five points like I promised at least, and maybe do a lesser version some other time. :]

[thebigqueer]

👉👈 solangelo/solvandangelo pirates au? Do with that what you will

im ngl this has been sitting in my asks for a long time im sorry anon aslkjdf i just could not figure out how to write it but i have finally cracked some kinda code

thank you for the prompt, and i hope you like this! and, as always: i do no editing on these, so please don’t be too judgmental. also im sorry again for such a late reply aslfaslf

Darkness consumes the ocean, spreading endlessly in all directions. The boat rocks over the waters calmly - so calmly, in fact, that Leo can barely keep himself awake. His eyelids constantly give into the pressure of exhaustion, but he doesn’t want to go to sleep. He’s waiting.

The ship’s rail presses against his arms and a dull pain aches against his bones. Good, he thinks. Maybe this will keep me awake. He presses his body weight harder against the rail, if only searching for another way from falling asleep right here.

Stars glimmer overhead, poking holes against the blanketing darkness. A misty wind kisses his bare arms. Goosebumps prickle against his skin and suddenly he’s wishing he’d brought something to keep himself warm.

His eyelids droop again and this time he’s giving into the exhaustion, sacrificing himself to the dreams. Leo’s losing himself, falling farther and farther into endless darkness of sleep, looking for refuge against the weariness that’s settled over him throughout the day. Distantly he hears creaking but he’s barely conscious enough to care. Sleep keeps seducing him, beckoning Leo to join it on the dark side.

Time feels almost nonexistent to him. Leo is just floating in some kind of void, far from everyone else. Silence consumes his thoughts.

And then, just as sleep’s temptation ambushes him, a voice beside him whispers, “Tired already, Valdez?”

Leo startles awake, eyelids fluttering wildly. Rubbing his face, he mutters, “Took you long enough.” Leo blinks a few times, washing the blurriness away, trying to get a sense of the mysterious being before him. 

Nico stands proudly next to him, a whisper of a smile brushing past their lips. His skin glows under the pale moonlight; they look almost ethereal, otherworldly, too gorgeous too every be truly seen. Watching them, Leo loses his breath. Nico looks radiant, free, beautiful. Another breeze brushes past the two and tousles Nico’s hair.

They laugh. “Okay, you can stop staring. I know I look great.” 

Leo rolls his eyes, but his heart continues pulsing in his chest. “Ha-ha, so cocky. Where’s Goldie Locks?”

“He tripped on the way here,” Nico says, the hint of amusement lacing his eyes. “Now he’s trying to untangle himself from ropes. He’ll be here in-”

Just then, the door to the main deck slams open. Nico and Leo both jump and the latter finds himself tangling up in Nico’s arms, heart pounding in his chest. They stare wildly at the door. 

And there stands Will Solace, ropes draped over his arms and head. They spill down his forearms and dangle in the air. He grins at the two. “Sorry... I got stuck in a predicament.” 

The once wild look that took over Leo’s features only moments before make room for his amusement. His eyebrows rise and warm laughter spills out of him. “I see you’ve broken out the fancy clothes today.” 

Will steps forward, plucking the ropes off his body. His golden hair gleams even in the darkness. “Oh, yeah, they sure are fancy. Best pair of ropes I own, actually.” 

“I sure hope you didn’t lose the important stuff on your way here,” Nico says, eyebrows raised. 

Will scoffs. “Please, what do you take me for? I may be clumsy but I could never be unprepared.” He pulls off a pack from his shoulders and jiggles it in front of them. “Snacks, drinks, and blankets since I know how much you two like to cuddle.”

“Me? Never. I’m tough and hard,” Leo says. Turning to Nico, he says in a low voice, “Do you have the stuff?”

Nico’s eyes swivel side to side, assuring that no one is watching them. The tension of secrecy scathes Leo’s skin. Satisfied that no one else is around, Nico pulls out a pack of cards and shakes them in front of the three. “I would never forget.” 

Nodding at the pack, Leo makes his way to the front of the ship. Nico and Will follow him, the wood of the main deck creaking under their weight.

Will pulls out a blanket from the pack and spreads it over the ground. Leo and Nico balance themselves over the blankets, sitting just inches apart from each other. Will takes it upon himself to sit across from the two. 

Against the sweet chill of the air, Leo only feels the comfort of warmth. His heart thuds as he looks over at his partners. Pride swells in his chest.

Nico grins at the two, eyebrows raised daringly. “Alright, are you two Glowy Boys read for another night of ‘Nico Wins Myth-O-Magic’? Because I am.”

Leo scoffs and leans his head against Nico’s shoulder. The other’s hair brushes against his ear and Leo basks in the warmth of their two bodies next to each other. “Just you wait, di Angelo. Will and I will beat you. Tonight might just be the night.” Grinning at the blond, he adds, “I have high hopes for today.”

“Well, then, Mr. Confident,” Nico says, “are we ready to start this nerdy game? And, most importantly, are you ready to lose?”

Will rubs his hands in anticipation. His eyes glow with excitement. “We’ll just have to see about that.”

[latinopercy]

ok it’s very choppy and probably not edited very well cuz i’m super tired but here’s my Thoughts:

jason was quite literally a sacrifice from his father. from i think 3 years old he had this huge role of being a traditional hero forced on his shoulders. he was unwillingly pushed into the role of juno’s hero just to be accepted because he was the unwanted consequence of jupiter doing whatever he wanted. and unlike every other god, jupiter enforced this cycle. you could argue that hades cared about bianca and nico and that’s why he put them in the lotus hotel and poseidon offered to help raise percy but jupiter never understood humanity beyond some struggle he would never have to face himself. he placed himself on this pedestal and expected everyone else to hold it up for him (including apollo, which is why apollo was punished) and so jason’s entire life was forced into the role of hero because it was the only thing he could do to uphold the tyranny his father created (that he assumed was the ideal life for him). he became praetor because it was his only option - to lead, like his father. and i think somewhere along the line he realized that his life would only ever end in tragedy. he might’ve been like hercules - miserable and furious at the gods. or he might’ve been like leo or hazel - sacrificing himself for the greater good. but those were the only options he thought he had because this was the only life he ever knew how to live, all because of jupiter, and he accepted that.

rick really had an opportunity to break that cycle with jason (and in turn apollo) before his death and have him learn that he had other options. that the end of his life wouldn’t be cut short as a teenager and that he could maybe go to college like percy and annabeth! and perhaps try to live a fulfilling life outside of this cycle of abuse that he thought was his birthright but really was unfairly put on him and every single other demigod. i think if jason could have broken free from those expectations he would have been the best person to truly understand how terrible worshipping the gods really is without going the Luke Route and trying to destroy everything.

hey it's jason essay anon - oh my god i completely FORGOT about the time he SAW HERA A DIED??? if that isn't the biggest omen because he KNEW WAS COMING because becoming juno's hero meant death for him

first of all i didn’t know asks could be this long. second of all this is making me too crazy..jason believes being a hero is self-sacrifice and offering yourself completely in service to the world so that’s exactly what he does again and again and percy understands that that’s what a hero is meant to be but spends his entire life trying to avoid that fate fully knowing that if it ever came down to it he would make the selfish choice. the way jason has been carefully built by fate and roman sensibilities to be quite literally the Perfect All-American Hero -- blond hair, blue eyes, focused entirely on duty and sacrifice, a leader, kind and open with a strict moral code -- while luke was built by fate and greek sensibilities to be the tragic hero -- blond hair, blue eyes, focused entirely on glory and honor, a leader, empathetic rage and chaotic anguish at his core -- while PERCY was built both by rejecting fate and accepting his greek sensibilities to be something entirely different: a stubborn, self-serving, chaotic leader with so many of luke’s and jason’s traits who channels them into his own brand of heroism made up of protecting the things he loves fiercely and without mercy. and when jason met his foil in percy, he could have learned exactly what’s kept percy alive this long -- a strong self-preservation instinct and targeted anger at the gods -- but instead he doubled down on his own brand of heroism and sacrificed himself in the exact situation where percy stepped back for his own sake. all of this has been said before but wow..WOW....

[elemental-daddy-neos]

Character ask thingie- Yusei! owo

Crab crab crab crab crab crab crab

Why I like them/why I don’t Well for starters, it’s impossible for me to not like one of the only good dads in Yugioh when those are so rare to come by. Yusei’s a wonderful father figure to at least three kids (Rally, Luna, and Leo), and the familial bond he’s got with these kids is always really sweet to see. Yusei is also an incredibly self sacrificing person, and his drive to save everybody and make up for his father’s actions when he’s got the weight of Zero Reverse hanging over him, despite him having been too young to have done anything about it at the time, just gets your heart. Also, his firm belief that nothing and no one is useless is definitely something to be admired. There’s a lot of things to like about Yusei, and pretty much nothing I can think of that I dislike lol. 

What I like about their appearance

Yusei is just all around a really pretty boy. I love the shade of blue his eyes are, and his overall outfit is cool, too. 10/10 design right here.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? Name’s the same in either.

OTP

Toolshipping! These two click together immediately once Bruno starts talking code to Yusei, and they do not Stop talking about code together for three (3) nights. They enjoy coding together so much that they do it. For three nights. And then they finally crash together. If that isn’t Peak romance then I don’t know what is. 

Also we’re not gonna talk about season 5 okay, it didn’t happen, I’m not upset, you’re upset, they lived happily ever after and that’s the truth-

But god yeah they just have so much in common right away, from their passion for code to their horrible habits of not sleeping in favor of their special interests, and just. They gay. Everyone around them thinks they’re gay. Leo even calls them a pair of lovebirds in the sub! They’re gay. End of story.

NOTP Kingcrabshipping (Jack/Yusei) is my biggest one here since for one thing, the two of them are adoptive brothers, and for another, even if they weren’t, Jack would be toxic as fuck in a relationship. Bastard only cares about himself and has never once treated his brothers kindly, so just ugh. I could never love a ship like that. I also really don’t like Faithshipping (Akiza/Yusei) for several reasons. It’s far from healthy, especially given how horrible Akiza was to start out with him, and after that... She never really treated Yusei like a person or an equal to her, but she more saw him and his life as an ideal to have. She romanticized the thrill of Yusei's life and sought out this idea of freedom that could only be obtained through him and a duel runner, but I don't think she ever really saw Yusei for Yusei. There’s also the whole factor of her last incredibly abusive relationship making her desperate to latch onto some sense of normalcy in him, and I just... Really don’t think that’s what either of them need.

OT3 Haven’t really thought about it before, but I guess that Yusei/Bruno/Kiryu could be nice. Those are the only two people I ship Yusei with in the 5Ds universe, and all three of them either become dads or have dad energy, so I think they could get along pretty nicely.

Favourite card they use

Junk Warrior! Its summoning animation is very satisfying to watch, and overall it has a nice design. 10/10 legs.

Favourite moment they were in

This one really stood out to me when I was watching 5Ds because every other time Yusei’s connection to his father (and subsequently Zero Reverse) got brought up, he’d end up blaming himself for everything that happened to the people of Satellite, despite having only been a baby at the time with nothing to do with anything. Yusei views saving the world as his responsibility to make up for all the damage that his father caused.

But in this scene, for once in his life, when Harald threw his involvement with his father in his face like this, Yusei actually denied the notion of him being cursed with a destiny of destruction, and it was just really nice seeing Yusei say that he’s not automatically a bad person just because of who his father happened to be, and I just really liked seeing Yusei stand up for himself here. It’s the kind of thing he’d have said to himself, but hearing it from someone else and actively denying it just made me think he was finally starting to break away from blaming himself all the time over something he had no control of. If only that attitude could have lasted.

Least favourite moment So this isn’t my least favorite because of what Yusei did necessarily, but because of what the writers did with his character arc revolving around Z-ONE. The episode in season 5 in which, after revealing that Yusei and Z-ONE were the same person, they pulled a sike on the viewer by saying that actually, Z-ONE was never Yusei, he just took kinning to a whole new level and got Yusei Fudo surgery to look exactly like him. Former heroes turned villain interacting with their past good selves make for such interesting plot points, especially when their influence on the past leads to their past selves overcoming them, and fulfilling their true desires in a way they didn't think was previously possible. I think it'd have been neat to have people know that Yusei and the villain are the same person, because it sets up a possible divide of people who think Yusei is good because he stopped his evil future self, and people who think he's bad no matter what he does because he has the potential to become that evil self one day. It also gives his brothers/kids the opportunity to contemplate whether or not they still trust and stick with Yusei even after knowing that's what he could one day become in another timeline.  Anyways that’s my least favorite Yusei Fudo moment because the writers are pussies that couldn’t have an interesting character arc for their mc for once in their fucking lives and let him have secretly been the bad guy all along. They were so close to going through with it, and they squandered it.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them I’d rather one of his potential boyfriends have him, but since Yusei feels bi to me, I’d pick marry. This crab deserves love.

[fortysevenswrites]

3 and 19 for the fanfic asks 💕

3. Do you prefer canonverse or AUs?

I’m kind of an *insert ‘both is good’ gif here* when it comes to fic, but definitely leaning toward canonverse. I’m a little pickier with my AUs and really need them to be at least grounded in canon, personalities intact.

19. What’s your favorite character headcanon?

Which character hahahahaha? Okay here we go....

Karen Page: Karen hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since before her mother died, but it’s only after she reconciles with Frank and they start talking about their shared traumas that it gets easier. Having Frank in her bed helps too ;-)

Frank Castle: Frank doesn’t actually hate Matt--he respects him as a fighter, but can’t stand his moral code because it’s so opposed to his own “do what needs to be done” mindset. He does not like how Matt treats Karen though. Also, he and Elektra do meet and become murder friends. Karen and Matt both have no idea how to make sense of that.

The Lieberman Family: The reason why Frank didn’t call the Lieberman’s during TPS2 (LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE) is because after David was reunited with his family, he and Sarah made the most of their reunion and they had another baby (a girl named Faye Diza, for both Frank and Dinah), and Frank was not about to put them in danger again, especially not with a baby in the mix. Leo and Zach think it’s SUPER weird that they have a sibling with such a massive age gap, and they choose to ignore the how and why of it all happening—that’s what therapy is for anyway.

Our girl Kim Hart: Even though she doesn’t have her power coin anymore and is technically retired, she can still morph thanks to the Crane powers. She also still heals quicker than a normal person, which seriously helped her gymnastics career. And yeah, she did feel a little bad about it, but not bad enough not to compete.

Tommy Oliver: After reluctantly un-retiring in Dino Thunder, he does go looking for Kim and they rekindle their relationship and live happily ever after.

Tommy & Kim: After Zordon sacrificed himself at the end of the Space season, Tommy calls Kim, the first time they’ve talked in years, and they talk all night. They don’t entirely clear the air, but they do make clear that things would be different if they weren’t living on opposite sides of the country.

The entire Power Rangers in Space team: because they revealed themselves publicly to save the world, they’re the most famous rangers on the planet, and serve as a go-between between PR teams and major media outlets (you can really see me putting my PR hat on for this HC hahaha), especially when a new team comes along.

Ashley Hammond (PRiS): She splits time between Earth and KO35 because she, duh, is dating an actual alien (who is a human, because earth is not the only place humans live)

Astronema/Karone (PRiS/PRLG): After her tenure as the pink ranger in LG, she goes back to traversing the galaxy, using her sorcery powers for good (also, her abilities as a sorceress were not tied to her being evil) and there are MANY a crisis that she has stopped in its tracks before it could get as bad as the situations the Power Rangers have to take care of.

Cassie Chan: After the Space season, Cassie serves as Earth’s ambassador to the other planets in the system, which she does yes, because someone with space experience needs to do it (and Ashley’s too busy vacationing with her boyfriend on KO-35 and the other rangers are heavily involved with Earth’s recover), but also because it’s the only way she can think of to track down a wayward Phantom Ranger--who she ultimately does find, and they live happily ever after, splitting time between Earth and a recovering Eltar.

Y’all...I have SO many Power Rangers HCs

And because I recently finished From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series and have some Geckos and Fullers on the brain...

Kate Fuller: Even though she wasn’t in control of her body when she was possessed by Amaru, she still retains Amaru’s sword-fighting skills (which, let’s be real, Seth is a BIG fan of) and her ability to sense Culebras when they’re nearby. She also doesn’t even bother with the guest room they set up for her when they get back to base at Jacknife Jed’s, and crashes with Seth in his room. It’s platonic at first, but they both can’t sleep without knowing the other is nearby since they both have terrible nightmares about the other dying—also since Seth wasn’t there when she did die, he has nightmares that embellish on what really happened, and since Amaru tried to drain Seth’s soul, Kate sees those nightmares too.

Seth Gecko: Seth feels like he SHOULD feel like it’s weird that Kate is sleeping in his bed especially after everything that happened leading up to them parting ways in Mexico, but then he remembers that he doesn’t give a fuck about what it may or may not look like, and having her in arm’s reach is better than any alternative (like her sleeping two rooms down, or her leaving with her brother after Matanzas, or you know, not being alive anymore, period). Also, Seth has bad anxiety, pretty much ALL the time, and it takes a while for him to reconcile the fact that his real life actually is one where he gets to rob banks and run a criminal empire with Kate AND Richie together, and it’s not like, a really awesome dream or something.

Richie Gecko: Richie LOVES picking up new and random skills from the people he feeds off of, including sleight of hand, how to throw a perfect spiral with a football, and accounting, so he can handle the books for both the legal and extra-legal sides of their enterprises. He also is the only one to work out of the lower levels at Jed’s because Kate refuses to go anywhere near Malvado’s old offices, and Seth doesn’t like being down there because it makes him think about how he got screwed over by Sonja and Kisa almost died.

Kisa: Kisa ultimately decides to embrace her role as La Diosa, and travels the country helping Culebras find their way. She sends the most wayward ones she finds to the Geckos, which Richie appreciates and Seth does, but refuses to admit it, because she and Seth have built up a semi-antagonistic understanding, where they don’t LIKE each other, but they appreciate the others’ skills. Sometimes she does creep in on his dreams to make sure he’s treating Kate right, which he is NOT a fan of at all, and usually leads to Seth yelling at Richie, demanding that he call her and tell her off. Of course, that gives her the chance to catch up with Richie, which is exactly what she wanted. She and Richie do eventually get back together, once they’ve both grown up a little bit and grown into their new lives.

Send me a fic ask

[miomediator]

Homestuck - Heart and Mind

Inner self and outer self

Content/trigger warnings: Heart: blood, decapitated heads, flashing colors, eye strain

Mind: flashing lights, repetitive looped gif

Very veeeery long thread!

Heart

I’m going to be honest, this is the more head-scratching (ha!) symbol of the 12, in my opinion. While the others immediately (or take a moment to) make sense, this one confuse me. Sure, it’s a cartoonish representation of a pink human heart.

The problem isn’t the main shape, but the right side of it. Beside the fact that it’s more original and eye-catching than a filled heart, why this gap, this wiggling line? But let’s proceed in order and take a more general approach first.

It’s a pink heart on a darker purple/pink background. The left side is filled, while the right side looks like a tail that coming in or out the shape. We’ll get into it a bit down below.

In pop and universal culture, people has always been show this embodiment of the heart. While many theorise about when and where it came from, a stable origin was registered during the Middle Age, as a pear.

Here’s an exempt of the theory:

“Historically speaking, the first known depiction of a heart shape, which can be vaguely considered as a symbol of love, was made in the 1250s. It appeared in a decoration of a capital letter “S” in a manuscript of a French romance called “Roman de la Poire” (Romance of the Pear). 

This miniature depicts a kneeling lover who offers his heart to a lady. This heart shape is similar to a pine cone, and it is held upside down (not in the usual position of the heart shape that we know today). Researchers only assume that the pine cone-shaped object is a heart because its part held by the lover is hidden. The name of this novel is “Romance of the Pear,” so the object may also be a pear.”

The earliest depiction of a heart symbol as a symbol of love in a manuscript of the “Roman de la Poire.”

[Mio’s note: Roman actually means novel in french, and isn’t necessarily romantic. Though I guess it is in this context.]

It is interesting, in this paragraph the heart is both referred as pine cone-shaped and pear-shaped. The latter is extremely funny, has it reminds me of a famous fanon HS meme “Well this has gone completely fucking pear-shaped”, attributed to Dirk and the decapitation joke. He, in fact, never really said it in Canon.

If we indulge this banter, the pear-shaped heart would symbolise things that took a disastrous turn, and so negative and stressful elements such as anxiety, adrenaline (negative in this case, positive in others), heart pounding, leaving a weird and unpleasant sandy taste on your tongue.

But I digress.

What we actually need to focus on is that:

A fruit, the pear, has been associated to a love gesture, like a gift to express romantic affection to someone.

The pear is upside-down, as the text point out. Which is curious and worth mentioning.

“the pine cone-shaped object is a heart because its part held by the lover is hidden”. So what is important it’s what is inside it, and so inside your heart. Which perfectly echoes with my subhead: Inner self.

The article continues, with Guido whom also depicted his version of a heart:

“Guido da Vigevano, a 14th-century Italian physicist, made some anatomical drawings of a heart that are very similar to the descriptions made by Aristotle. These depictions, along with the presumption that the human heart is connected with emotion and pleasure, transformed the heart shape into a symbol of medieval love.”

After this, a picture shows Charity incarnated as a woman, giving her heart to Jesus. While I won’t dwell on the religious implications, it is a metaphor of showing care and compassion to someone. Giving them a bit of your time, patience, and heart. In an extreme case, being completely devoted to someone in a strong way. 

Heart-bound fellows, despite the fact that they are concerned about themselves, are very people-oriented. They deeply want others to feel well and happy. Hence the expression being ‘kind-hearted/big-hearted’, and ‘work you heart out’. They put a lot of themselves into their hobbies, which they are passionate about.

After this, the article introduce the playing cards, implying that Guido had an influence on the decision to show a heart among the symbols:

The playing cards are even more relevant to this analysis, as their modern symbol are present in Troll romance. Here, the ‘clover’ is an acorn, the ‘spade’ a leaf, perhaps ivy, the heart is even more like the one we know nowadays, and the ‘diamond’ surprisingly is a small metallic bell. This set is dated from ~1540.

[Sources: this site about the origins of the red heart]

That was a (very) quick look at the evolution of the heart symbol.

I could go on and talk about Valentine’s Day, but it would be paraphrasing the site, and we have much more content to focus on. I invite you to take a look at said site and do some research of your own if you are interested about this peculiar bit.

Let’s go into more direct Homestuck content.

During the adventure, we are introduced to three Heart-players. Nepeta Leijon, Dirk Strider, and Meulin Leijon, in appearance order.

They all have interests related to feelings and love.

Nepeta has a shipping grid of her own friends on her cave’s walls and seems to be proficient in moirallegiance, a quadrant that require to be invested and devoted to their partner feelings. She had a crush on Karkat that she never confessed. Karkat knew but never worked the nerve to do something about it.

Dirk is engrossed by romance and smut, unashamedly draw his friends getting frisky (in a borderline-obscene way), is passionate about the projects he works on (work his heart out, sometimes literally). He was (and still is) madly in love with Jake. But by being overbearing and socially inept their relationship crumbled (while not being the only reason it didn’t work out).

[I love talking about Dirk, but I’ll do my best in this analysis to properly and equally split the content between Nepeta, Meulin and him] 

Meulin not only love shipping, she also gives directly advises to her friends, and acted as a matchmaker. She shipped several of the alpha trolls but according to Aranea, she focused on how cute a couple would be, instead on how and if their dynamic would work out. Her matespritship with Kurloz was cut short when he yelled in his sleep, deafening Meulin in the process.

Meulin talking about shipping the human teens, transcript from the Openbound game, part 2

The most obvious element they share is that they are zealous and unlucky in love. One would say it depends on the class, personality or aspect. They seem all correct assumptions to me.

Nepeta was the first to be presented as a Heart-bound character, the Rogue of Heart. So, logically, the design of the Heart symbol could be inspired by her.

How, you ask. Let’s take a look to Nepeta’s sign.

The ‘Leo’ sign, in human culture represents the constellation of the lion, with the circle as their head, and the loop as the body and tail.

Now looking back and forth to Leo and Heart: Heeeey! It’s quite similar. Can you see it?

Alright, that’s a good start. So the right side is like a tail. Let’s dig and look around Heart/heart. Heart is synonym of soul. Its symbol is a pink blood pusher. For humans it represent romantic love, our only ‘official’ quadrant. A red lover for trolls is called a matesprit. Sprit comes from esprit, which is the french word for spirit. So matesprit is a soul mate. But this term is used for another concept in Homestuck. A spiritual guide during the player journey: a sprite.

The link between the Leo and Heart sign is getting stronger. The circle as the head, the wiggling line as the body and tail. The sprite is a living spirit, a floating soul present in the physical plane. So the right side, the tail, is bound to the left side, the head. Meaning the soul is bound to the body. Oh. But what if it was detached from it? Yeeep, you know, I know, they know. This is why and how decapitation come into the picture.

Beheaded Dirk and Roxy hit in the stomach, from the [S] Dirk: synchronize

Jasperosesprite^2 prototyping Nepeta’s decapitated head in Jake’s kernelsprite

A kiss on the lips, which is seen often as a romantic gesture, is one of the resurrecting mechanism within SBURB/SGRUB. It transfers the soul from the ‘original’ body to the dream self, turning the latter into the main body. Separating the head from the rest of the body amounts to take away the soul, while throwing the head back (or any part of the corpse) into a kernelsprite recreate the link between the two. 

 A kernel is: 

“ a computer program at the core of a computer's operation system with complete control over everything in the system. It is an integral part of any operating system. It is the "portion of the operating system code that is always resident in memory". It facilitates interactions between hardware and software components.””

Source: Wikipedia

It’s a brain that bound the soul to the body, and is the core of the system, controlling it. So basically, the digital mind made in SBURB. One display among the several ones of the Heart/Mind duality.

So wait, if the head in this case is the soul, and looking back at medieval picture at the beginning (dude kneeling in front of a lady offering a heart) then Dirk sendificating his head in [S] Dirk Synchronize/Unite is really a romantic overture toward Jake (sacrificing a part of his self then Hal prompting him to kiss Dirk’s lips). Same for Jasperose resurrecting Nepeta by using her head. Damn. You two are smooth operators in the most disturbing way.

Another personal theory in my mind, is that pink ‘tail’ could represent how a person use and interact with their aspect.

Nepeta, as a Rogue, remove or give personality, passion and feelings to someone. 

For example she could appease a friend by removing their frustration. In contrary she could also give passionate feelings to someone who needs them. Such as in Ni no Kuni! In which the protagonist Oliver takes a piece of somebody’s soul (what is called emotion or virtue) to give it to someone who needs it. Those people are referred to “brokenhearted”.

So the wiggling tail would be something introduced or take away from the soul.

Dirk, as a Prince, has shown having the power to completely remove someone’s soul from their body. 

And for that, he doesn’t like his abilities, exhibiting him as a ‘cartoonish villain’ like Voldemort (splintering his soul into horcruxes) or Xehanort (putting part of himself in the Organization members). Though he could remove and grab one of his friend’s soul to save them from a close death. See the fan comic Double Death of the Author by The Lifetime Channel on MSPFA, and the fan fiction Defragmentation by Katreal on Ao3.

In this case, the tail would represent the soul being slowly removed.

Meulin, as a Mage, have an understanding of people’s strong feelings, especially romantic ones. 

Her ability is to read, feel and use her knowledge to help her friends figure out who is better suited for them. Meulin’s powers are similar to a diviner, allowing to form or break a couple. Perhaps with practice and reaching the God Tiers, she could even perceive red threads of fate which bound two lovers regardless of the location and time. The manga Bound Beauty (sorry, no english Wikipedia page) features a young lady with the ability to see those strings, usually invisible to the eye. She uses it at her advantage to coach her classmates, in exchange of money.

In this case, the tail would represent the red/pink thread of fate, coming not from the pinkie, but directly from the soul.

Heart-bound recommended Lyricstuck: What do you want from me by Pink Floyd

Mind

Watch as I make as much Mind puns as possible :p

This one is easier to read, which is also why it will be difficult for me to write a substantial section about it. Let’s start with the obvious.

It’s a vivid teal on a bit darker green background. Same as the Heart aspect, it’s more likely that the palette has been inspired by the first revealed character related to Mind: Terezi Pyrope, from the Teal caste. The shape is composed of an orb surrounded by three hook-like tails connected to the center. What effortlessly come to mind (ha!) is an organic cell, from the brain.

Picture source: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/784048616363923971/

Neurons allow and facilitate informations to navigate in the brain. 

It’s:

an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses.

Source: Wikipedia

Information goes from a neuron, through a synapse to another neuron. An idea leads to another, connecting bits that turns into the big picture. The Mind aspect seems to share the concept of data with the Light aspect. The differences are that Light focuses on the most fructuous parts, ones that lead them to victory, while the Mind-bound works with choices and a mindset, in a more wide range, then narrowing the paths.

Terezi using her vision to s33 what action leads to which outcome, searching for the most fitting one.

Rose insisting that Kanaya come along the 3 years ride, while explaining and guiding Kanaya to make her narrowing her vision of “victory”.

So both Seer treat information, just not in the same way. 

The outcome still remains ”I want to advance toward a certain reality and I help others to reach it as long as they follow my instructions”. The inconvenient blind spot (sorry for the involuntary pun) is that they hardly can use those abilities for themselves. Either we don’t witness it on-screen, or they barely do it in the first place (a good example is the retroactive continuity during the GO timeline).

But let’s end the Seer detour here. Back to the Mind aspect itself.

We have a whole system going on in our own head. When I try to look for something, if I don’t find it directly, then I turn to something related to said information. Like an indirect research on the internet. If we don’t pay attention and don’t try to understanding our mind, as well as others’, we just end up being frustrated and lost.

The thing is you make your own world, with every action, decision, it creates a new path full of possibilities. The words you say or keep to yourself, acting or staying put, it all matter. Grasping and managing to own it, and you’ll have a better grip on your reality. It’s not my Aspect, I do have trouble making decisions and take responsibilities, however everybody needs to go through it.

The within interacts with the without, the mind to the outside word. We are always worried about how others perceive us, what kind of depiction of the self we convey. So we desperately put filters to the point of exhibiting falsehood of a personality. While introspection is observing ourselves, extraspection is perceiving things that are outside our mind. Hence the outer self, complementary to the inner self.

Terezi perfectly get how people work, and can manipulate them with ease, in contrary to Vriska whom doesn’t want to and go for mind-controlling them. Joke’s on her, her ‘mind’-control is proof that she fails in this peculiar category, since Terezi doesn’t need any psychic powers to convince someone to do and give the info she desires.

The big contrast contrast between Vriska and her, is that Terezi looks and determine what matters or not, while Vriska force the odds to be in her favor, shamelessly stealing fortune from others. She doesn’t even want to understand or try, she is a cheater and proud of it.

That was the link and differences between Mind and Light.

Let’s take a look at the Heart/Mind duality again. Both seem to share a connection with electricity.

Terezi gazing at the sky of her planet, the Land of Thought and Flow

It’s no secret that the connection between neurons are often compared to electronic chips. Cables canalize and facilitate electricity’s flow, to power devices, to link ideas and data. Or just used as raw energy.

Brain-not-so-ghost-anymore Dirk trying to rip Aranea’s soul

Lightning seen from a building roof on Dirk’s land

While the electricity for the Mind symbol refer to synapses, for the Heart/heart, also called blood pusher, would allude to cardiac nerves.

Bec Noir preparing the Red Miles to be thrown at the Genesis Frog

Instead of thoughts, it’s blood that navigates in the ‘roads’.

For the Heart-bound, the lightning represents the chaos that are emotions and sensitive intuition. While for the Mind-bound the lightning is order, reasoning and cold logic that strikes to bring justice, whether said justice is deem fair or not.

Let’s talk about a famous movies series in which among the core themes resolve around the Mind/Heart duality: The Matrix

Each building, tree, person are made with an inimaginable amount of lines of code

The Matrix spoilers ahead!!

If you’re not familiar with this trilogy (or haven’t watch it in a while), here’s the plot:

//Thomas A. Anderson is a programmer for a big software company, and in parallel is Neo, a hacker that illegally provides contraband programming. Agents in black suits caught up with his activities, but in truth approached Neo because a renowned hacker, Morpheus, enemy number one according to Agent Smith, contacted the programmer. After offering to clean his criminal record in exchange of helping catching Morpheus, which Neo refuses, the agents violently implant a snitch in our protagonist.

Neo wake up in his bed, believing it was all but an awful nightmare. Appearances are deceiving, as ‘dream sequences’ are layers on layers on reality. The resistance group calls him again, setting a rendez-vous under a bridge to help him and answer his questions, if he is willing to cooperate.

After a lot of hesitation, snitch removal, and the insistence of one of the member, Trinity, he finally accept and follow the group to go meet Morpheus.

There, Neo is given a choice, The Choice if we’re going with Homestuck comparisons: 

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."

Morpheus, Matrix (1st movie)

By choosing the take the red pill, Neo accepts to unplug himself (literally) from his ‘reality’ and see the truth: the world he lives in is all but an illusion, a huge program that is the Matrix, blinding humans to a make-believe 1999 year, used as living batteries, harvested and enslaved by the machines. Humanity is in ruins, and a war between people and machines has gone for a whole century.

Morpheus tells him that they believe he’s ‘The One’ and he has the power to stop the war. From the real world, Neo will train to reinforce his mind, going back into the Matrix and fight different enemy programs. While constantly being undergo introspection, looking for what to believe, who he is, questioning his values and acts.\\

From there I’ll go back and worth to Homestuck and the movies to point out the similarities and support my choice.

I’ll begin with the Mind aspect first:

Millions of human beings are plugged, treated as programs that have a function, along with providing a great amount of energy to the machines. Stuck and having their body atrophied, their brain is connected to the Matrix. The program control everything of their life and vision, from their status in society, to their physical sensations.

"What is real? How do you define real?" asks Morpheus to Neo. “If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." As I quote farther above, reality is something that isn’t there, but rather something you make. With Morpheus’ quote, my interpretation of the Mind symbol being neutrons and synapses is consolidated.

After being blinded by Vriska, Terezi way of ‘seeing’ shifted. Slowly, her perception of things changed and she grasped on a new light her reality.

She didn’t need eyes, but expanding her mind and freeing herself from the vision that clouded her. Navigating inward and outward, understanding what she felt, her inner self and outer self, back and forth. But it wasn’t perfect, no, she had and still is working on it, as she can be blinded by either cold logic or passionate feelings. Neo and her have the same weakness, they both are in love and it obstructs their mission. The dilemma is exhibited in [S]: Flip, where she has to choose between letting Vriska go, exposing the whole team to Jack, or killing her to protect her friends.

Terezi, on the path she let Vriska go

Vriska in her ancestor outfit, fitting Jack in one reality

A painful sacrifice is needed to be able to go forward, a reality in which most of them survive and has a chance of winning the game. A necessarily path that she regretted.

Neo with the Architect in the secret room, the screens displaying the different paths his reactions could take (Matrix: Reloaded, second movie)

In Matrix, Neo has to reach the source of all the program to reinstall the previous version of the code. The first time, he has a small range of opportunity, only a few minutes gap to access a secret room that would allow him to reach the source, among the city of machines. There, he encounters the Architect, a program whom function and personality is based on the creator of the Matrix, and have a chat with him.

Six others chosen ones preceded him, and all failed to accomplished this mission.

Why? “Choice. The problem is choice” answers Neo. Because unlike the Architect, Neo is a flawed human being. He can’t just brush off his feelings, he’s in love with Trinity. The latter despite asked not to join him plugged herself back into the Matrix allowing him to get safely into the secret room. With that, she exposed herself to an inevitable death. And so Neo took the door that lead to his lover, enabling within him a miracle that resurrected Trinity. 

Here was a couple of paragraphs about the dance between duty and love, cold logic and passion.

I’ll continue with the Heart aspect:

I talked about love and romance until now, but let’s take a look at another side of the Heart. The identity.

After taking the red pill- Neo turns his head and gaze at a mirror.

It’s shattered. The symbolism here shows that he’s lacking a part of himself, something that scratch him without being able to put his finger on it. Soon, right before his eyes, the mirror mends itself. Because he chosen the truth, the path that would lead him to understand and find himself.

The mirror is of course, a reference and call back to Alice, mentioned shortly before by Morpheus. No no, please forget about any cartoon, especially Disney’s version of the story. And focus about the sequel book: “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There”. It’s a curious, deep and tricky book. I would know, I read it twice and I’m still confused.

But I’m sure of one thing, the adventures of Alice has always been about introspection. First in chapter 1, Alice imagines for fun that the mirror in the living room lead to a parallel world. Like Neo, she touches the mirror and engages into a journey. In chapter 3, in order to cross a giant life-sized chess board (UH HMMMM UNCANNY!) she takes a train. 

“There she forgets all nouns, including her own name. With the help of a fawn who has also forgotten his identity, she makes it to the other side, where they both remember everything. Realizing that he is a fawn, she is a human, and that fawns are afraid of humans, it runs off (to Alice's frustration).”

Source: Through the Looking-glass (wikipedia)

[going through the book itself would have been too long]

The train might symbolize the course of life, or a part of it, in which an identity crisis occurs for Alice and question what is and what does it means. I’ll even say that this temporary memory loss put aside all differences and precedences, perhaps reflecting a class hierarchy, between Alice the human and the fawn, or the rich lady and the poor.

Back to Matrix.

Later in the movie, our programmer encounters a woman called the Oracle. She can see some events according to her grasp on human psychology, but never beyond a choice that she cannot understand, not even hers. The Oracle isn’t here to predict the future (even if she can), but to assist and guide those who picked the red pill. She does sound like a Seer of Mind :]

Upon meeting her, she asks him “do you think you are the one?” to what he respond “honestly I don’t know”. She then point behind him, toward a mantra hanged above the threshold: Temet nosce, which means “know thyself”.

The introspection will continue through all three movies, a wild tango between certitude and doubts, self that leads to a choice, from a choice which leads to who he is, the two are intertwined and indivisible.

In Matrix: Revolution (third movie), the final battle between our protagonist and his alter ego take place. Rain is pouring, thousand and thousand of copies looking down at him, the sky is dark, and Agent Smith step away from the crowd, so the fight begins.

Remember the paragraph about the lightning? The sky in this scene is quite reminiscent to Terezi Land’s electric atmosphere, and even more Dirk’s, has his planet is covered be countless empty green buildings in ruins.

The scene portraits perfectly the confrontation between order and chaos, good and evil, selfless and selfish. I could go on and on but I think y’all got the concept, and I nicely fill an even bigger word quota, with the two aspects balanced.

Source for the screenshots: Fancaps.net, here and here

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