#might do more in the future i got some ideas

[m3l0nfl0at]

Hi, I just wanted to say I enjoy reading ur Kuroo’s stories, the way u portray him is so accurate and y/n is very relatable. I don’t know if u take requests but here’s an idea, what if y/n’s sister has a kid and Kuroo and y/n is babysitting.

And after they finished babysitting they’re having a late night pillow talk about their future domestic life.

juno - t. kuroo

kuroo x f! reader ; fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, no y/n used, reader has a niece, playful teasing, kuroo gets suggestive for like a second but nothing major, future hints for just say yes! timeline, k words

summary ; your sister asks kuroo and you to babysit your niece for the night, which leads to you thinking about the future of your relationship

melons recommended melody ; may you never forget me - temachii

links ; just say yes masterlist and taglist request

Answering your sister’s call was the last thing you expected to do today. Only for her to explain that she wanted you to babysit for a couple of hours. It’s not like you’re not good with children, it's just more that you’re not really the playful type. In what other children at your age had lacked in education, you lacked in imagination. Every time your niece wanted to play you felt guilty for not playing along. Yet for some odd reason your niece loved you? Every time you saw her at your sister’s house she always came running to you like some magnet. However, you hadn’t introduced her to Kuroo just yet. Due to him feeling “an enormous pressure” with you being her favorite and something along the lines of he can’t take your place. You always laughed at his snarky comments like sure, he could take your place as the favorite relative? Yeah right.

“Can I come with you?”, you look over at Kuroo questioningly. You both give each other a blank stare, you confused and Kuroo thinking you didn’t hear him. “Yeah, I thought you were coming with me this whole time?” Kuroo nods unaware that he made that decision. You wave him off, remembering him making a remark yesterday about he’s going to replace you and be the best relative. Kuroo slides right next to you on the couch, kissing your cheek before laying his head on your lap. “I’m kind of scared, your niece seems to effortlessly love you. I think I might have to bribe her to take your spot.” You laugh at him wanting to bribe your niece, truly a conman aura. You start playing with his hair, “Well my niece loves anything I love, so I’m sure she’ll love you too.”

Upon arrival at your sister’s, Kuroo's nerves never once faltered; he knows you talk highly of your niece. What’ll happen if he doesn’t impress her or even worse makes her cry on instinct? Will you break up with him? Realize he’s terrible with kids and then break up with him? Glancing over to Kuroo in the passenger’s seat you see him fiddling with his fingers, a habit he picked up from you. Knowing the feeling all too well you grab his hands, “No need to be nervous we’re just watching my niece. Don’t worry, she’s really well behaved and super smart for her age.” Kuroo nods knowing if anything happens you were right beside him, you laugh. “And you really thought you were going to replace me looking like a nervous wreck? You have a lot to learn my love.”, kissing his cheek as you hop out the car.

Knocking on your sister's door, hearing footsteps and her animals patter beyond the door. Her husband opens the door greeting you and Kuroo before you hear your niece’s footsteps running down the hallway. You bend down as your niece greets you in a big hug, “There she is! Did you miss me?” Kuroo’s heart clenches at the sight of you with your niece. “I have so much to show you and tell you! I got student of the month and I also did this art of me and-“ your niece glances behind you. “Um, who’s that?”, you laugh looking back at Kuroo nodding in his direction letting him know to introduce himself. “I’m Kuroo, I’m your aunt's boyfriend.”, he extended his hand out so she could shake it. She slowly takes steps to him before grabbing his finger and shaking his hand suspiciously.

“Auntie, can he play with us?”, you tap your finger against your chin. Kuroo coughs, interrupting your thoughts, “I guess so.”, you both stick your tongues out at each other. “Alright sis, the dog and cat are fed so just keep an eye on them. Don’t give them any more treats please!”, she glared at you knowing you often bribed them. “As for her, bedtime is at 9:00 since it’s the weekend.”, your niece huffs as you ruffle her hair. “We’ll be back in a couple of hours, thank you both for agreeing to watch the house.”, you nod as you walk your sister to her front door, locking it for safety. Turning around to see Kuroo and your niece staring at each other, you could just feel the awkwardness in the air. “Ok you two, what do you want to do first?” Kuroo looks at your niece shrugging. “Let’s go play in my room!”, you grab Kuroo shaking the nerves out of his shoulders as you follow your niece to her room.

Walking to your nieces room you feel yourself deflate, you hate playing pretend. How could you possibly be so bad at something that wasn’t even real? Your niece grabs multiple character toys before handing some to Kuroo and to you. As she tells you the narrative for her pretend play you look over at Kuroo, seeing him listening intently even wanting to add some plot points. You smile, for someone who was a nervous wreck a couple of minutes ago, he suited this role nicely. Kuroo was always so attentive and patient you knew he would get along nicely with your niece. “Auntie! Are you listening? Stop looking at your boyfriend.”, Kuroo laughs as you look away guiltily, apologizing.

“Ok, now that you’re focused auntie! You’ll be the fairy cat, while Roo is the DJ cat, and I'll be Gabriella, the human.” Kuroo looks at the toy your niece handed you, poking at its feet, giggling. Halfway through playing you decide you were going to excuse yourself to the bathroom. It wasn’t till your niece heard the door click that she put down her toys and looked at Kuroo. “Roo, I think auntie doesn’t really like playing pretend but you’re really good at it.”, Kuroo smiles before he decides to backtrack. “Why do you think that is?”, your niece pulls him closer before whispering in his ear. “She says it’s a secret but I think she just doesn’t know how to pretend.”, she pulls away from Kuroo’s ear before grabbing her toy once again. “But she tries, that’s why she’s my favorite.”, Kuroo takes a mental note to ask you what the secret is later. Ruffling your niece’s hair, “Well thank you for trusting me enough to tell me that.”. She giggles at Kuroo and continues to play pretend with him.

As you go in the bathroom you feel yourself relax, hearing your niece giggling felt somewhat rewarding. Knowing she finally had someone interesting enough to play with was a relief. You knew she would get attached to Kuroo, I mean he often worked with children due to his job. Feeling appreciative for him, you decide to take this time to update your sister on how everything is going so far. Opening the door to go take a picture of the fur babies but instead are met with the sight of Kuroo dramatically playing with your niece. Snapping a picture of that instead, making sure to make it your lock screen when you have time. Watching them from afar, thinking of how your future with Kuroo might look. Taking a moment to imagine a mini combination of you and him walking around your apartment. Thinking of moments like Kuroo holding a baby, Kuroo teaching your kid volleyball, or watching him play with your child from afar. You feel yourself fall deep into the comfort of the moment, just watching how amazing your partner was and continues to be.

Slowly walking away forgetting the task at hand, you softly head downstairs. Kuroo turns around to find your back turned to him and all he can think of is that he hopes you're okay. Snapping back into the moment with your niece as he hears you continuing to head downstairs. You find your sister's black cat laying in its cat tower, giving it strokes on its back. Looking around to find her pet beagle, only to find it also resting in its pet bed. Sending pictures and a text to her, reassuring her to continue having fun because everything was going swiftly. Walking around her house you see a picture of your sister and you as children in her hallway, you falter seeing your parents behind you in the picture. You touch the frame baffled how long ago this picture was from, thinking back to the day. Your parents were fighting but your sister paid them no mind, she was always such an independent thinker. You remember her telling you that they were just dumb adults and to only focus on her and taking a beautiful picture. To end up so different from her, you wonder what went wrong, why you were so…different?

“Auntie! Kuroo says you make the best smoothies! Can you make me one?” You and the pets are disturbed by your niece's booming voice traveling through the house. “Oh did he? You know what since he said that he has to help me make it now!”. Kuroo keeps a pace behind your niece while you stand in front of the staircase, for safety reasons. You peck Kuroo on the cheek, “Which smoothie are you talking about? You’re the one who usually makes me smoothies, handsome.”. Kuroo hugs you from behind as you start looking through the cabinet for a blender. “I’m talking about the chocolate banana one you make for me, when I want a sweet treat.”, you nod remembering that one time you made it for him when he got home from work. To be fair though, chocolate made anything taste good but hearing Kuroo brag about it as if it was the first smoothie he ever had in his life, made your heart beat ten times faster.

“Ok lovie, I’m going to look for the ingredients but when I say cover your ears-”, you demonstrate. Even though she knows how to do an action so simple, you don’t want her to feel alone. “Make sure you cover them because the noise is really loud, okay?”, she flashes you a thumbs up heading to sit down at the table. Kuroo pulls out a chair for her, leaning on the counter top so he can monitor you both at the same time. Your niece gets up to look at all the artwork displayed on the fridge, looking for a specific piece. “Here it is! Look auntie! This is the one I did in class, it’s us!” You stop chopping for a second to look at the artwork she’s showing, bending down to her eye level. “This is such a well drawn picture, lovie. I see you drew my hair nice and pretty!” pointing to the picture, letting her know you understood it. “Oh! You even added little cat ears to us like your toys! I love it, can I take it home with me?” She nods as you give her a hug. Kuroo smiles to himself so hard it hurts, you were so easy to love it was effortless. From your kind personality to your adoring smile, he would never doubt his ability to love you.

You hand the drawing to Kuroo so he could place it by your phone, remembering to take the drawing home with you guys. Kuroo drags your niece to the living room, asking her if she wanted to watch anything as you finished chopping the remaining smoothie ingredients. “Ok lovie, cover your ears!”, you watch your niece cover her ears but unexpectedly you see Kuroo covers his as well. As you start blending, you watch Kuroo get up and place his elbows over your ears. Laughing at how considerate and ridiculous your boyfriend was. Flashing a thumbs up to signify that you finished up blending, Kuroo let’s go setting up three glasses. “Ok lovie, order up!”, your niece comes running to get her smoothie. “Wow, so good! Roo was right, it's delicious!”, you smile looking at the clock seeing it was almost time to put her to bed. “Thirty minutes till someone has to go to bed!”, you pinch her cheek before giving it a quick kiss. “No fair! I felt like I spent no time with you!” you look down sadly, seeing her pout. “Well, I can read you a bedtime story and we can do your night time routine together! Just you and I, no stinky Roo there.” she laughs as Kuroo rolls his eyes.

Making sure to do her whole routine with her as she talked about various topics to the episodes she watched to the things she learned in school. As she’s talking you start to comb her hair, braiding it. You see her in the mirror yawning as you tie off her braid. You help her dust the bed before tucking her in. “Auntie, can you read me something with Roo?” you stop before kissing her head. Nodding, going to go call Kuroo, “My love, I think you’ve officially taken my spot…”, Kuroo grins pulling you into a side hug. “Welp, I told you this would happen. Nothing lasts forever baby, let’s go.”, you tell Kuroo to go ahead while you pick her favorite book. Entering the room hoping you chose correctly. “I know I haven’t read to you in a while lovie, I hope this is still your favorite.”, you pull out the book behind your back. She nods excitedly, “Well it’s my favorite when you read it to me.”. You start getting embarrassed realizing why she liked this book so much, hiding behind the book. “Roo, auntie reads this book the best she does these voices and makes the sound effects and everything!”, Kuroo looks over at you grinning. “Oh does she now? Well I can’t wait to hear it. I’ll hold the book while you read babe.”

You cough, clearing your throat while you shakily read the title. “Auntie, you’re not doing the voice…”, she pouts. Kuroo looks at you seeing how embarrassed you are, “No need to be embarrassed auntie! Please Roo needs to see how awesome of a storyteller you are!” Deciding to put your pride aside you start reading with the voice, hearing Kuroo chuckle at how bizarre you sound. Making sound effects and all, Kuroo thought you were incredibly dorky in an affectionate way. As you finished reading, you saw your niece slowly starting to drift off to sleep, telling her softly goodnight. Lighting up the room with her night lights before exiting her room, shutting the door. As one door closes another one opens, “We’re back! Sorry for coming a bit earlier than expected, we were tuckered out.”. You wave your hands, telling her that it was no problem. You bid each other a goodbye before getting in your car heading home.

Getting home you immediately feel exhaustion take over you, changing clothes and getting ready to sleep. Coming out of the bathroom you see Kuroo dusting the bed, getting ready as well. He meets you halfway before lifting up his hand, expecting a high-five from you. You laugh as your hands meet, “We’re the best relatives ever!”. He grabs you, pulling you into a hug, laughing at his exclamation. Shaking your head and going to lay down on your side, “Tetsu can I be honest with you?”. Kuroo bobs his head, “How bad did I give you the ick while reading that book?”, he laughs and you suddenly feel the urge to crawl in a hole. “I KNEW IT!”, you hid under the covers not wanting to see any sign of life. Kuroo lightly pulls the covers down, “You didn’t give me the ick per say. More like “I got with a major dork.” but I knew you were a dork when we met so I wasn’t too phased.” He kisses your head before pulling you into a cuddle, “You know I think because you’re such a dork that’s why your niece favors you so much.”. Your fingers dance around his chest feeling guilty about getting so much love from your niece. “You know, till this day I really don’t know why I’m her favorite. I can’t even play pretend correctly.”, Kuroo remembers what your niece told him earlier that night. “You know your niece said you had a secret. Care to tell me what it is…?” you look up at him, raising a brow. Trying to think deeply about what secret you told her, only to reach a blank. “Tell me more about this said secret Tetsu?”, Kuroo starts petting your hair.

“She said you had a secret about why you don’t like playing pretend with her.”, you sigh, shaking your head. “I used the word “secret” as an excuse not to dump my trauma onto her.”, still Kuroo starts nudging you hoping you would take the hint to open up. “My parents didn’t really allow me to be a “kid” so I don’t really know how to pretend. I just get a little insecure about it, I mean how does one not know how to play pretend? It’s not even real!”, you laugh at how frivolous it all sounds. Kuroo takes in what you’re saying thinking about your… strange parents. Feeling sympathetic towards you, knowing his parents allowed him some sort of kid-like innocence. Even though his parents had a rocky relationship they never included him, allowing him to focus on friendship and sports. “You can play pretend, that is how we got together in the first place baby.”, you bump his chest playful. “That was a life or death situation, not the same.” You both laugh remembering how you both were so entranced on selling yourself as a couple, years ago. “Don’t think too hard, loving someone like you isn’t complicated. You’re a very caring and nurturing person. Everyone is attracted to a beautiful soul like yours, especially me.”, you roll your eyes.

“You know Tetsu spending today with my niece made me think about us… about having…” Kuroo’s heart stops with each break you take, are you about to say what he thinks you’re going to say? “About having a possible child together someday?” Kuroo felt his heart burst out of his chest, seeing you with your niece being a dork but being oh so kind, he couldn’t help but think of you being a mother. A mini version of each other walking around? Get him a defibrillator, stat. “I mean I know we haven’t gotten married yet and maybe it’s too soon to have children but having a child would be something to start thinking about.” hearing Kuroo’s heartbeat increase as you continue talking. “If it’s a boy, it’ll have your crazy hair or if it’s a girl it’ll have my nose, it makes me think how badly I want that. With you.” You look up to see Kuroo’s face blank, you laugh thinking you’ve broken him. “I know that I don’t come from the best family but I want to be able to give my child an opportunity that I didn’t have, a loving family.”, Kuroo pulls you into a bone crushing hug feeling your sentiment deeper than you could ever know. A loving family, you and him together creating another beautiful life, what more could he ask for? He settles into your shoulder, speech coming out muffled. “You’d be the greatest mother. Seeing you with your niece, I’d never doubt your motherly abilities. You love people so seamlessly and that’s exactly what a child needs.”, you tear up in his arms feeling a sense of peace wash over you. The man you loved, who grew with you these past few years, never once doubted your ability to be a mother.

“So, when do we get started?” you laugh. “No way! You have to marry me first Tetsu.”, Kuroo lifts his eyebrows. “That’s manageable. Expect it soon, always be ready!”, he pecks your lips before you both fall asleep. Kuroo knew he had the ring stashed away in his closet dresser beneath the million novelty ties you got for him each holiday. Truth be told he got that ring after your first official month living together. Living together showed him that he didn’t want to do this life with anyone else but you. This one joke between you was sooner than you think.

divider credit to @/vase-of-lilies, @/bunnysrph, and @/thecutestgrotto

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ melon's marginalia: tysm anon for requesting! i try to portray kuroo as accurate as possible so tysm for the reassuring words! i hope all my readers find comfort in my kind of weird girl character because we all deserve some kind of rep. request for just say yes time line are open please consider requesting just like this lovely anon!

taglist: @0tsukie

@m3l0nfl0at on tumblr. All Rights Reserved. Do not steal, copy, or translate any of my works.

[the-art-of-sanshoku]

A thumbs up has many uses...

Timelapse:

Song: Hogarth - Chin up and Smile

[fennthetalkingdog]

You know, when I was first researching neurodivergence (and autism and ADHD in particular) and wondering if I was, in fact, neurodivergent, I brought my conclusions to my mom and she said:

"I mean, you're gifted, right? So you already are neurodivergent???"

So here's to her (kinda) and her words. Giftedness is a neurodivergence, in my opinion. From what I've seen, a lot of the traits overlap with common autistic and/or ADHD traits too, especially regarding overexcitabilities, and a lot of researchers talking about the topic describe giftedness with the same kind of "your brain is just made differently" and "you're just wired differently" language as they use for other neurodivergent conditions. But I also say this because I've seen some gifted people who, while struggling with some "autistic/ADHD traits," don't have all the traits necessary for an autism or ADHD diagnosis. Giftedness is a label for them that encompasses the struggles they have without saying that they don't struggle enough or forcing them to try to fit into a mold that isn't them. And I get that; when I was first questioning, I didn't think I had enough autistic traits to count for a diagnosis either, so I took comfort in a "gifted" label. (Not to say that all gifted people are just autistic people and/or people with ADHD that don't realize, or that all gifted people are just people who don't have enough traits for a diagnosis! That was just the case for me and the folks I've been around, but I've also heard the case of it not being that.)

But if I am gifted, then I also have autism. A lot of my struggles are, honestly, just better described by autism than just by a byproduct of giftedness. My struggles with people and with "being too much," my sensory differences (and yes, sometimes issues), my stimming, and some of my executive dysfunction all sound like autistic traits to me more than a mix of psychomotor and sensual overexcitabilities and a whole bunch of coincidental byproducts of my being gifted and hanging out with nongifted peers. Don't get me wrong; based on my family history, background, and traits, I honestly probably am gifted lol. But it's not just that.

So this is me saying that if the people around you are saying that you're just gifted, you're free to look for other, perhaps better explanations for your feelings and experiences. But if you are just gifted, you're still free to call yourself neurodivergent! My gifted traits lead to me feeling just as ostracized sometimes as my autistic ones, so who am I to police that label?

[destinywillowleaf]

besides legends arceus causing the whole "oh riley is actually really old (and at one point went by rye)" braincell it also led to other Fun Ideas about ancestry and dealing with who people expect you to be contrasting with who you really are :) especially with marley's japanese name (mai) becoming the english name for her ancestor and thus joining rye in being the stat trainer ancestors who share the same name origin as their present-day descendants/selves :) :) (also they were specifically made a team in the BDSP battle tower which might not mean much but i'm thinking about it now anyway)

[bijoumikhawal]

"Biden is the best choice and he's actually really empathetic and reasonable but also you can't wait for a candidate that won't do genocide and war crimes because to become a presidential candidate you have to be willing to do that" see what you fundamentally don't understand is I'm not waiting for a candidate that won't do war crimes, because I know that. I cannot morally stomach this system, it's a joke to claim its democratic, and AMERICA DELENDA EST. this country is a plague on this Earth

[neverendingford]

.

[dire-kumori]

Oh and i had a question about, like, logistics of the reaper au!

Assuming there's a possible ending where reaper Mike dies and young Mike manages to live... do you think it would change things? Would it matter, in the end?

Or is Evan still fated to die at Mike’s hands, is Liz still fated to die, too? Is young Mike still fated to grow up and get scooped before ultimately dying while trying to kill his younger self? (Which is just... very, very sad and horrific in so many ways)

Because if none of these things happen, it could create a paradox; where would reaper Mike have come from if Evan and Liz never die, and Mike never gets scooped?

...Very good question.

Okay, so I like to think that Reaper Mike's mission is ultimately doomed to fail. Obviously he's never going to successfully erase his past self. But after a while, it's stopped being about 'making things right' and 'protecting Evan' and more about 'hurting (kid) Mike as much as possible,' so that doesn't really matter to him. At a certain point he just kind of stops being 'Michael Afton' and just becomes 'the Reaper.'

But Reaper Mike isn't the only one who's changed by the repeated loops. Even with the memories fragmented, young Mike is living out... weeks? Months? Hell, maybe even years in this loop. He's growing up, essentially, but without aging. I mean, of course his emotional and mental maturity is skewed because - [vague gesture at the blood-soaked death parade he's trapped in] - but after a certain number of loops he isn't quite the same person who would have thoughtlessly shoved his brother's head into moving machine parts. Especially not when he still has the broken images of Evan sobbing hysterically and begging the somebody to stop hurting his brother (the Reaper turning its fury onto Evan for daring to get between him and his target, past Mike throwing himself over Evan's little body in a vain attempt to at the very least save Evan's life, if not his own) floating around in his brain.

Can you tell I'm just word vomiting at this point? I kind of lost track of the original question.

I'm not 100% what this would mean for the Reaper Mike because with past Mike growing and changing, the Reaper would inevitably change as well. I like throwing characters up against forces or circumstances beyond their control, but I don't like saying things are just fated to happen. If things play out the same way again, it's because factors leading to those events are still the same. It might actually be that so long as Reaper Mike is stuck outside of his own time, he's largely unaffected by changes made to his past aside from some ripples in his memories. He was pretty shocked when his past self made choices he was certain he never would have made, such as seeking vengeance for Evan's sake after the loop where the Reaper killed them both. So scratch what I said above, past Mike is growing, while Reaper Mike stagnates, wallowing in his self-loathing.

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"I don't think it's silly at all."

It was completely understandable to him, for her to be a touch nervous-even with how confident he felt in their ability to get away with it, there was no denying that it was an incredibly brazen plan. How many people would be so bold as to spend the evening in the company of their secret lovers, right under the nose of so many people, people who would absolutely lose their minds if they knew the truth...

"They do say that sometimes, the best place to hide is in plain sight," Dorian continued, rubbing his chin as he gave it some thought. "And I think that turn of phrase will prove to be very true tonight: As I said, I believe that everyone will mostly be so busy schmoozing and making nice that their eyes will hardly be on us. I'm sure we'll have to come over and shake hands with Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so who will be at the wedding tomorrow, accept the congrats of Mr. and Mrs. What's-the-name, kiss up to the Something-or-others, but I think we can manage that."

As he listened off these imaginary guests, Dorian flashed her a little smile, in the hopes that his playful names would make her laugh, help her relax a little-humor was oftentimes his way of alleviating stress, taking the edge off, and he hoped it would be the same for Emily as he finished confidently, "We'll go around, roll out the proverbial welcome wagon, perhaps answer a few questions here and there, but overall, I'm sure we'll be able to slip away and spend the evening with those we'd most enjoy it with."

[jemichi90]

Now that there is no question about it - the homemade version of the story is way more interesting and fun than what we got in "canon" - I kind of want to get myself a few of these and put this alternate reality on display.

While I'm at it, you can also get these (and some other SW Rebels / Thrawn goodies) from my Redbubble store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/jemichi/shop

[boom-fanfic-a-latta]

Call Me By My Name (Even Though I Can't Remember)

@shadowzmod Merry Christmas! Here's my Secret Santa fic for you! (Shadow REALLY needs to stop getting himself into Situations...)

{Archive Of Our Own Link}

“Well, this is just great. I’m completely lost.”

With a groan, Shadow plopped to the ground, sitting down on one of the large exposed roots of the trees towering above him. Turning his head, he once again tried to see if he could discern any sign of a way out—to no avail. Nothing but forest as far as the eye could see.

He honestly wasn’t even sure how he’d gotten here to begin with—the most he could recall was maybe the feeling of using Chaos Control, but that was about it. But no matter why he’d ended up here, Shadow was now lost deep in the middle of the woods, with no idea how to get back.

Frustrated, he clenched his fists, letting out a low growl. “This is pathetic,” he muttered to himself through gritted teeth. “I’m the Ultimate Lifeform, and I can’t find my way out of the %$#& woods—”

“Hey, why so glum?”

Shadow’s ears twitched at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, and he immediately sprung to his feet. “Who said that?!” he shouted, looking back and forth to try and find the speaker—but seeing no one.

“Up here, buddy!” the voice called out playfully, coming from above him. He looked up, catching sight of something blue sitting on a high branch in one of the trees.

Since when had that been there?

“Who are you?!” Shadow demanded of the figure, shifting his footing into a fighting stance just in case. In response, they only laughed, before quickly dismounting from the branch and landing with surprising grace on the forest floor in front of him. 

They looked to be another hedgehog, now that he could see them more clearly, with bright blue quills and a peach muzzle. They were wearing a dark blue tunic and white tights, brown gloves and boots, and a green riding cloak—an outfit that all around felt more like something from a fantasy story or renaissance fair than something suited to the modern day.

They also had an infuriatingly cocky grin on their face, one that just seemed to be asking for trouble.

“What, no applause?” the stranger quipped, their emerald-green eyes twinkling. “I feel offended.”

Shadow sighed, turning away in annoyance. “I don’t have time for this…” He started walking away, but abruptly felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Hold on, buddy, where are you going?” the blue hedgehog asked, somehow having gotten right in his path without him noticing.

Shadow blinked, caught off-guard. “...None of your business,” he eventually replied, shaking himself free of the other’s light grip.

“Well, that’s just rude,” the stranger said with a slight frown. “I was just asking—you look pretty lost.”

“And so what if I am lost?!” He really wasn’t in the mood for this. “Leave me alone, okay?!”

“Woah, calm down!” They backed away slightly, holding up their hands. “Look, I had thought that maybe I could help you, but since you’re being such a grump about it…” They folded their arms, staring at Shadow with what seemed to be disappointment.

“...Wait. Are you saying you know how to get out of here?” Shadow was skeptical.

The stranger grinned. “Oh, believe me, I know this forest like the back of my hand!” They patted the trunk of the closest tree as they said this. “But…with your attitude and all, I’m not sure if I still want to help you—heck, I don’t even know your name!” They paused. ”...Actually, what if we make a deal out of it? If you give me your name, I promise to help you find your way out of here.” They reached out their hand.

…Something about that offer sounded off. But Shadow couldn’t tell what.

But—as much as this stranger was getting on his nerves—if they really did know the way out…and all they wanted in return was to know his name? It didn’t seem like there was much risk to this if it didn’t turn out to be true…

“...Fine.” he relented, taking the other’s outstretched hand. “My name is Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he was abruptly hit by a wave of intense vertigo, putting him off-balance. He found himself stumbling forward, almost falling over, but the stranger managed to stop him before he hit the ground. They carefully helped him back upright, holding him steady.

“Woah, easy there. Don’t want you to hurt yourself, do we?”

“What…” He put a hand to his forehead, still feeling strangely disoriented and unsure as to why. “What just happened?”

Something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

Like something was suddenly missing.

The stranger chuckled. “Man, has anyone ever told you that you look adorable when you’re confused?”

He tried his best to shake off the last of the dizziness and glared at them. “Will you please just be quiet for once?!”

“Oh, come on, the look on your face was priceless!” They gave his nose a tap. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to fall for it this easily…”

He froze at this. “...What do you mean, fall for it?” he asked slowly, his eyes narrowing further.

In response, the stranger gave him a smug, mischievous grin. “Well…try telling me your name again. Go on, try it!”

Bewildered, and very much irritated, he frowned. “Why? I already told you, it’s…” His brow furrowed in confusion as he trailed off. “My…my name is…”

He couldn’t remember.

He knew he had a name, he’d said it out loud barely a couple of minutes ago! So why could he suddenly not remember it?!

He could feel his eyes widening in shock at the sudden realization that he didn’t know his own name anymore. 

What the hell had happened?!

The stranger had started laughing again. “Oh, you really should see the look on your face, it’s priceless!”

They seemed far too amused by his reaction, almost like…wait.

“You,” he realized, practically snarling at the other. “You did this—what the hell did you do to me?!”

“Oh, nothing much, I just took what you gave me.”

He was at his wit’s end with this stranger’s refusal to give him a straight answer. With anger in his eyes, he took them by the shoulders and slammed them into the tree behind them, pinning them against the bark.

“What do you mean?!” he hissed, outraged.

“Hey, buddy, there’s no need for the hostility,” they said, a bit nervously. “I guess I should give you an actual explanation, huh—you really do seem to have no idea…”

“Explain. Now.”

“Alright, alright—but can you let me go first?” They rolled their eyes. “If I’d known you were gonna get physical over this…”

Reluctantly, he let go, taking a step back and folding his arms. “Well, go on.”

The stranger brushed themself off, adjusting their cloak carefully. “Thank you. Now, you see, what I did was a classic Fae trick—I got you to give me your name.”

“Yes, I know that, you asked what my name was—”

“No,” they cut him off, shaking their head. “I mean, literally, I took your name from you. It’s mine now.” They gave him a sly grin.

“You…you what?!” He blinked, trying to wrap his head around this.

“Man, you’re slow—I told you, I took your name. I’m a Fae. We do things like that.” They winked at him, their eyes—wait a second, were their eyes glowing?!

He shook his head, turning away from the stranger. “No…no, this can’t be real,” he decided. “This is all just—”

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to deny it, buddy,” they laughed. “Trust me, this is very real.”

“But how?!” he retorted, whirling back around to face them. “How can—”

“Shadow, shut up.”

Something in their words seemed to grab hold of him, something familiar, something that should be his. And suddenly, he found that nothing came out as he tried to speak.

Startled, he grabbed at his throat, vainly trying to force any sound out, to no avail.

“Yeah, that’s another thing,” the stranger—the Fae—said with a chuckle. “Because I have your name, I can tell you what to do. Names have power like that.”

He glared at them, folding his arms indignantly.

“...What, I had to get you to believe me somehow—besides, I do still have to uphold my part of our promise.”

His brow furrowed. What promise?

“You know, helping you get out of the woods? In exchange for your name, I promised to show you the way out.”

Oh. That. Right. Honestly, he regretted agreeing to that deal now—how was he supposed to have known the other had meant to literally take away his name?

“...Well?” the Fae asked, looking at him expectantly.

He frowned, tapping his muzzle.

“Oh, right. Forgot about that. You can talk again, Shadow.”

He audibly gasped as whatever power that had been keeping him incapable of speech dissipated in an instant.

“I hate you,” he stated, glowering at the Fae.

“Okay,” they replied smugly, “but do you want to leave the forest or not? Come on, this way.” They grabbed him by the hand, pulling him along before he even had time to react.

“Hey!” he protested, trying to wrench himself free, but the other’s grip didn’t even budge. Sighing, he reluctantly stopped struggling, letting them lead him through the woods. Eventually, the mass of trees thinned out, until the two made it to the edge, where it turned into a grassy field, a familiar city skyline visible in the distance.

“Here we are,” the stranger said with a grin. “Out of the woods.” They turned to him, their green eyes glittering in the sunlight.

“...Thank you, I guess,” he muttered, not meeting their eyes. “Now, about my name—”

He was about to demand that they give him back his name, if that was even possible—but then, the Fae suddenly pulled him close and kissed him on the cheek.

“What the—”

“Meet me back here tonight, Shadow—don’t be late.”

He felt a shudder come over him as the order set in, and instinctively he pushed the other away—only to suddenly fall over as his momentum somehow carried him to the ground. In bewilderment, he looked around, discovering that the Fae had just…vanished, somehow, leaving him alone at the end of the woods.

He lay there in silence for a moment, trying to process what had just happened, before he finally managed to collect himself enough to actually react.

“What the #%?$—”

[sarcasticdolphin]

Ok. Vague fic idea spawned by that gif of FJ pulling the sword on a (at least) half naked Andrassy:

(Cut for spoilers):

Form: 3+3, kind of like Chimes.

We have our three main characters, FJ, Sisi, and Andrassy as well as Tod skulking around. Tod shows up taking the forms of other people at times, so this is kind of confusing.

FJ's Dream - Tod shows up as Sisi at first but then shifts to Maria Anna (FJ's dead younger sister) when FJ asks that Tod not be Sisi. FJ is very lonely and wants to not have to worry about political knives in the back from family members. He wishes Maria Anna had lived because he's always just a tad worried about his brothers, especially because Max is his mother's favorite, and even his wife seems against him politically. (Yes, this should seem _very_ like how I write Rudolf - I think of them as _very_ similar characters even if Rudolf would never admit it).

Sisi's Dream - Sisi dreams of being free and alone, just riding with the wind in her hair etc. Tod shows up as Heine, as Andrassy, and as FJ in succession, and is mainly just miffed that she keeps rejecting him. Will reflect WITW type sentiment. Sisi isn't afraid to give Tod the middle finger.

Andrassy's Dream - Andrassy is somewhere between in lust and in love with Sisi, and he has dreams reflecting that, featuring Tod as Sisi at first, but later Tod as FJ and well (this is where the moment with FJ pulling the sword on Andrassy gets to come in).

------

Andrassy's Reality - watching Sisi from afar, admiring the good she does for Hungary. Sees? Hallucinates? Tod!Sisi standing beside FJ as his perfect consort at least once. Does his best for his country, but he's only one count.

Sisi's Reality - A mix between the freedom she does manage to acquire and a golden cage. Very little time in Vienna, lots of very formal diplomatic feeling stuff while conversing with FJ via letter. Tod shows up to help word some of those letters. Gets angry at FJ at one point for calling out Maria Anna's name in his sleep.

FJ's Reality - Cold hard politics, and the fact that his marriage must be above reproach. Allows Sisi to travel after Rudolf is born. Very much a realist approach and dealing with duty. Still talking to Tod-as-Maria Anna, mostly to do with how alone he is and how even in his marriage it is a formal diplomatic situation and how he hates that and wants there to be _a_ situation where he can just be Franz and not be the Emperor and how this is the one thing he begrudges Sisi above all else.

[butt-puncher]

I wish that I was more

[gyudons]

despicable

updates as of 22 oct

Travis Dermott knew that he would draw attention with his actions in the Coyotes’ home opener against the Anaheim Ducks at Mullett Arena on Saturday. The Arizona defenseman just hoped that the spotlight might shine on the issue that he was addressing, not on him.

“You don’t really want to go against rules that are put in place by your employer, but there’s some people who took some positive things from it,” Dermott said. “That’s kind of what I’m looking to impact.

“You want to have everyone feel included and that’s something that I have felt passionate about for a long time in my career. It’s not like I just just jumped on this train. It’s something that I’ve felt has been lacking in the hockey community for a while. I feel like we need supporters of a movement like this; to have everyone feel included and really to beat home the idea that hockey is for everyone.”

“I won’t lie,” said Dermott, who is playing on a one-year, two-way contract. “From the outside, it’s easy to see that I’m putting my career on the line for something. I definitely went through some emotional ups and downs that night, not regretting anything by any means, but I’d love to have maybe done a couple of steps a little different by making sure that everyone was aware of what was going on before I did it.

“I don’t want to put my teammates or my coaches or my GMs or the equipment managers in any kind of bad light when it’s their job to kind of look out for something like this happening. It was definitely something that I did just by myself and was prepared to kind of deal with whatever repercussions the league decides to push towards that. I’m not going to back off and say that this battle is won, but we’re going to find better ways to do it.”

As Dermott noted, LGBTQ+ inclusion is an issue that he has supported for a long time. Without getting into specifics, Dermott said the issue is personal for him because it impacts people close to him.

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t shed tears about this on multiple occasions,” he said. “So yeah, it’s something I’m definitely very passionate about.

“I’ve met a lot of people that from the outside, it looks like they have everything going right in their life and they have a smile on their face every time they talk to you. But sometimes when we get closer to people and get comfortable enough for them to open up to you, you can see that there’s some pretty dark stuff happening to some good people. It doesn’t take too many times encountering something like that for it to really change someone.

“I’ve been blessed to have some of those opportunities put in front of me to really change my view of what being a good person means; what being a good father and a good example and role model means going forward. You really see how people are hurting and it’s because of a system that maybe no one’s intentionally trying to be malicious about, but until you’ve really had that first-person experience seeing people hurting from it right in front of you, it’s tough to kind of take steps.”

It would be a surprise if the league handed down any sort of punishment. The optics alone would add to the public relations damage that the original ban created. Even so, Dermott reiterated his desire to bring the entire franchise into the fold before he takes similar actions in the future, but he also made it clear that he will not be silenced on the topic.

“It’s not like I’m shutting up and going away,” he said. “I know more questions are going to be coming. We’re just going to be as prepared as we can be to just spread love. That’s the thing. It’s gay pride that we’re talking about, but it could be men’s health. It could be any war. It’s just wanting world peace. Everyone’s got to love each other a little bit more.

“Like my parents said growing up, ‘How awesome would it be to be the guy that people look up to?’ That’s what really hit home when I was a kid, especially from my mom. You want to grow up and be that guy. You want to be the guy that’s having the impact on kids like NHL players had on you. If they had been racist or bigoted, that’s going to have an effect on you.

“With how many eyes are on us, especially with the young kids coming up in the new generation, you want to put as much positive love into their brain as you can. You want them to see that it’s not just being taught or coming from maybe their parents at home. They need to see it in the public eye for it to really make an effect.”

[arolesbianism]

Funn oddity, both Ellie and Travaldo have the last name Jones. Idk if they're siblings or if it's just a coincidence, but a fun thing nonetheless

[musical-chick-13]

To whomever asked me specifics about theoretical Death-Note-but-mostly-women, I am Thinking™ about your question and very keen on answering it, and I appreciate your questions more than words can say, I just need (probably lots of) time to fully consider how everything would play out character-wise and exactly what would change.

[boggsart]

I’ve decided to post all of the progress here as well, not just on instagram. Some people have asked to be tagged once I post some progress, but I can’t remember who they were. So if you wanna see future progress, let me know and I’ll tag you!

This one may not look too different from the previous one, but nothing really turned out the way I intended to.

The colors, the textures, the focus, the sounds, the camera, everything just seems so off, and oh boy the animation… this is the result of rushing and not knowing what I’m doing, just inserting keyframes, tweaking the graph editor and hoping for the best. So maybe signing up for this project wasn’t a great idea after all lol. Plus the datapad’s not even fully textured, you can literally see where I started adding details on the front, then for some reason I just left off lol

One thing I’ll definitely work on in the future is the menu itself, because if this project is for a graphic design thesis, then I might as well try to make the only thing that has something to do with it look more presentable. I’ll definitely be changing up the fonts, and I have some other ideas for the background as well.

But for now, I’ll move on to the remaining 5 character menu animations. Originally there were gonna be 5, not 7. At first I was randomly picking out the characters I wanted to make one for, then I realized, it’d probably be best, if each squad got one animation. The 501st gets Rex, the 212th gets Cody, the CG gets Fox, the 104th gets Wolffe, and the 241st gets Tukk. CF99 got Hunter but I really wanted to make one for Tech as well, since modeling and texturing him took the longest 💀

Once all of that’s done, I can finally move on to animating the trailer video. Which I’m terrified of, but oh well lol