#never be sorry for how long it takes!

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo learns something about himself 🏳️‍⚧️

Based roughly on this old post.

Bonus:

[Leo is taking the fact that he was born biologically female simultaneously very well and also not so well but overall he’s mostly coping with the fact that it was Draxum that just essentially gave him the turtle equivalent of ‘The Talk’.]

[aquanutart]

I was talking and I mentioned that I have my old Game Boy and original Pokemon cartridge. I said, "I think they still work."

I was told, "The internal batteries on the Game Boy cartridges have run out. They're all dead."

"Oh," I said, trying not to show how crestfallen I was. I felt like I was losing nerd cred for not knowing that, although I never kept up with that type of info anyway. I'm here for the fantasy and imaginative aspects of games, and tend not to follow the competitive or technical details.

I tried not to feel anything as I went home. If they were real animals, I reminded myself, I would have had to say goodbye long ago.

But like so many other people, Pokemon was my childhood. It was all I thought about and dreamed about, and the closest thing I could imagine to heartbreak was the knowledge that they weren't real. I spent nearly all my time writing longhand self-insert Pokemon fanfiction--far more than I spent actually playing the game. My Pokemon were with me in my imagination wherever I went. I started playing Pokemon Blue when I was 5, and the last time I had played it was probably when I was 9 or 10. I remembered I had turned it on again one more time after that, not to play it, but to look at my childhood Pokemon.

It was during high school, after a move overseas that completely upended my life, and I was struggling with the crushing blow of being taken away from everything I knew and trying to make sense of anything (least of all adolescence) in another language. All I wanted was to go back to childhood and have everything go back to how it was before.

Seeing my Pokemon, just as I'd left them, had comforted me. I had looked at their stats pages, taken photos of them with my digital camera (that I don't even know if I still have), and then turned it off without doing anything.

That was probably 9 or 10 years after the games came out. It had been a long time since then. I had long since taken the AA batteries out of my Game Boy Color and left it untouched. I didn't even have AA batteries anymore.

It had worked then. But now it had been 27 years... I thought about not trying to turn my cartridge back on. As long as I didn't turn it on, I could believe my Pokemon were still there, the way I remembered them.

On my day off, which happened to be Pokemon Day, I googled and read that some people on forums and Reddit were still able to play their original Pokemon games.

Then... it was possible. I went out to buy toothpaste. At the store, I asked where I could find AA batteries.

It was a big thing for me to be able to go to the store and buy things myself. When I moved at age 13, I felt like something went wrong with growing up. It was difficult to follow what people were saying, and people didn't always understand what I said either. I had been introverted even in English, but now I had enough negative experiences that I became afraid and stopped trying to talk to people altogether.

I threw myself into video games and reliving childhood memories. The internet was where I could communicate in my first language and understand. I lived online and didn't interact with the real world. On the internet I felt like I was understood and could find people who shared my interests the way I did, but in the real world it always felt like I could get hurt if anyone knew me.

I realize now that I could have had a better experience overseas if I'd known how to adapt and socialize, but this was not something I knew even in English, and trying to learn in another language made it ten times harder. I'm sorry now for missing out on interactions that I know I could have had, but I just didn't know how. I wouldn't know how until I learned, and it took me a long time to learn.

I grew up online, in the company of others who had trouble fitting in with the real world, even in their own language. Those experiences shaped me, and the friendships I've made and support I've received online are invaluable to me. The internet gave me a way to live, and through it I learned how to interact with others. But in many ways, for many years, it felt like my life was put on hold and I stopped growing up.

Several years ago I moved back, to not far from where I was born, and I was able to work for the first time. I began to interact with people and feel like I had a place in the real world.

After shutting myself away for so many years, every little step I made out in the world felt terrifying. But every little thing I did on my own made me feel like I was living for the first time.

Even something as little as going to the store and buying a pack of batteries.

I was directed to a shelf at the end of an aisle, and found myself looking at a rack of lithium AA batteries. Did they not sell the old kind anymore?

I walked around to the other side and was relieved to find the familiar black and brown Duracell batteries I'd known from my childhood. I felt more confident about putting in a battery that looked the same as I remembered. The smallest pack they sold was an 8-pack for $12.99. I really didn't need 8 batteries. I didn't have any other devices that used them.

I thought, what if I turn it on and it doesn't work and I'll have wasted $12.99?

I also thought we might already have batteries. I might be able to say, "Mom, do we have any batteries?" and she'd pull out two AAs from a drawer somewhere and I'd save my money.

But somehow I felt like part of what was important about this was being an adult and being able to buy my own batteries.

Yet... what if it just ended up making me sad? Was it better not to know?

I went to the checkout with just the toothpaste and stood hesitating at the edge of the checkout line.

If I didn't get the batteries now, and it turned out we didn't have any batteries, I wouldn't try it. I knew I would just put it off until even more time passed, and then... "Are you in line?" someone asked me.

"No," I said, and I turned around and went back to the shelf.

I bought the batteries.

At home, I took out my original Game Boy Color from the drawer where I left it, the one my dad had surprised me with when I was 5 years old and that I had brought overseas and back.

I put the batteries in and turned it on without a cartridge first to make sure the batteries were inserted correctly. The Game Boy logo scrolled across the screen and it made the familiar blinging Game Boy startup noise. I turned it off again, satisfied.

I took out my original Pokemon Blue cartridge, momentarily having to remember which way it went in, and slotted it in.

I turned it on, watched the whole Pokemon Blue intro out of nostalgia, and then pressed START.

My heart leaped for joy.

MY POKEMON!!!! MY POKEMON ARE ALIVE!!! 🥺🥺🥺

My original Pokemon, that were with me in 1998 when I was 5-6 years old, are still with me 27 years later. I want to cry!!! I love the old sprites, I'm SO happy to see them again 😭😭😭 the Pokemon look so little and cheerful at the same time, which I love 🥺🥺🥺 I know there are people with many more hours on their games, who have leveled all their Pokemon to 100. But these are my Pokemon who were with me through my childhood, and I spent many more hours making up stories about them than actually playing the game. I'm so happy to see them again 😭😭😭

All I want is to see my Pokemon. My other Pokemon are in boxes. Now, how do I get to the nearest PC? Where am I?

Oh... Oh. I have to confess something. When I was a kid, I was scared of the dark cave areas, and whenever I got to them, I stopped playing for a while. (I was stuck at Mt. Moon until I was like, 7.) So I never actually beat the game.

And here I am on Victory Road, with the team of Pokemon I was taking to the Elite Four, without an Escape Rope.

The only way for me to see my other Pokemon is... to finally make it through Victory Road, after 27 years?!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 3: Enveloping Feelings.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4)

[batboopp]

as much as I love batgirl 2024, I have to admit the lack of Barbara Gordon mentions in the whole series so far, especially with the first arc having such a big theme of motherhood/daughterhood and the things that comes with it, makes me soo sad. Barbara was the first person Cass actually considered as a mother! Barbara, although she wasn’t the best at it at first, truly did try to understand and love Cass unconditionally even when she was separated from the Bat mantle! And that panel where Cass overhears Barbara tell Dick that she doesn’t know how to really care for Cass could’ve been the perfect parallel to the whole “is a Mother just being connected by blood? No, Something more is owed/Being a daughter is more than being connected by blood” lines that Cass says in the last (current) issue because Barbara, though she did not physically bring Cass into this world, has sacrificed SO much for her, and in return Cass gave so much back.

[skrs-cats]

rut was really good im such a sucker for anything that just wants to be uplifting and genuine. so, here is them :3

[dumbfucksystem]

do you guys think anyone remembers to put flowers on airplane’s grave…

[s0fter-sin]

You are so real for your tags on the Nikpriceghost. JFC. Excuse the shriek of chair legs as I pull a seat up at that buffet table. Need me 30k slow burn poly omegaverse of Simon thinking he's just a bit of fun to them, and it's all good because it is bloody fun, innit? But really they're both very fuckin' in love with him, and trying to communicate that in a way it can't be miscommunicated is hard. So hold him while his mind melts out his ears is where they've got to. They're workin' on the words. (Need me* I'm trying, I'm writing, I'm chewing the skirting boards, writing some more.)

i’m shrieking right along with the chair this is t a s t y

simon seeing price and nik and immediately seeing how perfect they are for each other; it’s right there in their scent and how perfectly they meld together- they smell like a dream. they support each other in a way he’s only seen in relationships from movies. they’re even an alpha/omega pair but they’re not held back by traditionalist prejudice. they compliment and complete each other so fully it’s a wonder they’ve let him into their nest all

simon with his traumatised scent, letting everyone who comes near him know just how damaged he is (as if looking at him wouldn’t give it away). simon the alpha who craves an omega’s orders; who longs to submit to an alpha

simon who wishes the sweet words they whisper to him were real

wishes their scenting would extend outside the nest, that they didn’t make him wash them it off afterwards. (they just want to give him aftercare, something he’s never been offered.) that the hickeys and sweet bites left oh so gently would drift that much closer to his mating gland. (he never got the proper schooling, was never taught that marks left near a mating gland were an offer as much as a question.) that they wouldn’t see him as just some pup hauled in from the rain when they press him tight between their chests

(he is their pup and they have taken him in. they just don’t know what they’re doing wrong that he won’t stay.)

imagining the first time simon was brought into their nest was the first time he’s been in any nest and it’s bc he’s so disregulated that he’s having a breakdown; maybe gaz or soap got hurt under his watch and his inner alpha can’t handle having failed them so spectacularly and nothing they say, no platitude or reassurance, can reach him

so price does what any pack leading omega would do

he scruffs simon, waits for his eyelids to droop and knees to go weak, and drags him into his nest; pushing him into the deepest well of it with the highest buildup of safe-sleep-pack-happy scent until simon’s inner alpha calms itself enough that he falls into a stress induced sleep

price watches over him the entire time, vigilant against any threat both internal and external, and it’s in his diligence that he notices how perfectly simon’s scent blends with his and nik’s; notices how happy his omega is at having the alpha in his nest

and how much he wants to keep him there

(simon wakes up disoriented; more than a little worried about nik’s reaction to another alpha in his mate’s nest and is quick to leave the second price lets him. he misses the quiet rumble of contentment nik gives when he smells their combined scent, when he hears how long simon slept and the safety he must’ve felt with price. he misses the conversation about how right it felt and the agreement that he should stay there)

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

heeyyy gaaanggg

the pose and the background of the album version (left) are based on oingo boingos only a lad album art. not cause i think he has anything to do with it but just cause ive been wantin to draw that pose for like. weeks and i didnt know who to put there. so why not my latest bug man.

[bloodydeanwinchester]

“only s1-5 of supernatural is canon”

sorry but no 💖

[dailyfigures]

hiiiiii everyone i'm just popping in to say that i probably won't be online much for a bit, meaning the queue will go on as always but i can't really answer asks much :( will be back on track as soon as i can!

[transusopp]

Pls draw zoro & usopp together ?? :D they’re one of my favorite duos & they don’t get very much fanart I think (or just usopp if u don’t wanna draw two people ofc!!!!!!)

look at these goobers. i heart them. idgaf what the haters say they're besties. talk to the wall. also i tried a new rendering thing + also drew their postts designs from memory cause i was too lazy to pull a ref (im so responsible). i hope it looks okay </3

[notbecauseofvictories]

it's so interesting talking to and around my father, because personality-wise we are extremely similar (so much so that sometimes I'll say things, then my mother will go quiet and respond...you know, you sounded just like your father) but I grew up as a woman, and he grew up as a man, and that does that make an appreciable difference.

[teddybeartoji]

snow leopard! satoru taking care of reader when they're sick !!!!

🥺🥺🥺🥺OH NONNIEEE HE'D BE SOO SO WORRIEDDD!!!!!!!! he knows you're gonna be sick before you do btw!!!! he picks up that your body temperature has risen and he can feel you shivering and he can hear you sniffling during the night and he gets so upset wahh:(((( poor baby:(((((( he gently wakes you up and brings you some water and meds and then he helps you change your shirt if needed. aaand then he pulls you into his chest, purring quietly as he tries to lull you back to sleep. he's gently patting your head and stroking your back, and his tail is just trailing over your legs too - he's pulling out all the stops to help you get some rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and ofc when you wake up again he's already there, sitting at the end of the bed with his head cocked to the side. he's got you some tea and some meds and he will personally hold the cup to your lips bc he doesn't want you to move a muscle. you're his baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if there's any need for a bath, he'll do that too. i think i said it somewhere before that he doesn't actually have anything against water so it's all fine with him; he washes your hair for you and scrubs your body while nuzzling his nose into the side of your face. snow leopard!gojo is so big on physical touch like more so even than non-hybrid him so he has to be glued to you at all times. he doesn't care if you try to push him away bc idk what if he manages to catch the flu too, he'll still be there.

iiif it's like a period cramps kind of sick or just any sort of stomach thing i suppose his favourite thing to do is to knead your tummy!!!!!! he knows exactly how much pressure to apply and his hands are always so so warm too it feels so fucking good and it helps so much too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he often just lays his head on your belly too (that's more just bc he wants to though i think..)

[coolnonsenseworld]

A little promo with my little obsession on the side...........

Reminder all items are shipped from Poland - for details on shipping times check out FAQ or send me a private message!

 mmezzy.bigcartel.com

[quietwingsinthesky]

do you think fourteen has a breakdown one day about just how much time with donna he lost. it was that easy, the whole time, for the metacrisis issue to be resolved, and instead of him ever figuring that out, he lost years and years of a life he could have had with her. he stood on the outskirts of her wedding. he wasn’t there when she was pregnant with rose and wasn’t there when she had her. he wasn’t there for a thousand little moments where he could have made her laugh. every time she looked for him without remembering who she was looking for could have been a time he was standing next to her. and he’s never going to get that back. time machine at his fingertips and yet somehow the one thing he never has enough of is time.

[anghraine]

It's honestly kind of funny to me that catapulting into Kirk/Spock shipping has launched my usual "meh, not into jealousy as a metric of romantic love" shipping tendency out the window and instead I'm genuinely charmed by the extent to which they reflect the same unhealthy seething jealousy.

This is most obvious with Spock, but you'll get McCoy joking about Spock falling in love with a computer (not an android, a stationary computer) and McCoy being A Normal Guy Joking About His Friend Having a Hobby is immediately contrasted with Kirk's barely repressed jealousy (you can all but see him thinking "time to talk another computer to death" while McCoy just laughs at his own joke about it). Kirk gets more and more generally insecure until Spock publicly declares that, while he does like an efficient computer, Kirk is irreplaceable and he doesn't want to serve anyone or anything else, and Kirk looks like he's about to kiss him on the bridge.

(Kirk still talks the computer to death, btw, for plot reasons. But big "Edith Keeler must die" energy.)

I also enjoy Kirk's horror/outrage at Leila Kalomi and her obvious gloating over "taking" Spock from him in the docility sex pollen episode and Kirk's willingness to do or say anything to get Spock back vs Spock bleeding intensity throughout "Requiem for Methuselah" as Kirk falls in love with Rayna, then Spock numbly listening to McCoy's speech about how he can never understand the glories or agonies of romantic love triangles or passionate love before waiting for him to leave and then wiping Rayna from Kirk's mind. Just two bros who are totally normal about each other!