#originally i meant it to be

[agent--shadow]

Shadow sinks further into her handler, her breath calming down as she absorbed her words. She felt calm. For the first time in who knows how long, she felt peace washing over her. A sheet of unfathomable relief was draped around her, hugging her back as she proved her anxiety addled brain wrong. It was okay, and it would be okay.

* * *

A few days later Shadow is given the all clear to start physical therapy. The bandages had mostly come off by now, and she has a wider range of mobility in the waist, but she still couldn't stand very well, and needed to use a wheelchair.

While she was recovering, Kai was getting a few early sessions so he could actually walk and take Shadow to and from the room instead of the doctors having to do it. He still needed a lot of help, but he was in good enough condition to push her to and fro a few times a day... Probably.

He pops into her room the day she was supposed to start, and ruffles her hair, "you ready for this?"

Shadow swats his hand away playfully. "I have been for days."

"That's not what your medical records say." Kai says with a chuckle, she was still so eager to jump the gun, it was strange to see how little had changed, and yet so much.

Shadow rolls her eyes and puts her hand on head, "Let's just go already."

"Alright alright" Kai sighs as he lifts his little sister into the wheelchair next to Blue, who was now considerably harder to ignore.

He gives her a nervous smile and waves after he sets Shadow down. "How're you?"

Paper Relations

Shadow sat in her bed next to her handler, who was asleep at the moment, had been for a while. She'd inclined her bed to sit up, used all her spare paper to make paper airplanes, which were now on the floor and out of her reach, and she was bored. Kai was still recovering, her handler was asleep, and all she had left was a stack of paper to consent to group physical therapy.

Kai had requested to be in the same session at her, which she was happy about. She was overjoyed that he seemed like his normal self again and that she could finally spend time with her brother again. After all these years, it was exactly what she wanted. But if they were the case, then why did she have a sinking feeling in her stomach? The feeling that she was missing or overlooking something that would seem obvious later.

She wanted to trust him, wanted so desperately to believe that he was back just the way she remembered him. But... Things changed. She knew that well, and sometimes it was for the better, but oftentimes, especially in situations like his, there were secrets hiding within every crevice, waiting until you let your guard turn to rear their ugly head. She knew she couldn't wait until everything was figured out to trust people again, but... What if it ended until hurting more than just her?

She shook herself out of her thoughts, not wanting to go down that path, and picked up the stack of papers and a pen, and sighed heavily. "paperwork" she muttered under her breath, resigned, distracting herself from her current dilemma with her disdain for such mundanities.

Though she couldn't avoid it for long, and eventually, after dawdling on things for longer than she could bear, decided to judge her handler awake, she'd gotten enough sleep, right?

"Blue," she whispered, trying to be gentle, "hey Blue, I need to talk to you about something..."

@blueorchid-95

[puppyeared]

filipina miku!! my mom helped me with her outfit ^_^

[callonpeevesie]

I'm onto something I'm telling you

[andatsea]

To ripen.

--

Twitter / Shop / INPRNT / Patreon

[bemp0]

Reunion

[bugsinthebayou]

[blackkatdraws2]

[Toon x Mobster] Only he can make him laugh like that...

Jack Desmond is the silly guy. Gavriel Huffman is the scary guy. They come from different worlds that has contrasting genres, one more cartoonishly comedic and the other much dramatically darker.

It's kind of a running gag that Sir Huffman is unable to laugh without looking absolutely wicked. Both in the cartoon world and his own world.

That doesn't stop Jack from being completely smitten with him though, his voice is the most mind-melting thing he's ever had the pleasure to hear

[AUDIO USED:] Men I Trust - show me how

[composeregg]

edit (10/23/2024) now that the poll is over: Original version, with 10 questions, from April 2023 here

And, given that the original is from April 2023, that means I can very easily say:

No, this was not an ISAT reference!

Just because I use parentheses and 2nd person pov and love the same concepts of what a time loop can do to a person doesn't mean it's ISAT

(Yes, I like ISAT, the original poll is why I was recommended the game! But if you look at the original, you can see all the origins of the options to choose from, including what spurred me on with the moss option from the replies)

If I were going to make something for ISAT, I would never be so vague, you can simply look at my ao3 for proof of that

[bixels]

In the past, people in the Animal Crossing community would make fun of Tom Nook as a sleazy landlord. Since then, he's really rehabilitated his image as this 'heart of gold' businessman (he's the one who puts bells and furniture in trees for you to find! he adopted orphans! he donates to charity!), but New Horizons genuinely paints the most devious version of him.

He's successfully privatized settler colonialism: you pay HIM to move to a "deserted island" (which apparently the oceans in the AC world are just full of) and start a colony that he is directly invested in. At best he's running a weird vacation package scam (you arrive on the island with no money and in debt for "using his services"). At worst, he's using you to set up company towns. For god's sake, he literally has his own fake currency that he forces you to use to pay off your debt. But don't worry, he's repackaged it in a way that definitely doesn't sound like an MLM scam: the Nook Mileage Program!

You're no longer just his tenant or his temporary part-timer, you're his business lackey. The entire tutorial section of the game has you spending actual weeks running around completing tasks and doing hard labor to set up his colony. You're even tasked with preparing his properties and finding buyers for them. No, you aren't a tenant anymore. You work for the landlord. You are directly responsible for finding tenants for him. And he doesn't even fucking pay you. Not for setting up town hall and museum, or his nephew's shop –– which is the ONLY store on the entire island that sells necessities –– or bringing KK Slider to town, or helping populate his town. Not a single cent. No, actually, you have to pay HIM to BUY infrastructure like bridges and stairs and park benches. And all the while, he's telling you're the "resident representative"; you get to call the shots! That the reward is the community's progress. That what you're doing is in everyone's best interest (but most importantly, his).

Since NH's release, people have done a lot of legwork to say that Tom Nook isn't a capitalist while the game shows him at his very worst. He owns the only general store in town. You're forced to use a phone that he modified and branded as his own. Buy Nook-branded furniture and merchandise at the self-serve kiosk in the town hall, a governmental building! There's no conflict of interest here!

But hey, if you're tired of being the landlord/business mogul's goon, you can also find work as a deluxe resort home designer for a company that also pays you in their special company currency that can only be used to buy their products instead of a real salary! Because that's what the Animal Crossing franchise needs! More vacation homes!!!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The Dungeon Meshi crew 'leap' into action!

[ruthytwoshakes]

happy pride everybody, hope you had a good one! And I hope everybody's excited for disability pride month this July :)

We can't forget our friends and family in Palestine during the celebrations. There is no Pride in Occupation. And happy pride to our family in Palestine, we won't forget about you. Stay strong and fight like hell. I love you.

donate to the fundraiser below and join your local Palestine solidarity group. Hani Al-Sharif, his wife, and five children need to evacuate. They are very far from their goal. Any amount helps.

[fiona-widdershins]

NICK & CHARLIE // APART (3x08)

[goldensunset]

when people refer to canon story-relevant kingdom hearts games as ‘spinoffs’ it makes me sad not only for the obvious reasons i always say but also bc like man i WISH this series had spinoffs. imagine what they could do if they had permission from nomura to truly go off the rails and ignore the greater canon for a second and just do some fun whimsical plotless thing in an alternate universe. imagine a fishing/boating game on destiny islands. kh fighting game. it is an injustice that we have been deprived of kingdom karts. can anyone hear me

[kifaprokumiv]

Happy Halloween Aerti nation o7

[timote-shalome]

Me: *watching Stranger Things S5 Ep 1*

“Like, what do you mean Steve isn’t a bisexual hurt bbygirl with meanie parents and doesn’t have game nights with the kids in his big empty house and doesn’t have sleepovers with Robin and he isn’t in love with Eddie who came back from the dead as part monster with a split personality that’s also in love with Steve?!?!?!?!”

Me: *turns off TV*

[cirrus-grey]

People who have only listened to Protocol (I'm assuming): The tape player was gone??? Did someone come by and take it?

Archives veterans: No, no, that’s perfectly normal behavior for a tape player.