#recieved info | memes

[twobookshelvesfull]

in a shocking turn of events i did not learn about the king having cancer through the destiel meme

[s0fti3w1tch]

Tentative Devotee AU (TBC Soon)

Leonardo is a Foot trainee, raised and trained by Lieutenant and Brute since he was 9. Life before then is fuzzy at best. — In the past several months, he's been going on his first proper missions, quickly aware of a persistent threat against the Foot Clan: 3 mutant turtles and a human who've foiled them time and time again.

What he wasn't aware of was that they were 4 siblings who never gave up on finding their missing brother.

CONTENT WARNING! This AU will explore: Mourning of family / Mourning of a child (who isn't actually dead, but believed to be). Violence is canon-typical up to the standards of the movie— That is also a reference point for the tone of this AU. There will be cult themes and dips into the topic of cult trauma, alongside family issues.

Main Comic:

Enemies || [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ tbc... ]

Baby Blue || [coming soon]

[TBA]

Minisodes/Mini-Comic:

Donnie's Apology Gift

First Mission Mishaps!

PSAs: Triggering Content, Why Leo will not have a "Dark Side," Cult Parents

More content below the cut! ♥︎

Scrapped/Changed Ideas or Scenes:

"Maybe this is the lowest point of my life" / Severing Ties

Usagi's first design + role

Mona Lisa first design

Reference Sheets:

Leonardo's Room

UPDATED LEO FULL REF

Leo's Outfit Change + Sorta-Timeline

Hand Marking

Scarf

Leo's Guitar

Eyes (outdated)

Nail Polish

Butterfly Charm

Future!TD!Leo

Usagi WIP

Doodles:

More Lore/Story Heavy = ♥︎ / Just More Fun = ☀︎ / 💬 = answer to an ask

Leo Solo!

"Keep it together, Leo"

"What I know about family?"

He/They/Xe of the day! / Speed-Color ☀︎

Scooter Boy! ☀︎

He's Writing Fanfic ☀︎

Guac Baby ☀︎

"Yeah, of course! But also..." ☀︎

Animation Test

No Sleep

[ i was listening to sonic music while drawing this ] ☀︎

disillusionment

Cook :P ☀︎

3 Swords?! ☀︎ 💬

Peepaw'd :) 💬

Head Empty + Leo kinda mad ♥︎ 💬

Blep! 💬

Feelings Down ♥︎💬

Multi POV

TD Spoilers Over Memes [1]

Trust in the Foot ♥︎ 💬

"Keep your brother safe" ♥︎ 💬

Big Sisters ♥︎

Turtle Sister to Turtle Sister 💬

Foot Clan Family

Motorcycle Theft! 💬

Shell Cracks + A Small Moment ♥︎ 💬

Trans Sibs!!! ☀︎ 💬

Hamato Clan

Not Growing With Us ♥︎💬

Recognition? 💬 ♥︎

"Donnie, stay out of this"

Unknown Tension

Protective Older Twin 💬

"Can we be brothers?" 💬

Donnie's hope (colored ver: here)

"Donnie, whatcha got there?" ☀︎

Drawing for Donnie 1

Yōkai Connections

Hueso's First Encounter With Leo 💬

+ All my AU Crossover Content linked here~!

Separated Leo Crossover : Bathtub Arc ☀︎

Preview Comic (Test)

TMNT AU Competition Basketball Saga ☀︎

DOUBLE-HANDED BACKHAND SWING

Nail Bat Recieved

Leo Hype Squad!

No PomPoms

I didn't intend for this AU to be that big, but I realized I did want to give this a go and make at least something. It's my goal to finish this project eventually.

The AU will be told in segments, comics of various points of the story.

Bonus! Miscellaneous info that doesn't play big into this AU but matters enough to me:

Leonardo is transmasculine, uses he/they/xe pronouns and is referred to with primarily masculine terms.

A version of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo comics exists and it's Leo's second favorite comic series in this AU.

'Tentative Devotee' is the name of the fanfic I was originally going to write. It was just gonna be a 2-shot fic and a way to navigate some feelings as someone who was born and raised in, and eventually left, a cult.

The initial tone/direction of this AU was much different, Leo ending up in the Foot Clan under different circumstance (i.e. direct kidnapping from Lieutenant and Brute). I found this didn't quite work for me.

[prism-the-protogen]

Adoptable - Fluffy feline (Open) 💚

Ends in less than 24 hours!

⬇️Please bid here⬇️ https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/3MPNU/feline-fursona-adopt/

Recieve: (more info on the link) -Ref. sheet as presented -9 arts -1 short 3 seconds sketchy animation meme with audio -1 old ref. sheet

Paypal payments only! 💚

[downspirals]

Send ☎ for your muse’s info in my muses phone (name, ringtone, picture, last text received/sent). (also for nadine & steve-)

@theha1r ... relationship building.

NAME: stevie 👑👑👑 RINGTONE: i really wanna say brat by charlie xcx is that too much of a meme right now. because i really want to say it. LAST TEXT RECIEVED: nadine what kind of question is that LAST TEXT SENT: what would you say if i told you i got arrested for doing something REALLY cool? PICTURE:

[mossycattail]

seeing as how i have recieved a fair number of new people following me recently, i figure it might be time to finally make a pinned intro post XD

hey howdy hey, my name is Oliver, but you can call me Ollie if youd like! i use he/they pronouns, and am 18 years old. please respect my dni, you will be warned once then blocked if you violate it

my blog is kind of all over the place, but there is a general theme of grubby cave dweller :]

my asks are always open to any ask games i have posted, as well as moodboard requests and doodle requests! if you want to commission me, we can talk in dms or on discord! for safety reasons i will only give my discord info to those who ask for it, so be sure to hit me up for that :D

i do have some general organizational tags i use, they will be listed under the cut to keep the message sweet and simple, but search these up if youre looking for something specific! theyre often also tagged with more specific things like acab or health to narrow it down, but these are general ones

ramblings of a mountain hermit - my original posts, or posts that ive added my thoughts to

angry barking - honestly mostly political stuff, just things in general that im upset about

saving for later - pretty self explanatory, usually this is stuff relating to diy projects or things about physical media

haha funnies - jokes, memes, sillies, goofs, the like :]

not my art - art i enjoy!

moots - anything involving my moots, ily guys

ask game !! - any ask games!

mecore - things that i relate to

[lee-bella]

HP Winter Holiday & December Prompt Challenges

Updated on Nov 30: Added TTB presents the Twelve Days of Yule Bash.

I posted this on Potterfests on DW and LJ. Thought I'll share it here as well.

Here is a list of HP prompt challenges that are running in December and beyond. Some are themed around winter holidays and December; some aren't. Have fun!

TTB presents The Twelve Days of Yule Bash *ADDED* A HP canon-compliant prompt challenge for the winter holiday. Self-posting and reblogs will run from December 11 to December 22. Tumblr | AO3 | Rules & Prompts

Rare Pair Shorts Winter Prompt Extravaganza 2023 *ADDED* A HP rare pair prompt challenge for December, January and February, hosted by the Rare Pair Shorts community. Maximum word count is 2000 words. Posting to Dreamwidth is optional. For a list of banned ships, see here. Dreamwidth | Tumblr | AO3 | Info & December Prompts (also on Tumblr)

dracoharry100 Christmas Challenge 2023 *ADDED* A Draco/Harry Christmas prompt challenge hosted by dracoharry100 on Dreamwidth and Livejournal. No word count limit. It runs from December 1 to 31. Dreamwidth | LJ | Rules & Prompts (also on LJ)

Liquid Luck Roll the Dice Challenge Winter Edition A winter themed HP prompt challenge. To recieve your randomly generated prompts, send the mod a message on Tumblr. Request a prompt: November 15 - January 24 Self-post to AO3: December 1 - January 31 Tumblr | AO3 | Rules | How to get a prompt

HP Yuletide Bliss 2023 A HP fic prompt challenge celebrating the winter season. It runs from December 1 to 31. Tumblr | AO3 | Rules & Prompts

Marauders Christmas Fest A 12-day winter holiday fest focusing on Marauders era characters. The fanwork doesn't have to take place in the Marauders era. The challenge runs from December 20 to 31. Tumblr | Twitter | Website | AO3 & Rules | Prompts

25 Days fo Draco and Harry 2023 A Draco/Harry winter holiday challenge. Self-posting runs from December 1 to 25. Traditional format prompts, which will be a bit different from early bird prompts, will be released daily from December 1 to 25. Livejournal | Dreamwidth | Tumblr | AO3 | Rules (also on Tumblr)

Snolidays 2023 A Severus-centric holiday challenge hosted by snapecelebration on Tumblr. Any medium is welcome. The fest runs from December 1 - 31. Tumblr | Info & Prompts

Game of Drarry's Drarropoly 2023 A Draco/Harry prompt challenge inspired by Monopoly. Run by Game of Drarry. Sign-up ends: January 14 Last day to get new prompt: February 2 AO3 collection closes: March 9 Tumblr | Discord | AO3 | Announcement | Player's Handbook | Sign-up Form

Harry Potter Rec Fest 2023 A rec event for Harry Potter fics. There is a prompt for each day. You can also combine prompts from different days. The event runs from December 1 to 31. Tumblr | Dreamwidth | Overview | Rules | Prompts P1 | Prompts P2

HP Deflower December A month-long HP daily prompt challenge focusing on loss of virginity. It runs from December 1 to 31. Tumblr | AO3 | Guidelines & Prompts

In addition, the ones below are still open or are accepting late submissions till December 31:

Harry Potter Kink Meme Round 2: Prompting ends on December 31. Fills are open indefinitely for both Round 1 and 2.

HP Snooze Fest: Sleep themed.

HP Cottagecore Fest: Cottagecore.

Harry Potter James Week: Harry-centric.

Wood You Rather: Oliver Wood-centric.

Snarry AUctoberfest: Severus/Harry and AUs. This one will accept late additions till May 2024. See here for more info.

And a few upcoming prompt challenges that will happen in 2024:

Good Godfather Sirius Black Fest: Non-romantic Sirius & Harry. It will run throughout the month of January.

HP Animagi Week: Prompts reveal on January 8. The event will happen in April.

Ladies of HP Fest 2024: Opens in April. You can check the schedule here. They are also running monthly minis twice a month, each time centering on one HP female character.

If you are looking for prompt challenge communities/blogs that regularly post new prompts monthly, biweekly, etc., see Lists of Prompt Communities.

Note: Many of these communities, including the ones currently on breaks, welcome everyone to use older prompts as well as new ones.

If you are curious about what HP fests are happening right now, see HP Fest Schedule for the most up-to-date info. See also HP Fest News Round-up for a round-up of HP fest news and announcements.

[dibillius]

Let's try some "ask"

Sooo, I've been a little tired lately, so I'd like to give "ask" a try. I want to take a small rest from full coloured and full rendered pictures and make some silly sketches-answers

So, let's give it a try?

Small rules:

No political questions

No too personal questions (like my true name and private info)

You can ask as much questions as you want, no limit

You can send not only questions, but challenges* are also welcome

It's not requests, but you may recieve a sketch with your fav character (all depends on the question)

Sometimes idk what to answer, but I'll try to answer them all

Just in case, you can ask me about everything, not only about arknights or "me". I was interested in many other fandoms. If I don't know anything about it, I'll check it.

Any procs from it?

idk, but you may recieve some sketches wih your fav char or oc (?). Just, let's try it, may be there will be procs in future

challenges*- it can be meme, redraw, style challenges, any sort of "char A and char B", anything that is not a question, but smth simple, interactive

[viciouslyfilthy]

Character Info Sheet

Name: Rotgut

Name meaning: literally just means putrified intestines. Shocker I know /j

Alias(es)/nicknames: La Tripa Podrida (basically his name's meaning but in spanish), Gut, Lust, the roach, little old man, The Thing below Barcelona (by spanish news articles), the cockroach man 'el hombre cucaracha' (by spanish news articles again).

Etchnicity: arab, european hispanic (Iberian Peninsula).

One picture you like best of your character:

Sorry y'all I'm gonna have to break the rules here because I can't just choose ONE picture I like best😔 here we go:

[First (1) image of Rotgut smiling mischievously is not the mun's art; it is a part of an art trade with the artist @crazy-eyed-doggo on Instagram ; second (2) image of Rotgut has been drawn in an exaggerated cartoonish style to re-imagine what the character would look like if he were a villain in shows like Powerpuff Girls/Billy&Mandy ; third (3) image of Rotgut is directly referencing this meme video. Translation: "and in return, you sign your ass, over to me." ; fourth (4) is a video of Rotgut introducing himself, with two drawings put together featuring his voiceclaim.]

Three h/cs you've never told anyone:

Rotgut enjoys crossdressing! He's curious to experiment with his own gender sometimes, either that or he just wants to feel pretty in a different look. (It's one of those rare cases where he will shower and clean himself up NOT because he's expecting to get laid lol)

Rotgut has collected a good amount of objects and trinkets during his 800 years of life. From old coins that you'd find displayed in a museum today; to ancient books (diaries or bibles), jewelry and clothes.

Sometimes he will go on for so long being unclean (we're talking decades) that actual fungi will start to grow on his body/clothes, specifically stinkhorn mushrooms.

Three things your character likes doing in their free time:

Sex and reading porn aside (to the surprise of absolutely nobody) Gut enjoys watching soap operas and reading classic tragic romance books. (William Shakespeare would be his favourite author in this case)

Playing with marbles. Always brings a bag with him if he's going on a trip!!

Try new recipes while cooking. He likes to expand/improve his cuisine. Sometimes asks Cornelius for guidance or tips.

Eight people your character likes/loves:

His kids, all 30 of them but for the sake of this dash game we will assume that counts as one <3

Himself ofc.

August. (his plague bestie!!)

Edgar the Bug (Men in Black)

Jeremiah.

Taryn.

Cornelius/Versy.

Captain Josep Frascona.

Two things your character regrets:

(During moments of self-awareness) he regrets the person he's become now. He knows his behaviour is unlikeable and indecent, because of this ofc most everyone around him hates him or is scared of him- which leads him to not being able to bring his kids out in public (or alternatively, he gives them a bad reputation when they become adults because of who they're related to) because he's scared they might get hurt as a result of people who hate him; he knows it's his fault for this outcome, but he hates everyone around him (that aren't his children) and just refuses to let go. He resents humanity for how much he has been pushed around, mocked and hurt physically in the past for just existing. He doesn't think anyone is worthy of recieving genuine kindness because deep down they're all just as disgusting as he is. This leads to ego and self-importance that makes him feel superior to others because he's not scared of showing just how revolting one can be + he's not human anymore + he's immortal + he can control/speak to hoards of cockroaches.

He also regrets having placed his distaste for humanity so high he's passed it down on his first generation of children. For the most part, this has caused a few of his children to distance themselves from him, like for example Judith and Kolvenik, which hurt him deeply. Kolvenik flat out blames his father and his hatred for humanity as to why he's developed his genetic disorder that has caused him to permanently shed off his human disguise as he got older (which is completely incorrect just to clarify; how Rotgut feels towards mankind has nothing to do with Kolvenik's genetic issue, he just hates and resents his father mostly as a form of projecting his own self-hatred living as a humanoid bug monster that can't have a human form).

Rotgut tries to better himself non-stop when it comes to raising his newest kids, because he wants to see them be happy and make friends and connections, be likeable and be liked by others regardless of what species they are, unlike him. This makes him a bit hypocritical since when he's on his own, he openly goes back to his old ways & antics- with his kids however he just kind of puts on a mask.

Two phobias your character has:

Philophobia -> fear of genuinely falling in love.

Athazagoraphobia -> fear of being forgotten by loved ones/forgetting someone important to him.

Tagged by: @frostcorpsclub

Tagging: ALLLLLL of you👈🤨

[hadenclairee]

Hot Take:  No two words have done more damage to the trans community than “identify as”

I don’t identify as jack shit.  I am literally transitioning from male to female.  I have never once had a conversation with anyone where I said the words “identify as”.  In fact, quite the opposite - I’m content to let people identify me however they want while I’m in this weird in-between state between male and female.  As I pass more (and become more female), I do get a bit antsier to get to the finish line and be done with maleness, but that brings me back to my point:  that I am literally changing from male to female, I am literally becoming a woman.

I’ve spent some time in the past year reading memoirs and biographies of trans women from before the 2000s.  Something that jumped out at me in one of them was when Christine Jorgensen talked about some of the things that she was called - the most prominent insult she recieved was when she was called a “female impersonator”.  This was after her transition, after her bottom surgery.  She’d fully transitioned from male to female, and was basically being called a Drag Queen - but in the 1950s, the popular parlance for Drag Queens was “female impersonator”, a much more on-the-nose descriptor for people who put on a different gender as a costume.  That wasn’t Christine, though.  And it’s not us either.

For a good while, that seems to be the norm - trans people transitioning and demanding respect not as someone who “identifies as” but as someone who had underwent an arduous journey to change their sex.  The only people using language to paint them as pretenders were ardent transphobes, religious or TERFy types who denied the possibility of transition categorically.  

But in the early 2010s, a whole generation of LGBT allies came into being, who learned about trans people from the coming-out of Caitlyn Jenner or the bathroom bill debates spurred by North Carolina’s 2016 bill.  And unfortunately, “identify as” became a popular phrase in the mouth of allies defending our right to use public restrooms.  And it has persisted, and with each “Oh, they identify as...” uttered by a well-meaning ally, you can hear the  implied “but they aren’t actually...” or “just go along with it” buried behind their words.  Is there a term for a dog-whistle that’s used by well-meaning people, for what they believe is a good purpose, with misunderstandings laced right into it?  Because “identify as” is one of them.  

And at the same time, the right saw this weak point.  The right knew exactly what “identify as” implied, they heard the 35,000 Hz whistling underlying that phrase and 2016 social media were filled with the kinds of meme that they still fall back to today (the One Joke that all transphobes know), the Attack Helicopter meme.

So now, in 2023, when you’re finally out and have been on HRT for over a year, and are finally getting your letters for surgery and getting your legal documentation changed over, you might still overhear a coworker saying “he identifies as a woman now, so avoid saying ‘sir’ to him and try to use gender-neutral stuff”  

I don’t really have a good conclusion for this hot take.  I don’t know how to undo the damage.  Maybe just educate your allies as best you can, avoid using the wishy-washy “identify as” language yourself, and make it clear that you are literally transitioning from male to female (or female to male).  Overshare about your medical transition, if necessary, because I think the vast majority of cis people have no fucking clue what medical transition actually entails (but also, of course, you don’t owe anyone that kind of info, so that one’s optional... I just think it would help people understand but you don’t have to be the messenger for this one if you don’t want to be!) 

[cityburns]

CONTENT WARNING! Johnny as a person is easily irritable and stubborn. He engages in a lot of substance abuse and also resorts to manipulation and violence when he doesn't get his way. I will tag all that I can, but be noted this may be present in interactions very often. I will always ask mun permission where it's necessary.

#CITYBURNS: He's fucked in the head, the world's fucked in the head, and you're fucked in the head because my fucked up head is inside it. Guess if you wanna save the world, that's the first step; get fucked in the head.

NOTE: Johnny uses he/it/they pronouns. Generally defaults to he/him.

Isola Radiale affiliated Johnny Silverhand as seen in Cyberpunk 2077. Loathed by Kriss (he/him)

Indies can refer to my multimuse, @exigencism.

 CANON DOUBLE INFO ✧ PERMANENT STARTER CALL ✧ LORE ✧ MEMES

RULES -> APP -> STATS ⤵

CURRENT STARS: 220

RANKINGS

Newcomer [oct 5, 2024] Dwarf [nov 5, 2024] Subgiant (link to a page that lists out threads and their word counts) [date achieved]Giant (link to page that lists out threads and their word counts + events participated in)  [date recieved]Hypergiant (link to page that lists out events) [date recieved]

HOUSING

CONDO 411

RETAINED

Threat-detector Optics; allows Johnny to detect nearby threats. They are outlined in his vision with red and can be tracked through walls. BB Gun & android body

MUN

Hi there! I’m ( Kriss he/him ), a transmasc Muslim Malaysian. I’m 21 and do art full time. 

[romanarose]

Leather and Lace: Chapter 8

Santiago "Pope" Garcia X Fem!OC

Fic Masterlist

Previous Chapter : Next Chapter

Chapter summary: Santi makes his round of apologies. Later, Frankie has an emergency and Santi has to take Laci to Will's, where they go on their own adventure, and a new person is introduced.

A/N: I feel like the last chapter had everyone like that Micheal Scott meme "why are you the way that you are" so here, hope I fixed it. Not a whole lot of Santi Laci but next chapter will, promento. Not proof read bc this was LONG AS FUCK and if I look at it one more second I'm going to SCREAM!!!!!!

shout out to @welcometostayingawake ask and you shall recieve, here is Laci in Santi's shirt.

WARNINGS: Mentions of drug use, mentions of addiction and alcohalism, general fic related references to sex trafficking but nothing super bad.

**********

Santiago Garcia was woken up that morning to a cup of water being splashed on his face.

“Jesus Christ!” He sputtered awake, a wave of nausea over taking him before he could process who was in his house. Santi found a trash can at his feet, which he promptly threw up in. When he looked up, he found Will standing above him, arms crossed. “Jesus, Will, what the actual fuck.”

“Get up.” The older Miller stated simply. 

“Why are you here?” Santi groaned out, head throbbing from his hangover.

“I have a key and your home security info for a reason.” Will practically pulled Santi’s smaller body up, pulling him to the bathroom.

“Yeah, for emergencies. What are you doing?”

Will dragged him to the bathroom, turning on he shower. “You’re trying to ruin the one good thing in your life, that’s enough of an emergency for me” He pushed Pope, fully clothed, into the shower.

“What the fuck!” He shouted as the water drenched his clothes for the second time in the last 24 hours.

Will walked out of the bathroom, calling to his friend. “You have 15 minutes. Get showered, get dressed, sober up, then we’re going to Ben’s, and you're going to make this shit right.”

Santi pouted the entire ride over. “How much did Ben tell you?”

Scoffing, Will couldn’t help smile a bit despite his irritation. “It’s Benny, he can’t keep a secret to save his life.” But he turned to Pope with a frown. “He told me the shit you said.”

He groaned. “Which time.”

“Well,” Will started sardonically. “There's the fact Laci had the courage to not only talk to you but to call you out, and you shut her down in possibly the cruelest way I can imagine, and I can imagine a lot”

A pang of guilt and shame shot through him. “Yeah. Yeah there's that.” Santi remembered the strangled smile that fell from her face when he said that to her. He had been so happy, thrilled even, with how freely she had been speaking that day, and the words he chose were almost certainly going to undo every piece of progress they made, and possibly fuck up whatever it is they had forever. He would understand if she never wanted to talk to him again.

“And then,” Will didn’t stop. “Then there’s the shit you said to Benny.”

Santiago flopped his head back to the headrest of Will’s truck. “Will, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t say to me, say sorry to Ben.”

A pause. “You’re not going to beat me up?” Santi joked wryly.

Will laughed back, pulling into Benny’s driveway. “No, I’m not going to beat you up. But,” He turned off the roaring engine, giving him a serious look. “You need to make this right. Listen. Maybe we’re done in the field, maybe our days as a team are done and everyone is moving on with our lives.”

“Will-”

“But I need us to stay connected. You and Frankie don’t have family, Ben and I just got our mom and piece of shit dad left, and y’all know how bad that bastard fucked up Ben.”

Santi did know. The Miller’s dad was alcoholic fucker who beat the shit out of their mom and the boys. Santi knew that Benjamin’s drinking and fighting started long before the shit he’d seen in the military. But he also knew what Will refused to acknowledge, that Will took the brunt of the beatings to protect Benny and Mrs. Miller. He knew that Will held a lot of guilt for all the times he couldn’t deflect his dad’s anger away from his baby brother. Will would never admit to any of that.

Will continued. “We are what we got. And I have… I have a hope that in the future, we’re still all together, still friends, even if our paths go separately. And I’m hoping Laci will be a part of that.”

Santi nodded. “I’ll make this right, I promise” They knocked on the door, Ben answered. Santi had expected him to slam the door on him, curse him out, maybe swing on him. But Ben greeted him and his brother with a smile. “C’mon in.” he turned to Will. “Grab a beer, I’ll meet you in the yard” then back to Santi. “Listen, she’s ready to talk, I wouldn’t let you in here if she wasn’t.” Benny nodded towards where the top of Laci’s blonde head over the couch on the other side of the house, out of earshot but actually aware of him. “I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life, but that girl is in love with you, and I’ve seen the way you look at her. We all have. Just… she could make you happy, if you let her.”

Santi shuffled, hand rubbing the scruff of his neck. “I know. I’m worried about hurting her-”

“Oh, I call bullshit. You’re worried you’ll get hurt the way me, Will, Fish and Tom have. You’re the only one who has avoided it this far. But if you let that girl walk away, I’m willing to bet it’s gonna hurt just as bad. There’s no avoiding it now., which maybe isn't what you want to hear, but it's the truth."

Santi nodded, patting Ben’s back as he walked past Ben to get to her. Before he took more than a few steps, he turned back to his friend. “I’ll talk to you in a bit, okay?”

Benny surprised him with a bright smile. “After last night, I sure hope so.”

Again, Santi nodded and made his way to her. When he rounded the corner of the couch, she was shitting with her arms crossed, legs tucked between her and the cushion. Laci avoided his eyes, a sadness on her face he hadn’t seen since they were alone in the jungle.

“Hey Lace.” He greeted tentatively, standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets to avoid wringing them in nervousness.

She continued looking at the tv, but motioned for him to sit. Santi practically scrambled to the other end of the couch.

Turning to face him, her feet on the couch pointed to him with her arms crossed, but nevertheless meeting his eyes. A pregnant silence surrounded them, Santiago trying to figure out where to start. Laci raised her eyebrows, waving her hand at him. ‘Well, go on then.’ Santiago thought back to the previous day, how easily she talked to him, and now she was closed off again, relying once more on reading her face and body language.

“Lace I’m so sorry” He burst out in one breath.

Her face softened a bit, but prompted him to go on. “I don’t really have a good reason, but I panicked. I’ve never been in a serious relationship, never been in love.”

She rolled her eyes.

His foot began tapping on the floor. “I know it’s a cliche, but it’s true. And I was worried, I don’t want to fuck you up, I couldn’t forgive myself if I hurt you.

She gave him a dry laugh.

“Well, hurt you more. Not after everything you’ve been through.”

Laci pointed to herself and shook her head, then motioned like she was rocking a baby. ‘I am not a child’

Santi sat back against the couch. “I know. I’m sorry for treating you like one. I was trying to be careful but I think, and I can’t believe I’m saying this.” The smallest smile quipping up on his lips. “But Benny was right. I should be supporting you, not keeping you locked up”

Santi watched her face, for a moment there was no reaction. Then, thankfully, she let out a snicker.

Pope’s smile broadened. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

Out of nowhere she spoke again with a light smile, much to Santi’s relief. “After the shit you said, I’m definitely telling him.”

Santi dodged her eyes, but nodded.

She continued. “He’s just my friend, Santi. I love you.”

Quickly looking back at her with wide eyes, he barely whispered out, so quiet and nervous Laci almost didn’t hear him. “Still?”

Her shoulders and face fell at that. Crawling along the couch, she sat again facing him and taking his hands in hers. “I told you I love you, that doesn’t change after one fight… right?” Her voice trailed off, face faltering a bit as she looked at him with concern.

“No” Santi breathed out, sitting up and taking her face in his as as he moved to kiss her, waiting until he saw the smile on her face return to close the gap. His lips on hers, he couldn’t help but think how right it felt, how this was what he wanted. Out in the open, where Will or Ben or anyone could see them, away from the cover of midnight. As much as he cherished the nights they spent together, there was something different about it being open. Santi was well aware there wasn’t much of a secret with them between the guys, he had admitted his feelings to them before. But now, he no longer had to lie to them, to her, to himself.

When she pulled away, Laci touched her forehead to his. “Santi…”

A quick kiss on the lips. “Yes, Munequi- uh” He stopped himself, calling her little doll felt wrong after Benny’s comments and the accusation of her infantizing her.

She returned the quick kiss and laughed a bit, returning her forehead to his, still holding his hand. “You can call me Munequita, baby, I like that.”

“Okay” he grinned at her, unable to take his eyes off her.

“You need to apologize to Benny.”

Santi couldn’t help the small sigh that escaped him. “Yeah, I know. I will. I promise to do better, whatever you need, even if it's space, you can tell me. I want what you want."

When he found Ben and Will outside, he nodded at Will, letting him know things were right between him and Laci. Will walked inside to join Laci, doing the ‘I’m watching you’ motion, leaving Benny and Santi outside.

Santi started. “I’m sorry, Ben. I was an asshole-”

“Tu eres pendejo” Benny said with a cocked eyebrow and a slight smile. He didn’t hold a grudge.

Santi laughed back. “Frankie teach you that?”

Benny took a drink of his beer. “Hey, I can speak some Spanish. I learned the important parts.” A pause. “And it’s okay, we don’t have to talk about it more. An apology is more than I think anyone but her has gotten from you. You two good?” He nodded through the plexiglass to where they could see Will beguiling Laci with some story.

Santi turned back, smiling. “Yeah, yeah we’re great.”

Benny grinned at that. “Oh thank god. I think if you guys broke up, we’d all just give up on love forever, it would be more devastating than Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.”

Santi blushed, looking away but grabbing Ben’s beer from his hand and taking a drink.

After a pause, Benny added. “There’s not, and there never was anything with us, just friends.”

“I know-”

“I’m talking to someone” Ben spit out, body buzzing from not being able to keep the secret.

Santi’s ears perked up at this. Benny had a lot of people he fucked, very few people he ever talked to outside of a little flirting before hooking up. “Oh? Who is she? Or he! Or… they… or…”

Ben burst out laughing at Santiago’s awkwardness. “I appreciate you trying."

Santi threw up his hands. “I’m sorry! After what I said, I don’t want you to think I’m-”

“I don’t.” Ben reassured with a smile. “And it’s a she. She’s a she. Don’t tell Will, I’m not sure where this is going yet.” 

Nodding, Santi finished the beer and motioned Will and Santi to come outside. “I won’t”

That night, they went to bed separately, Santi not wanting to rush or push her. As much as Pope was beyond thrilled that they were together (is he supposed to ask to make it official? Is he her boyfriend? Maybe he should take her on a proper date now…) the fact of the matter is that she was a victim of sex trafficking and had eluded to other problems in her past, he would wait as long as he needed to in order for their first time to be to her complete comfort and enjoyment. 

When Laci gasped awake in the middle of the night to Santi turning her bedroom flights on. Santi never entered her room unless it was an emergency. Oh shit. “What’s wrong?” She cleared and focused her eyes to see Santi on the phone, face panicked.

“Laci, we gotta-” he stopped, glancing at her. “Are you… is that my shirt?”

Laci looked down, heart pounding in a panic. She had on Santi’s green long sleeve that he gave her their first night in the jungle. He never had asked for it back and she just… held onto it. “Yeah, sometimes I wear it when… if I’m nervous. Sorry.” she began to take it off.

Despite the anxiety flowing through his veins, he still felt his heart flutter. He never had gotten butterflies before her. “No, no” A slight smile spread on his face. “Keep it.” His smile faded. “We do need to go. I’m taking you to Will’s”

A range of negative emotions flooded Laci’s face. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

‘Is she going to be okay? I know she’s only ever been alone with you or Benny’ Jana, Frankies’s babymomma, asked on the phone.

“She’ll be okay” He looked to Laci. “You’ll be okay with Will, right?”

Laci frowned deeply as she crawled out of bed, but nodded, trying to put on a brave face, but Santi could read her like a book. 

“I’m sorry, Lace, there’s an emergency and I can’t take you with me.” Jesus christ, she was in her underwear, straps of the tank top peeking out from the collar of his shirt that practically swallowed her tiny frame up. Santi wondered if she was always underweight, if she had high metabolism or if she had eating problems way before she was starved. His eyes followed her as she went to her drawer to pull on pants, but looked away when she bent over and he caught a peak of her pink underwear.

“Can’t I come?” She always came with him. Where he went, she followed.

“Not this time, munequita.” Santi was apologetic. Jana had called Santi. Her and Rosie were on a trip to her parents, but Frankie had gone on a bender, showing up on her front porch. They weren’t home, but Jana got the alert on her phone from the home security that Frankie, ironically, insisted on getting for her and paying for. 

“Benny?” She and Santi walked out to the foyette where she put on her shoes and Santi grabbed his keys.

Santi talked into the phone again. “What’s he doing?” 

‘He’s still just on the porch, yelling’ Jana and Frankie were together for years, but after Columbia his drug use got much, much worse, and Jana ended things, taking Rosa. 

“I’ll be there soon, please don’t hang up” Santi was pretty sure they had never fallen out of love, and held out hope that If Frankie could get sober, they’d get back together. He liked Jana, he missed her. She was there for him after Fatima’s death, even agreeing to name her and Santi’s daughter after her. She fit in well with them. But right now his focus was on Frankie, who was high as shit and would only end this night hurting himself in some way or getting arrested.

‘I won’t, I promise’

Back to Laci. “I’m sorry, I tried calling Ben but he didn’t answer, Will says he probably went out tonight” and was probably halfway to blacking out or getting in a fist fight by now. 

‘You can tell her, she deserves to know what’s happening’

They climbed into Santi’s truck and immediately drove to Will’s house which was a 5 minute drive. “Listen, I can’t tell you everything right now, but Frankie is in trouble, I need to help him.” Santi’s hands and voice were shaking. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I have to leave you and I’m sorry if I scared you-”

Laci scooted over, placing his hand on Santi’s knee reassuringly. “It’s okay. I trust you and I trust Will. You need to help Frankie.” Laci didn’t ask what was wrong; Frankie never pushed her for answers. He deserved his privacy. Santi visibly calmed to her touch.

When they arrived, Will was waiting on the porch in the warm Florida early summer night, and jogged up to her door. Santi squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, but I’m on a time crunch. I’ll text you later but please try and sleep”

Laci had no idea how she was supposed to sleep after this.

Will opened her door.

Laci gave Santi a quick peck on the cheek. “Be safe” and left Santi to do what he had to as Will coaxed her inside. When they stepped in the living room, he was noticeably nervous. “Hey, I’m sorry, I know this isn’t exactly ideal”

“Is Benny okay?” Laci stood with arms crossed, despite it being plenty warm inside.

Will laughed at that, blue eyes bright despite his clear irritation. “Damned if I know. I didn’t even know he went out tonight, but I shouldn’t be surprised. 50/50 chance I’ll get a call from him asking me to bail him out of jail. Again.” He walked her over to his spare bedroom. “You can stay in here. It’s a bit of a mess, Ben usually stays there and you know how he is.”

“Can I… stay on the couch? I’m not going to sleep much tonight so I might just watch tv, at least until I fall asleep.”

He squinted his eyes a bit. “The bedroom door locks, I can’t lock my room from the outside.”

Laci paused for a moment, confused. “Oh! No, I don’t need to lock the door, Will, I trust you.” She realized what he was getting at. He wanted her to feel safe and he didn’t think she felt safe around him.

Now that was enough to melt the 6’1 giant of a man’s heart. ”Okay, then yeah, tv is fine.”

She sat down. “Does Ben get arrested a lot?” Will rounded the couch to sit at the opposite end as Laci pulled up Archer. 

Will couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, about every other weekend. Sometimes weekdays. Isuslly me or Santi go with him but… yeah”

A crease appeared between her eye brows and her lips pressed into a pout. Santi didn’t go with him because he was stuck with her. “How is he not in prison?”

“Miss, ‘round here, if you get in a bar fight they just lock you up for the night and let you lose with the world’s worst hangover when you’re sober enough to walk home.”

Another pause. “Why does he get into so many fights? He’s so nice. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone easier to get along with”

Will’s playful mood faded out. “That’s sober Benny. Drunk Benny is a bit more combative. He’s not mean, but he’ll look for a reason to fight.”

Surprisingly, Laci kept going. “Why does he drink like that?”

“Sweetheart.” Will sighed. “We all got our shit that gets us through the day. After all the shit we’ve seen, everyone needs something, a way to cope. You’re in therapy, you’re doing it right. Benny has the drinking and fighting, Fish has the coke.” Laci’s eyes widened at that. Ah, so she didn’t know that about Frankie.

“That’s where Santi is, right? Did Frankie overdose?!” 

The panic was evident in her voice, but even without that, he could tell by the rapid rise of her chest- wait, wasn’t that Santi’s shirt? “No! No, sweetheart he’s fine. He’s just having an episode, Santi needed to be with him to keep him safe.” A knot twisted in Will’s stomach. It was understood that Frankie was Santi’s, Ben was his. It wasn’t often that he had to think about Frankie’s addiction, but tonight was different, tonight the problem was clear an evident; there would be no other reason for Santi to drop his precious… girlfriend? Are they actually dating now? His precious girlfriend who was always so nervous about everything, drop her off with him, of all people. It had been months since Will had been a dick to her, but Will didn’t forget, Laci wouldn’t forget, and he knew a small part of Santi would never forgive.

Laci relaxed a bit. “Do you know where Benny is it?”

Nodding, Will pulled out his phone. “He shares his location with me.”

“Can we… can we get him? Before he gets in a fight?”

Will gave a short chuckle. “I think Santi would kill me if she left the house.”

Laci shot him a pointed look, but with a smile. “I’m not his little captive, Will, I can go where I want.”

A hearty laugh escaped him, slapping his knees before standing up. “You’re right sweetheart, you’re not. C’mon, let’s go rescue that dumbass”

Laci lightly smacked his arm, but they headed out. 15 minutes later, they were walking in the bar. Will had tried to get her to stay in the car, but she insisted she felt safer with Will.

“OH MY GOD! LACI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!” Benny was practically screaming as he hugged Laci, spinning her around.

Will spoke first. “We’re here to bring you back so I don’t gotta pick you up at 6 am.”

“UUUGGHHH” Ben rolled his head as me groaned. “I’m fine, William” Ben emphasized his brother's full name, much to Will's chagrin.

“Benny” Laci put his hand on his arm. “Can we go home so I don’t have to worry about you?”

Ben looked down at his friend, her wide blue eyes compelling him. He was a foot taller than her at least, and she really knew how to work that pretty, innocent thing she had going on. Even without the sexual or romantic attraction, Benny would do just about anything for her if she gave him that look. “You’re gonna have me whipped just like Santi” he grumbled, throwing money at the bartender.

Laci smiled, taking his hand and the three of them began walking out. 

Until Laci passed a man sitting at the barstool, facing out. Her body lurched, hand squeezing him tight enough to break a bone.

“What was that?” Benny asked, but Laci was frozen, eyes wide with terror

“Laci?” Will asked, trying to get her attention. He looked at the man, then back to her. “He touch you?” 

Laci, despite everything, gave a small nod, then tugged at Ben’s hand. She wanted to leave.

But before Will could stop him, Benny had flung towards the man. “You fucker!” he shouted, landing an aggressive punch that knocked him off his seat. The fight that ensued was a mess, Will could hardly keep track of what was happening. Laci clung to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. He wanted to step in, wanted to break up the fight the way he usually did, but he couldn’t leave her.

But she, apparently, could leave him.

Beny was getting his fucking shit rocked. The man had folded him, bringing him to the floor and climbing on top, laying punch after punch after punch on Benny’s blood covered face, Ben kicking and flailing. 

Laci couldn’t sit there and watch it. Despite what everyone around her seemed to think, she wasn’t innocent, she wasn’t pathetic, and this was not the first fight she’d witnessed. She charged at the man, his unprepared frame falling over in exhaustion at the force. Benny, however, didn’t register any of this, as was still in fight mode. Eyes closed, he sent a punch to where he thought the man still was, punching Laci with a pathetic weakness in the nose.

“FUCK!” she fell back, holding her nose.

“BEN WHAT THE SHIT!” Will ran over to her. “Let me see.” He brought her hands down, revealing the blood lightly dripping from her nose. It wasn’t a much, looked worse than it was.

The bartender threw two ice packs at Will. “Get him out of here, now, or I’m calling the police.” He turned to Benny, who was still getting his bearings. “You’re 86’d, asshole. I’m sick of you.”

“But he groped her!” Benny defended himself.

“And you punched a 5 foot girl who weighs 100 pounds.”

“On accident!”

“OUT!”

Will held Laci up, handing her ice, and yanked Benny up “Ben, now”

The walk back to the truck was a long one, a litany of apologies spilling from Benny’s lips as Laci ignored him, storming away. When they got in the truck, Benny moaned in the back. “Pope’s gonna murder me!”

Laci sighed, taking mercy on the man who had become her best friend and pushing back the anger once again “No he won’t, we won’t tell him.”

Benny perked up immediately. “Really?”

“Yes, Ben” She smiled at him in the backseat. “You got beat up trying to defend me, let’s call it even” Will muttered about not encouraging him, but it was only half hearted.

If Laci wasn’t sitting, she would have been knocked over by the force of Benny’s hug.

Upon Laci’s insistence, Will took Ben to the ER.

“Oh hey Loralei!” Ben called drunkenly to the ER nurse he recognized.

Laci trained behind the Miller’s, having cleaned up her face. Will half carried a drunk and beat up Benny.

The dark haired nurse looked up from the chart she was holding, giving Benny an almost motherly look. “Benjamin Miller. Again.”

Benny shrugged with a cheeky grin. Will didn’t recognize her, but it seemed Benny was frequent enough of a ER flyer to know the nurses.

“What is it this time?” she asked.

Will took over. “This dumbass got into a fight and we need to make sure he isn’t concussed." Will’s free hand smacked Benny.

“Hey!” The nurse snapped at him. “Don’t hit my patients.” She ordered, voice firm but calm as she motioned for a wheelchair

“It’s okay” he chuckled out. “He’s my brother.”

“I didn’t ask. He’s my patient, this is my hospital, behave or leave.”

Will raised his hands in defeat. “Yes ma’am” There was no playfulness or condescension in his tone, just respect.

She nodded, then turned to the other nurse. “Get him a scan, make sure he somehow avoided traumatic brain injury again.”

Benny looked up at the new nurse as she wheeled him away. “Hey Amy, how’s the baby”

Will called after him. “Ben no flirting with the nurses!” Then looked over to see the nurse glaring at him for yelling. “Oh sorry.” He extended his hand. “William Miller” 

She gave a quick shake. “Lorelei” Then walked to Laci. “What happened to you?”

There was still some blood around Laci’s nose. Laci felt the familiar sense of things folding in, her mouth unable to form the words she needed. 

Loralei continued, motioning her thumb back towards where Benny went. “You guys get in a fight? “

Will leaned in. “Actually, she got in the middle of another fight-”

She simply held a hand up to him. “I wasn’t asking you.” Her intense gaze was focused on Laci, her tone was soft. She reminded him of Santi in a way. 

Laci shook her head.

Will tried again. “She has-”

With the wild eyes of a nurse who's seen it all and the intensity of a woman tired of men not listening, she turned to him. “William, I’m going to need you to step back, please.” 

Will opened his mouth to argue, but closed it when he decided better. He turned to Laci. “Use your notes app, I’ll be over here.” With a soft smile to Laci and a nod to Lorelei, he walked away.

Lorelei turned back to Laci. “Hey honey, everything okay?” The irony of it wasn't lost on Laci, she was safer with the Millers, Frankie and Santi than she had been with anyone since her brothers death.

Laci took a moment to type. ‘I have trouble talking sometimes. Ben and Will are my friends.’

Lorelei nodded, but continued. “Did one of them hit you?”

Laci considered lying, but opted for the truth. ‘Kinda. Benny got in a fight and I tried to stop him, he accidentally hit me. That’s it.’

Lorelei scanned Laci’s face for a lie, but found none. She nodded, beckoning Will back over. “Wait out here, fill out these forms, he’ll be done soon” She began to walk away.

Will cleared his throat. When Lorelei turned back to him, she was greeted with a cheeky smile. “Yes?” She asked.

Will raised an eyebrow at her. “Well?”

She smiled back, but put her hands on her hips, challenging him. “Well what?”

At that, Will scoffed, still keeping his smile despite his mock offense. “Well?! You basically accused me of hitting her, and I didn’t.”

Lorelei's smile was a challenge, ‘keep going’ it said ‘I’m not backing down’ “I won’t apologize for seeing clues and being suspicious. You work in my line of work for one week, you’d do the same. I’ll talk to you when your brother is discharged.” She walked off.

Will couldn’t help hoping she’d come back. 

Him and Laci sat down in the waiting room in silence until a ding it Laci’s phone. It was Santi.

Santiago: Frankie is okay, we’re at his place, he's sleeping, but I can’t leave him. I hope you’re asleep, but I know you probably aren’t.”

Lacina: I’m glad he’s okay. I’m fine here, stay with Frankie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Santiago: I love you, Lace. I’m lucky to have you.

Lacina: I love you too, Santi. Stay safe.

It dawned on Laci that Santi had her location, as she did his. He had no reason to doubt where she was, but he hoped she wouldn’t look. Benny and Santi just made up after weeks of tension, she didn’t need Santi acting up because Benny accidentally hit her Laci knew the irony of telling him to stay safe considering she got decked. She relayed the message to Will, then rested against his shoulder. “Hey Will?”

“What’s up.”

“You said you all have ways you manage things. Ben had drinking and Frankie has coke.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your thing?”

Will huffed out a laugh. “You’ve seen part of it.” She looked up at him confused. He continued. “I was a complete ass to you. Made you feel like shit when you did nothing wrong. I tend to have outbursts like that. I ever tell you I was engaged?” Laci shook her head. “Yeah, years ago. It ended because I went ape shit on a guy in a grocery store. I have a few vices. Drinking, being an ass, fights, the list goes on. Jack of all trades I supposed. I’m not any better than Benny or Frankie.” Why was she asking this?

“And… Santi?” 

There it was. What Will did not want was to get in the middle of them, and he especially didn’t want to inadvertently mess up what they had. “Projects. It’s always something. Work, house renovations, drug lord bust. He always needs something to focus on until the next thing comes along. And alcohol. We all drink a bit too much.”

Things were quiet for a moment before Laci replied. “Am I his project?”

Will sat up, forcing Laci to sit up as she was resting on him. “No! Oh my god, no. You are…” He shook his head. “You are, wow, I’ve never seen him like this with anyone before. He loves you.”

Laci laid back down, but she wasn’t convinced.

‘He always needs something to focus on until the next thing comes along’

If she was a project, how long until the next thing comes?

Benny was fine, but under strict order to drink water and to ‘stop fucking around, before you find out’ according to the nurse. Will took them both home, putting Benny in his usual bed as Laci insisted she wasn’t going to sleep. That morning, Santi let himself into Will’s house. He found the house quiet, and Laci, predictably, asleep on the couch. He knelt down beside her, taking a minute or two to watch her. It was rare he could see her like this; calm, peaceful, in the daylight. He hoped, as they progressed, he could wake up to this sight every morning for the rest of his life.

 She was incredible. The light shone on her face, a light flush of pink on her face and her under-eyes ever so slightly dark from lack of sleep. Wisps of her long bangs covered her face, and he brushed them back, revealing the scar on her forehead. Laci stirred, waking up. “Hey Munequita.”

Without even opening her eyes, she smiled at the sound of his voice. “Hey baby.”

Baby. He could get used to that. “You alright? Everything go okay?”

She was… so tired. Laci reached out for him as she nodded. “Yeah. Can you lay with me? I don’t wanna get up yet.”

He smiled at her in adoration. “Yeah, scoot over honey.”

With a satisfied grin, she scooted back. “C’mere, I wanna hold you. I get to be the big spoon.”

Santi laughed out loud, but then realized she was serious. “Really?”

“Yeah, wanna hold you. You had a long night, wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Santi was in no position to deny her. He was exhausted, he was sad, he was hurt. He had never seen Frankie that bad before, it worried him. The idea of being held was appealing. Santi laid down, back against her chest as she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her face into his hair and neck. “Good night Santi” She spoke, despite the bright morning sun shining in. 

“Good night, Lace.” With her arms around him, he felt comfortable, warm and safe with her.

When Will woke up an hour later, he found his friend on his couch with a tiny blonde clutched to his back like a backpack.

“Not a word” Santi muttered.

***********

I HOPE YA'LL LIKED IT!!!!

A lil announcement for those who didn't see my post, after leather and lace ends (chapter 12 is the last!) the universe will continue in the form of a Will Miller fic! Although Santi and Laci's story will be on the back end, Laci will make appearances throughout Will's fic and we'll get to see how Laci grows! Hope y'all tune in for Piece by Piece!

Also, come back out Seattle, my Marc Spector story!

Love y'all! Please remember to reblog if you are so inclined, and comments mean the world to me, i literally reread them all the time. I'm so glad everyone has come to love Laci as much as I have, and I really hope this chapter showcases more of her personality now that she talks more! Also, I hope you like Lorelei, bc she maaaaaaayy or may not show up in this universe again

@littlenosoul @bensolosbluesaber @milkymoon2483 @gogh-with-the-flow @itspdameronthings @trinkets01 @p0edameronswife @welcometostayingawake @spxctorsslxt @username21mk @lucianadraven32

[spookierdeer]

spike redesign!! full post, i posted the wip a few days ago. more info under the cut!

sorry if what follows seems a little haphazard, i'm still working on fully forming my thoughts so the notes might be written out messily. still all canon until i say otherwise, though!

spike's actual species of dragon is unknown, twilight recieved his egg by mistake during a school project. the eggs were supposed to be under a stasis spell to keep the mysterious species of bird from hatching while under the young ponies' care, but those type of spells don't work on dragon eggs. i may write about how she actually came to receive this egg one day, but today i want to focus on spike!

i'm not confident my sketch of freshly hatched spike really shows him at the size i wanted to go for, as i imagine dragons are curled up inside the eggs completely and there isn't much space inside there once the dragon has fully formed and is close to hatching. so, spike is a pretty chunky baby and while teenage twilight can cradle him, he's still pretty stout.

in my au, dragons don't all eat crystals or minerals! it's actually pretty rare and most species of dragons enjoy full diets not including rocks or gems at all. however the dragons that do eat minerals often have the flashiest and stunning scale patters (crystals and gems) or the most rough to the touch (usually minerals found in lava beds and other highly sulfuric areas). this isn't mutually exclusive! spike has a bright color palette and pretty smooth scaling, but a mineral eating dragon could have just as bright of colors but feel like harsh sandpaper or a rough, rough cliff face. since spike is raised by ponies and quite enjoys minerals, he's gotten used to soft and silky textures and, though he isn't fully aware of how much his preferences and diet shape his scale texture, prefers his sleek scales to the rougher dragons he's seen.

if a dragon has unwanted roughness or is having trouble shedding scales, they may rub their bodies against harsh stone! for generations, before ponies and dragons new more of each other, there were smoothed out stones found in forests and other areas with low populations. they were considered magical by earth ponies and sometimes sacred! turns out, it was just where a dragon had buffed out some rough scales before the ponies found the place.

if spike were to eat magnetized minerals, would his scales become magnetic? probably if he ate enough! decorate your fridge with his yearly shed scales?

in the image i mention that land born dragon eggs are rough and water born dragon eggs are smooth. yes! that is a thing in my au. will i describe spikes egg here? no <3

twilight is basically a teen mom in my au, though by the time my au takes place spike rarely calls her anything other than her actual name. mostly because he thought his best friend being his mom was weird so his solution was to just call her by her real name instead! briliant, obviously. spike does still have a crush on rarity in his younger years, but it's definitely not anything serious. just a kid who thinks his mom's close friend is very nice and pretty! she's basically an aunt to him (the rest of the mane 6 generally act as his aunts, even rainbow who's married to his adoptive mom) and showed him the wonders of spa days and self care. her and fluttershy would take turns babysitting him when he was too young to follow twilight to school or when she was busy doing work for celestia and she couldn't keep an eye on him. after twilight and rainbow started dating, spike basically had this internalized debate of "ok. twilight is my mom. i love her. rainbow is like family. i love her too. it's still kind of weird that they're dating. why??" and basically came to the conclusion that it is ok to not call rainbow dash "mom" after all. he very bravely confronted rainbow about it when they were alone and she was like "it's ok lil dude" but internally was like "god hes precious" and was never worried about what spike called her anyway.

when rigel wisp comes along spike is basically that meme of "i've only known them for 5 minutes, but if anything happened to them i'd kill everthing in the room and then myself" as soon as he gets to hold them for the first time. he's a little bigger than pictured here, but never gets bigger than 5ft head to tail. he's a great older brother and spoils them rotten! he's not quite as close to the other foals of the mane 6+family, but he does try to help out with babysitting and keeping the foals distracted when needed. he's great at keeping them entertained and if the parents sneak him some extra gems when no ones looking, he's definitely not complaining.

i'm still working on a concrete timeline, but i know for sure spike is around 4 years older than flurry heart. timeline for that is twilight hatches spike's egg, shining armor completes training, eventually gets assigned to princess cadence's protection detail, they fall in love and almost immediately have a love boom that produces flurry heart. not sure if cadence knew twilights family when they were all kids or not, i kind of like it better as a love at first sight thing for her and shining armor. her whole thing is love after all! plus, she's the crown princess of the crystal kingdom and twilights parents are just unicorn astronomers. not sure how they'd meet for play dates, being from two separate kingdoms lmao

i'll probably think of more later, maybe i'll eventually write a fanfic like my friends keep telling me to. maybe i'll just keep adding to my obscenely large family tree of the mane 6 instead!

[atypicalacademic]

OC INFO MEME

Basics

Full Name: Milena Asala Hawke

Gender: Cis Woman

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pronouns: She/Her

Other

Family: Asala (Grandmother), Isabela, (Partner), Tatiana Amell (Cousin- in her non-warden state), Gamlen Amell (Uncle), Charade (Cousin). She's the only surviving Hawke in her worldstate.

Birthplace: Amaranthine, Ferelden

Job(s): Champion of Kirkwall, Comtesse to the Hawke Estate, First Mate to Captain Isabela, and idk if right hand to Viscount Varric post Inquisition is an official job title but there it is.

Phobias: Abandonment, failure, red lyrium (post-canon)

Guilty Pleasures: Recieving Reassurance

Hobbies: Sparring, weaving, sketching, picking bar fights.

Morals

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Good

Sins: lust / greed / envy / gluttony / pride / wrath / sloth

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / kindness / patience

This or That

Introvert/Extrovert

Organized/Disorganized

Close-minded/Open-minded

Calm/Anxious/Restless

Disagreeable/Agreeable/In-between

Outspoken/Reserved

Leader/ Follower/In-between

Empathetic/Unempathetic (unless it's something she's directly experienced, like understanding Seamus' grief about Ashaad)

Optimistic/Pessimistic/Realistic (with the caveat that she always assumes the worst outcome but also assumes she's the only one who can prevail when it inevitably occurs)

Traditional/Modern/In-between

Hard-working/Lazy

Relationships

OTP: Milena/Isabela

OT3: Volunteer ur OCs pls

Acceptable Ships: Nearly all of the Kirkwall crew had a crush on her, Fenris and Merrill in particular. Isabela and her have an FWB with Zevran and his partner Sahi as it stands, but if timelines were switched, Milena/Zev would be really fun.

BROTP: Varric, Fenris

NOTP: Tallis dni

[parkerologist]

So, some little kid decided to be a little shit and make a call out post about Bex, and now Bex is made to be the bad guy here because the person who started this was a minor? Bullshit. 

It was a fucking joke about shoes (hella nice lookin’ shoes at that) and now that kid is being butthurt and saying they’re not in the wrong??? WHERE THE FUCK IS THEIR PARENTS

@bext-k did right by apologizing sure, but she did nothing wrong. She shouldn’t have to be saying sorry for a joke, much less to a minor who shouldn’t be on a site for 17+ users, if they either can’t learn to steer THEMSELVES away from troubling content on their own or have a parent supervising them. 

What the fuck is wrong with all of you? BOTH SIDES, BOTH THE SHIPPERS AND ANTI

No one should be harassing either side, you’re making it worse by doing this. Honestly, if this fandom get’s anymore toxic I feel like Dreamworks should just cancel the show if it’ll calm all of you the fuck down because with fans attacking the VA’s about personal discomfort shit and blackmailing to make a ship happen and then this incident with Bex, when are ya’ll gonna grow the fuck up? 

Fiction does not equal the person as a whole, please learn to differentiate between fantasy and reality, LEARN TO WATCH AFTER YOUR OWN DAMN SELF BECAUSE IT IS NO ONE ELSE’S JOB TO FILTER WHAT YOU SEE, THAT IS ONLY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. I know these aren’t all the points happening now, but it’s what I’ve seen over these past several months that have been causing so much bullshit in the fandom. 

LEAVE THE FUCKING CREW AND VA’S ALONE, STOP BLACKMAILING FOR A STUPID FUCKING SHIP, PLEASE GET A PARENT TO WATCH OVER YOU WHILE YOU SURF THIS SITE IF YOU’RE SO ANAL ABOUT HAVING SOMEONE MAKE SURE YOU DON’T SEE YOUR ‘TRIGGERING’ SHIT IF YOU CAN’T TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN DAMN SELF. PLEASE EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND ENJOY A GOD DAMN CARTOON FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH, A CARTOON. 

[princeanxious]

for the touch starved thing, platonic creatwins? where they’re both finally accepting of each other, and roman one day randomly pats remus on the back, and remus just. hasn’t been touched in so long, because deceit mostly kept to himself and the others despised him, so he’s just. really shook and quietly says “could you do that again?” and roman is confused as to what he means, but anyway roman is horrified to find out how touch starved his twin actually is

Ohohoho angsty! Very angsty. I like it. Heres what I came up with, its not super long but its enough i hope. Hhhh

Warnings: Sympathetic Remus, brotherly Creativitwins, touch starved Remus, touch starved character recieving touch for the first time in literal years, allusions to talking about gore but its like super minor, and i think thats it?? Angst out the wazoo! Also not beta’d bcs it’s 2:30 am and I am probably going to bed after this to answer the rest of the prompts tomorrow xD so all mistakes are mine

One Touch Breaks the Dam

[[MORE]]

They’d come a long way to get to now, where Remus could relax on the living room floor in the commons without his shirt on(though, pants, he’d been told, were mandatory) and draw with his bro in relative peace. They’d bicker here and there, but it was all lighthearted and fun. Logan relaxed on one side of the couch with a book, occasionally chipping a piece of info into the ever changing conversation topics.

The acceptance hadn’t come easy, though it wasn’t like Remus hadn’t deserved his family, it just happened that he’d had to fight tooth and nail to even get that idea rolling. He didn’t mind it much, didn’t dwell on it too long if he could help it, that his brother got it scott free and he’d had to hike the mountain the whole way to meet him there. It didn’t matter now, now really, because he’d made it. And they’d helped him get here just as much as he worked to get here, and sure, there were still plenty of rough spots to smooth out. No family was perfect, he knew, but every improvement made him happy as can be.

He could hang out with Patton while the father figure baked, and listen to Logan ramble on about his latest hyper fixation. Remus could finally sit near Virgil and listen to his edgy music together, he could even go and help Dee tend to his two pet snakes! Sure, he’d been given a few ground rules set to follow with all of them, and sometimes he forgot them.. but they seemed to get more patient with him with each passing day as soon as they saw how guilty he felt about breaking one of the rules.

Where Virgil had once worried that the other’s acceptance of him could be reversed in one mistake, Remus sometimes seemed to believe he still hadn’t fully gained it yet. That he expected at any moment they would turn and tell him to leave, and he would without hesitation because he’d gotten what he wanted, even if he couldn’t have kept it, just having a taste of any of it was enough to satisfy him for a lifetime. Or.. so he said, in his quieter, not so spontaneous moments.

The world could leave Remus alone again, and he’d be fine, because for just a short period of time, he’d had a family to be part of. That was enough. None of the sides bought it, not fully at least, despite knowing Remus was the least likely to lie in any situation. Even Dee was skeptical that Remus was trying to lie to himself, but could never fully be sure.

However, with each passing week, the abandonment never came. And slowly, Remus stopped believing that they would leave, and only then could things really begin to move forward.

With each loud and brash outburst, be it gruesome or simply just a well timed, if over-enthusiastic, meme to reply with, the others slowly got used to him. And in turn, Remus adjusted to the others just the same.

It sometimes does wonders to someone prone to attention-drawing outbursts to finally have so many people to interact with as distractions, and slowly become normal interactions with family instead.

Shaking his head, Remus let out a loud breath to re-center his brain on the present and now, knowing that his brain could wander from thought to thought with wild abandon. Roman’s eyes flicked up to meet Remus’s, checking in and receiving a toothy grin in return.

Scooting closer till they were about a foot apart, side by side, Remus presented his new idea to add to their castle defense system in the imagination. Both of them had been working on the plan together all day, seeing as it was a day off for Thomas to just relax.

“Ohh, hmmm. True, geese do make much better outer defensemen than sharks, the scary feathered demons. I like it!” Roman grinned, giving Remus a gentle but reassuring pat on his back, knowing that praising Remus for working his ideas into something constructive would make his brother beam.

Instead, Remus froze for a brief second, before his entire torso trembled harshly for a split second, scaring Roman into moving his hand off of his brother in alarm.

“..woah. Okay. Um, Re? What..?” He trailed off, noticing his brother’s body language. Hunched and closed, and absolutely stiff and still. Remus’s eyes had gone blank for a brief second before blinking to life, skittering around until they focused on Roman.

“C-c.. Could you do that.. Again?”

Roman almost leaped to the thought of his brother doing something weird again, as he could be prone to do. But what stopped him in his tracks was the way his brothers eyes were wide, jaw slack and body tense as his arms reached to hold himself. The way his brothers voice shook like a timid, fearful child asking the kind of question they think could break super expensive glass and ruin everything forever. It was.. heartbreaking. All he’d done is pat his brother’s back, and to receive such a stark reaction to something so small? Something was definitely wrong.

With a gentle nod, Roman slowly moved his hand back to his brother’s back, instead just resting it there. Even as Remus’s shoulders convulse again, then devolving into twitching and shaking, he keeps a close eye on Remus, and waits for his signal to stop.

Remus doesn’t signal, and instead focuses on breathing deeply, trying to keep himself grounded into the now and not lose himself to his whirling mind. It’s only when Roman starts rubbing small, careful circles into Remus’s shoulder does Remus start to break, a sob forcing its way through Remus’s throat. His face is scrunched like hes in pain, his shoulders tensed tight, his hands gripping firmly at his upper arms, his head held low as another sob shakes its way through and tears drip down his face.

Later, when there's time to think and his brother is asleep cuddled between Patton and himself, Roman will realize why Remus was always so confident that he’d be fine if they left him all alone again.

Remus had been alone since their split. He’d had nothing of memory or of reference to all that he’d been missing throughout the years.

Most of all, the lack of a loving and caring embrace.

Roman was going to change that.

[skyheld]

i added a little info on my muses page on which muses are always open and which are more low activity/on request.

it doesn’t necessarily reflect how much i actually write them but it’s more like.. for my low activity muses,  unless we have something going already i probably won’t go with them for starter calls and i may be more selective if i recieve memes for them.  you can still send me them and i’ll reply if i can but i won’t push myself if i’m not feeling it basically!   and i may not write as many hcs and posts about them generally

i’ve pretty much always had it this way i just recently realized i didn’t write it anywhere lmao