#so the final bit will be just a liiiiiittle different

[inkblackorchid]

WIP Snippet 4 (Ch. 3)

Martha’s eyes wandered to the twins first, then. “Since I know you two tend to stick together, I have a room on the first floor for you two. It’s unlikely to be as big as what you’re used to, but I think it should do nicely. But the bathroom is in the hall, there’s only one per floor.”

Though their expressions couldn’t exactly be called excited, the twins nodded to this, clearly not about to complain about the for their standards unusual bathroom setup.

“As for the lot of you,” Martha then said, pointing at the older members of the group, “I was expecting to be able to put you boys all together in one room, and give Aki her own. Now, with two girls around, we’re going to have to change the setup a bit.”

“One room? For all four of us?” Jack asked incredulously, “Martha, you can’t be serious.”

His foster-mother raised an eyebrow at him, and if that wasn’t already enough to make Jack look a little smaller, her next words certainly were. “Oh? Are the rooms here suddenly not good enough for you anymore?”

While Crow unsuccessfully tried to hide an undignified snort, Jack grew ever so slightly flustered—something only Martha could achieve in this short a time—before aggressively pointing to Bruno, saying, “That’s not—Bruno snores. I’ll wake up from the noise! And waking him up is no use, because he’ll go right back to snoring the second he falls asleep again! Meaning either he catches no sleep because I don’t want him snoring, or I catch no sleep because he won’t stop it!”

Putting her hands on her hips, Martha countered, “Last I recall, Crow used to snore, too, back when you were children. Yet, you somehow still managed to catch some sleep.”

“Yes, because the keywords are used to,” Jack immediately defended himself, “I trained him out of it by kicking him out of bed every time he got too loud.”

“Yeah, thanks for that, by the way,” Crow muttered, throwing his older foster-brother a glare.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Jack grumbled back.

Martha, meanwhile, shook her head at both of them, in a way that made Aki realise Yusei had to have gotten this from her. “Really now… You’ve gotten a bit picky, haven’t you?”

Stepping forward a bit from where he stood in the middle of the group, Yusei spoke up for the first time, saying, “Not to play devil’s advocate here, but I think stuffing all four of us in the same room might really be a bad idea. If Jack wakes up because of Bruno’s snoring and starts trying to wake him up in turn to get him to stop for a little bit, Crow’s also gonna wake up because of the commotion and will most likely start arguing with Jack about the noise. And I’m such a light sleeper at this point that I’ll probably also get woken up by Bruno’s snoring and have to listen to the entire back and forth…” His tone was slightly apologetic.

“Yeah, not to speak of the fact that Jack’s insufferable when he hasn’t gotten his ‘beauty sleep’,” Crow added, making air quotes at “beauty sleep” with an amount of sarcasm that was nothing short of gleeful.

Martha gave her three boys a critical look, but ultimately sighed before turning to Crow, “And do you lose sleep because of your friend’s snoring, too?”

“As if Crow would wake up for anything quieter than air raid sirens,” Jack muttered.

[cashmoneyyysstuff]

HEAR ME OUT

“Don’t you think I’m scary?”

“Scary? My god you’re divine”

AHHHHH

FuskqosnisisbssbjHWISNSKSOAOAKWAJ 😭😭🤭🤭😋😋

I love two lovestruck idiots who don’t know they’re in love w each other and it’s grumpy German shepherd x golden retriever 😻😻

PLEAAASEE german shepherd x golden retriever is one of my faaavvv tropes OAT !! it’s so so adorable and especially with katsuki cus i know he just thinks he’s so scary ! i got a lil idea after the recent manga chap that just came out, so this might be a liiiiiittle super small spoiler but i think its so cute ! hope you enjoy anon tysm for the ask ! much luv xxx

fem reader, super duper minooor spoiler but katsuki has stitches !, mutual pining, idiots in love, soft katsu (cus he has to be but also cus he’s whipped) (but hes still a little piece of shit) reader is a lil sweetie, short lil fluffy fic, touchy katsuki bc i cannot help myself, lmk if i missed anything else !

before the war, bakugou had made a lot of new little habits.

he’s made it a habit of waiting for you to head out of class so you could walk together. he’s made it a habit of sharing just a portion of his lunch with you, because apparently he’s constantly been making too much, ignore the fact that he only let’s you have those ‘extra’s’ that doesn’t mean anything.

he’s made it a habit of carrying around an extra water bottle with him because you always forget to keep yourself hydrated after training, he’s also made it a habit to scold you for it endlessly. he’s ruthless even as you whine about how mean he is, saying that “he wouldn’t need to be on your ass so much if you just remembered to grab your damn bottle.” he ignores the fluffy feeling in his heart and tells you to shut up when you tell him that he always has your back anyway, swiftly looking away from you and cheeks turning red.

and since you're on the way to his house, he's made it a habit of walking you home. you call it hanging out after school, he calls it 'just making sure you don't get lost somehow..hah ?! don't ask me how ! your dumbass would probably find a way to !'

anyway, he's made it his mission to grace you with his presence every day after school. you always bid him a cheery goodbye, "see you tommorow !" you say, and he always looks forward to it, even when he turns away, nonchalantly throwing you a quick wave over his shoulder.

usually you wake up at completely different hours, so he doesn't pick you up the morning. you always wished you could see him first thing in the morning, but seeing him waiting by the school gate's was more than enough to make your heart soar, you were more than happy with that.

but today you can finally go back to school. after dealing with non stop fighting for what felt, and probably was, hours and hours on end during the events of the war. and being stuck in the hospital for a few weeks, it feels nice to wear your school uniform and feel somewhat normal again. you'd get to see all your friends again and you'd official be a second year. you smile softly to yourself in the mirror.

katsuki had sent you a text a few minutes ago. he'd asked if you were almost ready, and you'd responded that you were only for him to leave you on read. you didn't mind much and shrugged it off.

but today, when you walk out the door, you see katsuki waiting for you on the sidewalk.

you blink twice, eyes widening. katsuki turns and looks up from his phone screen at the sound of the door he also blinks, although he's more unbothered then you as he simply stands up, pushing himself off his knees with a groan "took you long enough." he drawls. his eyes are warm and his lip twitch just the slightest bit at your expression "thought you'd keep me waiting forever."

"katsuki !" you exclaim, eyes still wide "what're you doing here ?!" you quickly walk to him, standing close enough to see the marks on his face, and the unmistakable stitches on his cheek.

he raises a brow like you're crazy, tilting his head "m'walking you to school."

"bwuh-are you even allowed to go to school ?" you sputter, realising he had his school uniform on, you liked it when he started making it a habit of wearing his tie more often. katsuki grumbles at your worries "shouldn't you be in the hospital ?" he scoffs at your fretting, but his eyes soften as he leans in closer to you. you see his battle scars better that way. you gulp at the sudden proximity, he's never been shy about getting in people's faces, although it was never meant to be intimidating when he did it with you, if the pink tint of his cheeks meant anything.

"doc said it's fine as long as i keep quiet.." he scoffs after finishing the sentence, rolling his eyes and causing you to giggle. hearing the sound he hadn't heard in what felt like ages made him sniff in amusement. you reach for his hand then, and he doesn't take his eyes off you while intertwining his fingers with yours. both your eyes shining with longing and affection for the other. you smile brightly at him and even though the doctors had told him to be careful with his heart, it seemed you were gonna make that hard for him. it didn't matter though, he was always up for a challenge.

pulling him along, you decide to tease him "guess that means you're gonna have to be on your best behaviour today, huh ? so you can't go gettin' mad at kaminari for no reason !" you playfully scold.

he rolls his eyes at the mention of your friend, though he doesn't hold back his smirk, he's definitely more open then he was compared to when you'd first started school. thinking about how far you've come together makes you happy, but it also feels bittersweet. "dunce face s'the who keeps pissin' me off, not my fault he can't handle it." you snicker and he snorts in amusement, squeezing your hand and making butterflies squirm around in your stomach. you don't mention the tight grip he has on your hand, probably because you're gripping his just as tight with no intention of letting go anytime soon. you probably look like a couple to the people walking by, you realise. and the thought does not displease you at all, far from it. it makes you a little too happy.

"behave." you squeeze his hand.

"i do." he growls, squeezing back, "he keeps trying me." you respond with a snort. your eyes occasionally fly towards his face, to the stitches on it more specifically. he's caught you looking multiple times on the way to the bus stop, not like you were exactly being subtle. your stare makes him nervous and he decides to finally confront you about it when you get to the bus stop.

"spit it out." he says, hands clammy in your grip, he hopes and prays you don't notice because it's so unbearably embarrassing to have to admit he was worried about what you'd think about his new look. he'd been anxious on your doorstep but you didn't give him much of a reaction, too shocked to even see him at the time, but your constant shifty glances made all the anxiety crawl back up again. so he speaks, keeping these distracting and frankly irritating thoughts to himself just irritated him.

you blink, humming curiously. katsuki grumbles to himself, keeping his eyes from yours. "ya keep staring at me, so what's up ?"

"it's strange seeing you with stitches." you answer bluntly. usually, he likes how honest you are, but right now it does nothing but stress him out. "i heard you messed your face up pretty bad, but i'm glad it didn't leave too much of a nasty scar." you muse. katsuki hums but his eyebrows furrow as he catches your last words, he's a little pissed off that you'd heard about what happened during the war. he'd wanted you to know as little as possible to keep from worrying you, or at the very least he'd wanted to tell you himself. he'll make sure to thoroughly question his fuckass friends later. of course, it also could've been her.

"..how'd you-"

"your mom told me."

he grunts. of course, it was his mom.

that damn hag..

"of course." he mutters bitterly. you don't respond, and to him that's all the answer he needs. a pit settles in his stomach.

"yeah, it's weird, isn't it ?" he agrees bitterly, unconsciously tightnening his grip on your hand. "it looks kinda creepy, right ?"

"what do you mean ?" his jaw tightens " i mean..like, on my face..." he sputter and mutters to himself, unable to properly say what he wants. you understand him though and immediately you turn till your face to face with him. your expression determined as you grab his other hand, both of his scarred hands now in your grip. his eyes widen in shock, embarrassment creeping up on him.

"there's nothing wrong with your face, katsu." you reassure, you'd made it a habit of calling him all those stupidly endearing nicknames, and it doesn't help taming the blush on his face slowly bleeding onto his cheeks. he pouts, fixing his gaze onto you and towards the floor.

"but doesn't it look..i dunno," he mutters, suddenly feeling self conscious "scary ?"

"scary ?" you tilt your head, he squints and looks away.

"i guess." he grunts with a nod, trying to save face. obviously it doesn't work by the look on yours. you're always so bubbly and sweet, he hates seeing such a pained expression on your face. you tug at his arms to get him to look at you "scary ? there's nothing scary about you.." you say sweetly, shaking your head. "i personally think you look really cool.." you mutter. katsuki feels his face heat, but his heart soars nonetheless. his eyes have been stuck wide for a second.

cool.

you think he looks cool.

"i was just wondering if they hurt ?" he tilts his head back in thought at that. instictively running his tongue on the inside of his cheek.

"nah, just felt weird when they were numbing it. but i didn't feel a thing." he shrugs, he suddenly smirks, the stitches being pulled up by the movement "wanna touch em ?" he teases, pulling you closer by the grip he still has on your hands. your eyebrows shoot to your hairline and he barks out a laugh.

"i-i can't do that ! what if i touch them and they come loose or something !" katsuki rolls his eyes at your jittering, using the hand still in his grip to bring it near his cheek, you desperately pull back and his evil smirk widens.

"katsuki, no !" you protest. he cackles meanly.

"it's fine." he insists, your pointer finger grazes his cheek and you turn your head away.

"i don't wanna !" you shake your head, your shoulders shaking as you hold back a giggle.

"yn. you're fine." he insists. he'd made it a habit of calling you by your first name after you'd started hanging out more. you called most of your friends by their first names pretty quickly into the year, your cheeriness making it easy for you to get along with everyone but you always were a little on guard with katsuki at first. he'll never admit it, but he was a little jealous that you'd call everyone in your shared friend group by their first name except for him. the sweet bubbly tone in your voice when you called for sero or kirishima made a nasty feeling bubble up in the pits of his stomach he'd desperately tried to push away. until one day he'd snapped during your group outing at the mall (outing he was coerced into going to by kirishima after finding out you where going too)

he'd regretted how whiney and bitter he sounded at the time, but he thinks it was worth it every time you'd look at him and say his name so sweetly, definitely worth it, as embarrassing as it was. and he'd started calling you by your first name too shortly after. all your friends do, but it felt so, so different with him.

finally your fingers make contact with the staples on his cheek. you peek up to look at him then. you run your fingers across them ever so softly, making sure not to hurt him. katsuki slowly let's go of your hand. unmoving and unnervingly still as you take your time scanning his face.

"so ?" he raises a brow, smirk slowly melting into a softer smile as he sees you smile to yourself.

"it's..not bad.." you tentatively start, still too worried to move too suddenly. he hums playfully. "and you don't feel it at all ?" you ask

"at all." he softly shakes his head. you don't realise you've gotten closer to his face but he sure has, and you end up realizing a little too late, but neither of you move away. you try to, but katsuki pulls you back in before you can get far. "do i still look cool up close ?" he jests, but there's some seriousness and vulnerability in his gaze. you smile warmly.

"yup," you say softly, you hear katsuki inhale sharpy, eyes never leaving yours "definitely still the coolest. not scary at all" you giggle, he rolls his eyes but chuckles. before you can question your positition or move away (or closer) to him you see the bus arriving in the distance. he notices it too and you share a look before you take a step back, smiling shyly at the floor while he keeps his gaze on the bus on the way.

until—

"OW, fuck !!"

your eyes snap up to see katsuki holding his cheek in his hand, your heart hammers and your eyes widen. you're next to him in two steps. "what, what—why-what happened ??!" you stammer, your hands reaching up to grab ahold of his face though you stutter, maybe it was your fault ?!

until—katsuki bursts out laughing. mean, but undeniably cute watery cackles that have you furrowing your brows in confusion until your jaw drops in realization.

the. asshole.

"you're not funny !" you whine, pushing at his arm although pushing might be the overstatement of the century. it could be more comparable to a nudge because even though he is an asshole, you wouldn't want to hurt him. even if he deserves it, you're better than that. you'll just think about hurting him.

katsuk chuckles breathelessly, grabbing your arm while you walk closer and stretch your arm out to signal the bus to stop. "it was funny, admit it !"

"you suck. you're the worst." scanning your bus ticket and walking ahead ignoring him, katsuki quickly scans his ticket and follows diligently behind you.

"you thought it was hilarious." he smirks.

"the absolute worst, the lowest of the low." you huff, ignoring the persistant heat of his eyes on you. he only snickers.

"i see you laughing."

today, you arrive to school with katsuki not at the school gates waiting for you, but walking together with you to start your new school year as second years. and you both hope you can make a habit out of this.

[fandom-trauma]

Hello hello! Ive been gone a while. Lots of things have happened, and I'm still in the thick of my final year project, but it's (mostly) coming to an end mid-Feb! Thought Id do a little post (mainly for me and the 4 followers I have) on my current WIPs Ive picked up, and what I plan to be doing. Personal update under the Read More.

First of all, I have like a million art and fic WIPs related to Immortal Desires and Perfect Match 2. No biggie, I just have... lots and lots of thoughts about Poly!PM MC and Poly!ID MC. Yes, this means I do have a fix-it fic about how that end of book confession goes... maybe even a rewrite of the entire last chapter... but hold that thought!

Now that I'm a little bit more versed in Twinery (see second point below for why), I'm a little bit tempted to make my rewrite interactive as well. Just text tho lol, but either way, an ending rewrite is a ways away, and also I kinda wanna wait till Bk2 is released to really start working on it. (I didn't realise ID was GOC so you bet I binged it within three fuckin days when I did. It's a bloody amazing book. I also finally finished my playthrough of PM2, so that explains why these books are giving me immense brainrot.)

SECONDLY, 'A Date with Bryce Lahela' is about halfway done! I'm not exactly sure if I've ever shared the idea publicly to the fandom, but this is the basic gist of it: Date is an attempt on my end of trying to recreate those TF Date Specials, but with the one and only Bryce Lahela. Cool, right? Unfortunately, it's only in text format, bc I'm learning Twinery Harlowe.

What's left of Date? When can I play it/a demo? Pronoun choices, smut scenes and equipment variations, a whole activity is uncoded, trackable achievements, load/save functionality, and after that it's just making sure the whole damn thing works. As for a demo... ;) .. ... Joking. The entire predicted gameplay is short enough to not really need a demo, so there won't be a public one. I aim to have this done by, god, hopefully end of the year? This damn thing's been sitting in my WIPs for two whole years, so I would really like it done and over with, haha, but it's a lot of work for one person.

THIRD, I have a 1.2k word rewrite of Foreign Affairs Ch12 Tatum diamond scene that has been in the making, and rotting away in my WIPs, since 2 April 2021. Honest to god, it's a little bit of a vent fic, and I've been slowly chipping away at it whenever I've been stressed. The rewrite isn't because I see the scene as bad, but I do wish there was a liiiiiittle more hurt/comfort in it lol.

FOURTH, well... I have a few Bryce x M!MC smut fics that, uh, really should be finished and see the light of day. Or, at least escape the WIP folder and experience the cool damp corner of my tumblr blog.

So, that's my WIPs so far! Personal stuff under the read more.

----- ----- ----- -----

My 3D animation final year project wraps up a couple of weeks before my graduation. I knew the workload was going to be larger than what I've had with my previous 2D animation projects, but boy it really hits different when you're actually working on it. I won't go into it too detailed, but if you're curious, feel free to ask about it!

My 2023 started off as a... mixed bag. Low lows and high highs, I guess. Won't go into it, but yeah, not great.

Me having Date in semi-working condition is purely because of a NYE group gift exchange and my hubris at making a working product within 2 weeks. It was... yeah, no, I've been humbled, but man was the result such an endorphin rush.

I've also got really into making custom content for The Sims 4, so that's where the bulk of my free time went, really. I'm active in a few TS4 discord servers, so if you see mothy-simmie, say hi :P

[weareunderthesameskies]

watched the new thor!!! wanted to get my thoughts down so um read on for a long, rambly review (first bit is non-spoilery, the last half is more specific about plot things)

first off, it was hilarious, because of course it was. definitely had some strong, loud belly laughs. that's the mark of a waititi movie. entertaining, colorful, no doubt.

secondly, it's worth considering that it's incredibly difficult to top ragnarok. taika has said he used a lot of his bangers of suggestions on ragnarok since he didn't expect to get hired again. so in my view, love and thunder isn't better than ragnarok (since that one did so many new, innovative things in one stride) but it's a different flavour of thor that i definitely enjoyed. it doesn't seem like taika himself thinks this is better than ragnarok (based on how he promotes it and carefully talks about 'topping' ragnarok - he's mentioned that that was scary for him to pursue), but he seems to have made peace with it.

gorr was an incredible villian. bale plays him so sympathetic and creepy, and he has his own humor whilst also being a heavy heart for the emotions of the film.

i enjoyed having more time with valkyrie, and i friggin love that val and jane have some bonding time.

on that note, it seems like an absolute blast to have been on set. like, the entire crew always talks about the mood that taika brings, playing music, improvising, and for this one, having all their kids on set too. waititi's, hemworth's, portman's, bale's - like, it's really unheard of to make a family movie in that way. coming from a film background myself, i feel like most movie sets have this air of "importance" to them, or that actors suffered "bc its worth it if the movie was good in the end" but often times the movie isn't even that good to defend the shitty feeling they might have had meeting on set. it means a lot to me that taika is not only shaking up the content of what we see in hollywood (more queer & indigenous for sure) but also behind the scenes trying to change what it means to work on movies. you dont have to suffer for art he says, it's playful, its joyful, it's ridiculous, it's fun. and i respect him so much for that. so it does bring me a certain happiness thinking of the movie when i know they had so much fun making it, and i feel like that shines through.

love jane as mighty thor, love how she both got more emotional depth, comedic moments and most importantly - agency.

i do wish valkyrie had a more in depth arc - she's probably the only major character of the cast (thor, jane, val and korg) that i was kind of unsure of what changed for her during the movie. i know she had an arc planned that they kind of scrapped again? but from interviews it kind of sounds like that was also tessa's wish? in any case, it was missing.

but still, the ratio of 2:1 with jane, val and thor is not something that goes over my head lightly. do you know how friggin rare it is to have a superhero line up in a final battle with two female characters where it's not like, a gratuitous "look, the women are here" sequence? literally lets just compare it to the first thor movie, where it was only sif as the "one woman in the group of men, look, we're diverse". it felt organic, it feels good that valkyrie is thor's bff and also that he makes space to fight side by side with jane. it just. it feels good man.

more overall iffy things:

the structure is very straightforward. combat, break/talk, combat, break/talk. it gives space for the characters to elaborate their feelings, but it's also very predictable rhythm, especially towards the end.

there's a sequence with thor interacting with heimdall's kid, where thor bickers with axel. the sequence is that the kid is briefly introduced where they say he 'used to be called astrid, now wants to go by axel' and thor uses essentially his deadname, before eventually agreeing to calling him axel, and then uses axel for the rest of the movie. it's a liiiiiittle uncomfy bc of the "this is dumb, thats not your 'real name'" rhetoric, but the humor mostly sticks on a 'dumb thor' moment (think of all the bickering with hulk in ragnarok. he's a really stubborn, dumb character at times) but it cuts a little to close to home for trans people i imagine. on the other hand, canonical trans kid of heimdall? and like, if that's how some people are introduced to the idea of using a new name, the interaction still ends with thor consistently using it and never bringing it up again. so the moral is still, even though thor is dumb and stubborn, he's still respectful enough to use axel's name. but i felt umcomfy and i fully understand if some people overall dislike that sequence.

!!! MORE SPOILER SPECIFC THOUGHTS HERE !!! !!! seriously, spoilers spoilers !!!

going back to gorr, i loved the ending, i cried at the ending. how unbelievable is that, that he lets thor adopt his daughter. also, played by hemsworth's daughter? that's just too sweet.

love and thunder. like that was just. so good. "sweet child o mine" YAH. thor DILF era lets go. i think it's kind of interesting how a lot of MCU characters have started to consider the impact of children more. ever since tony with the "i love you 3000" and recently wanda's quest for her sons. i liked that gorr's mission was never "destroy the world", it felt much more like "i hate the privileged 1%" (which, you know, thor literally agreed with. refusing to be king, sharing the might thor titel with Jane, k i l l i n g Zeus. COMRADE THOR). it was a relatable villian goal, and when he then got the magic wish to bring back his daughter he took it and i just.

i love how thor's major super power is empathy. he cares so much for humans, his friends, even his villain's daughter that he raises as his own. how crazy is that. the biggest muscle is indeed the heart.

going back to jane and her agency. it's sad that she dies at the end, yes. technically, if we wanna put those glasses on, she dies and thor has character development from it, which, you know, could be one of those classic "sigh" moments. this feels different for a few reasons though. one, she choose it. and not in a spur of the moment, she was safe, away from the fighting, and she choose to put herself back in. thor begged her not to, but she said it's my life, i want to decide what happens and that's fucking powerful.

secondly, she had cancer and that was not just something to brush over. her journey was sad and serious, and this is one aspect of taika's filmmaking that shouldn't be ignored. people die in his movies - odin, the planet of asgard, but also in his others - hunt for the wilderpeople, jojo, boy - death is a really important part of the stories he tells. for natalie, getting to play jane with true emotional depth must have been revelatory for her as well. she's not just a brush over love interest, she's a complete character.

if you read all that, you get a gold star, well done. give me a lil exclamation mark in the comments or something and hit me up if u wanna talk or discuss more.

[fanfic-inator795]

Speculation on the new eps:

Sidekick Ahoy!: Sooo, I guess they’re going with Jim just being a bit off his rocker and not straight up evil, which is nice. Like other people have said, pretty much EVERY idol the boys and April have had have turned out to be evil, so it’d be nice if Jim was still a decent guy, if a bit unhinged, and didn’t just try to kill or use them all the time. If anything, maybe the Turtles interacting with him more will help bring him back to reality a bit, since he’s pretty isolated. Plus between Dr. Noe, The Purple Dragons, Baxter Stockboi, Tim Dunkman and now whoever is selling the brownies in the next ep, the Turtles could reaaaally use some more human allies. So, yeah, please don’t make him evil

Anyway, as for the plot, I could see it being another sort of Brother VS Brother thing like in ‘Lair Games’ since they all wanna be his sidekick, and in the end we get that classic “I wanna win but not if it means giving up my family” moral - which is fine! Nothing wrong with a familiar story or lesson, and I’m sure the animation and jokes will help keep the ep entertaining

The Hidden City Job: YAAAAAY MORE HIDDEN CITY! Also SENOR HUESO! I feel like we haven’t seen him OR Run of the Mill in ages (which is funny cause in season 1 we had like three eps in a row of Run of the Mill, lol). Anyway, I have no doubt that Piel’s ‘redemption’ is just a scam to get his skele-bro’s help, and I have a feeling that it’s gonna sort of parallel the Draxum storyline where Hueso’s mindset ends up kinda being like Mikey’s, where you should try to help family when you can. However, this ep will add to that mindset “yes, you can try to help family, but you can’t change them - not unless they want to change too.” And it kinda ends ambiguously, hinting at both a Draxum relapse and redemption, where Leo’s not sure which Draxum’s going to choose, but remaining cautious nonetheless.

OR maybe Piel wants to change but is struggling, and it becomes a question of “do you make this person’s problems your own because you care about them/they’re family, even when those problems can cause other issues?” and “can someone really change their ways?” Maybe seeing Piel struggle and eventually make a choice for the better convinces Leo that there’s a chance Draxum could feel the same - that there’s a part of him that would be willing to change and start to be better. Either way, I’m excited! ^v^

Always Be Brownies: OKAY CAN I JUST SAY SOMETHING? I just... It was already great seeing the turtles treat April as an equal/their big sis, but seeing Splinter treat her like a daughter and a partner in crime is just an absolute treat ^v^ They’ve got a great dynamic, work together really well, and I love how much they care about and trust each other, having each other’s backs while still snarking at one another. 

Anyway, I have no idea who these “dangerous middle school brownie sellers” could be. Like, are they gonna be actual girl scouts selling brownies *thinks of that one iCarly subplot with Spencer and the fudge balls* or is it going to be a bunch of rogue bake sale moms who’ve gotten their hands on mystic ingredients? Honestly, I don’t know which one would be funnier, so either way this ep will probably be a good time ^v^

Mystery Meat: When I saw that Draxum would be living and working near April, this was EXACTLY what I was hoping for ^v^ Also I’m glad that April can get a spotlight ep without any of the turtles - I think that kinda proves what a strong character she is, that you can just throw her into any situation and it’s still interesting and fun. 

Anyway, I’m wondering if this ep will actually further or develop Draxum’s character any or if it’ll just be a farce. ...Honestly, as much as I’m on TeamDadxumRedemption, I’m fine with either. It’s still early in the season, and after only getting 8 Draxum appearances last season, I’m just happy to see him getting more screentime ^v^ Though I wonder if the mystery meat monster will be done on accident or on purpose, what motives he had behind creating it if it WAS on purpose, and if seeing human kids scared/at risk of getting hurt up close will kinda get him to see that “okay maybe this is kinda messed up”. 

He always talks about humans either in a past tense or in an ‘in general’ way, like they’re some giant force or giant army. So, seeing their day-to-day lives up close and kinda humanizing them (pun unintended) in his mind could help in the long run of making him see that yeah, though humans are awful sometimes and yokai should be allowed to live on the surface, maybe you shouldn’t just go around killing/mutating them either because they’re still alive too, and they aren’t too different from the kids of the Hidden City. 

Anywho, those are just my thoughts. I’m excited about The Hidden City Job and Mystery Meat the most, but they should all be pretty fun and enjoyable, I would think. The only thing that’s missing is an update on the Foot which, I’ll admit, is starting to feel just a liiiiiittle bit overdue at this point... But Rise is usually pretty good at picking up plot points and not letting them hang too long, and we saw that one screenshot of Raph and Foot Lt. on DVE’s twitter, so I’m guessing we’ll finally see the Foot again and learn what they’ve been up to in episode 8 or 9.

[mobius-prime]

144. Sonic the Hedgehog #79

The Discovery

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: FRY Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Welcome to the beginning of the Sonic Adventure adaption! Now, as you know, the world of the comics is very different from that of the games, which means right away we're faced with the task of finding a way to fit the story of the game into the world of the comic. We have three stories ahead, two of which do just that, and the third of which is the conclusion to the long-standing Tales of the Great War arc. Time to dive in!

Sonic awakens from his sleep early in the night to find Nate tapping away at his computer, explaining that he's trying to hack into Robotnik's computer network to spy on his current doings. At that moment he's successful, and finds a worrying message about invading the Mystic Ruins, prompting Sonic to immediately take Nate to warn the king about this situation. Apparently Nate is even more familiar with what's going on than he let on, telling the king that Robotnik appears to be invading the Hidden City of the Ancients.

Despite Sonic's worry, the king insists he's fine and merely tired, walking off to get some rest, which Sonic does as well. The next morning he awakens to find his house full of his friends, all working together to cook a huge breakfast, as they've all been chosen by the king to go to this city and act as official liaisons from the Kingdom of Knothole. Amy, being part of the group helping to cook breakfast, has a fairly reasonable request given the situation.

Now, can we just recall that Tails joined the Freedom Fighters at its inception when he was like, four? I get that the others tried to shelter him from dangerous missions and whatnot even back then, up until the events of his miniseries, but now Amy is asking, based on a precedent set by someone her age, if she can be allowed to prove herself as well, and immediately finds herself getting shot down. Honestly, I'm with her that they're being totally unreasonable here.

While everyone packs up for their trip, the king and Elias watch from a high up walkway among the trees, noting how happy and carefree Sally seems at this moment. The king is happy for her, wanting her to have a little bit more time to feel happy before he tells her about her mother's worsening illness, and is surprised when Elias already knows due to overhearing him and Dr. Quack talking about it previously. Elias then suddenly gets an epiphany, realizing there may be something he can do to help cure the illness, and rushes off as a suspiciously Overlander-looking group of girls fawn over him from the sidelines. (I know they're not Overlanders, but damn, they could have at least added extra fur or something to make it more obvious.)

Oh, boy…

The Chaos Factor

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Knuckles has found himself plagued with dreams lately - nightmares, more like - of a strange, watery being absorbing the Master Emerald, the Floating Island falling into the sea, and everyone he cares about on the island perishing because he failed in his duties to protect them. He wakes up with a jolt, still perturbed by what he saw in his sleep.

Well, that's probably not good. Man, Knuckles must be the heaviest sleeper of all time if he somehow slept through his entire island the size of Delaware plunging violently into the ocean from eight miles up. Back in his HQ, Robotnik is ecstatic at how well his plan has gone so far, conveniently recalling it all in detail for the benefit of us readers. Apparently, he found all his information on an obscure data file that his previous self overlooked, about a mystical being with immense power made of living water, locked within… yeah, you thought I was gonna say the Master Emerald, right? Nah, man, this is the comics! No one's in the Master Emerald except ol' Mammoth Mogul. The being is locked instead within a black emerald hidden in the Mysterious Cat Country, which if you'll recall all the way back to the map in Sonic Super Special #2 is located at the equivalent of South America's east coast. Robotnik had his roboticized slaves excavate the emerald for him and smashed it to let the being out…

Well, he let something out all right. He decided that looking for seven Power Emeralds was totally lame, and instead decided to fly to the Floating Island, where he found himself briefly surprised to see Echidnaopolis filled with, well, echidnas, since his data files indicated Knuckles was the only echidna on that island. Yeah, your files are a liiiiiittle outta date, buddy. He broke through the force field erected to keep intruders out of the Chaos Chamber with ease, and shattered the Master Emerald before anyone could retaliate, flying off with the pieces as the island fell from the sky. But remember who we just said was in the Master Emerald in this universe?

Once again, with feeling: oh, boy…

Tales of the Great War (The Conclusion): Life Under-Ground

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Chris Allan Colors: Frank Gagliardo

It's time to finally finish up this story, still being told by Jules and Bernie around the campfire to their eager listeners. When Uncle Chuck left to start up his chili dog stand, Bernie still tried to reason with him that he should try to find a cure for her husband's robotic state, but he was firm in his feelings of failure and refused to try anything for fear of making it even worse. Frustrated, Bernie tried to take matters into her own hands by heading to the lab, only to see Julian using her husband as a lab rat. She yelled at him for being so disrespectful, but Julian, true to form, had other plans.

That's honestly horrific. Chuck went looking for Bernie when she went missing, and found her as a robot within the lab, where Julian "helpfully" informed him that she tried to mess with the roboticizer but foolishly set it off while inside. Of course, this only ensured he was even more guilt-ridden than before, and now he faced the daunting task of trying to raise Jules and Bernie's infant son, trying to figure out how to explain to him when he was older what had happened to his parents. In the end, we already know that his explanation of them being "lost in the war" stuck with Sonic throughout his life, and that his uncle was roboticized as well before he got any real answers. When Chuck regained his free will, however, the first thing he did was take a power ring to a handful of other roboticized individuals within Robotnik's factories, including Jules, to help them regain their free will as well. He built a small secure base within the sewers of the city for his new spies, and soon freed Bernie's mind as well, leading to a tearful-in-spirit (because they're robots, remember) reunion between the two. They both told Chuck not to tell Sonic of their state, wanting him to remember them as they had been when he was young until the war was over, which as we know kind of ended up being a bad idea given how betrayed Sonic felt as a result. But hey, everything is all right now - well, I suppose not everything, since Chuck is a slave once more…

Two problems - first of all, y'all had months to dig into this zip disk when Chuck was still a free man, during the period of peace in between the two Robotniks. Why the hell didn't he help you decode it then? Second of all, this disk is never mentioned again in the comic. They just completely forgot about it and never brought it back. I suppose it was full of nothing but him talking about random goings-on within Robotropolis while he was a spy or something, since it ended up not being important at all. Ah well!

[starlightwrites]

42 for either lola and mac or rae and garrus~

Hello @sumomoblossom77!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompt List!

Shopping

Officially, they were there to resupplyafter spending some time tracking down information for the Crucible.Officially.

Unofficially, Rae had received a comm fromJack, who happened to be in Citadel space on leave from training her babybiotics, and had immediately taken the lift down to the CIC and approachedJoker in her pajamas to tell him to turn the rig around. Apparently, the pilotwas more than happy to steer them towards shore leave instead of some far-flungrock in the middle of an asteroid field. Garrus leaned in the doorway as shebuilt her argument, having followed her thinking something might be wrong. Raedid not often stop to explain what she was doing or why. Either way, Jokerwasn’t going to argue and even EDI seemed on-board. By the time they went backto bed, they were on course, and when he rolled over in his sleep to feel hermissing, he woke up to Rae standing in the middle of her cabin in a towel,digging through her closet for a set of civvies.

(Continued under the cut!)

She bumped his hip with her own as theydisembarked and headed for the Silversun strip. Apparently, Jack had alreadymade plans for herself and Rae. They said goodbye outside one of thestorefronts and Rae took off, practically skipping. It wasn’t every day shetook some down time to see a friend. Nice to see her smile like that.

Garrus took the elevator to the refugeecamps set up on the docks. The Turian camp wasn’t holding up too poorly. Duringhis last visit, he had sent requisition lists to the Turian embassy, and itlooks like the supplies had made it. Mostly medigel and those modular temporaryhousing units, but it was better than nothing. His contact in the docks,Kyrdos, assured him that they were finding space for everyone. Still, in theshort time Garrus was there, the community on the docks accepted three newrefugees—two from Palaven and one from Epyrus.

He decided to give himself a littlebreather as well, since the camp was in good shape and Rae was still with Jack.Figured he’d earned it, given all the overtime he’d been putting in fighting Reaperson-foot and running back and forth across the Galaxy. Besides, he’d better takehis own advice, or he’d never convince Rae that running herself into the groundwas a bad idea.

The Zakera Ward was still half underconstruction, but it was in far better shape than anything on the Tayseri Ward,and at least the café he liked was still up and running. After the attack, itwas one of the few places that still had halfway decent Palaveni food. Not likeTurians were known for their cuisine, but sometimes it was just nice to get alittle taste of home.

He snagged lunch and took off for the Commonsto browse the shops. That was one of the things he’d forgotten he’d liked.Sometimes, it was just nice to browse the stores on the citadel and look at allthe newest mods and tech. Besides—practical applications. He wouldn’t buyanything he wouldn’t use, and tuning up his gear would be a nice way to winddown back aboard the Normandy. Alittle treat, since there was almost never time to tinker anymore.

Kassa Fabrications had the same crapinventory they’d had the last time he’d stopped by and checked, so that was abit of a bust. Nos Astra had a couple of Rosenkov armor mods that lookedpromising, but weighing out the specs, there really wasn’t a vast differencebetween the mod he was eyeing and the one already installed on his chestplatethat boosted his shields, so it wouldn’t be worth the price, especially notsince shortages had made supplies so damned expensive. He did pick up a littlesomething for his rifle at the Cipritine Armory, but they didn’t have anythingelse that really caught his eye. In fairness, Rae’s entire crew was routinelyoffered gear either before or right as it hit the market, so he was ahead on alot of the trends already. Afterall, everyone wanted the Shepard team to havethe latest tech; how else could she be expected to pull off the impossibleevery other week? He shouldn’t be disappointed, but still. Some part of himmissed the long hours spent building, repairing, and modding. Quiet, except forthe whir of the ship in the background. Rae had suggested that he take uppuzzles. Maybe he would.

He didn’t have high hopes for AegohrMunitions, but he stopped by anyways, just in case. Their catalogue had reallybeen hit by the shortages; it looked like most of their side-arms had beensold-out completely, and they only had one low-end scope in stock. He was aboutto walk away from the kiosk when he spotted it. The Kuwashii Visor. Fullycustomizable, average battery life of eighty hours (Palaven time, though hecould figure out the conversions to Earth time she asked), multi-window readoutwith enough memory to store a library of vids and presets to track heatsignatures, heartrates for up to twenty targets, environmental factors,radiation signatures…you name it, the Kuwashii can trace it. At least, that’swhat the advertisements said. The screen panel was a little big for his tastes,but Rae. Rae had been looking for one. She’d been eyeing it for weeks—saving upwhatever pay the Alliance sent whenever she could. With the lines ofcommunication all shot to hell, though, she hadn’t gotten much. The Normandy tended to get by becauseeveryone was willing to fund the Shepard crew now that they finally believedher, but that didn’t leave a lot of credits left over to buy herself thespecific gear she wanted. For now, they were getting by on donations half thetime.

The human model was a little more expensivethan the Turian model (figures), but still affordable. He wouldn’t have muchleft over after, but what else would he spend it on anyways? This was tooperfect to pass up.

He asked the Salarian behind the counter ifhe could have it gift-wrapped, but he wasn’t surprised the answer was “no.” Nota concern. He’d gotten good at making-do.

Garrus beat Rae back to the ship andscrounged around in her cabin, looking for something to wrap the box in. It wasan Earth custom, something Rae had showed him. Humans liked to cover theirgifts to each other in brightly-colored paper. All they did was tear the paperapart, but if it made her happy, he’d do it.

She didn’t have much. Paper was an Earthexport, and Earth wasn’t in a place to be exporting frivolous junk, so heimprovised and wadded the box up in a clean towel. Close enough.

It was late enough anyways where he decidedto stay on the ship and wait for her to return. Besides, that gave him some timeto tweak the barrel on his rifle with the newest mod he’d snagged. He spent afew peaceful hours by himself before she pinged his omni. Universal message tothe whole crew. Returning to ship. Departurein Tminus 1 hour. All aboard. Liara sent back affirmative. James messaged andif I’m running late? Shepard’s second message to the crew read Anyone running late can join the Keepers. Hearthey’re looking for people to clean the vents. James messaged back On my way.

At least everyone was in good spirits.

He waited patiently for her to make it upto her cabin, sitting way too stiffly on her couch. She probably made therounds first. Check to make sure everyone makes it back aboard safely, set acourse with Joker, check her messages with Traynor. Sure enough, right as theywere taking off again, the door to her cabin slid open and she stretched, yawningwidely as she kicked off her boots.

“Did you have a good time?”

She grinned at him softly when she droppedonto the couch.

“I did,” she said. Rae looked like she wascovered in at least eight new bruises, just based on what he could see of herarms. “Remind me to take you to Arimax at some point.”

“The arena?”

“Yeah. They let us go a few rounds forfree.” Rae slumped and exhaled at the same time and for a second, it lookedalmost like she was deflating. Still, even with her eyes half-closed, nothingcould have wiped that contented grin off her face.

“How’d you do?”

“High score! Jack used her biotics to breakoff a panel from the arena and use it as a shield while we were running. It wasbrilliant! Probably not a legal maneuver, but brilliant!”

Warmth spread through the pit of his gut asshe described it, grinning widely to show all of those blunt little teeth. Thrilled.Rae was absolutely thrilled. She detailed all eight bouts in a meticulousplay-by-play. Every step, every strike, every high-five. There was nothingbetter in the world than hearing her laugh hysterically through a descriptionof how she drop-kicked a broken turret into a mock Cerberus mech and blew it topieces.

Next to seeing Jack, his present was goingto fall a little flat, but regardless, once she settled a bit and after shetold him all about the match where they faced a team of computer-generated Shepards,he pulled out the little box from under the coffee table and set it on her lap.

For a second, she just stared. Then,realizing that there was a box under the mound of towel he’d given her, shelaughed hysterically. Not the reaction he’d expected, but still good.

“Is this my face cloth?”

“Well,” he sighed. “You said humans wrappresents, but I couldn’t find any paper.”

That sent her into another spiral ofgiggles, and she laughed so long he was a little concerned he’d done somethingwrong. When she finally calmed down and swiped the tears from the corners ofher eyes (a good sign, she assured him; a good cry, not a bad cry), she peeled thetowel back from the visor. It took her a minute to read, her eyes dartingback-and-forth as she skimmed all four paragraphs of text on the side of thebox. One she set it down, though, she pushed herself up into his arms andkissed his mandible.

“You got this for me?”

“This is the one you wanted, right?”

“Yes!” She turned the box over in herhands, grinning like her face would split in two. “This is the exact one I wanted.How did you remember?

“I’m a genius, clearly.”

“Garrus.” Her arms wrapped around his neck,pulling him down far enough where she could press her forehead to his. “Thankyou for thinking of me.”

“Well. No problem,” he said. Garrus brushedsome hair back from her face. The pad of his thumb brushed over her constellationof freckles—tiny splotches sprinkled over her cheeks and nose. “You’re alwayson my mind.”

[starlit-mansion]

the purple man himself William

First impression

god, it's been a LONG time, i can't remember anymore! i distinctly remember recounting the MCIs in detail to a friend back in the pre-SL era (I hopped on board a bit before 4), so i think i just thought he was a good villain. I absoLUTELY missed vincent era because I was not keyed into the fandom then and i'm glad i did. (i was more of a phone guy girlie back in the day. i still am but there's just not that much content of him obviously)

Impression now

To quote corv's tumblr sexyman tiermaker catagory: my wife (derogatory). Idk i just think there's a very interesting collection of traits there and there's a lot you can do with him, and I like the practice of reinterpreting him through different lenses. Is he an ascetic creator of ghoulish dollhouses only pretending to care about anything besides his craft? A mad scientist tearing the boundaries between life and death apart at the seams? A chuckling lich who masterminded his own resurrection? Manic pixie nightmare man? Erudite sexually fluid serial killer who happens to be a chronic furry? Yes. Yes he is.

Favorite moment

Can't beat the final cutscene in fnaf 3 imo. get springlocked idiot. That, or the Pizza Party in Help Wanted, but my feelings on the steel wool era are.................................... mixed lol.

Idea for a story

Someday, in some form, I would like to work out exactly how I think Cassidy ended up being the first victim and how the hauntings started. I have a lot of feelings and ideas that are sometimes very contradictory to fanon (and sometimes not), but I'm trying to keep the fizz inside the soda can there so I won't crack it open further.

Unpopular opinion

Leaving aside The Discourse for different discourse............ i don't think Orange Guy in the Midnight Motorist cutscene is William, for many tedious reasons, not least of which is that i don't think messing with the color theming is a meaningful red herring. (Long story short, I think it's the backstory of one of the dead kids showing how they could be lured away, and part of why the incident went unsolved... He was targeted for being in an abusive home and the murder was committed right before a torrential rain swept away much of the evidence. The death cutscenes were always very... abstract, and the general theme in FFPS was making it more obvious how brutal and cruel and *intentional* they were without being lurid about the actual killings, and to me, taking time to be like "uhhhh william drinks. he's kind of a mess lol" doesn't work on ANY narrative level, and feels. idk TO ME it feels just a liiiiiittle weird to put that into scott's mouth as a recovering alcoholic who never particularly shows any sympathy for william otherwise even if blah blah blah i think he's a shithead for being a pro-life conservative. *vine voice* That's my OPINION, and something in this mess is definitely unpopular.)

Favorite relationship

I do really, really like the mirrored Cassidy and Andrew storylines between the game and ff books where they're both driven so far into the dark by what he did to them that they can't let go of their revenge even as it hurts themselves and increasingly more people, that's such an interesting dynamic. And also the things Charlie/The Puppet say to him in UCN is... much to think about.

Favorite headcanon

I'm not going to go for anything wild here... I like the headcanon of Elizabeth genuinely being his favorite, I do not see TSE trilogy William treating her like shit.

[thesnug]

In which I am overly polite while giving birth

So here we go, my birth story. If you’re pregnant or squeamish, don’t worry: this tale isn’t gory and there are no horrifying disasters!

I  started having contractions at 6am. They were evenly spaced, which means it’s the real deal (rather than what’s known as toni braxton contractions). But they were 11 minutes apart, so I let Mark sleep for another hour while I lay there, staring at the ceiling and thinking about how different everything was going to be soon.

Once Mark was up we went for a long walk in Prospect Park, and found ourselves in front of the tree planted in memoriam for our friends’ daughter. I’d looked for it in the past but thought it was in a different part of the park, and it felt important and special to have found it on this day. We said hello and stood with the tree for a while, feeling feelings.

The day progressed and the contractions continued but got more sporadic, and we figured maybe it was a false alarm. In the evening, we headed out for Father’s Day dinner with Mark’s parents. The contractions started getting worse, but my English side reared its stiff upper lip and I soldiered through, squeezing Mark’s leg under the table during every wave. The waitress was rude, the steak Mark’s mum ordered was overdone, and I was in lots of pain.

“Mark, can you maybe just time a few of them?” 

Another steak arrived, also overdone; back it went a second time. (Sidenote, The Farm on Adderly has really gone downhill.) 

“Okay, yeah... you’re evenly spaced and 4 minutes apart.” 

“Oh. Oh dear.”

Mark’s parents dropped us off outside our building and went to find parking. Just as we were about to enter we heard:

“Mark?”

“And Katie!”

We turned around and saw a fellow that Amelia dated quite a few years before, whom we hadn’t seen since. We said all the usual things, It’s been so long, Do you live near here, You never run into anyone in New York, What a funny thing, but when it seemed like he was settling in for a longer chat the poor fella was met with:

Pro tip: This is a really effective way to get out of an awkward conversation.

So anyway, fast forward to the wee hours of the morning and Mark’s parents had gone home, our friend Danielle who’s training as a doula had joined us, and the baby was doing his best to blast his way out through my lower back. Over the phone, the midwife said this meant he was probably facing up, instead of down, and suggested all sorts of undignified things to get him to flip.

So I did all sorts of undignified things, and had lots of contractions while Mark and Danielle squeezed my hips to help with the pain, and after every single contraction I said “Thank you!” to them as cheerfully as I could, because during our birthing class the instructor had said “You can tell you’re in labor when you stop saying thank you” and I’d thought to myself, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!”

We’d got to the point where we were supposed to go the hospital (contractions 3 minutes apart for over an hour) but the midwife was being kind of cagey and kept suggesting we stay at home just a liiiiiittle longer. 

But eventually she grudgingly said we should come in. So we leapt in the car, sped over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan... and arrived at the front desk at the exact same time as another woman in labor. Which, in retrospect, is what the midwife had been trying to avoid, because that woman was on her second birth and it was going quickly; so what happened next was me sitting completely alone in triage for half an hour, followed by several hours in which Mark and Danielle and I dealt with my contractions and wondered where the hell the midwife was.

This was not the best experience. (But not a horrifying disaster! I promised!)

Fast forwarding again, and now it's 5 in the morning (maybe?). The other woman finished birthing her dumb baby, the midwife's shift ended, and a new midwife arrived. Things started to look up.

Midwife The Second kept tabs on me for a while but finally said that I wasn’t progressing as quickly as she’d like. She gave me two options: either she could break my water manually, or I could get an epidural, which would hopefully relax my body enough to allow the baby to turn. My immediate response was pretty much the same one I’d had to most of my pregnancy:

But it turned out that wasn’t one of the options. So I said “Break the waters I guess?” because Ina May had promised me that natural birth was an orgasmic experience and epidurals meant certain doom; and the last few contractions had been better, so I was hopeful that the baby had turned on his own.

The midwife went off to get ready, and just then the baby decided to make it very clear that he had NOT turned. (I still said “Thank you” to Mark and Danielle for helping me get through it.) This also made me realize that after 24 hours awake and 12+ hours in real labor I was completely, utterly exhausted.

So when the midwife came back I said “Epidural please!” and she said “Oh good, I was hoping you’d say that.” Which, coming from someone who advocates for natural labor, I took as a good sign I’d made the right decision.

(Quick sidenote: Can I just say how grateful I am to have been given this choice and had my wishes respected? I have heard so, so many stories from women who’ve felt powerless or ignored during the birth process, including my own mother when she gave birth to me. I don’t want to say I’m “lucky,” per se, because having control over your own body should be a guaranteed right for all women and not a matter of luck; but I do want to acknowledge my privilege and my gratitude.)

Two bickering Russian (?) anesthesiologists came in and did all the things they needed to do, and for some reason yelled at me for a while about my outlandish (yet true) claim that I’d once woken up while under general anesthesia. But their magic worked and I could have kissed them, except I was too busy falling asleep for four blissful, beautiful hours.

I woke up to find Mark and Danielle passed out on the floor, and then I ate some jello maybe? And a bit more time passed, and then the midwife said it was time to push.

The moment she said that, every phone in the room started buzzing with a flash flood warning. And as everyone gathered around and I started to push, the heavens opened in a massive thunderstorm. The timing was perfect, and I felt like this:

So I pushed and pushed, and about 400 people crowded in to witness the excitement, and time lost all meaning. I do remember that at one point I was very hot, and I had been very hot for all of eternity, and would be very hot for all the rest of eternity, and then a nurse said,

“You look hot, do you want me to help you get this robe off?”

I said Yes please, and she helped me get it off and asked, kindly but confused, “Why didn’t you ask me to take it off earlier?” And Mark said, “She can’t help it, she’s British.” And the nurse said, “Well you’re giving birth to a New Yorker, you’re gonna have to get pushier!” 

So I got pushier (see what I did there?) and pushier still, and after no time and all time, but in reality about an hour, the midwife said “One more big push!” and Rowan came screaming out into the world.

About that: I’d had very few expectations about birth, but one thing I was sure of was that there was going to be a big dramatic pause and then a yell, per every television show birth ever. Instead he came out screaming; so really he has been subverting my preconceived notions about parenthood from that very first nanosecond.

They plonked the little mewling kitten alien creature on my chest, and my second expectation was promptly shattered. Before he was born, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when I held him for the first time, but I’d prepared for two possibilities: one, that I would be filled with overwhelming love like the perfect Hallmark mother, or two, I wouldn’t feel anything at all right away. Mostly I’d prepared for that second possibility, with the understanding that that was a-ok and I shouldn’t get alarmed, and feelings would come naturally with time.

Instead, the feeling I had is hard to describe but was more of an “Ah, here he is.” Not in the “I’ve been waiting 9 months for this” kind of way; instead, it felt very much like he had always existed, and I had always existed, and we’d just finally gotten to the point where our timelines intersected. Like when you’re reading a novel with two characters leading separate lives, and their storylines finally converge. But also: like we’d always been together, somewhere, and our dumb bodies had just finally caught up; and now we get to be together in this version of reality, for as long as our dumb bodies will allow it.

And that’s my birth story.

[dreamersscape]

Heyy! Robin Hood Secret Santa again! How are you doing? I hope your week is good? I wanted to ask a few questions so I can make your present just right, if that's okay! If not, no worries. So I was wondering, who are your favourite characters and why? What are your feelings on winter? If Robin Hood is your number 1 fandom, what's number 2? Christmas? xoxo

Hi again! I’m doing really well, I’ve just been very busy, and yet it looks like I’ll be even busier this week. But it’s mostly gonna be Christmas busyness, so I’ll allow it. :D

Of course I don’t mind answering your q’s! Let me know if you have any follow ups or if you need a more in-depth answer with anything. (I’m also sorry if my lack of prompt response has caused a time crunch for you.)

The Gang is where my heart lies, character-wise, for Robin Hood. Specifically, Allan and Djaq are my most favoritest ones of the bunch, but Much and Will are incredibly dear to me as well. There’s probably no good, succinct way for me to explain why I love Allan a Dale so much and this will likely sound more than a little sappy, but let’s give this a go. He is my enormously dunderheaded deeply flawed miscreant son who nevertheless deserved to live a long happy life with his outlaw-comprised found family. I have A Lot of feelings about his character arc of going from someone with off-the-charts self-preservation skills developed from believing to survive you had to look out for yourself above all else and all others to coming to care so much about the friends he stumbled into making that he would (after many bumps along the way) sacrifice his own well being to try to help them even while believing they thought the worse of him. Among those friends he found someone who he admired so greatly, regardless of his having such a radically different mindset than Allan, that he would want to emulate him, change who he was, and have him show Allan he could have a purpose for his life beyond just surviving. Whoops, there go my Allan & Robin feelings again. Also, I quite like his supremely fluffy hair.

I like Djaq because… well, she’s just, The Best? I relate to her love of science,  books, and desrie to help/heal people physically via medicine as well as mentally/emotionally. There’s a reason why my queue tag is a riff off of her “I believe you’re a good man, Allan a Dale” line. :)

I also relate to Much a whole bunch, minus his being an extrovert and my very decidely introverted ways. We’re both extremely Hufflepuff-y, would cook or bake you something to eat as our go-to comfort method and would gladly be your Mom Friend. Will is my favorite passionate crafty craftsman. Fun fact: Will was my favorite character the first time I watched season 1 before my brain contracted Allan a Dale disease. I love that Little John is everyone’s dad. He’s the best Big Bear/Papa Bear ever.  I’m very fond of Robin, apart from his dynamic with Allan, there’s our mutual love of puns and his relationship with Much. I adore all Marian and Edward scenes with my whole heart.

Relevant ‘why I love my faves’ posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

(Sorry, I got a liiiiiittle carried away. *shuffles feet* Disregard as needed.)

I have very positive feelings towards winter! Maybe because I’ve never experienced some of its downsides, like driving in the snow, but I much prefer winter to summer, and the only part of winter I dislike is when it wants to be super cold without the presence of snow. That seems unfair to me. ;)

LOL. If there is a Christmas fandom, I really ought to be a part of it, it’s true! I have a hard time ranking things generally, but probably my second fandom of choice would probably have to be Criminal Minds. It’s still airing, it has a good-sized ensemble cast, which I’m a fan of, has my dearly beloved found family/team family trope, and I even wrote a little ficlet for it once upon a time! I have been previously very into The 100, but sadly, while I will likely continue watching when it returns, I think it’s best I emotionally distance myself from it quite a bit, so it’s not going to be priority watching for me going forward. I get too angry or upset when I think about it too much. But anyway! A runner-up to CM could be TURN: Washington’s Spies. It had its series finale over the summer, and while I was disappointed Anna and Edmund were never reunited and I couldn’t for the life of me explain what the point was of Anna’s Season 4 arc, pretty much everything else was thoroughly enjoyable. In case this is helpful to you in any way, my favorite characters on Turn were Caleb Brewster and Mary Woodhull, and on Criminal Minds, Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss are my top 2 darlings.

ETA: Oh, also Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a good choice for secondary fandom too! I’m reeeeally digging what they’ve been doing this season. I am very solidly team fitzsimmons here. :)