#so the other solution - my current solution - is to keep him on ice

[vagueiish]

figures mere moments after i’m like ‘nope, not gonna resurrect that character’ i find a picrew that had me like ‘oh, actually, he might look okay in that……maybe i can indulge a bit…….’

[p0ckykiss]

lovesick - lee haechan

summary -> haechan is sick, and you are more than happy to take care of him.

warnings -> friends but they have a crush on each other😱

haechan laid in bed, sniffling. he had pulled the comforter back onto his body and curled up.

on the TV was his favorite show, he was currently rewatching it whilst he fought off his cold with rest.

lord knows where he had caught it, but it was unfortunate. days after he had decided to start his trek to college by moving out, he was sniffling and sneezing.

thankfully, he was able to postpone the college signup and tour, and get help moving into his apartment.

“i thought I told you to cover up with the sheet, not the comforter, hyuck,” you slowly opened the door, holding a plastic bag. “i only left for fifteen minutes.” you pulled the thick blanket off of him and folded it at the end of the bed.

the mask covering your face made it hard to see your expression, so haechan returned eye contact with his big, beautiful, brown doe eyes. “i’m cold.”

“i know you get cold, but we have to bring your temperature down. and you refuse to eat ice cream”

“speaking of temperature, I have to take yours again.”

he sat up and pulled his knees to his chest. “because you want me to eat the kind that doesn’t taste as good.” haechan really wanted you to take off your mask, because.. he just wanted you to.

you were gorgeous, and admiring your face could probably cure his sickness.

you shook your head. “i bought an alternative,” a few treats were pulled out of the bag. “ice pops. they’re cheap, and they are basically shaved ice. you can eat as many as you want, anything for the sake of you getting better.”

the thermometer that you had also pulled out of the bag was placed in haechan’s mouth.

haechan pouted while it took his temperature, because of how babied he was right now. it was to get him better faster, but he was supposed to be an adult, moving out into his old place. yet here you were, taking care of him.

“did you get any rest?” you held his face in your hands. partly to just coddle him further.

the thermometer beeped, and you took it out.

102 degrees.

still lower than the previous day.

“no.. I feel like my insides are on fire,” his voice was nasally and cute, the entirety of his nose red and irritated.

“and that’s what the ice pops are for, hyuck,” you peeled off the seal and handed it to him.

he took it from you, and stuck it in his mouth. immediately, his body felt a little more at peace, and his muscles relaxed.

earlier, he tried eating ice.

all that did was hurt his teeth. this was a happy solution to that madness. “how many did you buy?” he mumbled around the pop.

“i bought six, because I knew you would like them. they’re pretty big, so it should last you today and tomorrow. and just so you know these aren’t meals.”

“yeah, yeah,” haechan rolled his eyes and looked back at the TV.

“while you’re occupied, let’s take the sheet off of you, too,” you climbed onto the bed and laid next to him, close enough for comfort, but far enough to keep him from heating up. “you need to rest, once you’re done, got it?”

again, he rolled his eyes, but laid his head against your shoulders. his legs were tucked close to his body.

the show was getting good.

even if he was with you, he wouldn’t want to miss any of it - despite the fact that he was watching it again.

the couple in the show were getting closer, and he could actually see their chemistry. “look, look, they-” haechan pouted.

the ending music of the episode was playing, just as it seemed they would kiss. “how long have you been sleeping..” he set the empty ice pop inside the bag and grabbed another one.

best take advantage of this moment. haechan let you rest back on the pillows, curling you into his side as much as he wanted while covering you up with the sheet.

for extra measure, he slipped the mask off, down and under your chin.

“much better.” haechan grinned proudly.

-

nearly two episodes down the line, he felt his eyelids starting to get heavy, and he began to miss a few seconds of the show at a time. as a boring and ineffective part played out, his eyes began to shut. just then, you decided to wake up.

“hyuck..” you groaned, sitting up. “you didn’t even take your medicine..” it took you several moments to realize that your mask was off, but when you did, you playfully slapped his arm.

“stop, stop! I just wanted to see your face,” haechan pouted for the nth time this visit. “i’ll take my medicine if you give me a kiss.”

you pulled the medicine out of the bag and measured it out. “if you get me sick, I will be so mad at you, lee haechan, because some of us have to function in the real world, as fully functioning adults.” you held his chin and gave him a prolonged peck before handing him his medicine.

“hey!” it was hard to tell what part of his face was blushing, and what was red from his cold.

the way that you nonchalantly acknowledged the feelings you had for one another is what really sealed the deal for him. “thank you,” haechan mumbled as he took the medicine.

“i’m going now, before I catch more germs than I can afford.”

he stood up and grabbed your hand. “goodbye.” haechan’s eyes were wide, and he was feeling much bolder now that he was satisfied and not feeling like his insides were an inferno. he wrapped his arms around your torso and laid his head on your shoulder.

“goodbye, hyuck, take care of yourself while i’m gone, okay?” you rubbed his back and kissed his head. “my phone is always on if you need me.”

haechan retreated back to his bed, where he listened to you leave, before pulling out his phone to text you an unnecessarily long series of heart themed emojis.

[verinarin]

what about veritas making excuses just to hold your hand ? or just to touch you in some sort of way bcs he cant ask directly

this man is a menace because he knows very well that you absolutely believes in whatever he says and he abuses that fact to the max _:(´ཀ`」 ∠): | Fluff featuring worried Veri !!

support me on ko-fi ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

You have been summoned by Veritas to help him with his newest research, ever since you accidentally broke a lot of his expensive vials you have been working for him to repay the damage, let’s be honest here you still don’t understand why the hell are those small pieces of glasses cost more than one month of your rent !

What you didn’t know on the other hand that he doesn’t care about those vials, yes they were expensive and he doesn’t mind the fact it’s broken, he was planning to buy a new one anyway, but you didn’t need to know this fact of course

You knock exactly three times on the glass door of his lab, of a sudden the door dissipates into thin air, you still don’t know what kind of magic he use for that damn door-

“Alright I’m here Veritas, what do you need me to do ?,” you huff as you see him in the corner, his brows furrowed as he concentrates on the vial that’s in his hand

“Come here and hold this for me,” he says curtly, you quickly oblige and hold his vial for him, what you don’t realise is how cold the room is, your hand starts to tremble because of the temperature “Stay still fool !,” he grunts as he holds your hand tightly with his own

He can’t help but feel something weird stirring up inside him, an annoying feeling that ails his heart, the softness of your skin against his own and the warmth it emulates, he quickly brushes the thought

His hand must be cold that’s why he enjoys the warmth of your hand instead, he justifies. You kept your mouth shut and your hand stable as he used his other hand to drop two drops of a foreign liquid he had to concoct before, however, you suddenly sneezed and the one drop of the liquid made contact with your skin

Suddenly you felt tingles around your body, Veritas quickly grabbed the vial and placed it back in safety “You’re an absolute idiot!” he yelled as he dragged your body toward his own, he swiftly examined the skin that had contracted with the liquid, you never see his this worried before

“I’m sorry t-the room w-was t-too cold,” you mutter as you keep your gaze towards the floor, you can’t help but feel like you’ve currently in an industrial freezer ever since that liquid touched your skin

“What do you feel right now ?!,” he replies as he brushes back the hair on your forehead to check your temperature, you’re ice cold this is a good sign for him, at least now he knows what you need is just a simple cup of herbal tea he could brew, all of the symptoms  you showed so far doesn’t seem to be extreme, it was a drop of a coolant solution after all

“So coold, really cold like someone just threw a bucket of cold water,” your body trembles, within a second he wraps his arm around your waist, while resting your head on his chest, “To share my body heat with yours is the most effective way to combat this,” he lies, yet you don’t need to know that do you ?

It’s all a blur from then, because somehow now you’re at his apartment his bed to be exact. Covered by layers of blanket your head rested on his chest as he holds you close, he feels like a heater underneath all of the layers he puts over you both, he feels rather awful to help you in this way but you seem to be feeling better after he brewed you that herbal tea

According to his deduction, you should feel a lot better after drinking it but you ask him to share his warmth again, he wouldn’t let the chance of being so close to you to wasted of course, “Feeling any better ?,”

“Yeah it’s warm and toasty here, I’m sorry to burden you and I hope you don’t mind the close proximity,” you huff as you look up towards him

He just sighs before smiling, “I’m actually quite fond of it now,”

He has always been fond of it ever since your hand accidentally brushed his own

[siddyyyyyyyy]

A Night Out

pairing: roommate!Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick x reader

summary: Gaz, your roommate, takes care of your drunk self after a nice hang out

wc: 2.8 k

warnings: alcohol consum, just a bit of fluff, no y/n used

a/n: This is my first time posting on here (also first short fanfic), I'm new and I'm still trying to understand how tumblr fully works, so I'm a bit nervous to post this. Also, english is not my first language, so I apologize for any grammatical errors, but that's all! enjoy :3

The start of the week was definitely not the best one you've had. First, you came a little late to work which already ruins the whole week for you. A costumer was being rude to you at the cafe shop you work at, saying you made his poor iced coffee wrong and went on to insult your whole family for it. As if you knew how many ice cubes he needed in his iced coffee in exact number, like every other well trained barista.

But on the bright side, your coworkers and manager are luckily nice people, who kicked him out of the store. They tried to cheer you up for the rest day of work, which somehow worked really great. Sadly, the rest of the week went on very slow for you. For some reason that rude costumer managed to make the few days of work hell for you, even though you had nice people around you.

Maybe it was because of the hormones, your upcoming period making your mood drop overall, for no reason. It happens every month and you considered taking a day or two off and just isolate yourself in your shared apartment... yeah, that's not possible. Kyle, your roommate, would definitely check up on you every ten to fifteen minutes if you suddenly decided to rot in your room for no apparent reason.

It's not like you never spoke to him about your troubles or worries, it's the opposite. You would almost always try to tell him if there's something bugging you, or would complain about something currently going on in your life. You are roommates after all and you always listen to his worries, even though he doesn't really share as much of himself to you. Much like other times, you complained about your current situation to Kyle over phone, while he was jogging back home from his morning run. You'd often do this whenever you have a chance to call him during your shift at the cafe and just ramble all the while he would try his best to listen or give you some reassuring words. Even though it often ends in just him teasing you, if it's not something really bad.

»You know what he did? He told me, my mom probably didn't even raise me right just because there were two ice cubes 'too less', can you believe that?« You complained over the phone while you stood outside at the back of the shop, having a small break since the cafe isn't busy at the time.

»What?« Kyle dryly chuckled, »And what does he mean with some ice cubes 'too less'?« He asked genuinely confused while keeping a steady pace in his jog back to the apartment.

»Yeah- he tried to say that there wasn't enough ice in his iced coffee. He insisted on calling the manager but she kicked him out.« You explain with a small smile, being somehow amused at the situation after all. »Jesus, some people complain about the most simple stuff... How do you keep up with that? Must be hell.« Kyle is always amused but mostly impressed that you can handle such costumers and always asks this question even though he already knows the answer to it.

»Cigarettes.» You answer him casually, it being the solution to most of your problems. Kyle only lets out a small chuckle to that before you both just go about your day after the short phone call.

The next few days of work weren't much better for some reason, again your mood swings are worse for some reason. The work shifs just seemed to be longer and you didn't feel like doing your hobbies anymore like before. It's only in the middle of the week, you noticed your period arrived. Your earlier theory was correct, it's just the hormones acting up. Next, were the cramps. You've always had bad cramps in your lower stomach and back but you still managed to go through that work week. Now you have two full days of free time, not knowing how to spend them.

But luckily, your great roommate Kyle came up with an awesome idea that you just couldn't resist. Going to the local bar. Relieving some stress while talking with your great friend over some shared drinks definitely sounds good after such a week like yours. So, you both went to the pub nearby, Kyle and you sharing some stories that happened over the week from work, him mostly telling you about the gossip on the military base he 'accidentally' overheard. You, telling him about the different costumers that went into the shop or how your coworkers were mostly as lazy as you.

It was the second beer you bought for yourself, much like Kyle's second glass for tonight. All the talking made you forget of how much you were actually drinking, but you thought you could handle it tonight. Kyle noticed, telling you that you both should slow down on drinking. But of course, you didn't listen. Taking shots and mixing up different sorts of alcohol made you more than just a little dizzy, having to lean against Kyle's shoulder most of the time while talking some nonsense. He knew where this was going since the moment you shook your head, stating you could 'actually handle alcohol pretty well'. His more smart decision was to keep an eye on you and not drink as much as you did. While you both sat at the bar counter, you leaned against him for most of the time, not really able to keep your own stability even while sitting. Eventually, like every other time, you started to giggle over the smallest things and smiling stupidly at Kyle for no reason. He found it rather amusing but also a bit concerning. How is he going to get you back home? You can't even sit normally on the bar stool anymore. After some several attempts of trying to get you to leave the bar, he succeeded. Now, by your side and his arm around your waist, keeping you straight while walking slowly, he is regretting his suggestion to go to the pub. But since he's a good roommate and friend, he will take care of you.

»Kyle.«

»Hm?«

»Are you mad?« You ask him with a slight frown while staring at the ground on your walk back to the apartment, being dead serious all of a sudden. He stays quiet for a moment which makes you believe he really is mad at you.

»What made you think that?« He asks back and glances at you, mostly focusing on not letting your trip over some small rocks on the pavement. You let out a small sigh and look up the sky, making you stumble only slightly.

»Hm, you- you're... quiet. Why?" You manage to ask him now, him being able to understand you since you're trying not to slur your words together.

»I just need to focus. You'll fall if I don't help you.« Kyle answers without much change to his tone, keeping you steady while walking. You stop walking and look at him, trying to focus your eyes on him more clearly.

»Am I... 'M just a burden..." I mumble out and sigh deeply before your feet decide to become more wobbly than they already were. If he didn't know already, he knows now that your mood swings get worse when drunk, this being the evidence. It takes everything in Kyle not to sigh out of frustration and instead grips your shoulders in both his hands so you're facing him directly.

»Listen, you're not a burden. You're a great roommate, now let's get back home. It's late.« He tells you softly even though he sounds tired himself and tries to take care of you now that you're drunk. You hum in acknowledgement and lean your head against his shoulder, closing your eyes for a moment and letting his cologne fill your lungs. He stays like that for a short while before he gently manages to get you to walking the rest few meters back to the apartment with him.

Kyle didn't complain about you needing to hold onto him the whole time, even in the apartment when you're both finally back inside. But you can't help but feel guilty over this, not being used to such nice people like him even though you both know each other for two years by now. He walks you back to your room that's opposite from his, sitting you down onto your bed. Before you could collapse onto it, Kyle makes you sit up straight for a few more moments.

»Okay, we need to take your make up off, you're wearing... mascara, right? Or that eye-liner, I don't know.« It's true, you wore eye make up today like any other day and it's not healthy to sleep with makeup. You know better than to destroy your skin over being lazy in taking your make up off.

»Anyway, can you even take it off yourself? Or do you need help?« He asks now, searching for something that removes make up in your room. You watch him, a silly smile covering your face once more at the sight of him.

»I can... do it. Wipes.« You say, your words more slurred together again. That catches his attention and he turns to look at you, processing what you just said.

Make up remover wipes. Right. He finds them shortly after at your desk and hands it to you, letting you take care of your skin. It takes you a while since everything feels funny and heavy right now under your intoxicated brain. Eventually the make up is off, looking still a bit messy but at least it's off now. He huffs out a small sigh, catching a glimpse at the time. It's past two AM. The sound of a body falling onto a mattress catches his attention again, looking at you. Laying on the bed, your torso laying on the side while your legs hang off the bed. Eyes closed, the make up remover wipe still in your hand but still in your clothes you went out in. Kyle doesn't really know what to do and decides to make sure you're comfortable. He quickly geos to his room to get one of his hoodies, taking the pj pants off your chair and places it next to you on your bed.

You wake up from a rather gentle shake on your shoulder, seeing Kyle in front of you. He tries to get you to put on the clothes so you're more comfortable, it taking you some time to process everything fully. Eventually, he left you alone to chang into the comfortable and soft clothes, falling asleep right after.

Kyle successfully managed to get you home safely, take your make up off and even change into more comfortable clothes, now both sleepimg peacefully in their seperate rooms. You don't know what time it is, or how much you slept and let alone remember how you got home, but now you're hunched over the toilet seat, throwing up the aftermath of drinking too much just a few hours ago. It's embarrassing, trying to throw up quietly so your roommate doesn't wake up, having closed the door to the bathroom. However it didn't do much, Kyle still heard it somehow. A soft knock against the door is heard before the door opens only a tiny bit, your back to him since you're in the middle of throwing up into the toilet.

»You okay?« He asks in a groggy voice but it's apparent that he is concerned. You only manage to groan in response before you have to vomit again and it sounds absolutely gruesome. That's enough for him to walk into the bathroom and help you out as much as he can. He rubs your back gently but firmly before he holds your hair back, not saying anything much. It feels even more embarrassing to you now that you accidentally woke him up, resulting in him helping you out, not saying anything. The throwing up process lasts a while longer before you feel well enough to speak. However, you don't want to. You're too ashamed.

»I told you it was too much." He mumbles before he lets go of your hair and just sits beside you with crossed legs, looking at your groggy state. You manage to sit beside him and glance to his direction for a moment, not sure if you should say something too.

»Sorry.«

It comes out quiet and raspy, feeling the worst you've ever been due to the vomit that just came out of your stomach and the hangover that's already starting to build up over your whole body. He notices that and if he wanted to be honest with you, he almost threw up while holding your hair back too, because of the whole thing.

»Nah, it's fine. Just... do you feel better now? You certainly look... wrecked.« Kyle states while still staring at your face, the badly taken off make up and messy hair, aswell as the eyebags are saying a lot about how you feel now. Honestly, he expects you to hit him for that comment, but you don't. You feel too weak for that now. You just shake your head and sigh, rubbing at your scalp.

»Hm... no.« You don't know what else to say, it's just too embarrassing at this point now. Kyle stands up and offers you a hand which you take, standing up aswell. You're way slower than usual, the hangover taking it's tool on you. Now, you're lent over the sink and wash your face off with cool water with Kyle holds your hair out of your face again.

»I'm gonna bring you water and you lay down, okay? I'll be right there.« He tells you reassuringly after he got you back into your room and sat down. You're honestly very grateful for him, having a lot of luck with such a good roommate like him. After a few moments he's back with a glass of water, handing it to you. You gladly take it and chug it down, making your sore and dry throat at least less uncomfortable now. His eyes meet yours, he's clearly tired but refuses to leave your side until your good again. Your slightly shaky hand puts the glass back down onto your nightstand and you look to him once more.

»I'm fine... just drank a bit too much.« You tell him and he bites down an amused smirk at your words.

»Yeah... anyway, it's six in the morning, go back to sleep. Call me if there's anything, right?« He says, but luckily you don't notice his more amused tone at your state. You nod and he leaves your room, ready to sleep again. You cuddle into your blanket and notice just now that you're wearing his hoodie, having no idea how you managed to get it. But it's soft and smells nice, so you fall asleep pretty fast once more.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇　Later that day, you woke up pretty late. In the early afternoon, to be more exact. Carefully, you managed to get into the small kitchen that's connected with the dinner room. Kyle was sitting in the living room, watching some nonsense reality show on the television. He catches you standing in the kitchen, looking at the pancakes that he made earlier for both of you. You don't notice him, your hangover still being there but luckily less aweful than earlier. His bigger hand gently touches your shoulder and makes you almost jump out of your skin.

»Hey- it's me. You okay now?« He asks with a small chuckle and leans against the counter to look at you, crossing his arms over his chest.

»Yeah... better.« You answer him and make yourself a coffee before you stuff a pancake into your mouth.

»Mhm, and you do look better. Was it worth it?«

»What?» You ask back muffled since you're still chewing the sweet pancake, looking back at him.

»The amount of alcohol you took last night, since 'you could handle it'.« He explains with an amused smile, seeing the eye roll of yours that he looked forward to seeing again.

»Shut it.« You wave him off with your hand before you sip on your coffee, sitting down at one of the chairs at the table.

»How did I even get your hoodie? Is that even yours?« It's your turn to ask him questions and look to him with a more confused expression, not able to remember anything after your seventh drink.

»You don't remember? I just gave it to you since I didn't want to look into your closet.« He just didn't want to look into your closet since he felt like invading your privacy with that, also not wanting to know what you're possibly hiding there. You furrow your brows slightly at that, not sure why he wouldn't want to look into your closet. »Okay... thanks.« The coffee tastes really good now after vomiting in the middle of the night and sleeping for more than eight hours, making you not want to question anything further.

[thespiritssaidso]

Mistakes Happen (And That's Okay)

Summary: Shawn and Juliet are having a baby. Juliet thinks that a small gender reveal for just the two of them would be a cute idea. But of course, mistakes happen. 

Notes: okay I’m not sure if anyone has seen it (if not, pleaseeee do), but there’s a TikTok of a couple doing a gender reveal the wife made and she messed up with the cake. The whole thing is super sweet, the husband comforts her and comes up with a solution and yea 

Anyways, I basically just based this prompt off of something that happened irl. Because it was cute and sweet and fluffy. So. Yea. It feels kinda cheap to me to do this instead of making up something on my own, but currently my imagination is at net zero. 

And yes, I know that Shawn and Jules canonically don’t want kids. I just thought this was a cute idea. 

Flufftober day 12: “I’ve Got You” (extra prompt)

—————

“This way, come on! I’ve got everything all set up!”

“Hang on, wait wait wait! Geez, Jules, I didn’t know you could go so fast in heels.” 

It was an especially sunny day at the park, or it seemed that way at least. A crisp breeze blew fallen leaves around, yellow and orange and red swirling through the air. The sound of children running around the small playground a few hundred yards away fell into the background as Shawn and Juliet walked – more like speed-walked – in the opposite direction, off into a small field surrounded by trees spaced out a few feet from each other. 

Earlier, about an hour or so ago, Juliet had enlisted the help of Gus to set up a little something for her and Shawn. A checkered blanket she’d borrowed from Carlton, a basket filled with champagne and two champagne bottles, and a homemade blue cake that Juliet had baked from a box and covered in white frosting and topped with blueberries and strawberries. 

The whole time they’d been setting up, Gus had been mock-complaining and making quips about how a gender reveal was the whitest thing Juliet had decided to do. 

See, Juliet was about four and a half months pregnant, long enough to have gotten an ultrasound from the sonographer to tell her what the baby’s gender was.  When she got the news, she knew Shawn would be over the moon when he found out as well. 

So that was why she’d arranged all of this (with Gus’ help of course). It took a lot of effort to keep it a secret from Shawn, but all he had been to figure out was that she was planning a gender reveal party for the two of them. 

Right now, Juliet was leading Shawn over to the little setup. Of course, she’d had Gus stay behind to watch over it and make sure that no one messed it up or stole anything, and then texted him when they were on their way. 

Soon enough, they had reached the little setup Juliet had worked so hard on. It looked better than she remembered it had, somehow. Even though it looked exactly the same. Maybe it was because she was with Shawn this time. 

“Oh look at that! There’s a blanket and a basket and everything!” He pointed at everything. 

Juliet nervously wrung her hands. “Do you like it? I didn’t want to do too much, but I still wanted to make it special-”

“It’s perfect! Jules, this is great!” Shawn sat down on the blanket immediately and tried to scoop some icing off the cake with his finger. 

Luckily Juliet was fast enough and stopped him with a quick and gentle slap on the wrist. She didn’t want him to accidentally reveal the cake color too soon. “Shawn! Not yet!” 

He dramatically drew his hand back and held it. “Ow!”

Juliet only smiled at Shawn as she sat down beside him. “Okay, so I already told you this in the car, but I just want to go over it again. We’ll take this,” she leaned past him and reached into the basket, pulling out the champagne glass, “and then use it to get a piece of the cake out. And whatever color it is will be the baby’s gender.” 

“Sounds good to me, Jules. Do you want to do it now?” he asked, reaching for the glass. 

“Yes! Yes yes yes! I can’t wait any longer.” Juliet was so excited. She knew Shawn had said that their baby’s gender didn’t matter, that he’d love them all the same no matter what. But of course he’d always ‘slip up’ and call them a boy.  

Together, they pushed the champagne glass into the cake to reveal- 

“Green? Isn’t it supposed to be… not green?” 

Juliet stared at the cake, heart sinking in her chest. No. No no no. What- how- no, she had- but- she had been certain she’d used blue dye, the batter had been blue and so had the outside of it right before she’d cover it in frosting… 

Then she remembered that the batter had been from a yellow cake mix. The food dye must have changed it into green when it went in the oven, but the outside remained blue while the inside went green. 

A million emotions ran through her already hormonally imbalanced mind, most prominently confusion, distraughtness, and anger. She knew that she was making a big deal out of nothing, but she couldn’t even think of that at the moment. She’d messed up, that’s all that mattered to her right then. 

Juliet couldn’t help the laughs that quickly turned into sobs. How could she ruin something so simple? One color, that’s all she had to do. But apparently she couldn’t do that right, either. 

Shawn noticed the quick change in her emotions. “Hey, woah woah woah, it’s okay! It’s alright, come here, Jules.” 

Tears clouding her vision, she fell towards where she heard her husband’s voice and felt him catch her. “It’s- it’s not supposed to be green, it’s- it’s not-” she hiccuped out, burying her face in his shoulder. She could feel the minimal makeup she’d put on for this smear.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you. I’ve got you. It’s just a cake.”

But it wasn’t just a cake, not to Juliet. It was the meaning of it, of the surprise it was supposed to hold. The surprise that Shawn still didn’t know. 

“Jules. Hey, look at me.” He said gently. 

Juliet sniffled, and did as he asked. Through tears, she saw her husband’s face, and it was so full of love. “Hm?” 

“It’s all going to be okay. Look, I still don’t know what the baby’s gender is. Nothing’s ruined, you’re okay.” He looked around, and Juliet could see he was thinking hard. “Uhh… oh! Here-”

Taking off an arm that was wrapped around her, Shawn leaned over to the cake and grabbed a strawberry and a blueberry. 

Juliet was confused now. “Shawn, what…?” 

“Okay, here, hold these.” He handed her the pieces of fruit, and she took them without a word, slowly understanding what he was trying to do. “You choose one of these, and I’ll close my eyes and you put one of them in my mouth. Strawberry if it’s a girl-”

“-and blueberry if it’s a boy?” Juliet finished. 

“Yes! Yes, exactly! Here, I’ll turn around.” 

And he did. It looked a little uncomfortable, having only his torso turned in the opposite direction while his lower half stayed seated where it originally was. 

She giggled at the overdramatic act. But it worked, it definitely made her feel better about the whole situation. 

Juliet already knew which one it was, so she popped the strawberry in her mouth. When she’d finished chewing, she said “Okay, I’m ready.” 

It was easy to see how hard Shawn was trying not to smile too big, and instead keep his mouth open for Juliet to put the chosen fruit in while one hand was clamped tight over his eyes. 

Juliet, carefully placed the blueberry in his awaiting mouth, anxiously anticipating his reaction. 

It wasn’t instantaneous. He had to sit for a moment. But when he realized what it meant, his hand fell from his face. Juliet had never seen his eyes so big before and full of joy. 

“We’re having a boy?!” He practically shouted in excitement. 

Juliet laughed again, and nodded her head emphatically. “Yes!” 

“Oh my god, Jules!” 

And they were both laughing so hard now, joy oozing from the couple as they hugged and fell into the grass behind them. 

“We’re having a boy!”

—————

Notes: sorry for posting kinda late, my energy’s been running low lately

ao3 link

[kata-sans]

Raising Stripe

Chapter6

Kenny yawned as he dragged the trash bins to the curb. He had to stay late last night to clean up the mess in his private lab. The dumb guinea pig had ruined six months of research. He hoped to never see that rodent again. If he never saw another guinea pig it would be too soon.

With the bins placed safely on the curb, Kenny turned to return to the lab. He stopped at the sound of screeching tires. Kenny barely had a chance to turn around before his face collided with a fist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“If you're gonna keep greeting me with a punch to the face, I'm gonna limit your visits.” Kenny tried to lighten the mood as he held an ice pack to his right eye.

“Shut the wisecrack McCormick, you caused this mess and you need to fix it, now!” Craig snarled impatiently. He looked like he was itching to throttle the lab assistant. Kenny decided it was best not to push his buttons further.

“GAH! STRIPE SETTLE DOWN!” Everyone's attention shifted to the real issue on hand. Tweek was currently holding a baby as if it were a ticking bomb. The baby in question didn't seem to appreciate his caretaker's grip and kept squirming.

Kenny set the ice pack down and approached Tweek. The baby in Tweek's arms noticed him and immediately reacted. The baby tightened his grip on Tweek and attempted to growl at him. Kenny snorted at the baby's clear disdain for him.

“Well if I didn't know better, I would think you were truly Craig's kid. Let me guess, you didn't escape the mess you caused in my lab without spilling some on yourself.”

Stripe gurgled with indignation. He didn't like how the blonde strang man was talking to him in a mocking tone.

Kenny reached out to take the baby into his arms. He ignored his screech in protest as he led the couple to his private lab. He strapped the baby on a table and performed a physical exam.

Tweek and Craig watched from the side as Kenny poked and prodded the infant. Their faces expressed their concern and impatience as the blonde scientist made notes and checked an X-ray of the baby. After thirty minutes Craig's patience expired and he exploded, “Well!....”

Kenny looked up from his microscope and answered, “Well what?”

“Can you fix it or not!” Craig boomed.

“Look man, your guinea pig destroyed six months of research. I have no way of knowing what all he got into when he trashed my lab. The goal of my research is to grow human organs for transplant patients, but your guinea pig didn't just grow extra body parts.” He pulled out the X-ray images to show the couple. “If you look closely, you can see all the organs in his body are fully human. His blood work came back and his DNA has mutated to match human DNA.”

Kenny watched as Tweek and Craig's faces dropped in despair. He said as he continued his speech, “ Listen guys I’m not saying it's impossible, but it definitely won't be easy. It's gonna take me a lot of time to figure it out but if you trust me I will do my best to fix things.”

Craig and Tweek seemed more relieved after hearing Kenny's assurance. They squeezed each other's hand in support and looked towards the baby still strapped to the table. The baby was clearly uncomfortable and communicated it through screeching.

Kenny scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper as he spoke, “Okay, I've got all the data I need to get started on a solution. You guys can go home. If you notice anything unusual, report it to me immediately so I can examine him…”

“WAIT!” Tweek interrupted, “What are you talking about, isn't Stripe staying here?”

Kenny gave him a dead stare. “Dude I can't watch him while I'm working on a solution to this problem. Last time he stayed here he ruined 6 months of work. Besides, if the professor catches wind of this he’ll revoke my access to the labs and I'll never fix your guinea pig. You two are gonna have to take him home with you if you want me to work on this.”

Tweek looked at Craig with apprehension. They were not prepared to care for a baby. It was never in their plans to care for anything other than a guinea pig.

Kenny could sense their fear and decided to keep talking, “I can see you guys might need some help, luckily I know a guy that can get you everything you need. I'll send him a message and explain the whole situation. Although you may want to stop at a store on your way home, cause Stripe just made a mess of my table.”

The couple turned in horror to see the naked infant peeing on the table.

Ch5

Ch7

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 8 - Legends (2/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

I really enjoy how Zhao (Azula) is a much smarter villain in the live-action than he was in the animated series. While I do love them both, leaning into the Fire Nation not just working off brute force, but rather being strategic and clever with their attacks was a great choice. The Ice Moon caveat for the spirits and Kuruk's spirit knife made the world feel bigger to me than just having the moon and ocean spirits conveniently always sitting there to kill by any means. I don't think the live-action team went in with the idea that the ocean and moon spirits being mortal was 'a plothole to fill' like some claim (yet again, always jumping to the least charitable interpretation of the live-action rather than spending three seconds to think about what it ADDS to the story to flesh that part out), I think they used it to seed a lot of lore and worldbuilding while also giving reasons as to why events played out the way they did.

Like I said in my post about episode 6, it makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense.

The fire sage being the one to explain the spirit oasis and the origins of waterbending to Zhao was a really cool change! It shows Zhao formulating his plan rather than having it just told to us like in the animated version - it includes the lore behind the ocean and moon spirit without making it so obvious that that's the solution to their problem, it introduces it as the problem and we have to work our way to the solution instead of it just being given to us. The fact that the sages still know and revere (even though they're using it to form an attack plan) the histories of bending is a nice touch. Especially the older sages, they remember the old ways and stories and don't discount the power of the old tales like younger people might. It doesn't stop them from falling into fascism (it stops some, but not all), but it does add layers and nuance to their world view rather than the very surface-level 'all others are bad, we don't pay attention to them' view that was shown mostly in the animated version.

Kuruk appearing to Aang to warn him was super cool!! I like how past Avatars can appear to their current iteration (not to mention they were right outside his shrine) to warn them of something and having it be Kuruk's knife that he can feel added a lot. It's another instance where the Fire Nation can turn anything into a weapon against the world - the weapon Kuruk forged to PROTECT the world from evil spirits and keep the world in balance is now being twisted and used by the Fire Nation to hurt the good ones and throw the world out of balance. Just as Zhao and the Fire Sage took a beautiful story about the creation of the Water Tribes and twisted it into something to harm them, they're taking a weapon of protection and making it a brutal weapon against the light.

UUUGGGHHHH Zhao and his twisted 'justifications' as to why killing the moon isn't actually all that bad. "Killing the ocean would deprive people of their lives - I'm not a monster!" of course he wants a world to rule, so he can't kill them, only fully subjugate them and wipe out their culture! See, they will get to live under his amazing rule, why would he deny them that opportunity?? Watch closely, everyone - that's the reasoning a lot of fascists give when they start trying to eradicate cultural practices - they argue that they're leaving the people alive, so it's not actually bad! We're just stripping away their identity and replacing it with our own! Save the man, kill the savage and all that.

"The Avatar's power is great, but it pales in comparison to the elemental spirits" SUCH GREAT FORESHADOWING WITHOUT GIVING IT ALL AWAYYYY!!!!!!! Also a great way to show the power scale of the world - as powerful as Aang is in the Avatar state, the spirits are the OG - especially the elemental ones. Aang ISN'T the most powerful thing in this world. It sets up how they're going to defeat the fire nation army without Aang in control of the Avatar state really well! They're leaving breadcrumbs rather than telling you the plan in a monologue or just randomly deciding to join with the ocean spirit - a power that hadn't been discussed at all in the animated show.

That Momo fake out death was CRUEL!!!! He just saved a girl's life and we think he gave his life to do it!!!! But it was a great way to introduce not only the spirit oasis, but also the healing properties of its waters. In the animated show, that's not mentioned at all until Pakku gives Katara the water vial and tells her it can heal - it's actually SHOWN in the live-action that it's powers are beyond normal healing. Yue's story about her being healed in these waters makes a lot more sense here as well rather than in the animated series where she tells the story once the moon is in trouble. At the time, it seems like it has nothing to do with the immediate danger, it's just a way to set up that she'll give back that life in the end - a quick lore set-up break in the action. In the live-action, it's directly tied to what's happening - she's doing the same thing to Momo that was done to her to save her life. Her connection with the moon isn't relevant yet, so that part of the story is held till later when it is relevant.

Honestly, I think the spirit oasis is much more impressive in the live-action. In the animated show, it's just a small island of grass with a pond - in the live-action, it's a whole valley filled with life. And I love how NO adaptation can resist showing Zuko fire-blasting his way out from beneath the ice - it's just too damn cool to leave out! I like how Iroh is still playing his loyalties close to the chest - he's not going to outright attack Zhao yet, but he'll definitely stall and not help out as much as Zhao wants him to.

Zuzu!!!! Like always, huge shit is happening all around but Zuko still thinks him capturing Aang is the most important thing in the world. I like that they're keeping that narrow focus for him - one of his biggest flaws - that blinds him to everything around him. He's not concerned about saving Agna Qel'a, he's not concerned about saving the spirits, he just wants to capture Aang and restore his place in the Fire Nation.

His face as Katara says she's gonna fight him and Aang agreeing - oof. Here he is thinking he's Aang's biggest threat and Aang is just handing his battle off to Katara. And Aang's sly little 'go easy' that wasn't to Zuko - the poor thing. So we begin Zuko v Katara round 2!!! Back in episode 2 on Kyoshi Island, Katara stood against Zuko - untrained and terrified, but knowing she needed to protect Aang. She was beaten easily, but now, she's had training. She's had experience. She's forged herself into a warrior and she's ready for everything Zuko can dish out. Well, not EVERYTHING as even in the animated series, Zuko does win due to his extensive training, but she puts up a wicked fight!

I am good with the siege only lasting one day rather than several like in the animated version. Though I do miss the 'you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun' line, it does kind of feel like Zuko kidnapping Aang was more to provide a cliffhanger for the end of The Siege of the North: Part 1 rather than a necessary narrative choice. In a 2-part finale, yeah we want a cliffhanger, but since this is all one episode, like I mentioned in my post about how episode flow has to change given the new format, that just wouldn't have worked out as well as a smooth single-night attack. Aang seeking guidance before the battle rather than getting kidnapped mid-meditation I think was a smart move. (I've always felt like that cliffhanger was a bit of an odd choice anyways because they make this huge deal about Aang not being able to find his body if it isn't right where he left it, but then it's…not a problem at all - his spirit just zooms back to his body - conveniently showing the Gaang where to find him and Zuko and nothing actually comes of that 'threat' of him not being able to re-enter his body. I'll talk about Zuko's speech about Azula later when it's brought up and altered in the live-action).

I LOOOOOVE Zhao's little speech here - his ambition to gain status - to become a legend, has led him to more and more dangerous things. He truly believes he could become the new Fire Lord. Iroh pleads with him not to do it, but Zhao is too filled with the desire for power that he's not listening to reason. Even after Iroh's threats, Zhao isn't concerned in the least - he views the threats 'empty' and is so smug about how 'this could still work out for you'. As if Iroh is like Zhao and would cave to any opportunity for power.

Like always, Aang tries to talk his enemy down - he tries to appeal to their better nature, an idea that they wouldn't want to throw the world into chaos. The exchange here is SO FREAKING GOOD. Aang pleading with Zhao that this isn't power, Zhao so drunk on his own importance that he can't imagine why anyone would give up the chance to wipe out an entire race of benders - and Aang knowing exactly what that's like, how horrifically awful it is. But for Zhao, those are only stories - he's never known a world with airbenders in it, but Sozin went down in history for that 'accomplishment' he, himself, can be in the history books along side such a 'legend' with no thought to the actual real, human hurt necessary to get there.

Aang finally tries the last thing he can - making Zhao the same offer he made Zuko: leave the attack behind and he'll go with them peacefully. But Zhao isn't Zuko - he wants more than just the Avatar. He wants to cause pain and suffering and have people look upon him with fear. I think it's such an interesting take to have Zhao, like June, not view the Avatar with reverence. He's bought into the Fire Nation propaganda that the Avatar isn't actually all that powerful - the Fire Lord has taken that place. Even the legitimacy of the concept of the Avatar itself is called into question - after all, the Fire Nation wants all the power and the Avatar would stop them. That's not helping  them, so the Avatar must be useless.

Unknowingly, Zhao has just struck at Aang's biggest fear: while Zhao thinks the Avatar doesn't matter on its face, Aang is afraid that he's not good enough as an Avatar TO matter.

I've seen people confused about Iroh's loyalties and his true goal in the live-action - is he really working against the fire nation or not? And some criticism that it seems like he's helping Zuko capture Aang TOO much/ doesn't stop Zhao soon enough from killing the moon spirit. I'd point them, yet again, to the animated series where he very clearly, in The Waterbending Master episode, tells Zuko "once we get to the north pole, the Avatar will be yours". At the moment, animated Iroh is fully on board with Zuko capturing the Avatar. If he plans on trying to influence him not to turn the Avatar in to the fire lord, it's not even hinted at yet, so I think keeping it up in the air for the live-action is staying true to Iroh and Zuko not being 'good guys' - their goals are still to capture Aang. Live action Iroh even attacks Zhao BEFORE the animated Iroh does! In the animation, Iroh threatens Zhao, but doesn’t make a move until Zhao has killed the moon spirit - in the live-action, he attacks in an attempt to save the spirit. Yet another example of people criticizing the live-action for something even more apparent in the animated series - often because they're thinking of the character 2 seasons from now and what they think THAT version of the character would do and trying to apply it to season 1 when that's not even the characterization the animated show gave them in season 1.

I think the subsequent fight in the moonless night is even more emotionally intense in the live action than it was in the animated series. You can FEEL the terror and SEE people dying as the waterbending fails and the fire nation advance. The way this sequence was shot is honestly amazing - it's not gruesome or violent for the sake of it - it's showing the truth of war and the horrific cost of such an assault. Letting the warriors of the Northern Water Tribe have a heroic stand against the firebenders even when their best resource was taken away was great to see. Giving Hahn and Chief Arnook their moment showed that it truly wasn't just about Aang and his friends - this story is about every single person who stands up to fight against tyranny, no matter the weapon they might wield or power they have.

[yuurei20]

Cater Info Compilation part 2: Family and Food

In Book 1 Cater says that he doesn’t have any siblings, but this was a translation error: he has two sisters. They are why he asks to go to Trey’s house for winter break instead of his own.

Cater says that “I just know my sisters are both coming home. They don’t care if it’s the holidays—they’ll run me ragged anyway.”

In his second birthday vignette it is specified that they force him to carry their shopping when they go out will take hot baths and make him go out and buy them ice cream and have him do their hair while their nails dry.

According to his culinary crucible card, they ask him to cook for them as well. Cater says they are the reason he does not know what it’s like to feel homesick.

In his first birthday Cater explains that every present he has received from his sisters on his birthday “was 100% THEIR aesthetic. Cute stuff galore, and nothing but!…plushies, dolls, perfume, soap…” He does say, however, that “they meant well. And lately, they’ve even started asking me what I’d like in advance.”

In his second birthday vignette he says, that when he has other plans he will refuse them and when they go out shopping they will let him keep the change from their purchases and buy him food, but it is uncertain if the family dynamic is legitimately improving or if he is just trying to lighten the mood so that his birthday interviewers do not become too concerned for his wellbeing.

During the Firelit Sky event Trey insinuates that Cater has “been driven half neurotic”. Cater replies with “I have no idea what you’re talking about”.

Also during Firelit Sky, Cater says that he “would just about die of embarrassment if my sisters saw me while I was hanging out with friends”, directly after inviting Jamil’s younger sister, Najma, out with their group.

Trey calls this a “savage move”, and it seems Cater’s ulterior motive had been the fact that “it’s not every day we get to see Jamil all flustered”.

Cater’s sisters are also the reason behind his uncomfortable relationship with sweet foods.

He explains that both sisters and his mother went through a “homemade sweets” phase when he was 10, and they would “pile ‘em on my plate”, even after he started having a hard time eating them. When he refused, “they’d give me the biggest puppy-dog eyes. I couldn’t take it.”

Cater “soldiered on and ate all I could, eventually ruining my taste for anything remotely sweet”. This is a problem for current-day Cater, who lives in the Heartslabyul dorm (where sweets are mandatory at unbirthday parties) and whose hobby is going to cafes and ordering photogenic food for Magicam.

His solution in the vignette is to invite the player out so that they can eat the desserts he orders for pictures.

Cater is often having to refuse offers of sweet foods from those around him, including awamat from Kalim and apricot jam from Najma.

We seem him enjoy coconut water and shawarma during Firelit Sky and he says he also likes “grilled lamb chops with diabolo sauce” and spicy ramen: "the hotter the spice, the bigger the hype-factor!"

In voice lines we hear about “a bright red, diamond-shaped quiche with habanero peppers inside” that was “tailored” to his tastes Trey mentions Cater trying to get him to buy spices from the Scalding Sands (“I assume he wants me to make some of his favorite spicy foods when we get back”) and Cater refers to himself as “a total spice fiend”.

(The Heartslabyul student who baked the quiche goes unnamed, but there is a part where Trey offers to bake Cater a quiche and Cater asks him to “make sure it’s as photogenic as the tarts!”, so it may very well have been from Trey).

Cater’s dislike of sweet foods comes up in the main story after Riddle’s overblot when he describes Riddle’s tart—made with oyster sauce—as “not half as bad as you’d think”.

Trey reveals that he had previously deduced Cater’s dislike of sweets, which Cater had been actively trying to keep a secret.

In the original game Cater chastisses Trey for knowing the truth but refusing to do anything about it (a significant factor behind Riddle’s overblot), but in the English-language adaptation of the game this was changed to Cater chastising himself, instead.

(This was possibly pronoun confusion rather than an intentional rewriting: in both the manga and the novel, Cater's line is correctly localized as him chastising Trey.)

[ask-carmenpondiego]

Chapter 12: When the past comes back to haunt

The child, no more than 14, watches Carmen from behind the topiary, still cloaked in a pseudo invisibility. This ability made it look like he was part of the background, not just transparent, as if someone painted him. The effect moved with his body, so he stayed rather successfully undetected by normal folks who were not paying attention. Carmen kept her gaze on him and reached out her hand, “Hey, its ok, I won’t hurt you..” As soon as her hand got too close, the child darted off, easily lost in the crowd with his camouflage. “Blendin! Wait!” She cries out, reaching for him. “I just wanted to see you..”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she sat back down at her cafe table, the letter blowing off the book and onto the cobblestone. She picked up the letter and wiped her eyes, opening the wrinkled envelope. She sat and read the letter, written in teenage chicken-scratch handwriting. It read that he read all her letters that she had sent, and that he still keeps in touch with his sister at Warehouse 13. He does not understand why it is taking so long for her to come get them, and that Adora is having a hard time accepting that Carmen loves her at all. He goes on to write about how he got a job as a junior Librarian and he will be training for his own missions in a few short years. He looks forward to all her letters. He even wrote about Adora’s 16th birthday. She keeps the small obsidian dragon statue Carmen had sent still in the box, half opened and left in a corner in her closet.

Carmen frowned slightly, dismayed at how much her daughter sounds like she hates her. Blendin however still has hope to see his mom again, he writes. And maybe she will be able to answer all their questions. He hopes they can be a family again. Carmen smiles at the letter and folds the letter carefully, keeping it in her book as she closes it and makes her way to the alley with the portal. M met her on the other side with crossed arms, “You went over your time, you’re lucky I fuckin kept it open fer ya.” Carmen looked up at him and had a wide smile he hasn’t seen in years. “I saw Blendin. He came and visited me. He knew where I was and met up with me..” she handed him the letter. “Well, not officially, he was hiding from me but he was bold enough to give me this letter and I saw his eyes! He got his special talent I think!” M looked at the letter with mild interest, “Oh yeah? Horse powers or changeling powers?” She punches his arm, “He was invisible but.. not. He used camouflage like a cuttlefish! I barely saw him in the first place! It was amazing! Oh I don’t know anything about him but I’m so proud!” She swoons over the letter, and goes to one of the storage rooms to find a picture frame for the letter. “I need to save this! Ooh I wish I still had some of their baby drawings!”

Over the course of the next month, she kept with her letter sending schedule, but have not been able to spot her son since. One night, as she lays in bed, she starts venting, “He’s getting older, I’m getting older.. Did he think I was too old to be his mom?! What do you think? Did I screw up my only chance to see him?” The covers rustled and down from below her hips, Lekir’s head popped up, licking her muzzle, “Maybe you’re reading too much into it. Relax, babe, let me take your mind off of things.” Her head disappeared under the covers again, Carmen blushing and squirming a little with soft moans. She lifted her head, “What if he’s in trouble? What if I get so old that I can’t protect him?!” A disgruntled sigh came from the covers and a thin ring of ice grew around Carmen’s muzzle to get her to stop talking, Lekir’s head popped back up, the sheet falling over her shoulders. She placed a finger on Carmen’s hard clit, rolling it around idly. “Carm, if you really are that paranoid about aging, I have a solution that won’t make you younger but it will extend your current youth for at least a few more centuries. That and it could make you stronger and possibly give you elemental abilities if lucky.” She gives the little nub a flick, before slipping two fingers in deep, curling upward to her g-spot, grinning as she hears the thief moan and writhe. “So there you go, problem solved and now… I need you to cum.”

The next day, after some well needed rest… and clean-up, Carmen sits in her office, going over the recent mishaps and redirections from the previous heists with M, since he was the expert in such accidents. “It don’t make sense Red, we went over these top to bottom and fuckin sideways. How are these changes happening as soon as we get there? We don’t give any hints of where we will hit.” Carmen rubs her temples and tries to look at any consistencies. “I doubt we have a mole, we’ve had the same team for years now and I’ve given no reason for anyone to double cross.” M shakes his head, “It aint a mole, everyone is clear from day one. I say it may be something bigger, but what I don’t know. There doesnt seem to have any connections, its all individual targets from what I could tell.”

Ninoga knocked on the doorframe and peeked his head in, “Hey, is it cool if I have a friend crash with me on the couch for the afternoon? He just wanted to rest while he was on this long trip finding his family.” Carmen sighed and shut the book she was looking in. “Yeah, thats fine. Let me start up the oven for whatever snack you two may want. I think a well needed break is in order anyway.” Carmen makes her way to the kitchen and starts preparing a rather large snack tray, knowing Ninoga’s appetite, they may need refills in just under an hour despite the tray size. She was just on the stepladder in the dry pantry, reaching for a dried slab of meat to slice for the meat board, when a voice from behind her made her freeze in her tracks, “Hello? Ninoga said someone was preparing food.. Is there anything I can help out with?”

The mare turned to look over her shoulder, unable to believe her ears… or her eyes. “Are.. you.. Wally?!” She turned too quickly on the ladder and stumbled to the floor. The pale blue stallion had caught her before she had fallen too far. “Its ok, I gotcha!” He looked in her green eyes and grinned, his own blue eyes admiring her from behind his glasses. She gripped his striped sweater and looked back at him, blushing. “Hi, my light. I made it home..” Carmen immediately started sobbing and clutching him tightly, sinking to the floor. They both knelt in the dry pantry what felt like hours, Wally stroking her hair as she held him as if never to let him go ever again. She lifted her head and put her hands by his face, cupping it and caressing out of disbelief. “It really is you… you’re alive! And you’re home! Oh Wally, don’t ever leave me like that again! I was told you were dead!! They took the kids and threw me in this asylum just to get rid of me!!” Wally’s eyes went wide, “Who did that?!” Carmen shook her head, “I don’t know but the kids are at the Warehouse and Library like we planned if something happened to us. After the fire, the police arrested me for it and my past warrants and took the kids away.. and-“ before she could finish, tentacles had grabbed Wally from every limb and thrown against the wall outside the pantry. Wally winced and was immediately punched in the face bare knuckles by M. “You fuckin dirty lying cunt! You were alive all this time and you just now fuckin show yer face?! You fuckin had 15 goddamn years to even call!” M gave a couple more punches before letting him go. Wally staggered and chuckled, wiping some blood from his mouth. “Yeah.. I deserve that. My bad.. I didn’t mean to be away this long. I just need some help and I’ll leave after that if you want me to.”

Carmen rushed past M to Wally’s side, “Here, lets clean you up, and you can tell us everything.” She showed him to the bathroom, giving a glare to M. Ninoga poked his head in, “Heeey so, is everything ok? I didn’t know he knew you guys.” Carmen and M just look at Ninoga, then to the family photos that have been hanging up in the hall that show Wally and the kids, and then look back at Ninoga. “This is a neat place, you have a lot of art replicas here, doncha? I remember you always liked the arts…and Marehem! I didn’t know you knew Carmen! Thats a neat surprise!” Wally chimed in, trying to be cheerful. M groaned and rubbed his face, “Fuck.. theres two of them now.. Moron, you specifically told me to watch over her if something happened to you. And I did, thinking you were fuckin dead!”

Wally laughed and shook his head, “I wasnt dead, silly! I got knocked out in the fire and had amnesia for a little while!” Carmen frowned, “How long is a little while??” Wally thought a moment, “That depends…What year is it?” M growled, “You’ve been gone for 15 fuckin years! Where the hell were you?!” Wally blinked, “Wow, thats a long time.. I was at this cute little commune in the woods with this sheep leader, it was a little weird but they treated me well. They kicked me out when I got infected by something… which is why I need your help.” Wally took of his striped sweater and small clusters of sores littered his back and chest, from the sores, looking like dark green crystals growing out from beneath the flesh. Some looked like they were broken off and others grew around it.

Carmen tapped her glasses frame to magnify what she was looking at. She took some tweezers and plucked a shard out, with slight yelp from Waldo. “This is Vivianite.. it’s the only crystal known to grow on corpses. Wally, did you see what infected you?” He shook his head, “It’s just been growing non stop, and it’s from deep inside too, I can feel it in my muscles. It still lets me move, but it does hurt after a while. I think it’s called Vivian’s Burden or something. I’ve had it for about a year, I think I may have maybe three years until it’s too late to cure.” Carmen sighs and cleans each sore and takes out as much crystal as she could, “M, have you seen anything like this in the changeling cultures?” M just stood on the doorframe, cross-armed, “The fuck I look like? The village medicine man? I ain’t seen shit like that. Not everything black and green fuckin associates with me. I just like this fuckin color scheme.”

Carmen deadpan looks at him, “I wasn’t going by color, dumbass. I was going by the crystal’s natural matrix and place in geology. This crystal pretty much originates near a bunch of ancient changeling hives, does it not? Changelings used to hunt and gather food, sucking the life and emotions from its victims, leaving a nice environment for the crystals to grow.” Ninoga peeks in again, “You know your pretty rocks.. but if they grow on corpses, are you sure he’s not a zombie?” Wally pats himself over and feels for a pulse, “I don’t think I’m a zombie. Should I test it out when we go to the grocery store? Maybe I need to eat a brain?” There was a resounding “NO!” From the three of them towards Wally.

[caestusvulpes]

below the cut is a formatted ( copied text with few alterations instead of screenshots ) version of hikari's hamon assessment featuring my friend's santana. You'll see him referred to as both santana and madin ( as in iron maiden yippee ) because santana was the name that was given to him. madin is aeth's santana's actual name. We wrote this last year and it stands to this day to be one of the best fight threads I've written ft some classic jojo solutions. Enjoy <3

And this was it. The thing she had been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading. She cautiously entered the pool area-- and while they swam laps in the tumultuous sea, this was a more controlled area which was leaning towards platforms and balance

She could see Caesar's silhouette against the moon from here, high in the air on the tightrope. Compared to the other two, she got off easy, right?

She folds her wool scarf and places it on a nearby chair for safekeeping, and slowly approached the edge of the pool... which looked a little off. She crouched down and squinted, hand hovering over the flickering water.

Madin is normally quite covered, but for this duel, he is only as dressed as the others tended to be. After all, his abilities are at their very best with a nearly-bare torso; no fabric to restrict his ribs.

He stands poised on a stone in the pool, hands on his waist. Expression stony.

He could hear the faint humming and crackling of the deadly electric current running through the water, and it filled him with dread. He masked it well, emulating his father's ice-cold demeanor.

He had to. She would not benefit from being soft with her, and he knew this. Because of that, he begrudgingly agreed to the deadly addition to the water. It would do nothing to him, nothing he couldn't shrug off... but if she fell in, Hikari would most certainly die.

And yet he knew it had to be like this. She had to be able to do significant damage to him while he was fighting as hard as he could bring himself to, and SURVIVE the encounter, or she was not ready to face the others.

And she still might not be ready... even if... even when she passes.

Since she's not currently looking for something or fighting, her attention firmly lied elsewhere. When she finally scans the watery expanse and sees his shirtless and hatless silhouette she actually jumps a couple inches back in surprise.

"Shit, there y'are. I didn't know y'were here the whole time," she says while rubbing the back of her head, clearly embarassed. "So, I'm assumin' I need t'balance on the water an' fight you, then? What's in it? It looks off, but I can't place why."

She leans a little closer to the edge, keening her ears to the water's surface. She can hear a hum, vague, and her nose scrunches. Certainly not... "It can't seriously be--"

"This pool is electrified. If you fall in, your death is all but assured. I, on the other hand, face no such danger from the electricity. It is a minor annoyance at best." He keeps his cool, dispassionate façade. "This will test your dexterity and speed. If you can't think on your feet and stay moving, you will die."

Hikari seemed to ponder this. "So I need t'balance m'self on the water an' platforms-- an' if I panic or lose breath, I'm fucked six ways t'Sunday."

So much fer gettin' let off easy. Caesar was on the tightrope, so that left one part of the island left-- that spike pit that looked absolutely terrifying the first time she saw it.

... I almost feel bad fer Joseph right now, yeesh...

Needless to say, she's also taken note of Santana's stone-cold behavior. Lowering her body and examining his stance, she chooses her words as best she can, "Yer takin' this oddly seriously. I know it's a life'r death situation here, but lighten up, will ya?

She breathes deep, and leaps onto a platform, dagger in hand. "I bet I can do all the lightin' up FOR ya!" And then she immediately cringed. No, back up, that sounded stupid--

He takes a slow, even breath, analyzing her behavior as he knew that the others would. And then he strides towards her, clearing the space between some of the platforms without even needing to jump. He doesn't rush, but he also isn't moving slowly by any means.

He's not one for talking and confusing an enemy, not like Esidisi, but he knew that she would also need to face Kars if she survived this. And that meant his own style, to the point and without pomp, would serve her preparation well.

So he's jus' goin' for me, huhn? Fine by me...

Hikari is the type to strafe, watch, and wait. She hops from platform to platform for ease of access, trying to circle him and look for a point of weakness. In front was too dangerous, and she wasn't foolish enough to catch him in the back... her attempts to probe his side are few and far between, trying to find the most vulnerable spot. Just one...

"It's weird fightin' against someone that ain't talkin', 'specially you..." Her bat hung low off her back, but with its positioning, was practically weightless. She sheathes her blade and draws her bat instead. His skin may be resistant, but if she could pierce it...

"Come at me!"

He's dead still for a long moment, building anticipation for his next move.

He charges without warning, clearing the platforms with perhaps less grace than Kars, but it got the job done. His ribs are already poking out of his sides as he prepares to trap her in them once he's close enough.

Shit, he's fast!

Hikari yelps and her eyes dart around her. Going to either side would certainly spell her getting cut off by his ribs. Forward would lead to a trap. Backwards would only delay the inevitable by a dwindling number of seconds. Unless...

In an instant, she pumped a current to her legs and hopped upwards, launching her left foot, then her right, onto his face and head to propell herself over him. On her vault, she just barely landed onto a platform further away behind him, boots barely licking the water from a strange, additional weight. She felt a faint, foreign current shoot through her leg, causing her to jerk her knee closer before raising herself up.

If I'm gonna do that again, I need t'keep m'feet ready t'balance on the water from here on out... Any deeper, an' the current'd prolly disrupt my breathin'. The lingering word permanently hovered in the back of her mind. No, she wouldn't die yet. She had scores to settle. Her grin split and she turned back to Santana, yelling over her shoulder in a cold taunt, "How's boot taste, big cat!?"

The kicks had not really hurt. In fact, he had seen them coming, and even allowed them; for in that brief moment, chunks of his flesh attached themselves to her boots, clinging to the soles.

He turned to face her, briefly eyeing the flesh. It was temporarily stopped by the electrical current she dipped her boot into briefly, but it slowly, steadily, began to degrade the leather boot.

"Like victory," he answered.

When she looked down, she nearly heaved. No, of course he'd pull some dumb shit like this-- she bitterly shot her head up and tactfully removed her boots, tossing them to the pools edge with a furious huff. He'd better help replace those, 'r so help me god. "Guess I hafta go barefoot 'fore y'start eatin' me." By her tone, she was less than pleased. The extra layer of protection from both the rough stone and current was sorely needed. She felt infinitely more vulnerable, but she didn't let it stop her from plucking a thin cactus spine and flicking it at him. "Don't act so smug-- I'll wipe that look off yer face!"

"We'll see about that." He's almost tempted to call her a primitive, but he refrains. The word had been a loose translation for something else, anyway, and it didn't fit.

Admittedly, he realizes that this fight would only barely prepare her for Esidisi, but the silver lining was that his fighting style- direct, without frills- would prepare her for Kars as best a human could be prepared.

He rushed forward, giving her no more time for recovery. What would she do to evade him this time, he wondered.

"Waugh!" Hikari let out an undignified and surprised yelp. He was charging again. Taking a deep breath, she hopped to the side. This entire song and dance was getting taxing. Not on her stamina ( well, that too, but less so ), but on her game plan.

Due to how wide his range was, and them both specializing in close combat, the victor is usually the one who triumphed in physical strength. Her abilities may slightly level the playing field... but...

Wait... I need t' get behind him an' take out his kneecaps. I jus' need t'find a way t' blind him fer a second. I know he'll be fine, but... She looks down to her bat as she bounces from place to place, occasionally getting clipped. By all accounts, it looked like she was running the fuck away from him. The needles catch her eye, and she grabs a few of them off. Her fingers hold them in a way so the glochids don't pierce her skin. She'd need to find a window and aim them at his eyes.

And to do that, she'd need to get closer, and that might lead to her getting some damage in the process. She pivoted on her heel and started running at him, to hell to the consequences. I'll jus' pray this won't go bad.

He kept up the ruthless pace, not giving Hikari any quarter. His ribs ripped through his skin, twisting so that she could not easily dodge from the right or the left without taking damage. His ribs were both sharp and incredibly durable; if she was caught in one, her chances of escape would be nil.

What are you planning? he thought. You need to do something quickly, or you'll die...

Was this what it was like to have your life flash before your eyes in the face of death?

She felt her pulse quicken, adrenaline blurring her senses even as her breath hold steady. The cactus spines in between her fingers crackled with power as she dead-sprinted forward. Blood dripped from the cuts and bruises from his attacks that clipped her arm, sides, and shoulder, and stained her shirt crimson. Blood seeping into the beetle-made threads of the scarf Straizo gave her that rest under her clothes, almost giving the crackle a furious second wind.

Like lightning, she strikes. She closes the distance with calculated footwork, and as soon as she sees her chance, several long spines are flicked at point blank range-- directly into his pupils and sclera.

Under normal circumstances, his eyes would be impervious to projectiles like this. However, the Hamon-charged spines not only manage to connect, but they react violently with the moisture of his eyes. He sees a flash of red and feels pain like no mortal has inflicted in thousands of years.

Then he sees nothing. He swipes the spines away, but the damage has been done- his eyes are melted, likely still glowing with Hamon and the heat the spines generated. He keeps his eyes closed, so as not to invite any more attacks into the now extra-vulnerable area.

"You are brave, I'll give you that. But do you think I can't hear you...!?"

Oh, fuck, he can hear me.

Somehow, even when accounting for scent by letting her blood fall on the stone platforms, tinging the air with sickening copper, spreading it around as she ran, she forgot that she likely made his other senses far keener by taking out his eyes.

Her blood runs cold, she she stays perfectly still as not to execute another lunge from him. What could she do in such a bleak situation?! She couldn't throw any of her leather gear like her dagger or satchel, nor her bat. She needed them. And the sound wouldn't be convincing enough to distract him much more than for a split second-- she needed more time than that! She made it worse!

I'm... It's over. I lost. I failed. Straizo, I'm so sorry...

There wasn't a conceivable way out of his peripheral without drawing his senses... or was there? Upon tilting her head to the side so she didn't have to look head-on, she caught sight of the nearby pool edge... and the boots laying on it. The boots that were still crawling with Santana's rended, living flesh.

Flesh... there may be a way outta here yet. I jus' have t'reach fer them. Santana was stopped by the pain, so I have a li'l leeway, but... if I can jus' reach... She spoke, terror clipping her voice to mask any confidence. She couldn't give away her moves yet. "So, yer... gonna kill me now, is that it? I'm glad it's by you, an'... an' not the others. It's been a great fight," Her fingers grasp both of the boots by their pull loop and she slowly, and quietly, pulls them close ( but still a fair distance to not get his flesh on her body ) as she speaks, trailing into a tone of soft acceptance.

"It's over... right? Or is it?"

She breathes deep, as if she was charging her legs and feet for another leap-- but instead, she fills the boot and throws it a distance away onto another platform, and they land with a meaty thud. If her gambit works, then...

He whips around towards the sound, barely missing Hikari with his rib blades; something that would have completely ruined her gambit.

"Do you think jumping is going to protect you?!"

He charges at her, remembering where he could step, and where was unsafe. But when he reached the spot and swiped at her with his arm, he only hit empty space. "What...?"

He reaches around blindly for her, deducing that she must have knelt down. But when he couldn't locate her that way either, he listened closely, wondering if she had been quietly sneaking away.

The second he dashed for the fallen boots, she had strafed behind him as silently as her footfalls would allow-- any big jumps would have given her away. She had him now, hook, line, and goddamned sinker. Her bat was primed in a great, big swing, crackling subtley until she was certain her strike would be strong and true. She had actually dulled its strength out of fear of destroying his joints, but all she needed was to get him in that water.

"Hey, Santana!" She reels back, whipping the cactus arm back around from its zenith, "I'm givin' ya the boot!"

At the sound of her voice, he turned sharply to face her, preparing to spring forward and attack.

This was his first mistake. His stance, focused on rushing forward, did not account for a sudden blow from the cactus bat, and thusly did nothing to stabilize him against the surprising amount of force that Hikari used.

CRACK!

His forward momentum pushed back against the bat, but it was negligible. He was only knocked backwards slightly less than he would have been if he hadn't been moving forward at the time of impact... And that was still more than enough to throw him into the water, roaring with frustration and confusion the whole way.

Oh, I'm never gonna pull off a successful kneecapitate, am I, thought Hikari. Not to her standards, at least. To her complete surprise, however, he actually fell into the water. Her heart skipped a beat, and pure relief washed over her body. She did it. She knocked him in. She actually fucking knocked him in. She drops to her knees and lets out a loud groan from her wounds nagging her, but she raises up her bat in victory regardless. "Hfff... into the soup with you...!"

It was longer than he would have liked before he could get out of the water. It was electrified, and though he had more resistance to it than a human, his muscles were still misfiring, spasming almost at random. He reprimanded himself for his failure to notice her attack plan.

Wamuu would never have fallen for that.

Finally, he breaks the surface of the bubbling, crackling pool. With all the strength he can muster, he uses one arm to grip the edge of the pool and throw himself over the side, landing in a heap. It lacks the grace of his peers, but it got the job done. He tenses, face turned in the direction he believes his feisty friend to be in, trying to decide whether this was enough.

"Enough. If we continue this contest any further, one or both of us will die."

"Oh thank god, I was 'bout t'..." She feels nausea grip her stomach from the pain in her muscles. Oh man, that was gonna hurt later, guaranteed. "Y'did... y'did real good... y'almost had me fer a minute, y'really did."

She takes a second to do a few quick hops-- not using the hamon springboard, notably, but small little hops like a skipping stone along a pond. Seems she's drained of her energy.

She finally makes it to the edge herself and takes a few weak steps. Her feet are bleeding from the numerous barefoot jumps along the stone she's made-- countless cuts and abrasions from his ribs clipping her. She looks like hell, but she survived. And that was a win in her book. "I am goin'... to take the longest shower in the fuckin' world. But first, ah..."

Her arm was bleeding a bit. With a bit of her remaining strength, she flung her arm out to him to let her blood splash his eyes. "Ain't much of a snack, but I hope whatever vampiric bits linger in there does ya some good. Good match, Santana. It was an honor fightin' you."

The blood felt good. It's warm, but cooler than the electricity and the burning pain from the needles. His eyes have not fully healed, but he was starting to see light through his eyelids again, and the blood was hastening the process. He can smell more blood. She is almost certainly more hurt than he realized.

"You did well. It was enough to best me, and that means you have a chance against the others."

He almost believed that, actually. Maybe by herself, it would be hopeless, but with Jojo and Caesar, well... the three of them could surely handle Wamuu. Maybe even Esidisi. And if they could handle those two, then surely... possibly they even had a chance to defeat Kars.

He reaches in her direction as he stands, offering his arm. He is already standing again.

"I can assist you. Maybe on the return, you'll be able to see how the others have fared in their tests. I'm certain you're as eager as I am to know if they've passed."

"Yeah... yeah, one second, I'll be right there."

She fumbles lightly before trudging over to where she had folded her scarf. She used her least blood-covered hand to wrap it around her neck, pulling her curls out from underneath it. There we go-- back to where it should be. The comfort of home swells in her chest... and she can finally relax.

She returns to Santana's side and leans on his arm, trying to maintain her breath control as her practice. "I think Caesar an' Messina've winded down. They ain't movin' from the north pillar..."

She tries to catch their eye and she does a little wave, just in case they see her. Neither moved. Her heart sank... was something the matter?

"Let's, uh... Let's get patched up an' ready fer the rest've the day, yeah? I bet Joseph kicked absolute ass." ... she hoped.

[ashboy-3]

Guess I'm More Powerful Now?

Written for Dannymay 2023 Day 8 Prompt: Electric Core Au Fandom: Danny Phantom Characters: Danny, Sam, Tucker, Frostbite Words: 763 Summary: Danny has been having electric pulse going through his body recently. . .now he has to go to Frostbite to figure out what's wrong

Danny was in burning pain. There was no other way to describe what he was feeling. It felt like his insides were burning from the inside. A foreign feeling thanks to his Ice Core. 

Not only was he in pain, but he was shocked every time he touched a piece of metal. It wasn’t a standard static electricity shock but a shock that was built up and looking at his hand he could see the burn marks left after he closed the door to his house.

Walking down the street Danny felt eyes on him as he shook his body, trying to get the currents out. With luck maybe this was a normal thing and not some ghostly thing. Knowing he was going to be proved wrong he still asked the ancients.

“Danny? You good dude?” Tucker asked as his best friend slid into the booth at the Nastay Burger, hissing as his hand touched the metal table.

“I’m fine. Just keep getting shocked every time I touch the table,” he grumbled, laying his head on the table, ignoring the visible electricity that shot through him. This was definitely getting old.

“Maybe you should go talk to Frostbite,” Sam brought up, taking a bite of her Veggie Burger, and pushing the extra fries towards Danny.

“I’m really hoping this isn't a ghost thing,” Danny groaned, grabbing a few fries to stuff into his face hole.

“Well normal people are not violently shocked every time they touch metal,” Sam rolled her eyes.

“I identify as being normal,” Danny declared, putting a fist in the air, his head still not leaving the table.

“You can’t identify as being normal. You’re like the coolest guy we know,” Tucker stated.

“Are you saying my identity isn’t valid,” Danny moved his head to glare at his friends, a playful smile on his face.

“Your made-up identity of normal is not valid,” Sam assured him.

“Damn,” Danny groaned.

“So Frostbitw?” Tucker asked.

“Fine I’ll go to Frostbite,” Danny blurted as he got out of the booth, groaning and making his friends annoyed, but they still followed him to the back of the restaurant.

“I’ll be back soon. . .hopefully,” Danny started to make a portal, a power he is very happy that he gained.

“Don’t worry dude we got you covered,” Tucker assured as Danny jumped in the portal, making his way to the far frozen.

“Great one! How wonderful to see you!” Frostbite greeted.

“Hey, Frostbite. Got a bit of a problem. Got a place we can talk?” Danny asked, trying to avoid the oncoming twitches.

“This way,” Frostbite led him through the village as they reached the medic hut. “What seems to be the problem?”

“I have this feeling of burning constantly. It’s like it’s fighting my ice core. I get badly zapped every time I touch metal. What is wrong with me?” Danny asked, trying to avoid touching the metal table.

“Sounds like a secondary core,” Frostbite shrugged.

“I can’t have two cores!” Danny panicked.

“Calm down Great One. Multiple cores are given to those who show a tremendous amount of power. Now since it sounds like an electric core it will be fighting your ice core. We do have ways to fix this. We can train you to use your ice core, or if you would rather we can temporary remove it.”

“Remove it?”

“Temporarily. We do not offer this for those with one core as that is what helps a ghost form. Those who have secondary cores can have it removed and destroyed, but it will be formed again. This is not a permanent solution,” Frostbite warned.

“Train me,” Danny groaned, already knowing what he was in for.

It took Danny going back to the Far Frozen every day for two weeks straight before he finally got the electric core down to stop hurting his ice core. It felt nice to no longer be in constant pain. Not only did the pain stop, but he was also no longer being zapped. He was also informed as to why he ended up with an electric core of all things.

Turns out it was his death. When you grow powerful and gain a secondary core life likes to make fun of you and give you how you died as a core. Danny didn’t find it funny.

He still had a lot to learn on how to use his core and he still had to go to the Far Frozen at least once a week, but for being in constant pain and now breathing better he’ll take it.

[aquietwritingcorner]

Title: Ice and Survival       Day: Whumpuary 2023 Day 3: Hypothermia/“stay with me”/gunshot Word Count: 14030 Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl Rating:  T   Characters: Donatello, Raphael     Warning:  Blood, at least a little.   Summary: They should have never gone out exploring in the woods. Now Don’s been shot, the temperature is dropping, a storm is moving in, the farmhouse is too far away, and Raphael has to figure out how to keep both him and his brother alive.     Notes: A few headcanons that I have in here: All of the boys are more than competent in first aid and beyond; they all have more survival skills and are more competent in more areas then we see in the show; they’re a weird mix of cold and warm blooded that probably can’t actually work, but is going to work here anyway. Also, someone please teach these boys to consistently wear winter clothes when they go out in the snow, please.   AO3 || ff.net

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Ice and Survival

It was a stupid, stupid, stupid idea. Hadn’t they learned anything the last time, when Mikey had gotten the attention of that crazy doctor monster hunting lady? Sure, Raph had been helping Leo with his swords at the time, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t heard the whole story. Casey had certainly been vocal enough about it, especially after spending so long locked in the back of that woman’s truck in all that grass and stuff. They should have known better than to go off like this.

But no, for whatever reason, he and Donnie had gotten in their brains to go exploring in the woods in the middle of winter, without any gear, and now look at them. Raph had a brother half draped over his shell, trying to make sure he stayed conscious and didn’t bleed out from a gunshot in his thigh, while still having to avoid the guy who shot them and his dogs.

And all because he was restless and wanted to get out, and Donnie had some sort of scientific something or other that he wanted to investigate.

Stupid. Stupid the both of them.

Mentally, Raph cursed. Don’s breath hitched in pain with every move he made, and Raph could still hear the dogs somewhere behind them, closing in. It wasn’t as if they were hard to track. They were slow and leaving a trail of blood in the snow. They needed to try to stop the bleeding but stopping at all meant letting the dogs and the farmer catch up with them. They needed to find someplace to hide. Ideally, they’d make it back to the farmhouse, but Raph was sure that was too far away.

And, of course, a storm was blowing in. If Raph could spare the time, he’d curse their turtle luck.

“We need… we need to lose them,” Don gasped out, around the pain. Raph tightened his hold on his brother.

“Tell me something I don’t know genius,” Raph said, the sarcasm falling almost automatically. “I’m open to suggestions.”

Don shifted, and it almost unbalanced them, Raph having to readjust quickly to make sure he didn’t drop his brainy brother. “Shell, Don, what are ya—”

“In my bag,” Donnie said. “I have something that… might do the trick…”

Of course, he did. Raph should have expected that. If Don had his magic bag of tricks with him, then it was likely he had something to help any situation. The stupid pigeon puppet had taught all of them that.

“We’ll need… need to move fast. Make it difficult for them to… to follow us.” Don looked at Raph, something clutched in his hand. “Think you can carry me?”

If someone didn’t know Don, that leap might have seemed a bit dramatic. But Raph knew his brother, and he knew that, instead of explaining that he couldn’t run in his current state, Don skipped right over that and onto the solution, not bothering to feel embarrassed about it. Raph knew that if Don jumped to a request or a solution, there was always an explanation there, and a reasonable one, even if he didn’t explain it then.

Raph nodded. “Yeah, for a bit I can. But what about the bleedin’? We’re still leavin’ a trail.”

“After I throw them, I’ve got some—ngh—gauze to press to it. It… won’t last for long, but it should do to—to at least put some distance between us.”

It didn’t sound like it was enough of a solution, but Raph trusted Don. There was probably more to his plan than he had said, but not enough time for him to explain it. That was alright by Raph. He’d get it all later.

He nodded. “Whatever ya say, Donnie.”

Don nodded. “Alright. When I throw these… it’ll be go time, alright?”

Raph glanced at the rather innocuous looking white spheres in Don’s hand and nodded. “Yeah, I gotcha, Donnie.”

The dogs were getting closer now, and Raph knew that Don could hear them as clearly as he could. Raph crouched slightly, ready to pick up his brother the second that he threw the spheres. Every instinct screamed at him to go now, to run, to flee, but his training and his trust in Donnie was better than that.

“Get ready,” Don murmured, as the dogs drew close enough to see.

Raph’s muscles coiled, like a spring waiting to move. He didn’t think ahead, didn’t try to plan or see what was happening. He simply waited for the right moment to react. The dogs grew closer, outpacing their master. When they were only about three yards away from them, Don threw down the spheres. As soon as Raph had seen Don’s arm move to throw them, he was already in motion, scooping up his brother in a fireman’s carry. The spheres exploded, letting out some sort of gas. Raph didn’t know what it was, but he did pick up a spicy sort of scent from it, as well as something that almost seemed like ammonia. It wasn’t important, though. Getting Donnie out of here was.

He took off running the moment he felt Don was secure, leaving the yelping dogs behind them and ignoring Don’s grunt of pain. Don’s bag swung around too, thumping on the back of his shell and his thighs. He could feel Don shifting and figured that he was putting pressure on the wound. That would help with leaving a trail of blood, but even ninja left footprints in the snow.

Don also wasn’t unaware of this problem. “The trees,” he hissed out between clenched teeth. He wasn’t trying to be quiet, Raph could tell. That was pain in his voice, and Raph felt a little bad knowing that it was his rough treatment that was making it worse. But survival was more important than momentary pain.

“I dunno if they’ll hold both our weight,” Raph said back.

“Trunks will,” Don gasped out. “Sit me on a branch.”

“I’m not leaving ya defenseless,” Raph said.

He felt a thump on his shell. “I’m not defenseless… you goob. You can… scout.”

Alright, Raph had to admit that was a good point. Besides, even though whatever he had done had slowed down the dogs and their master, it wasn’t going to stop them. They needed a different plan. Spying a couple of good trees, Raph headed towards them, adjusting Donnie’s weight as he did. Don let him, knowing that he was preparing for the jump. He lept, using momentum to bounce between the two trees until he got to higher branches. He could feel the weight of them trying to give under his feet, under the weight of two turtles, and he kept moving, doing his best to hop a couple of trees over.

When he stopped, he very quickly lowered Donnie to a sturdy looking branch and transferred his weight to another one. Don shifted his weight to balance himself out, keeping one hand pressed on his thigh. The two stayed silent, blending into the shadows as much as possible. The wind cut through the trees, rustling the needles of the evergreen they were in, and shaking the empty branches of other trees. The sun moved deeper behind the clouds, giving them more cover, and snow began to fall, starting to cover up their tracks. The dogs’ yelps had ceased, and a faint rumble of a man’s voice could be heard. Neither ninja moved, holding so still they might as well have been part of the tree they were in, blending into their environment.

Finally, when they could hear man or dogs no more, Raph moved. “Gonna go check it out,” he said, barely above a whisper. Don nodded, and Raph took off.

He moved as silently as he could through the trees, taking as much care as he could not to knock off too much snow or disturb too much wildlife. He didn’t want to do anything that would give away his position.

He backtracked to where they had last seen the dogs, seeing no one between where he had left Don and that spot. There were plenty of tracks there, as if a group had trampled over that area several times. Making sure no one was around, Raph jumped down to examine the tracks. There was a set that brought them to this spot, of course, but it looked as if there was also a set that lead away, back the way that they had come. Not wanting to even risk being seen, Raph made his way back into the trees, and followed the tracks for a bit. They seemed as if the farmer and his dogs had given up and gone back home, and, after following them for about ten minutes, Raph concluded that it was exactly what they had done. Tracking them any further would be pointless and besides, the snow was staring to fill in the tracks.

No longer as concerned about being unseen, Raph turned and made his way through the trees back to where he had left Don. It took him much less time, which was great, because Raph couldn’t help the worry that ran through him. Don was injured, bleeding, and Raph was no idiot—the snowfall wasn’t a good sign. They were in trouble.

He laid eyes on Don almost immediately when he got near the tree he had left him on. Raph frowned to himself. Donnie was great at stealth when he was focused. If a situation required it, or if he was focused on it, he could stay hidden longer than the rest of them. The fact that Raph could find him so quickly was worrying. It meant that Donnie wasn’t hiding as well as he could.

Raph landed on a branch near the one Don was on. Don had his eyes closed, but his breathing was even and steady. There was a fresh bandage around his leg, showing Raph that Don hadn’t been idle, at least. The breathing was reassuring too. That kind of breathing was controlled, which meant Don was still with it.

“Donnie?” he said softly. Don’s eyes opened, landing directly on his. Of course, he had been aware the entire time Raph was there. Raph should have figured that.

“Any problems?” Don asked, keeping his voice soft.

Raph shook his head. “No. Looks like after yer little trick, they decided to go home.”

Raph could see the relief pass across Don’s face. “It was honestly probably the weather that turned them back,” he said. He frowned as he looked at the snow that was accumulating on the branches—and on them. “It’s falling fast. This isn’t good weather to be out in.”

Raph frowned. “Think we can make it back to the farm before it gets bad?”

Don shook his head. “No, not with how fast it’s falling.”

“If I carry ya, would that help?” Raph asked.

Don shook his head again. “It’s not about my wound,” he said, grimacing a little as he tried to shift and pain clearly ran through him. “It’s about time. The snow is falling faster, and the temperature is already dropping. It’ll get bad long before we get back to the farmhouse even if I wasn’t currently shot.”

Raph’s frown deepened. None of what he was saying was good, and it was all made worse by Don’s gunshot wound.

“So, what can we do?” he asked, knowing that Donnie would have already been thinking this through. “Call for backup? See how far we get? Build an igloo?”

Don gave a strained smile at the last one but shook his head. “The storm interferes with the Shell Cell signal. I didn’t think to compensate for that out here. Signals are harder to come by out here then they are in the city,” Don said. “And while we could start construction on an igloo, I’m afraid that the storm would get bad long before we could even get a proper foundation built.” He twisted his head around to look towards the farm. “Our best bet is to start moving and keep moving. With any luck, our movement will help with keeping us warm, and the others will start looking for us soon.”

“And if that don’t work?” Raph asked, pretty sure he didn’t want to hear the answer.

“It’s the only option we have,” Don said, all mirth fading from his eyes.

Raph nodded. “Alright. Then we’d better get movin’ while we can.”

Donnie looked down, and then looked at his leg. “I’m gonna need a little help with that,” he said with a grimace.

It was a little difficult maneuvering Donnie back into Raph’s hold and getting him down to the ground. Going up had been easier. Raph had momentum and started out with solid ground. Going down was a test in the strength of the tree branches and how light he was on his feet.

Still, the trip had left Donnie grimacing in pain, and his leg and given out the moment Raph had set him down. Fortunately, it hadn’t taken long for the pain to fade enough for Don to get his leg back under him and for the two of them to set off. Raph slung Donnie’s arm over his shoulder and wrapped his hand around Don’s belt for added support. Don used his bo as a walking staff and relinquished his bag of tricks to Raph. It was nowhere near perfect, but it was the best they could do.

It quickly became clear, though, that they were in serious trouble. The wind was icy, cutting right through them. It stung them in the face with snow that was slowly turning to ice. It never ceased blowing, and the snow never stopped falling. It fell heavier and heavier, even as it turned into an icy mix. Don was pushing himself as fast as he could, but it hadn’t escaped Raph’s notice how his brother had fallen quieter and quieter as they moved, nor the tremble that had started up about thirty minutes into their walk. Every once in a while, Raph was able to catch a glimpse of the bandages. They had been steadily turning red for the past thirty minutes, and Raph was afraid that if they didn’t do something soon, then Don would bleed out.

Raph grit his teeth. That wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t let it.

After what felt like hours, they emerged from the trees near the creek that ran through the property. The waters were flowing fairly well, but they looked cold, and rough with the wind. Along the banks ice was already starting to build. Raph had no idea if this creek froze over completely in the winter or not. They had crossed it earlier that day, leaping across a narrower spot, but Raph couldn’t recall if there was any ice along the edges then or not. He had been busy teasing Don about something or other.

“We’re… we’re going to need… to cross,” Donnie said, his voice tight with pain. A shudder ran through him, and Raph pulled him tighter against himself.

“I know,” Raph said, eying the water. “It’s too wide for me to jump with ya here.”

Don nodded his head, indicating someplace further down the creek. “There’s a spot… down that way. ‘S narrower. The na… narrowest Mikey and I… found.”

Raph frowned at the way Donnie was speaking, not liking the pauses or the slurred words, but said nothing about it. Instead, he turned them both to look down the creek. “Donnie, that’s the opposite way we need to go.”

Don gave a one-shouldered shrug. “…Gotta cross somewhere.”

He was right, and Raph knew it, but he didn’t have to like it. Instead, he just turned them and headed back down the creek. As they made their way, part of him wondered why Don didn’t steer them towards that narrow part to begin with. It would have made this backtracking unnecessary. More of him worried that Donnie not anticipating this meant his stubborn brother was worse off than he was admitting to. Was the blood loss more than Raph thought? Was the cold getting to him more because of the blood loss? Raph wasn’t sure, but it worried him.

Stupid dumb stubborn brothers who can’t admit when they’re hurt or how hurt they are. Never mind that he was the same way, it irritated Raph nonetheless.

The only good thing about going along the creek in the opposite direction was that they weren’t facing directly into the wind anymore. It was still absolutely freezing, but it wasn’t stinging their faces and their eyes, at least. But Raphael didn’t need Donnie to tell him that this was cutting into their time. Every step further away from the farm was a decreasing their chances of survival, and they both knew it. And, at least to Raph’s mind, this was taking far too long. He was just about to stop them both and try to convince Don to just go ahead and cross when Don pointed with one of his fingers, the others staying wrapped around his bo staff.

“Right there,” he said. “…at the bend.”

The bend was only another two dozen or so yards away, and Raph nodded. “Alright. We’ll cross there. And then it’s just followin’ the stream back to where we were and headin’ towards the farm.”

Don gave him a tired grin. “Pretty much,” he said.

They continued towards the bend, Raph impatient to get there, but doing his best not to rush Donnie. He didn’t think that his brother could move faster right now. He was relying more and more on Raph and his staff, not to mention the tremble that was running through him. Don could only go so quickly.

It took them longer than either of them would have liked to get there, but by the time they did, it was clear to Raph that Don needed a break. He eased his brother down on the icy snow, handing him his bag, and then went to look at the creek. It was narrow enough that he should be able to jump it with Donnie. He’d definitely jumped gaps bigger than that between buildings. He’d jumped ones about that size while carrying things. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that much different with Donnie.

“Think… you can do it?” Don asked him.

Raph glanced back over his shoulder at his brother. He was already wrapping more gauze around the gunshot wound, hands not idle even now, even they were shaking. “I think so,” Raph said. “Maybe. Lemme see yer bo for a second.”

Don surrendered his bo to Raph, and Raph approached the edge of the creek, poking a bit at the snow and ice nearby. He’d learned early on to check for false edges that the snow created when jumping buildings. He figured the same principles applied here. Sure enough, near the edge of where he would have lept from, there was a place that looked solid, but was really an overhang of snow and ice. Carefully, he brushed it away, so he could clearly see the solid edge.

The problem was the other side. He couldn’t reach over there to do the same. The bo wasn’t long enough, and he couldn’t risk a misstep. If the opposite side had an overhang as much as this side had, Raph wasn’t sure if he could make the jump with Donnie. Although, the bo might have given Raph another idea.

“Hey, Don. How much weight do ya think yer bo can hold?”

Donnie blinked up at him seemingly perplexed for a moment until he caught on to what Raph was thinking. “It’ll be harder to use it as a pole vault if you’re carrying me,” he said with a frown. “But it pole vaulting would be more of a guaranteed cross.”

“Do ya think it’ll work?” Raph said.

Don considered it. “No,” he said. “Not with both of us. I think the risk is too much. But if we each did it, then I think we could.”

Rest, Raph couldn’t help but note, seemed to have done Donnie some good. His voice was still tight with pain, but he wasn’t gasping out his words at the moment. Still, Raph wasn’t forgetting that his brother was injured.

“Can ya do it, though?” Raph asked. “With yer leg, I mean.”

“I think we have to try,” Don replied, and that was that.

After tossing a few rocks across to see if and where the false edge on the other side was, the two readied themselves. Raph went first, to make sure that that the ground was solid, and to be ready to catch and assist Donnie if needed. He took the bag, took the bo, and ran a couple of steps before leaping, thrusting the bo down in the middle of the creek and using it to give him an extra boost across. The landing was a little slippery, but not too bad. Still, he made sure to clear it out as best he could for Donnie, before throwing the bo back across the creek like a javelin. Donnie, of course, caught it. He readied himself, using the bo to stand, and then delicately balancing on the edge. He wasn’t going to take a running start but rely on his good leg to give him the boost he needed. With a moment to gather himself, Don, pushed off the bank with his good leg, landing the bo solidly in the middle of the creek.

For a moment, it seemed as if it would work. At least, until it was clear that the arc was off, and Don’s aim was off course. He tried to compensate by shifting his weight, and it almost worked. But the shift had cost him, and he landed bad leg first onto the very edge of the bank, just slightly off from where Raph was. the bank crumbled under his weight, his bad leg gave out, and Donatello fell.

Raph made a grab for him, but he was just a touch too far, falling at just too fast a pace, and Don went splashing down into the icy creek.

“Donnie!” Raph’s shout split the air, rising over the wind, even as he scrambled down the bank.

The creek, fortunately, wasn’t that deep, coming, at most, midway up the calf. Don was already sitting up in the water, grimacing in pain, and trying, and failing, to get his legs under him so he could get out of the frigid flow. Raph splashed into the water too, hissing as the cold hit his feet and legs, but not letting it stop him. He reached for Don, pulling him up out of the water and hauling him onto the bank.

“Shell. Shell, shell, shell, shell!” Raph cursed as he tried to look over his brother. Don was soaked. This was bad. This was really bad. Donatello was already wounded, bleeding, and now he was soaked, and they were in the middle of a snowstorm—or maybe it was an ice storm by now, Raph wasn’t sure—too far from any sort of shelter.

Don was shivering violently now, and Raph desperately looked around for anything that he could help wipe off the water with. He whipped Don’s bag around and violently tore through it, trying to find something, anything, that would help. There were some old, greasy rags in the bottom, and Raph pulled them out, running them over Don’s body, trying to soak up as much of the water as he could before it froze to his skin.

“G-g-g-get your-your fee-fee—”

“Stop talkin’,” Raph demanded. “I’ll get my feet too, but right now I’m more concerned about you.”

Don shook his head, but Raph didn’t even let him try to explain himself. He just kept wiping him down until he was dry as he could get. Then he went after his own, frozen feet. This was bad. This was really bad. They needed shelter and warmth now. The farm was too far away. That old man with the dogs was at least just as far away. Maybe there was some other place nearby, or he could find them a bluff and build a fire, maybe try for that igloo. But they couldn’t keep going like this—

Don’s ice-cold hand grasped his arm, and Raph nearly jumped out of his skin from how cold it was. He knelt and wrapped himself around Don as best he could, trying to shield him from the worst of the wind and ice. “Donnie?”

“C-c-cave,” Don said. He raised a shaking hand and pointed up the creek. “Ssssaw one wh…when we were… walking…”

A cave? That was promising. It was better than this, anyway. If it was out of the wind, Raph could build a fire for them in there. He’d need to do something. He could already tell that Don was way too cold.

“Alright, we’ll head that way,” Raph said. “But yer in no shape to walk.”

He shifted around, maneuvering Don, and Don didn’t protest, just hissed in pain. Raph wasn’t sure if that was because he didn’t have the energy to, or because he knew it was useless to argue. He hoped it was the latter. With the bag hanging in front of him, Donnie draped on his shoulders, and the bo staff that Don had somehow managed to hang on to for extra support, Raph set out.

The cave had to be somewhere between the bend they had tried to jump across, and where they had first found the creek. Raph wasn’t sure how far it was in feet or yards, but he it had felt like at least ten minutes of walking. Don had been moving at a slow pace then, though, so Raph wasn’t sure if he could really base an estimate off of that. Still, it was all that he had, and so he worked with it. Hopefully in five minutes they’d have a place to rest.

Raph pushed out through the storm, struggling as the wind had increased and the temperature had dropped. His one comfort was that Don didn’t feel like a dead weight on him, and he could feel his breath. But he could also feel just how cold his brother was, and that pushed him to keep going, despite how numb his feet were growing. He was so focused on moving, that he almost missed the cave. It was only Don’s tug on his mask tails that brought it to his attention.

“Th-th-there…” Don said, pointing.

The cave was hard to see, partially hidden by bigger rocks blocking its entrance, and the plants around it. From the outside Raph couldn’t tell how big it was, but even if it was shallow, it would be something.

“How the shell’d ya spot that from the other side?” Raph asked.

He felt Don shrug. “L-l-luck.”

“Our luck doesn’t have the best track record,” Raph disagreed. He knelt and lowered Don down to the ground, only letting go when he was sure Donnie could stay standing for just a few moments. “Stay here, frozen one. I’m gonna make sure we’re not about the be Goldilocks to some bear.”

Don nodded and leaned on his staff. “F-f-flashl-light in th...the bag.”

“I gotcha, Brainiac.”

Making sure Donnie wasn’t about to just fall over, Raph took out the flashlight and carefully entered the cave. The entrance was bigger than he realized. It would have been able to fit one of their shellcycles and side cars through it, albeit carefully. The inside was dry, and the wind was blocked out. There seemed to be some signs of habitation, but there was nothing there now, and Raph wasn’t about to turn down what might be their only salvation. If an animal came, he’d deal with it then, somehow. Donnie was his priority now.

Heading back outside, he quickly returned to his brother’s side. Donnie was still standing, leaning heavily on his staff, but Raph didn’t like the look of him. He was pale, swaying slightly, and looked out of it. Worry settled in Raph’s stomach and hastened his steps.

“Looks like it’s clear, Brainiac. Let’s get ya inside,” he said.

Very slowly, Donnie nodded, and Raph placed himself under Don’s arm, coaxing his brother into following him in. Being out of the wind and ice was a relief, but Don’s skin felt like ice to Raph, and that he didn’t like at all. Carefully, Raph led Don to the back of the cave, where it seemed to be the warmest, and helped him sit down. Don grimaced in pain as he did, clearly still hurting.

“Alright, Donnie,” Raph said as he removed Don’s wet mask, belt and pads. The less frozen things on him the better. “What’s our next steps? We found shelter. What’s next?”

Raph had a plan himself, but Don’s somewhat vacant look worried him. Like Leo, the best thing to do to get him more aware was to get him thinking again. The easiest way to do that with both of them was to set them on a problem, specifically one that required steps.

Don’s brow furrowed. “Um… h-h-heat. W-w-we n-need h-h-heat.”

“Okay, that makes sense. How do I do that?” Raph asked, keeping his voice patient and calm.

“T-t-tinder k-k-it in b-b-bag,” Don said. “J-j-just n-need… f-fuel f-f-f-.”

“For longer, yeah, I getcha, don’t stress yerself out tryin’ to talk.” Raph interrupted him even he was kneeling to dig through Don’s bag. Of course, Don would have a tender kit. Don was always prepared. But that brought Raph to another problem—Fuel.

Fuel would mean something to burn. There wasn’t much in here, and with that storm out there it’d be hard to find anything. Shell. What was he going to do? Even if he set about burning their gear, that wouldn’t last long. Raph glanced toward the entrance of the cave. The storm was getting worse out there. Going out in it was asking for hypothermia, especially for someone like him. Even a strictly warm-blooded animal would have problems in that weather. But if he didn’t go… Raph looked back at Don. He was pale, ice decorating his skin, and shivering violently. As much as he didn’t want to leave Don here alone in the shape he was in, not getting something for a fire was as good as a death sentence. It might even be as good as a death sentence for Raph, and he wasn’t injured and didn’t fall in water.

Don must have read his mind, because he reached out, grasping Raph’s wrist, and struggling to say something. Raph held still, listening.

“D-d-dead w…wood,” he stuttered out. “...’s…dr..dry.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, rummaging through Don’s bag for the tools that he’d need. Don had, of course, a rather large knife in a sheath, which would be useful, as well as some rope. The bag itself would be useful as well. He reached in pulling out all of the stuff Don had stuffed in it. He’d use the bag to gather as much wood as he could. “But ya gotta stay here and stay back from that entrance. I can take care of myself. I don’t need ya gettin’ colder, got it?”

Donnie nodded, tremors of shivers still running through him, and Raph was satisfied with that. He stood, pulling Don’s bag over his chest again, and braced himself, heading out.

The wind felt twice as icy to him now, and he could feel his skin being pelted with small bits of ice. This had easily gone from a snowstorm to something closer to an ice storm, and Raph knew he had to be quick. Not only did he need to get out of the elements and warm back up as quickly as possible, but he needed to find dry, dead wood before it got iced over.

Maybe the old turtle luck had decided to be kind to him for once, or maybe it was like Master Splinter said, and their ancestors were watching over them—although Raph had kinda always wondered if that mean Master Yoshi, or if it mean their turtle ancestors, but he figured in the end it really didn’t matter—but Raph was able to find a dead tree rather quickly. It was half fallen already, which Raphael was grateful for. It made it a lot easier for him to break off parts of the branches and stuff what he could in the bag. What he couldn’t break off, he used to knife to hack at, cutting off what he could. It wasn’t as good a as an axe or a hatchet, or even one of Leo’s swords would be, but it did well enough to get what he needed.

He could feel himself becoming colder and colder, especially without Donnie’s body heat right next to him. Still, he wasn’t going to go back with a half-done job, and so he worked quickly, ignoring his own shivering and numb feet, instead filling up the bag with as much wood as he could. Then he hacked off more and, using the rope, tied it to his shell, carrying it that way. It would, hopefully, be enough to last them. If not, he’d have to come back and see if he could get anything else out of this tree or any others, provided it hadn’t iced over.

The trek back to the cave seemed longer going to it than it had coming from it, and Raph felt himself struggling more as he trudged through the snow and ice. The cold was definitely starting to slow him down, and he grit his teeth. There was no way he was going to let some stupid storm do him in and no way he was going to let it keep him from Donnie. His brother needed him, and he wasn’t about to let him down. It didn’t matter that it was getting harder and his shivering was getting more and more violent—Raph wasn’t going to let this stop him.

He couldn’t deny, though, that it was hard. The snow and ice swirled around him, causing white outs in his vision every so often. He was operating on muscle memory more often than not, and with the amount of snow falling, the landscape was changing rapidly. He could only hope that he wasn’t getting too off course. If he could find the creek again, then hopefully he could find the cave.

A light suddenly caught his eye. It was about head-height, and it didn’t seem to be moving. Raph squinted at it. It was in the direction he was pretty sure the cave was in. There hadn’t been a light there before. Had someone found Donnie? Was that a signal to someone else? Raph didn’t know, but he picked up the pace, his hands coming down to his sai, holding tightly to them despite the cold metal. If it was a threat, he’d be ready for it.

The closer he got to the cave, though, the less he thought it was a person. The light held too steady. It was almost as if someone had turned on a light and left it on a shelf. For a moment he had a spike of fear that he had gone the wrong way, but he pushed that to the side. Even if he had, there was nothing to do right now but keep walking towards it. Whatever he found at the other end of the light, be it Donnie, or something else, he’d do what he needed to.

The light cut through the swirling winds and snow well, and it kept Raph heading straight for it. As he approached, though, he realized that it was a flashlight—Don’s flashlight—sitting in a small, sheltered area of the rocks, on and glowing brightly and steadily. Raph growled slightly, picking it up when he got close enough and heading inside the cave. Don was huddled on the back wall, curled in on himself as much as he could be and shivering. His eyes slowly opened as Raph called out his name, and half-aware eyes met his.

“Donnie. I thought I told ya to stay away from the entrance!” he snapped out. Don just sort of looked at him and didn’t say anything. Raph huffed, masking his mounting fear with annoyance, and set about preparing the wood for the fire. His hands were shaking, but there wasn’t really any other choice. He took a branch that seemed to be relatively easy to peel and reached for Don’s hands, turning them over and putting the branch in them. “Here. Make yerself useful and start peelin’ off the outer layers of that bark.”

Slowly, Don blinked at the branch and nodded. “K-k-kay…” he said, the word sounding even more slurred than before. His hands picked over it slowly, and Raph found that he didn’t like that at all.

Instead of focusing on that, though, Raph put all of his effort into building the fire. If he could get that built, then he could warm Donnie up.

A couple of years ago, Mikey had somehow convinced all of them to watch some survival show. It wasn’t some stupid one like the one on that island where it isn’t really about survival, or that one with the naked people, which Raph could never figure out the appeal of. Humans did not look good without their clothes, and as soft and unprotected as they were, why would any human want to be out in the woods like that? At least he and his brother had thick skin and shells, and Master Splinter had his fur.

Regardless, though, the show Mikey had made them watch was actually a good one. It was really about true survival, and the people on it were honest about what was available to them because of the requirements of the camera crews, and what was them really having to survive. It had sucked all of them in, and Raph actually had learned quite a bit about wilderness survival from that show. It had intrigued him enough that, once they were making regular visits to the farm, he had bugged Casey into teaching him more, and went and looked up more information himself.

Raph put that knowledge to good use now, remembering how to build the fire, and finding a good place to put it where it would vent out and not fill the cave with smoke that would kill them. It took him longer than he wanted to prepare the wood, having to strip off the outer layers of bark to get to the dry wood underneath, but even with shaking hands, he did get it done. His clumsy hands cut his fingers a few times, but he’d deal with that later. His priority was getting them some warmth.

He was also keeping an eye on Donnie as he worked. Don was moving so much slower than he was, hissing in pain when he tried to move his leg. The bandage was bloody, the blood soaking through. It would need to be changed soon, especially as it had gotten wet in the fall in the creek as well. Raph set his jaw. One thing at a time. He’d get the heat going, and then tend to his brother. Don’s condition was worrying him, but he could only do one thing at a time.

He didn’t build the fire quite as big as he wanted to, seeing as they only had so much wood, but he did turn it into a decent blaze. It would need to be, if he was to warm Donnie up. After they were warm, he could always make the next fires smaller. When it was built, Raph made sure to move Don closer to the fire. Don tried to move himself, but there was a dazed look in his eyes and delayed reactions. He was tracking what was going on, but it was like it was taking him longer to do it.

“Alright, Donnie. Just lemme take a look at yer leg. Somethin’ tells me yer patch job while runnin’ probably needs some work.” Raph was maneuvering Don’s leg around as he spoke, reaching for the few medical supplies that had been in the bag.

It took him a moment more than it should, but Donnie let out a light snort. “D-don’t tr-trust my… s-s-skills?”

It was an attempt at a tease, and Raph let out a small, amused grunt. “Don, I’d trust yer skills on the run any day. But now that we’re settled, I still wanna good look at it.”

The bandages Don had managed to put on his leg while up in that tree were soaked through with both blood and water by this point, half-frozen in the falling temperatures. Raph was extremely careful as he peeled them back, not wanting to make anything worse by ripping frozen bandages from frozen skin. Fortunately, the bandages didn’t seem to have frozen that far in. Unfortunately, taking them off still seemed to be causing Don pain, and Raph did his best to ignore the sharp hisses of pain from his brother.

The wound itself wasn’t as bad or as messy as Raph had feared. It looked like a relatively clean shot, in and out, which was good. But the amount of blood soaking the bandage and the fact that it was still bleeding a bit was definitely in the not good category.

“Coulda been worse, Donnie,” Raph said, taking the time to clean it. Good thing Don was always prepared. Raph had no idea if the bottle of rubbing alcohol was meant for this, or if Don was going to use it for something science related, but he was glad to have it either way. “Looks like it was a rifle, not a shotgun, so we don’t hafta worry ‘bout picking shot outta yer leg. Looks like it went through too.”

“Go—ood!” Don gasped out, the word interrupted by a spike of pain when Raph poured some of the rubbing alcohol directly on the wound.

“Sorry,” Raph said. “I’m guessin’ it’s still bleedin’ cause of all the movin’ we’ve been doin’.”

Don nodded. “P-p-probably,” he said, still shivering.

“Just gimmie a minute and I’ll have this wrapped up. And then we’ll both sit by the fire, alright?” Raph said.

Don just nodded and closed his eyes. Raph focused in on his work, wanting to make sure he did this right. He, like all of the others, knew quite a bit about first aid. Splinter had insisted that they learn at least some of it young, and they had only built on that knowledge as they grew. Don probably knew the most, just because Don usually knew the most about things. But the rest of them were no slouches, and Raph’s hands moved confidently despite the small tremors from the cold that ran through them.

By the time he finished Donnie looked absolutely exhausted, and Raph helped him turn around to face the fire. He dumped the wood out of Don’s bag and put the supplies back in it, taking the pile of wood over to the fire. With the light of the fire, they didn’t need the flashlight as much anymore and Raph started to turn it off when a thought occurred to him. The light had helped him find his way back to the cave. Maybe it would help the others find them too. It might help other people find them as well, but who would be looking for anyone around here? Raph turned the flashlight over in his hands. It was one that Donnie had modified. He wouldn’t have to worry about the batteries running out. Decision made, Raph took it towards the entrance of the cave and set it on the ledge where he had found it, the light on. Hopefully that would help them, and not come back to bite them in the shell.

That done, he sat back down by the fire and brought Donnie over to lean on him, wrapping an arm around his freezing, hurt, and exhausted brother. He reached for a piece of the wood and set about stripping it and making it ready to use when they needed it. He could feel Don’s eyes watching his hands work, and the two brothers sat there in silence, letting the warmth of the fire leech into them.

Eventually Donnie fell asleep on Raph, still shivering, still cold, but not as freezing. Raph was starting to feel his own exhaustion at that point. He’d been taking point and supporting Donnie through all of this, and now with the adrenaline crash, he could feel the tiredness start to overtake him as well. He couldn’t let himself sleep though. Not when there was a fire to tend and Donnie to worry about. Instead, he set his focus on stripping the wood and keeping an eye on Donnie.

Time seemed to stretch on as they huddled in the cave, with Raph stoking the fire a couple of times, and periodically checking on the storm. He could hear it howling in its fury outside of the cave and knew that going out in that now would be certain suicide.

Which brought up another problem.

Raph knew that he wouldn’t be able to go out for more wood for the fire, so he had to be conservative with what they had. But Donnie was barely getting warmer, skin still cold and shivers shuddering through him. Raph woke him up every so often, just to make sure he was still with him, and it always took Don a few moments to get his brain working again. He needed more warmth, but if Raph gave him that, then he was afraid that they would be left with no warmth, and that would be worse.

Raph had no idea what they were going to do when the fire ran out.

The supply was dwindling, and Raph had a dozing Don pulled tightly against him when the first sound caught his ear. It sounded like something outside of the cave. Tensing, Raph shifted Don so that, if he needed to, he could easily get in front of Don and protect him.

“Raphie?” Don murmured, stirring from his doze.

“I heard somethin’,” Raph said, already fingering a sai.

Don shifted, and Raph could sense him sitting up a bit more. It too him a moment, but he reached into Raph’s belt for a couple of shuriken, seeing as Don was still stripped of his gear. Raph didn’t mind. He’d rather his brother have something to protect himself and besides, he had added all of Don’s tools and weapons to his own earlier, just in case.

There was definitely something at the entrance to the cave, and it sounded big. Raph silently stood, taking a moment to make sure that Don was good before peering towards the entrance. If this was a bear or something, he’d definitely need room to fight—and probably something more long range than his sai.

He glanced at Donnie, seeing that his brother was a little more aware now. Good. It was probably the adrenaline. He gestured for Don to move to the back of cave and, after a moment, he did, scooting back without standing, and managing to keep quiet despite the pain Raph could see on his face. Raph picked up his brother’s bo, holding it in one hand. It wasn’t his preferred weapon, but they all knew how to fight with other weapons, especially the ones their brothers favored. He’d need something with more range for an animal, and Don’s bo fit the bill. He wished it had some sort of blade on it, but Raph knew from experience just how much damage could be done with a bo staff, if handled properly.

With Don at the back of the cave, and with himself as armed as he could be, Raph waited, letting the tension of battle seep into his body. He was ready. The second he saw his moment, he could strike. He just needed his enemy to reveal itself.

Suddenly, a green head poked its way inside the entrance, and Raph faltered for just a second. He knew instantly it wasn’t his brothers, but the surprise had taken him aback for a moment. He recovered quickly, though, and took a couple of steps forward, the bo raised.

“Wait!”

Don’s voice stopped him in his tracks, and Raph paused, risking a second to glance back at Don. “Donnie?” he questioned.

“I… I don’t…” he took a moment, even as the creature kept its eyes unnervingly fixed on Raphael. It made his hackles rise, and he willed Don to finish his sentence faster. “…it’s the green man,” he finally said. “or… um… green woman.”

Raph recalled the story that Casey, Mikey, and Don had told them, and he looked back at the creature. Its bulk took up most of the entrance, and Raph could see two little heads wiggling their way under its arms. It—she—took a paw and gently pushed them back.

“Is she dangerous?” he asked Don.

“…don’t think so,” Don replied, his voice starting to sound exhausted again. “…’less we’re a threat.”

Raph eyed her again and then, slowly, lowered the bo. She seemed to take this as permission, and trundled in, carefully avoiding the fire and guiding her two children along. Raph backed up a little, keeping a wary eye on her. If she turned on them, he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to take her, although he’d sure try.

She trundled along the edge of the cave, sniffing it. One of the cubs got closer to the fire, and she let out a noise that seemed to be a warning to them. The cub darted back. She sniffed the air and paused, as if she had just discovered something. Her head turned, nose sniffing, and she seemed to zero in on Donnie. Raph watched tensing up as she seemed to make her way over to Don.

He took steps toward Don, and she paused, looking at him curiously. Raph moved into a more protective stance in front of Don, her eyes fixed on him the entire time. Then, slowly, she moved her attention to Don, and brushed her fur back on one front leg. Raph’s brow furrowed. What was she doing?

“…oh.”

Don seemed to understand, and Raph looked back at him. “Donnie?”

“She’s… she’s the same one,” he said. “’s okay.”

“You sure?” Raph wasn’t sure.

“Yeah… ‘s scar there.”

Raph wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but cautiously stepped back, and the green woman moved closer. She lowered her head, sniffing at Don, taking her time to sniff at his wound. She let out a distressed sound at it.

“He got shot,” Raph said. “Hurt. We’ve done the best we can.”

The green lady looked at him, and then back at Donatello. She nosed at his skin, seemingly unhappy, but backed off again. She lumbered over to the opposite side of the cave, settled in, calling her cubs over to her. They had been sitting and watching everything but scurried over to her at her call.

Raph knelt by Donnie, reaching out to help him move back towards the fire. His shivering was getting worse again, and Raph wanted him as close to the fire as possible.

“Okay. That was weird,” Raph said as he helped his brother stand.

Don grimaced, and Raph handed him his staff, letting him use it as a crutch. “Yeah,” he said. “I—ah—I, um… I d-don’t think… I don’t… think sh-she liked… that I was-s hurt.”

Raph gently helped Donnie sit back down, wishing there was something more that he could do. The green woman watched it all as she laid curled around her cubs.

“Yeah, well, neither do I,” Raph said. He threw a bit more wood on the fire and wrapped his arm around Donnie again. He was still like ice. “Just rest bro. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

Don nodded, clearly spent again, and leaned into Raph’s side.

The green woman and her cubs weren’t bad roommates. Just them being in there had helped raise the temperature of the cave a bit, which Raph found helpful. The cubs liked to run around and play like any other kids. She kept them mostly reigned in, mostly just observing Raph and Don. That was fine by Raph, as he did the same to her and her cubs. They existed in the same space but didn’t really interact.

At least, not until one of the cubs was getting too close to the fire. It had been warned off by its mother, but the little fella just seemed determined to get a closer look. Raph couldn’t decide if that was his kind of rebellion, or Donnie’s type of curiosity, but regardless, it kept getting too close.

“Hey,” Raph said to it. “Shoo. Back off.” It paused as if it was considering Raph’s words, and then moved closer. “I said, back off,” Raph said again, this time stronger. He could feel the green woman’s eyes on him. Once again, the cub looked at him, and crept closer. This time, Raph picked up the bo staff. “I said to back off,” he said firmly, and brought the staff down just tin front of the cub, smacking it hard enough against a rock to make a loud noise. It startled the cub, sending it back to its mother with a cry.

She had been watching him the whole time, and Raph had no doubt that if he had hurt the little cub, she would have stepped in. But instead, she just gave a bob of her head, as if in approval, and started getting onto the cub, or at least that’s what it sounded like to Raph’s ears.

From that point on, if Raph said something to the cubs, they seemed to listen, backing off when he told them too, or just heading back towards their mother. They also apparently decided that meant that they could come up and demand attention from him and Donnie whenever they wanted, but Raph didn’t mind that so much. They were warm, and that was nice.

Unfortunately, the storm was getting worse, and it didn’t take long for Raph to run out of fuel for the fire. Once it was out, the temperature seemed to drop again, leaving the icy cold to start moving into the space. The green woman and her cubs didn’t seem too bothered by it, but Raph was.

Don had been somewhat responsive while the fire was going, still cold, but with it enough that he enjoyed watching the cubs play, even petting them a few times. But once the fire was out, his shivering picked up again, growing more and more violent, and leaving Don more and more out of it until he was pretty much unresponsive to Raph.

“Come on, Donnie. Stay with me, bro,” Raph said as he clutched his brother to him, trying to rub some warmth into his brother’s limbs. Don murmured against him, but that was about it. His shivering was dying down, but his skin was just as icy, if not more so, and something about that made alarms blare in Raph’s mind. He had to do something, anything, or he knew that Don wasn’t going to survive.

He’d have to go out and get some wood or something, although he had no idea how he would find his way in the storm. He was shivering hard too, and that worried him. It would be too easy for him to get too cold out there as well. But he had to do something. Doing nothing meant Don’s death.

He rubbed Donnie’s limbs with his own shaking hands one more time, and laid him down, arranging him so that the least amount of skin was touching the cold earth. He started pulling things out of Don’s bag again. There was no other choice. Maybe he could use the rope to guide him. He could tie it off to something here and use it as a guideline. He only hoped he could find something within its reach—

His thoughts were cut off as the green woman stood up, making her way over to the two of them. Raph froze as she bent her head down and gently snuffled at Don. Raph had no idea what was going on, but he wasn’t sure he liked it. She looked as if she were trying to get a response out of him, but Donnie barely twitched. The green woman huffed. She nudged him again, and Raph slowly reached for his sai, unsure of what was going on. Then, with a whine and a huff, she nearly made Raph’s heart stop as she put a hand on her brother’s shell, hauling him to a sitting position, and then curled herself around his brother.

“Hey--!” Raph started, alarmed. “Get off of my brother!”

The green woman curled tighter around Donnie, and simply looked at Raphael. Raph gripped his sai, not sure what to do. If he attacked, she could hurt Don, or he could hurt Don accidentally. If he did nothing, then that could put Don in more danger. And Raph knew he wasn’t in the condition to take on the green woman. He was too cold as well. But no matter what, there was a good chance of Don being hurt, which Raph did not like. He couldn’t leave his brother there, though. He’d have to--

Donnie let out a contented sigh seeming to sink into the fur.

Raph blinked in surprise.

The green woman curled around him more, once again nuzzling him with her head.

Raph understood.

“Yer—yer keeping him warm,” he said, surprised. “Ya—but why?”

The green woman looked at him, and Raph had the distinct impression that he was getting a maternal amused look. She made another noise, and Raph felt something warm and furry butt its way into his hand. He looked down to see one of the cubs nuzzling his hand, while the other gently butted him from behind. They were trying to push him closer to the green woman.

“What—hey, what is this, family cuddle time?” Raph asked, pulling his hand away. The little green cubs were not undeterred, though, and Raph realized that family cuddle time was exactly what this was. They bullied him closer to their mom and Raph decided to give in, putting his sais away as they pushed hi =m closer. He was cold, he was tired, they were warm, and it would put him closer to Donnie. “Alright, alright,” he said and sat down next to the green woman. She shifted, arranging herself so that he could lean on her. The two cubs plopped down, one practically in his lap, the other nuzzled up against his side. Raph sighed. He could keep an eye on things like this, he supposed. So long as Donnie was safe, that was all he cared about.

The next thing that Raph knew he was waking up, half buried in warm green fur. It took him a moment to make sense of the situation, but once he did, he realized he was leaning heavily into the green woman’s side, with the cubs cuddled up with him. He was quite warm with them, the only places that were cool being the ones that weren’t covered in green fur, like his head and one arm.

He squinted as he looked around the dark cave. The bag was still laying where he had left it, half emptied, and the fire was still nothing but ashes. Don’s gear was still laid out where it had been drying. Sunlight seemed to be coming in from the opening to the cave and—

Raph paused. Sunlight! That meant that the storm was over! If the storm was over, then that meant that maybe he and Don could make their way back to the farmhouse. It would be hard, but Don needed medical attention. However, while that was good, that didn’t seem like what snapped him to awareness. Something obviously had. He didn’t just wake up like that for no reason.

His heart lept in his throat. Was it Donnie? Had something happened to Don and that’s what woke him up? Raph began struggling to get loose from the two cubs, needing to see Don, needing to make sure that he was alright. He was just managing to get his arms free when he froze.

“Raph! Donnie!”

“Raphael! Donatello!”

“Raaaaaph! Dooooon!”

“The guys—” Raph pulled himself loose of the cubs, waking them slightly as he stumbled back. He could see the top of Donnie’s head from where he was buried in the green woman’s hold, but that was enough for him. He lunged forward, ignoring the confused sounds from the cubs, and the curious ones from the green woman. He pushed on her arms until he could see Don, could feel his skin, check his pulse see him breathing. He was alive. He was alright. He was still colder than he should be, but he was still with him.

Raph turned and headed towards the entrance of the cave. “Here! We’re—Leo! Mike! We’re here!”

“Raph? Raph!”

“Raph!”

“Over here!”

They weren’t close enough to see yet, but they had heard him. He wanted to get out there, try to find them, make himself more visible, but he needed to check on Donnie before he did anything else. Something shone in the sunlight, and he saw the flashlight, still on, buried in the snow and ice and brushed it off, pulling it out. He set it up in the snow again, a beacon for his brothers even as he rushed back to check on Don.

The green woman was awake now, even if she hadn’t moved yet, Don still carefully cradled in her side. But she was looking at him curiously, as were the cubs.

“Our family,” Raph said. “That’s our family, lookin’ for us.” He reached for Don again, and this time the green woman moved her arms away further, allowing Raph better access. Raph knelt, putting his hands on the sides of Donnie’s face. “Donnie? Don, bro, can you hear me? Donnie.”

Don’s brow furrowed, and Raph tried again, this time also tapping his brother on the cheek. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Don’s eyes cracked open.

“Mm…Raphie?” he said, clearly still a little disoriented at the moment, but awake and recognizing him. “What… I’m…um…”

He looked around a little bewildered, and Raph laughed. “Don’t worry, Brainiac, I’ll explain everythin’ to ya. But I want ya to wake up, but ya need stay here. I can hear the others lookin’ for us. I’ll be right back, okay, bro?”

Donnie still looked confused, but he nodded at Raph’s words, looking around the cave. That did wonders to lighten Raph’s worries. The look he had was one of Don trying to figure out a problem, not one of not being able to understand what was going on.

Knowing he might need something to grab their eye, Raph grabbed up Don’s bo and his now dry mask and tied the mask to the end of the staff. He headed out of the entrance of the cave, wincing at how cold the snow and ice were on his feet. The snow seemed to cover everything, as did layers of ice. There were broken branches all around and a few downed trees. His breath formed visible puffs of air as he breathed out, the cold trying to steal all of the air from his lungs. But the sky was clear, and the sun was shining. And in the distance, he could hear his brothers’ voices calling for him again.

Raph climbed on top of the out cropping that made the entrance to the small cave, and waved the staff with the mask around, as well as the light. “Mikey! Leo!” he bellowed. “We’re here! Near the water! There’s a cave! Mikey! Leo!”

There was the crunching sound of snow and then, almost before he could process that, Mikey, heavily clothed, emerged from the trees, running towards him and flinging his arms around him. Raph took half a step back for balance but closed his arms around Mikey.

“Raph! Oh man, oh man, oh man, are you alright? Where’s Donnie? Oh man, Raphie, don’t do this again!”

The only thing that cut off Mikey’s frantic babbling was the sudden appearance of Leo, also heavily clothed. He didn’t bother to hold back either, rocketing towards them and wrapping his arms around both Raph and Mikey.

“Raph! Are—are you alright? Where’s Don? Is he alright? Shell, you’re shivering, Mikey, we needed to call the others, get them here, get him in something warm.”

Leo was already stepping back, pulling out a shell cell even as Mikey was unzipping one of the heavy coats he had on, eager to give it to Raph.

“Whoa, whoa, hang on, Leo, one thing at a time,” Raph said as he tried to get the both of them to calm down. “I’m not about to freeze to death, although I wouldn’t mind steppin’ inside the cave.” He jerked his thumb towards the entrance. “Donnie’s in there. He’s hurt, but I think he’ll be alright, thanks to some help we got last night.”

“Help?” Leo questioned.

Raph nodded. “Yeah. Look, just come see for yerself, alright? Besides—this ice is freezing my feet.”

The other two nodded quickly, and Raph staked Don’s bo with his mask in the snow near the flashlight, figuring it could serve as a marker if others were going to be coming this way. He led the way into the half-hidden cave, his brothers following him. Almost immediately the two cubs came running up to him, making little trilling noises at him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m back,” Raph said, giving each of them a pat on the head and then shooing them back.

Mikey was the first to understand what was happening. “The green woman!” he said in surprise.

“The green woman?” Leo questioned. “You mean that creature that you and Casey and Don saved from that crazy monster hunter lady?”

“…I think creature might be a bit unfair.” Don’s voice floated out, sounding exhausted still, but aware at least. The green woman shifted enough to reveal Don, and the looks on Mikey and Leo’s faces were priceless. They were part disbelief and part relief. “I think she’s got more intelligence than we realize, we’re just not used to understanding intelligence in the way that she’s presenting it.”

“Donnie!” Mikey rocketed over to him, falling to his knees and sliding the last little bit to him. The coat he had been taking off was still in his hands, and he laid it over Don, even as Don was still reclining into the green woman.

“Don,” the relief was clear to hear in Leo’s voice, and he gave their brother a smile. “Raph said you were hurt. How bad is it?”

“He probably shouldn’t be up and around,” Raph said. “He was shot in the leg,” both Mikey and Leo stiffened at that, “and then we had to move on it. It was a clean shot but kept bleedin’ for a while. I haven’t had the chance to check it this morning yet.”

Almost immediately Mikey was searching for the injury and bringing the bag he was wearing around, clearly set to check on the wound.

“That’s not all,” Leo said looking at Raph.

Raph shook his head. “No, it ain’t. We got caught out in the storm, tried to get home. But when we tried to cross the creek, Donnie fell in. We managed to find this cave, and I got us some wood, but it wasn’t enough. The Green Woman and her cubs joined us partway through. When the fire ran out, I had no way left to keep Don warm. He… he got real cold, Leo. I didn’t… I was about to risk the storm again just to find some more wood to burn. But she,” he nodded towards the green woman, “brought Don in close to her and curled around him, keeping him warm. Those two,” he nodded at the cubs, who were busy play wrestling, “bullied me over too. The next thing I knew I was wakin’ up in a pile of green fur because I heard you two.”

“I’m glad you did,” Leo said. “Mike, how is he?”

“He is right here,” Don said, a little annoyed.

“It’s like Raphie said,” Mikey said. “It looks pretty clean, but I don’t think he should be up on it.” He placed his hands on Don’s face. “And he still feels a little cold to me.”

Leo nodded. “Alright. Casey, April, and Splinter are all out looking for you two as well. I’m going to call them and get them over this way with the snow mobiles. We’ll get you two some warm clothes and head back to the farmhouse.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Raph said. “I could use a nice warm house.”

“I’m sure,” Leo said. “But until then—” he stripped off his outer coat and handed it to Raph, pausing only to put his hand on his shoulder and squeeze it before he headed towards the entrance to the cave. “I’m really glad you two are safe.”

He stepped away then, and Raph slipped the coat on. He knew that the others had to have been worried about him and Donnie, but he was getting the feeling that it was worse than he thought. With a shake of his head, he made his way over to Mikey and Don, where Mikey bullied him into sitting next to Don, the cubs joining and pinning them down again. Raph didn’t fight it, not when he could see the little extra edge of relief that Mikey had to him.

It didn’t take long for the sound of two snow mobiles to be heard, and then more voices. Raph felt the green woman tense up, but Raph just rubbed a hand in her fur.

“Easy,” he said. “That’s just more of our family.”

Within moments Splinter, April, and Casey were rushing into the cave, Splinter immediately rushing over to them.

“My sons!”

The green woman nudged the cubs out of the way and moved herself more so that Splinter had a better access to them. His hands ghosted over them, checking for hidden injuries and checking temperatures.

“Raph! Donnie!” April was right there as well, a worried look on her face as she sat down what looked like the medical kit the family kept.

“Guys! Yer alright!” Casey followed behind them, setting down a heavy pack that looked as if it had clothes spilling out of it.

“For the most part,” Raph said.

“Neither of you are to move,” Splinter instructed them sternly. He looked to the green woman. “Thank you for watching over my sons. Please allow them to stay here for a few moments longer, until we are ready to move them.”

“Master Splinter I’m fine—” Raph started, only to stop at his father’s look.

“I will be the judge of that, Raphael,” he said. “And you are still cool to the touch.” He turned his attention to Don. “And you—”

“Don’t worry, Master,” Donnie said, his voice still sounding far too tired. “I’m not planning on moving until I’m made to.”

“Good.�� April kneeled down next to them as Splinter started his own examination of Don.

Raph scooted to the side just a bit, giving April a bit more room. “What’s in the bag?” he asked Casey, absentmindedly petting the cubs who had come over to him, demanding attention.

“Clothes and stuff for you two,” Casey said. “Although I think yer little buddies there are keepin’ ya plenty warm.”

Raph snorted. “They’re like pushy little heaters that demand attention.”

“So like Mikey, if he was warm-blooded,” Don said, a faint smile on his face.

“I heard that!” came Mikey’s voice from outside of the cave.

“Casey, April, help Donatello into some warm clothes,” Splinter said, interrupting the conversation. “Raphael, let me look over you.”

“I’m fine, Master,” Raph said. “Donnie’s the one you should be worried about.”

“You have been through an ordeal as well, my son,” Splinter said. “You have pushed yourself hard. Do not discount that.”

It did not take Splinter long to make his evaluations. While they were both alert enough, it wasn’t good enough for him. He refused to let either one of them move without help and insisted on both of them being bundled as much as possible before he even considered letting them leave the cave. Neither Raph nor Don really minded, as they were both feeling the cold more than anyone else.

Throughout it all, the green woman watched, letting her cubs play around them all, but keeping her eyes on what was going on.

Mikey made sure that all of their things were gathered back up, and the two of them were led out of the cave and to the waiting snowmobiles. Don was still unsteady on his feet, both from the gunshot wound, and from his dance with hypothermia. Leo and Casey supported him out and onto the small supply trailer Don had rigged up last year. April and Splinter would ride with Don there while Leo drove that snowmobile. Raph would be sitting behind Leo. Mikey and Casey were going to take the other one and go on ahead to make sure things were prepared at the farmhouse.

Mikey walked Raph out. Raph really didn’t need the help, but he didn’t have the heart to turn Mikey away. He was just about to settle on the snowmobile when he looked behind them to see that the green woman and her cubs had come out of the cave to watch them.

“Wait a second,” Raph said, and he waved Mikey off as he turned around and walked towards the green woman, stopping before her. He hesitated a moment, then half-bowed to her, feeling a bit too unsteady to completely bow. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t think Donnie woulda made it without ya. And I’m not sure I woulda either.”

The green woman leaned her head forward, nuzzling the side of Raph’s, before slowly turning away. The cub rushed forward, nuzzling into his hands, and then turning to follow their mother as she made her way into the woods.

Mikey stepped towards Raph, clasping a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, bro. Let’s get home,” he said.

Raph nodded, and let Mikey lead him back toward the snowmobile, getting on behind Leo. Within moments they were moving, gliding over the snow, Mikey and Casey racing ahead of them. Raph just kept ahold of Leo and let his mind blank out as they moved, relieved to finally be able to turn the decision making over to someone else.

He had almost lost his brother. He had almost died himself. They had almost frozen to death. Donnie could have been shot in a much, much worse way or place. And while he had done his best, it wouldn’t have been enough, except for the help of the green woman. He tightened his hold on Leo, suddenly very tired.

Leo turned his head toward him just a bit, raising his voice a bit to be heard over the noise. “We’ll be back at the farm soon,” he said. “Will you be good until then?”

Raph nodded. “Yeah,” he said, responding in kind. “Just… it’ll be good to be there.”

Leo turned his head back toward the front, and Raph felt their speed increase just a little bit more.

The farmhouse was a welcome sight. There was already smoke coming out of the chimney, and as they pulled up right in front of the front porch, Casey and Mike were there and ready to help them inside. Casey and Mikey took the main part of Don’s weight as he limped inside with them, April following not far behind. Leo turned the snowmobile off, getting off, clearly waiting on Raph. Raph swung his leg over the seat and stood up, although almost immediately he swayed.

“Whoa there!” Leo reached out to steady him. “You good, Raph?”

Splinter was suddenly at his side. “You have over-exerted yourself, my son. Leonardo, help me get him inside.”

“Yes, Master,” Leo said.

“I ain’t the one hurt,” Raph grumbled, but he didn’t refuse Leo’s help up the stairs and inside.

Leo led him to a chair that was by the fire, where Mikey immediately wrapped a warmed blanket around him, and lifted his feet, stripping them of the boots and socks to put them in a bucket of warm water. He pushed a warm drink in his hand.

“Drink up, bro,” Mikey said. “I’ll have some soup for you two soon! I bet you’re starving.”

Raph blinked. “Yeah—now that ya mention it, I am pretty hungry.”

“Some of my sewer famous soup coming right up, then!” Mikey said with a grin.

Raph looked around the room. Don was on the couch, which had been pulled closer to the fire as well. He, too, had a blanket over him, although it had been pulled back and most of his clothes pulled off so that his leg could be seen to.

“We will clean it thoroughly, and then stitch it,” Splinter said as he examined it. “After that, you, Donatello, will stay in bed until I say you are ready to be up.” He turned his stern gaze on Raph as well. “Both of you are far too cold for this old rat’s comfort.”

“Yes, Sensei,” they both murmured.

Raph kept a lazy eye on watching his family move about the farmhouse. Leo and Splinter were tending to Donnie, he could hear Mikey and April in the kitchen, and Casey had headed out to put the snowmobiles away. Raph burrowed more into the warmth around him, letting it envelop him. Eventually Mikey brought out the soup, and both he and Donnie ate some while it was nice and warm. Raph hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until that moment. The soup was hearty, and Splinter insisted that they both eat at least two bowls of it.

Don managed to whine enough about feeling gross from creek water, dirt, and unwashed fur that he was finally allowed to get a monitored shower after they ate, with the provision that he went straight to bed afterward. He agreed. When he was out, Raph got a shower of his own, knowing that the same conditions applied to him. Splinter would have it no other way, and everyone else seemed to agree.

Leo waited on him while he was in the shower, ready to walk him up to the attic space they claimed as their room when they were here. Raph found that he didn’t mind. He was exhausted, and, if he were honest, having his brother nearby was a comfort.

“Hey. Leo,” Raph said once they reached the bottom of the staircase.

“Yeah?” Leo responded.

“…how bad did we scare all of ya?” Raph asked.

There was a pause. “…pretty badly,” Leo said. “We honestly thought it was more likely that we’d find your bodies then find you alive.”

Raph took that in. “The storm seemed bad to me, but it musta been worse than I thought from that cave.”

Leo’s expression darkened. “The winds shook the house from time to time. We saw the ice building on things as we watched. Power went out a couple of times, although Don’s generators kicked in just fine. There were reports all over the news about how bad it was. We… we honestly didn’t know how you two would survive,” Leo said. “We were nearly certain we had lost both of you.”

Raph had paused at this point, not heading up the stairs to the third floor yet. “…Can I be honest with ya, Leo?” He waited until Leo nodded, then continued. “I think ya almost did. Or at least one of us.” He looked up the stairs. “That farmer saw us, and we weren’t fast enough. He got Don, and I swear my heart almost stopped there. But even though we managed to get away, the storm just kept getting worse. Don wasn’t sure if we’d make it even if he wasn’t hurt. I was worried then. But when he fell in the creek…” Raph swallowed. “It was like feelin’ him freeze under my fingers. And then I never could get him warm enough. We ran out of firewood. I was certain that he was going to freeze to death and that I wouldn’t be far behind. If it hadn’t of been for the green woman…” Raph shook his head. “I thought Donnie was gonna die right there and there was nothin’ I could do about it.”

Leo gave Raph’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’m glad she showed up.”

“Me too,” Raph said. “Although I have no idea why.”

“Probably the flashlight you left sitting out and on.” Don’s voice drifted down from the attic. “And if you two are going to have private conversations having them on stairwells that force the sound in only a couple of directions probably isn’t the best thing.”

“Maybe if we didn’t have eavesdropping brothers it wouldn’t be a problem,” Leo said with a grin, gesturing for Raph to head on up.

Don was already in bed, the bed piled high with quilts, a portable heater turned on him. He watched them as they came up the stairs, as if he had been expecting it for a while. “Tired?” he asked.

“Exhausted,” Raph responded, collapsing into what he was fairly certain was his bed. Leo just chuckled and turned the second portable heater before draping at least one blanket over Raph.

“I’ll leave you two to rest,” he said with a smile. “Just get under some quilts soon, Raph.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Raph muttered, his face in his pillows.

Leo chuckled, but left the room, leaving the two in the relative quiet. With the distant sounds of the television and the gentle murmur of their family, Raph found himself relaxing.

“Hey, uh, Raphie?”

Raph shook himself out of his stupor and looked over at Don. “Yeah?” he said.

“Sorry for scaring you,” he said. “I should have been more careful—”

“Stop apologizin’,” Raph said. “It wasn’t like it was yer fault. And ya did a lot to keep us safe. Ya took care of yer leg, had those smoke bombs of yers, found the cave. You were even the one that set up that flashlight for me.”

“Still,” Don said, “that had to be terrifying.”

“It was no walk in the park,” Raph said. He sighed, and rolled off his bed, leaving the blanket behind and walking over to Don. “Move over,” he said.

Donnie looked up at him in surprise, “What?” he asked.

“I said, move over,” Raph repeated. Don did and Raph slipped into the bed with him. He could feel Don’s curious look on him, and he explained. “I’m not gonna sleep good without knowin’ yer safe. And somethin’ tells me you could use the comfort too.”

“…you’re not wrong,” Donnie said with a smile. He sat whatever it was he had been working on, on the nightstand and snuggled into the blankets. “…thanks, Raphie.”

Raph wrapped his arms around Don, knowing that thanks was for more than just this moment. “Anytime, Donnie. Anytime.”

Raph tightened his hold on his brother, and let sleep slowly take him, safe, secure, warm, and content with the knowledge that he and his brother were safe.

“Hey, Raph?”

“Mm?”

“Next time I want to go out in the middle of winter, just throw me in some snow and remind me why it’s a bad idea.”

“In a heartbeat, Don.”

[mahvaladara]

Brothers Aden and Birdie for @dandylion240′s Double Trouble

Aden and Birdie are ‘brothers’. They were raised together by the same family, went together to the same school, were roommates in the same college, were in the same clubs. They just don’t work together, with Birdie being part of the Design Team of a small gaming Magazine and Aden a teacher in a local school.

They see each other a lot like siblings.Though Birdie was never officially adopted by Aden’s family, though they tried. 

Participation was actually Aden’s idea, when Birdie was complaining about their dead and fossilized love lives and they saw the ad in their magazine’s page. Originally Aden suggested Birdie joined, Birdie found the idea awesome and dragged Aden after him to join ‘cause he’s not about to ‘socially engage’ with strangers on his own, no, Big Brother Aden is helping him break the ice so he can score a cute twin.

Aden Mann

“Ewww, no, he’s my brother!” ~Birdie

Traits: Cheerful, neat and loyal (or good, dunno if that is pack exclusive)

Aspiration:  Academic - Aden’s life dream is to be a teacher and teach little children to read, which he already does.

Sexuality: Poli.

Aden’s Room:

About Aden:

Aden is the only son of the Mann family, and from a young age had a house full of kids and he was the big brother. His parents relied a lot on him helping warm up the kids to their situation and he helped a lot as he really did want a little brother. He never warmed to any of the kids until he met ‘Birdie’ and he instantly adopted a little brother.

Aden has always been a very loyal and dedicated young man, with a lovely sense of humor and a solution to every trouble. Having helped raised so many troubled kids has raised Aden into being patient, understanding and great listener. Taking care of so many kids has also made Aden into a beat of a neat freak. He likes to keep things tidy and organized, which is kinda hard when his brother and roommate is a complete mess with a acrylic ink.

As Aden loved reading books to the kids, he grew with the dream of wanting to become a teacher. Aden has had his fair share of nightstands and semi-serious relationships with both men and women which cause him to believe he’s either poli or bi. Currently his last relationship went down the drain due to his girlfriend being extremely jealous of his relationship with his brother. Though he’s not actively trying to score one of the Bachelors he’s still going to try and get to know them and who knows what happens.

Birdie Plummage

“Did you just legally change your name into the name of the peacock?” ~Aden

Traits: Creative, Bookworm, Socially Akward (or loner if it turns out to be a pack exclusive trait)

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire - He dreams of making an ilustrated fantasy epic book.

Sexuality: Poli

Birdie’s room: 

About Birdie:

Named Brian Mc’Aran, Birdie was taken away from his parents at the age of two. At the age of 7, a reclusive, antisocial and flimsie Birdie was dumped in Aden’s family. Luckily for him, Aden instantly adopted him as his little brother and wanted his parents to adopt him so bad they all made a pact to make sure no one ever took Birdie away.

Due to his more socially awkward and reclusive nature, Birdie opted often to stick to himself, spending a lot of time outside painting birds and especially a peacock his foster parents owned, who was named “Mister Plummage”. Because of his small size, his greenish hair and his love for painting birds, Aden nicknamed him Birdie.

As he looses himself often to his painting, he tends to be messy and clueless, often air headed. Added to this is social issues and difficulty interacting with strangers, Birdie has never dated. Birdie however dreams of having a boyfriend. Birdie is very insecure around strangers and often relies on Aden to help break the ice. 

He hopes the bachelor might be what Birdie needs to break through his awkwardness and find someone to love and support him so he isn’t as dependent of his big brother as he is.

[clatterbane]

Thankfully obtained after work today: a cooler for a little temporary non-freezer storage! That's another thing we had, but it must still be sitting in our old house on Plague Island.*

(And yep, I really need to run the Roomba through here. But, I've been staying a tad distracted.)

Plus, some more chill blocks that are now in the freezer. Along with a couple of 1L drink bottles with water in them to help take up the slack as DIY reusable ice packs after he picked up half the commercial ones that I would have. We already had a few reusable ice blocks in there. I wish I had thought of the bottle solution before he even went out, so they could go into the freezer earlier. Ah well!

Currently inside there: that carton of milk I accidentally froze, which I was wanting to set back out to thaw and use anyway. Plus some lettuce I wanted to eat soon instead of throwing away while I was just clearing out the vegetable bin, because it won't hurt it to sit in there.

The milk situation shoud be win-win: it can continue thawing itself out, while also helping chill the cooler down before I add more ice packs to keep it that way! 😎

I decided to throw that insulated shopping bag in there too, because it shouldn't hurt and the little extra insulation might be useful. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Part of my galaxy brain strategic plan here is also that we should be able to grab that bag of refrigerator stuff out, to free up the cooler itself to shovel at least some of the freezer stuff into temporarily when the new fridge is on the way.

We are apparently getting this model instead of the Husqvarna, because it was actually in stock today:

That is also like $400-equivalent less expensive, and looks perfectly fine. Much better than what we've got now even before the fridge compartment broke down, so really not gonna complain.

Unfortunately, we'll most likely not get it until after the weekend. 😭 That store does indeed seem to be part of a smaller more local chain operating under some Elon franchise setup, and they handle their own deliveries/installations. But yeah, the delivery people are apparently pretty booked up through the end of the week and will get back to him tomorrow.

Was hoping for sooner, but we are in SO much better situation in the meantime since the freezer is still chugging along. *fingers crossed*

I am currently trying to get more perishables cleared out of the fridge before they can start stinking things up. Not much is going in the cooler, at this point. Stuff like pickles and vinegary sauces may be fine at room temperature if we use them up soonish, and a lot of other items are already untrustworthy. Mostly salvaging longer-life stuff like cheese and some vegetables.

* Which is indeed still in our legal possession, with a bunch of stuff in it that the moving company just did not get like they were supposed to. 😒 Unless burglars have been in after petty household shit like that, who knows. I am not too happy about Limbo House, but hey. It's complicated. That is indeed one reason why I am still surprised sometimes not to find items that we totally should have, though. I remember packing a lot of them.

[memory-not-found]

Rules and general things! My main account is @krutchs-medbay

Currently Open Prompt Lists

Muse Headcanon Asks

Thoughts on Another Character

Webkinz Themed Headcanon

90 Loaded Questions

Angsty Character Questions

Posts will also be labeled with ic or ooc response to determine whether or not it's me or Karma speaking in the response. It's just another way of organizing stuff :>

I have never rp'd in this manner really before, but I want to give it a go to try and understand my main character better! I love him a lot, but I can't seem to nail down his personality just yet so this seems like a fun solution! Be mindful that I am a minor so this blog is staying SFW [minus some dark themes, gore, and the like]

For now I'm going to stick to ask-only type stuff, though I might branch out in the future if I get confident enough haha

I wouldn't say that Karma is only based within the IDW comics but I have stuck with them for the majority of the time making him. Other continuities are fine too, though I might be a bit more out of touch with them.

I will edit this as I go, so don't be afraid to check back here every once and a while! Some basic info about Karma below! (His ref sheet is here)

So, starting off, Karma can kind of flow between any continuity, but he's most stable in IDW. I'm cool with most other continuities though, save for animated because I know next to nothing about the show.

As for his knowledge over the war and it's inner workings, he never chose a proper side. He has certainly helped small groups of both factions, but other than that he's on his own. It's possible that he's met some of the bigger/more well known bots in these factions but his knowledge of most of the bots is based on reputation alone.

Karma is from a colony planet, which I have yet to name, but he knows a lot regarding the politics of the situation because of his upbringing. That doesn't mean he likes having the knowledge, or talking about it if someone brings it up. Generally, it's the opposite.

Karma has a slew of issues surrounding memory and, by proxy, struggles to regulate his emotions and outlook on the world. He yearns for proper stability, but his condition only gets worse the older he gets. Pictures and other known bits of his life can help. He'll probably complain of a massive helmache afterwards though.

Overall I'd say that Karma is reserved and keeps to himself a lot despite wanting to connect with other cybertronians. He's a bit clumsy due to his size and often worries a lot about bumping into others. Getting along with others once he starts talking to them is usually pretty easy, though there are plenty of times in history where his memory lapses have turned others away. He doesn't like bringing them up lest he be riddled with guilt.

He lived in a refugee camp for neutral cybertronians to gather and enjoy the little peace they could for a few years. Of course, good things don't always last forever. Karma was forced to leave his home and eventually settled down [if you can call it that] on a ship where he conducts his astronomy experiments and observations.

[au-drayton-shenanigans]

//ooc

Sims video. Again. The sims just has some things that appeal to my broken humor. I'm actually just choosing top favorites to attempt to not flood with ooc posts. I get into an oversharing ramble for this one if anyone is interested in knowing more about the way some of these goobers think of each other-

So here's the thing. This may already be funny on its own but it is specifically great to me because of one of the scenarios in the imagination world. Part of the story in my head. Cloaky was hanging out in Bat's universe and pointing out how sickly the trio of Bat with Carmine and Kieran looked. (Keep in mind, the Carmine and Kieran of Bat's universe get along with Bat very well. That universe's Carmine is even Bat's girlfriend. Cloaky and several other au Draytons think that's unnatural) Anyhoo. Cloaky questioned it. only for Carmine to casually flip 11 water bottles perfectly, some even stacking cap to upside down cap, all to visualize an amount in an explain that during the winter or just when it's become really cold, Bat needs to drink about 5.5 liters of blood a day to be in good health. (A lot more than usual) Cloak guy is flabbergasted. His usual "doesn't shut up" attitude had been shut down. Carmine just did that when she should hardly be able to move.

It just feels so similar to how he shuts up immediately after Carmine does a backflip just. Without severe (fatal) blood loss being involved this time(How do those people have so much blood?).

For some bonus stuff I'm going to add to this post in regards to the imagination story, Cloak guy had an uncommon moment where he shows he can actually say smart things when he pointed out that two people can't supply enough blood daily and that the three of them are all just wasting away for nothing. (He's smarter than he seems. Not as smart as Wizard, Bat, or Beast, but so, so much of his idiocy is just being committed to a "keep everyone guessing" bit. He's more crazy than stupid) Then Cloaky brings us all back down to earth by saying something stupid again. Telling Bat to drink from him until he can't get any more blood from him. All of it. Why did Cloaky ask Bat to do this? Well there was care for Bat's wellbeing in play, but he didn't mention that. The reason he gave is because he just set up a one-time magic portal to teleport him back to his own universe if he loses all his blood. He also didn't give coordinates for this portal. "That's the fun part! I don't know where in my universe I'll teleport to!" -biggest idiot ever who shouldn't be trusted with being a deity-figure that holds power over life itself. Bat and his Carmine and Kieran are understandably dumbfounded by this. Cloaky reassures them that he can't die from blood loss like most creatures can. and then exploits Bat's fear of being alone by saying Carmine and Kieran won't survive the winter at this rate (Carmine could even tell that. She's a doctor in this au. A dang good one who invented a cure for the common cold.) (Also Bat is technically immortal unless he gets a wooden stake through the heart or goes out into the sun without having any blood. If he starves to death, he could wake up simply by someone pouring blood on him. Carmine and Kieran just don't want him to suffer. And they're both currently too lightheaded to think ahead. Or they could have found it to be a better solution for Bat to just hibernate through the winter) and Bat goes for cloak guy, albeit hesitantly because he expects Cloaky's blood to have a bad taste. Oh. Can't recall if I ever mentioned this: Everyone's blood has its own flavor to Bat. Someone might have a flavor reminiscent of ice cream to him for example. And someone else might taste bad like spoiled milk or something. He also can experience colored visuals and/or scents along with flavors sometimes. Bat always expected cloak guy's to taste like some dreadful mix of peanut butter, mayonnaise, and bleach- with the scent of a bag of potatoes that should have been thrown out months ago. Since blood flavors and all that are typically based on defining factors such as personality or experiences, he was scared to try. But if it meant he would be able to give Carmine and Kieran a break, so be it.

Then at this moment he discovers that cloak guy's blood is. . blood flavor. Tolerable in Bat's opinion. Not bad. Cloak guy finds it hilarious that his blood tastes like normal blood to Bat