#this is fairly early on in the bad timeline

[dandylovesturtles]

this is a brain worm that spawned as soon as I read the second injury prompt, bad future timeline, from the prospective of someone outside the family (civilian, fellow resistance fighter, etc), where one of the brothers/april/or either of the casey’s are injured, “Someone get the medic. Get the medic!” and the medic is leo, unknowingly responding to a gravely injured loved one

shit this is a good prompt anon, thanks

credit to @promptsbytaurie for the injury ask meme!

cw: ROTTMNT bad timeline, mentions of blood and injury

———

He finds her leaned against some rubble, the carcasses of four krang hounds strewn around her. They don’t bleed like earth creatures, but the stringy bits of their mutilated bodies are strewn across the ground, and all he can think is, Good.

There is blood, though: her blood, gushing from a set of lacerations in her side. She’s so still that he thinks, for one awful minute, that she’s dead.

Then she shifts and groans and he stumbles quickly to her side, dropping to his knees and putting pressure on the wound, the way he was taught in ROTC a million years ago.

She sucks in a breath, gritting her teeth, and then her eyes open. They rove the battlefield with a dazed confusion, and he wonders if that’s a concussion or just the blood loss. Or both.

“Commander O’Neil,” he says urgently. “We need to move you.”

Her head turns and her searching eyes find his face. She blinks rapidly and squints at his face.

“Who…?”

He smiles, because it’s a kindness he can give her. Kids in school used to make fun of his buck teeth. Weird how an alien invasion makes some things easier. “Jake West. I joined your squad last week.”

“Oh, right.” She grunts and starts to shift. “New guy. Help me up, will you?”

Jake shakes his head. “I don’t think you can walk with that wound.”

“Well, I’m not letting you carry me out of here like some damsel in distress,” she says stubbornly. She slings an arm over his shoulders, gritting her teeth. Her brow is sweating, but she repeats, “Help me up.”

Jake’s only been part of this resistance colony for two weeks, since the tattered remnants of his last group was found by one of their scouting parties, but he already has a lot of respect for O’Neil. She’s a foot shorter than him, but she embodies toughness in the set of her shoulders and her refusal to back down. She’s more fearsome than most of the old military guys Jake’s ever met.

So he helps her up.

She stumbles when she’s on her feet, and he moves in to keep supporting her. The blood drips down her side, and she hisses when she sees it.

“Can’t believe I let those hounds get a piece of me. Dee’s gonna be insufferable.”

Jake wonders who “Dee” is, but doesn’t ask. They have to get out of here - the onslaught may have calmed for the moment, but the krang always come back.

O’Neil can’t move very quickly - Jake finds himself dragging her more than he helps her walk. He suggests carrying her again and she turns it down, though only with a shake of her head this time. They stumble through the rubble in mostly silence, making for the base’s hidden entrance.

Above their heads, there is a noise like a sonic boom, a streak of orange lighting up the sky as it goes past, latching onto an approaching krang drone ship and pulling it out of the sky.

“There goes Mikey,” says O’Neil, without even looking up.

Right; Master Michelangelo, one of the turtles. Jake had felt a little trepidation, when he had first learned this resistance group was full of - and even run by - inhuman mutants.

Then he’d seen what they could do, and that feeling faded fast.

He hasn’t actually met the turtles, only ever seen them in passing. He’s heard from those have been here longer that they’re actually really friendly, or at least all of them but Master Donatello are. More importantly, they put their lives on the line every day for what remains of the people of earth. Jake hasn’t needed to be here more than a few weeks to see that.

They fight like they have everything to lose. Jake respects that.

Master Michelangelo’s cover makes the trip back to the base easier, even as O’Neil flags more and more against his side. By the end he’s carrying her whether she wants it or not, draped half across his back in a fireman’s hold. She’s too out of it now to object. He hopes that doesn’t mean he’s too late. He’s so tired of losing people, even those he hasn’t known long. He likes Commander O’Neil.

He stumbles through the tunnel and into the bright synthetic lights of the entry checkpoint. Most combatants have already returned by now, but there are still people milling around, checking for any signs of krang infection in those coming back.

“Someone get the medic!” he hollers as he enters. “Get the medic!”

There’s a few echoing shouts, and then a door flings open and out walks Master Leonardo himself. He’s wearing a makeshift surgical apron, covered in blood, gloves, and a mask hanging loose around his neck. Jake’s never seen him this close, and now he’s a little taken aback, the way the turtle towers over everyone, moving so lithely despite the bulk of his shell, a commanding but easy air to his presence that seems to demand respect but also offer reassurance to everyone else in the room.

Every time Jake’s seen him from afar, he’s been grinning, laughing, smiling. He isn’t now.

“Don’t yell unless someone’s dying,” he says, eyes scanning the room until his gaze locks with Jake’s. He sees the body slumped across Jake’s back and grimaces. “I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.”

He crosses the room and directs Jake toward one of the cots. “Alright, put ‘em on the triage bed and let’s see what we’re working with.”

“Lacerations, sir,” says Jake, as he lowers O’Neil to the cot. “She was conscious when I found her, but she’s lost a lot of blood. Maybe a concussion.”

He trails off as he turns back and sees Master Leonardo’s state. His eyes are locked on O’Neil’s face, like he’s only just recognized who it is on the cot. His mouth hangs slightly open, and there’s an open, vulnerable devastation, a naked fear on his face. One Jake recognizes too well.

Even the mutants, with all their powers and all their strength, can be afraid.

Then, just like that, he pulls it together again for a fleeting glimpse Jake saw Leonardo, but now the Master is back, and barking orders.

“Marta!” he calls, turning his head to address a woman standing at the inspection line. “Prep OR now! And get us ready for a blood transfusion- B positive if we have it.”

“On it,” says Marta, and she’s gone just like that. Jake turns his attention back to Leonardo, who has taken O’Neil’s wrist in his, feeling for a pulse.

He’s quiet for several seconds, then he nods to himself and starts asking questions.

“Any idea what did this?”

“It was hounds, sir. I found her with several dead ones.”

“Sounds about right.” Master Leonardo sounds almost amused, though he doesn’t stop his work. “Any sign of infection?”

“No. She was talking and able to walk most of the way.”

Krang infections take over the host so quickly, they would know by now, with a wound like that.

“Hounds can only infect with their bites, and these look like scratches from claws.” Leonardo comes out again, as he reaches for O’Neil’s hand and gives it a squeeze. “Knew you wouldn’t let them get a bite in.”

The way he looks at O’Neil is so tender. They clearly know each other, and not just as fellow resistance commanders. Jake can’t help but wonder how they know each other; how a human and a mutant came to have a bond this close.

He doesn’t have time to ask, of course. Seconds later, O’Neil is being moved to OR, and Leonardo is making to follow them.

“Sir!” Jake calls after him. “Is there anything else I can do to help the commander?”

Master Leonardo barely pauses. “Get yourself checked for infection, and donate blood if you can. Then get some rest. You’ve done enough today.” He glances over his shoulder. “And stop calling me ‘sir’. Makes me feel so old.”

Then he’s gone.

Jake watches the door Leonardo just disappeared through for a second, then moves to do as he was told. He thinks about the way Master Leonardo looked at Commander O’Neil. Like she was part of what he was fighting not to lose.

And he thinks, maybe, that they’re lucky here. That this just might be the resistance that saves the world.

[beneathsilverstars]

the shit siffrin said in act 5 isn't even that bad 😭 they were mean one time!! very precisely mean but like. their friends aren't that fragile. i woulda forgiven them even if they weren't going through timeloop hell. sometimes you're feeling shitty and don't know how to handle it so you fuck up and what matters is that you recognize that and do your best to take steps to prevent it from happening again!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

@tinybigfoot no i love information! which is unfortunately often in conflict with "i'm not looking up shit," like might be found on wikis easily lmao, except for when i'm having an "i'm extremely looking up shit" moment. love the drama of the scene having a known time via Newspaper b/c of the accurate contemporaneous headlines rather than being able to simply read the date; didn't know about that event! and this is me just yesterday looking at bits of paper in the backdrop of one of the Introduction comic pages like ooh can i read this (no) imagine it if had Clues (don't think it would & doesn't seem to anyways)

another zany fact to remember that yeah according to those character profiles mitzi Would Have It Be Believed she's at all younger than mordecai, ft. the implication that since yeah he was born in '99 & mitzi Was born in the nineteenth century too, she's either the same age or slightly older. let's go Circa Thirty Characters....which is mostly just mitzi who'd deny as much & mordecai having a couple years to go, fingers crossed. then we leap over to people born in the '80s lol

[a-box-of-stupid-ideas]

Here's some timeline confirmation for fairly oddparents a new wish by the creator themselves! (ignore the bad quality)

Looks like the show does indeed take place in 2024, so its a been 23 years since Timmy got his fairies making Peri in his early twenties

here's the link

[pollyanna-nana]

Louie isn’t evil.

Or: what Pikmin 4 tells us about his character.

BIG WARNING FOR PIKMIN 4 SPOILERS! (and the rest of the series)

———

I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way trying to be the end-all, be-all of character interpretations, but Pikmin 4 to me, at least, confirms the suspicions I’ve had since playing Pikmin 2 and 3 all those years ago that Louie ISN’T secretly evil, or possessed, or whatever else. He’s just… Louie. And I think that’s interesting in and of itself.

1. Olimar himself vouches for him, and clearly doesn’t think he’s a bad person.

Say what you will, but I’m inclined to think Olimar is a decent judge of character. Clearly he’s worked with Louie for enough time to see that while he’s not very good at his job, he’s not intentionally so— at least not in a malevolent way (will get more into this later). He also wants you to forgive him for Olimar’s sake, which can be read as self-sacrificing (as Olimar is known to be) but I also think hints at the soft spot he has for Louie.

It's also worth noting that he states during a end-of-day conversation that he told Louie that, since he's a new employee, he should do everything Olimar does... including throw castaways into the onion. Interesting that Louie took this so literally, but it does provide an explanation for why he kidnapped the Koppaites beyond "he's evil and crazy".

2. He really, REALLY loves his grandma.

Like, wow. He talks about her SO MUCH both in his Piklopedia entries and also elsewhere in the game. It's interesting. Worth noting is that he never mentions any other family members- unlike Olimar, who talks about his wife and each of his children independently. I've said this before, but the content of a lot of these entries implies to me that Louie was mainly raised by his grandma, likely since birth. And given some of her emails in Pikmin 2, assuming they're also canon to Pikmin 4's timeline... Well, Louie certainly had an interesting upbringing. But he clearly loves her all the same.

3. He has a mischievous streak and tends to do things on impulse.

This was already fairly obvious from the previous games, but I think it's worth noting that this game confirms that he's... would immature be the right word? In any regard, he doesn't seem to see himself as a "grown-up"- when in all likelihood he is. Personally, as a 22-year-old, I find that pretty relatable as I often think of myself as younger when in reality I am by all definitions an adult. This, along with his grandma still being around, makes it pretty much certain that Louie is a lot younger than Olimar and the president, likely in his early to mid twenties. Being a bit of a goofball isn't really out of the ordinary, all things considered.

THAT BEING SAID, he's clearly capable of practicing self-restraint when he wants to. What he says here about the red Pikmin is pretty significant, since we know he's willing to eat just about anything- but clearly he has some reservations about creatures that are friendly and helpful. Which leads to...

4. He loves dogs and fluffy things.

Same. But he doesn't even consider eating Moss, Oatchi or the Ancient Sirehound, showing that his creature-eating habits stop at things he recognizes as useful. He clearly also holds affection for things that are soft and fuzzy, and says as much.

5. He is so autism.

He plays with fidget toys. He loves certain textures and sounds. This guy is stimming all over PNF-404!!! I think this also lends some explanation for why his behavior is what it is- things like taking Olimar's suggestion to do as he does super literally even after crashing on an alien planet, his hyperfixation on cooking and tendency not to communicate and incorrectly interpret situations (thinking the Koppaites are kidnappers in 3, running away from you in 4). He could even be low or no empathy as well, explaining why it takes a hot minute to get him to understand why people are upset with him about something.

Interestingly this game also makes it clear that Louie wants to live on the planet, or at least thought he did while you were chasing him down, which makes a lot of sense when you consider that he doesn't really seem to fit in back on Hocotate. I, too, wish to run away to an alien world with all of the things that I like and no other people, so I get you, Louie.

6. He hates his boss and his job, and the golden pikpik carrot incident was likely premeditated.

This probably looks bad, but honestly? As a fellow work-hating anti-capitalist schmuck I get it. The president is for all intents and purposes a huge asshole, from sending Olimar straight back to the planet after selling his ship to not caring that Louie got left behind, just wanting to find the rest of the treasures. I doubt he is very kind to his employees, and doesn't seem very good at running the business. Definitely a funny character, but if he were my boss I would absolutely want to punt him into the sun.

From some other entries he clearly wants to sell certain things to accrue money, but it's for things like getting better kitchen tools and following his dream to have his own cooking show. Clearly being a freight driver isn't what Louie actually wants to do with his life, and he could not give less of a shit about what happens to the company. Very short-sighted on his part, but also again, yeah I get you Louie.

7. He... doesn't like the color red for some reason.

Honestly, I'm not even really sure what to make of this. Is it because it reminds him of the Hocotate ship? Or does he just not like the color? Would be very interesting considering that it's Olimar's signature color. Perhaps that's at least part of why he attacks you in Pikmin 2- though that's speculation for another day.

Also funny to me is his comments on the black-colored treasures. We know blue is his favorite color, but I guess he's also a bit of a goth at heart. Lol.

In conclusion.

I think Louie isn't written or intended to be evil, and Pikmin 4's portrayal of him was intentionally written to confirm this. He's just, as some have said, an agent of chaos, but that doesn't make him a bad person. Just an autistic 20-something working a shitty job he doesn't care about, who loves his grandma and has a mischievous streak and a hyperfixation on food. At least from what I can interpret, ymmv!

[fancyfade]

2009 era Damian reading

As I've been doing my 2009 era Damian reading, I'm trying to condense the good stuff and bad stuff, and things I believe are relevant for his character. These are in addition to what I assume is obvious (Batman and Robin 2009, the comic where he has a starring role).

Battle for the Cowl: this has how Damian becomes Robin. It's not necessarily good. Daniels really does not understand Damian, especially this early in his writing, but it does have some important context for things going down b/c Damian helps Squire save Tim's life, and we can see Dick viewing training Damian as something he is responsible for.

Secret Origins (2014) #4: This is a much more in character Damian becoming Robin, though fit for a condensed new 52 timeline that leaves some stuff out (like Damian's rocky intro with Bruce).

Batman #688 (Long Shadows part 1): Winick seems one of the early writers who does a Damian as he lines up with later characterization (views himself more as a professional assassin), so I think this one's good.

Batman: streets of Gotham #1-6: damian makes some minor appearances here.

Batgirl #5-7: Always take Damian's guest-starring stuff with a grain of salt, as often times writers just go with "how would an obnoxious 10 year old boy act here" without understanding he's a specific kind of obnoxious 10 year old boy... that said I do like some of his interactions with Steph, and I think it's incredibly important that we see Damian defends his competence based on his training, not on his blood.

Like he'll sometimes justify why he belongs based on his blood (which like... no one acts like they want him around), but he isn't going around saying "I'm better than you b/c I'm batman's son". he was trained intensely since birth (and that's why he should say he's better than you :P)

Batman #692-697: not a ton of Damian in this, and it is Daniel's writing, but he's a little better than he was in Battle for the Cowl. We see Dick training Damian some.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #7, #10-#11: love this plotline for him. Good show of competence and characterization.

Blackest night: batman: More focused on Tim and Dick, and Tomasi sucks at writing Babs, but at there is some Damian content that I remember enjoying.

Red Robin #11-15: as long as you read this one with your brain turned on, it's good for explaining some Tim and Damian stuff. Sadly some fans are like "woooo arrogant 10 year old gets beat up". Nicieza makes some missteps (frames Tim's thinking around Damian as coldly logical, when it is anything but and he is reacting from a place of emotion), but one can ignore those.

Batman #703: shows Damian's character pretty well in a default Batman and Robin adventure, and his relationship (or lackthereof) with Bruce and his dynamic with Dick and Alfred

Teen Titans #88-92 (including Red Robin #20 in a crossover plot): surprised by how well I liked this one. I think it portrays Damian pretty fairly, and we can see that he is trying hard, but hasn't been given a lot of support up until now (or even now, Dick kind of just drops him off with a bunch of older kids who all also have issues and are predisposed to disliking him XD). His dynamic with rose is fun and I think it is notable how quickly he does acquiesce to following Cassie's orders when she's like (at first) the only Teen Titan who is OK with him being there and assures him its not personal when she makes a comment he doesn't like.

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batman and Robin: Has some nice Dick and Damian banter, showcases how they've worked together well

Batgirl #17: more damian and steph interactions.

I will probably add more (either editing this post or in a reblog) as I keep reading.

[localicecreambiter]

demi god LU time

the law of hyperfixations says you must combine interests at every given chance

adding a cut here as to not clog feeds!! its a real long post

i wanna hear thoughts too! so dont be afraid to comment. these are my personal opinions and i wanna hear if anyone agrees or disagrees :D (apologies for all the tags btw)

edit to add the stupid doodle

the gods all have favorites, and ironically none of them are their own kids (save for hades: he loves his kid. doesn't make him a good parent, but you know?)

In a more Zelda timeline abiding setting; Originally they weren't all at camp halfblood at the same time, but time shenanigans decided they were to be brought together

Imagine Chiron’s surprise when 7 of his dead campers waltz into camp (this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME they enter camp. Dionysus is completely unfazed, knowing the bs time shit the gods are dealing with atm)

By the time they enter camp in Wild’s Hyrule for the second time he kinda understands (Wind and Sky didnt have a Camp Halfblood, for the record, for obvious reasons)

Alternatively, its some form of modern au where they’re just from different parts of Hyrule (skyloft, downfall, ordonia, windfall peninsula, hyrule town (different from castle town), the list goes on) which would make a lot more sense for this kinda au (the world would’ve just had a LOT of calamities within the span of a few years, some of the heroes knowing about camp and others not so much)

(i think Legend, Wars, Time, Wind (post WW) and Four would’ve known about Camp Halfblood while the others were just kinda on their own until after their quests) meaning over half of them didn’t have prophecies and just went to deal with the issue themselves, possibly meaning on their journey they learned of camp

Ok well, all of them but Wars, who grew up at Camp Halfblood

All Zelda’s are children of Athena, save for Skyward Sword Zelda since she's the reincarnation of Hylia (yeah, im keeping the original Zelda goddesses! What of it?)

At some point fairly early on, a Zelda only had a son, who got together with Athena at some point and boom

Sky: child of Zeus 

self explanatory 

God of the skies? his name is literally Sky

not to mention how fucking powerful he is?

he was the "first" Link; Zeus was technically the first God, it makes sense (this is such a stupid reason)

The skies are his home, Zeus finding someone on Skyloft and “falling in love” with their love of the sky too results in this bad boy right here

The demise fight? Only a zeus kid could harbor lightning like that

A camp counselor in the modern setting (ik typically once you’re 18, you’re no longer a camper really, but shhhh)

Wind: child of Poseidon 

Don't roll your eyes, i've got a reason!!

the 4 wind gods throw a fit anytime he's sent on a quest (they all love him even if they won't admit it)

A world purely ocean and islands? Poseidon would have a fuckin ball

The Great Sea needed a hero, Wind was brought about more for necessity than out of the want to have a child (this leaves a hard disconnect between wind and the gods, knowing his dad didn’t really have him out of love for his mom but because the world needed to be saved)

The irony of Poseidon being the patron of pegasi and horses and Wind not knowing what a horse is will never not be a funny thought

Has more control over the wind than he does the sea (for now) 

he, like Legend, pointedly ignores that he's a demi-god, especially since he comes after the Hero of Time (kinda hard to live up to that, even outside of a demi-god au)

The ocean and winds are his mood ring: you upset him the wind gods are after you

In a modern setting, the same reason applies kinda; a quest under the sea would be virtually impossible for anyone but a child of Poseidon, and hell knows a cyclopes isnt gonna be sent (gotta love those prophecies) 

OR!! OR AND HEAR ME OUT

Wind isnt a demigod

The wind gods still adore him, but he doesn't have the hero’s spirit and i think that’d kinda translate to not being a demigod, yet still being the one who was destined to go on the quest because there just weren't any demigods to do it

Still not set on which id go with

Legend: child of Hades 

Ah yes, child of the big three goes on so many quests trope. Love to see it

he's Apollo's favorite favorite (Warriors is jealous as hell. Thats his dad! Wdym he likes Legend more????) 

Pointedly ignores the fact he's a demigod (at least, he definitely tries to)

Blessed by (and beefing with) so many gods from his quests

probably one of the few heroes who's spoken to their godly parent (trust me, it was out of obligation rather than free will)

Prefers helping out the more minor, underappreciated, and not as needy or bitchy gods (like Hestia, for example)

curses the Olympians constantly, they've learned to ignore him, hes their best questing kid

Sort of a general camp counselor since Hades doesn't really have kids (its technically his last year but hes been there the longest out of everyone)

Managed to block the oracle over iris message

After his trip to the dark world and lorule, the gods go haywire around him, much to his delight (because it means they leave him alone)

Hyrule: child of Hecate 

adopted by Hermes (much to the dismay of all the Hermes children)

I was on the line between Hecate, Apollo, and Hermes; Hyrule’s affinity for magic and the blood curse resulted in Hecate to win 

Very detached from the gods, the help he receives is never outright but more subtle blessings

The gods like to ignore Downfall after Legend died tbh (outside of modern, obviously)

Well, they still ignore Downfall as a city/country. 

Only learned of camp thanks to Legend, otherwise he wouldn’t have had a clue it existed

Wild: child of Athena 

Also adopted by Hermes 

One of the more chaotic children of Athena

The idea of Athena being his godly parent sourced from his resourcefulness and quick battle (or just general) strategies, along with his pre-calamity self being stoic and more on the critical side

Completely forgot he was a demigod and just let loose, Athena is more than slightly perturbed by him and yet so infatuated

Supervises archery at camp

Warriors: child of Apollo 

exemplifies almost 0 traits of his father other than his looks and his affinity for medicine (shit archer, shit musician, can't write poetry)

blessed by Athena during the war since he was struggling so much, she always has a soft spot for the heros since they fight to protect her daughters so hard (aka pity blessing) 

Actively beefing with Ares 

Aphrodite likes to keep an eye on him, mostly for entertainment (she woulda eaten the whole Cia debacle UP)

Very notorious in camp considering he was a war captain at the ripe age of 17; once learning of the whole Camp Jupiter has apartments and college for half bloods insisted and led a project at CHB to get something similar built (which is where he, Sky and Twilight stay after turning 18)

Twilight: child of Demeter

His love for ranch animals and caring for his farm lead me to this decision

Also the whole wolf thing, that also counts

Appalled by the fact Wind doesn't know what a horse is considering he's literally the son of Poseidon (jealous the kid can talk to Epona and he can't)

After his journey to the twilight, the gods kinda flicker between Greek and Roman around him so they tend to avoid him like Legend

blessed/cursed by Lupa, hence the wolf thing

Teaches foraging lessons at camp

Four: child of Hephaestus

He's the smithy, I couldn’t not say he's a Hephaestus kid

received a lot less help from the gods since he was one of the first 

started advocating that heros receive help from the divine after LU concludes so those after him have a fighting chance (not in the modern setting)

I havent played many of his games, but the kinstones sound like a thing Hephaestus would scatter across the earth as scrap from his creations

Not one of the fire wielders (the only one that can wield fire is Red when split, mostly because of the elemental bs in minish cap)

After drawing the Four Sword, Janus (despite being roman (i like to think the four sword would be a roman artifact, it just feels right)) was suddenly pretty interested and bestowed what wisdom he had for the demi-god

Vulcan, Neptune, Aeolus, and Ceres all came together to forge the elemental stones; the Minish were still the ones to bestow the sword to Hylian people

The gods tend to avoid him too, for the same reason they avoid Twilight and Legend (dark world shenanigans and the Four Sword)

He loves the damn forge at CHB, and was ecstatic seeing the one at Camp Jupiter

He was asked by Chiron if he would be interested in running a forge class for young demigods (be it his siblings or anyone interested) but sadly declined 

Has that air of responsibility to him, being a seasoned quester (and while his 3 doesn't stand to Legend’s 6, its still pretty sizable) hes looked up to by the younger campers

Time: child of Demeter Kronos? 

The Kokiri were so Demeter core dont even tell me they werent

I guess they’d kinda act like nymphs and dryads in a sense??

His abilities use to relate to his mother until the events of his first quest: the Ocarina of Time was designed to slowly corrupt the user, being a creation of Kronos’

However, it wasn’t really designed with a demigod in mind sooo…

Also self explanatory, the titan of time? Duh… huh?? what do you mean he was taken over?? What do you mean he was a child of Demeter?? No he wasnt lol that Neverrr happened

the reason he's the only “child” of a titan is mainly because of the fierce deity mask literally making him god-like, meaning he has a lot more power harbored in him sooo (the second he dawned that mask he discarded his old identity for that of a titan’s child, since it was also cursed object)

Don’t ask how he came to being Kronos’ kin, no one knows, not even he does (I do) (no, it does not imply a Hylian wandered into Tarturus and got out alive to have the baby)

Avoids interacting with the gods at all costs, he's weary of them as they are of him (even if he saved the world twice)

Extras :)

Ravio: child of Pluto 

blessed by Minerva for his natural quick witted nature and clever war strategies, if her own daughter can't succeed she might as well make sure ONE does

can tell if a rupee is real or not by glance alone

Sheerow scares the fuck out of the gods, which in turn means Ravio puts them on edge, a thing very few can achieve

the gods never gave him much thought until the events of albw, to which he suddenly gained like four pair of godly eyes on him

can and will plan one of the worlds most successful heists, refuses to participate 

also beefing with Ares (not Mars, Ares)

Based on my personal HC that Ravio’s some sort of artificer (be it replicating magic dungeon items or just flat out creating new ones) i think Vulcan has his eyes on him too

Hilda: child of Minerva 

by far the strangest child Minerva ever birthed

exemplifies the traits of a hero rather than a ruler

a little jealous her mother likes Ravio more than her

gods be damned, she's not going to let them neglect her kingdom anymore 

a force of fucking nature that single handedly forced a meeting with the gods and somehow forced them to agree to start restoring Lorule (she got the idea from Legend, who has done this multiple times for multiple different reasons)

[dairy-farmer]

Good Morning (time neutral)! This going to be a long one because there's quite a bit of backstory involved~❤️

Sooooo, there's a fic called Hasn't This Kid Ever Heard of Stranger Danger? (https://archiveofourown.org/works/41872041/chapters/105073314) that I really like: Very long story somewhat short, Jason's death and return happens on a much more compressed time scale so that he gets back to Gotham to start Hooding it up when Tim is still a younger side of 13. As part of his information gathering, Jason basically hides out and watches from a tree on the Drake property as Tim returns home every night: he does not like what he sees.

See, because of a combination of 'I can't get close to this kid, I can't take the pain of losing Jason someone again', Bruce generally still lashing out in grief, and Tim's debilitating self-esteem issues (thanks Jack and Janet 😠), Tim is not (at least obviously/observably) close with Waynes outside of being Robin. Because of this, Tim absolutely refuses to stay in the Manor no matter how injured he is, because of a combination of fear of slashing out but also of overstaying his welcome and being driven off to be alone again. So Jason basically sees Tim coming home alone after patrol every night, almost always with injuries of varying degrees - arm wrapped up tight in a bandage, bruises and stuff, limping, ect. And Jason starts to stop being mad at Tim and becomes even more furious with Bruce and the rest of them.

(In this time, Tim has noticed someone watching him from the tree -and doesn't say anything to Bruce because he's worried about being a bother- and has taken to leaving packaged food and bottled water under the tree; basically like they're a feral cat he's trying to befriend.)

After a couple months of this, Tim has a really bad day and finally stands under the tree to invite Jason down/into his house, letting Jason know that Tim has figured out who he is ("Red Hood? Jason?... Robin?"😿), at which point Jason immediately adopts/becomes a big brother to Tim. (There's also Jason reconciling with the family, Tim getting very injured because of his parents doing stupid shit, and lots of therapy for everyone). Great Story!

But to my point: there is a scene fairly early, after Jason has basically started living with Tim as his big brother but during which time Dick and Bruce have no idea about any of this, where Jason rescues the three of them from the mission gone wrong. But see, since this is before any therapy, Jason and Tim are fairly codependent and close. Jason pulls a whole "Back away from the Baby Bird" thing with the bad guys before shooting them. During the exchange, one of the bad guys notices the possessive edge with which Jason refers to Tim/Robin and makes a comment suggesting Jason is in a naughty relationship with Robin. Obviously Jason kills them immediately after that, and checks on an injured Tim first, calling him Baby Bird and petting his hair and checking for concussion.

(It's a great scene: Bruce is out of commission and Dick is pretty heavily concussed, but Dick is worried the bad guys are right and that the Red Hood is going to kidnap Tim and do terrible things to him - if he hasn't already! Dick tasers Jason, it's a whole thing.)

SO... To the actual prompt/idea: The Wayne's/other people think Jason is taking advantage of/trying to groom Tim.

Setup: Firstly, in the fic Jason 18(ish) and Tim is 13. So that's messed with some numbers and the timeline! Let's forget the accelerated timeline of Jason's death and recovery and let's say Jason died at 14, spent 6 months dead, 6 months and 2 years catatonic, one and a half(ish) years post pit with the league, in 6 months causing trouble and stalking Tim. The whole Tim intervention thing happens when Tim is 10 instead of 12, and Tim spends the first one to two years training and only going out on patrol very very occasionally: enough that people know there is still a Robin, but Tim only really became an act of patrol member around the time Jason showed up in the city. Now, dear Dairy, you may ask why have I messed with the timeline in such a way? Because this way I can say that mentally Jason is only about 16, instead of around 19: 5 years may have passed since his death, but only two of those were when Jason was conscious and mentally growing.

Second, the bad guys were right; Jason is in a relationship with Tim.

Tim is so sweet and gentle and desperate for attention, and is there for the perfect Target for an evil groomer to take advantage of. But in this case, it's Jason! Jason was Robin and would never do something like that! So now Jason is spending time with him and caring about him and in general just acknowledging that he exists. And Jason absolutely loathes adults who prey on children, to a murderous degree. But, because he is mentally 16 and Tim is 13, he doesn't see his love and attraction to Tim as a problem: 16-year-olds and 13 year old date all the time!

Just imagine the drama! The Wayans finally acknowledge, after the horrible incident with the mission gone wrong and Red Hood saving them, that they do in fact love Tim and see him as part of the family. And! Jason is alive! Bruce and Dick and Alfred are so happy, their family is back together and has even grown a bit with the addition of Tim: Jason and Tim might be clingy and physically affectionate, but that's fine! They're both traumatized and leave each other as brothers!

... Until Dick walks in on them in the library making out: Tim sitting on Jason's lap, legs on either side of his, so small that even in this position Jason has to lean down to kiss him. Dick might have even found it.. sweet or cute?... If it wasn't a 19-year-old making out with a 13-year-old baby!!! Oh shit, oh shit! The goons in the warehouse were right! Dick's little brother back from the dead was molesting his new younger brother 😱! The fact that Jason is his brother and he loves them is the only reason that Dick doesn't straight up attack him, instead just storming in to yank Tim off his lap and start screaming and yelling.

All the noise brings Bruce and Alfred running, and they walk in on Dick squeezing and trapping Tim in his arms while screaming at Jason with angry, hurt, and scared tears in his eyes. The two eldest men managed to calm the situation down and ask what happened. Dick explains what he walked in on, and of course Bruce and Alfred are horrified! Except... Jason and Tim, well obviously alarmed at everyone's actions, also look... confused.

Bruce insists that Jason and Tim explain their side of the situation -maybe it's just a huge misunderstanding? Well, it turns out that it kind of is; Jason only views himself as being 3 years older and more mature than Tim, since he spent three of the last 5 years dead and/or catatonic. Hell, because Jason died so young, he never even really had a girlfriend or boyfriend! He's basically as inexperienced as Tim. So really it's a perfectly normal relationship without a huge power gap that just so happens to look like a huge 19 year old man molesting a barely teen.

Bruce, Dick, and Alfred just being so stressed because while legally Jason is committing a crime by being with Tim, for anyone with all of the information there is nothing wrong going on.

Also, I picture cis-male Tim in this like in the inspiring story, but honestly it doesn't matter if he's cis or trans. (But I do really like the image of the size difference - Jason with a massive grown man cock, rubbing against Tim's little, barely pubescent one. Jason being able to take Tim's entire cock - and maybe his balls- into his mouth with no effort, and Tim being so embarrassed and self-conscious about the fact that he can barely fit the head of Jason's in his mouth. Of course, once Tim is fully grown it will all have even out; Jason will actually have to pay attention to blow Tim and Tim will be able to fit more than half of Jason's cock in his mouth.)

ethically dubious jaytim relationship yes!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️ they're so happy and content and feel safe with one another. jason losing years to the whole debacle means that his physical age doesn't match his mental age and so of course he feels attracted to tim because jason was still a teenager as well! and tim is in such a precarious place and has never had the devoted love and attention of another person and while he doesn't consciously realize it, the fact that jason is so much older is a plus because it fills that need in tim's brain to be protected and loved by an older male.

it being such an uncomfy situation for bruce and dick and alfred who see them together and can't help but just FEEL its wrong. even though they know the circumstances are unique they can't help but tense up whenever jason and tim are around others- they've warned the two to keep their relationship quiet and under wraps because of the tricky situation and how it all looks. tim and jason are so innocent with their relationship but that doesn't mean the three of them aren't pacing back and forth the first time they have sex. little 13 year old tim is having sex with a near 20 year old under their roof and they're letting it happen, they're actively encouraging it by providing them with condoms and a room to fuck in-

just the complex mind fuckyness of it all ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[the-batcomputer-project]

Batfamily (and other) Headcanons that will be canon in my DC timeline:

-Dick is Pansexual. Show me this man in romantic relationships with more than just woman. I also feel like he has potential to be a sex positive icon which I feel is important. Sex portrayed as something that can be fun and casual, not explicitly reserved for romantic partners and situations.

(edited to rephrase and remove offensive language towards the pan community)

-Jason is Asexual. Get some ace representation but also give him some healthy romantic relationships where sex is not the center or a necessity. (I’m partial to Jason/Roy but to each their own)

-Jon Kent is dyslexic. Insert Percy Jackson reference about his brain being wired for kryptonian, but no, the dyslexia comes from Lois.

-Jason was absolutely theater kid before his death who managed to get the lead role almost every time, and somehow maintained a healthy schedule of theater rehearsals, good grades, and patrols.

-building off of the last one, Jason is Bruce’s favorite allowing him to get away with pretty much anything, but no one notices this because Jason is convinced Bruce hates him, and everyone else (understandably) believes Cass is the favorite.

-Cass took up gardening after watching Alfred tend to the rose bushes out front, and is now responsible for the very impressive garden on the Wayne Estate. She loves being to create and nurture life instead of kill, like the was born and raised to. Jason also taught her the language of flowers and she has little flowerbeds for each member of the family. Only Jason knows what they mean (also Alfred but he knows everything)

-Tim isn’t a caffeine addict, but he does have severe insomnia and ADHD. Because of that, caffeine typically has the opposite effect on him, hence why he always seems to be drinking a cup. Either for the placebo effect to stay up and finish a case, or to make him tired enough to fall asleep.

-Damian struggles to connect with people and express gratitude, appreciation, and love. He asked Cass about her garden one day and very intently sat and listened while she taught him about the language of flowers. Each family member woke up the next morning to a drawing of a bouquet of flowers pinned to the door with a knife (Jason has his framed in a safehouse he is fairly sure none of his family knows about)

-The batcave has a secret vault of “bad ideas” which was started by Dick as a child with the original Robin suit Bruce designed (it had pants) along with videos of Dick wearing said costume and falling off of gymnastics bars. (Think of the video explaining why strippers don’t wear clothes with the person falling off the pole over and over)

-Bruce is autistic. He gives off tism vibes (you’re trying to tell me that a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime as a trauma response to watching his parents be murdered in front of him is neurotypical?) and I also want to see more a positive autism representation in main characters in media.

-Dick’s use of made up words such as “aster” and “whelmed” come from the fact that he spoke very little English when he was first adopted by Bruce, and decided that using obviously made up words made his slip ups less noticeable, or people would assume he did it on purpose. Even after he mastered English, he continued using his made up words because they just made sense (the batcomputer and jl database have a hidden file called the “DICKtionary” unlinking all his words and their meanings)

-Jason can’t drive. He died when he was 15 (you have to be 16 in Jersey to get your permit), was revived in Nanda Parbat so there was no need to drive, and was too embarrassed to mention it by the time he returned to Gotham and the Batfamily. This is his deepest, darkest, secret.

-As a child, Dick was convinced Batman was a vampire (and still isn’t entirely convinced otherwise)

-Tim collects little trinkets. Dick noticed this early on, and made sure to get a little souvenir trinket for Tim every time he went on a trip. Bruce noticed and started doing the same thing, and so did his friends after a while. Tim proudly displays his collection, because to him, each trinket is a reminder that people are thinking about him and care about him. (Most of his possessions in Drake Manor were necessities like clothes, or things he had bought for himself. Barely anything was a gift)

-Jason has OCPD, and needs things to be an exact certain way, and struggles when they aren’t. It’s one of the biggest reasons why he is often so frustrated with Bruce, who tends to do things in a different, certain way.

-Cass is actually the most neurotypical in the family, though because she has learned how to be a person through observing, she has picked up on many neurodivergent traits, specifically stimming.

-Steph’s aesthetic is retro pastel pop, mixed with maximalism. She loves bright colors and loud designs (though purple is still her favorite by far)

-Alfred keeps guns stashed all over the house in case of emergencies. Bruce hates this and has tried to remove them, but has given up as he can never seem to find them all. Alfred also brought up the good point of “I am not a vigilante like you, Master Bruce, and I am not quite as young as I used to be. If there is ever an invasion of the manor, I would quite enjoy the security of being able to protect myself.”

-There is a list of who is banned from the kitchen. Bruce is at the top of the list, Tim isn’t allowed to make anything more complex than instant food, Cass and Damian aren’t very good, but at least make an effort to learn so are therefore allowed with supervision. Dick has a partial ban. He is an absolute disaster in the kitchen, except for soups, and sarma (his mother’s recipe was one of the few things he brought with him from the circus and was obsessed with perfecting it as a kid, leading it to be one of the only things he can actually make) Steph isn’t allowed to cook, but she is a proficient baker. Duke isn’t a horrible cook, but mainly avoids the kitchen, preferring to stay out of Alfred’s way. Jason is the only batfamily member who is not banned from the kitchen under any circumstances. He has a tendency to stress cook, and likes trying new fancy recipes, because on the streets he only ate what he could find. This gives him a sense of control.

-Superman wasn’t a great dad to Connor at first, opting to send him to the farm to stay with Ma and Pa, but after a stern talking to from Bruce, came around started making an effort. Connor is an excellent big brother to Jon.

[snowthedemonfox]

ive had a few people send me this tweet, and while it's entirely possible that this is a placeholder date, i do think some things are a bit interesting about it. this might take a bit, so i'm putting it all under a read more.

but first of all i want to say: i do not want glitch to rush out episodes. i do not want the team to force themselves to get this out asap, i do not care how long ep 4 and any future episodes take to get here!! we can wait :D

but moving on, first thing i noticed is that december 13th is a friday. glitch always drops episodes on fridays. maybe netflix does too, i dont pay attention to netflix, but that's one thing that i thought was interesting.

the second thing (and the main reason im making this post) might take a bit of context to fully explain:

when murder drones was being worked on, up until after episode 6, their release schedule was pretty consistent: a new episode every few months, from november 2022 to august 2023. after episode 6 dropped, glitch started to focus on TADC's pilot, which was one of the many reasons it took even longer than just a few months for episode 7 to release.

if you take the wait times between episodes from episode 2 to episode 6, the average amount of days was around 70-ish days. this number is important, ill mention it later on.

why do i bring this up? because im pretty sure that MD's final 2 episodes are the reason this release schedule didn't immediately apply to TADC. we knew from a post glitch made in early 2023 that MD ep 8 was going to be delayed.

i don't think it's that much of a stretch to say that while glitch had planned to release TADC episodes in the middle of working on MD, since MD caused delays, it of course meant that TADC's episodes also couldn't follow that 'new episode every few months' schedule that MD had in it's early days. this resulted in episode 2 taking half a year to release, and another 5 months for episode 3.

another thing to note is that while I have no idea how long production of a show takes when it comes to glitch, i do think that how they handled TADC was fairly different from how MD happened.

after MD's pilot dropped, there was a year of hiatus between episodes 1 and 2. i wouldnt be surprised if the reason this took so long is because production of further episodes only begun after MD's pilot started to gain attention, so glitch had the support needed to continue.

with TADC, we know that production of future episodes had started before the pilot even released. the scripts had been written, and voice lines had been recorded well in advance.

because of this, TADC didn't need a year of hiatus just so glitch could start production, so this 'new ep every 70ish days' timeline couldve still happened if MD didnt cause delays (not saying that's a bad thing, glitch should be taking all the time they need!). but now that MD is over, glitch now has the time to make TADC a priority.

not to say their focus will be completely on TADC, we still have the gaslight district's pilot that, if i had to guess, probably will release sometime between october-november 2025 (yes, this does mean TADC's later episodes will also have delays due to this. let's all remember to be nice to glitch even when this happens).

they've probably done the same thing with TGD, where production of future episodes started before the pilot. so glitch still will be working on that alongside TADC.

but back to the twitter post that prompted me to write this whole thing out: if you take the day that episode 3 released (october 4th, 2024), and add 70 days to it, you get:

december 13th! the date that netflix had listed! so either netflix got incredibly lucky with a random date, or they did their math homework and figured this would be a safe bet for a potential episode 4 release. so if i had to guess, if this date does turn out to be ep 4's actual release date, we could have a trailer by the 29th of november.

but hey, while we wait, glitchx is coming up soon! that's exciting, i cant wait to see what they reveal this time :D

[wixhing0nastar]

Abuse Narratives in RWBY: Yang Xiao Long Edition (Feat. Ruby Rose)

We've all witnessed and talked about Blake and Weiss being abuse survivors for years. Blake escaping from Adam and Weiss escaping from her father were both huge, impactful events that have shaped the narrative of the story in many ways.

Yang on the other hand has managed to fly mostly under the radar with the abuse she's suffered up to this point. Her jokey, happy-go-lucky facade tricking the audience just as well as it has her friends and family for years.

(Note: this is going to be a long post, so strap in. Also this is your warning I am not going to be holding back in my criticism of Tai, so if you don't want to see me go into detail about how exactly he abused Yang, I highly suggest turning back now).

TL:DR: Yang was neglected and parentified (aka: abused) as a child and that’s the root of a lot of the issues that she’s currently struggling with in Volume 9 and a large part of her healing is going to be centered around her relationship with Blake going forward.

Let's start by establishing what exactly I'm referring to when I say that Yang has been abused. Because while I'm certainly referring to her being neglected after Summer's death, I'm more so referring to the years of Parentification that was caused by said neglect (in addition to the verbal and emotional abuse hurled her way).

Let's start by defining what exactly Parentification is since it's where most of Yang's current problems stem from.

[Parentification is] a disturbance in the generational boundaries, such that evidence indicates a functional and/or emotional role reversal in which the child sacrifices his or her own needs for attention, comfort, and guidance in order to accommodate and care for the logistical and emotional needs of a parent and/or sibling. (Hooper, 2007b, p. 323)

Ruby establishes in Volume 9, Chapter 1 that Yang was the one who raised her. It's important to note that in the context of her saying that, she's telling Yang that Yang was the one responsible for her moral development as a kid.

Research has shown that the building blocks for morality are generally in place by the age of 4. However, "children need adults to help them at every stage of childhood to nurture these seeds into full development." (Harvard, Raising Caring, Respectful, Ethical Children, p. 1) With "childhood" commonly considered infancy to age 12.

Using this we can reasonably assume that Yang was Ruby's primary caretaker or at the very least co-parenting with Tai from the time of Summer's death to at least age 14 (when Ruby was 12)... which mind you, is already over a decade total and only three years before the show starts.

Now that we've got some of the science out of the way, let's start looking at the show itself to see just how bad the situation was.

Burning the Candle

This iconic scene actually paints a fairly horrifying picture of Yang and Ruby's early childhood when you start to break it down.

I waited for dad to leave the house.

Meaning that by that point, probably only a few months after Summer's death based on the timeline Yang establishes, Yang already knows Tai will reliably leave her and Ruby alone without supervision for extended periods of time in order to pull this off.

I must have walked for hours.

Meaning that it likely took several hours for someone to even notice they were missing in the first place. The fact Qrow knew exactly where they were indicates that Yang either left a note or clue about where they were headed and I'm willing to bet the only reason it took Yang that long to walk was because she was like two feet tall at the time (since Patch is like... a tiny island... which brings me to the next line...

A toddler asleep in the back of a wagon

Again, to clarify, Ruby was a toddler. Toddlers are between 1-3 years old... meaning this all happened when Yang was a maximum of (and likely, based on their physical appearances) 5 years old.

So to summarize, Tai was regularly leaving Yang, his five-year-old, home alone and in charge of her three-year-old sister... which would be horrifying to think about on its own but this is Remnant.

Which means that Tai was regularly leaving his grieving five-year-old at home alone when they didn't live inside a kingdom's border and there were known wild Grimm in the area... who are attracted to negative emotions.

Wow... I wonder why Yang felt the need to try to diffuse the tension with humor and keep everyone in high spirits all the time. It’s almost like it was a life or death situation growing up. (/s)

Anger, Fear, and Burn

Before jumping into the next big narrative piece, let’s talk a little bit about Yang’s semblance, Burn, and how it works. Because it’s important to establish before starting to dig into Volume 4.

Let’s start with how Ruby describes it:

Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special.

Notice how Ruby doesn't mention anything about Yang needing to be angry to use her Semblance? In fact, while it’s unclear if this is entirely true, it has been stated previously that Yang’s powers come in part from her hair and no one has refuted that claim in like 8 years so it holds some weight.

Moreover, recent volumes have actually been hinting that Yang likely doesn't even need to use her anger to activate/maintain burn. And that she just does so out of habit more than anything.

Now, why exactly would someone intentionally limit themselves by tying their semblance into in emotion like that? Well, first let’s answer the question, why anger?

And well... anger is a secondary emotion.

A secondary emotion is an emotion fueled by other emotions... masking your feelings of sadness, hurt or grief with anger can be easier than experiencing the primary emotion.

And moreover,

The feelings that anger commonly masks include fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, embarrassment, betrayal, jealousy, sadness, hurt, and worry. (Alta Loma, Understanding Anger as a Secondary Emotion, Web, emphasis added).

Fear is, of course, a bit of a running theme in RWBY, there was a whole speech and song about it at the end of Volume 7, after all.

But more than that, there've been two people on two separate occasions who've called Yang out for being scared when she's posturing: Ren and Raven.

And while Ren was pointing out that she uses humor to try to deflect when she’s scared, when Raven said this to Yang she was absolutely outwardly angry... and Yang admits to being scared in the moment yet still standing there.

Also note that humor = friends/winning, anger = enemies/losing.

Which makes you wonder, what was happening growing up that made Yang instinctively react to fear of danger with anger and planting her feet instead of running away? For that let's go back to what we learned from Burning the Candle and the V5 short real quick.

We know there are living Grimm on Patch. Maybe not as many as elsewhere, but both times we are given glimpses into Yang and Ruby's childhood on Patch they are attacked by Grimm, which isn't a great sign.

How old do you think Yang was the first time she or Ruby had a bad day and attracted one of them on accident and she had to fight it off on her own (because she couldn't run, she had to protect Ruby)?

How many nights do you think Yang would spend reading Ruby stories and telling her dumb jokes to get her to laugh to try to make sure they weren't attacked? How often did Ruby have to force herself to be okay? For both their sake?

Volume 4

Now let's talk about Volume 4, aka: when Tai had the chance to step up and didn't.

Now right off the bat he's okay. There's nothing inherently wrong with him bringing her the arm and being excited at the thought because he doesn't know how she's going to react to it though it is a little weird he opened her mail without permission.

The rest of Yang's first V4 episode, however, makes it very clear both to us as the audience and Tai that Yang isn't doing okay... but Tai doesn't do anything to attempt to help her.

Which is why what happens in the next episode is kinda messed up.

Yang wakes up from a nightmare about losing her arm in a seriously traumatizing event and goes downstairs when she realizes there's a distraction people are over.

Then we get the fight and despite Yang laughing it off in the end... honestly Tai is being very condescending towards her, which Yang even points out. Like, someone made a slightly adult joke in front of her and he flies off the handle and starts a fight with her and starts making digs about her not being a real adult ready for the real world and let's just break that down before dealing with the actual problems in this episode.

Yang, as established, has been fulfilling the role of parent (while barely getting any parenting herself) for years. She's been fulfilling the role of an adult since she was 5! And at this point in the show she's also legally an adult. So not only is it condescending, it's also untrue.

Then we get this line.

I guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm.

Not only is this beyond callus, Yang is clearly actually upset by this.

And notably, she only treats it as a joke after Oobleck dropped his cup. AKA: after being reminded that they aren’t alone in the room.

(And remember, Yang uses humor as a coping mechanism).

And both Oobleck and Port can clearly tell that this wasn’t appropriate at all and immediately following that, they pointedly step in to ask Yang how she is doing with everything.

Which Tai has not done.

And Yang opens up to them! And she tells them that she’s still struggling and coming to terms with what happened to her. Which in turn causes Tai to finally talk to her about it, but he’s being pushy about her getting back out and “being her new normal” and even refers to her PTSD as moping when she just got done saying she’s still trying to process and recover.

And it’s again Port specifically who steps in and gives her some genuine advice without trying to push her her into anything she’s not ready for and then Oobleck joins in and they go out if their way to ham it up to make her laugh.

So overall, Tai’s being extremely dismissive of the trauma that she’s gone through and minimizing her feelings at every turn.

Which then leads to this scene...

Which is when Tai’s dismissiveness starts to make sense (and I’ll come back to this when I’m analyzing the last episode).

Let’s break it down. To start, Tai knows that Yang is going up to her room, they pointedly have her call out goodnight from upstairs so Tai knows where she is physically and what her intentions are.

Secondly, there’s no way that Tai doesn't know you can hear people talking from the front door from Yang’s room. He’s owned this house for like two decades minimum at this point.

So when Oobleck and Port ask after Ruby, there’s no way he should assume Yang won’t be able to hear everything he says. And he very much lays the burden of Ruby’s safety at Yang’s feet. He’s not going after her because he has to “look after some things.”

AKA: Yang.

And then she comes to him literally the next day wearing the new arm and wanting to train and he doesn't question her at all, even though 12 hours earlier Yang was very much not ready?

We then don’t see her at all for five episodes until we get the scene where she’s training with Tai and honestly, his advice is kinda horrible.

To start, even he says his advice is based on watching her Vytal Festival fights, meaning that everything is based on watching three matches.

He points out she uses her semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers (which is true), and Yang rightly points out that everyone uses their semblances to help them win. Then Tai says this:

Because not everyone else’s is basically a temper tantrum.

Not only is this very unlikely to be true, but even if Yang does need to rely on her anger to activate her semblance, calling it a temper tantrum isn’t accurate at all.

In fact, the way Yang uses her semblance takes a great deal of emotional regulation to pull off. She not only is able to make herself angry enough to use it at will, she’s also able to stop using it at will. Meaning Yang is capable of instantaneously switching from one emotion to another.

That’s not a temper tantrum, that’s someone with superb emotional control choosing what emotion to feel when it’s most appropriate.

Furthermore, the “what happens if you miss” comment is so ridiculous I don’t even know how to start other than saying we literally saw exactly what happens when Yang misses her first attempt in Volume 2! When her semblance is being revealed! And the answer is... she gets another shot.

And if they’re stronger... like not using the thing that makes her ridiculously powerful is certainly not going to help.

And honestly... Yang doesn’t do what Tai says. He says it’s useful in a bind but Yang doesn’t use her semblance only in emergencies from here on end. In fact, what she actually does is pick up some tricks from Pyrrha and she starts hiding her semblance from people!

And noticeably, Tai isn’t the one who tells Yang to fight smarter. That’s a line of thinking she develops on her own between the first and second times she faced Adam.

And then Tai takes credit for her “suddenly” getting better like she hadn’t successfully hit him so hard he needed to take a pause and the fight he did win was only because he attacked her when she was being vulnerable with him... her father who she’s of course not going to assume is going to attack her while she’s opening up to him... because she wouldn’t do that to Ruby.

And then we get to Yang’s last (real) episode of the volume when she’s setting out to get Ruby. Remember when I said Tai’s dismissiveness started to make sense and we’d come back to it? Well we’re back to it.

Note how Yang pointedly doesn’t tell Tai that she’s leaving, despite him having indicated to Port and Oobleck that the only reason he wasn’t also going after Ruby was because he was staying with Yang?

And how in the end he doesn’t leave with Yang to go find Ruby even though supposedly the only reason he hadn’t was because he wanted to make sure Yang was okay? And now Yang’s going after Ruby? Alone?

Paired with how pushy and condescending he was acting towards her in the other two Volume 4 episodes he was in, on top of having neglected and parentified her for at least a decade, this really reads as him wanting Yang to get better so he can shove her out the door to go after Ruby, and not him caring at all about her as a person.

(Which is why I really struggle to feel bad for him in his V8 scene... if he was so worried he could have been there).

Yang’s Actual Temper Tantrums

Let’s address these really quick before moving on to the final section. We’ve actually seen/heard of four different instances where Yang actually was having something resembling a temper tantrum while using her semblance.

I’m going to start with the Neon fight because it’s the easiest. But Neon as a character relies on knocking her opponents off balance by getting under their skin in a fight. She tries to make them angry and yes, it does work on Yang in this instance. But that’s Neon’s whole thing, in any other match up Yang would have been fine.

The other three times all had to do with her hair (namely, when Junior gets her hair in her trailer, when the ursa gets her hair in the Emerald Forest and... in V4 when Tai refers to her having a rough first haircut).

Going back to the bit about how Yang’s powers, in part, come from her hair and this actually makes a lot of sense in the context of Yang’s childhood. If she was regularly in charge of protecting Ruby and some of the finite power she did have as a kid was because of her hair, of course she gets freaked out by losing some... and we’ve already talked about Yang using anger as a mask for fear.

Bumbleby and Volume 9

So let’s talk about where we’re going now, because of all three of the abuse survivors in this show, Yang is the only one who hasn’t really been confronted with and forced to deal with it yet.

Because at the end of the day, being parentified and neglected for years has left Yang scared to open up emotionally and more than that, uncertain of her identity outside of being Ruby’s parent.

Because up to going to Beacon, that was basically Yang’s entire life. It’s entirely possible the only reason she went to Signal was to learn how to protect Ruby better all things considered.

Which is why the development between her and Blake is so important this volume. Yang desperately needs to be valued as something other a caretaker and protector and so far they’ve been emphasizing the fact that Blake loves Yang because she’s a goofy dork who makes her smile, not because she’s strong enough to level a mountain.

And while Blake’s relationship with Adam was abusive, unlike Yang, Blake does have a framework for health relationships thanks to Ghira and Kali and she’s worked through her own trauma from being abused romantically enough that she’s in a place emotionally to help Yang start working though hers. Starting by giving Yang a person she can trust not to leave who also isn’t and has never been dependent on her to muck up Yang’s healing process.

Because there’s a difference between someone choosing to stay and someone not having any other choice because they were/are dependent on you. And (absolutely no shade to Ruby here) she’s already had someone in the latter position choose to leave her anyways.

In Conclusion

Yang was abused as a child and into her late teens and is in desperate need of some type of unconditional love and affection that she doesn’t feel there are strings attached to in order to finally begin healing...

And therapy, but they’re a little low on that for the foreseeable future.

[cotc-terminal]

Clash of the Cubes - C3 RESULTS

“Welcome back viewers, to the Clash of the Cubes! I’m your host Pulse, and I still have some final touches to do for the next challenge, which is my favorite so far, hehehe…! Soooo I’m just going to let this video of me explain everything.”

Pulse walks away and a Null holding a CRT comes up with a video recording of Pulse playing.

“Hello hello, It’s me! On a recording! So if you’re there, then make way for this challenge’s results!”

“So this race was pretty interesting, wasn’t it? There’s a bunch of different outcomes specifically from Azure’s rockslide somehow, and a lot of head trauma, physical and psychological, haha!”

“So let me shut up now, and present the voting. And here it is!”

Voting Results

“Aaaaand, Claude and Skye won thanks to how their entry works! Dunno how, but hey, it’s fortunate for the both of them.”

“They’re actually fairly spread out this time, so that’s funny. Anyways, let’s get onto the bonus points.”

Pulse’s Bonus Points

“Now, for the bonus points, you are going to be VERY disappointed on my reveal.”

“The challenge was never about the race. Dead last? First? Doesn’t matter. What DOES though, is your kill count!”

“That’s right, remember the encouragement of pushing, shoving, horseplay, ramming & hitting? Well, that’s cuz the more you get, the higher your hit tally. The tallies are then used to determine the placements, which then determine the points.”

“Now first off, some commentary. Some of you immediately went for the finish. Bad. Although I *DID* present this as a race, so…. Good..? Others didn’t even get a single hit, which is sad. Bite back, ladies. Aaanyways…”

“Azure, what you did what like seeing the Mona Lisa in the screen of a broken 240p screen. I could see those points racking up…in another timeline. Here, you did the rockslide too early. If I were you, I would’ve done it ontop of everyone. Valiant attempt though.”

“Brick, you just struck gold but you didn’t bother selling it. Your shield deflects anything right back to where it came from. And I meant that VERY literally. Have you let yourself get hit by those Nulls longer, you would’ve gotten a jackpot. Although getting two hit is better than nothing.”

“Meanwhile, I think I should have never made that card, since Cassandra absolutely abused her knowledge. For that, I’m giving her a small disadvantage on the next challenge.”

Pulse snaps, and a Ball and Chain appears and attaches to a leg.

“There we go~~ Anyways, where was I? Ohhhh yeah right, the bonus points. Here, and show the totals while you’re at it. I have nothing else to say.”

Total Points

“And there you have it! Let’s add those points up.”

“So these are your current scores! Pretty…close. Anyone could overtake anyone at this point.” “As always, your next challenge will be in 3 days. My name is Pulse, and see you next tttTTTtiIiiII—i-Ii-

The Null holding the TV just drops and stomps on it. It then looks at another for a few minutes silently, then leaves.

@lumhere @shaidai @orchuris @itzhosya @missmaydae @alionanight @dragongirl2k6 @acn97414 @mahoganystudios830 @pricklythepearcat @blockheadblog @nacora-najita

[dandylovesturtles]

Does the movie still happen in SideLines AU? \

Yes! Though it would be radically different and I haven't thought much about how exactly events would play out. Leo already got his character development, though, so someone else would be the driving force of the story. Probably Raph, or maybe Mikey?

Ooooo, actually, idea for a very Raph and Mikey centric movie plot: Mikey wants to prove himself but Raph keeps trying to protect him (because he has even more ptsd about not protecting his brothers with what happened to Leo) that they are the ones fighting in the beginning, and Raph's inability to trust Mikey is what leads to the key being stolen. And the way to win is for Raph and Mikey to reconcile their differences, with Raph acknowledging that Mikey is as strong as the rest of them and he needs to trust him, and Mikey acknowledging that his brother's help isn't meant to be a sleight but is there out of love.

I'd have to think about this a lot more to give you, like, a chain of events. I actually had a completely different answer ready for this and then thought of that while I was typing lol.

As for what I was going to say, while I'm not sure exactly how the movie events go down in Sidelined AU, I do have some idea of how it changes the bad future timeline.

By the point where the timelines diverge, Leo is recovered as fully as he ever will, able to walk around the lair most days and even go out on missions, provided he's careful and knows his limits. He still uses a range of mobility aids, given how he feels on any particular day, including the wheelchair for bad days or days where he knows he would be walking more than he could otherwise handle, but he's still relatively active.

The Krang invasion reverses a lot of this. As supplies dwindle, Leo starts suffering from malnutrition and a lack of sleep, and doesn't have access to medicine to help with the pain and fatigue, which takes a big toll on his body. Also, he really overdoes it and pushes himself too hard in the early days of the invasion, which accelerates his decline. By the time Casey is old enough to remember things, Leo is entirely wheelchair bound and doesn't often leave the base, only using his portals when he needs to to evacuate members of the resistance or help civilians.

He is still very much Master Leonardo - he's highly respected in the resistance, and anyone who wants to look down on him for his disability (or for being a turtle) either learns quickly or dies. However, he's not Casey's teacher in this timeline, instead leaving that to Raph and sometimes Donnie and Mikey. So Raph is Sensei now, and Leo is Master Leonardo or just Uncle Leo.

Leo takes over most of the care of Casey after his mom dies, since he's always at base, only sometimes sending Casey to Donnie or another adult when he's particularly busy (he's still the guy in the chair here, and also handles a lot of the day to day running of the resistance). Sometime early on, Donnie builds Leo a new chair that either hovers or has some other way of mitigating rough terrain (spider arms maybe?), and he frequently lets Casey ride on it. Even as Casey gets older, hanging off Leo's chair as they move around the base is second nature to him.

Casey was so used to Leo only being in his chair he was a little shocked on coming back to the past and seeing that Leo walks fairly frequently. He also grabbed onto Leo's chair sometimes out of habit, which made younger Leo tense up initially; something they eventually work through as they get closer.

Though all four turtles make it longer in the invasion than I usually headcanon (since I usually think of Raph as dying while CJ was too young to really remember him), they do still die, and Leo is the first to go. Casey is about 11 or 12 when this happens. When the Krang finds their base while the others are gone, Leo tells Casey he loves all of them and then portals him and the other non-combatants to safety, giving his all to hold the Krang back and give them a chance to escape. After that, Raph (who was already close to Casey anyway as his teacher and another of his uncle-dads) took over as the main adult looking out for him, and started taking him out on missions.

I'm not sure what happens next but I think it's Donnie who goes next, and then Raph and Mikey's deaths playing out the same way Leo and Mikey did in the movie. Especially since that goes with what I was saying above: Raph in the future comes to see and accept Mikey as an equal rather than someone to baby, foreshadowing what their relationship will become under happier circumstances.

Thanks for the ask!

[asleepinawell]

lingering questions and thoughts on the dlc lore

first off, some of these may have been addressed in item descriptions and i either 1) missed an item or 2) read it but it was 3am and my brain didn't retain some detail

all opinions are just opinions etc, i have no interest in getting in lore fights and block people who try and start them. I'm too tired for that shit. this is just fun speculation

one question i had that i feel must have been answered was what was the scadutree actually for?

what was the timeline regarding messmer and melina's birth? they're referred to together as if they're twins or were born close together. my assumption was that messmer at least was radagon's kid with marika, but the dialogue of the story trailer implies his purge took place shortly after marika's ascension. marika could have split off radagon fairly early (even as part of the process of becoming a god like miquella and st trina) but there was no mention of them having kids until after the rennala thing much later on. my assumption about his parentage is based on 1) hair color and 2) he has a special curse which gives him something in common with malenia/miquella. he is not an empyrean though so maybe radagon isn't the dad (did you fuck the god devouring snake marika????)

i don't want to touch on the miquella and radahn stuff too much since I'm not interested in The Discourse. (i found the parts of the story about marika and the hornsent to be far more interesting). i will say that while the radahn thing felt like it came out of nowhere, the reason miquella didn't choose malenia is probably because 1) she's another empyrean and therfore a candidate for being a god, not a lord, and 2) she's already been claimed by a god. godwyn would have been the more lore logical choice but he didn't even get a mention, like "miquella wanted him but his soul was gone". so weird choice (and bad boss fight) but eh

i'm not sure if miquella's two fingers is ever commented on but he and ranni both followed a similar path in abandoning their flesh to remove themselves from the greater will's influence except ranni then went feral and stabbed hers to death and then got engaged while still covered in its blood. 10/10 no notes

one thing I'd wanted but hadn't expected to get was the reason marika smashed the ring. the whole "woman went crazy because her son died" thing is very grrm and 😬 about what i expect from how his writing handles women, BUT! i think the dlc gives a more complicated possibility for this. marika gets her tragic backstory (which i was also dreading because grrm) and it's one that actually made a lot of sense in terms of the lore and did a good job explaining her actions without justifying them (she slapped the cycle of violence on the roof and was like this bad boy can fit so much perpetuation). the fact she removed death from the elden ring after having witnessed the brutal extermination of her people makes complete sense. and then her son gets killed. she obtained godhood to punish the hornsent and to protect what was left of her people (which seems to mostly be the children she had later) and the elden ring failed her and her kid died. it wasn't grief over her son, so much as past trauma mixed with extreme anger. she took on godship to prevent this and the elden ring had failed her. it had one job basically. radagon, who lacked her memories, was immune to this. overall i think that's a decent plot compared to what it could have been

the whole story with the hornsent also makes the story of morgot and mohg much darker (and it was already dark). marika must have been really pissed and upset to have omen children (maybe part of why she ditched godfrey?). since they were her blood she wouldn't have killed them (since protecting the last of the shamans/numen was her thing), but man. fucked up if true etc

marika probably would have gone apeshit about jarburg if she hadn't been off being crucified

also since ranni was not marika's kid (or wasn't raised by her per se) she might not have known anything about marika's backstory and not expected marika's reaction to godwyn's death. edit: this is not me being like ranni did nothing wrong. i support women's wrongs. i think they should do more of them. more like, imagine ranni kills godwyn and then suddenly marika smashes the ring and all the other demigods go nuts and start waging war and she's just like huh. wild. and then fucks off to her tower until they all get it out of their systems

the lgbtq community has forgiven mohg is possibly the funniest narrative choice they could have made. poor man didn't even get to yell sex in his fight 😔. at least he had some of the sickest looking moves in the game

rellana was the best boss in the dlc and possibly the whole game imo. the fact she may have been into messmer is really funny though because 1) if you go age of stars that is now your aunt in law kicking your ass and 2) your aunt in law who is into the brother of your wife. what a family. no wonder ranni wants to go to space

[aquietwritingcorner]

The Seeping Cold

For @tmnt-write-fight for @drebspells2022 @mackself and @azucar-skull

Title: The Seeping Cold Prompt:  Any iteration: Leo centric sickfic; fever; bad dream Fandom: TMNT 2003 Word Count: 10,045  Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl Rating:  T Characters: Leonardo Warning: Dream sequences are a touch intense, but I don’t go into detail. Summary: The lair itself seemed a bit cool to Leo, and he shivered lightly as he silently padded to the edge of the walkway and jumped down to the first floor. Maybe he needed to have Donnie check the heating. It was a little early for it to be this cold. Notes: I, uh, make a lot of references in this. But I assure you that they are all within the timeline and you don’t actually have to know much about them to understand the story. I’m just trying something, to see if it helps flesh the world around them out a little more, or if it’s just distracting ^^; ffn || AO3

____________________________________

The Seeping Cold

Leo groaned, rolling over in his bed as his clock went off. He felt like he was pulling himself awake from the depths of a deep but unrestful sleep, having to force his groggy mind to start working enough to reach over and turn off his clock. It took him a time or two, but he managed to get to it before it started going into the incredible fast paced and loud beeping that was its second setting. Flopping back into his bed, Leo laid there for a moment. Even with an uneasy feeling leftover from his dreams, he really didn’t want to get out of bed. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he could go back to sleep and sleep for several more hours, at least. Even just a few more minutes would be nice, snuggled in under his blankets, with the relative silence of the lair enveloping him and the allure of sleep singing its siren song to his eyes…

Leo abruptly shook himself awake, realizing that he was starting to fall back to sleep again. With another groan, he rolled himself out of bed, shivering as his feet hit the cold floor. He stretched a bit, rolling his shoulders, finding them stiff. Trying to shake both the remnants of sleep and his dreams off, he reached for his gear, pulling on his pads, his belt, his mask, and his swords, and headed out of his room and to the bathroom.

The lair itself seemed a bit cool to Leo, and he shivered lightly as he silently padded to the edge of the walkway and jumped down to the first floor. Maybe he needed to have Donnie check the heating. It was a little early for it to be this cold.

The jump seemed to reverberate through his legs, and he shook them out a bit as he walked, heading towards the bathroom. Fortunately, getting up this early meant that he didn’t have to fight for his turn. He simply went in, did what he needed to do, and left, although he had to admit that he took his time. The bathroom was one of the warmer rooms in the lair, along with the kitchen and the medical area, and he almost didn’t want to leave it.

Finishing there, Leo head headed towards the kitchen. Normally he would fix himself something light to eat, but this morning he only set the kettle on the stove, not really feeling like eating. Turning the stove on, Leo leaned against the counter and waited for the water to heat up. The heat from the stovetop felt good, and Leo leaned into it a bit, rolling his shoulders again as he realized that he had a bit of an all-over ache.

Leo sighed. He knew that he’d overdone his training last night. Splinter had warned him not to, as he’d been practicing some fairly advanced moves, but he hadn’t listened. He was paying for that now, but, well, that was the consequences of his choice, and he’d deal with it. He’d just have to make sure to stretch a bit more today before they started training. It would probably do him good, anyway, with the chill that was in the air. It was winter, but the Lair was still normally warmer than this, even in the coldest parts of the season.

Reluctantly, Leo pushed away from the stove, going ahead and preparing his tea cup, as well as one for Splinter, when he woke. He also got the coffee ready ensuring that whoever got in here first—Raph or Don—could start it with no issues. There was no telling what Mikey would go for. It could be tea, coffee, or one of those energy drinks that Angel had unfortunately introduced him to.

The kitchen, despite being a warmer room, still held the presence of a chill to it. It was like when summer was turning to fall and, while not in any way cool, you could tell that there was something cool in the air, even if it was still hot out. Leo keenly felt that as he moved around the kitchen and away from the stove. It made him hurry through his motions, wanting to get back to the warmth of the stove.

It didn’t take much longer for the water to be heated, and Leo took the kettle off of the eye before its whistle could build and wake the others up. Carefully, he poured some into his cup, letting it run over the tea leaves he’d put in earlier. He turned the burner down to a simmer, ensuring that the kettle would still be warm for Splinter but not in danger of whistling loudly enough to wake the whole lair. He let his tea steep while he made sure he turned down the correct eye—no need for a repeat of a month ago--and then sat down with it at the table. Normally he picked a chair where he could see the doorway clearly when people entered, but this time he sat in the chair nearest to the stove, leeching what heat off of it that he could.

Leo wrapped his hands around his teacup as the tea steeped, letting the warmth soak into his aching hands. He only moved them when it was time to take the tea leaves out, and even then, he was quick to bring his hands back around the cup. He brought it up to his lips, drinking it slowly, savoring the warmth that the tea brought him. He let his mind blank, instead of taking the time for some light meditation as he normally would have, not feeling quite awake enough for it.

His mind drifted as he sat there, and he let it, not directing it. The quiet of the lair bled into him, but instead of it soothing his mind, it let the uneasy feelings from his dreams seep back in. He couldn’t quite place anything specifically, but he knew that whatever he had been dreaming about, it hadn’t been anything good. It was as if the dreams and their feelings were behind several layers of thick walls, and while he knew the feelings had been more intense, all he felt now was unease about his family and everyone’s safety.

Fortunately, his thoughts were broken when Raph stumbled into the room a few minutes later, sleep still obviously clinging to him. He gave Leo a grunt of acknowledgement, heading straight towards the coffeepot and turning it on. He stared at it for a few moments, clearly still waking up, even as the sounds of Mikey’s off-key singing could be heard coming from the bathroom. Leo took another sip of his tea and considered going for another cup when he finished this one.

Suddenly, Raph turned and looked at him, blinking. “…That ain’t where you usually sit,” he said bluntly.

Leo shrugged. “I wanted the heat,” he said, tipping the cup up and drinking the last of his tea regretfully. As much as he wanted another cup, he knew that he probably was better off just sticking to the one. He stood, moving a little stiffly, and turned to put his cup in the sink. “I’m going to go warm up.”

Raph grunted, and Leo made his way out of the kitchen, heading towards the dojo area. He passed a very sleepy Don on the way, who gave Leo a half-hearted wave as they passed. Leo waved back, and then paused. “Hey, Donnie.”

Don stuttered to a stop and turned towards him, “Hm?” he said, voice still heavy with sleep.

“Can you check the heat later today? It’s a little colder than it should be,” Leo asked him, not entirely sure if his brother would be awake enough to remember this conversation later.

Don blinked at him, as if filing that away. “Yeah. I can do that.”

Leo nodded. “Thanks,” he said, before he continued on to the dojo, hearing Don’s shuffling steps heading towards the kitchen.

Once in the dojo, Leo quickly settled into some stretches, starting with some very basic warm-ups, trying to work through his sore muscles. Bit by bit he took the time to stretch out each of his muscles, starting gently and then working his way up to harder stretches. He vaguely heard Mikey pass by him, the energetic turtle practically bouncing towards the kitchen. He heard Splinter walk by, his cane tapping on the floor as he made his way towards the kitchen. He heard Don emerge from the kitchen, padding towards his lab, and Raph follow him out not much later.

However, while Leo would normally have paid more attention to the details of his family moving around him—what song Mikey was humming, if Don had his coffee cup with him, how Splinter seemed after his morning meditation, where exactly Raph went—this morning he found that he needed to keep his focus closer. He let the details slip away from his awareness and instead focused on stretching out each of his aching muscles, continuing to move up in intensity as he did. He lost all track of time, choosing instead to focus on what would, hopefully, help his muscles loosen up before practice.

All too soon, one by one, his brothers wandered over to join him, doing their own stretches and trying to loosen up. After a few more minutes, Splinter joined them as well, going through his own routine. Almost before Leo knew it, it was time for practice. Leo rolled his shoulders as they all got into position for the day’s lessons to begin, not completely satisfied with the result of his stretches. While it had helped, he still could feel that bone-deep ache, with a little bit of tiredness creeping in. He really shouldn’t have pushed himself as hard as he did yesterday.

Training went as usual. Meditation, warm-ups, practice, the day’s focus, practical application, practice, cool-downs, and meditation. It was nothing that they weren’t used to, and nothing out of the ordinary. However, Leo found that it seemed more difficult to him today. It was harder to focus during meditation, teaching, and the application, and he struggled to keep up at his usual pace. His mind kept drifting back to the vague feelings of unease that his dreams had brought him. His muscles, too, felt overworked and overused. By the time they finished, he felt less like he had been in training, and more like he’d been in a long, drawn-out battle—something he unfortunately knew what felt like.

Of course, despite his best efforts not to show it, his family took notice, even as they all laid collapsed on the dojo floor.

“How hard do you think he’s gonna drill us in the new move tomorrow?” Don asked.

“I don’t even wanna think about tomorrow,” Mikey said. “I just wanna lay here until my shell rots.”

Raph lightly kicked Mikey, causing him to rock on his shell. “Yer brain’s more likely to rot first, Mikey.” He glanced at Leo. “The real question is, how much time do ya think Leo’s gonna spend practicing it this afternoon?”

“Believe it or not, not much,” Leo said. He could catch Don’s frown out of the corner of his eye. “I… might have done a little too much yesterday,” he admitted.

Don huffed. “I thought you were moving stiffer than normal. Didn’t I tell you to take it easy? You got too cold the other night when we were all out late. It’s winter, Leo, and you’re more sensitive to the cold. Give your body a chance to recover. We’re not entirely warm-blooded, you know.”

“Please, Donnie, I’m beggin’ ya,” Raph said from where he laid, “do not go into the whole lecture and explanation.”

“Yeah, we already know it,” Mikey said. He pitched his voice a little to mimic Don. “’We’re neither completely endothermic nor exothermic but somewhere in between. Because of this we are capable of regulating our body temperature to a degree and employing typical endothermic regulation processes, but at the same time our bodies are influenced a great deal by the external conditions which surround us’.” He dropped the voice. “Blah blah blah, we don’t need to be in cold or heat for too long, and take longer to bounce back, blah, blah, blah.”

“I don’t sound like that!” Don protested, offended.

“Don’t worry,” Leo said, interrupting the conversation and starting to roll over to get up. “I don’t plan on doing a lot today.” He got up and stretched a little, trying to work out some of the stiffness. “But unless anyone needs it, I might go get a hot shower. Try to work out some of these kinks and warm up a bit.”

The others were slowly rising to their feet as well.

“Nah, go ahead. I’m gonna do a little work with my bag,” Raph said.

Don shrugged. “I’m due to give the Battle Shell some maintenance.” He paused, clearly thinking back. “Ah. And I’ll check the heat.”

“I have a whole stack of comics to read!” Mikey said with a grin.

“Clearly an important job,” Don shot at Mikey, but softened the blow with a teasing grin.

Mikey just shrugged and grinned back. “Someone’s got to do it, and I’ll gladly sacrifice my time towards it.”

Raph sighed, and Leo just shook his head.

“Alright,” Leo said. “Then I’m going to go shower.”

His brothers made noises of acknowledgement, and Leo headed towards the bathroom.  In truth, Leo would have loved to soak in a tub. He could remember doing that when they were small, and it was cold out. Splinter would heat up water for them, putting them all in a tub, and let the water help keep them warm during cold snaps. Even as they got older, they would occasionally soak in a tub, and it always felt so nice. Don, however, hadn’t gotten around to installing a tub for them, and all they had was a shower. However, considering all of the other things Don regularly built and maintained for them, Leo wasn’t going to complain. A shower was good enough.

He set a towel and washcloth aside for himself, and checked to make sure that the shower was clear—no unauthorized experiments via Don or Mikey, or a bar of soap left on the floor to make everything slippery via Mikey or Raph, or something sharp left propped somewhere via Raph or Don—and started up the water. He let it warm before he got in, taking the time to take off his pads and mask. He carefully set his swords and their scabbard outside of the bathroom, not wanting the moisture to get to them, and made sure to set everything else aside. It didn’t take the water long to warm, thanks to Don’s superior plumbing, and Leo slipped in, letting the warm water run over his aching muscles.

It felt good. The heat felt more than good, and he found himself bumping it up a little more than he normally would. The heat soaked into him, and while it didn’t completely take the ache away, it did alleviate it some. He just wished there was a better way to keep all of him under the shower’s spray. Anytime he shifted to give one area more warmth, the parts of him that were out of the spray felt the cold much more keenly. It made him wish for a tub even more, but he’d take what he could get.

Little by little, Leo bumped the heat in the shower up more and more as the water cooled, until the water finally cooled enough that he couldn’t turn it up anymore. With a sigh, Leo reluctantly reached over and turned the water off. Almost immediately, even though the bathroom was full of steam, a chill wrapped itself around Leo, sending a shudder through him. He ignored it, reaching for his towel. After all, it was normal to feel a little cool once you turned off the water. He toweled off, trying his best to get all of the water off of him. No need to let it keep cooling him down, or to drip in the lair. And, he admitted to himself, he might be a little reluctant to leave the warm bathroom.

Still, he could only dally for so long, and so before he really wanted to be, Leo was as dry as he could get, with his gear back on. He exited the bathroom, only to shudder again as the coolness of the lair hit him. Either Don hadn’t fixed the heat yet, or the temperature difference was that big between the rest of the lair and the steamy bathroom.

Probably a little of both.

Not quite wanting to completely lose the warmth he had in the bathroom, Leo made his way over to the kitchen, slipping his swords back on as he did. It was always warmer in the kitchen, and a mug of hot tea sounded good right now. He could hear the radio playing in the kitchen, along with Mikey’s off-key singing, and smell food cooking. Leo’s stomach rumbled a bit. He had skipped breakfast, after all. Maybe a little food would do him good.

Mikey looked up when Leo entered and grinned at him. “Was beginning to wonder if you’d just decide to revert to full turtle, bro. You were in there so long I ran out of hot water!”

Leo grimaced slightly. “Sorry,” he apologized, heading towards the kettle. “The water just felt that good.”

Mikey waved a spatula around in the air dismissively. “Nah, no worries, bro. We all need that sometimes.”

Leo smiled back at his brother as he put some more water in the kettle. He hesitated just before sitting it on the stove. “Were you going to need…?” he asked.

“Put it on the smaller one,” Mikey said. “I’m gonna need the bigger ones.”

Leo nodded and did as Mikey said, before looking back at his brother. “What are you making?”

“Soup!” Mikey said enthusiastically. “We’ve got some chicken we need to use up, and an overstock of beans, so I thought I’d try some kind of Mexican-inspired soup! It’s a little early in the year for it, but it should be good.”

“I think it sounds great,” Leo said, starting to prepare a mug for some tea. “Nice and warm.”

Mikey laughed a little, but just grinned at his brother as he shook a bottle of some sort of spice blend. “It might be warm in more ways than one! I plan on giving it at least a little kick.”

Leo blanched a little. “Not too much, okay? We don’t need a repeat of the last time.”

“Nah, I learned from that time,” Mikey said. “But who knew that Sensei had the highest spice tolerance out of us all?”

“It was certainly a surprise,” Leo said. “Do you need any help?”

Mikey waved him away again. “Nope! You just sit down and rest, bro. Everyone needs a day off once in a while, even you.”

For once, Leo didn’t feel like arguing. He just gave a one-word response of agreement and propped himself against the counter, waiting for the kettle to be ready. It was warm near the stove and oven, and he soaked it in, watching as Mikey bounced around the kitchen. His brother didn’t seem to be cold at all, but then again, Mikey was moving around a lot. Besides, Leo was more sensitive to the cold than his brothers ever since Shredder’s attack on him. He didn’t know if it was a physical thing or all in his brain, but in the end it didn’t really matter. The cold got to him, reminding him, consciously or not, of that desperate rooftop gauntlet, and how outnumbered he was.

The kettle whistled before his mind had time to travel down that path too far, and he gladly accepted the distraction, reaching for the mug he had prepared, and pouring the hot water over the tea leaves in it. He took it back to the table and sat down, breathing deeply and closing his eyes while it steeped, just relaxing into the moment around him. He let his mind drift, not keeping track of what was going on around him but enjoying a blissful moment of just letting his mind blank out. He could still feel the uneasy from his dreams, and knew part of it came from the reminder the cold left him, but he tried his best to slide that to the side, and just exist in the moment.

It wasn’t going very well. He was just too unfocused today.

He was startled out of the moment by the sound of a plate sliding in front of him, and he opened his eyes to see some steamed veggies on a small mound of rice sitting in front of him. He looked up at Mikey questioningly.

“Saw that you didn’t eat breakfast,” Mikey said. “After that practice, I figured you could use something to eat.”

Leo gave his brother a grateful smile. Of course, Mikey would have noticed that and fixed Leo something even in the middle of cooking something completely different. “Thanks, Mikey.”

“Anytime!” Mikey said, going back to his cooking, continuing his singing, although thankfully, a little quieter. The radio was also switched over to something a bit more lowkey than the usual colorful array of pop songs Mikey liked to play, making sure to annoy Raph by belting Oops, I Did it Again loudly whenever it came on. Leo would be fine if this radio station skipped that top song, thanks.

It was honestly nice just sitting in the kitchen with Mikey, and Leo enjoyed it, choosing to stay even after he finished his food and tea. He left, once, retrieving the book he was in the middle of, and then just sat there, drinking mugs of tea and reading his book. He had a little trouble concentrating on it, no matter how much he wanted to, but he just figured that it was due to the presence of Mikey. His little brother was hard to ignore at the best of times. Besides, Leo often had a second awareness when it came to his brothers, and at times it made it hard for him not to pay attention to them.

Still eventually, he grew restless, and he stood, stretching. Mikey glanced over at him.

“Going somewhere?” he asked.

“I think I just need to stretch out a bit,” he said, gathering his book and his tea mug. “I feel like I’m getting stiff just sitting here.”

Mikey nodded. “Totally get that. I’ll leave the kettle on if you want more tea, though.”

“Thanks, Mikey,” Leo said with a smile as he headed out.

The air outside of the kitchen was decidedly cooler than in the kitchen, and Leo felt a chill run through him. Don must be having some sort of problem with the heating system if it was still this cool. That might mean that he’d need to do a junkyard run. Leo let out a silent sigh. It wasn’t that he minded junkyard runs. But with as achy and sore as he was feeling, along with how cold it must be topside if it was this cool in the lair, well, it wasn’t something that Leo was looking forward to. Still, if Don asked him, he'd go. He certainly wasn’t letting his brother go alone. Then again, Don might ask all of them, if he thought he’d need a lot of parts, or a bigger component.

With another sigh, Leo sat his book and mug down on the edge of the walkway that ran around the dojo area, and went there, starting some simple stretches. Raph was nearby, working with some weights, and he nodded at Leo. Leo nodded back, the two brothers simply working side by side. After a few minutes, though, he became aware of Raph standing next to him, and he looked up at his brother.

“You good?” Raph asked him.

“Just a little sore,” Leo said.

Raph frowned. “Still?” he asked. “You musta really overdone it.”

Leo looked a little sheepish. “Yeah… I really wanted to get that move right, but I’m paying for it now.”

Raph grunted and shook his head. “Want me to help you stretch out some?”

Leo blinked at Raph, not expecting that offer. He wasn’t going to turn it down, though. There were some stretches that were just easier to do or more effective when they could be done with someone else.

“Sure,” he said. “It might help.”

Raph grunted again and gestured for Leo’s arm. “Gimmie your arm. We’ll start there. Let me know if it’s too much.”

Leo nodded, putting his arm in Raph’s grasp, and let his brother start manipulating it around. He started with a light pressure, a light stretching, but slowly he moved into stretches that pulled more at Leo’s sore and aching muscles. It hurt a little, but in a good way, especially when Leo added some resistance to some of the stretches. Muscle group by muscle group, the two of them worked their way over Leo’s body, stretching out everything. By the time they finished, Leo felt a lot looser, and a bit less sore.

“Thanks,” he said, taking Raph’s hand to help him up. “That does feel better.”

“No problem,” Raph said, clearly dismissing it. “It isn’t like we haven’t all needed that before.”

Leo chuckled. “True enough.”

“Gonna do anything else?” Raph asked, clearly curious.

Leo thought for a moment, before taking in a big breath and letting it out. “No. No I think I will try to rest today, at least until we need to do anything else. Might as well give my body some time to recover.”

Raph nodded. “Sounds good.” He glanced at the book and tea that Leo had sat down earlier. “Go enjoy your cold tea and weird fantasy book, I guess.”

Leo shook his head as he walked towards them to pick them up. “I’m telling you, Raph. You’d enjoy this one if you’d give it a chance.”

“I’m not starting something new until I’ve finished the series I’m reading,” Raph said, turning back to his punching bag. “I’m a one-series at a time kinda guy, you know that.”

“Well, just keep it in mind for when you’re finished with that series,” Leo said.

“Yeah, yeah, I will,” Raph said, and turned his attention completely to his punching bag.

Leo took a sip of his tea, and blanched when he realized just how cold it had gotten. Book tucked under his arm, he made his way back to the kitchen where Mikey was dancing away, still cooking. He dumped out the cold tea, poured himself some fresh, and turned to head out of the kitchen, only pausing when Mikey caught him off guard and stuffed half an orange in his mouth.

“A little vitamin C never hurts!” Mikey said with a wink.

Shaking his head, Leo plucked the half an orange out of his mouth, and continued on, heading towards the living room and peeling a section off so he could eat it. The mug of tea was warm in his hand, and he knew as soon as he sat down, he was going to wrap both hands around it, letting it warm them. He was partway to the living room when he saw Don come out of the elevator, wiping his hands on a rag, grease in streaks on his arms and plastron. Leo changed direction, hoping to ask him about the heat. The chill in the lair hadn’t improved, and may, in fact, have gotten worse.

“Don. Hey, Donnie,” Leo called out to him.

Don was clearly caught up in some sort of deep thought, but Leo’s call broke him out of it. “Hm? Oh, hey, Leo. What’s up?” he asked, a curious tilt to his head.

“I was wondering if you had a chance to look at the heat yet,” Leo said. “It still feels about the same in here.”

Don looked at him, puzzled for a moment. “The heat? Why would I—oh! Oh, no, Leo, I completely forgot! I was doing some maintenance on the Battleshell, and then I got this idea for an upgrade and, well, I guess I just sort of lost myself,” he said sheepishly.

That wasn’t too unusual, and Leo just fondly shook his head. “It’s okay, Don. Bu I really would appreciate it if you’d look.”

Don nodded. “Sure! I can go do that right now. I’ve got to let some things set on the Battleshell anyway, so I’ve got some time.”

Leo smiled and nodded. “Thanks, Donnie.”

Don just waved a greasy hand at him. “Not a problem, Leo!”

With that, the two parted ways, Don heading towards his lab and Leo towards the living room. He settled on the couch, placed his warm tea on the coffee table, and mindlessly ate the half an orange as he opened his book. The open space of the living room was cool, though, and it wasn’t long before Leo was pausing, pulling a blanket down across his shoulders. He popped the last slice of orange into his mouth and chewed it, trying to focus in on his book. But try as he might, he had the same focusing problems out here as he had in the kitchen.

He was hyper aware of Raph, and the thuds and rattles that came from his punching bag. He could hear Donnie digging around in his lab, the clanks, and clacks from him moving things and gathering tools, along with the tinkle of something metallic spilling out of a container. Mikey and his loud radio, off-key singing and banging of pots and pans was audible, even from this far away. The only one he wasn’t hearing was Splinter, but that was normal. And his aches, which were returning, and the cold in the lair were plenty distracting on their own.

With a sigh, Leo closed his book. Looked like he wasn’t going to be able to focus on reading it at the moment. Sitting it down and reaching for the remote, Leo turned the TVs on, flipping through the channels until he found what seemed to be a marathon of Star Trek: The Next Generation on one of the cable channels Don somehow got for them. That was perfect, as far as he was concerned, and Leo wrapped his blanket tighter around him as he settled into watching episodes that he knew all too well but enjoyed rewatching anyway.

The longer he sat there, though, the colder and achier he seemed to become. He unfolded the blanket, wrapping himself up in it as opposed to it simply being around his shoulders, and laid down on the couch, curling up. His orange and tea were long since finished, but he didn’t feel like getting up to get more. Despite the blanket, the cold of the lair seemed to seep into his bones, and as on-screen, Picard insisted there were four lights as his capture told him there were five, Leo slipped into sleep, the sounds of the TV mixing with memories, merging old and new together in ways that Leo’s mind took and ran with.

The cold closed in around Leonardo, and he ran. The rain pelted his skin, cold, sharp, stinging. He could hear the steps of other ninja, not far from him, keeping up. He gripped broken swords in his hands, holding onto the hilts. Maybe they wouldn’t been good for long range attacks, but the shards that were left were still deadly and he could do damage with them.

He fought on, running, running, only stopping when an enemy forced him to. He fought, feeling every strike he took beat down on his resistance and endurance. And yet he managed to keep running. His lungs burned, it felt like he couldn’t get enough breath. But he couldn’t stop. If he stopped, he’d be killed or captured, and he couldn’t allow that!

And yet he had no choice. He ran into something. An invisible wall. An invisible person. Both. Neither. A Foot Tech ninja. A hidden force field. It, they, kept him from going on, from going forward. He turned. He had no time to see if he could go over or around. The other Foot were here, and they were on him. He fought, fighting against not only the ninja around him, but also the cold that surrounded him. The rain leeched his heat away, drove the cold in further with every driving pinprick of it that hit him. He stabbed with what remained of his swords, but those were quickly taken from him as well. He fell to the ground, the Elite Foot raining blow after blow on him, their attacks complimenting the rain that fell. Leo wasn’t sure how much more of this he could endure.

And then, they stopped. They stopped and backed off, leaving him lying there. The cold of the pounding rain hurt now, enveloping him with its fridged temperature. He couldn’t breathe right. He couldn’t move. Footsteps sounded close to him, and Leo looked up. The Shredder was there.

“Take him,” the Shredder said, and Leo felt the elite get their arms under him and lift him up. He looked across the road, towards April’s building, and saw Raph standing in the window, pounding on it as if he couldn’t get out, with Don pulling on his arm to lead him away. He saw the Battleshell start up, and he felt relief knowing that he was the only one captured.

He was in a cell, in a dark room, in an office, bound to a chair. Shredder—Saki—was talking to him.

“Tell me how many of you there are.”

Leo held his silence.

“Tell me who trained you.”

Leo said nothing.

Shredder hummed and then suddenly Leo was alone back in a cell, a tiny room. It was bitterly cold, freezing, and Leo shuddered, his body trying to build up any warmth it could, without any success. The cold was everywhere, pervasive and drilled deeply into him. It was inescapable and he struggled to think through it.

He was back in a room, with a blanket around him. He sunk into its warmth, pulling it tighter around him. The room was dark. Four lights shone down on him. He was in a chair. He was bound, he wasn’t, he was both at once.

“My men say your… accommodations… are cold. You may take the blanket with you—if you’ll tell me where the rest of your clan has gone. Or how many lights there are.”

Leo refused to give him any information, only stating that there were four lights. The blanket was ripped away from him.

He was back in the cell, back in the cold. He shuddered, the cold feeling like it was freezing him from the inside out. He was bound, although he wasn’t. He felt trapped, even though he knew there was a way out. He had to keep his family safe. They’d come. They’d come. They’d never give up.

Saki was there, and he wasn’t. He was omnipresent, his presence permeating everything. Leo was in the cell, but he was in an office, but he was in a room. He was bound, he was trapped in a chair, he was free while Karai was there, so that she didn’t have to see the brutality he was going through. Leo had food, but he didn’t. He heard the voices of his family, but they weren’t there. He was taunted with warmth.

And over and over again, Shredder tried to break him, the four lights shining down on Leo relentlessly, while Saki told him he was wrong, that there were five lights, not four.

And yet, Leo resisted. He refused to say what Shredder wanted. He refused to break. At least, he did until Shredder drug Mikey in front of him, beaten, bruised, restrained, and muzzled, and demanded that Leo tell him that there were five lights. Leo looked at the lights, then back at Mikey, and there was only one thing he could say. Leo shuddered, staring at his brother, and said that there were five lights. Shredder laughed, and Leo bowed his head, knowing that he was broken. He looked up, wanting to apologize to Mikey, at least with his eyes, but he looked up just in time to see Shredder take Mikey’s head off.

Leo yelled out, waking up fighting against whatever it was that was holding him down. It took him a second to realize that it was hands, that they had backed off, and that he wasn’t in some cell Shredder had, but in his home. But that didn’t mean—maybe they had rescued him, but Mikey—

Leo looked around wildly, his heart feeling as if it were going to beat out of his chest. Star Trek played on the TVs behind Raph and Don, who were at his side, Don with what looked like a thermometer in his hand. Splinter was nearby, too, but he didn’t see—

“Got the water and the washcloth—oh hey! Leo’s awake!”

Leo whipped his head around, making himself a little dizzy, but focusing completely on Michelangelo walking towards them, a large bowl in his hands. His brother’s voice had never sounded sweeter “Mikey!” he gasped out, fighting at the blanket that had him trapped.

“Whoa, Leo, hang on there!” Raph said, putting his hands on Leo’s shoulders to push him back down. “Just hang on a second!”

“No!” Leo said, still trying to get up, but finding that he didn’t have as much power as he thought. “I need to see Mikey!”

Mikey hurried towards him, setting the bowl of water down on the coffee table, and then moving in to take Raph’s place beside Leo. “I’m here, Leo, I’m here. What’s up, bro?”

Leo didn’t answer, just frantically looked Mikey over carefully, his hands coming up to probe at Mikey’s neck. It was solid, not even a scar there. His head was firmly attached, and Leo let out a relieved breath, leaning his forehead on Mikey’s shoulder.

“I thought—you were—the Shredder—” His words were all jumbled up, but Mikey seemed to understand the gist of it.

He wrapped his arms around Leo, rubbing his shell. “Aw, bro, no. I’m here, I’m fine, and I’ve not been anywhere near the Shredder in, like, weeks. Haven’t even been out of the lair today.”

Leo nodded, beginning to get better control of his breathing and of his mind.

“I… they were chasing me again. But it was the first time. But they captured me, put me in a freezing cell. Shredder kept trying to break me, asking me how many lights there were, but I wouldn’t answer the way he wanted until he had Mikey. Then I did, but he killed Mikey anyway. And everything was so, so cold.”

Leo looked up just in time to see Don glance at the TV and then back to Leo. “It must be the fever,” he said. “I bet the fever made you feel cold, which brought of memories of when the Foot attacked you. But your subconscious also worked in the episode of Star Trek—the two parter where Picard’s captured by the Cardassians and Gul Madred tried to break him with the same light method—and made that part of your nightmare.”

“Perhaps we should find something less adventuresome to watch,” Splinter said, picking up the remote and changing the channels until he landed on an old sitcom.

Ignoring the voices of Lucy and Ethel in the background, Leo turned his attention towards Don. “Fever?” he asked.

Don nodded, even as Mikey and Raph encouraged Leo to settle back down. “Yep. Mikey was actually the one that realized you had one. He was bringing you some more tea, when he realized you were asleep, but that something didn’t seem right. He got me and I took your temperature. You’ve got a nice, high fever there, Leo. Its no wonder you’ve been a little odd all day.”

Leo’s brow furrowed. “A little odd?” he repeated.

“Yeah, bro, you’ve been not quite right all day,” Raph said. “You haven’t heard us when we’ve walked up to you, until we’re almost there, and you had trouble concentrating all day. Don’t think we didn’t notice.”

“And there’s the long shower, all the tea, skipping breakfast,” Mikey listed.

“It also explains why you were so concerned about the heat, and while you’ve felt achy and sore all day,” Don said. “It wasn’t that you overworked yourself, its that you’ve been getting sick.”

Leo blinked. “Oh. Was I acting that off?”

Splinter moved in, laying a paw on Leo’s forehead for a moment. “Yes, my son, you were.” He leaned in and sniffed Leo slightly, before pressing his nose to Leo’s forehead, the same way he used to check for fevers when they were tots. “I should have smelled it on you, but I did not pay attention. Forgive me my son.”

Leo shook his head. “There’s nothing to forgive, Sensei,” he said. “I didn’t realize it either.”

Don huffed a little bit, and gently pushed his way back to Leo’s side, scooting Raph and Mikey over. “Well, we know about it now,” he said. “At least you didn’t push yourself too hard today, although I’m positive that doing it yesterday didn’t help.”

“Sorry,” Leo apologized.

Don shook his head, his attitude softening. “No, don’t worry about it. I should have noticed something was off, too. Here,” he held out some pills. “Take these. They’re fever reducers. They should help. And they should help with the achiness, too.”

Leo let Raph help him sit up—although he really didn’t need the help. He just knew it made Raph, made any of them, feel better, as if they were helping—and took the pills, using the tea to swallow them. Don nodded, satisfied with that, and then held out some water.

“Drink some of this. Swish it all around,” he said. Not knowing why, exactly, Leo did as Don said, taking a few drinks of the water and swishing it around in his mouth. Don seemed to be satisfied and held a small Petrie dish to him. “Good. Now spit in this.”

“Ew!” Mikey said.

Don shot him an exasperated look. “I have to see what he’s sick from, Mikey, and this should give me something to look at without having to draw blood. Unless you’d rather me do that,” he said, addressing the last part towards Leo.

“I would not,” Leo said, cutting off whatever it was Mikey was about to say. He spat in Don’s Petrie dish and leaned back against Raph.

Splinter hummed as Don stood up with the Petrie dish in hand, heading towards his lab. “Michelangelo. Switch places with Raphael,” Splinter said.

“But—my soup, Sensei!” Mikey protested.

“I will finish your soup, my son. You said that all it needs to do is simmer for another half hour, correct?” Splinter said.

“No, Sensei,” Mikey said, already trading places with Raph. Leo relaxed back into his little brother. “I said that it needs to simmer for another half-hour and then the lime juice and corn need to be added to it. I think. I’m kinda making it up as I go.”

Splinter nodded. “I will follow your directions, then, my son, but I believe that you are more needed here.”

Mikey looked at Leo, and Leo tried not to look embarrassed at all. Apparently, he was still an easy read to his father. Splinter knew that after that dream, Leo wanted Mikey close.

“Yeah,” Mikey said after a moment. “Yeah, okay. Can do, Sensei.”

Splinter nodded. “Raphael. Come with me. I have tasks for you.”

“You got it, Master Splinter,” Raph said, following Splinter.

For a moment, it was quiet, everyone scattered to work on a task, and Leo simply laid there, his head resting in Mikey’s lap as the two turtles watched the televisions. Leo shivered again, and Mikey immediately took notice.

“Are you cold?” he asked. He was already reaching over, pulling the blanket back up around Leo and tucking it around him. “Is that better?”

Leo hummed. “Yeah. Thanks Mikey.” Leo snuggled into the blanket it, its warmth enveloping him. It was only a thin blanket, but it was far better than nothing, and it worked well enough. Besides, Mikey was warm, and that helped. “Hey Mikey?” Leo asked, waiting until he had an acknowledgement from his brother. “Sorry.”

Mikey blinked down at Leo, his attention taken completely away from the TV where Lucy was getting in a fight in a wine press. “Sorry?” he parroted. “Sorry for what?”

Leo shifted a bit. “Sorry for freaking out when I woke up,” he explained.

“Dude. There’s no reason to apologize for that,” Mikey said. “How many times did I wake you up just to make sure you weren’t possessed by that creepy tentacle monster? I get it, no worries.”

Leo hummed. “Still,” he said. “I’m sorry. And thanks. For letting me check, I mean. And maybe sacrificing your soup.”

Mikey made a dismissing noise. “Nah, it’s all cool. Besides, I can always make the soup again!” Mikey moved his hand around to lay on Leo’s forehead and frowned a bit. “Here—lemme put a washcloth on your head. You’re still pretty hot.”

Mikey shifted around, dunking the washcloth in the water and wringing it out one handed. He placed it on Leo’s forehead and, despite Leo feeling cold, the cold cloth felt good to him. It was just more evidence that he was sick, he supposed. Leo hummed in thanks, but didn’t move, letting his mind drift as more I Love Lucy played on the TV. He looked up when he felt an extra weight, only to see Raph putting a heavier blanket over him. He gestured for Leo to lift his head, and he put a pillow on Mikey’s lap, making it more comfortable for Leo. Mikey let Raph do as he wanted, and then put his hand back on Leo’s shell, rubbing it through the blankets. Leo relaxed into it, content, for the moment, to just be. He watched as Splinter came around, putting a fresh cup of tea on the coffee table, and taking a moment to change Leo’s washcloth. It wasn’t long after that that, when Don came out of his lab, offering two more pills for Leo to take. Raph was almost constantly checking on him. Mikey just rubbed his shell, and softly churred.

Leo stayed on the couch with Mikey, finally starting to relax and content to let his family move around him. He drifted in and out of sleep, stirring occasionally. Some time he woke for decent periods of time. He woke long enough to eat some of the soup that Mikey had fixed, complimenting both him and Splinter on it. He listened to Don as his brother declared that Leo had the flu, and that they should all probably be watching themselves for signs of it too. He drank the tea that Splinter gave him, not complaining about the medicinal taste.

But there were other times when he was only somewhat aware of what was going on around him. He murmured his thanks when he felt Raph change the washcloth on his forehead. He blearily followed Don’s instructions to take his temperature. He laid lethargically on whoever was sitting with him, not bothering to move when they switched out, but instead letting them maneuver him around. Even though he was sick and felt terrible, there was something comforting about just letting go and trusting that he would be taken care of. It reminded him of when he was a child, before he knew just what the upper world could be like.

His brothers and father all took turns sitting with him. Sometimes they read to him, sometimes they watched something, and sometimes someone sang. Don had a wonderful singing voice that he hardly ever used, except, sometimes, when they were sick. Master Splinter singing to them was always comforting, remind them of when they were tots and he would do the same. But if Splinter couldn’t sing to them, Don was the next best thing, all the brothers agreed.

Still, it wasn’t all comfort and ease. As the flu progressed, Leo’s fever fluctuated, his aches came in waves, and his head often hurt. It didn’t help that the sleep he did get was punctuated with nightmares. More than once, he had woken up in a panic, fears and distress clinging to him as he struggled to differentiate his dreams from reality. The worst ones weren’t the ones where he failed his family, or where someone was hurt or killed because of something he did or didn’t do. The worst ones were the ones where it was a mission or adventure that they had been on that had been successful, but in the dream, through nothing but bad luck or a wrong step, a brother or Splinter or a friend was horribly injured or killed. The images stuck with him, and he often needed to see whoever it was to help him calm down.

Mikey didn’t move forward enough, and the last buzzsaw got him as they moved through Shredder’s tower.

Don was hit by a shot from the Utrom, hard enough to throw him into another room, but this time it had burned a hole through his plastron and Don wasn’t just addled when they got him—he was dead.

The wasp’s stinger got Raph, but it was more than a paralytic. There was nothing they could do as the poison coursed through Raph, shutting down his systems one by one.

Hun grabbed April, ripping her away from Leo, and Leo had a front-row seat as Hun crushed her throat.

The Triceritons sent Casey and April tumbling off of Casey’s bike, and a second shot left Casey dead.

Splinter was right where Leo left him, but too badly injured. There was nothing they could do for him, except be with him in the end.

Don’s body, breathing, but lifeless, with a helmet left on it, lying in front of Prime Leader Zanramon.

Mikey and Donnie, frozen in the back of a truck, displayed like animals.

Raph, blind, unable to see ever again, his future uncertain.

Splinter, held hostage by Bishop, and them arriving too late to save him.

Leatherhead, taken down by a hunter who didn’t care that his prey could talk.

Angel, killed in retribution for leaving the Purple Dragons.

Splinter not getting to Don’s side in time, and Bishop’s strike with Leo’s own sword taking Don’s arm off.

The ceiling of their first lair crashing down on Don, trapping him while the rest of their home collapsed around them.

Robot Splinter managing to slip under their defenses, killing them.

Over and over again, the scenarios played out in the worst way possible. These nightmares left him shaken and gasping, feeling an all-consuming need to do something to protect these people that he cared about. They haunted him, eating into his ability to rest. Donnie was, surprisingly, the most effective at helping him move past these moments. He would often comfort Leo and lead him through a sort of grounding technique, helping him to remember clearly what had and hadn’t happened, and move past the need to jump up right then to check on whoever had been featured in that dream.

Leo had a feeling that there was something about that that he should follow up on, but at that moment he was too sick to parse through it. He’d come back to it after he was better.

It was week of misery and Don insisting that he drink lots of fluids, but eventually his fever broke, and Don declared him officially on the mend. That, of course, didn’t mean that he was just allowed up and around right away. No, he was still recovering, and for that his family seemed to firmly insist that he stay on the couch.

Leo didn’t mind so much.

Still, he was more than glad when he was allowed to return to training. He’d slept that night in his room, fresh sheets on the bed courtesy of Raph. When he woke up that morning, it was after a full night’s rest. He turned off his alarm and stretched, swinging his legs out of bed, not feeling the need to crawl back under the blankets or to sleep just a little bit longer. The floor was its usual slightly cool feeling, but nothing out of the ordinary, and Leo quickly pulled on his mask and pads, grabbing his swords as he stepped out of his room and into the lair.

No one else was awake yet, which was how Leo preferred it. The lair felt warm and cozy, even in the quiet of the morning, and Leo took a second to stretch more before he jumped down to the lower level, heading towards the bathroom. He landed lightly, and went in, quickly taking care of washing his face and preparing for the day. That didn’t take long, and on silent feet he made his way into the kitchen.

Leo quickly got the kettle, checking it and adding water to it. Humming to himself, he turned an eye on and sat the kettle on it. He prepared a cup for himself and one for Splinter, and then turned his attention to the coffee machine. It didn’t take long before he had the coffee going for Raph and Don. He turned his attention then, to making himself something light to eat for breakfast. He was no chef, but he could scramble a couple of eggs. He was in the process of doing that when something caught his attention, and he smiled a bit.

“Moring, Raph,” he said, knowing his brother was there before he could say anything. “Sleep well?”

Raph paused for a second, but grunted something that sounded like a positive answer, and headed straight for the coffee pot. Leo finished his eggs and set the pan aside for someone else to use. The kettle cheerfully whistled, and Leo took it off the eye, pouring some of the hot water over his tea leaves. He turned down the heat, set the kettle back on it, and then took his plate and tea to the table, settling into his customary place. It wasn’t long before Raph joined him as well.

The two sat in companionable silence, until Leo, without even looking up from his tea said, “Morning, Donnie.”

“Nnngh… coffee…” was Don’s only response, and Leo couldn’t help but smile a little at it.

Don, though, paused on his way to the coffee pot and turned, squinting at Leo. He stared for a second, then nodded. “Good,” he said, and gave no further context than that. Raph and Leo exchanged an amused look.

Don got his coffee and sat down heavily at the table with it, pulling a notepad and pencil out of his belt, staring at it before starting to scribble on it.

“Here comes Mikey,” Leo said as the youngest burst into the kitchen.

“Goooood morning family!” Mikey said “This feels like an energy drink and pancakes day! Where’s the Mrs. Buttersworth?”

“Mikey you know both of those are terrible for you, right?” Don said.

“You only live once, bro!” Mikey said. “I intend to enjoy it!”

Don sighed, but said nothing further, concentrating on his notepad. Mikey put the radio on some obnoxiously loud pop station, Raph growling under his breath about it and getting up to change it. A small scuffle between the two started, Don expertly ducking a glob of pancake batter that flew past him. Shaking his head, Don got up and reached for a packet of instant oatmeal.

“If you two break it, I’m not fixing it this time,” Don said.

Raph and Mikey paused, looked at each other, and somehow miraculously agreed on a light rock station.

“Good morning, my sons,” Splinter greeted as he walked in. The boys murmured their greetings back, even as Mikey reached over and snapped the eye under the kettle higher. “I see it has already been an eventful morning,” he said, eyeing the pancake batter.

“Ah—sorry, Master Splinter!” Mikey said. “I’ll clean it up!”

Raph had broken away from Mikey and was reaching for the cereal.

“Good, Michelangelo. And I am positive that Raphael will be willing to help you.”

Raph froze, but then sighed. “Yes, Master Splinter,” he said.

The kitchen was a hub of life, with everyone moving around, fixing themselves food or cleaning. It was a normal, noisy morning for all of them and Leo settled back into it, enjoying the chaos for what it was.

It didn’t take long for breakfast to finish, though, and for training to start. It was an easier session than most, but Leo was pleased to find that he was able to concentrate well on it. Meditation wasn’t a struggle, nor was anything else. And although he ached when he finished, it was simply the ache of a good workout and not anything more.

As they all laid on the floor, breathing hard, Leo couldn’t help but compare this to over a week ago, when he had been sore, achy, tired, and sick. Even laying here, tired, he felt leagues better than he had then.

“Hey, Leo.”

Leo clued back into the conversation when Raph called him name. “Hm?”

“You ever finish that book?” Raph asked him. “I finished my series when I was babysitting you.”

“Actually, yes,” Leo said. “I’m onto the second one now.”

“The one I told you about?” Don asked. “It’s good, isn’t it?”

“Which one?” Mikey asked.

“Howl’s Moving Castle by Diane Wynn Jones,” Don responded.

Mikey sprang up. “What no way!” he said. “I wonder if it’s the same as the movie that came out in Japan!”

“There’s a movie?” Leo asked, also rolling to his feet.

“No, nuh-uh. No movie until I’ve read this book,” Raph said as he got up. “I wanna read it first.”

“Don’t worry about that, Raph,” Don said, already heading towards his computer. “I’ve got see if I can find it online anywhere, first.”

“Dude—I can absolutely help with that!” Mikey said, bounding over to join Don.

“If you send me to anymore sites with viruses on them—” Don threatened.

Leo looked over at Raph. “Give me a minute. I’ll go get it and my book, too.”

Raph nodded. “Sounds good.”

He headed towards the kitchen while Leo jumped up to the second level, heading to his room to grab the books. By the time he returned, Raph was sitting some tea for Leo and a coke for himself on the coffee table. Leo passed the book over, and settled in with Castle in the Air, the second in the series, both brothers quickly falling into their reading for the next couple of hours.

“Score! We found it!”

Mikey’s voice broke through. “Hey, Raphie! How much more you got?”

Raph looked at his book. “Uh… I’m about one third of the way through.”

“Excellent,” Don said. “You keep reading, and I’ll work on downloading this and cleaning it up a bit. By tonight, you should be finished, and we should be ready to watch.”

“We should totally sub this and put it up on some of the streaming sites,” Mikey said to Don. “You know it’d get mad views.”

Leo smiled to himself as Raph lost himself in the book, and Mikey and Don argued the finer points of their fansubbing translating endeavors. He was warm. He was comfortable. His family was around him. No one was in danger or hurt or sick. He let out a contented sigh and settled back with his book. Life was good, and this was exactly what he wanted.

“Hey, Donnie?”

“Yeah, Mikey?”

“Is it a little cold in here, or is that just me?”

[cienie-isengardu]

[MK1] Bi-Han & Kuai Liang. Good brother? Evil brother? Nah, just different reactions to trauma, part 1

Author's note: the first part is not directly focused on Kuai Liang and Bi-Han as characters but at the worldbuilding, our knowledge about Lin Kuei and tradition that shaped Sub-Zero & Scorpion, and Liu Kang's acceptance of things as they are.

Lately it feels like Lin Kuei fandom split into either Bi-Han’s supporters or Kuai Liang’s supporters and the dispute over who is a good brother and who is not is an ongoing issue. This is greatly upsetting because both men have their share of flaws that sometimes fans exaggerate to demonize one or another. For me though, the brotherly conflict is not about who is good and who is bad, not even who is right and who is wrong, but about how two men groomed since childhood to be a living weapon deal with the trauma in totally opposite ways. As in, one is rebelling against the tradition and the other willing to uphold the system. 

With Smoke, the adoptive yet no less traumatized brother, stuck in the middle of that.

Bi-Han and Kuai Liang being survivors of a great psychological and physical abuse is the most true for previous timelines, however hear me out - just because Lin Kuei falls now under Liu Kang’s authority it does not automatically erase the possibility of both brothers experiencing things that no child should. To better illustrate my point, let’s take a moment and look at the Empress Sindel and Umgadi system. 

Sindel in general is presented as the ruler who does not seek an open conflict with Earthrealm and whom Liu Kang openly admires. As Fire Lord said himself, Sindel was destined to “rule Outworld firmly, but fairly” and it is her rule that brings peace to the otherwise conflicted Outworld

Liu Kang, story mode: Its past has been difficult. Though the last thousand years of Empress Sindel's reign have been a true golden age... the memories of that strife still linger.

and

Sindel's Bio: Her early reign marked the start of a new Golden Age.

That is what the character's Bio and the main story mode outright says or implies about Sindel. 

But then intro dialogues bring a different side of the beloved Queen. The people infected by Tarkat illness are exiled, their property confiscated by Sindel’s edict 

Kitana: When you became ill, your assets were taken? Baraka: As required by your mother's edict, Princess.

and in result forced to slowly die in poverty far away from healthy citizens. Those who sympathize with suffering infected people and won’t “report them for quarantine” are treated like criminals, as was seen when Li Mei and her men disrupted the Royal Family’s procession while leading arrested and tied up people.

The bad treatment of infected people, according to Mileena and Baraka endings, will improve thanks to the new Empress, who not only reaches a hand to suffering but would go so far to reveal her own illness to reduce social stigma against the sick. Mileena is seen as hot-headed, violent and not the best material for a Queen compared to Sindel, the supposed wise and kind ruler or even compared to her younger sister, Kitana. But it is the brash Empress that would actually make an effort to change her Empire for better.

Similar things can be said about the Umgadi system, which forces Outworld families to give up their first-born daughters for a training that will turn their children into living weapons to uphold the Royal Family’s rule

Liu Kang, story mode: Umgadi, like Tanya, are warrior priestesses... Selected from the first born daughters of Outworld. From infancy, they are trained to defend the royal family."

The daughters in question will never know their biological family or where they were born to ensure their absolute loyalty to the Royal Family, even though not every candidate will finish their training. Once they obtain the title of Umgadi, they can’t marry or be in a relationship, we have no idea if they even are paid anything for their service. So far Li Mei is the only known woman to leave Umgadi, and she did so due to the death of Sindel’s husband for which she was unfairly blamed. And again, the tie-in material implies that the change to Umgadi system will happen because of Mileena, who is willing to reform an organization that is deeply rooted in Edenian tradition, not the “kind and good” Queen Sindel. 

So just because a character is set on the Good Guys Side, it does not mean the said character is crystally good with no flaw at all or that breaking up with tradition is inherently evil, because the tradition alone is just a system of beliefs, practices or behaviors established in the past and passed down from one generation to another within a group of people or society and not a determinant of being good or bad. 

Now, the important thing - Umgadi and Lin Kuei are very similar organizations. The similarities are especially true for old timeline(s) Lin Kuei, as we have more or less idea how training adepts looked through the ages. However, what we learned through sources about Liu Kang’s version of the clan still brings a lot of parallels to Umgadi - and I think we all can agree that objective speaking, the Umgadi system is very unfair to first-born daughters and benefits only the Royal Family.

Through the story mode and intro dialogues, Liu Kang does not question the nature of the Umgadi system. Quite the opposite, the intro between Geras and Tanya suggests that Umgadi was Liu Kang’s innovation

Geras: The Umgadi was one of Liu Kang’s best innovations. Tanya: My order sprung from his mind?

A man who does not see anything wrong with enrolling little girls into never-ending servitude to the Royal Family, logically thinking, won't question the process of making Lin Kuei warriors nor the nature of their duty.

In previous timelines, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang as children were kidnapped and forced into the life of assassins by their own father (original timeline) or unspecified Lin Kuei member, presumably grandfather (alternative timeline). Their choice was to adapt to this hardship or die and so they survived and both became great warriors on their own. The fandom has been torn about their brotherhood for years, as if Bi-Han was a good brother or not. Personally, I do not think this was even a matter of one brother being inherently good and another inherently evil, as both men are the result of the abusive environment in which they grew up. And I truly can’t stress this enough - Bi-Han and Kuai Liang were survivors of great abuse and pathology more than anything else. 

Now, in Liu Kang’s timeline Bi-Han and Kuai Liang were born into a place of power, as both are sons of Grandmaster. Sub-Zero as the oldest was meant to inherit the leadership once his father would pass away, or possibly abdicate. So in theory, Fire Lord improved the living of both brothers. However, the same as the previous, both men weren’t given a choice, as Lin Kuei clan is bound to serve Earthrealm while their existence is kept in secret. 

Liu Kang said: “The Lin Kuei is a centuries old clan dedicated to Earthrealm’s defense” while Sub-Zero’s Bio adds “As the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster, Sub-Zero leads his ancient warrior clan in the defense of Earthrealm from external threats. For centuries, it has been their solemn task” and this is the tradition that will define the whole life of Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. Because they, as sons of Grandmaster, were expected to uphold and continue that service.

We do not have a full picture of how Lin Kuei daily life or training looks like in Liu Kang’s timeline, but the sources give some idea. And so we have an examples from story mode

Scorpion to Kung Lao: We're trained differently. It takes years to master our ways." 

and intro dialogues

Sub Zero: The Lin Kuei are trained from childhood.

confirming both brothers were prepared for their role as Earthrealm Defenders (Liu Kang’s Special Forces) since they were children. Scorpion’s words alone brings another vital clue, as “trained differently” is what distinguishes both brothers from Liu Kang’s chosen Champions. We could see a glimpse of that during the Lin Kuei mission in Ying Fortress, as both Sub-Zero and Scorpion did not hesitate to kill their enemy and Kuai Liang’s “fit of rage” illustrates well how brutal Lin Kuei can be in a fight.

As story mode and intro dialogues point out, Lin Kuei weren’t trained for the glorious yet honorable Mortal Kombat Tournament, as members of this clan have never been chosen to represent Earthrealm

Kitana: Why are Lin Kuei never Earthrealm champions? Sub-Zero: So that Outworld doesn't lose every tournament.

but they were trained to eliminate any threat to Earthrealm’s safety, be it by killing or capturing those whose activity concerned Liu Kang. As could be seen with the Lin Kuei brothers mission to capture Shang Tsung.

Intro dialogue Sub-Zero vs Reiko adds another detail about process of making Lin Kuei warriors:

Sub-Zero: To kill, one must be cold-blooded. Reiko: My veins are as iced as yours, Sub-Zero.

Thus we may assume Lin Kuei training was not just about a physical aspect but psychological one as well. Both brothers were prepared from childhood to kill - while that was never demanded from Earthrealm Champions. In story mode Liu Kang said:

“No tournament participant has ever been grievously injured or killed."

and

“I would never send my champions unwittingly into mortal kombat."

so I assume the reason Liu Kang send his Champions to search for Shang Tsung was A) threat of the sorcerer that wasn’t supposed to learn magic in the first place and B) they were in Outworld, so he couldn’t call for Lin Kuei without Sindel’s knowledge.

Another detail about Lin Kuei comes from Scorpion vs Nitara intro dialogue

Nitara: Had you ever known hunger, you wouldn't judge us. Scorpion: I have, and I will.

and though we don’t have an idea if Kuai Liang was forced to endure hunger due to training - as happened in old version of Lin Kuei according to Mortal Kombat novel by Jeff Rovin:

 Many young people died during training: some could not hold their breath for five minutes and drowned, others weren’t fast enough to avoid the weapons of the masters, some starved or froze or dehydrated when they were stranded, naked, in deserts or on mountaintops and told to make their way home. But those who survived were the Lin Kuei.

Or was that a reference to economic problems of Scorpion’s clan, which at some point faced so great famine that it touched even the son(s) of the ruling family. Whatever the case, it gives us a sense of hardship endured by Lin Kuei members.

This leads us to another detail - father’s teaching (tradition) mentioned by Kuai Liang and Tomas through the story mode:

Kuai Liang: Glory? We fight for duty.

and

Tomas: Our clan doesn't govern. It serves.

while intro dialogues adds

Raiden: The Lin Kuei won't be allowed to govern. Sub-Zero: We will not be frozen out, Raiden.

Furthermore it is important to note that every Liu Kang’s Champion had their own life outside the fighting - Johnny was an actor, Kung Lao and Raiden were farmers, Kenshi was Yakuza on path to redemption and saving his clan. Lin Kuei? Not so much, as Bi-Han’s Bio points out Sub-Zero leads his ancient warrior clan in the defense of Earthrealm from external threats. For centuries, it has been their solemn task. 

After the Tournament, the Champions easily will return to their life - in the case of Johnny, benefit greatly by making his own movies based on the events, while the Lin Kuei would come back to the never ending training in preparation to defend Earthrealm and repeating the cycle by pushing their children into the same service. And it would go like that for generations, if not for the Titan Shang Tsung’s meddling that interrupted the “natural” order of things.

Let’s establish another thing - namely Lin Kuei duty in recent centuries.

Sub-Zero’s Bio suggest the Earthrealm hasn’t be threatened in generations:

But Earthrealm hasn’t been threatened in generations, and Sub-Zero sees no point in limiting his clan to preparing for dangers that may never come. Under his leadership, the Lin Kuei will come out of the shadows and fight for its place as one of Earthrealm’s great nations.

This lack of need to dispatch Lin Kuei to eliminate threat is supported by intro dialogues:

Reptile: The battle against the sorcerers was your first real fight. Smoke: It was a baptism by fire, Syzoth.

and

Kenshi: How is it you haven't been to Outworld? Scorpion: Earthrealm's defense has never required it.

However Bi-Han alone suggest something else:

Story mode: After years of idleness, it pleases me to again face kombat."

And so do the information about their mother:

Sindel: Both your parents were excellent fighters. Scorpion: I can only hope to live up to their example.

Sindel in another intro says, she knew the previous Grandmaster 

Sindel: I knew your father. He was a great man. Sub-Zero: Yet he never understood the Lin Kuei's potential.

So I think it is safe to assume Sindel was familiar enough with Bi-Han and Kuai Liang’s mother to praise her skills and is not just praising her out of politeness. But the thing is, Kitana’s intro confirms the Lin Kuei warriors weren’t chosen for the Mortal Kombat Tournament, so how did Sindel know if their mother was an excellent fighter? That to me suggests she either witnessed it outside the Tournament or it was reported to her and the latter may imply Bi-Han’s mother took part in eliminating the threat on Liu Kang’s order, maybe even in Outworld. We know from source material that Outworlders do not tolerate Earthrealm’s unauthorized activity on their land. However in the story mode alone, Sindel herself admitted that Liu Kang’s “interventions have kept Outworld at peace for centuries”

while the vast tie-in material agrees that Sindel’s Court is full of intrigues and dangers - both to the Queen and her daughters. So, if Liu Kang is a close friend of King Jerrod and Queen Sindel, it doesn’t feel that far stretched to think Lin Kuei could be dispatched to ensure the Royal Family's - and in greater perspective - Earthrealm’s safety.

Now, if there was no need for Lin Kuei service in the latest generations, why a woman

considered to be an excellent fighter - thus presumably in great shape

who also happens to be wife of Grandmaster - thus presumably having access to the best medical care the clan could offer

died in some unspecified time before main story happened? That doesn’t sound like a natural death, as Bi-Han and Kuai Liang are what? In their 30s at the worst? Which gives the chance she was a middle-aged woman, not an old person who dies out of age. The Grandmaster alone, also an excellent fighter, died in an accident, though story mode does not tell us what kind of accident it was supposed to be. Did it happen on a hunting trip? During mission on Liu Kang’s order? 

So again, for a supposedly peaceful time, it seems like Kuai Liang and Tomas are those who did not have much part in Lin Kuei activity - in contrast to Bi-Han and presumably their parents. 

Going further, the sources claims Lin Kuei clan is dedicated to defend Earthrealm from external threats, and indeed Lin Kuei warriors fought against vampires (Nitara’s people)

Bi-Han, story mode: As a boy I heard tales of battles against your kind. I had thought them tall ones.

and apparently their might is know in Outworld

General Shao: Finally, the chance to test the Lin Kuei's mettle. Sub-Zero: It will end with your humiliation.

However Lin Kuei apparently took part in solving the internal problems too, if Sub-Zero vs Kenshi dialogue is something to go by:

Kenshi: My ancestors say they've tangled with yours. Sub-Zero: Has it occurred to you to ask them why?

For a quick summary, through the sources, we learn that Lin Kuei:

were meant to serve, not govern

trained from childhood not just to be an excellent fighters but to be capable of killing

do not have a life outside their duty the way Earthrealm Champions do

endured hardship (hunger)

each generation is trained to perform their duty

and presumably, even in supposedly peaceful times, the fighters may not survive to an old age nor die in a natural way (the fate of mother and Grandmaster).

So I think that objectively speaking, we can agree that Lin Kuei does not benefit much from its service to Earthrealm, while Liu Kang got an excellent Special Forces that kept Earthrealm safe for centuries.

[Next part] Bi-Han and Kuai Liang and how Lin Kuei training affected who they are.