#twins cw

[erabundus]

here's  a  fun  little  bit  of  trivia  @euthymicblade  and  i  were  discussing.

when  ei  created  ren,  she  used  makoto  as  her  blueprint.  at  the  time,  this  also  included  her  long  hair  —  yet  looking  upon  her  slumbering  creation,  ei  found  the  resemblance  (  the  fact  that  he  looked  so  close  to  the  person  she  was  grieving,  but  wasn't  )  too  PAINFUL  to  bear.  in  the  hopes  of  lessening  this,  she  cut  his  hair  before  he  ever  gained  consciousness  for  the  first  time.  he  has  no  idea;  he  probably  never  will.

coincidentally,  that  resemblance  is  also  the  reason  why  ei  couldn't  bring herself  to  DESTROY  him.  even  with  short  hair,  he  still  has  makoto's  face.

[tendebill]

the world's greatest actor animatic for stanley pines :]

(song by Milk In The Microwave)

finally done with this!!! im not 100% happy with the final result but overall i like how it turned out :D this took about two weeks (?) of work with some breaks

[paintedcrows]

Gravity Text Post (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

[awetfrog]

the twins

[daflangstlairde-art]

Y'all ever ̵̢̧͕̘̱̜̣̮̮̬͖̠̭̣̬͚̺̖͑̀̂̆̑̏̓̏͛̋̈́͆̀̏̃͒̽̽̆͗̑̈́̄͛̕͜͝͝͝ͅ&̷̨̡̧̢̢̠̟̲̗̦̮̮̩͇̠̝̹͇͍̭̫̦̭̼̳̞̜̦͖̙͔̪̬̩͍̺̻̜͍̪̞̺̫̹̍̏̂͊̓͛̇͊͆̐̾̊̈̽̐̉͌̏̑͒̐̏̐̄́̑͒̐̊̿̉̇̏͆͊̓́̆͘͘͜͜͝͝͝͝%̶̛̛̛̝͉̠͚͓̭̐̒͑̒̉̚(̴̡̢̛̬͙̜͎̖͈̻͕̲̟͉̻̭͚̰͔̥͕̝̲͇̼̮̳̉̆̔́̒̃̎͗͆͛͂̅͊̀͋̈̆̽̅̚̚̕͘ͅͅ#̵̧̨̨̨̡̡̳̩͇̮̹̥̰͚͎̤̳͔̗̗̤̻̮̠̖̗͖̳̠̤̠̹͙͚̗̲͓̙̯̝̖̙̤̳̫̰̦̓̋̾̋̍͆͗͊͆͆́̉͂̍̌̋́͐̐̎́̄̓̈̓̍̀͛̏̃͐̍͆́͆͌̾͜͜͝&̷̸̧̨̧̛̛͍͕͚̙̤͓̥̭͍͕̞̰̰̭̟̝̞̫̹̗̥̰̮̹͍̗̦͇̣̥̘̞̯͕͎̪͎̹̻̈̈́̒́̊͂̈́̓̃̀̄̐͌̍͌̑́̽͛͆͐̉̈́̇̍͂͆̊́̒̈̌͗̈̔̆͑͌͋͛͊͗͗̉̍̋̏̅̉̇̚̚̕͜͝͝͝ͅ

Not my usual quality, honestly I was mostly messing around with this one (plain ver. under the cut)

[reagi-df]

Bifractured time branch

CW blood implied death

Not matter what you do, sometimes you can’t save everyone

Kinda follow on of this

[idiot-mushroom]

happy 4/20

continuation is here 🎉

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 225

Klarion is EXCITED. He's absolutely DELIGHTED even, unable to sit still as he flits from place to place. His baby cousin! Is! Visiting! Which OBVIOUSLY means he, as the older one, must make sure the main places are still standing so he can show his itty bitty baby cousin EVERYTHING! After all, he's never gotten to be the older one! He's always been the youngest in the family! But now he has an itty bitty toddler cousin- form recently shifted to match- to teach the ways of Chaos to! He's so EXCITED!

The League and heroes on the other hand, are Very concerned about Why the Witch Boy has been spotted in practically every major city in the US in the last few days. What is he planning?!

[jesncin]

John Constantine and the vanishing twin.

[eeriethacus]

I don't smoke by Mitski and the Minyard brothers

I went a little ham with the symbolism for these two

[dandylovesturtles]

explaining the train of thought that got me to this would take way too much backstory but basically I had an idea and then I wrote it. I rewatched Scream recently so maybe that helps lol

cw: death (not of a canon character), mentions of blood and vomit

-----

The call comes in at a little after 2 AM, and he almost doesn’t answer because he’s busy.

But Leo almost never calls him, and it’s a singular enough occurrence that he picks up the phone and hits the button.

“Hello, you are conversing with Donatello,” he greets. “Make it quick, Nardo, I’m elbow deep in the tank’s engine.”

On the other end of the line, Leo is silent. Or, mostly silent; Donnie can hear him breathing, a little too loud, a little too fast.

Suddenly, he’s on high alert. He sits back from the tank, speaking more urgently into the phone, “Leo?”

There’s another second of breathing, and then, finally, in a voice that is too high and panicked to be his normal joking tone, he says, “Hey, remember when I sent you that meme about siblings who will beat the crap out of each other one minute and hide a body for each other the next, and I said, “us,” and you gave it a heart?”

Donnie blinks. Processes that string of words.

“I think I recall it,” he says.

“Well,” says Leo. “I need to know if that’s really us.”

Donnie stands up and keys in the command to swap battleshells to the jetpack.

“Stay where you are,” he says. “I’m on my way.”

-----

The body is male. Early twenties. About six two or six three. Caucasian. Wearing some ghoulish mask like the serial killer in a bad teen slasher.

Actually, now that Donnie thinks about it, there’s been stuff on the news lately. About a guy who likes to knife up co-eds. And Leo’s wearing his biggest, baggiest hoodie, and jeans, and in a dark alley like this it would be easy to mistake him for a normal, non-mutated human teen.

The puzzle pieces are all laid out for Donnie, but the picture it paints is pretty unbelievable.

Then again, he’s a mutant turtle who grew up in a sewer and recently fended off an alien invasion. His bar for believable is pretty low.

He takes in the body, slashed across the chest, ridiculous getup soaked in blood. Then he turns to look at Leo, curled around his knees against the wall. There’s blood all over him, too, but Donnie feels pretty confident that most of it is not his own. There’s a puddle of vomit nearby, and a dagger, and a katana, cast aside.

Leo raises his eyes to meet Donnie’s. “I didn’t know he was human.”

Donnie looks back at the body, and at the mask. Connects it to the dagger, which definitely isn’t Leo’s.

“Seems like he was a great guy,” Donnie says. 

“He stabbed my arm.”

“I meant it sarcastically.”

Leo laughs, high and reedy. Then he leans over and vomits again.

Donnie can’t help but curl his snout at that one. He looks away and waits for Leo to finish.

There’s a spit, then a sniff, then Leo says, “He stabbed my arm and I turned around and saw the mask.”

Ah yes, that. It’s pink and has a serrated smile. Little rubbery bits of slime and ooze. These things got popular after the invasion - they aren’t anywhere near the real thing, but in a dark alley, under attack, alone, when Leo had…

The puzzle pieces are there. Donnie doesn’t really need an explanation to put it together.

Actually, scratch that: he does need an explanation for one thing.

“Why are you so upset about this?” He looks back at Leo. “You took out a serial killer. Or a wannabe serial killer. At the very least a stabber.”

“I didn’t mean to kill him,” says Leo immediately. A little pleading. “I didn’t think that would… I didn’t know he was human.”

“He attacked you.”

“I could have disarmed him. I could have trapped him and let the police deal with him.”

“He came up behind you in this creepy mask and stabbed your arm.”

“He didn’t stand a chance against me,” says Leo, and it’s not swaggering and not boastful, but horrified. “It was like tearing paper, Dee. It was so easy.”

Donnie leaves the body to kneel in front of his brother. He puts his hands on his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye to make sure he listens.

“He attacked you, Nardo. He wanted to kill you. He made the wrong choice. Not you.”

Leo looks down, at the blood on his hoodie, and Donnie squeezes his shoulders until they lock eyes again. 

“He made the wrong choice,” Donnie repeats emphatically. 

Leo sighs, like he’s giving in, and a rueful smile grows on his face. “Thanks, hermano. But I don’t think the EPF is gonna see it that way.”

Ah yes, the good old United States government, and their hilariously poorly titled Earth Protection Force. Since the invasion, their existence had become known to the EPF, and they’ve been in an unspoken truce ever since. A “live and let live” holding pattern.

Unfortunately, Donnie has to admit Leo is right on this one: that this man is likely and most probably a serial killer won’t matter to the EPF. Killing any human crosses a line they won’t tolerate.

And so, there is only one solution here. The one Leo proposed when he first called.

Donnie is going to help him hide a body.

…Which means he is going to have to touch it.

Leo frowns at him. “Uh, Dee, what’s the yarf-face for?”

“I just realized how gross this is going to be.”

Leo laughs again, more than a little hysterical, and lets his head fall against Donnie’s plastron, the giggles shaking his shoulders under Donnie’s hands.

“That wasn’t a joke,” Donnie insists. Leo just laughs even harder.

Donnie scowls, even as he pulls Leo closer. “That meme really is us. I want to beat the crap out of you right now.”

Leo howls with laughter. Except it sounds a little more like sobbing now. Donnie gathers him up and holds him until he’s better again.

-----

Across the Hudson, the sky is turning pink. Donnie stands with Leo, watching the water that the body disappeared under.

They’ve already scrubbed the alley clean of any blood traces - his and Leo’s. He also had his drones bring gloves with the cleaning supplies, so they didn’t leave any fingerprints. At least Leo had the sense not to touch anything. And it’s not like the government has their prints on file, anyway. Donnie’s checked.

There wasn’t anything they could really do to hide the massive laceration that led to the body’s death. Short of melting it in acid, but both of them had dismissed that idea as soon as Donnie raised it. Despite what Donnie thinks of himself, he isn’t actually a stone cold disposer of bodies. The idea of melting it was too gross to think about.

Besides, it doesn’t matter if the body gets found, as long as it doesn’t get traced back to them. And Donnie doesn’t see any reason it should.

He’s already hacked any security cameras near the scene and made sure Leo doesn’t show up on any of them. Leo’s a good enough ninja to avoid that sort of thing, anyway, not that Donnie will admit it out loud. The crabs and fish will take care of the flesh and the katana’s mark. Leo destroyed the weapon itself in a bright blue explosion of ninpo.

“It’s kind of a bummer,” says Leo after a minute, “that the murders will go unsolved.”

“No, they won’t.” Donnie pulls out a phone, holding it carefully with his gloves. “He helpfully took trophy photos.”

Leo’s eyes go wide. “Dude, did you fish around in his pockets?”

Donnie can’t help but curl his lips. “Ugh, don’t remind me. It was a very unpleasant experience and I don’t want to repeat it.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Find where he lived and leave it there.” Donnie shrugs. “His body will turn up, or he’ll get reported missing. The cops will find it and everything will be wrapped up in a neat little bow.”

“Huh. Guess that takes care of that.” A pause. Leo shuffles a bit next to him. “You’re… really calm about this.”

Is he? Since the moment he got that phone call, he entered Fix It mode. He hasn’t really thought of anything else since.

“I don’t know if I will be later,” he admits.

“I’ll be there, if you’re not.”

Donnie hums an acknowledgement. There’s a weight against his arm, Leo leaning into him.

“Thanks, Dee,” he says.

“You’d do the same for me,” Donnie replies.

“Yeah,” Leo agrees. Simple as that.

[erabundus]

anonymous &&. said... "Your existence as a male was a deliberate choice. As you were a proof of concept using Khaenri'ahn technology, there was no need for you to replicate her visage."

The raiden shogun... feelings? To bow to anger and sadness or grief and depression? To mirror the turmoil the prototype and her creator endured? Unnecessary. It would only impede upon her protection of the land of eternity.

"The Shogun did not see it fit to rid you of your free will upon surveillance." Tears in reaction to the gnosis, fair features that so resembled Makoto's... had he been acknowledged as anything more than a proof of concept, perhaps he, in his innocence, would fall just as Makoto did.

"Your existence did not threaten eternity, thus I was ordered not to intervene. Had She ordered it so, a prototype such as yourself would have been disposed of."

❝  i  can  assure  you,  ❞  ren  quips  dryly,  ❝  male  was  not  a  planned  element  of  my  design.  ❞   though  he  has  little  interest  in  ELABORATING  beyond  that.

he  isn't  sure  what  kind  of  answer  he  was  expecting.  he  doesn't  want  sympathy  —  he  can  hardly  stomach  any  manner  of  JUSTIFICATION.  there  is  nothing  that  can  be  conveyed  through  mere  words  that  will  ever  change  what  she  did  to  him.  he  doesn't  want  an  apology,  nor  an  admission  of  guilt  —  for  his  mind  is  already  set  in  regards  to  her  culpability.  the  most  frustrating,  most  repulsive  part  of  all  is  how  his  anger  FAILS  him  when  he  needs  it  the  most.  ren  is  furious  (  that  much  goes  without  saying  )  but  he  cannot  bring  himself  to  hate  her  —  no  matter  how  cathartic  losing  himself  in  something  as  refreshingly  simplistic  as  rage  would  be.  he  wants  to  be  seen.  he  only  ever  wanted  to  be  seen. yet even now, the eyes of ETERNITY only continue to avert their gaze.

he  may  be  the  puppet  who  shed  shameful  TEARS  in  his  sleep  —  yet  ren  hungers  to  prove  he  can  be  so  much  more.  and  that  is  the  true  injustice,  the  source  of  his  turmoil.  to  be  denied  the  opportunity  to  show  he  is  greater  than  the  label  of  FRAGILITY  that  has  cursed  him  before  he  first ever opened  his  eyes.

❝  perhaps  disposing  of  me  would  have  been  the  KINDER  fate.  ❞   there's  a  cutting,  sarcastic  edge  to  his  voice.  it's  a  useless  statement;  he  knows  better  than  to  speak  of  emotion  to  her  perfect  machine.  that  was  the  flaw  that  condemned  him  to  begin  with,  was  it  not?   ❝  i  was  no  different  from  a  CHILD ...  no,  ❞  a  pause,  a  click  of  the  tongue,  ❝  a  child  would  know  better  than  to  sit  in  one  place  for  all  eternity.  i  could  barely  walk  on  my  own  two  feet  —  and  she  expected  me  to  lead  a  fulfilling  life?  what  a  sick  joke.  ❞   from  the  very  beginning,  he  had  been  destined  for  failure  —  the  only  question  came  in  what  form  that  FAILURE  chose  to  take.  ❝  she really  didn't  think  this  through,  did  she?  or  maybe  she  was  so  eager  to  get  rid  of  me  that  she just didn't care.  ❞

... he isn't sure which option stings more.

[kathaynesart]

And now watch it all fall apart.

BEGINNING || PREVIOUS || NEXT MASTER POST

Thank you everyone for your patience as I recuperate from Covid. I tested negative and am now just recuperating from the lasting effects. Honestly, this update is one I probably could have skipped, but I love me a good heist plan. Plus I just wanted to have some fun with this holiday special and if that means extending it a bit longer, then so be it.

[paintedcrows]

they make me feel unwell

[hitwiththetmnt]

Sometimes there are stupid questions…

(audio from a random instagram reel w/ no info on original origins)

[gum-drop-glitch]

This was going to be just a quick warm up doodle before other work, but I liked it enough to finish it.