#uuuh long post

[bosspigeon]

what was the relationship between gortash and your durges pre-lobotomy? how do they feel when they meet him again?

:3 soooo originally i thought it would be REALLY funny if Gortash was shooting his shot so hard but Maw (pre-lobo Moss~) was just So Autistic he just didn't get it

but then i realized i could go deeper and much more painful :3c

i stand by Moss being a Big Ol' Virgin before Astarion, bc i, personally, think that makes for a very fun(ny) dynamic and also fits in with the character i've already established for Maw, and that was that he was so single-mindedly focused on his duty to Bhaal and his destiny that he didn't really bother with seeking out any sort of bond with anyone, much less enough for him to start feeling sexual attraction towards them. his duty was Murder and he was very, very, very good at it, and that came from a lifetime of dedication

but i think, meeting Gortash, someone he saw as more of an equal than even Orin (who he saw as his lesser by virtue of him being made by Bhaal from his own flesh and her being a second-generation spawn from a first-generation spawn that he still considered imperfect as well as misguided wrt his ideas about Blood Purity) and eventually befriending him over their shared passions and dedication to their respective patron gods, opening him up to actually making his own adult bond with someone else for the first time in his entire life

his relationship with Gortash started as a business deal and eventually turned into companionship and his first genuine friendship. and from there, feelings began to emerge on both sides, but seeing as Maw had a lot of practice shoving down any Softer Feelings he may have had (and an adolescence of Firm Guidance into perfection overseen by Sceleritas, who served Bhaal first and foremost) so before Orin betrayed him, they never got further than a very heavy, very dangerous Almost.

[platykool]

im back

[silentoathprincess]

ooooh man i had such a great idea for an au where sei joins all the polyamorous dmmd bfs and it like goes through his relationship with each of them and all the similarities in their stories and i am FIGHTING myself not to write it right now

[haldanare]

pls reblog to give me more opinions

[aldritch-ao3]

(person who asked about toji and naoya) I'm really glad you feel the same way as me when it comes to their relationship, i honestly thought i'd only get a couple sentences, so thank you so much for that lengthy answer. Also with the 'naoya being an example of what gojo could've been' thing, i think that's really interesting. Cause i've seen something similar be explored before, with people writing naoya and gojo being raised as almost rivals of eachother, but they also seemed to glorify naoya in a way, so i took it more as their own intepretation rather than a reflection of how things would have been in canon. Back to your point with gojo and naoya tho, thinking about it more, you're really onto something there, cause kid gojo sorta acts like naoya?? still different, but the similarities are there. i also just realised toji seriously affected both of their lives. I can't imagine how naoya would have been had he not met toji. It just feels like he wouldn't be naoya. Christ, you were so right about toji haunting everyone. It's funny how someone regarded as nothing impacted so much of the lives of those who are regarded as everything. (you may be america's strongest run-on sentence soldier, but i'm britain's. we will compete to see who gains the title of world's strongest run-on sentence soldier one day..)

omg cross-sea solidarity ... why would we compete when we could instead join forces to make runon sentences that would make english majors puke

i case you couldn't tell by [gestures to playback] i have a lot of big big feelings about the zen'in clan in general, and naoya - honestly, feelings i didnt have before starting it that i've come around to the more i study these guys under a microscope! i dont know if the comparisons between young gojo and young naoya are intentional, but to me they're very much there - each is the prodigal genius heir of their clan, inheriting a genetic technique that sets them apart from a young age and has them both praised and isolated for this technique. each at a young age is egotistical and carries themself above others because that's been treated as outright fact by the people around them. gojo is exposed to other viewpoints and experiences that allow him to grow beyond it, though aspects of that mindset remain in him they don't take a malicious form - naoya isn't given that social opportunity, and instead stuck in an echo chamber that eventually makes him even worse than the people around him. they obviously aren't 1:1 but i do really think there's a comparison to be drawn

and imho the zen'in clan as a whole are kind of a microcosm of jujutsu society, where even those in privileged positions in the social hierarchy suffer and live less fulfilling lives for it. literally none of them seem happy. naoya is one of the most insecure, bitter, unhappy characters we meet imho, feeling challenged by and overcompensating to extreme measures to every single perceived threat and slight. we see much of the same with ogi, honestly, with one key difference - naoya doesn't seem to have anything or anyone that would make him happy, while ogi has a wife and children and yet self-sabotages every chance at a meaningful life and meaningful human connection because of his fixation on rank and power. his family is just an extension of himself, and therefore disappointing and discarded as worthless because they don't meet his expectations.

their hierarchy prevents a lot of meaningful connections from being formed with ideas of rank and power and honour and tradition getting in the way of them. not in a way that excuses the way a lot of these guys are, but as a whole this is a generational and societal issue as much as it is an individual one, and its noteworthy that someone like gojo, in contrast, turned out as relatively well-adjusted and normal as he did - under the right circumstances, he very well may have been much worse. isnt that just what all of their stories are? under the right circumstances, almost anyone could have ended up like geto, or like naoya. to me jjk is a series where theres a sense of nurture taking precedent over nature very often, and all the spectacular ways one's nature can remain unshaken and unchanged even in the face of that. or something.

this isn't even what your ask was about. i feel like a lot of this pertains to toji in interesting ways but also theres very little to be said about toji that hasn't been already. something something nature of cycles and how his breaking out of it had ripples across the entire world because the clan is representative of the world he was a part of something the way you must break tradition before it breaks you whatever.

[dropthedemiurge]

Be My Favorite Finale Timeline [EP.10-12] How Pisaeng and Kawi change until they become equal

I honestly have no idea why I spent so much time on this, but the discussion with @rocketturtle4 got me thinking and, well, I like to consume my media scientifically, so I made a graph of my interpretation of the final jump xD

Somehow, I believe there wasn't really any 'different' alternate timeline this time because the changes to Kawi and Pisaeng's lives were minimal, so it can be a slightly different AU but to simplify, I'll assume it's one timeline because it makes a lot of sense. What's fascinating to me is not following their where-being (or when-being) but the changes in the characters mindsets.

[please open it to study, i couldn't make it more vertical, unfortunately]

I was talking about possible reasons why Kawi suddenly seemed to switch into such wise and calm demeanor during their repeated date, and I've heard of behavior patterns of Child, Parent, Adult modes.

Disclaimer: we studied it in uni very briefly cuz i'm actually STEM major but that description of mindsets opened my eyes and explained a lot to me so i'm using it, you can interpret it's probably with your own life experience; also terminology is probably not official, i'm describing it with my words and not scientific articles

So let me tell you my thoughts!

Phase [1]

Kawi and Pisaeng aren't on the equal footing even if they started to date. Kawi is into his "child mode": he's anxious and even if he's brave at times without alcohol, he's getting more anxious about being with Pisaeng due to all pressuring flirting (and Max's comments). His fears and hesitation are valid but he is protesting and running away a lot, sometimes being unnecessarily harsh and self-centered.

Pisaeng in his "parent mode" has to coax him, reassure him and sometimes manipulate to get them where he wants them, adding more not-subtle hints and more pressure onto Kawi.

Phase [2]

The date doesn't go well because they are not communicating and the power/control imbalance is too strong. It's not enough to get them to break up, of course, but it's not perfect life.

But wait – then why had the series immediately jumped to such a sweet intimate scene without any communication? Did we miss something? Why Kawi seemed to be hesitantly ready to challenge himself now when he just flatly refused to go on a scary ride with Pisaeng? First night shouldn't work when two people are on very different levels of comfort and confidence, so many viewers were worried and put off by this, me included. [especially if you consider Kawi was so heavily ace-coded throughout the show, it felt really wrong to force him to go through this in his alleged state of mind]

[now I completely recontextualized these Kawi's brave little nods, anxious blinking and heavy breathing, thanks to time-travelling hooray]

But! In EP.12 we get an explanation – Kawi actually lived the day twice (vaguely conscious of that) and experienced something very unusual that flipped his mindset – Pisaeng in distress. Kawi saw very upset and sad, scared and not confident Pisaeng in "child mode" and... immediately switched to his "parent mode" instead. (as someone who experienced this, I can tell that this switch can happen really fast and work really effective and it's not unbelievable).

Kawi is now the one reassuring Pisaeng – as someone who lived longer, as someone who already time-traveled and learned a lesson or two from time wizard and his own countless mistakes. Knowing that he and Pisaeng lived many happy years and they both don't want to change anything, left only one thought: well, then let's just be brave for each other, hold hands and face the future together, no matter what it is. I'll be strong for you when you aren't, and vice versa.

Phase [3]

Finally communicating with Pisaeng and seeing his vulnerable side, being able to provide comfort for him and gaining much-needed control, Kawi is reaching his ultimate bravery and peace in "adult mode".

It is leading him to overcome his last fears (even if taking "high adrenaline rides for adults" doesn't make him feel great anyway like he predicted, it makes Pisaeng happy so he'll do it, and they met each other in the middle instead, therefore the metaphor is complete). Kawi lives many years very content and zen-like, speaking wisdom because he's satisfied with his not-grand-not-miserable life. He also knows a bit about his future and getting extremely sick (he probably prepared that "i know what you have done!" teasing long beforehand xD) and just patiently lives his happy life, enjoying every moment in the present.

Original!Pisaeng, however, is still in his "parent mode", but since Kawi is meeting him now with more strength and confidence, they are able to move forward from disaster dates and live for years in good relationship, making many sweet domestic memories.

But it's time for Pisaeng's self-journey!

Phase [4]

Years in the future, Pisaeng is seeing Kawi's potential for stardom and celebrity fame, and he is thinking their queer relationship is bad for Kawi's life, that he's holding him back. Being "parent" all this time, he still feels responsible for Kawi. He doesn't believe that Kawi actually experienced fame in another life and doesn't want it anymore. Pisaeng thinks he doesn't improve Kawi's life. Not being able to pinpoint his fears or get answers that would satisfy him out of nonchalant enlightened Kawi, Pisaeng is slipping more into "child mode".

And when Kawi gets extremely sick, Pisaeng is hit with distressing realization that Kawi legally has no family and he's powerless to help him or do anything. All the more reasons that Kawi shouldn't have been staying in relationship with Pisaeng. Maybe they should've broken up in the past (which he actually suggest when going back). Eventually, Pisaeng is unsure, scared and in need of advice, like a child.

Phase [5]

It's only when he's experienced travelling to the past [Phase [2]], he actually believes Kawi. And Kawi insists that he would never change anything even if he knew he could die. He claims Pisaeng is the right person for him, and there's no room for any but what if? – Kawi has experienced many versions of his life, and he knows what he's talking about. Parenting reassurance of Kawi finally gives Pisaeng the peace of mind and his confidence back. [also something something hand offering-hand rejection-hand reaching-hand holding leitmotiv throughout phase 2 and phase 5]

At the happier and more peaceful version of their date, Kawi and Pisaeng already are two equal "adults" stuck in a weird little dot of a time-loop — but it is the exact moment that would define their whole life together.

Now they have similar timey-wimey experiences, mutual understanding and the same level of love, communication and bravery to face the future. That's where they definitely end up during the Time-Travelling point of Pearmai's wedding, after Pisaeng returns to the future and meets Kawi as equal.

With their lovely found family, many happy memories, bright future, both Kawi and Pisaeng are being confident and content with their lives.

Time Wizard Uncle's job is done here, for sure.

[cyclesprefectpress]

[image description: 8 photos of a letterpress broadside printed from handset type and a linoleum block illustration. the poem is titled The Secrets of Magic, written by a young poet for the 2023 edition of Words of Courage. it describes the magic powers of a world with mermaids, dragons, wizards, and magical animals, and a game the creatures play. The text is set in Goudy Oldstyle in a justified block in the center, with a red drop-cap and red fleurons to mark the line breaks. the linoleum block is a wide border illustrating a magical flying dog on the left, a witch or wizard in flowing dress on the right, parts of a fishy tail and dragon claws and crashing waves across the bottom, and the light rays of the magic staff and the dog's halo of power intersecting across the top. full text under the cut. end description.]

🎉🎉 weekend activities: delivering my part of the edition for this year's Words of Courage publication :)) 🎉🎉

WoC is a yearly publication of poetry broadsides written by patients at Seattle Children's Hospital, and designed, printed, and handbound into portfolios by local letterpress & book artists. this year's whole edition will be scanned and posted there in a couple weeks & previous years are always there to see!

i've been trying not to overthink it when we do the poetry assignment step—if i have a single design Thought the first time i read a poem, it goes on my list to fight for. i read this one and thought yes 1930s illustrated fairy tales, y e a h hefty border and one (1) spot color, y e h Beardsley's Le Morte D'Arthur, John Austen's Hamlet—a dream assignment :)) just wanted to make their story as cool and dramatic as it could be—an excerpt of a larger work, part of an Artifact.

i have meandered off historical accuracy firstly by uh using linoleum instead of wood and the line quality is markedly different for it and, also, i warmed it up from a classic black key plate BUT at least one person did look at it and immediately say sure sure turn of the century book illustration i get you, so i will judge it a success. very fun to carve. i left the spellcaster's clothes for last because i knew i would enjoy that the most. title in Devinne, body set in Goudy; both of those cases are pretty worn but that's not necessarily bad in this instance and also i needed a pretty full case to get the body done in one go!!

I will call it a misjudgement to have done the text as a red underprinter/brown overprinter as i did—unlocking and re-locking the forme without the cap & fleurons went fine, but there are instances of mis-alignment in the type between the two passes that from sheet to sheet don't look to me like a registration issue. They're not consistent with torque of the sheet, they shift around the forme a bit; i have a suspicion that i shouldn't have done this with a letter-spaced forme, which is pretty spongy with brasses and coppers and may have made small expansions and returns as the run went on. hubris comes for all, lesson learned, etc.

full poem text: "We all have regular animals. — But in the deepest, deepest part of the world — there are magical animals —like talking animals, unicorns, and dragons. — All animals have a good owner. — Regular people have regular animals. — But magical animals have wizards, and witches, and mermaids. — I talk to animals, but I don't understand them. — I would like to have a talking dog that has magic (like Louis). — All magical animals have their own magic: — like moving things around with telekinesis, — and mind reading, — turning objects into different objects, — forming into an object or person (very powerful) — flying, — or turning invisible. — One of my pet dogs will have talking ability, — because she likes to talk a lot and bark. — And another one will have teleporting ability; — she likes to sneak up on people. — And another dog I know — will have mind reading. — Together we'll make a game out of all our powers. — We'll hide around 30 objects. — And the dogs will use their powers to find the things, — and whoever has the most objects at the end — will get a prize of a big bowl of sandwich meat, — but because they're magical they'll get colorful meat!"

[awriterandabird]

can you post kelpy here tbh everyone needs to see it

ABSOLUTELY- HOLD ON

so this is kind of a rabbit-hole, but on stream catcat brought up the Idea Wiki wikia. a wiki dedicated to "ideas and idea related material". a lot of it seems to be younger kids making ideas for cool tv shows or movies or whatnot and there's so much super cute like. just kid ideas?? i don't know how to describe how happy it makes me to see younger people just be able to imagine huge things and just Create Unabashedly.

anyways, "Kelpy is a character from Mystic Island and Citrus's Pet Tales." there's not a lot on the page but if you follow links you'll find Kelpy is actually the pet of another character, an otter named Noreen. Noreen is one of the main characters and has a lot of art and episode plots centered around her! Noreen actually has another pet too! another "weedy yorkie" named Seaweed (this is actually new info to me while i was grabbing links. beloved)

i found kelpy entirely on accident hitting special:random and when i saw the edit date was literally 4 hours ago at the time i fell in love.

basically, i just wanted to make some random-person-on-the-internet's day.

i really hope people never stop creating things- no matter your age or skill level, just the act of putting your Heart and Soul into something. seeing people do that, it makes me indescribably happy.

sorry for getting sappy or whatever. you know how it is. blah blah indomitable human spirit and power of creation blah

[jdramastuff]

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Action Gamer Level 2 - first fight.

[sibillascribbles08]

Regardless of What Happens

Whaaat it’s 2023 what if I wrote some Bad Future Jasonnie

Gonna just go ahead and give the heads up for implied sexual content and offscreen canon character death. I’m gonna get crunchy with it like I haven’t already with literally every other bad future thing I write.

Even if the conversation ended with another joke from Leo and both of them laughing, dread still hung like a lead weight at the base of Donatello’s chest. It was such a risky plan, a miracle he even convinced Leo to go along with it. Hacking into Kraang tech, even with all his research he knew it could go backwards so fast. He may not be able to over power it.

In less than twenty-four hours he may not be alive anymore.

Dying didn’t entirely scare him. He accepted death a long time ago.

He just hated the idea of what he might leave behind.

He hadn’t discussed the plan with Mikey yet. He’d have to, or Leo would do it for him. He’d already talked about it with April which ended with them screaming at each other. He’d apologize later, but still announce he was going through with it. She may never forgive him. He understood that.

A lot of people might not forgive him if this idea failed. Including Mikey. Including Casey. Including Leo.

Including...

Donatello glanced in the main computer room. Jase sat in there, like he often did, water bottle in hand as he scrolled through recent drone data. The purple dragons had become allies not long after the invasion started, though there was a ton of friction between them for a while. The need to survive eventually came around to friendship, despite how much Donnie would still bicker with them all from time to time. They didn’t do much field work, but their work with the programming and tech was a life saver on many occasions. It kept some of the workload off Donatello and meant they had backups if something happened to him.

And Jase knew Donnie’s tech better than any of them. Not long after becoming friends, Jase quit following at Kendra’s heels and often turned to Donatello instead. Late nights working on tech became so routine that, even on their nights off, they’d often hole up in each others rooms just to talk.

Donatello often denied the feelings that developed from that. After losing Raph, the idea of letting it become anything more terrified him. Because something could happen to Jase, or something could happen to him, and wouldn’t that just make the loss all the more painful.

But then again...

“How long are you just going to stand there staring?”

Donatello straightened up and glanced at Kendra who stood next to the door now. Right, she was also in the computer room. He absolutely hadn’t been paying attention.

“Lost in thought.” He crossed his arms and met her glare before sparing a glance in Jase’s direction. He turned in his chair, eyebrow raised, but then soon got back to work.

Kendra followed his gaze. “Uh huh, one guess to what you’re thinking about.” She flicked him on the nose.

Donatello snapped at her hand. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

She gave him a smirk when she rolled her eyes, then turned her head. “Hey Jeremy, wanna go get a snack?”

Jeremy leaned up from his work. “Huh? But we--”

Kendra must have given him a look because he suddenly straightened up. “Oh, yeah, sure, you want us to bring you something Jase?”

Jase just gave them a non-committal hum and kept scrolling.

Kendra’s smirk remained on her face as she stepped past Donatello and then shoved him through the doorway. He clenched his fists, about to try and insult her when the door closed in his face.

What was the big idea?

She couldn’t possibly know could she?

Donatello chose to ignore it for the time being as he walked up behind Jase’s chair, looking over the screen himself. All activity normal, from the look of things. A nice reprieve from how things were less than a week ago. Still, he didn’t trust it to last. Quiet moments like this often meant the Kraang were poking around for a weak point to strike. They’d learned to grow patient when the war lasted more than one Earth year.

Jase finally got to the bottom and turned away from the screen. “You need something, Donnie?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it, trying to search for the words. It seemed like a bad idea to just start with the whole “hey I might be dying tomorrow” topic.

Jase studied his face for a second before standing. Not like it did much. All these years and Jase barely gained another inch while Donatello sprouted up over a foot and a half. Jase didn’t even reach his shoulders now.

“Donnie?” Jase tilted his head. “Everything okay?”

“I...” He ground his teeth together for a second. “No. Not entirely.”

“What’s wrong? The drones aren’t reporting anything worth noting.”

“It’s not them it’s...” His arms tightened across his chest. He really didn’t know where to begin with this. “I finally got Leo to approve of a desperate plan of mine.”

Jase’s eyes went wide, only to narrow a second later. “What kind of desperate plan?”

He ground his teeth again, unable to meet his gaze. “I’m going to try and hack into Kraang tech.”

“What?” Jase snapped, trying to stand on his toes just to get closer. “Donnie, I know you’re joking. We talked about that dozens of times before. Even if it’s possible the risk is--”

“I know what the risk is.” Donatello snapped. “But look at us, Jase. Ever since Casey--Cassandra dropped our numbers keep dwindling. All our plans are coming up empty. People who were once our allies keep getting turned on us. If I can make this work it could change everything.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” Jase’s voice cracked and he finally grabbed Donatello’s coat in order to pull him down. “What happens to you then? You also just become one of their pawns? They could--”

“I’m aware.” Donatello took in a shaky breath. “That’s why Leo’s going to be there. So if I fail he can--”

“Are you serious!?”

“Jase--”

“No. No.” Jase shoved him back. “I’m not letting you do this.”

God damn it, this was going about as well as his talk with April did. “Jase, we’re running out of options.”

“That doesn’t mean we should jump straight to something like this. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the statistics of you getting out of this alive.”

Donatello tried to turn his gaze, but he couldn’t hold it. Rather than focusing on Jase’s eyes--so dark brown they were almost black--it kept moving to his messy hair, or the scar on his ear, or the thin line of stubble that made it clear he hadn’t bothered shaving in a few days.

“Donnie.” Jase insisted.

Donatello took a deep breath and forced his eyes to focus. “About seventeen percent.”

“That’s nothing. You can’t be serious. I’m not letting you do this until you can at least get that number higher.”

“We don’t have time for that.”

“You’re just giving up, aren’t you?” Jase’s voice crack again. “That’s what this is.”

Air got caught in Donatello’s throat before he could deny that.

“I’m not stupid, Donnie. I’ve picked out the things you’ve said over all those late night conversations. You’ve thought this war was pointless for years. That if--”

“If it lasted more than a year, we had no chance of winning. I know.” Donatello snapped back. “But I kept going, didn’t I? If I wanted to give up I would have years ago but I didn’t because...”

Because Raph. Because Mikey. Because Leo. Because April. Because Cassandra and now Casey. Because...

Gods, he knew why they were all so upset with this idea. He knew why they kept trying to convince him otherwise. How could he possibly explain to them that he wasn’t scared of dying if it gave them all the chance to turn this whole thing around. The only thing he was scared of was...

He reached out and held Jase’s faced in his hands, so suddenly that his friend’s sharp anger gave way to shock.

“Jase, I’m so sorry.” His breaths felt so unsteady, like he’d forgotten how to do it, like there just wasn’t enough oxygen in the air.

“For what?” Jase bit his lip to keep his voice from stuttering. “For being an idiot?”

“Yes.” The word barely left his lips when he exhaled. Then he pulled Jase into a kiss.

His friend went rigid under his grip, and he thought, briefly, that maybe this had been a very stupid idea.

Then arms were being thrown around his neck and Jase kissed him back, hard. The sudden tug almost had Donatello stumbling forward, so he responded by moving his hands and lifting Jase off the ground.

The motion forced them apart, but only for the length of a breath. Now looking down at him, Jase kissed him again, somehow even harder than the first time. Teeth and lips pinched together. Jase’s hands couldn’t seem to find a place to settle as they ran over Donatello’s cheeks to the back of his head, constantly bumping into his goggles. He was about to toss the damn things to the side. Not close enough. Somehow they weren’t close enough.

He tugged that thought back. A sliver of logic managed to slip through the haze that rapidly took over his brain. He pulled away from this kiss, and Jase started to follow him before he must have also regained his senses.

His cheeks, already bright red, somehow got darker as the color spread to the tips of his ears.

“Oh my god.” Jase’s hands moved to Donatello’s shoulders. “What am I doing?”

Donatello couldn’t help but smirk. “I thought that was obvious.”

Jase managed a glare as he lightly smacked the side of his goggles. “Don’t be such a smart ass, Von Ryan. What are you doing? What are we doing?”

“Well, I was kissing you.” Donatello dropped his grip just a bit so the pair of them were at eye level. “Because, I confess, I’ve wanted to for a few years now even if I tried to pretend I didn’t.”

Jase breathed out a laugh. “Huh, I guess we really are doing the same thing.” He leaned close, peppering kisses from the corner of Donatello’s mouth up his cheek. “I just always figured I wasn’t... That you were so far out of my league...”

Donatello snorted and turned his head to meet his lips. “So smart but so stupid sometimes. Out of your league? Really?”

“Shut up and just look at yourself.” Jase kept kissing him. “The most brilliant mind of our time, strong, tall, gorgeous--”

“Oh?” Donatello raised an eyebrow. “You think so?” 

“Don’t sound so smug.” Jase shot him a glare before his hand ran up Donatello’s neck and then rested on his cheek. His thumb pressed against the corner of the turtle’s mouth before tugging his lip down. “But yes.”

Oh. Oh. That finally made a lot more sense. “Wait, is that why you kept staring at my mouth whenever I grinned at you?”

“What can I say? I like ‘em sharp.”

“You’re such a freak.”

“Takes one to know one.”

Donatello tried to lean in for another kiss, but Jase’s hand held him back.

“But jokes and flirting aside,” his tone shifted. “This better not be some stupid confession made because you know you aren’t making it out of this stupid scheme of yours.” 

“Um... not entirely?” He tried to smile. “I just... I denied it for so long because after losing Raph it felt like... Like if I let myself have this I’d just be asking for it to get ripped away from me.”

“So you decided to do that to me instead.”

The impact of those words hit him so hard he almost dropped Jase on the floor. The lead weight in his chest dropped to his stomach. “I...”

“You’re such a bastard.” Jase mumbled as he kissed Donatello again. “Such a bastard and I love you. I don’t want to lose you.” His voice cracked again. A sob briefly escaped before he took a deep breath to tug all of it back in. “And I also hate myself for not saying anything sooner. I hate myself for not even being friends sooner. I hate that it took the world ending for us to become friends. I hate...” Another shaky breath. “I hate thinking that if this never happened, if the world was peaceful, would we still hate each other? Would we still be enemies? I don’t... I don’t know what world I’d prefer to live in if that’s the case.”

Donatello studied Jase’s face, once again his mind screaming that they weren’t close enough.

“I want us both to survive this.” Jase pressed their foreheads and their noses together. “I want us to win and try to get back to some kind of normal life again. I want the two of us to... I want...”

Another firm kiss, and this time when Donatello returned it, Jase moaned. Nails lightly scrapped against the back of Donatello’s neck, making him shiver. Jase parted his lips and Donatello followed suit.

Not close enough. Not close enough.

Jase barely moved away when he stopped, breath brushing past Donatello’s cheek when he spoke. “Your room or mine?”

The haze in his brain returned ten fold, but that sliver of logic fought to stay on the surface. “Are you sure about that? We--”

Jase’s hands practically slapped against his cheeks before he smooshed Donatello’s face. “I know I’m not going to stop you from doing this stupid, idiotic, reckless idea of yours. And if this really is some stupid, last minute, desperate confession then let me have this. Your room or mine.”

He said that last sentence so forcefully that the sliver of logic finally vanished in the haze. Donatello barely kept himself from pinning Jase to the nearby desk. “Yours.”

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

Donatello must have dozed off. Not too surprising, considering the past few sleepless nights due to the stress and well... what just happened.

Jase lay curled up under his arm, pressed against his chest, not quite asleep but definitely not all awake either.

Donatello didn’t want to move. He really didn’t want to move. He at least allowed himself another few quiet seconds, pressing his nose to Jase’s forehead.

But then he rolled over, looking for wherever he placed his gauntlet on the nearby desk to check the time.

Yeesh, it’d almost been two hours since he and Jase first started talking back in the main computer room. He couldn’t waste too much time laying around. He had to prep some things before tomorrow. He had to talk to Mikey, and April, and--

Jase shifted behind him. Then two arms wrapped around his stomach as his friend--boyfriend--pressed up against his shell.

“You’re not leaving, are you?” Jase mumbled.

“Not yet.” Donatello left the gauntlet next to the pillow as his hand rested on Jase’s wrist. “But I can’t stay here all afternoon.”

Jase tightened his grip. “Will I see you again tonight?”

Donatello wiggled himself loose, just enough to roll back over. “Most likely.”

“Good.” Jase kissed him on the collar, then the throat. “I’m not done with you yet.”

Donatello smirked. “Hm, dare I ask what that means.”

“Use your imagination.” Jase trailed a few more kisses, but slowed to a stop. “You are going to try, right? To stay alive, I mean.”

“Of course I am. But you know me. I have to be realistic. No matter how hard I try it may not...”

He didn’t finish the thought, couldn’t. Instead he reached up to hold Jase’s face, making sure his boyfriend was looking at him. “Regardless of what happens, I love you. No matter where I end up, I love you. One way or another, I’ll see you again. And one way or another, I’ll be sure to leave you a part of me you can carry with you.” He sealed that promise with a quick kiss.

Jase looked at him, almost star struck, before it fell back to his usual smirk. “Wow, where did you find that sappy piece of dialogue?”

“Oh shush.” Donatello smiled back at him as he tugged the pillow down over Jase’s head. Not a very comfy one, full of old clothes they’d scavenged for, but better than rocks.

A beep from his gauntlet had to ruin the moment. He rolled over to check it again, knew it was an incoming call from the noise. Leo.

Donatello forced himself to sit up and snapped the gauntlet back on his wrist before answering it. “Yes, Leo?”

“Donnie, where are you? I’ve been looking all over the base for you. Main computer room says you’re still in here.”

“I am.” He wiped his eyes. “I’m in Jason’s quarters.”

His brother’s silence made him realize what he just said. His palm slapped against his forehead.

“Wait. Is that why Kendra is insisting I owe her ten dollars?”

“Huh?” Donatello shouted into the gauntlet and saw Jase trying to hide himself under the covers. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh my god, oh my god, no. I swore up and down you two would never--”

“You had a bet?”

“Dude, half the family does. I should get your own recordings and show you just how you two constantly stare at each other. Like, fifty times I swore I was going to vomit.”

“Okay, where are you?” Donatello tossed the covers off his legs and started to scramble for his clothes. “I’m coming to kick your ass right now.”

“Hang on, I have to give Kendra ten dollars before you do.”

“Nardo!”

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

Jason didn’t know what he expected.

It was late a night when he saw Donnie again. He looked lost, then frustrated, then lost all over again. Evidently talking about the plan with the others didn’t go over too well. Part of Jason hoped that would discourage Donnie from trying it.

It didn’t.

So Jason clung to him like it was the last night on Earth, like if his lips left his, he would suffocate. Words were whispered back and forth, so quietly, but he remembered every one of them.

“I’m so sorry for doing this to you.” Donnie mumbled at one point. “I’m still not sure what’s worse. Telling you now at the risk of leaving, or you never knowing at all.”

At the time, he didn’t have an answer to that.

He didn’t think too hard afterwards, drifting off to sleep, because he assumed he’d see Donnie one more time in the morning.

But when he woke up, his arm reached out to find nothing. He groaned and sat up, opening his eyes to still find nothing. Just crumpled sheets and something round and grey sitting next to the pillow.

Jason fumbled for his glasses and put them on. Damn lenses that would never be clean again. They couldn’t spend the resources making fancy new ones.

He could see the object more clearly now. A simple speaker with one button on it. Donnie often used them to leave messages when bases had to be abandoned, leaving coded messages for other resistance members to follow.

But why was it here?

Jason swallowed before giving into his curiosity and hitting play.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.” The words from yesterday afternoon played back to him. “No matter where I end up, I love you. One way or another, I’ll see you again. And one way or another, I’ll be sure to leave you a part of me you can carry with you.”

Jason stared at the speaker in his hand.

Is this what he meant when he said that?

Suddenly an uneasy feeling twisted in his stomach.

He scrambled out of bed and put on his uniform. With everything ready he sprinted out of his quarters and towards the main computer room. No one else was inside yet, too early perhaps? He hadn’t even looked at the time. He wouldn’t. Vitals. He needed to check vitals. His palm swiped across the screen until it showed the correct list.

One of them was flatlined.

One of them was--

He hit the play button.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.”

He hit it again.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.”

Jason swallowed back the lump in his throat and forced his gaze to move over to the name next to the unwavering thread of life.

Again.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.”

“Regardless of what happens--”

What happened?

Jason took off again. Leonardo. He had to find Leonardo if he was in the base. He’d know exactly what happened, right?

Did Jason even want an answer to that?

Most of the cave tunnels remained empty. Sometimes he passed by some rooms where people lingered, but none of them called after him.

He kept moving. Heading for the med bay. That’d be a logical place to look, right? He saw the doorway to it, saw April standing inside with her back turned. He opened his mouth to call out to her when his chest struck something metal. He would have fallen back if the culprit hadn’t caught him.

His hands rested on Leonardo’s prosthetic before he glanced at the turtle. His eyes were red, cheeks damp, but his expression was firm.

“Leo.” Jason tried to catch his breath. “What-- What happened? Where is he?”

Leonardo flinched, but his gaze only faltered for a second. “Jase trust me you don’t...” He swallowed. “You don’t want to go in there right now.”

“What happened?” He demanded as he pulled free. “What--” Only now with this distance did he get a good look at Leo’s sword. The red mask on the hilt was now perfectly complimented by the deep red stains that still lined the blade.

He felt so numb. Static formed in his palm where the recording pressed against it and slowly traveled up to his shoulder. This couldn’t be real. Maybe he was just having a nightmare. Any minute now he’d wake up in the real world and Donnie would still be right next to him, whispering a proper goodbye before he headed out on this doomed mission.

“Did he even try?” Jason choked the words out.

Leonardo grit his teeth, clearly struggling to speak for a second. “He gave it everything he had. It just wasn’t... enough.”

And what could he even say to that? The devastation was plain on Leo’s face. It’d probably be plain on April’s as well, and Mikey’s and even young Casey. Jase knew he wasn’t the only one being crushed by this, he never was when other reports of lost members came flooding in after a mission. He never was when he and his team watched those flat lines crop up one by one. In some ways this one should hardly be any different but the pins and needles in his arm hurt.

“Jase?” Leonardo took a step toward him. “Jase, I’m sorry--”

Why was he apologizing? This wasn’t his fault. It was Donatello’s stupid, stupid plan.

“Look, you should--”

As soon as the turtle reached out, Jason flinched backwards. His hand tensed around the device, causing him to hit the play button once more.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.”

Leonardo’s eyes went wide.

“No matter where I end up, I love you.”

“Jase... where did you--”

“One way or another, I’ll see you again.”

Leo’s shoulders went tense before his left hand covered his face, clearly trying to hide his tears.

“And one way or another.”

Jason took off in the opposite direction. He couldn’t be doing this to Leo, shouldn’t be. The recording already wrenched his own heart in two, just what was it doing to Donatello’s twin?

“I’ll be sure to leave you a part of me you can carry with you.”

Jason kept going, all the way back to his quarters where he slammed to the door shut before sliding down onto the floor.

He hit the button again.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.”

He double tapped this time, rewind.

“I love you.”

Again.

“I love you.”

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Jason failed to hold back his sob this time, loud enough that it drowned out the rest of the recording as it played from his hand. 

“I’m still not sure what’s worse. Telling you now at the risk of leaving, or you never knowing at all.”

Jason still didn’t have an answer to that. Was one truly worse than the other?

Or did they just hurt in different ways.

Again.

“Regardless of what happens, I love you.”

[currentlyonstandbi]

[danieyells]

. . .ah.

[bragganhyl]

okay I want to add a couple of things

Eora is a unique setting both in terms of cultures and races - in addition to the standard human/elf/dwarf options you also get aumaua (big, buff people with shark-like features), orlans (short people with feline features) and the godlike who come in as many variations as there are gods

the way you build your character doesn't work quite the way you'd expect, charisma for example has been ditched entirely in favor of resolve (I mean obviously you're charismatic you are a PC among NPCs, now whether you can bs without flinching? now that is worth checking), intelligence only influences base AoE size and strength has been also ditched for might - bc you see, the way might works is that influences all damage output, including spells. And that's how you end up with wizards who are as buff as paladins, really intimidating bards chanters who tank and gunslinging priests (yes, there are guns in this game). What I'm trying to say is that you can get up to some really fun character building if you want to.

bc the lore is as detailed as is, creating a character that feels organic to the setting gets very easy once you start grasping the lore proper, in my personal experience I had to do a lot less external character building in order to make my Watcher make sense in the game than I had to with some other rpgs, it also helps that usually (not always) you get a ton of convo options too

PoE doesn't have a morality system either, you have a disposition system and a reputation system. In the disposition system, the more you exhibit a certain trait the more people will associate that trait with you, but you also get additional convo options and maybe even an extra game ending. The reputation system is just... basically a measurement of how much people in certain factions or regions like you. So basically how validating the NPCs get around you is not directly linked to whether you are decent or not, although being decent in the game feels satisfying in its own right.

The magic system actually makes sense.

Hey @prideofthegate you wanted me to convince you to play Pillars of Eternity and I don't have much time to write about everything I like, so Pillars Pals, please feel free to jump on with this!

But here are just some of the things I love about it.

First thing is the writing. God the WRITING. It's SO good and rich, with just the right amount of influences from other CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights whilst also building such a rich and enjoyable lore straight off the bat. It's a bit lore dense but...

It has a BRILLIANT codex system where you highlight words and it tells you all about it. Which means the writing doesn't feel too expositional.

The voice acting is SUPERB pretty much across the board. The characters, despite being a handful of avatars and text lines, feel so well rounded and are all really unique. They don't just slot into character archetypes like a lot of CRPGs of this scale. Even the characters you hate are just so perfectly written and performed. Theres no romance in the first game, but there is in the second.

The design is also so cool, especially of the God characters you meet.

The music is absolutely beautiful, and fully orchestrally rendered.

The combat is well judged, and offers a challenge if you like that sort of thing. Even on easy I found there was a lot of tactical choice to be made.

And finally the community is small but excellent. I think, and this is a bit elitist maybe but I'm gonna say it, a game that demands a certain commitment to the lore, to reading, to critical thinking ends up attracting some of the best thinkers and makers I've met in fandom space. We are small, but we are mighty.

One thing I would say which is a bit annoying is that the second game is MUCH more accessible, but it spoils the monumentally cool twist in the first game so I'd really recommend just sticking with the first and letting it sink in slowly. It's a bit of a slow burn (I think I didn't really realise I was hooked until about ten hours in, when I started exploring past the Dyrwood) but once you're in man, you're in!

[rocknpebbles]

Just wanted to say your art is one of the reasons I created my tumblr account bc my friend didn't stop sending me your art and I NEEDED to scream about it

Thanks for the funny usopp and sanuso art you are a true one, sanuso enjoyers gives me life tbh so uuuh can I ask for a doodle of them? as a treat? pretty please with a cherry on top?

SIDE NOTE: TO THOSE WHO LEFT AN ASK, SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT!! CURRENTLY HAVE 11 ASKS, IM V SHY WHEN IT COMES TO COMPLIMENTS, I LOVE THEM AND THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY AND LET ME KEEP POSTING, IM JUST SLOW TO PROCESS AND RESPOND 💔💔

IM GONNA CRY I HAD THIS WHOLE PARAGRAPH WRITTEN DOWN AND TUMBKR DELETED IT 💔💔💔💔

first of all, I am SO SORRY it took this long to respond, I was stressing about the sanuso doodle request bc I rlly wanted it to look good for you and I had other life problems (originally the doodle with usopp in earmuffs and sanji exploding was 4 u 😭😭)

this made me do spiritual backflips IM SHOCKED I WAS ONE OF THE REASONS U JOINED ,IM SO GLAD YOU JOINED TUMBLR I HEAVILY ENJOY SEEING YOUR ART‼️‼️‼️💯 I rlly love ur usopp headcanons the moles are such a nice touch u have such a nice style I’m being so fr

THANJK YOU also ofc funny sanuso is peak 2 me AND YES HERES a doodle I saw your Sanrio au and doodled them!!!!!!!

[mrabubu]

I know we've seen bits and pieces of Ana's life as a kraang but what about her before turning into a kraang? Like what's her family situation? Does she has siblings? Neighbours she's closed with?

Had she ever went on adventures like April with the turtles? If ana & April were in the same school, did she met draxum as the lunch lady? How did she felt about him then? When casey JR met Ana from the past what did he felt about her?

And did how did Ana helped in the movie where the hamatos were fighting back? After the movie, was she hurt or helped taking care of the turtles?

Sorry for asking too much it's just sometimes am getting this burst of energy to ask questions about your AU 🙏🏼

Nah, it's okay, you're good ~ So, I've been having some ideas on Ana before she was kraangified, and maybe some of the details are my projection, but there's other character's I've been inspired with.

This post turned out to be long, so, yeah... But if you have any more questions, I'm like, totally ready to answer.

I'll go with more simple questions first:

Adventures with the turtles:

I had an idea that maybe it was Leo who was dragging her out on adventures. I thought of a different scenario with that episode when Leo accidentally teleported others somewhere, but before going to Hueso he would go to Ana and drag her out just not to be alone in this.

Ana and Draxum:

I never actually thought about Ana meeting Draxum, but now I kinda imagine there would be a joke about how Ana sneaks up on people unintentionally, especially Draxum because he thought she was unremarkable and he wasn't really paying much attention to her, and he would go like "Were you standing here this whole time?".

Ana and Casey Jr.:

With the story I have in my head, Ana and Leo were reunited after or not long before Cassandra died, so Ana became someone like a mother figure to Casey Jr, and considering Ana died in the future not long before the events of the movie, I feel like Casey would try to suppress his emotions towards her, and definitely would try to hide the details of what happened to Ana in the bad future timeline. But he would definitely be happy to see her, and if going with the movie, in the end he would finally let himself relax around her, knowing she'll be alright, alive and not kraangified, embracing her for the first time since he got into the past.

Ana during the events of the movie:

So, I think this would be strongly connected to the end of the season 2, because I had this idea that Ana, unlike April, didn't have much strength to fight, so Leo left her with Tod while him, April and others went to fight Shredder. This made Ana felt useless and helpless. During the movie, I thought that she would be helping people in the city. She was unable to fight the Kraang, but she tried to help people by leading them away from the war zone. I'm not sure what big moment to add here, but at the time I think that aside from bruises and small cuts she was okay, and, yes, was definitely helping the turtles to heal. Maybe even in the end of the movie it would be her and Leo's moment, when she would tell him about how useless she felt and how scared she was when Leo almost got trapped in the prison dimension, and he would reassure her that she did an amazing job by helping people in the city. And about him almost being gone, I think this would actually be their big moment when he would openly tell her he loves her. Like, before he didn't tell her this like that, but after almost, well, dying, he wouldn't want to waste a single moment with her.

Okay, now to Ana and her family:

At first I thought of Ana being just a normal, shy girl with a normal family, but, uuuh, I also thought it's kinda boring and lacks some depth, so, here's some of my ideas.

I never saw her having any siblings, so, she's the only child.

Her situation in her family is not as ideal as it could be. I didn't want to go with this cliche of one of her parents being dead, so they were both alive, but mostly they lived together more like neighbors rather than a family. I also thought of Ana feeling kinda like a burden to her family. She's calm, shy and quiet girl, doesn't have any special talents or big ambitions rather than taking photos (yeah, I've decided she liked to take pictures).

After watching Dungeon Meshi and seeing this moment with Falin eating alone, I kinda took it as an inspiration for Ana's backstory. But in Ana's case it's more close to something like with Hanekawa from Monogatari series.

If you know Hanekawa's story, you know the vibe/the idea. Ana and Kraang-chan are like Hanekawa and Black Hanekawa.

With Ana it's not as bad as it was for Hanekawa, there was no abuse or anything, but some ideas of her usually wearing a facade to appear to be someone who she isn't is present. With Ana she's more suppressing her emotions, even to the point she's ashamed of them. She feels lonely and detached from others but tries to make it look like she's fine with it, but there are still moments when her frustration is too much to handle, but even then she didn't ask for help, but more took it on herself.

I redrew a moment from The Boy and the Heron.

Oh boy, I hope I didn't miss anything.

[arandomnerd810]

personal TADC character analysis

uh warning this is long lol

autism time let’s go (/not in a negative way i have autism) stretches hands * I’ll go in order of the character episodes cause why not we have it (see below) i’ll put periods but it will just be to make it more readable not to be intimidating lolll

btw im completely open to interpretations of characters changing throughout the series this is just for fun

Gooseworx has said this series is mostly focused on characters rather than lore, and from what we know, i truly believe it. I don’t think any of the current characters will abstract because of this.

(I put a version of this in the glitch inn discord theory thing so if you recognize it that’s why)

Pomni: we already know her deal pretty well, as we’ve already had her episode. uuuh if anyone’s going to do something important lore wise it will probably be her as she’s the main character but can’t rlly tell what that may be. to review ep 2 though she’s an outcast who has felt like she was nothing and is a logical thinker.

(Kinger and Zooble will there their focus episode but i put it in order of who was revealed to be the ep 3 focus first)

Zooble: From their design (the entire motif is it can be changed at any time) and the fact she doesn’t know his gender, we’re dealing with some pretty clear identity issues. Friends with Gangle seems cool excited for next episode to learn more about them!

Kinger: One of the most interesting characters so far. I feel like we will get to learn more about abstraction though Queenie, the X-ed out door that looks like a female version of him. If i had to guess, since Gooseworx said they were not siblings, they were a couple. (Also judging by his age and the fact he could have been married, he may have been a father yeowch imagine that) I can see the common theory of the insect collection implying he was a coder before getting trapped, but i could also see him being some random guy who just likes bugs lol. He seems like really sweet guy behind his constant anxiety and disassociating.

 Gangle: (My faveorite human rn) Her mask design can be interpreted in a lot of ways but it’s clear that the happy mask isn’t her real personality. My take on it rn is she doesn’t wana bother people with her stuff so she pretends she’s happy? She seems easily embarrassed and def has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell. What’s interesting though is she’s willing to stand up for herself from time to time, even though she’s easily shot down after.

Ragatha: Waaaay too nice for her own good. Also probably has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell and bases her self worth of others approval.  Though she’s been here the second longest, she seems a lot more normal than Kinger. Makes me question how long apart their introductions have been. Probably copes via escapism.

Jax: I can see why everyone is very interested in him cause me too. He seems like the only fourth wall breaky guy (unless you count Caine cause of his intro at the pilot)which is rlly interesting how did he figure out more than everyone else? what’s with the keys? i have no clue lmao. He’s an asshole who makes the best of his situation by torturing everyone else. At the end of the day though, he’s a human and was sad at kaufmo’s abstraction but he probably isolates himself so it would probably be the same for anyone

but waAitTt a moment

that’s 6 humans but Gooseworx said we would look into 7 (cause of the “other” part) in her twitter post talking about the character focus timeline so we know our fav character won’t be left behind ⁉️⁉️⁉️ I hear you not asking well my dear hypothetical person, who better to fill the 7th character than Caine?

Why you did not ask? Too bad i’m info dumping. First, he’s the main antagonist and alongside Pomni, the commercial face (or lack their of haha teeth and eye joke) of the series. he’s an important character and loved by many. (and hated equally if not more aside the point lmaooo)

Yes, gooseworx can lie about stuff but I think she’s smarter than to lead this heavy into Caine depth/ angst territory if there wasn’t going to be anything On top of that, the entire purpose of the timeline post was so we know our faveorite characters weren’t getting treated poorly. It’s unlike for a character based show to suddenly drop such a major character for some random other guy were introduced to later or smth. i mean cmon there’s three episodes after all the humans at least one of them has to be focused on my boy.

Caine: I believe he really does have good intentions and wants to help but just does not understand people at all. This means he’s like an anxiety disorder; it wants to help, solves some issues but creates 500 more. Judging by the Tumblr post, loneliness may play a big part in what’s to come? I’ve always had a feeling his front was extremely fake and his VA saying “breaks keyfable” (an act that pretends it’s true) supports that theory. Episode two gives some insecurity vibes when Zooble didn’t want to go on the adventure. I find that pretty interesting cause he didn’t care at all if people went on the gloink adventure or not. Maybe he puts some adventures over others and he could have been proud of the candy adventure cause more time and care was put into it and he made a new AI. Why did he blue screen? i feel like he could have some blockages on what he can say built in though im not sure why he was blocked then if he even was. one of the biggest questions i have ab him currently tbh. what’s with him grabbing his cane like that in ep 2? if i had to guess simply be nervous = that? His VA also knows some depth to him even though his focus episode is likely going to be at least one of the last 3 episodes, which they have not gotten to recording yet. You know what this means Caine angst solidarity club? Sad Caine so more fan angst appetizers before the main cannon feast let’s friccin go‼️‼️⁉️⁉️

(try to guess my fav impossible /j)