#would disturb the status quo of canon

[jiangchengsjawline]

my personal belief that wei wuxian being jiang fengmian’s actual bastard makes the jiang family dynamic less compelling. versus my other equally personal belief that chengxian incest hot

[e1e4n0r5]

Twisted Love: Chapter 4

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

Summary: You always expected to marry your twin brother, Daeron. However, when this does not come to be, you find comfort with your siblings. As only Targaryens could. 

Minimal smut in this one, we have some angsty conversations.

WARNINGS: canon-typical incest, jealous husband, relationship insecurity, ANGST, group sex, gay (male) penetration, lesbian sex with strap-on

Weeks passed. You enjoyed spending time with Daeron and getting to know each other again. He told you stories of Oldtown and the things he had studied during his years there. You filled him in on the politics inside the Red Keep; which families were trustworthy, which ones were snakes in the grass. You had tried telling him stories about the children, but quickly noted that he did not enjoy them. It saddened you that he wasn’t interested in learning about your children – his nephew and niece – but you could understand, so you didn’t challenge him.

All five of you spent time together walking along the beaches or taking tea in the gardens. You were always so happy to have everyone reunited once more that you didn’t notice the obvious tension brewing between your husband and your twin. They wouldn’t sit together; they would barely speak, and when they did it was subtly antagonistic. You only noticed Aemond’s hand on your thigh or arm around your shoulders, and that his presence was as comforting as it ever was. You didn’t notice Daeron’s sneer at the sight of you two cuddled together, nor Aemond’s cocky smirk to your twin over your head.

But eventually you did notice the tension. You blamed the happy bubble you had been living in since Daeron came home. You had just been so happy to be reunited with him, that it didn’t occur to you that mayhaps not everyone would be as thrilled. You knew Aemond had been tense the day Daeron returned, but you had chalked that up to the change of Daeron being home; it had been the four of you for so long, that you had just assumed adding in another sibling would disturb the status quo Aemond enjoyed. You had assumed Aemond would settle, and soon be happy that his younger brother was home again.

You had been wrong.

The tension felt like it was growing by the day. Once you had started paying attention, you observed Aemond’s jaw tighten every time Daeron entered the room, and how it would stay tight until the brothers were separated again. You watched as Daeron’s shoulders would slump upon seeing you and Aemond sat close together, or whenever your children were present – despite the fact that your two little ones had taken a real shine to their Uncle Daeron and loved being around him. You perceived how Aegon and Helaena interacted somewhat stiffly with the youngest Targaryen-Hightower sibling, like he was a visiting guest rather than their brother. You weren’t sure of the precise reason why they behaved so – was it as not to anger Aemond? Were they just not interested in reconnecting with Daeron?

Everything felt different after that.

The bubble had burst.

Even when you, Aemond, Aegon, and Helaena were together at night, you could only feel the whole time that someone was missing. It now felt wrong for it to be the four of you, knowing that Daeron was by himself in his rooms. Rooms that were connected to the very same passageway that gave your brother and sister entry.

That night, you tried to focus on the pleasure Helaena was offering as she thrust her leather strap into you, but you could only feel distracted. It didn't help to watch Aemond hammer his hips into Aegon’s. You couldn't shake the feeling that Aemond’s angry thrusts were representative of how he was feeling about the whole situation. Aegon didn't care, moaning loudly as he stroked himself whilst his younger brother vigorously filled him. The four of you had been in this arrangement many times before, but it didn't feel right anymore.

Helaena recognised this above you, leaning down and kissing you deeply. “Do you want to stop, hāedar (little sister)?”

You smiled, somewhat sadly. “No, issa doña (my sweet), keep going. I want to be with you.”

“Your mind does,” she whispered in Valyrian, slowing her movements but still maintaining a rhythm, “but your heart feels something is missing, yes?” Tears filled your eyes against your will. Helaena was always so perceptive. “It's alright to feel that way. I don't judge you for it. You have a lot of feelings right now, everything is changing. But all will be well, sister. The dragon has five heads, five hearts. Five hearts become one. Now let us reach completion, and we can start afresh tomorrow.”

Your tears became happy ones at your sister’s words, and you nodded. She picked up her pace again, and you let out your first real moan of the evening, both reaching your ends only a few minutes later.

You would start afresh in the morning.

You and Aemond strolled through the gardens with your children, listening to Maenor chat about how pretty the flowers were, picking one from time to time. You smiled down at him, ruffling his hair affectionately even as he protested. Aena was fighting a nap in her father’s arms, but Aemond was unrelenting in his soft singing and rubbing her back. She was slowly losing the fight, tucking her head under his chin as she sucked her fingers, tiny blue eyes taking longer and longer blinks, grunting occasionally as she futilely fought against sleep.

Still smiling, you glanced up, pausing. You saw Daeron on a balcony a few stories above you, looking down at you as you all walked. Even though you couldn't see his face clearly, you could feel through the bond you shared that he was distressed.

You turned to your husband. “I'll be back soon.”

He looked at you, squinting somewhat suspiciously. He had spotted Daeron a few minutes earlier. “Alright. Come back soon; Maenor will want to show you everything he picks.”

You smiled and nodded, beckoning a nanny to step forward and play with Maenor, kissing Aena’s cheek as Aemond held her, before heading off into the castle. You knew your way up to the balcony, hoping Daeron would still be there.

He was.

You approached him from behind, watching his still back as he rested his hands on the stone railing around the balcony.

“Daeron?” you spoke softly, coming to stand next to him. You lightly touched his back, feeling him tense under your hand.

“Everything is so different now. Everyone.”

“Time has passed,” you concurred. “But we’re all family, still. And you’re home now.”

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “You’re a married woman.”

You flinched that time. “Yes. I have been for a few years now.”

“Aemond is your husband,” his face twisted into what could only be described as a sneer. “I could have imagined you marrying a Lannister, maybe even a Stark or Baratheon. But Aemond... Being his wife has changed you.”

You frowned at him. “What does that mean?”

“He makes your plate for you,” he said in disgust. “Does he truly think you so incapable, or himself so superior, that he gets to choose what you eat and how much? I would never dream of treating you that way! It’s an insult, Y/N, can’t you see that?”

You scoffed and shook your head. “Then I suppose I must have changed, because I like that Aemond does that for me. Yes, he does it for me,” you insisted. “He asks me what I want, and he makes my plate for me. He has never once told me what I can and cannot have; if I want something, he gets it without question. I like it; it makes me feel like he’s taking care of me. It’s not him being controlling, or a brute; it’s a way that he shows me he’s looking after me and my body.”

“One of the many ways he brags.”

Before you could retort angrily, he continued. He watched Aemond and the children below. “You named your son Maenor,” he said, a disdainful curl to his nose.

Your hackles rose at the mention of your child. Putting your shoulders back and standing tall, you snapped, “What of it?”

“When we were growing up and thinking of names we would give our children, you always said you hated the name Rhaenor.”

“Which is still true-”

“But that you loved Maelon.”

“Again, true-”

“So why would you choose Maenor?” he demanded, his fist banging the stone railing.

You floundered. “We liked the name-”

“And then Helaena names her son Maelor! Why in the world would she choose such a similar name?”

“Because we were pregnant at the same time; our sons were born within the week.”

Daeron put his head in his hands, shaking in frustration. “But don't you see? We can never use the name Maelon now! The two names are already so similar; there can't be Maenor, Maelor, and Maelon! That would be ridiculous!”’

You calmed, suddenly understanding where Daeron was coming from. He wasn't just upset about some names sounding similar; he was grieving. “Our sons will have other names.”

He shook his head, looking at you with tears in his eyes. “I've always dreamed of having a son with you called Maelon, Y/N!” he wept. “When I was alone in Oldtown, I would picture our life together: me and you; our son Maelon; our daughter Daela... And now he's gone, Maelon’s gone. The son I've been dreaming of for years will never exist now! You've taken my children from me, don’t you understand!” he cried, tears falling down his cheeks.

Your own eyes filled with tears. “We’ll have our children, Daeron-”

“How?! You married Aemond!”

“I had to,” you protested, no idea that your husband was right around the corner, listening to every word. “I didn’t know when you would be coming home, or even if mother and grandsire would allow you to return. I challenged them why we weren’t betrothed, and they said they might need alliances with other Houses. I refused to be married off, so I asked Aemond to wed me. To keep me here. So that we could all be together again one day. So you could come home to me.”

Aemond had had enough. He stalked off down the corridor, not hearing what you said next.

“I love Aemond. I love him madly, he is a part of me. As are my children. As are you. As are Aegon and Helaena. You all have my heart. But he is my husband, Daeron. I will not – cannot – choose you over him. I want us all to stay together, I don’t want you to be the only one not with us. A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing. I can see that, plain as day. You need to be here, idaña. Will you try that? Will you try staying with us?”

He sniffled, rubbing his eyes. “He’s rubbing it in my face, Y/N. Like he won a prize, taunting me that you're his wife and that I'm alone.”

“I know,” you nodded, hugging Daeron tightly. “I’ll talk to him.”

That evening after dinner, you and Aemond returned to your rooms. He hadn’t said a word all night. He had made your plate for you, like he always did, but he didn’t speak a word to anyone. He also didn’t touch you. He didn’t hold your hand, touch your thigh, rest his hand in the small of your back... Nothing.

Your handmaids helped you out of your dress and into your sleepwear, then the nanny brought in Maenor and Aena. Maenor had had a bad dream and wanted comfort, which had woken Aena and she was then refusing to go back to sleep. Aemond picked up your son, cuddling him as the young boy pressed his tear-stained face into his father’s neck. You took Aena and sat down, nursing her in your usual armchair by the fire.

“Thank you,” you said to the nanny in a soft voice, “we’ll take them back to the nursery ourselves when they’re feeling better.”

She nodded and curtsied, leaving you all alone.

The only sounds in the room were the fire crackling, Aena nursing at your chest, and Maenor’s soft sniffles and deep breaths which were gradually calming down. You don’t know how long you wait before you speak.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong now, or after our children are asleep?”

Aemond glanced at you. “I don’t know what-”

“Don’t, Aemond. Don’t even try that. You’ve been off all night. Something is wrong. Something has happened. So you can either tell me now, or when the children are asleep. When would you prefer?”

Your husband didn’t respond. He turned and sat down in the armchair opposite you, holding Maenor against his chest, his large hand rubbing soothing circles against his back.

He continued to be silent, so you did too. Fine, he would tell you later. After a while, Aena finished nursing on one side, so you switched her to the other. Maenor had also fallen back asleep, his breathing now slow and steady in his father’s arms.

“You were talking to Daeron earlier,” Aemond stated, looking into the fireplace.

You raised your head. “I was. You were listening, weren’t you? And what did you hear?”

His jaw clenched. “That he longs for children with you, which you seemingly want too. That you only married me because you didn’t want to be sold off to another House.”

You sighed through your nose. “Then you didn’t hear the entire conversation.”

“So you deny it?”

“No. I did ask you to marry me after Mother and Grandsire told me that they hadn’t married Daeron and I because they might have wanted alliances with other Houses. That’s true. You knew that the day we married; you all came into my rooms and I was crying.”

“So you did only marry me to escape some Lord in a castle somewhere,” he accused.

You said firmly, “I chose you to be my husband because I love you. Yes, the reason for us marrying so suddenly was political, but don’t you ever question my love for you. I’ve always loved you, Aemond. I’m delightfully happy being your wife, and I believe I can say the same for you as my husband. Or are you not happy?”

“I am happy.”

“So why are you doubting this now? Because Daeron is back? Because you think I’ve just been waiting for him, and my life with you has just been an exercise in passing time?”

He sulked, his hand still stroking up and down your son’s back. “You always wanted to marry Daeron. We only wed because you were about to be married off and you needed to prevent that.”

“If I had wanted to prevent myself being married to a stranger, I could have just laid with you for one night, ruined my reputation. Or I could have married Aegon as his second wife. But I didn’t. I chose to marry you, to be your wife. To spend my life with you, until my last breath. Have you forgotten that? Has the return of my twin, your brother, given you amnesia of the vows I spoke?” you snapped.

“You and Daeron were always meant to be wed.”

“Well apparently, we weren’t! Mother and Grandsire sent Daeron away to prevent our marriage, it was never going to be allowed to happen. They sent him away when they realised that our desire to marry wasn’t some little childhood infatuation or dream. They sent him away as quickly as they could and they wouldn't let him come home. They were never going to allow us to marry,” you enforced.

“You couldn’t have been sure of that. You married me in desperation and anger. I was never going to be your first choice.”

“Like I was yours? I heard you at Laena Velaryon's funeral; you said to Aegon that you would have gladly wed Helaena had the two of you been betrothed. You infuriate me, Aemond,” you murmured, shaking your head. “I can’t take back how I felt in the past, and I won’t apologise for it. Daeron and I had always been close, we had no reason to believe that we would not be allowed to wed one day. But I’ve always loved you, Aemond. How could you doubt that? I wouldn’t have married you if I didn’t love you. If Daeron and I had been allowed to marry when we were eight-and-ten, I would have taken you as a second husband the moment the ceremony between Daeron and I was complete.” That made Aemond’s head shoot up. “Does that really surprise you? You truly thought I didn’t care for you at all before our wedding?”

He said nothing.

That broke your heart a little. “You’ll note I also haven’t run off with Daeron now that he’s back, as you seem to think I’m so desperate to do.”

“But you would have him join us? The four of us become five?”

It was a test, you knew it.

“If he chose to, yes. I would have us all be together. It seems so unfair to exclude just one of us.”

“But you would choose him over us in a heartbeat,” he accused. “The moment he asks-”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Aemond,” you cursed him in Valyrian, not wanting your children to hear your words. Your strong language took him by surprise, and he did indeed stop talking. “I would not. I would never. I knew that even before we were married, when I thought there was still a possibility of marrying Daeron. I knew I would not give any of you up, and I knew that if he had asked me to, I would have refused to marry him.” That visibly shocked Aemond. “You are all my family and I love you all. I would not give up any of you; not for Daeron, not for you. Not for anybody. Do you hear me? The King himself could order me to do so, and I would refuse. I would let him disown me, bastardise my children, take my titles and privileges, take everything from me, before I gave up any of you.” Little Aena finished nursing, letting out a small sleepy sound as she released your breast. You kept your eyes on your husband, moving Aena up to your shoulder, rubbing her back in firm circles as you got to your feet. You approached him, staring down at him as he held your son. “Do you understand me now, husband? Is that clear enough for you?”

He swallowed thickly and nodded.

He had never loved you more.

@watercolorskyy @shesjustanothergeek @aemondsdelight @thelittleswanao3 @misspascalpunk @heavenly1927 @probablybraindamage @theoneepileptic @sabii5 @baellabass @sleepymikmik @butterfliesflewaway @immyowndefender

[baxterstockmanisthecenterfold]

Do you prefer Baxter mutated 🪰 a cyborg 🤖 or just plain human? 👨🏿‍🔬

My answer has changed since the last time I've thought about it. Originally like most people I liked his mutant fly fate. But now honestly. I prefer Baxter be a regular human. I don't hate either of his fates anymore I still love them & am fascinated by them. But when it comes to new takes on them. Nobody seems to actually DO anything with them. Nowadays when Baxter's a mutant it's only just for the sake of fanservice to the 87 cultists. DC's 2 portrayals of him being the biggest example of this

Because I want you to genuinely answer me this: what PURPOSE did him getting mutated, even serve? In literally BOTH adaptations he was just. There. Aside from fanservice what was literally the point in him being a fly? I'll tell you: Jack shit. They literally could have kept him human & I promise you nothing would have changed. Hell they could have easily replaced him with a random scientist and nothing would have changed! That's how little him being there or a fly mattered! And every version that has him go this route always make that same exact mistake. It's honestly crazy how Baxter becoming a fly in the first place was because of a horror movie yet nobody ever bothers to.. ya know, DO THE HORROR part?! A giant killer fly is seriously giant fucking potential especially in these darker TMNT adaptations. 2012 was even CLOSE to getting that mark when their Baxter mutated

Bro was fully ready to catch bodies in the most disturbing way possible. Yet the only time they cooked with him in this was this & that scene of him taking out the foot bots. The rest of the episode they just still have him get easily beaten by everyone and it's the same status quo for the rest of the series, he just buzzes now. *Sighs* honestly I just want at least ONE version of mutant Baxter to do this to somebody

At least ONE version of mutant Baxter just going full fly on niggas and & being seen as a legitimate threat to look out for & not just "heheheh, goofy fly just like the 87 series" Like is that seriously too much to ask for?

Cyborg Baxter isn't safe from this either. Even though it's a much more rare fate, only happening a total of 3 times btw. Yeah. Only 3 times was he turned into a cyborg. And only ONE of them was actually a really cool & dangerous concept. That of course being his ORIGINAL Counterpart

The man broke into a military base, killed 2 guards, cut out his own brain & put it inside a killer robot and wasted ZERO time fucking around. A lot of people really don't seem to know Baxter canonically has a bodycount

He killed over 6 people because he possessed the body of a giant robot. He basically pulled a sci-fi Chucky & I don't think anybody seems to realize how terrifying & cool that concept alone is! The second time this happened was 2003 & I'm honestly a little disappointed it wasn't used in a more dangerous way. Granted I'm aware that version of Baxter is more of a victim than his original self & mostly just used his robot bodies as just. Bodies in place of his old one. He didn't actively choose this, but you would still think he'd try to make himself more stronger & capable of defending himself like he did when he betrayed Shredder in season one. But alas. That never became the case. The final time we got a cyborg Baxter was the Roninverse who is another rare Baxter to do his original counterpart justice in more ways than one.

Still, we didn't get to see this one in much action. Aside from punching the shit outta April, this Cyborg Baxter was another case of "just there" ism. Don't get me wrong he had an actual purpose of being in the story & why he's a cyborg, but they just didn't have him do much in this form. And it is a really big shame ngl.

Both of these fates are honestly amazing & fun to explore if you genuinely put your creativity caps in it, & it's honestly frustrating that they're just never put into true fruition. It's honestly one of the main 2 reasons I just rather he just be human now honestly.

The wasted potential with either one & the complete lack to bother trying to do something with them

Like with his race, fans seem to think that that's (mainly being a fly) his only character trait that matters & he's less of a Stockman if he's not which is.. beyond stupid honestly.

Baxter doesn't have to be a mutant or not human in general to be a great character, there're tons of villains in TMNT that are humans that still do the fans & themselves justice without always losing their humanities, why should Baxter be any different? Because he's a scientist? There's literally hundreds of evil human scientists in Superhero media that are still threatening. Doctor Octopus, Dr. Eggman/Robotnik, Lex Luthor, Hugo Strange, Gizmo, the list goes on! With the right writing a regular human evil scientist is a major good threat! And Baxter Stockman should NOT be any different from this category! Especially when IDW showed us you can literally do something even better with his fates.

IDW being the best Stockman he is showed us that he can literally have fly themed technology (his Flyborgs of all forms) as his personal minions and things to do his bidding aside from his Mousers! Even the 87 cartoon showed us that he has the power to control flies! Have him be a fly themed evil scientist. Matter fact. Have him built like this

This absolutely AMAZING 2-for-one that is basically giving him a fly themed mech suit. I literally can't explain into words just HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS CONCEPT & I'm so happy I've seen other fans draw their own takes on this too because literally why not go this route?! It has both fates, he's still human & he's still a big threat! I say THIS is my ideal Baxter Stockman fate honestly and I need it to be a real reality someday 💖🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

[littlerabbitpng]

Jayvik - Tarot Card Pull (Pre-Act Three)

I have been feeling incredibly mentally ill about Arcane recently, so my friend and I elected to do a tarot pull regarding the fate of Viktor and Jayce in tomorrow's act three release.

Will Viktor be confirmed to be canonically queer?

Five of Wands Reversed - Yes

"You refuse to engage in difficult conversations for fear of disturbing the status quo. In this position, the Five of Wands indicates that you are hesitant to accept conflict as a necessary part of growth and would prefer to avoid it altogether. Though you maintain a fragile peace, you continue to step lightly for fear of tearing open old wounds, and refuse to stand up for yourself."

Will Jayce and Viktor have a canonical expression of romantic interest? (I.E. Will a relationship be confirmed?)

Ten of Wands Reversed - Cautious yes

"Those things you have amassed now feel burdensome to maintain. You might feel ready to move on, but you have invested so much in where you are. The motivation to grow is outweighed by the inclination to keep things as they are. You cannot take on much more."

All card explanations are pulled from the guide book created alongside the "Star Spinner Tarot" - written and illustrated by Trung Le Nguyen (Link).

I am so mortified for tomorrows episode release. These cards indicate to me that they will very much be a case of doomed yaoi. The "Gratitude" card seen above the pictured tarot cards was pulled from an angel card deck. I had asked this deck how I would feel about their relationship with the end of Arcane closing in - and drew this card. So... Potential further indication of doomed yaoi.

[spookyrobbins]

How would Sofia react to Lizzy (the imaginary second child you were talking about the other day)? Both if she was the baby Arizona lost in S9 and if it was an AU where there was no plane crash/Mark didn’t die

haha yes lizzy is much easier than typing out “the second child” or whatever so works for me

so okay sofia would be what 2.5-3 years old when lizzy’s born, which would be like october/november s10. and we’ll just use that timeline regardless of plane crash or not. bc i think that would make sense for calzona in general.

i think the key aspect is actually mark. if he’s alive, his reaction to things probably really colors sofia’s reaction. if he’s dead, obviously he won’t be influencing sofia but sofia likely would have a harder time not being the only child.

let’s do canon first:

so basically keep everything the same through arizona’s miscarriage

arizona and boswell probably still flirt a bit bc arizona does have some pretty major insecurities about everything at this time, but i really don’t think she’d cheat. in canon, imo, what pushed arizona over the edge and put her in that really damaging mental space was the miscarriage. if that doesn’t happen, she’s still not great, but she doesn’t cheat

so it’s a lot of artificially happy calzona and for sofia, as a very young child, that’s probably all well and good especially after the uncertainty of the past 6 months or so where arizona was really withdrawn

and she’s pretty little so she might not fully conceptualize how much things have changed with mark dying and now having a second baby

calzona would absolutely do as much as possible to prepare sofia for a sibling and sofia would probably be pretty excited about. that’s definitely the age when there’s at least an awareness of babies (friends getting siblings etc) and it can be pretty exciting for her

i’d assume calzona would get the house or a house so sofia wouldn’t have to share her room with lizzy

all in all i think tiny sofia would do alright with her baby sister right away bc she’s little and it’s exciting. maybe some jealousy but in that little kid way where they just want attention and a little baby is naturally going to get a bit more attention

given their respective sibling relationships i think calzona would both be really committed to fostering a strong relationship between the two girls - callie bc she doesn’t have a good relationship with her sister and arizona bc she had a strong relationship with her brother

obviously when the girls were older there would probably be conversations explaining how mark was sofias dad but not lizzy’s and how callie carried sofia and arizona carried lizzy.

in general i think that point in time, in a plane crash world, is probably the best time to have a baby. bc sofias little enough not to feel super stressed about being replaced and doesn’t really have a full conception of sharing in the way that she might if she’s older.

as for a non plane crash verse:

i think this would be a much bigger problem than a more canon adjacent world

yes mark is “better” and has a healthy relationship in s8, but i also kind of think that was the result of their general circumstances. splitting childcare between three people is super manageable and they live next door to each other. and despite a weak attempt, mark is still really involved and invasive with their relationship. and anything that disturbs that status quo would throw mark off

and also, sofia is getting a bit older. she’s not just a cute little baby to be carried around and shown off. there’s a reason they’re called the terrible twos after all. and calzona have each other, most of the time, it’s both of them with sofia. whereas mark is by himself.

so sofia turns one (a few months before the plane crash that isn’t happening) and calzona start talking about having another baby. they both had a sibling and don’t want sofia to be by herself. and we know callie specifically seems to have wanted a bigger family in general

mark isn’t super thrilled when he hears that calzona are trying for another baby. he takes it very much as trying to further separate their family from his. he may or may not make a dumb comment offering to be the father. which sends arizona into an absolute rage

let’s fast forward a bit and arizonas pregnant and they’re trying to figure out logistics and arizona especially really wants to get a house bc they’ve outgrown the apartment but callie’s slightly reticent to leave mark behind.

mark takes it badly when they move. like freaks the fuck out on them. mainly callie bc arizonas probably like 7+ months pregnant at this point and genuinely does not have the bandwidth for marks crap. mark probably accuses them of wanting to take sofia away and callie thinks he’s being ridiculous and they’re really only 10 minutes away

mark is definitely weird about everything and despite calzona trying to get sofia excited and ready for the baby, mark keeps undercutting it. and on the one hand, sofias very little but on the other it’s still unhelpful

and then as sofia gets a bit older those comments become actually damaging bc they cause sofia to feel like her moms love lizzy more bc she’s just theirs whereas sofia has mark. and mark really just makes things worse out of a childish insecurity.

maybe even at some point sofia asking to live with mark more than calzona bc she’s marks only kid (kind of) vs having to share everything with her little sister

i suppose the other option would be calzona having lizzy when they briefly talked about trying for another baby in s10/11 but i think that’s for another ask 😂

[bloglizziekamiya]

So I’ve seen a couple of these going around but here’s my thoughts on how I would want Wish improved because nothing bugs me more than a movie that I feel could have been SO GOOD but was held back by something (cough corporate cough)

SPOILERS FOR WISH 2023

-Have Asha start off AS King Magnifico’s apprentice, she’s totally loyal and his number one fan etc, I’ve seen a couple of ideas where maybe she should have been an orphan cause a) classic disney b) did her family actually do anything?

-So she gets to finally be trusted to see the wishes, we see that scene and it basically plays out as in canon, she questions why are most of these never granted? Why is it an arbitrary system only You decide? Why not give the wishes back if you’re not gonna grant them cause they are “unsafe”?

-Magnifico intimidates/gets after her enough that she backs down, tries to convince herself that he knows what he’s doing, it’s not her place to question etc

-We still have “This Wish” song play as Asha can’t help but question and same thing happens, a star responds. Only instead of chibi star we get shapeshifting human star LIKE WAS ORIGINALLY PLANNED

-Asha freaks out and tries to disguise the star as a regular human cause oh no magic is forbidden which is kind of hard to do when this kid barely knows how to walk or talk like the average citizen and also keeps trying to eat their own shirt

-“Are you a boy or a girl btw?” “I’m a celestial being from outer space.” “Fair enough”.

-Meanwhile Magnifico is freaking out because he knows a star fell and he Wants It for its power

-It all comes to a head when Asha gets to witness her only human friend Simon giving his wish to the king and she’s Horrified because the change in Simon is instant and disturbing it’s like something inside Simon has died

-There’s a confrontation, Star attacks Magnifico to protect their new friend Asha, they have to leave the kingdom in a hurry

-Maybe Star and Asha find other people who are hiding out from the kingdom who have been wrongly treated by the king, maybe that’s where Asha can meet the other friends who were totally unmemorable in the original

-Star starts teaching Asha magic so she can fight back against Magnifico one day, maybe we also have a falling in love montage? Hey we haven’t had a romance in a while.

-Meanwhile back in the kingdom Magnifico is going nuts/more dictator as he tries to hunt Asha and the star down “This is the Thanks I Get”

-Climax plays a lot like the original the gang tries to free the wishes, Star gets captured and sucked into Magnifico’s staff which is a lot more horrifying if it’s a sentient person

-WE 👏 GET 👏 A 👏 PROPER 👏 ASHA VS MAGNIFICO MAGIC FIGHT

Either Magnifico gets sucked into a mirror again or, in true classic disney villain fashion, he gets thrown off a high building to his death

I dunno I think in general one of the main problems was the main characters struggle wasn’t as relatable. “I want to save the wishes” is vague and kind of confusing

“I just found out my political leader is not who I thought he was, now I have to decide between keeping the status quo or fighting for what I know to be right and what I believe in even if I may lose friends and family?”

THAT is relatable.

Aaand Disney would never have the guts but I can dream can’t i?

[valeriefauxnom]

A Dangerous Balance

So I was thinking last night (as one does), when suddenly an idea struck me: the Alberian royal family might have been on a long and slow collision course in their entire 300 year history.

Let me explain.

First, dragonblood, which is essential to maintaining the status quo in the kingdom, even being required for ascension to the throne, isn't a given when producing descendants. This is one of the sources of Yurius' angsts in Dragalia, as he descends from a offshoot branch of the royal family and thus has some dragonblood, but not the kind or enough to be 'functional' and create pacts and shapeshift. It's not a trait that will stick around forever without 'upkeep'.

Since Dragalia Lost more seems to use the idea of the blood 'thinning out' rather than simple genetics 'you inherit it or you don't, but you still can carry the genes for it' (and they do have some understanding of genetics!) when referencing why some people descended from dragonblood can't use it, I'm making the unfortunate guess that in history there's been some cases of Ye Olde Royale Inbreeding to this end.

Royalty in real life did so quite often even without a 'need' to inherit an ability, this just ups that drive to 11, to say nothing of the standard 'keep the lineage pure' reasoning, which interestingly also seems to exist in Dragalia per Emile's line: "That's not true! I am blue-blooded royalty!" For those that don't know, the concept of 'blue-blood' was thought to come from Spain, in which the nobility were proud of not having to intermingle with the Moors, and used their pale, vein-showing skin as proof of their 'pure ancestry'. Even taken in a more gracious potential origin that 'blue-blooded' in Dragalia more originates from not having to work in the sun all day rather than antiquated ideas of race and race-mixing, it still has interesting implications regarding the royal family's norms they are supposed to adhere to, appearance-wise.

But let's put that aside. Now, one of the biggest, well-known results of royal interbreeding is diseases, inherited illnesses that otherwise would be quite rare that instead pop up with disturbing frequency in inbred families. And what can we see but the current iteration of the royal family doesn't exactly seem to be the healthiest. Of Aurelius' 8 natural children, 3 have/had serious conditions, 2 of which had a disease only known to occur in the royal family (wyrmscale).

3/8 doesn't sound big, but that could be huge implications wise. That's 37.5% of the current generation. Even just the 2/8 with wyrmscale is 25% of the family impacted with a fatal disease that's confined to your bloodline. And even if we stretch beyond the canon main world, some of our world-travelers, like Audric, suggest that their family isn't 100% well, either. This might not just be an unlucky iteration of the family:

Beren died, not from being caged or killed, but from whatever black-mana condition that overloads him, and his Euden was healthy... until he hit his later teens.

Beren himself states that he's the only iteration of him to make it to his current age of 21. While some of those deaths can likely be attributed to people killing him out of caution/fear, others due to poor conditions in imprisonment, some of them most likely are due to his condition itself.

This might be a stretch, but Zena's Euden also might have been in a similar situation with Nedrick or Phares.

As we know, Nedrick died from wyrmscale about a month after he was born, but Bahamut brought the baby back to use as a tool. Phares died from wyrmscale as a child about 12, but the Progenitor brought him back to use as a tool. This Euden claims to have been possessed when he, too, was a baby. Was Zena's Euden born sickly/prone to illness, died, and the gods of Dragalia did their standard 'it's free real estate' and revived him to use as a tool? I think the odds are fair, given how well it fits the pattern they seem to love.

This already is a pickle: they need to maintain a strong enough version of dragonblood to continue their kingdom, but 'maintaining' it might already be becoming an increasing detriment to the odds of good health in the family. But there's a third knot in this whole situation: the simultaneous need to dilute their dragonblood, per Alberius.

Alberius' plan when using the Blood Casket relies on the idea that the dragonblood in his lineage will be diluted through the generations until Morsayati is so split into so many different minor bits he can't reform himself or possess them. And, well. 300 years later, and Morsayati seems to have no trouble possessing them.

And there we see the dangerous balance they never will be able to fully right. They have three conflicting needs:

-Maintain functional dragonblood

-Stay healthy enough to continue the royal family

-Dilute their dragonblood so that Morsayati can't return or possess them

Goals 1&3 are inverse to eachother, and 2 rests on which goal they pursue. The 'best' idea I can think of to resolve this pickle is that the royal family needs to bet on trying to find another family with functional dragonblood that's somehow survived since it first emerged (which is doubly hard since many of those who received dragonblood died outright upon getting it), and mix with them. That would allow functional dragonblood, and hopefully would still 'dilute' the 'corrupted' dragonblood that has Morsayati in it. But even that might not help goal 2, potentially even hurt it, if the mere presence or intensity of dragonblood is what ups the risks for diseases or outright causes them like wyrmscale. No matter what, they might never be able to win all three goals.

All I can say to that is ouch, and good luck, Dragalia Alberian royal family. Aside from being royalty and all the privilege that enables, they sure have the short end of the stick, huh?

[wordgirlexploration]

Changes in Wordgirl: Exploration

Let's talk about some of the changes our project makes to the original show's timeline. Since Wordgirl: Exploration takes place when Becky/Wordgirl is 12 while she's 10/11 in the show, it's safe to assume that most if not all of the show's events are canon to Exploration. However! We're a reboot not a continuation, which means there are things we've changed either to fit the narrative we want to tell or because we didn't like how something was portrayed in the show (Go Gadget Go is non-canon).

Everything listed here are changes we can't organically explain in our episodes, so you might see hints of what's in store for Wordgirl: Exploration. There's also some changes missing on purpose because we can fit them into our episodes.

Character Changes

Huggy got an upgrade from the show. He's got a prehensile tail now that he can use during fights (he's a monkey after all), is capable of changing color (excellent for sneaking up on villains), and has limited shapeshifting. He can't do much with his shapeshifting, just enough to make him look different than his secret identity or give him a small advantage during fights. Separate from his shapeshifting, Huggy is able to unhinge his jaw like a snake to consume massive amounts of food. It's definitely the ability Becky finds the most disturbing but boy has it really helped in a lot of fights against the food based villains. We just felt it was a little unfair that he didn't get any powers when he's just as alien. He still got the short end of the stick compared to Wordgirl, but they both work with his powerset as best they can.

Wordgirl and Kid Math have more alien traits because they deserve it <3 No one really questions Becky's less human traits. When you've got Chuck and his brother running around, a 12 yo girl with fangs and weird eyes isn't anything noteworthy. Kid Math's cape being traded for wings does mean that he doesn't fly like Wordgirl anymore. He buzzes around like a giant math obsessed dragonfly while Wordgirl treats gravity as an option.

It's an extremely minor thing but we took away Chuck's height. In the show he towers over almost all the civilians. We like short Chuck better, so he's only 5'6" now.

Sally is Afro-Latina and therefore has taught Becky and TJ Spanish. Becky is a natural, and since Ms. Question is also Afro-Latina, they both enjoy having someone they can talk to.

Squeaky is a woman now. We support women's wrongs <3. Also consequently Dr. Two-Brains is non-binary now as he's a fusion between a cis female mouse and a cis male human.

Story Changes

Okay, let's talk Kid Math for a second. In the show, Kid Math shows up at the start of season 7 and quickly gets established as an overeager but inexperienced superhero who's got a lot to learn about being a hero on Earth. They even seem to set it up as Wordgirl taking him under her wing and teaching him all she knows, which would have really shook up the status quo. Except they didn't. He's only been a background character ever since. Which is wild! This kid is just running around! He could have helped with Rhyme and Reason but he didn't! So we're changing how long he's been on Earth. In Exploration, Kid Math made his debut only a week ago. He's still very new in the public eye and Wordgirl is keeping him under close watch. As a result, he's going to be showing up in quite a few episodes.

Becky never tried to tell her dad and TJ she was Wordgirl. Honestly, her telling them did nothing for the show other than tell the audience her backstory. So in Exploration she has yet to tell her family and has made no attempt in the past.

[crowleysgarden]

unpopular opinion

To be honest, it just hurts me to look at how much A. doesn't care about what C. loves, he doesn't care about whether he's okay or not, he doesn't care about his life. A. doesn't care that C. lives in the car, I think more and more about the fact that A. just likes to use C., he likes that C. loves him and saves him. but he NEVER does anything like that in return because it would disturb his comfort and the status quo. seriously he gives him goddamned holy water after 100 years. he didn't even care what happened to C. . all these years. all these fandom theories about how A. actually loves C. it's certainly cute and sounds like an attempt to correct the canon. absolutely nothing in the canon indicates that A. would really love C.

[bg3fandomcritical-active]

I’m honestly not sure about the Orpheus Lae'zel path because Wizards of the Coast does not like too much happening in their world. A Githyanki civil war is quite significant. They are likely to choose the path that disturbs the status quo the least.

It would be hilarious if they went with spawn Astarion as the canon one.

.

[juthemagicalclown]

i've generalised a lot to fit all 4, but when shedding light on the differences among them the line between victim and villain gets even more shady.

for instance, the one leaning the most to the good side out of them would surely be shinya, and he arguably is the one with the highest murder count out of the 4 - i'm not counting in vampires cause given his context it is arguable whether it is morally wrong or no to kill vampires, still he cold-bloodedly killed tens of children as a child. but he did it to survive and was arguably forced to, so he is only a victim and can still be considered one of 'the good guys' - as the canon narrative portrays him - rather than a villain, right?

on the radically opposite side we have touya, canonically categorised as 'villain' in his universe. he was victim of domestic abuse and not-so-arguably brainwashed first by his own father and later by other villains. the society he lives in considers his father - again, unarguably a domestic abuser (i will never stress this enough) - a hero, inevitably perpetuating this cycle of violence. as sick and psychically disturbed as he is and despite being moved by vengeance above all, he works to expose the hypocrisy of a society that, again, not-so-arguably makes many more victims than he has done - at the beginning of the story he canonically had a murder count of around 30, surely many more people die directly or indirectly because of domestic abuse. yet he kills innocent civilians, so that rightfully classifies him as a villain. but is his father a hero? are the good-hearted main characters fighting against him the heroes, considering that they would do nothing (no hero concretely problematizes the heroes society, at best they agree with critiques offered by villains) to change the status quo that victimised him in the first place?

to be clear, i'm not arguing in defense of anyone and i don't think that touya's background justifies the murder of unrelated innocent people. rather, i think that characters like them are truly fascinating because they show the complexity and relativity in defining good and evil, not just when it comes to themselves but above all when it comes to the actual 'heroes' of their stories. because, are they really? is someone who would never harm anyone yet neither revolt against an unjust system a true hero? could the change my characters dream of be achieved differently, without violence? i don't think so. but if the answer truly is no, don't we need this kind of revolutionary villains more than we need heroes then?

i don't have a type

men with white hair and blue eye(s) plotting to overthrow the system (they have deeply traumatic pasts and questionable relationships with their manipulative best friend/accomplice. they have also killed multiple times)

(they fight against the social order, its power dynamics and its hierarchies because they have been unjustly victimised by it; their existence is proof that something is wrong with the status quo and its limited and exclusive idea of justice; they fight for freedom. and yet they'll never be the 'hero' of their own story but dwell on the line between 'victim' and 'villain')

[yvtro]

imo the more interesting tim&jason dynamic /is/ the "they're only like 2 years apart" one (esp wrt "jason was tim's robin"? seems (to me) to have more potential if it's like "this kid who is my age is doing cool shit, I want to do cool shit like them, because they're my age and that hits close to home") personally am genuinely unsure why "tim is a poor little meow meow" seems to be more popular despite how it fucks both their characterizations lol

i will answer to both of you here, as it's related to the same post!

just in case i want to say that there's plenty of aspects of tim's storyline that have lots of potential. and there certainly could be an interesting one involving jason too. alas.

i think in general fanon tim is just a poor little meow meow. it's really ironic how when he was introduced, the writers wanted to make him more "likable" than jay, and they didn't want batman to play a full-time dad, so in place of jay's insecurity and need for parental love tim gets two living parents and is, for the most part, self-assured. there's some canon progression which disturbs this status quo of course, but it's fanon that turned his storyline into one about neglect.

so apparently all writers should have done to make the new robin a fan favourite was keeping jason's struggles and just making tim wealthy. real "what's cool when you're rich but trash when you're poor?" moment. having attachment issues, apparently.

and don't get me wrong, there is place for meta about tim's parents being neglectful, even if the creators originally wanted to achieve the opposite. but i find the extent to which fanon pushes this idea and makes it his sole source of personality a bit astonishing, especially that canon tim, for the most part, doesn't share any of these issues. and personally, his initial motivations that stem from his fascination with vigilantism seem much more appealing to me.

as you said: "this kid who is my age is doing cool shit, I want to do cool shit like them, because they're my age and that hits close to home." maybe it's a bit simplified, but tim being just a child who gets himself into something much bigger than himself without really realising the consequences – and essentially both traumatising himself as a result (while also finding family, one does not exclude another) is a pretty fascinating concept.

and like. canon tim is plenty weird about jason, okay. so i think their confrontation at some point would be interesting. and probably awkward.

btw we don't actually get to see jason and tim's first interactions after jay's resurrection. i said it before, but for christ's sake, the teen titans tower incident is no longer canon, and for a good reason, especially that in that era jason is portrayed as having a psychotic break and tim hates his guts and calls him deranged?

how do you derive an enemy to caretaker trope from this is beyond me tbh. it sounds good in theory, right, because it refers to jay's inherent kindness, but you do have to make them "enemies" in the first place, or at least jason the aggressor – which you need to follow the ableist storyline for (i really doubt jason would actually care about tim much if he was more stable, and he definitely wouldn't want to hurt him), and all i can ask is: why. find something new.

i don't know, if there's any actually interesting tim & jason fanfics that don't follow these cliches you should let me know, because the majority of the tag definitely isn't for me.

[gareleia]

Had Worse

Chapter: 3/6

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Word count: 5299

Relationships: Edward Elric & Heymans Breda & Alphonse Elric

Tags: 5+1 Things, Pre-Canon, Mild Angst, Edward Elric Is A Little Shit, Alphonse Elric Is A Little Shit, Heymans Breda Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Language

Summary: Where the fuck did the Colonel find this kid?

OR

5 times Edward said 'I've had worse' and traumatized his poor innocent coworkers with his Tragic Backstory, and 1 time he wasn't able to (to everyone's relief)

Read on AO3

Breda was, by his own admission, the reasonable member of the team. Not to be confused with The Sane One, because somehow between Mustang and Hawkeye's PTSD, Fuery's obsessive tendencies, Heymans's own issues and Falman's, well, everything, that specific title somehow went to Jean of all people. And one knew their team was in deep shit when its one prized (mostly) mentally healthy individual was the chainsmoker.

But alas. Who was Heymans to throw stones at his coworkers for their character defects when he himself lived in a glass house? Right, the reasonable one. As in so much that anything he did or said had been a calculated move made for a reason.

Sometimes that reason was plain, simple and obvious to anyone with eyes and half a brain. Other times he had to forcibly remind himself to dumb down explain the thought process behind a decision before following through with it, so as to not set in motion the wrong chain of events due to his misinformed allies' misguided interference.

Ah, the dreaded human error. The one factor no one could ever fully predict, the bane of all strategists. Which was why Breda strongly preferred the structure and predictability of chess games to diversity of human behavioral patterns. A set, if very large, number of possibilities, specific moves assigned to specific pieces and as much time to think as one would ever need (at least, if their opponent was serious).

He'd never had a chess piece set the board on fire and grin at him cheekily as if he didn't just put months of careful planning in jeopardy and gave Heymans copious amounts of overtime for a goddamn bagel of all things-

Never let it be said that bagels weren't a very important part of being alive. Just that prioritizing an immediate easy-to-ignore physical need over the bigger, much more pressing issue that required attention and time to resolve was unwise. Impractical and subjective in a way that he couldn't in good conscience declare stupid, because it was just plain human nature at work.

Again, Breda had only ever claimed to be reasonable. Not nice or sweet or delightful to work with. He did put in the effort to get along with his colleagues, obviously, if not because he genuinely like (most) of them, then to prevent workplace drama from disturbing the status quo. He had to have some degree of understanding of human psychology and interpersonal relationships to efficiently factor them into his plans, and at the very least he could always put on a smile and let people think what they wanted about him.

That was exactly how his greatest defense worked. In his experience humans always assumed things about each other without proper evidence; always looked for faults and defects in everyone they met, either to reassure themselves of their superiority or to assess if the other person was a threat. And it was much easier to put up with people when they thought they had the upper hand.

It was easy to expand on, to work with; a neat little trick he had perfected over the years, letting his opponents think they knew his weakness. A blind spot so obvious their lazy minds would take the easy way out, wouldn't ever dig deeper. Heymans had spent years perfecting his brainless meathead act until that was all everyone would see unless they were specifically warned about him.

(Besides, that little momement of realization when it finally dawned on them how severely they had miscalculated was always amusing as hell. And Breda never once said he was above normal human pettiness. A little schadenfreude wouldn't hurt them any more than his successful operation already had, after all.)

If it hadn't been playing right into his hands Heymans would've started to get offended a long time ago. Necessity of the disguise didn't make it any less unpleasant to hear others refer to him as 'the fatty' or 'the big, dumb hunk'. His ego could take it though. He had thick skin.

(Alright, he should stop talking to Jean for a month or two, just in case his atrocious sense of humor is contagious.)

And it wasn't like he was actually overweight anyway. It wasn't exactly Heymans' fault he inherited his father's large bone structure. And he had a perfect amount of body fat even if he did narrowly fit into the higher part of the healthy range. In his youth he had spent some time thoroughly researching the medically recommended fat to muscle tissue ratio, diets and workout regimens to find a way to keep his body in as close to ideal physical condition as possible. He could bench press Fuery, for god's sake! He had nothing to be ashamed of!

Alright, so maybe he had his insecurities. Human brain was tricky like that, irrationality couldn't be completely avoided no matter how hard one tried. Breda could admit to himself that he was unhappy as long as he understood that the distress had no basis in reality and wasn't in any way logical. Therefore, there was no reason to examine it closely or pay it any mind. It was going to pass soon and without consequence.

(And yes, he knew what rationalization was. He knew what he was doing. He was fine.)

Knowing that intellectually, however, did nothing to revive his appetite. And after he had spent a whole hour in the morning preparing a healthy, delicious homemade lunch! What was the point of getting up early if he didn't even get to enjoy the results?

Maybe he could still-

Breda felt a tickle of nausea at the thought, the tell-tale sign that his body wasn't going to cooperate at the moment. There wasn't any use in forcing the food down his throat if it was just going to come right back up.

Well, he looked down at the box with contempt, I'll just have to eat more at dinner.

And what was one skipped meal against years upon years of healthy habits? Sure, he had problems sometimes, but Heymans knew his body and knew himself, had been checking obsessively the latest medical publications for new dietary tips, had exemplary health as per the last three annual exams, he was fine. He could do it.

Everyone had bad days. He wasn't slipping, it was just one lousy meal. He wasn't a stupid teenager anymore. He knew what he was doing, he wouldn't compromise efficiency-

(It started with a rebellion, purely out of spite. A fuck you to his father, a raging bull of a man in physique and personality.

It started with an "I'll never be like you! I'd rather starve to death!".

It started with a feeling of control and empowerment.

It didn't end there.)

-He was fine.

"You guys just go on without me." Breda smiled and he didn't miss the way the Colonel's eyes narrowed for a second. "I'll have my lunch here in the office. I brought food from home."

"You can still eat it in the cafeteria." Mustang pointed out unhelpfully. "Don't you want to spend some time with your friends? Catch up on the gossip without Lieutenant Hawkeye's gun on you?"

"You know me, Colonel, I'm not big on gossip. I'll just enjoy some peace and quiet while you're gone."

"Yeah, Bastard," came from the desk in the corner and it took everything Heymans had in him not to cringe. "Not everyone here is addicted to the sound of their own voice!"

And when Edward Elric was making trouble, Alphonse, ever the peacekeeper, was never far behind.

"Brother, that was uncalled for! He wasn't being mean to you this time! He wasn't even talking to you!"

"Well, he's been a dick to me all day! Putting me on desk duty, making me redo those stupid papers I had already turned in! He deserves a good punch in his dumb face, and I'm not even wrong! He never shuts up!"

Perhaps tellingly, nobody disagreed.

"That's still mean, Ed! And you wouldn't have had to rewrite your reports if they were legible in the first place! And turned in on time! And written on-"

"Shut up, Al, can't you see I'm working?!"

The Flame Alchemist flinched and looked around in obvious confusion and then widened his eyes, as if realizing something. Finally, his hand went up, fingers in perfect position for a snap. Everyone sat straighter, suddenly paying much closer attention to their surroundings and the suspiciously tense officer.

"Bad news, everyone." the Colonel said gravely, eyes searching for something on the floor. "We have a rodent in the office. I just heard a little mouse squeak."

And so they dissolved into another petty argument, and Breda had to wonder, not for the first time, how many children were actually present. Fuery and Falman visibly sagged in relief, having been understandably alarmed by their boss' dramatic shift in behavior and not yet fluent enough in Mustang-speak to recognize when he was pulling their legs.

(Well, technically, he'd been mostly pulling Fullmetal's leg - fuck, the automail - too much time with Jean!)

One deceptively quiet click of the gun was all it took to shut down the commotion, including the raging alchemist; the snickering Colonel; Alphonse, who had been trying to reign them in since day one; and Jean, who had recently taken to egging them on for his own amusement, switching sides until they finally decided to gang up on him.

"Sir." Hawkeye had this incredible ability to deliver an entire monologue, reprimands, warnings and death threats included, all without saying more than one word or changing her facial expression.

"Ahem, right." Mustang coughed and was out of the door in less than a second. "Have fun here, Breda. Don't forget to eat."

Heymans recognized the warning for what it was.

"I will, Chief." His smile was a bit more genuine this time. I'll be fine.

"Actually," Fullmetal scowled. "I'm staying behind too. The sooner I finish this, the sooner I can go do something actually useful, like looking for a Philosopher's stone."

"But Brother!" Alphonse protested, echoing Heymans' thoughts. "You need to eat! It's not healthy to skip meals!"

"I'm not skipping lunch, Al. I'm just putting it off for a couple of hours. I've only got four of these suckers left and afterwards we'll go and grab something, okay?"

Great. That was just... great. Breda was left alone with two whole kids and no one to turn to if something went wrong. And something already had gone terribly wrong if they were there in the first place. Children in the military, who had thought this was a good idea? And why the fuck was Heymans stuck with them now? He should've just went to the cafeteria, pushed himself to swallow a few bites and then thrown it up later. Problem bloody solved.

Since the Elric brothers joined the team four months ago, Breda had been... uncomfortable. He tried hard to push through and not let it show, to be as patient and friendly as he could, but there was just no denying the truth. He didn't like kids in general and he definitely didn't like the Elrics.

Edward was a loud, demanding selfish brat with no regard to any rules but the ones he felt benefited him. He was irresponsible, disruptive, incapable of staying still unless literally forced to, impulsive, disrespectful-

Well, sue him. Breda had a lot of pent up anger, but he wasn't going to take it out on the source, so it wasn't anyone's business. He'd usually channel it into a workout or some very aggressive vegetable cutting.

And the younger kid wasn't much better. He wasn't loud, but he was unnerving. Too still, too impossibly strong for an eleven year old. He was just plain creepy and had an irritating habit of guilt tripping adults around him, or acting all 'cute' when he obviously wasn't.

And the only somewhat logical reason for wearing that armor was to protect the boy, which brought out an interesting question: why the hell was the kid even there?! His older brother had enlisted, sure, but Alphonse was a civilian and had no business being on military property or having access to classified documents! By law he should've been escorted out and put into school and Edward should've been reprimanded both as his legal guardian and as a soldier sneaking a child on the base! And for worst case scenario, couldn't he afford a bloody babysitter?!

"Lieutenant Breda?" Came hesitantly from behind him.

"What?!" Heymans snapped, half startled and half enraged and much louder than he expected, accidentally tearing up the document he hasn't been reading for the past ten minutes.

The armor boy flinched and squealed out an apology, while his brother leaped out of his seat, also startled but already halfway into the fight mode.

"Got a fucking problem with my brother?"

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant!" And there he was again with the cutesy act and guilt tripping. Brenda wasn't buying it. He wasn't. "I just...! I'm sorry, you looked tense, I wanted to ask if you're okay!"

Fullmetal was watching with not-quite-murder in his eyes and Heymans didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was being silently telegraphed to him. Don't be a dick to my brother, or else.

"Well that's... nice of you, Alphonse." Breda said amicably. "I'm sorry too. I'm having a bad day and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I apologize."

(It wasn't him. He wasn't like his father. He didn't look like that man, didn't act like him-

Except every time he looked closely into the mirror, it wasn't himself Heymans saw, and that made his stomach turn. He wasn't any better and he should've starved on the streets.

This was why he didn't want children. Their cursed line was going to end with him and he wasn't going to let another child suffer like that. Not because of him.)

"Damn right you shouldn't have." Elric senior sneered  and came up to Heymans' desk, crossing his arms. "What got your panties in a twist anyway?"

"It's nothing." Breda swallowed the rising bile and started massaging his temples. "At least, nothing you could help me with."

Who was he kidding, he wasn't going to have dinner. He didn't deserve food, not after this.

"Why aren't you at lunch break?" Edward continued his interrogation. "Is there, like, a rule that one of you have to stay in the office and it's your turn?"

"Of 'us'." Heymans corrected, not quite believing the words himself, but still feeling the inexplicable urge to say them. "You're one of us now, so you'd technically count if that was the case. But no. I just wasn't hungry."

Which was a problem far more complex than a child could understand, but he wasn't about to pour his heart out to anyone regardless. Even the Colonel only knew the basics.

"So what? You're really gonna miss out on food like that? Is that a city boy thing, or...?"

"Brother, it's none of our business!"

"I grew up mostly in the country, actually, thank you very much." He bristled, feeling a little insulted.

"The fuck does 'mostly' mean? Where are you from?"

"Ed, Lieutenant doesn't owe us his life story!"

He didn't. He found himself speaking anyway.

"My parents were a part of a circus troupe. A tightrope walker and a strongman. We traveled a lot, performing in different cities, but stayed mostly out in the country, at least in the summer."

Fullmetal still looked angry, but Breda could see it in his eyes, the ever-present childish wonder. One of the few good memories he had about that circus was people of all ages coming together with the same look of amazement on their faces. That cheerful, carefree expression that made even elderly folks appear young and full of life.

"Wow, really?!" The metal brother sounded excited too, and although it was impossible to see through that armor Heymans could clearly picture the boy shifting in glee. "That sounds awesome! Did you get to pet lions?"

"The lions smell." He made a face at the memory. "All the animals smell. And they're predators, no one ever let me near them, not that I wanted to. They're basically just bigger, meaner cats. With claws."

At the mention of cats he had the dubious pleasure of watching the armor almost literally melt as the kid inside started rambling about the wonders of having kittens.

"Must've met a lot of cool people too, huh?" Edward asked, not bothering to pay attention to the rant he'd probably heard a thousand times over. Heymans could sympathize.

"Yeah. You wouldn't believe it, but that's actually how I met Jean."

"Havoc? Seriously?"

"Yeah. His family let our troupe stay at their farm in Renberg when I was nine. Spent a couple of weeks there before moving on to the south. Haven't seen each other again until we became classmates in the Academy, and he decided that it was fate and we were destined to become best friends."

"That's bullshit." Fullmetal scoffed with surprising conviction. "I don't believe in destiny."

Neither did Heymans. Because if he did, he would have stayed in that goddamn circus and followed his father's footsteps into the thankless job and eventual long, miserable life of heartbreak and alcoholism.

(Ain't no God that'll look after you, boy, his Pops told him after picking up a half-starved street rat and turning it into a man. You've got to grit your teeth and do the job yourself.)

"Erm, Lieutenant?" Alphonse perked up. "Since you traveled, you must've tried a lot of different foods too?"

His insides tingled uncomfortably. Could they be done with this conversation? He didn't want to talk about eating.

"Well, yes."

"What was the best dish you ever tried? We're, um, making a list for the future, so I wondered..."

Edward looked pained for some reason.

"My grandfather's jambalaya, that's for sure." Not even a question. "He has a little place in Fotset, if you ever go that way. It's made with rice and a bunch of other stuff, like meat and vegetables, it's to die for. He taught me to cook, but I could never get it right. I swear I follow the recipe to the letter, but it doesn't come out half as good. Pops says mine 'doesn't have the soul', whatever that's supposed to mean. I guess I should try selling my own soul, see if that works."

That got him a laugh, which was better than screaming. Fuck, Breda couldn't deal with screaming children. Especially not when he was so close to vomiting.

"...And the worst thing?" The brat snickered.

That also wasn't a hard question.

"That would be a tie between schwarzsauer and dandelions."

"Schwhat now?"

"Schwarzsauer." Oh fuck, just the memory of that thing was vile. "Fort Briggs' signature dish, tried it once in North City. I'm not picky, but I couldn't even finish one bowl of the stuff. It's a blood soup."

"A blood soup?!"

Heymans grinned at the twin exclamations of horror.

"Yup. Word is, the Briggs soldiers each have to defeat a bear with their bare hands as a right of passage, and then drink it's blood. North City capitalized on the rumors and made a tourist attraction out of it. Though, they tend to use pig blood, I think."

"What kind of person would want to eat a fucking blood soup?!"

"What kind of person would go up to North City as a tourist?" Countered Breda.

"Our Teacher would. She said she went up to Fort Briggs when she was young and lived in the woods for a month. In winter." He called bullshit. "Brother, do you think Teacher would try the blood soup?"

"Oh, I think Teacher would make it, Al. With a bear, like the Briggs' guys. And she'd like it."

"...Yeah... She would..."

Both boys shivered, which looked weird on Edward, who so far had been pretending he wasn't afraid of anything, and doubly so on Alphonse, whose armor should've been incapable of such things.

"Also," Fullmetal remembered something. "Dandelions aren't bad in a salad, if you're hungry enough. Should've boiled them if you couldn't handle the bitterness."

"When did you eat dandelions?"

"We ate a whole lot of weird shit, man. Dandelions are tame. You ever tried eating a belt? People say leather is edible, but no one mentions how it's not fucking worth it. Unless you're desperate."

"Which we were." The younger boy reminded. "And it wasn't that bad, brother."

"Yeah. We had worse."

What the hell could be worse than eating a leather belt, Breda pondered silently. Why would these kids be so desperate they tried eating dandelions and clothing?

"Remember when Teacher started training us? I tried eating ants, now those were the worst. Sour as all hell and they just kept biting me!"

"And you tried to eat me too, Brother!"

"Oh, would you drop it, Al? I already apologized! I was hallucinating from hunger! Besides, you tasted like shit too. And shoved me. Still better than ants though- ouch!"

The armored finger poked Fullmetal's side and the kid squawked indignantly.

"You take that back, Brother! I do not taste like shit!"

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"No I-"

"Enough!" Heymans barked and the office returned to the blissful peaceful quiet. "Thank you. Don't you have reports to finish, Edward?"

The boy groaned dramatically and sauntered over to his desk with his brother in tow.

"Ugh, sure. I guess I'm stuck here for a while."

He shouldn't ask, Breda knew. But the temptation was there and even if he wasn't sure he believed the children, he still told them enough about himself that he felt justified asking for the same courtesy. Alchemists were all about equivalent exchange, weren't they?

"So, why did you eat ants?"

Edward, predictably, jumped at the chance to avoid his paperwork.

(Some days he thought Edward and Mustang were fighting so much because of how similar they were.)

"Our Teacher left us alone on a deserted island for a month at the start of out training." He called bullshit. "She left us a knife and a riddle to solve and sent a guy from her shop to harass us randomly."

Alphonse joined in.

"Mason is a great guy and he was looking out for us in theory, but in practice he just scared us a bunch and stole all our food."

"Yeah! And were already fucked since we couldn't fish or hunt without alchemy, and Teacher forbid it for the entire time, so we only had a bunch of weeds, berries and two little bird eggs."

"So, at one point we were lying on the ground and complaining, and Ed found some ants and tried to eat them!"

"And it was a mistake!"

He called BULLSHIT.

"Sure, okay. And the belt?"

At this one the boys went silent. Alphonse turned to Edward, and the latter lowered his head in contemplation. Then he looked back at his brother with a raised eyebrow, and the armored boy shrugged.

"Well... You know we're from Resembool, right?"

He was aware of that, yes. He'd even been there once with Havoc as they sneaked out from the farm to visit one of the girls Jean had a crush on. Resembool and Renberg were practically next door neighbors, as far as small towns went.

"Shortly after... our mom died" Oh god shit fuck it was that kind of story why did he ask. "Ishval happened. Lots of soldiers passed through 'borrowing' supplies. And the harvest wasn't good that year to begin with. A draught happened. And the sheep started to get sick."

"It was a shitshow, everyone was struggling." Fullmetal bit his lip. "Our closest neighbors had been helping us at first, but they went to war and left Granny to take care of their daughter and the family business. Which wasn't doing great either, since nobody wanted to get automail so close to the border. Can you imagine, if something happened and they were down a limb or two?"

"Something did happen, Brother. The train station got bombed."

"Yeah. So our one supply line got cut off and what little economy we had had basically collapsed."

"People tried to help each other, but everyone had their own families to feed, and what little they had to spare they'd rather give to their own kids than a couple of random orphans."

"Yeah, funny how everyone was all nice when mom died, saying how 'Trisha was like a sister to me' and 'you could ask me for anything' and then gave us the finger when we asked for a meal or two."

"Brother!"

"What? Am I wrong?"

They stared at each other for a good minute, arms crossed, before Alphonse finally gave up and starte giggling.

"You know I won't be the first to blink, Brother."

"Well that's 'cause you're cheating!"

How would he even tell if Al blinked with that armor hiding his face?

"It's not cheating! It's called 'using natural advantage'!"

"...nothing natural about it." Finally mumbled the older boy, lowering his head so his face would be obscured by his hair.

Then he sighed and turned back to Heymans.

"So, after a while it got... pretty bad. We once managed a week on one can of soup, some moldy bread and a squirrel. The trick was eating brinner right before bed so the hunger pains didn't stop us from sleeping."

"Why didn't you..."

"Use alchemy?" Ed finished quietly.

Breda nodded.

"It was before we met Teacher, so we didn't know nearly as much as we do now. We learned from books in our father's study, but he only had some beginner stuff with the very basics - I guess the rotten bastard had initially planned to stick around and teach us - and a whole lot of, like, university level books that we couldn't understand without context. It's like teaching a kid to add one plus one and then throwing calculus at them. No matter how smart we were we couldn't just pull knowledge out of thin air."

"And while we did know a few circles to make or fix some simple stuff, none of our neighbors liked alchemy, so we couldn't trade it for food."

"We tried."

"And we also tried making fishing rods, but there wasn't much point, what with the drought."

"And because everyone else had the same idea and they got what little fish there was. Greedy fucks."

A shitshow indeed. At the time Ishvalan Civil War began Breda was on a lengthy medical leave, staying with his Pops at Fotset. He had to wonder now, while he was laughing with his grandfather and eating like a king, were these kids boiling weeds to survive?

He didn't deserve that food. He should've stayed hungry-

"But, anyway, we made do with what we had and it got better soon. Sheep recovered and people got more creative. Train station was repaired and shops started opening back up."

"Right! We pawned some of our furniture and got enough money to buy some fresh bread, it was so good! I still remember the smell."

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Really helped us with Teacher's survival training later on, so. It's all good. We're good. Any more questions?"

About a million.

"Just one." He settled. "What is a brinner?"

Alphonse started laughing. Edward's face went completely red.

"Shut up, Al! It's not funny!"

"Yes it is! Brother," He paused to laugh some more. "Brother and I argued a lot about what to call our meals, since we ate once a day. Ed said that we had dinner because we were eating in the evening before bed. And I said that the first meal was always breakfast, no matter when we ate it. And since neither of us wanted to give up-"

"We settled on a compromise." Fullmetal finished, gritting his teeth.

"No, Ed, you settled on a compromise. I settled for realizing that my brother is an idiot."

"Your older brother! You're supposed to listen to me!"

"So you agree that you're an idiot? And I'll start listening to you when you stop calling breakfast a brinner! It's not even a word!"

"It is if I say so!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

God, did they ever shut up?

The god in whom no one present in that room ever believed actually did answer this time. Although, not in the form of a lightning bolt that had put Breda out of his misery, like he himself hoped.

The salvation came in form of a loud grumbling noise, not unlike Heymans would picture a dying whale screaming. It originated, however, from a much smaller creature.

"Well, shit. Guess I shouldn't have skipped lunch today. All this talk about food got me in the mood for some dandelion salad. And pork. I really should finish with the reports soon, you guys have fun."

Was the boy actually going to eat dandelions after this? Breda knew hunger, saw what it did to people on the streets, but the only times he himself was deprived of food had been intentional.

After Pops had found him on the sidewalk, having had just fainted in front of that little restaurant, he'd been very baffled by Heymans' refusal to accept anything but water. Once he got the whole story out, the man had been absolutely furious, spent literally hours screaming at the boy about how stupid and selfish he was being. It was the first of many times when Pops had scared Breda into not throwing his life away, and the lessons learned from that old veteran would stay with him until the end.

"Never waste food, Manny. Food is precious. Children are always starving somewhere. If you ain't gonna eat it, share it with someone else."

He looked down at his bag where the box stayed, unopened. The bile was gone, replaced by a gaping hole in his stomach. It hurt too much, too perfectly to be filled.

He couldn't eat. Not yet. He couldn't-

Never waste food.

-but someone else could.

"Ed?" he called. "You can have my lunch, if you want it. It wouldn't wait until the end if the day anyway."

"Really?!" Fullmetal brightened up considerably. "You wouldn't mind?"

"I'm not hungry." liar "It's not dandelions and pork, but I have fried chicken and there's some arugula in the salad, I think it should be kind of similar? Also, buckwheat."

"Oh fuck yeah, you're the best!"

Heymans was many things, but above all he was a reasonable man. And he supposed it would be reasonable for him to once again try to master that elusive jambalaya recipe, as a personal challenge.

As reasonable, in fact, as it would be for him to bring some of it to work next time the Elrics were in town. Just in case he decided to spend his lunch break in the office again.

And if he just happened to have brought more than he could eat on his own, well...

"Children are always starving somewhere."

...it would be perfectly reasonable for him to share.

"Hey, Al, since I skipped breakfast this morning, does this still count as one or is it already lunch?"

"Well, you're eating someone's lunch, Brother, at lunch break. I'm pretty sure you're having lunch."

"But earlier you said that breakfast is breakfast no matter the time. Why can't I have breakfast instead?"

"Ed. If you don't shut up and eat your food, you're going to be wearing it."

"So why don't we settle on a compromise..."

"Ed."

"...like mature almost-adults we are..."

"Edward Elric, I'm warning you."

"...and call it a lunfast?"

"..."

"..."

"Brother, I'm disowning you."

[heyheydidjaknow]

Original Ask: “Do you think you can do bayverse tmnt turtles for Leo, raph, donnie, Mikey as its goes like this , they were raised by the shredder as they're father died after their mutation as he didn't make it out the fire , they all the best foot clan soldier and obedient dogs they are and satisfied the shredder and they are given access to their pleasure and women , when they are doing a crime , they come across (s/o) , who she is just walking and gets robbed by a gang and the turtles come to the rescue and they start a liking of (s/o), who treats them kindly but they want to break her and make them theirs , as kidnapping her and forcing her into sexual acts with them as they want her all for themselves”

These aren’t numbered, per se, but this is the second part that I wrote as part of a request. The other parts are linked below. Please note that the following content contains mention and depict instances of non-consensual sexual encounters, violence, domestic abuse and other subjects you may find disturbing. Discretion is advised.

Raphael

The change in parentage was something of a mixed bag for him as a character. While he was a bit more reserved than his canon counterpart, he was significantly more emotionally stunted, prone to strong mood swings with little idea of what to do with them, and with little ability or patience to cope with any of the many, many awful things he had to watch to get where he was. He had little patience for religion, and even if he could figure out how to properly meditate, it never made him as calm as he observed the normal to be. There were a couple of reasons for this: first, though there was certainly something akin to brotherhood amongst the Foot, by virtue of how he was raised with his brothers, there was not nearly the stress on the importance of familial ties that might have been present if Splinter had raised him. The closest thing he had to a paternal figure was The Shredder, who made it clear that he was an instructor, not a father. He and his brothers were hardly brothers; they were creatures all doomed to the same fate, whose only chance for acceptance from the outside world would come only after the status quo was restored. The other reason was, quite simply, that uniformity was ideal; outbursts were beaten out of him as a child, and the only person he could rationally turn to, his elder brother, was not only completely apathetic to the intense mental stress, but chastised him as if he were somehow superior because he could keep his cool. His solution to this issue– because it was becoming an issue, how emotional he was– was to take it out in a manner that might be revered: violence. Newer members of the Foot permitted to work under or around the brothers were informed, before all else, not to look or talk to Raph longer than they had to, lest he take it the wrong way; they were never seen again. Any lovers that he took– and he took many– never lasted particularly long because, after a month, they would physically be unable to handle him or his abuse and would be dismissed, whatever that entailed.

He was the closest with Michelangelo– he could handle fighting him fine enough– but was on generally good terms with all of his brothers, the exception being Leonardo. His ability to control himself so easily was a sore point for him; he had never even seen him snap, try as he might. He was too good for it, apparently. Whatever. Of the two of them, it was hard to determine who could be considered the better fighter; Leonardo was more skilled, but Raphael scrapped like failing was lethal. Leo was elected leader because of his level-headedness, not his strength: they were words he never spoke but loved to repeat. It made it easier for him to sleep at night, believing that was the only reason, and really, what did level-headedness have to do with half of what they did?

You were one of many women who offered their bodies to him. The number had slowed a bit over the years— word did travel a bit— but if you were aware of what would inevitably happen to you, you did not seem to mind. You spoke respectfully enough, and if you minded how he looked– many women did– you made no open note of it. All you said in regards to his appearance was that he was taller than you thought he would be, earning a quiet snort from him. You were pretty enough, kept up with what he said well enough. You were hardly the best he had ever had, but you were alright.

The first week was probably the best for him. You were good company, unafraid to take charge in conversation, if only for a bit to give him a breather. The talk was light, and he appreciated its simplicity. You were essentially candy; lacking in substance, but pleasant. You boarded with him in exchange for company; you both understood that arrangement perfectly well. Neither owed each other much more than that.

On day nine, he came home drunk. It had been a long night; to your understanding, a client of the Foot’s had tried screwing them over and the group had to make them into an example. He was an emotional drunk, you learned quickly. He padded around the room like a lion in a cage, rambling on and on about how stupid the whole thing was. “What kind of fucking crazy do you have to be,” he laughed maniacally, “to go out and fuck with the god damned Foot clan? Why the fuck would someone be so stupid as to do that?”

You thought it best to not say anything.

“The worst part is that they were old clients of Shredder’s.” He stopped pacing, slapping the back of his hand against his palm. “These weren’t just some– some fucking dumbass kids, no. These knew our policies and then when out and fucking ignored them anyways!” He grinned. “It’s almost as if they wanted it! How masochistic do you have to be?”

You fiddled with the bedsheets, keeping your head down.

After a moment, you felt him walk towards you. “Are you listening?” He snapped his fingers about your head.

Unsure of what to do, you chose passivity.

He grabbed you by the roots of your hair painfully tight, yanking your head upwards. “Look at me when I’m talking,” he hissed. “I need you to hear this.”

You bit your tongue, forcing your eyes to meet his. “I am,” you whimpered quickly. “I am, I promise.”

“Then why are you looking through me?” His fingers tightened. “For fuck’s sake, am I so repulsive to you?”

Your heart dropped to your stomach. “N-No!” You fought the urge to fight for your hair, hands balling into fists at your side. “I’m looking, I swear it!”

If he empathized with your pain, he hid it well. “What did I say, then?”

Carefully, you slowed your breathing; you read somewhere that when someone pointed a gun at you, you should not yell; something to do with startling them. You swallowed the lump in your throat. “You said that you thought your business associates were masochists for crossing you,” you stated clearly. “That was the word you use too, masochist.”

He stared at you for a moment. Sluggish, he smiled. “Well, aren't you smart?” His grip loosened. “That, or you know how to listen. Either’s fair, I guess.” He rose to his feet. “Lay back.”

You blinked.

“Well?” He looked down at you. “Lay back.”

Slowly, you leaned backward, resting your weight on your forearms. You had a general idea of what was coming.

He huffed, pushing you further down into the bed. “Lay,” he repeated, grabbing your wrists. “You’re smart, yeah? You know what that word means, right?”

He was never gentle with you. You were unsure if this was an odd form of revenge or just a genuine lack of understanding of what it may feel like to be stretched out by him. He always seemed to forget, in the heat of the moment, what your body was capable of, even enjoyed it when your voice grew hoarse from crying and pleading. He was far from a selfless lover, though that much you could hardly mind; you signed up knowing your place, after all; this was hardly what you would consider a healthy romantic relationship. You were barely an employee

He started talking more after that first night. The conversation was more personal than it was, too, more graphic than you wished he would be, about things you had never really thought of him doing. He talked mostly about his brothers: how each was doing, what they said, things like that. If he ever brought you out– by the terms of your boarding, that was when you were allowed to leave, when he brought you– that you would know them as well as if they were your own. In particular, he was transfixed on what had happened in the past that made them the way they were, for good or for ill. Rarely did he make an effort to talk about himself in these sorts of dialogues, either wanting to believe that he had no part in the way his younger siblings grew up or sincerely feeling that he had no part in it. To be fair, he rarely made an effort to talk about himself at all. When you thought to ask, his response was always something vague and unsubstantial. It would have been frustrating if you were not expecting it.

Living with him was, all in all, not terrible until he was enraged or hurt– though one rarely came on without the other. His room was small, too small to casually avoid him, and when he did notice you, he enjoyed messing with you more than he did when he was of sounder mind. Teasing was a word to describe what he did; he hurt you, sure, but it was always weak as compared to what he could do if he chose to treat you like he did others.

There was one night when he pushed himself too far, and you knew he pushed himself too far because, unlike most nights when he would come home and immediately start talking, he walked in the door, gave you a simple nod, and sat down on the edge of his bed, body seemingly sinking in on itself as his eyes slid shut.

You were sitting in the corner of the room at the time, pouring over some book or another you had brought from home, “bookmark” on hand for when he started talking. When you got another chapter in without his interrupting you, you looked up at him.

The heels of his palms dug into his eye sockets, mouth set in a harsh line. He was shaking.

Tentatively, you pulled yourself to your feet, eyes glancing towards the door before thinking better of it; even if you made it out, he could have eyes everywhere if he wanted. Your hands slid into your sweatshirt pocket absently, trying to figure out what was wrong without asking. If he was beaten up, you could not tell. You did not see any blood on his knuckles or wrists from your vantage point.

You were surprised by the quiet vibration of his voice. “What do you want?”

Carefully, you sat beside him, crossing your legs. You were unsure if your pity was due to his being actually pathetic or just by virtue of his being the only face you saw. You mumbled something out about being curious.

He smiled dryly. “Yeah?” He let out a poor imitation of a laugh, clasping his hands in front of his mouth. “You’re curious?”

You nodded.

“Why?” He leaned his head against his hands.

“Huh?”

“I’m shitty to you.” There was something akin to airiness in his tone. “I know I’m shitty to you.”

You opened your mouth to deny it.

“Oh, don’t you go at it too,” he waved you off, nonchalant. “We both know it’s true.” He sat up a bit, rubbing his palms dry on his thighs. “You want something, right?”

“What could I want?”

“For me to put you in the hospital.” He chuckled again. “So you get out and see the sun for once, I mean. I’d do it, if that was an option.”

You fought the urge to look away.

“That’s the thing, right?” He laid back with a sigh. “You don’t miss things until they’re taken away; I’m sure you didn’t think that sunlight would be in such short supply.”

You said nothing.

“I can’t imagine you like it here.”

You tried to think of a response. “It’s not bad,” you mumbled. It was true; it was better than where you were before.

“That says more about where you were than here.” Absently, he grabbed at your shirt, pulling you down next to him.

There was silence. You did not comment on the fact that he was shaking.

“You’re warm.” He pulled you to him. You let him. “Physically, anyways; then again, nobody who does this is really all that warm.” He sighed, resting his head atop yours. “Comes with the territory, I guess.”

Your eyes slid shut for his benefit as much as yours.

There is no tiptoeing around the statement. “They don’t usually last this long.” The shudder that rolled through you came and went painfully slow. “They either try getting away or do something they aren’t supposed to and just get on my nerves.”

You felt a strong hand trail down your side slowly. “Do you ever get that?” You felt his lips press against your scalp. The longer he spoke, the farther away he seemed to drift. “That need to just prove to nobody in particular that you matter? That you have control, even if you don’t?”

You did not know how to answer. That day, he did not force you to.

“To answer your question, I saw a familiar face under unfortunate circumstances today.” You felt the rise of his chest, the heave of a sigh. “Someone’s sister. Girl before you; I’m sure you’ve heard what happened.”

You nodded a confirmation. You knew nothing specific– those directly involved were supposedly meant to keep the whole thing relatively quiet– but you had heard enough about the man now fiddling with your clothing to get an idea.

“She said something.” You felt him smile. “Been thinking about it for a while is all.”

You two stayed like that a while.

“Look at me.”

You did.

He pulled his head away a bit to look at you. “Promise me something.” Fingers traced your jaw as if it would crumble under his touch. “Promise me that this is something to you.”

You gazed up at him, brow furrowing. You thought it an odd request, all things considered, so out of character for a man seemingly unbothered by your nature.

“It would be a lie,” he filled it in for you, eyes flickering away for a moment. “I know it would, but I would like you to say it anyhow.”

You did.

It was as empty as his smile.

Leonardo

Donatello

Michelangelo

Previous Works

[sailor-hufflepuff]

What’s hilarious for me is that I always went with the safe pairings as a teenager. I didn’t like the bad boys, didn’t understand why protagonists were drawn to them, didn’t understand why people shipped them.

Now, as an adult, I can recognize that these are FICTIONAL people, not real relationships, and that a lot of times the villain had actually really good points because the world is not as black and white as I thought it was when I was young. I’m also a lot more aware of the more subtle versions of misogyny and abuse, and can see how the so called “good guys” can be just as, if not more toxic than the villains.

I would have hated Darklina as a teenager. I probably wouldn’t have shipped her with Mal, since he cheats on her, but I would’ve wanted her to get with Nikolai. I would have been obsessed with how “evil” the Darkling is, and how many people he’s hurt, and been furious that people think he’s worthy of love and a happy ending.

Now I see him as a flawed military commander in a war zone, desperately trying to save his people from an oppressive majority that sees them as canon fodder at best. I’m disturbed at how Mal - and even Nikolai - want Alina to muffle herself, to make herself smaller to fit them. I hate how she side steps her responsibilities in favor of protecting the status quo.

Ok I am in rant mode again, sorry, this blog just happens to be a place where I dump all my thoughts negative and positive both, unfortunately for all who follow me. But I have seen some bad and incorrect takes from anti darkling/darklinas. So here’s just a few things I want to say.

Firstly LB has never stated that she based the darkling on her ab*sive ex. This is misinformation that was spread by antis. The only thing she has ever said about an ab*sive relationship was that she wrote the first book, Shadow and Bone, at a dark time in her life right after she had got out of a bad relationship. She has said in the past that the darkling was inspired by every bad boy she’s had a crush on in fiction including david bowie’s the goblin king. 

So it seems from these comments like the character was supposed to emulate those types of characters that woman find attractive, the ones you would fall for. 

I’ve also seen the argument that LB clearly wrote the darkling as a villain, well LB might disagree with you there as she herself has said on multiple occasions that she doesn’t write villains: 

LB says that the darkling believes he is doing the right thing and that ‘you can make a case for most of the choices he makes, even the despicable ones.’ So if LB says that she doesn’t write villains and that you can make a case for his actions you can’t really blame darkling fans for doing the same. 

The truth is LB promoted the heck out of both the darkling and darklina (or as it was known back then Darlina and Alarkling) when she was writing the og trilogy, even admitting to ‘fanning the flames’ when talking about people shipping m*lina and darklina and was clearly encouraging the shipping of both ships: 

She also put out teases for the darkling and darklina:

And promoted darklina fan edits even using the ship tags: 

It was only post the release of book three that she changed her tune, likely because of all the backlash she got about the ending of the books. So no LB wasn’t always against fans shipping darklina or liking the darkling. All of this information is easily found with a simple google search, I wasn’t even in the fandom back then being a show watcher first and yet I was still able to learn all of this with minimal difficulty. 

Which brings me to the whole darklina being an allegory for a older man manipulating a younger girl and how the darklina fans ‘missed this’. Well if they did miss it then it was for a very good reason, but the truth is darklina’s didn’t miss it, we just didn’t think it made sense within the narrative, the darklina fandom have talked about it, myself included, in fact I’ve already posted a whole pretty much essay on the topic. But let me explain why some people may have ‘missed it’ and why it doesn’t work in the story or with darklina as the allegory. The first is because LB chose to use an immortal/immortal couple for this allegory. The thing with immortality in fiction, especially as love interests, is it makes age pretty much meaningless. The whole point of immortals is that they are ageless. Immortal ships have always been accepted within fiction and this whole age gap issue has never come up before. Nobody was going omg but the age gap yuck with Bella and Edward when twilight came out, or when Magnus and Alec got together in Shadowhunters or with any of the ships in Vampire Diaries. Yet now anti’s are trying to use the argument that the darkling is 100s of years older than Alina and that’s creepy all of a sudden. Sorry but not in my book, an immortal is always going to be significantly older than anyone else what’s the alternative they spend eternity alone, never knowing love? At least with darklina they are both immortal. Another reason why it doesn’t work is because of how the darkling is described in the book, he is said to not look much older than Alina, so in the books he looks like a teenager. So of course people weren’t going to pick up on the older guy/younger girl allegory because the darkling isn’t presented in the books as an older guy. He’s described the same way every other immortal being in every YA book at that time was. It’s also worth noting that I am not sure if LB ever actually said that darklina were supposed to represent a older guy with a younger girl or whether that was something the fandom came up with. I’m not saying she didn’t just that I myself have never seen a direct quote from her that I recall and I wasn’t able to find one. I think the first time I heard of it was when someone sent me an ask about the topic. I know that she has said it was meant to serve as a warning of attractive and charismatic men being able to manipulate young girls but I don’t know that she herself has ever talked about an age gap or specifically mentioned older men? 

Another thing that I have been seeing alot of are comments like darkling/darklina fans only like him because he is hot. What bothers me about this is firstly even if that were true and the only reason people liked him was because he is hot, so what? There’s nothing wrong with that, its fiction and fiction is used to escape for a bit, its for enjoyment and entertainment, so if that enjoyment and entertainment comes in the form of staring at the hot guy irregardless of whether they are the hero or villain, let them be. Why are you criticising the way someone enjoys fiction? Sometimes a gal just wants to look at the hot guy. Secondly its just a really irrelevant argument because the darkling is not the only hot, charismatic character in the books or show. M*l is also described as being attractive and charismatic with no shortage of friends and girls, Nikolai is another character that fits that description, so by this argument the only reason M*l fans like him is because he is hot, and the only reason Nikolai fans like him is because he is hot. Thirdly its just plainly not true, whilst I am sure there may be some fans who only like him because he is hot, again nothing wrong with that, most fans like him for a variety of different reasons because he is an interesting and complicated character. As someone who spends a fair bit of time in the darkling/darklina tags the most common reason I have seen for fans liking him is because of his dedication to the grisha, his willingness to fight for the grisha something that he has dedicated 100′s of years of his life too. Personally I like Aleksander/the darkling because he has a sympathetic backstory, because he is fighting for the grisha and when seeing that they had no place to go where they could be free from fear he vowed to make them a safe place, a sanctuary, of course I am going to root for that goal too. I like him because he is complicated and complex and despite being an immortal being who has become deeply effected by past traumas there is still something beautifully human about him, particularly in the show. I also like the connection he has with Alina, the whole yin/yang of it and them being each others balance. I love the complexity and angst of them having this deep connection and pull to each other but also having this anger and sense of betrayal, how they have to try and navigate around having different points of view and seeing the world in a different ways, it makes for a very compelling story and their chemistry in the show is electric. The fact that he is hot is merely a bonus, but even if he wasn’t a conventionally attractive person I would still like his character because of those complexities, because of that connection he has with Alina. But one thing this rant has done is make me curious as to what my other fellow darkling/darklina fans like about the darkling? What drew you to the character? Anyway that’s enough ranting for one day, again my apologies, I am going to go and rewatch season 1 of shadow and bone in preparation for season 2′s release tomorrow…sheepishly shuffles off my soapbox, waving awkwardly.   

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Hey friends, so I’m seeing this debate around a lot. Why did Dream make the prison? or more specifically, who did Dream make the prison for? 

We know that Dream commissioned the prison in order to contain his enemies, anyone challenging his status quo. And we know specifically that Dream has a fixation on Tommy - finding him fun to toy with whilst also believing him to be a bringer of chaos. 

Dream believes Tommy’s trouble specifically because he doesn’t listen to Dream and he gets very attached to things and ideas. Dream sees attachments as a weakness but also as a means to control others, thus he wants Tommy alive to help bring more attachment to the server so he can continue being in control. 

Dream’s mindset is obviously very bizarre, he seems to have a bit of an obsession with Tommy, giving him far more importance than he actually has - Tommy is far from the sole source of trouble and far from the reason others get attached to things yet in Dream’s mind everything goes back to Tommy. 

So I think it’s pretty easy to see him building it to contain Tommy as well. The prison was actually commissioned shortly after Tommy got exiled, so it seems reasonable enough to imagine Dream wanted something more permanent to contain him. Unlike many other server members, Dream is reluctant to kill Tommy as he values him alive where he’s perfectly happy to kill someone like Tubbo whom he sees no value in. 

Still, the prison is massive. It has numerous cells, enough to contain far more than just Tommy. I’ve personally kinda imagined it as a general deterrent from anyone who dares cross Dream and disrupts his order It’s likely that he thought it wouldn’t be necessary for Tommy, as he’d successfully exiled him and didn’t think it would go wrong. There’s also evidence to suggest he might have wanted it for Techno, such as indicating it was for a powerful player and the fact that the prison’s food is potatoes. 

Basically, I think all of the above is true. It’s a multi-purpose prison and Tommy was at least partly on the mind even if he’d deny it. Truthfully, Tommy seems like the only one Dream cares enough specifically about to specifically build a prison to hold him. He isn’t attached enough to the other server members to care about them. That’s one of Dream’s character’s flaws - the way he doesn’t care about others. 

Sam specifically states Tommy as Dream’s motive. This slightly contradicts one or two earlier statements (like in the disc war finale Dream claims it wasn’t meant for him) but they were made a long time ago so metawise I might consider this a slight retcon. If other statements in the future go back on this though then yeah we can question Sam’s words. For now though, I’ll take them as canon. 

(Defining canon rule of thumb: the most recent stuff is generally more canon than older stuff as writers may change their minds, early weirdness and such is common in works so where there’s contradictions you tend to trust the newer stuff and that older statements got retconned if they are indeed inconsistent. Hard to say if this stuff is a meta-inconsistency or not.) 

Anyway, all this is kinda beside the point in my mind. Whether he was always going to put Tommy in the prison or not, Dream was definitely going to throw him in there back in January. And that it was designed for someone at all is disturbing in itself. Of all the people to be trapped in there, I am glad it is Dream who is quite literally in a prison of his making.