#they helped me every step of the way

[macksartblock]

beware of burnout it's so real i'm afraid

also bc ended up making my writing into a font to avoid killing my hand as much and bc I saw Caden do this, I thought it would be fun to see who y'all think it suits lol

#trust me i am working my way out of it lol #dndads #dungeons and daddies #normal oak swallows garcia #hermie the unworthy #oakworthy #once again i find them really funny being so dysfunctional #and no there is no step prior to the inevitable breakup it just happens #this is just how they are throughout college (they do not talk post graduation the reunion is the 1st time they see each other in years) #lincoln li wilson #taylor swift dndads #hero oak swallows garcia #ik i didnt write out like every character i could have but i was distracted by giving my brother impromptu sewing lessons #i didn't expect that to happen he just kinda showed up like 'I know you'd love to help me with something' like who told you that?? #my artwork #edit: I wrote reignite wrong are you kidding me dugjxghshzs it was 4 am oh well

[tarochimochi]

Losercake, everyday, daily

Day 25

#Special thanks to my qqp for the idea #And for drawing loser #She’s not in to osc but she likes hfjone and death pact #I love her so much she helps me with pretty much every step of the way #She also helps finalize almost all my gijnkas and reads over all my stuff i love her so much #Bfdi #bfb #tpot #the power of two #battle for bfb #battle for bfdi #Osc #object show community #cake tpot #cake bfdi #cake bfb #loser bfb #loser bfdi #bfdi loser #losercake #losercake everyday daily #neps.scratches

[sukibenders]

Lottie Matthews: *a teenage girl stuck in the middle of the wilderness, stranded with other teenage girls and two boys and a coach, all traumatized and simply wanting to go home, starving, struggling with guilt and her own mind, trying to find comfort in whatever she can---which ends up being a supernatural force, some of the girl's cling to it, because it's provides comfort, while others turn against her because it's too far out of the realm of belief even though she stabbed a bear through the skull and fed them from it, but in the end she's just a teenage girl placed on a pedestal that she didn't ask for but took it because it would help her friends, only for years later said pedestal she didn't ask for causes her to be seen as a pariah amongst the same girls that she survived the wilderness with.*

Some people: Lottie is most definitely the villain of the series! Look how she's tearing the girls apart and making them the worst versions of themselves! She's just crazy, and none of this is even real. I'm glad Shauna--

#lottie yellowjackets #lottie matthews #yellowjackets #shauna shipman #can you tell that i love her? her taissa & shauna are the best girls! #and this isnt me saying necessarily that the girls specifically shauna are wrong for being creeped out by it #but the way some in the fandom treat lottie as the aggressor in every little thing when she's simply struggling as well #like shauna's dream of her stealing her baby was exactly that-a dream. while lottie was hovering a bit to close and not giving her space sh #e wasn't actively plotting to harm the baby #she was doing her best to help and stepped away when she realized that she needed to leave #i also won't get into how some in fandom use...a lot of rhetoric that can borderline reach being ableist (ive seen it since day one when #the scene of lottie looking for her meds came out & people were already calling her all sorts of names #some of the girls believe in this stuff some dont #they dont know what the audience knows #tw use of the word crazy #dont get me started on people wishing physical harm on her for literally doing nothing (even after it was revealed it was lottie #sacrificing herself so that shauna can let out her anger and trauma) #long post

[cerise-on-top]

Hiiiii how have you been love bug? (Please tell me if your uncomfortable with that term since you are non-binary and they/them I’m not sure what nicknames you are uncomfortable with it’s just what I call my friends and just a nickname I have for people in general🫶🏻🫶🏻 ) so I’d like to to request farah with a adhd reader who is hyper forgetful and sometimes has meltdowns ( as someone with adhd)🧡🧡🧡

Hey! I'm fine! Bought some more yarn for my leftover blanket today, which I'm excited to work on! And don't worry, I think love bug is really cute! I don't mind most nicknames, but thank you for being considerate, I really do appreciate it! Hope you're doing well as well ^^

I don't have ADHD, so I don't know at all what it's like for someone with it! I had to do some research on it, so I don't know if these are actually viable methods of helping, but I tried! Please do correct me with something that might help and I'll add it in this post afterwards! I hope this is enjoyable to you regardless! Thank you for the request!

Farah with a Reader with ADHD

Farah doesn’t particularly know a lot about mental illnesses. She may be traumatized, yes, but that doesn’t mean she ever had the time to research any of them. So she’s definitely not the best person to go to when it comes to things like these, but she tries, even if she can’t always understand everything that’s going on. You’re suffering, and that’s enough for her to know she should do something to help you.

You being this forgetful may be a cause of concern for her, though. It’s not every day she meets someone who forgot what they did five minutes prior. It’s especially concerning when it’s something important, though, like seeing a doctor. Although she may be worried for you potentially developing something as severe as dementia eventually, she’ll try to push her worries aside and help you to the best of her abilities. If you ever need reminders, she can help you. Farah remembers and retains things very well, she’s never had any issues with it since she had to in order to get by. If you need to remember something, she’ll remind you a few times a day. You have an appointment? Don’t forget about it tomorrow, I’ll tell you again then. However, she’s also a big fan of post its and will write down whatever it is you may need and place it somewhere she knows you’re going to see it. I know, out of sight, out of mind, but she’ll also text you and have you make reminders on your phone for important things so you don’t forget. Won’t get mad at you for forgetting your anniversary, she can see that it’s hard for you to remember things and won’t yell at you or anything either. However, she will mention that it was your anniversary, or maybe her birthday. For the most part she just wants to spend those days with you, if she can, and will thus remind you. Again, you don’t need to feel ashamed for forgetting, she’ll tell you that it’s quite alright and that you shouldn’t worry. She’s patient like that.

If you have a meltdown in front of her, she definitely would not know what to do at first. Depending on what kind of meltdown it is, she’ll react differently. If it creeps up on you, slowly making you irritated, then she’ll ask you what’s wrong. Regardless of your answer, she’ll ask you how she can help you, if you would like to be left alone or if you would like to take a small break in any way. She gets it and she’ll get you away from whatever is stressing you out so you can slowly recharge. If you really do want to be left alone for a while, she will comply, but will knock on your door to check up on you every once in a while and will bring you some food as well. Farah just wants you to be well, so she’ll take care of you how she thinks might help. Food is always good, food usually helps her, so she hopes it’ll do the same for you as well.

If it’s a sudden meltdown where you don’t know where left and right are anymore, then she’ll get you away from everyone else at first. While she can’t imagine what it’s like for you, it likely isn’t very pleasant for you to be crying and screaming in front of other people. Hoping that you trust her, she’ll try to ground you, asking you how you’re feeling, what you’re feeling and how she could help you. What happened is also another question she would ask you. Again, she won’t really know what to do on her own, but she tries her best. Farah will talk to you in a soothing tone and try to distract you at first so you can calm down a bit. Whether it be cracking a joke or asking you about your top five favorite reptiles. Even if you can’t answer her properly, she’ll just reassure you that it’s okay, that everything is just bad in this moment and that it’ll pass. She’s with you this entire time and won’t leave you unless you want her to. Asks you to breathe a bit with her. In all your time being together, she’s likely learned a breathing technique or two that might help you.

Once your meltdown is over, she’ll be very gentle with you, especially if she can see you’re beating yourself up over it. You really shouldn’t feel ashamed for something that you can’t help, it’s not your fault. If you feel especially down, she’ll give you a kiss on the forehead and get some ice cream with you. Something like a meltdown seems exhausting to her. While she doesn’t want to seem like she’s rewarding you for having a meltdown, she does want you to be kind to yourself afterwards, that’s what the ice cream is for. And if you don’t want ice cream, then some berries, fruits or a small snack will suffice as well. Either way, she’s there for you the entire time until you feel better.

#cod #cod x reader #farah karim #farah karim x reader #I didn't think anyone at all would notice or remember that I'm non binary #I don't really mention that fact as much as other things but it makes me happy that some people do pay attention! #also love bug is a really cute nickname! your friends must be very lucky to have someone like you in their lives! #again I don't have ADHD I only have schizophrenia and there doesn't seem to be too much of an overlap among them #so I really don't know what it's like to live with ADHD but I get the forgetfulness #I have so many reminders on my phone and on small paper notes it's incredible #I also journal every day so I don't forget what I did during the day. that's one of my best habits yet #but yeah I'm also the kind of person who can't remember what they did five minutes ago and it's so very frustrating #sometimes I wanna look something up on google only to forget five seconds later what it was #sometimes retracing my steps helps me remember but not always unfortunately it's very annoying #but we are just so very strong for living with our mental illnesses!! #being mentally ill is exhausting and I can't think of any positives either #I know it may seem hard at times but it's important to be patient with oneself. I learned that the hard way #so please do be kind to yourself anon! you deserve it! you seem like such a nice person!

[spacedlexi]

violentine literally has everything. tension to friends to lovers. i wall myself off from people to keep myself safe but theres something about you. we understand each other. going against your group to stand up for this person and what you believe is right. "i saw that you were in danger and i just acted without thinking". battle team. co leaders. "ive lost so many people and i cant lose you too i wont". struggling single parent finding someone who supports her And her kid. not-so-ex-girlfriend one of the main villains. go to war together. captured together. escape together but lost in the chaos and later reuniting. twice. fighting ex together. twice. making it back (mostly) safe and sound and building a real home worth fighting for together

BUT theyre in a choice game so you can also have: betrayal. manipulated by not-so-ex-girlfriend in a moment of severe weakness into agreeing with the wrong side. fighting against each other (and later apologizing). severe injury? DEATH?? no matter what a sacrifice is Made???

#clem looking for a home and finding one at ericsons. vi never seeing ericsons as a home and even wanting to leave until clem showed up 😭 #clem wouldnt have even been ALLOWED to stay at ericsons post ep1 if not for violet sticking up for her throughout ep2 #violets act of standing up for clem being the catalyst for her stepping into a leadership position. seeing her self confidence grow sm #clem already knowing how to lead. helping take some weight off violets shoulders. balancing the work of keeping everyone going #THEY ARE EACH OTHERS ROCKS!!!!!! AAAAHHH #star watching date making up their own constellations.......slow dancing............. #calling each other girlfriends.... #4 kisses 🥺 #3 way girlfriend smackdown sdfgsdg TWICE #they feed me so well #their ship name is also S tier what can i say but thats just bonus points #holds the mic out anybody got anything to add did i miss anything #these two inflict so many emotions upon me every time i replay they are everything 2 me #it speaks #twdg #violentine

[cosmic-kaden]

Adam(Sackler) being super proud of me for taking the stairs again. Still can only get to the 5th floor before I need to stop and catch my breath. I make it to the 9th and go inside, I'm sweaty, my breath is trembling, and my legs feel like absolute jelly but Sackler is there to greet me.

"Don't touch me, I'm sweaty!"

He tells me he doesn't care, his hand places itself over my chest where my heart is and he flashes that little lopsided, goofy smile at me and reiterates what I can already feel.

"Your heart is beating so hard and so fast baby and your cheeks are all red~ you did so good~!!"

he'd envelop me in a tight hug and then brush some of my hair away from my forehead that was stuck there. He's pepper my face with kisses till I was laughing and telling him to stop because I can't catch my breath.

Then he'd give me one final kiss to my lips~

#Something comforting in knowing that he would be cheering me on. Because he's so good at it in canon. Like he gets Hannah to run with him #and he's so encouraging. Even when she lays on the road in defeat he steps over her and yells playfully at her to keep going. #Also he runs ahead and gets her to try and catch up with a reward being a high five. He starts running and is like #'high five me~ you got to catch up to me if you wanna high five~!' He's just so reassuring and so nice! (and silly) #Because I know he is so genuinely nice about loving bodies of every size but also being super encouraging if they wanted to lose a few #pounds I can actually believe he would be this way with me too. <3 #As much as I like to say 'my other f/o love me no matter my body type' a part of me is like 'you're trying to convince yourself but you #have doubts' with Adam I don't have a single doubt in my mind because I SEE it. Its CANON its a part of who he is! #Like I really want to believe my other f/o love me as I am but until then. I know I have Sackler to help me with loving myself. <3 #my favourite bad habit;

[broodygaming]

rewatching she-ra again while I draw and and and omfg

In S5 when Wrong Hordak (never not funny) asks Entrapta about her "facial tic" and she IMMEDIATELY just explains to him what it is - a wink - what it's called and how it's used and THEN gives him encouragement to try it out so he understands it better and feels more confident??

My. Fucking. Heart. neurodivergent ppl looking out for neurodivergent ppl and showcasing EXACTLY how to just not be a dick to people who don't get social cues. It's not our fault. It's not personal. It's not us trying to be difficult. We just don't get it. Explain it, give an example, a safe place to practice it and boom, logged and loaded.

#she ra and the princesses of power #spop #things that make me feel feral in a good way : entrapta #gods i adore her #her smile in the opening credits make me giddy and grin EVERY single time I see it and ive seen it literally hundreds of times haha #I think the way entrapta is “treated” is actually really well done cuz it's realistic and the payoff is earned #they have to learn to understand her and she also has to learn how to not step on feelings as much #both parties do bad things and work towards one another #ya know? Like im glad she's like... not some innocent flower who can do no harm #girls harmed haha girls harmed a LOT in fact #and in many ways the others are justified in being frustrated with her #and the resolution that's 90% just communication issues is SO GOODDDDDD #cuz it's NEVER been that Entrapta just doesn't care - she does! She has almost 0 tools to express that care and walls herself off instead #and the princess' help her break down those walls and build doors and windows #one painful brick at a time #GIRL same

[iztarshi]

Prompt: Killing in self-defense

Fandom: tmnt 1987

Notes: Gun violence. Death, although not character death. Serious injury to a turtle.

-

“The state of the victims makes it look like the work of the Globfather, or another member of his species,” says Leonardo. “And it’s happened to six people so far, which means we can’t afford to wait until nightfall.”

“Uh, fearless leader, you got any plans that don’t get us killed before we even find the Globfather?” Raphael asks.

Leonardo thinks of the half-dead amoeboid husks and glares at him. “Raphael, this is serious.”

Raphael glares back. “You think I’m not?”

“Raphael does have a point,” Donatello adds. “The Globfather’s actions have stirred up the fear of aliens caused by Dregg’s reveal as a criminal to the point it’s spilled over onto mutants again. Something like this will have people ready to riot against anything that isn’t human.”

It’s true. Anti-mutant sentiment fell after Dregg was first revealed, after all he was the one who had been stirring it up. But it never went away, the things people had started to think had stayed at the bottom of their hearts, and now instead of choosing an alien over a mutant they’re ready to destroy aliens and mutants together. “It’s not all of them,” Leonardo says. “Most humans are just trying to get by. The fact that some of them hate us doesn’t mean we can let innocent ones fall to a monster like the Globfather.

Raphael looks away and Leonardo takes that as a win for now.

“We will need disguises, though,” Leonardo continues. “Proper ones, not just ones that work from a distance. Michelangelo, do you know where those halloween masks are? At least then we won’t look like turtles.

“No, we’ll just look like we already got got by an amoeba monster,” Raphael mutters.

Michelangelo pushes past him roughly on the way to the disguise room, “Will you stop complainin’? If we listened to you we’d never do anything for anyone.”

“Why not? No one does anything for us,” Raphael calls after him.

“Dude, you know that’s not true,” Michelangelo turns around, beak to beak with Raphael. “April, Casey, Carter…”

Leonardo hastily gets between them and pushes them both back with a hand on their plastron. “Guys, stop fighting. Michelangelo, just get the masks. Raphael, do you want to stay behind?”

For a moment Leonardo thinks Raphael’s going to say “yes”. He wonders whether it would be a relief if he did. Then Raphael shakes his head. “Might as well go down with the ship,” he says.

“That would be Leonardo. He’s the captain,” Donatello says.

“Come on. Time to get ready,” Leonardo tells them.

None of them really like clothes, although Raphael sometimes enjoys the way they look when he’s in the mood to enjoy anything. Clothes are often scratchy, never tailored for turtles, and they tend to pull over the shell. It’s why they usually throw them off as soon as a fight breaks out, there’s not much point in maintaining a disguise but getting stabbed because you weren’t moving fluidly. The halloween masks are worse, they push the beak inwards and give a turtle a headache after a while.

“Everyone stay in disguise,” Donatello says. “Unless you really have to take something off. Raphael’s right, we’re in danger from everyone up there.”

“We all know that,” Leonardo says, because that’s not what he was arguing with Raphael about. The point isn’t that humanity won’t hurt them, the point is that they have to save people anyway. “Turtles, move out.”

They don’t take the turtle van or the blimp. Donatello is a turtle who is good at many, many things and subtlety is not one of them.

They take the rooftops, despite their disguises it’s still quicker than the streets for now and gives them more of an overview of the city. Raphael grumbles about having disguises on for no reason but when it’s only something like this it’s easy to tune him out.

An ambulance shoots down the steet beneath them, sirens blaring, two police cars following in its wake. It might be nothing, or, not nothing, but not what they’re here for. Still, Leonardo has a feeling.

“Follow that ambulance!” he calls, taking off in pursuit.

The thing being taken into the ambulance looks more like their halloween masks do when empty than like a human being. It’s what they’re looking for and it’s sickening.

“Still want to sit this one out and let humans end up like that, Raphael?” Leonardo asks.

“I nearly ended up like that protecting them and I don’t want to do that again either,” Raphael mutters, but he won’t look at Leonardo.

Leonardo sighs. Raphael’s reluctance never really lasts past seeing someone in danger, but Leonardo’s getting sick of his perpetual bad mood. Especially when it can spread to Donatello who, while less cynical in general, is much more likely to stick with a conclusion he reaches. Those two have split the team before, Leonardo doesn’t want it to happen again.

Right now, though, Donatello is hanging from a windowsill and waving some strange piece of equipment over the scene below. His tongue pokes between the lips of his halloween mask and then he suddenly flips back up to them.

“I’ve got it,” he says. “Now I’ve tuned it, this should track either further victims or the orignal amoeboid. It doesn’t have much range from down here, though, it’s being blocked by the houses.”

“So we’re gonna need the blimp after all?” asks Michelangelo.

“That’s not exactly keeping a low profile,” Raphael says.

“It should be fine,” Donatello says, eyes still on his device. “The government understands we were on their side now, so we aren’t in danger from the army. Civilians aren’t going to be able to shoot down a blimp.”

“There might be some misunderstandings, but no one’s gearing up to shoot us down,” Leonardo says, hastily. Maybe when Dregg’s propoganda was at its worst, yes, but right now they’re just unpopular. Their blimp showing in the sky is likely to cause anxiety and bad feelings among humans, not get them shot down.

“Oh, aren’t they?” Raphael mutters.

“No, dude, they’re not,” Michelangelo retorts. “Yeah, people don’t like us a whole lot right now, but that’s not new. Being mean doesn’t mean they want to hurt us.”

“Yeah? Have you seen the stuff they’re saying on TV now that April doesn’t feel like defending us?”

“Don’t say it like that! April’s not got a job anymore, she can’t just say what she likes. The dudes at the top won’t run it.”

“So she’s avoiding us completely now that stories about us won’t run unless she gets nasty. Guess we’re lucky she hasn’t chosen getting nasty yet.”

“We know the villain is in this area,” Leonardo says loudly, cutting the two of them off. “Donatello’s device might give us an important lead, but we should also search this area. Two of us need to go back for the blimp while the other two go down to street level and start searching.” The question is, how to divide the team for this one? Donatello obviously needs to go back for the blimp. Sending Raphael with him when he’s this mood is out of the question, Donatello’s too likely to agree with him. Sending Michelangelo would be fine, but that would leave Leonardo to stay with Raphael and it’s not fair but he really, really doesn’t want to. As long as it’s not Raphael with Donatello any split is as good as any other, he tells himself, and Leonardo’s the most tactically minded of them so it might be useful for him to see things from above. “Michelangelo, Raphael, you stay here. Take a look around but be careful. If you see any sign of the Globfather, call us.”

Walking through a crowd in disguise is lonely. It’s not the first time Michelangelo has felt that; he likes people and, just ‘cause he’s green and has a shell, a lot of the time people don’t like him. It feels worse when it could be violence, not just rejection, but he really doesn’t think it would be violence. Or maybe he doesn’t want to think it would be violence.

Raphael’s presence only makes him feel lonelier. Raphael takes everything so seriously now and that’s meant to be a good thing, but it just means he’s wound so tight he’s constantly snapping. Michelangelo misses the times when they were the ones who could go with the flow.

Michelangelo looks around and Raphael is gone. For a moment he can’t tell which person in the crowd might be him, then he sees a familiar trench coat and jogs to catch up.

“Hey, where are you going?” he asks.

Raphael shrugs. “You’re the one who was staring into space. We’ll go faster if we split up, anyway.”

“Go where faster? We’re just here in case something happens.” It’s not like poking around at street level is gonna find anything. If the glob dude’s gone, he’s gone, if he comes back they’ll see him.

“So much for getting this over with,” Raphael mutters.

“It’ll be over when the dudes get back, no matter what we did while they were gone. Relax a bit, wouldja?”

“In this city?”

“You use’ta know how to relax.” Michelangelo tugs on Raphael’s arm, trying to pull him over to a junk shop window. Something fun to look at. “I know it feels gnarly right now, but it’s not so different from when we first came above ground…”

“…and an old lady immediately tried to shoot us. Yes, I’m seeing the resemblance.”

“Yeah, some people were rough, and it mondo sucked how willing they were to believe bad stuff about us. But a lotta people just, y’know, even if they didn’t love us, they had better things to do than hate us. Our disguises were, like, sunglasses and they let us be.”

“And now we don’t dare show a hint of green.”

“Ninety percent of ‘em still wouldn’t care,” Michelangelo insists. “We’re being careful, but they’re still just guys doing their stuff. It’s not like the world’s out to get you.

“Us, Michelangelo. The world’s out to get us,” Raphael sing-songs.

“It’s not!” Michelangelo snaps, his voice pitching louder than he means it to.

“Uh-uh. Don’t draw attention. We’re being careful, remember?”

“Forget it, dude.” This time it’s Michelangelo who stomps off and Raphael makes no attempt to follow.

Michelangelo stops to look in a shop window, not even registering what it’s selling this time. All he’s seeing is his own reflection, rounded and slightly hunched in a trenchcoat, a rubbery face with too round, staring eyes. How the heck do these masks make them less scary? The first time he saw one he jumped into Leonardo’s arms and familiarity has not improved them. His reflection is a pretty sad imitation of a human. People seeing this have gotta know something’s up. Maybe even that they’re looking at a mutant and, just like before, they don’t care all that much as long as a turtle doesn’t try to talk to them.

Michelangelo rubs his beak through the rubber and then drops his hand to toy with the edge of the mask at his collar-bone. With sudden decision he pulls the mask off and shoves it in his pocket, putting his hat back on afterwards. Raphael would have a fit but Michelangelo has had it up to here with Raphael’s paranoia.

The giddy, guilty, triumphant feeling of doing something he probably shouldn’t lasts even when a few people do catch sight of him and quickly put their heads down and hurry away. Yeah, people are feeling a bit paranoid of them right now, but they’re feeling a bit paranoid of people so that’s fair. Both sides have to get used to each other again, that’s all. Most people don’t want to hurt anyone.

A stone hits Michelangelo’s shoulder and he retracts his head halfway into his shell while turning around. It’s a big guy standing there, the kind who can probably get somewhere by getting aggressive when he’s scared. Michelangelo holds out his hands placatingly.

“It’s okay, dude, I’m just going.”

“Yeah?” The guy says, swaggering closer. “You the one that hurt that poor guy? On your way to do that to someone else?”

“No way!” Michelangelo says. People are pressing in, now that someone else is in front of them. Most people don’t want to go out of their way to hurt mutants, but aggression spreads fast. They’ve got his shell up against the wall as they form a loose half-circle around him. “Come on, I’m a teenage mutant ninja turtle. You know us.”

“No one really knows mutants.” The rumble of agreement from the crowd feels like approaching thunder.

Michelangelo raises his hands higher, showing he’s unarmed to the people at the back of the gathering crowd. He can’t leave without pushing them aside and if he hurts anyone the thick, ozone feel in the air will come together like a bolt of lightning.

Another stone hits Michelangelo’s shell.

<hr>

Raphael pays no attention to the gathering crowd at first. If they’d found whatever was turning people into skin puddles they’d be running screaming, so it’s probably just a street performer or a fight or something else irrelevent. Then he hears Michelangelo’s voice, sees the green hands raised at the centre. Sees the stones.

Raphael tears his disguise off and throws himself through the crowd, sending humans tumbling in his wake. Sticks and handbags fall on his shell but the trick to keeping his feet under him is moving fast, falling forward into the next step. He skids to a stop with one hand thrown up to avoid hitting the wall, then twists around to face the crowd. He wraps one hand around Michelangelo’s wrist, the other already grabbing a sai from his belt. Michelangelo’s hand wraps around his wrist in turn, linking them together.

He hardly needs to pull them into motion, Michelangelo is already following, running for the path Raphael cut through the crowd. They nearly stumble over a young woman he knocked down before and another, taller and darker, throws herself at him from the side. Only Michelangelo’s grip keeps him upright. She pushes him again, standing between him and her friend with snarling defensive aggression that he matches, showing his teeth and shoving his sai in her face.

Michelangelo jerks him back. “We’re not gonna hurt your friend,” he says, fast and urgent, already trying to push through the crowd a different way. “We’re not gonna hurt any of you! Just let us leave!”

The crowd pushes in around them, from all sides now that there’s not even a wall at their back. How are there so many humans? Raphael can’t get the momentum to bowl through them the way he did before, especially with Michelangelo hesitating, not wanting to knock them over. When Raphael hits out it’s with his sai flipped, spikes lying over his wrist so it’s the hilt he’s lashing out with, but no one seems to care that he’s going easy on them. A middle-aged man with dark hair smacks a piece of drain pipe down over his wrist sending pain vibrating up it like the chime of a bell. Michelangelo kicks someone in the chest and pulls Raphael forward again.

The snap of a shot makes Raphael throw his head up, as if even the sound is painful, cold washing through him from his head to his toes.

“Dude, don’t shoot in a crowd!” Michelangelo yells.

“Y-yeah, it would be terrible if they hit someone who wasn’t us,” Raphael mutters. He’s scanning the crowd frantically, everything seeming to slow down so he can take it in. The old man being helped to his feet by two blond girls. The college kids trying to push their way out, because, yeah, someone shot a gun in a crowd. The guy in a neon safety vest passing out tools from his toolbox, including a really heavy looking spanner. The gleam of light on the muzzle of a gun in the hands of a sandy-haired guy in his thirties.

Raphael lets go of Michelangelo’s wrist, pulling free of Michelangelo’s own grip, and leaps. Landing, he wraps both hands around the gun and wrenches it upwards as it fires again. Humans leap in, trying to prise Raphael’s hands free even though this guy is the idiot who’s shooting. Michelangelo arrives next to him just as Raphael kicks the guy hard in the chest and pulls the gun against his plastron, shielding it from anyone who might try to take it away.

The gun feels solid in his hand. Powerful.

Michelangelo’s hand closes around the back of Raphael’s shell, like there’s somewhere he could drag him.

Raphael points the gun at the crowd. “Move aside.” There’s no need to make an effort to sound hoarse and menacing, his voice comes out as a croak.

No one listens. Instead they close in and try to get the gun away from him again. Do they think they’re heroes, here? Are they trying to die? Or do they know that he’s not… that he won’t… that he doesn’t want to…

He just wants to get out of here alive.

“Why won’t they move?” he whispers.

“They’re scared,” Michelangelo answers, putting himself shell to shell with Raphael so they don’t have anyone behind them. “They’re trying to protect each -”

“They’re not scared enough,” Raphael snaps as Michelangelo’s voice breaks off into a yelp.

The shot he fires is far above the heads of the crowd. He just wants to convince them he’s serious, get them to move. If he’s a monster to them they should stop provoking him!

There’s the answering crack of a rifle from the crowd.

There’s a stinging line on Raphael’s shoulder, a light pain almost like a papercut, and then it burns with a pain that spreads like fire. A space opens at his back as Michelangelo falls, the warmth and wetness of his own blood mingled with his brother’s runs down his arm. When he turns, Michelangelo is on the ground, lying on his plastron, his trenchcoat hiding everything but the tear in it where the bullet exited and a massive, spreading stain. The blood running down Michelangelo’s arm from under his trenchcoat has shards of shell in it, like a smashed egg.

Raphael drops to his knees, touching his hand to Michelangelo’s beak to feel the laboured puff of breath. There’s blood around his nostrils but he’s not dead. Not yet. Raphael lifts his hand to the bloodstain on Michelangelo’s back, fingers hovering before reluctantly dipping down to touch. Under the fabric he feels the sharp edges of broken shell and, worse, a gap, a hole where there should be solid carapace, a void that feels like it could swallow him whole.

A stone hits the back of his head and he looks up, for the first time aware that the crowd is still there, that the world hasn’t stopped. They’re pleased, excited, to see a turtle down. Pressing in like feral dogs around a cat. How could they do this to Michelangelo?

Raphael leans across Michelangelo’s body, tucking that wounded carapace under his own shell. One hand rests on the ground for support, the other lifts the rifle still clutched in it and aims it at the crowd.

“You’re not going to get a chance to finish him off,” Raphael tells them and when the next stone comes anyway he squeezes the trigger.

Someone shoots at him, the bullet pinging against the ground by his foot, so he pulls the trigger a second time. A third. Someone goes down in a spray of blood, but he won’t let himself focus on them. They’re a puppet, a loose shape with long flailing limbs. There are no more bullets in the gun.

Raphael tucks his head into his shell, wraps his arms and legs around Michelangelo, and holds on.

<hr>

“It looks like our villain came back,” Leonardo says grimly.

Donatello smacks the sensor in his hand, ignoring the wail of sirens below him. “He can’t have, I’m not getting any kind of reading.”

“Someone’s dead,” Leonardo tells him.

Donatello leans over the edge of the blimp platform. There’s a body, doll-like from this far away, being dragged towards an ambulance that’s just parked. Beside it is a seething crowd, both angry and panicking.

“Well, that’s not good,” Donatello says. “They can’t take on the Globfather themselves.”

“Then we’d better help!” Leonardo steers the blimp lower, planning to get as close as he can before detaching the glider.

Donatello stares downward, trying to analyse the situation. The glimpse of green at the centre of the crowd suggests it is an alien lifeform they’ve caught, but whatever it is it seems oddly helpless against a pummelling. An amoeboid who spreads by touch ought to be winning. Whatever this is, it’s smaller. More solid. A familiar shade of green.

“Leonardo. It’s them. Our turtles.” The words rip out of him.

“It can’t be.”

“It is, it…” Donatello takes a deep breath. “Don’t detach the glider, if we lose the blimp we’ll just be in the same situation. Drop a ladder, I’ll grab them and we can get out of here.”

The shadow of the blimp scatters the ragged edges of the crowd. People throw their hands over their heads and run for shelter like they expect the turtles to drop bombs. Others yell insults, or become more frenzied in their attack on Raphael and Michelangelo, like the humans are trying to finish them off before Donatello can reach them.

As soon as the ladder is dropped Donatello slides down it, bo already out, hitting the humans like the bomb they were afraid of. If Leonardo was here he would be trying to push them back without hurting them. Donatello is mostly not aiming for the heads.

“Turtle Power!” he yells, smacking a drainpipe out of a teenager’s hand.

Raphael looks up. His face is bloody and tear-stained but his hollow eyes spark with something like life at the sight of Donatello. As soon as Donatello drives people back a little way he’s scrambling to his feet dragging Michelangelo across his shoulders in a fireman’s carry even as Michelangelo’s blood runs down them both.

“What happened?” Donatello demands. “How did you even get into this kind of mess? Where’s your disguise? Where’s Michelangelo’s mask?”

There’s no answer, all of Raphael’s energy is going into climbing the ladder with Michelangelo still slung across his shoulder. As soon as he’s far enough up Donatello grabs a rung himself and yells, “Leonardo, go!”

The blimp rises as Donatello kicks and pokes the grasping hands of the mob away.

It seems to take forever to climb the swaying ladder. Donatello has one hand on the ladder, one on the base of Raphael’s shell to push him upwards. For a moment as Raphael reaches the top the blimp starts drifting, and then Donatello finds Leonardo reaching down to drag him aboard a wing of the glider platform. He balances quickly as Leonardo takes control again and starts them moving for home.

On the opposite wing Raphael is laying Michelangelo down gently. “Donatello?” he calls pleadingly.

Donatello jumps across the middle of the glider to land next to the two injured turtles. When the glider starts to tilt in their direction Raphael hastily scrambles to the side Donatello just vacated.

Michelangelo is a mess. Bloody nose, bloody mouth, broken shell. Should Donatello try to take the trenchcoat off him? It’s probably holding pieces of his shell in place. It’s bad to let fabric get into wounds, but taking it off would make him bleed more and all Donatello’s really sure of is that the blood should stay inside Michelangelo. Donatello’s the turtle that fixes things, that’s his job, that’s what he’s for, but serious injuries are tended by Splinter while the rest of them pace anxiously around the lair.

“We need to get him home,” Donatello says. Then, “Leonardo, hand me our trenchcoats.”

Leonardo does as he’s asked and says, “The blimp’s not fast, but I’m heading home as directly as I can. When we’re close enough, can we risk using the glider?”

“I don’t think it could hurt,” Donatello answers. He folds one trenchcoat into a wad and pushes it under Michelangelo’s plastron. Then he folds the other over the carapace and tries to press hard enough to stop the bleeding but not hard enough to make those bits of shell push inwards. He can feel them grating against each other. Could they pierce a lung? Should he have opened the trenchcoat and pulled them away?

“What happened?” Leonardo asks. “How did Michelangelo get injured?”

“They shot him.” Raphael’s voice is hollow. When Donatello looks over at him he’s curled up, beak pressed against his knees, one arm over his eyes and one hand loosely gripping the glider.

Leonardo takes a deep breath. “Did you shoot them?”

There’s a long silence and then Raphael says, “….did you see?”

“We saw that someone was dead,” Leonardo answers.

“Can you blame him?” asks Donatello. “After what they did to Michelangelo?”

“We can’t shoot people,” Leonardo snaps.

“Not even to protect each other?” says Donatello.

“I didn’t,” Raphael says softly. “I wanted to protect him but… nothing I did helped at all.”

Silence falls over them. Donatello holds his pad of material in place and tries not to cry.

“Hold on, I’m detaching the glider,” Leonardo says. “Raphael. I can’t detach until you hold something properly.”

The glider falls away with a clunk and then a swoop, set free from the slow balloon. Donatello might not be great at first aid, but at least his invention is getting them home fast. He pulls Michelangelo’s head onto his knees, holds his uninjured shoulder down, does everything he can to soften the inevitable jar of landing. He’s still rewarded with blood bubbling from Michelangelo’s nose.

“I’ve got us as close as I can,” Leonardo says.

Donatello nods. “Get the manhole cover up and help me lift him. Don’t let him touch the water in there.” The runoff from New York streets could contain any number of pathogens.

Leonardo puts Michelangelo in a fireman’s carry again to get him down the ladder. It’s not the best idea, but it’s better than any other idea they have.

Donatello looks back and Raphael hasn’t moved from where he sits on the glider.

“Raphael, get over here,” he says.

Raphael shakes his head. “I’m not coming.”

“What do you mean you’re not coming?”

“Master Splinter isn’t going to want me in his house after this.” Raphael’s voice seems to be fading, getting quieter with every sentence.

“Don’t be stupid, you’re his student,” Donatello says. Never mind that they officially graduated from that, they’ll always be Splinter’s students.

“So was Shredder,” Raphael whispers.

“Donatello! I need you!” Leoanardo yells.

“You should go. It’s going to take two of you to carry Michelangelo home and you need to be quick,” Raphael says, voice almost lost beneath Leonardo shouting again.

Michelangelo might be dying down there, they need to get him home safely. Donatello has no choice but to go.

“Just…” he falters, about to ask whether Raphael has his turtle comm, tell him to keep it on so Donatello can call him later, and then fearing that if he mentions it Raphael will immediately discard it. “Just be safe.”

He turns his back on Raphael and jumps down the manhole cover, barely touching the ladder as he slides to the bottom. “I’m here,” he says, taking Michelangelo’s feet. “Let’s go.”

If Raphael keeps his turtle comm then Donatello can track him. If Michelangelo doesn’t bleed out before they get him home then Splinter will heal him. It’s not too late to fix this.

It can’t possibly be too late.

#87 turtles #tmnt 1987 #gun violence #injury #I don't know why I wanted to write this so badly #it fought me every step of the way and helped derail febuwhump #and now I'm posting it as early as possible because I'm glad to have it done #but I did want to write it and I have #it might get further editing before it goes on ao3 though #febuwhumpday10 #febuwhump

[pawjamas]

at the dr’s rn to get my results and i’m so nervous lol

#like it could be bad. or i don’t even get conclusive results. or something else entirely #my husband is like reassuring me and helping thru every step which i’m forever thankful for. #and he was like either way it’ll be treatable & if the results aren’t conclusive we’ll get a second opinion #and he also said he’ll never stop to get to the bottom of this ;_; #im just. aaaaa #diary 📖

[caterpillarinacave]

So you choose not to step through the door, after all why mess with nonsense when you're already in nonsense? You check the items in your pockets, your phone you shut off to conserve power, the dog tag, key and top clink together but offer no help, and when you fiddle with the walkie-talkie you manage to get it to turn on, excitedly you call out to the void but only static responds, which is disappointing but predictable, so you put the items away and hunker down for the night, looking at the sky you can see that the stars seem strange, though you're no expert, and the moon seems to have a second smaller moon near it which looks pretty cool but is a stark reminder of how not on your own world your predicament has landed you.

In the morning you begin looking through the nearby bushes and plant life taking note of anything strange, you notice the berries you had been picking before you stepped through the door are also growing around here, they look and taste the same, and some other plants seem pretty similar to the forest from before as well, although the further away from the door you go the more unfamiliar plants you come across (of course that may just be your lack of familiarity with plants) and the few animals you have noticed are bizarre in a way that you can't explain, like the people from town, they seem almost perfectly familiar, just a little off and the noises they make have you thinking they wouldn't be able to communicate with their counterparts either, brushing aside another branch you come across a strange funnel made of metal which you pocket and what looks to be a regular whistle, you wipe it down and blow but hear nothing aside from the air going through, you consider it is either broken or maybe a dog whistle, as you go to put it away you hear something big running in your direction, before you can decide how to react a large creature storms out of the bushes and stops in the clearing before you, it's huge as a horse with paws and sharp teeth it licks as it looks around and spots you, it shakes its head again reminding you of a horse, then steps closer before turning and staring expectantly, you get the feeling it's waiting on you, impatiently, and you realize it seems to expect you to get on its back. Do you get on?

Yes.

#I am a terrible terrible Irish child #Clearly all those folk tales whose only moral was “don’t climb on the strange horse” were lost on me. Technically not a horse though. So. H #Uh please don’t run into the bog with my on your back strange horse thing. #…This may be one of my worse ideas #On one hand moving away from what appears to be the only connection my world doesn’t sound like a great idea #Back through the door is logically the the best bet. However I’ve already explored the area #The only thing to do would be to just sit there for hours and that will get me nowhere. The things that do have leads like the walkie- #Sputtering are things to pay attention to but not things that are likely to change if I don’t move. The whistle is the newest thing- #And let’s be real I’ve been in the bramble for like 14 hours without the neurospicy meds I am teetering on dangerously antsy #Probably better to get on the horse before I come up with something more stupid #It’s interesting my world flora seems to surround the door. I wish I’d payed more attention before I stepped through #If the nearby flora on the other side seemed like it would come from this world it would suggest that the door just leaks between universes #In two ways. If it’s earths flora then it’s either only leaking one way which we could no from one step through #Or - which we will not know but should pay attention for if we step into some other world - if the earths flora shows up around EVERY porta #Which would suggest earth is the base in some way #It might be beneficial to climb a tree to try and see farther out #Though I don’t exactly get many opurtunited to haul myself up a tree so I would put to much stock in a)my upper body strength #And b) my ability to chose a tree that won’t kill me #It’s defintley worth taking in as much info as possible. I’ll try and notice things like different winds gravity tempature ect #What should i tag this all. Help I got lost in a blackberry bush? Anon who takes me to alternate planes of reality? #I know #Guys I got lost in a bush #That’s a good one. Nothing weird there at all. #FINE I’ll rage it “guys I got lost in a blackberry bush” #I wonder what makes things so familiar. Perhaps this world exists very closely to the other. Perhaps they’ve crossed paths before. #Perhaps they’ve shown up in our dreams. Perhaps I have bad memory and my brain gaslights itself into thinking everything’s familiar #I wonder maybe the horse is a horse/dog thing- that would explain the likeness to the dog whistle (?) #This can’t get any worse I say doing something that could very much make it worse #Eh what’s the worst that can happen. At least I don’t have to pay taxes in this world #Guys I got lost in a black berry bush

[cloud-somersault]

constellations chapter 3 is SO GOOD idk what the fuck happened there, but go OFF!!!

#i know everyone's in chapter 4 land but 3 is SOO GOOD #bro the stone forest alone....HELP #ugh it was so hard writing wukong's rage form but HOLY SHIT!! reading it after is so hype #do u ever just sit in a pavilion as the rain gently falls...with your ex-husband and mentee....and it's quiet and peaceful but #there's a strong turbulence going on deep inside you :3 #the way wukong always dusts MK off and wipes his tears away and makes sure he's clean faced and ready to go #speaks to how much wukong cares about vanity #i mean he also is expressing comfort and compassion but. he also cares about appearances a lot #but anyway -- do you also ever have a conversation with your ex-husband through eye contact alone? #i think they've done that four times in this fic... #mk the entire journey: every day i get a little more homophobic #HE'S SO TIRED!!!! #MK after talking to wukong and macaque at the inn: yeah haha! i seriously wanna go home now! 🙃 #MK on the phone: DADSY /PLEASE/ COME PICK ME UP!!!! #macaque seeing Wukong's eyes for the first time and actually stopping everything that he was doing #and just looking at wukong and being like “haha...heeyyy what the fuck?? did they do to you??” chef's kiss #wukong and macaque just talking while macaque captures that random man's shadow...please #as they reminisce about how things used to be...how easily they talk to each other when they're not guided by hate #that's the thing it's how easily they fall into step with one another #that's shadowpeach. they'll be off balance or one will be running and the other walking. they'll get distracted or whatever. but #they'll always fall back into step with one another #and that's why they've got to walk with each other. step by step...so they can stop being afraid 😌

[milkweedman]

2 weird interactions with strangers in the same afternoon that my hip dislocated while I was out so I had to walk around incredibly slowly so as not to collapse. Which presumably is not a coincidence ?

#they werent being rude or mean which is what i usually get in response to being disabled #but im also not usually shuffling along at 4 inches per step and 1 step every 2 seconds or so #they were actually being pretty helpful just in a very weird way that i dont know what to make of #would annoy the fuck out of me if i got that often tho :/ #but it was a cashier putting the two small things i was holding in a bag for me despite my forgetting to ask #and an old woman on a walk with her dog stopping to give me space as i crossed the street #which was nice bc otherwise her dog would have gotten way too close but also was bizarre #the weird part is just the way they were talking me #like very carefully and slowly and kept asking if i was ok #idk man #disability

[milo-is-rambling]

I can’t even imagine living without anxiety. Like. How. What?

#I mean if I woke up tomorrow with a normal amount of anxiety it would be a shocking difference to my daily life. and I am medicated!!! like. #what? am I missing something here? #my mom tells me that meds can only do so much and that they’re really just meant to make it so you can get out of bed every day #but now I’m wondering like is that true or is that my mom is on the wrong dose herself and something could be done to help us both #gahhhhh idk I just feel helpless bc I’m scared of making big changes and the big changes have to make are scary and large and I need a #bulleted list made of things I can do (and break down into very small steps) to actually progress in a positive way in my life instead of #being SO afraid and SO stagnant. it’s been six months since (ptsd diagnosis causing thing) and I don’t feel like I’ve made any progress even #with a therapist. I’m working towards a more intensive program but I feel like it’s almost making me feel more alienated bc I’d have to like #go be surrounded by other mentally ill people and medical people which brings dad dying trauma and like I know I’m running from it bc I’m #afraid to face the changes I need to make and the feelings that are going to come up but fuck man can’t I get some fucking meds that make #this easier to deal with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! grief and ptsd and long term isolation and anxiety and chronic pain like fuck it’s #so exhausting!!!! I feel like I’m fucking fighting thru life and then from the outside it’s like I’m doing nothing cause I stay in my room #and get stoned and play animal crossing and watch tv and cry and over eat and sometimes I drive around in circles so I can scream sing until #my throat burns and I get a headache and everything finally quiets down in my head for a second. I know I look like I’m doing nothing and #that’s because I am doing nothing but waiting for the next time a mental health professional will talk to me for an hour like it’s so sad #anyways. you ever take a big dab and then start crying and type all of this like it’s an epiphany even tho it’s things you already know. #honestly crying in front of the air conditioner is so slay slight breeze over my face cooling the tears the white noise calming me down

[hostilecityshowdown]

i don't have access to a scanner currently, but... ;;

"martha and owen at martha's house in 1982, soon after they started dating." from broken harts: the life and death of owen hart, written by doctor martha hart

#[ colour commentary ] #i'm dying. this book is running me over like a monster truck at a demolition derby. #owen hart #martha hart #mango #by the way the mainline harts are fuvking awful aside from owen and sometimes bret & georgia. i knew they were bad but holy fucking shit. #helen herself is a little... oof. but man. every moment of just owen and martha is wonderful and bittersweet #and then the family and business step in and everything becomes a waking nightmare. helen wouldn't even help owen type his resumé because #she believed his wife was making him exit wrestling. when he had been trying to get out for years &pursued an education to be a gym teacher #it's just... infuriating. but here's a photo in the middle of bret's bullshit that made me tear up :') #there's also wedding photos but i'm less comfortable posting those #long post #baby owen. look at him.

[nobodieshero-main]

okay so i was thinking about ahuru, as one does, and i was thinking about how much i don't want her death to just. be keika's backstory, yknow??

like i don't want to reduce her to just the main characters motivation, which is why i try to give her so much life in any scene she's in. but i think i wanna like- so, ahuru's death literally shapes nobodies hero, right? there'd be no story to tell if she hadn't been killed. and that's kind of a Big Deal to me.

so i think i'm going to symbolise the fuck out of birds. foreshadowing or whatever.

like when keika first meets mattie- he's in priah and he still doesn't have his memories back. he decides to go for a walk, just wandering through the mushrooms and the woods and then all of a sudden a game bird gets shot with an arow right in front of him. and when he looks up, he sees mattie with a bow and arrow, and that's how they meet.

and then in the next book it's revealed that Mattie is, technically, responsible for ahuru's death. it wasn't personal, in the same way hunting that bird wasn't personal, it was just...self preservation. they just shot an arrow and watched it land.

#i want the first thing for keika to see when he leaves the mahina woods is a dead bird #just. for every wrong path keika takes there's a dead bird waiting for him yknow #when he's in the library in the palace in prota he can hear the birds. and when he kills sasha they dont sing for days. #it also helps with my idea for there to be 'stop go back wrong way' signs all over the place the entire time keika's on the quest #like he's CONSTANTLY being told he's going the wrong way. he's not where he's meant to be. and every step leaves feathers in his wake. #im trying so hard to properly convey what i want to do with the birds but none of its coming out right #i'll just have to write it ugh #anyway #ahuru my beloved you will haunt every word in these books if it kills me #oh my god what if all throughout two ghosts he hears birds but never sees them...... #i might have to adjust the title slightly to allow more wriggle room for more ghost metaphors #plot stuff

[girlscience]

and then they were all like "wooowww Lee, so adult. making decisions and calling people." YEAH CAUSE YOU APPARENTLY ARE FUCKING INCAPABLE

#I am willing to make some concessions for people or friends who have anxiety and don't want to like step on toes #but on day 5 of a trip....... you should be over that #and if 4 of you are middle aged adults who have known each other for over 20 years you should be over that #I am not saying you need every second planned out but it shouldn't be this hard to Make A Plan #or Stick To A Plan #like come on guys. we can do this #idk. I have noticed I do this more and more frequently #not just with family but friends as well #I don't generally think of myself as a leader or a take charge kind of person #but some one has to at some point so I guess it'll be me #not necessarily in a mad or shitty way all the time #sometimes I know someone can't do something and if I step up I can actually help them or reduce anxiety or whatever #idk maybe I don't do it as much as I feel like but I do know I do it more than I used to #and sometimes it gets annoying (like when I'm doing it for my fucking parents)