#it makes the bad takes feel a lot more like background noise. annoying background noise yeah but stuff you can ignore ultimately

[revvethasmythh]

That Specific Take TM is part of what led me to stop watching critical role entirely. Wouldn’t go so far as calling myself a “stan” of Nott, but I adored her. And I adored her progression into being comfortable with being Veth. But it feels like people see what they want to see far more than they see the character that’s been portrayed… TLDR I sympathize entirely, it’s kind of miserable to know so many people dislike characters you find very compelling for how they are portrayed simply because they are misinterpreting that portrayal at a rather fundamental level!

I actually do not think a take like that stems from dislike! Misinterpretation, yes, but misinterpretation is not always connected to disliking a character. Like, as many insane and wrong takes I've seen about Orym that have popped up during c3, the OPs of those posts often do not necessarily dislike Orym (at least, so they say). They just have a particular perspective that is not, uh, correct if you actually engage with the textual evidence. I think re: this take in particular, it really does come from a sense of disappointment that the dynamic between Nott and Caleb didn't maintain course, that the Veth reveal did irrevocably alter the dynamic.

Which--okay, there's a lot going on with that, and I think people who were overly attached to the "dynamic" over the individual characters involved tend toward Caleb-specific fans (hence how he's the listless sad boi of the post, the queer neurodivergent guy, while Veth is cast as a flat perfectly happy straight neurotypical woman (that was painful even just to write, but that is what the post is positing), and ignorant of all of Caleb's sad boi feelings--which of those descriptions is going to be more relatable/sympathetic to your average tumblr user, you know?), and if you were to track fandom engagement with Nott as a character, I feel like you would find a significant drop-off of investment in her after the Veth reveal. Because she yelled at Caleb, she altered the dynamic, her story separated from his story, she moved away from him narratively, and when the focus was placed more fully on herself and her character details, I suspect a lot of people drifted away from her. Because Nott was Caleb's funny sidekick and qpr and loving mother all rolled into one, and it's just not the same if she is a married woman, a mother, with goals of her own that may--and do--cause her to shift away from her very tight relationship with Caleb. In the eyes of a lot of people, she was there to serve at the altar of the dynamic, and her role was to support Caleb. Breaking the dynamic is a cardinal sin--it's similar to the way some people react so weirdly to the Nein all splitting ways after the finale. There's that deep attachment to The Dynamic, the Found Family, that rifts and conflicts and alterations to the dynamic are distressing to people and they'll come up with similarly incorrect metas full of projections and act like they're canon as a reaction to that.

So, instead of "dislike", I think perhaps the better word to sub in there is "disinterest." If people cleave so strongly to the original representation of the dynamic, when alterations to it are made they are disinterested in letting themselves be invested in, think deeply about, and care for the new dynamics created, because they're too tethered to a thing that was already lost--OR never really existed the way they're imaging to begin with.

#also I'm sorry bad take like these made you drop the show! #stepping back from fandom can sometimes be necessary to really enjoying the media #I was lucky to have about 85-90 episode of the second campaign to watch on my own w/o fandom before getting involved #which I think was overall a good thing #but even with the current campaign if you have the right people on your dash who you can talk to and agree with #it makes the bad takes feel a lot more like background noise. annoying background noise yeah but stuff you can ignore ultimately #anyway I hope this response was on topic because it kind of felt like I was but also like I was not I really can't tell #oh also re: wondering if fandom engaged less w/veth after 47--that's speculation #informed speculation but I--as previously stated--was not involved in the fandom at the time #so I'm not sure exactly how it shook out when those eps were airing #retrospectively I think it is true that people are less interested in veth than they were with nott though #which is where my point stands #anon #asks

[masterofengene]

heyy , could you do &team reactions to their s/o having trouble with sleeping ? thanks a lot

&team with an s/o who has trouble sleeping.

Warnings: none

K.

Okay so he gives off the vibe that he has trouble sleeping as well, maybe occasionally.

He is gonna be a sweetheart about it.

He knows you need sleep and he knows it's what is good for your body so he is gonna try every way he knows how to get you to sleep.

Essential oils. Massages. Soft music playing throught the room.

He makes it his mission to get you to fall asleep.

"I know you can't sleep...but you have that big assignment tomorrow and you need the rest...."

Plays with your har until you fall asleep (unless he falls asleep first, his methods are very affective.

He doesn't want you to take melatonin, instead he wants to find a natural way for you to sleep.

Fuma

He may be the most fit one in &team. But TRUST he turns into your own personal pillow.

In his mind, cuddles are the solution to any problem (he's right)

He's gonna put on your favorite show with the volume down low, turn the lights out.

Then cuddle.

He's gonna spoon you so he can feel when your breathing evns out, or have you lay on his chest.

He says it's because he wants to make sure you fall asleep but really it helps him fall asleep more than you.

Hums tunes in your ears until you relax and rubs your back

Nicholas

Honestly, I feel like he has a hard time sleeping as well.

So really the nights you spend together, you guys might not even sleep.

Because you both know that your brains won't slow down enough for you to sleep so you both just...don't sleep

Instead you guys stay up just talking about your day and just playing around until the exhaustion finally wears on you two

If you guys have something important the next day. Pillow fight.

Pillow fights exhaust both of you so quickly. You could just wage war on each other for 15 minutes then boom.

Sleeping babies.

Ej

Okay so deep breath.

I feel like he would take a logical approach and do things that he knows bores you, or that you don't find entertaining.

Puts on a nature documentary.

"What? It's educational!"

He isnt even into it, but he knows you'll be so bored you'll fall asleep

Evil genius.

Certified evil genius

Lights a candle that he knows you like.

Random background noises.

Whale noises (clearly those don't work)

Eventually you fall asleep while he is reading the encyclopedia to you

Yuma

He's gonna have you drinking herbal tea that has no caffeine.

He won't do much else to help you sleep, just pull you in for snuggles and sing for you tbh.

He's gonna make sure that everything around you is calm and serene. If maki tries to come in and disturb your slumber he's throwing the nearest object at him.

Be prepared to be the little spoon. He's gonna cuddle you for days.

If he notices you tired one day, he is gonna try and get you to take a nap. Even if it's just a 15 minute power nap.

He knows how important sleep is.

Frowns when he sees you chugging an energy drink.

Jo

To be honest. I get the vibes that he doesn't sleep that well.

I feel like he's the type that stays up all night to play video games or watch anime.

You both don't realize how bad your sleep schedules are until you two stayed up until 6 in the morning and fuma walked in looking like he was ready to strangle you both for staying up all night.

From then on you two try not to stay the night with each other, because your bad sleep feeds off each other.

You two can only spend the night together once a week for the sake of your eye bags.

Gucci eye bags

Designer eye bags

Harua

He's not going to nag you into getting sleep.

He reminds you about once a week that you need to try and get a better sleep schedule going.

When he notices that you're staying up way too late, he's going to start texting you every night that it's bed time.

He's trying okay. But he doesn't want to see annoying or bother you.

If he notices that you're struggling to stay awake, he will try to get you to a place where you can relax as soon as he can.

"Please start trying to slep better...always being awake isnt a good thing."

Taki

To be honest I feel like he has just as bad a sleep schedule as you do.

Like it's just because he started training to be an idol so young so he just couldn't help it.

He was used to late nights anyway so he always had trouble falling asleep.

So when he met you you're two sleep schedules sort of fed into each other.

It was like an understood "my body won't let me fall asleep"

So you two just filled your nights with telling each other stories either over the phone or in person.

You two would just talk about your day until you finally fell asleep.

Maki

Okay. He straight up doesn't care. At all.

He knows you and he knows how to help.

If you say "I can't sleep." He won't listen because yes you can.

He knows his voice is calming to you. You told him so. So when he notices you're restless he comes to cuddle.

He does it so Inconspicuously that you don't even notice his master plan.

Lulling you to sleep with good cuddles and whatever rambled comes to mind. Sometimes he serenaded you in German (even if you have no idea what he said)

He just talks. He let's everything come out at once.

#&team #&team fluff #&team imagines #&team jo #&team maki #&team scenarios #&team taki #&team nicholas #yuma &team #&team fuma #ej &team

[doberbutts]

Thank you for talking about the “able to get to the door but unable to stay inside” thing re:stimulation. My issues are less severe than yours were (creates chronic fatigue instead of severe meltdowns) but it’s kinda the first time I’ve heard anyone discuss them as a legitimate disabling barrier. I still have this “if I just try hard enough” mentality that I’m trying to overcome, and it helps to have someone else go “no, this is a real problem.”

Honestly the brain injury really opened my eyes because I do have ADD and had childhood epilepsy (been seizure-free since I was 8 tho) so we were somewhat conscious about sensory stuff but a lot of it was like. Okay every once in a while you will touch something that is Bad Texture and you will scrub your skin raw about it for the next couple of hours. Annoying repeating sounds fade into the background for you but God Forbid anyone talks while you're concentrating because now they've ruined everything. You'd rather starve than put Tastes Bad into your mouth and have gone to bed with hunger pains many times as a result. etc etc etc for me it wasn't so disabling but largely that was due to my mom knowing how to manage my symptoms and teaching me from a very young age how to cope.

And then with the seizures my major warning sign was a colossal headache that refused to go away which was a sign to go lay down somewhere quiet and dark for a few hours until it passed or else a lightning storm would happen in my skull :D

But the brain injury... that really upset everything. Which is commonly reported, when I was finally able to speak I told my neurologist that I felt like a completely different person and not in a good way and he said that most TBI survivors have said this.

Honestly the best way I can describe it is that. Hmm. Imagine... your TV is too loud. When I say too loud I mean like. It hurts to be in the same room as the TV, it's bordering on the edge of so loud that it makes you physically take a step back. When the TBI first happened, that was any and every stimulus to my senses. My clothes touching my skin was Too Loud. Tasting my food was Too Loud. The ambient light coming from my window was Too Loud. And so on and so forth. Because there was an actual damaged piece of my brain, it was really struggling to parse any more information than "oh, no, ow, make that stop".

I wore blacked out glasses inside because I couldn't stand to keep my eyes open otherwise. I would ask my roommates to whisper several rooms down if they were going to talk to each other or on the phone because even just hearing their footsteps was like someone was taking a hammer to my forehead. I was usually naked because the feel of my shirt against my back would set me off. There's a lot I can't remember from that time but I remember being so frustrated as I hid under my covers from the light and the ambient noise of living with a bunch of people and their pets that "trying harder" and "pushing through" honestly just made everything worse.

It's a lot better now. It'll be 5 years in July. But every once in a while something will still set me off and I will be back in that place, frustrated with myself as I feel my brain hurtling towards a Very Loud Meltdown that I cannot get to stop.

I just don't appreciate being told that it's somehow lesser because my legs work. Especially considering TBIs are so common, and they happen so fast. All it takes is one good knock on the head and then you'll be just like me.

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

Staged 2 thoughts!! (this will take a Year because I have a Lot of feelings)

tl; dr at the end

Hmmm I don’t see how it’s a love story yet

Staged 1 works well enough on its own but the second season is really essential as a companion piece upping the emotional ante (which is exactly how I feel about Good Omens 1 & 2 lol)

The opening scene mindfuck; The meta! We have reached levels of irony not previously seen possible

Who do I thank for the tacky Zoom interview show background? It deserves top billing

HE DOESN’T WANT THE GOLDFISH TO BE LONELY (metaphor) and then it FUCKING DIES

Celeb cameos in season 1 being all “hey! I like you!” in season 2 like “you are tearing them apart. I hate you. scum

Also the themeing of Michael Sheen and David Tennant being on their own “side” VS everyone else……….. Simon Mr. Writer Sir i see u and unfortunately i am in your walls

The writing feeling less theater-y works for the meta and I’m wondering whether they always had a second season in mind or if it’s just that well written

Was really hoping for a Colin Firth & Hugh Grant cameo ngl :/

The music didn’t annoy me as much this season since it was more of the horn oomp-pah-pah than the piano. Idk maybe my mind just changed

I didn’t know Whoopie Goldberg could be terrifying but here we are (also I forgot her name isn’t Whoopie)

“I think the wizard fucked your ass” ???

Setting up the awards and the baby was peak *pops P* comedy 🤌 Definitely needed since it gets Sad as it goes on

Welsh kink spotted!!! And so fucking blantant I was scandalized

“I’ll shove it up my ass where the rest of the excrement goes” Michael casually asking David to peg him. Nice

More bad magic. More pls and ty

Also moar Nina pls. T’was but a brief beautiful bluster in the wind

Tbh missed a lot of Michael & David’s back-and-forths VS season 1 but I get that’s… the point

Everyone agreeing David is whiney and annoying lmao get wreck’t

Also I forgot they don’t have air conditioning in Englandland ‘cause my man is sweating in every scene he’s in (unless that was intentional in which case… go on…)

The ladies!! That meta ending with the Bechdel test… I see you…

Still love Georgia and Simon’s sister (who I apparently don’t respect enough to google her name); I like Anna now too! She’s got this kinda quiet sarcastic edge I didn’t notice the first time. They all played off each other well in their 3 some (phrasing) scenes

Big amongus sus react that Anna has better chemistry with the two of them than with Michael of which there is literally zero chemistry. Compared to Georgia and David who are just electric with each other it’s honestly distracting

Actual torture watching them break down as other actors play them and drive their friendship apart, it’s fascinating to watch especially on top of it being themselves but, like, not we swear

“Am I your best friend” “No” Fuckin REJECTED !! looser!!!

Oh huh I can see how this is a love story, interesting

The David Tennant fanboy (he is a Real actor I just can’t think of his name) served juicy vomiting SFX realness

“So you’ve made love with him” BROTHER

It took me 87 years to realize warthog and mongoose were in reference to Timon and Pumbah lol <- I am not looking up how to spell this

The bannister being part of the bookshelf why did this make me laugh this hard

Ken Jeong actually reaching into the heart of everything and casually tearing into it Temple of Doom style and leaving everything to ruin lmao

I miss people getting too close to me (feral noises)

Ewan McGregor is cute and I am shallow 🥰

AU where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost did Staged and honestly it would still work aside from being dangerously heterosexual

Simon & Nick doing the Staged 1 back and forth but literally? mmmm that’s sum gud meta

Oh right I forgot the actual writer Simon’s in it too. He’s still good. I like his Zoom tantrum

Jim Parsons unconvincingly looking for his phone after he casually tells David that he and Michael are obviously in love and everyone sees it lmao

David Tennant has the unique ability to make this absolutely insane face reserved specifically for the emotion “oh shit I’m in love with Michael Sheen” which like

I could kill the Good Omens costume department rn I stg take off those fucking sunglasses I’m so mad

Ohhhhhhhh yeah this is a love story

The Frozen snowman being the big bad final boss of cunt, oof you gotta love a good villain

Michael’s monologue the only one not in the kitchen area just breaking down completely I mean *claps until my hands fall off* he put his whole pussy into it. The frustration? The despair? I mean it felt like an audition monologue (in a good way) he walked through the valley in the shadow and death and came back a broken man with a fuzzier beard

CATE BLANCHETT ZOOM SNIPE

Apparently people didn’t like Phoebe Waller Bridge in the new Indiana Jones movie which I haven’t seen but idk I thought she was pretty funny and hot here. *ding*

MOOMIN MUG SPOTTED

The use of travel as a metaphor for feeling stuck emotionally *clenches fist*

“I like silence” *screaming from the other room*

“It’s like gas filling a room” <- fascinating way to describe their dynamic, it’s specifically referring to aimless conversations that snowball and “fill up a room” but it could also refer to the palpable energy between them— like even through the abstraction of a computer screen there’s this magnetic force that’s just riveting, it’s hard to describe

“We haven’t talked about love” > Seen at 2:17 PM LMAO

Michael alone with the black frame lingering shot. Acting and editing and directing choices so simple and on point. everything hurts

Struggling to say goodbye on Zoom physically reaching out unable to leave the frame that whole scene was just. You can just feel the love through the screen, it’s so layered and intimate despite essentially being “No you hang up first”

Zoom wedding! He stayed!!

I wonder if that’s Michael Sheen’s actual best friend. That would be cute

Anna whispering and telling him “nah I know your bestie is literally an hour away but he can’t come over lol” like??? why? let them love each other I cannot handle this villain arc

“I have to bring that one otherwise my tits will explode” Wait wasn’t she drinking earlier though? #ShivRoyMoment

“I was standing outside your job for four hours because I love you” <- dog from Up moment

Yes he is legally a Hobbit

The car window as an abstraction like the Zoom boxes *continued feral noises*

The direction of David putting his hand on the window and Michael walking away only then revealing Anna and the baby far in the background? We’re in 3 dimensions and they are all painful!!

Okay yeah I get it it’s a love story but I thought this was a comedy haha right guys why does everything hurt

It ends on that meta moment between David and Georgia which I can only assume is to set up for the third season although I dunno if that was planned at the time as well. It’s ambiguous but not distracting if they didn’t make another one

tl; dr: Staged 2 is a unique and excellent addition to Staged 1. The added meta textual layer of the other celebrities breaking down their relationship based on Staged 1 allows for a lot of “hiding behind my hands so embarrassed” moments, but also by pitting them against each other, it reveals their actual love for each other through the bickering. Season 1 on its own is a nice vignette of its time but season 2 with it adds a tension and intimacy that really takes both over the top

Kinda dreading watching Staged 3 since it seems like people overwhelmingly like it less than the other two because of the loss of the Zoom format and constant arguing, but I’m already in this far deep so I’ll stick the landing

To wit— awwwwwww, they love each other!

#this took me hours to write lmaooo #i could’ve been writing my fic or the new story idea or real work but nah. this is more important rn baybeee #hope i didn’t forget anything ‘cause i’m #<- NOT going back #staged #staged 2 #bbc staged #staged bbc #michael sheen #david tennant #simon evans #whoopie goldberg #cate blanchett #georgia tennant #anna lundberg #ewan mcgregor #i’m just adding the names i remember lol #phoebe waller bridge #good omens #jim parsons #bbc #ken jeong #<- one of the best parts hands down. he gave it to ‘em #simon pegg #nick frost #jfc I don’t read enough my spelling is atrocious and i can’t write coherent sentences haha lol @ the death of the english language within me #I FORGOT ABOUT MICHAEL PALIN AYYY LMAO

[kiss-inthekitchen]

attuned to you | tasm!peter parker

summary: when Peter’s busy and you’re having a bad day, you try to just deal with it on your own. somehow, Peter finds out anyway

wc:1.5k

a/n: mentions of anxiety, reader having a funky lil depression moment. i don’t think it’s anything too intense but we’re all different so ya know. just be careful. it does get fluffy pretty quick too.

finally got the energy to get back into my abandoned wip’s so here u go besties <3

It had been a hell of a Tuesday.

And for no reason in particular. It was your day off, no responsibilities to tend to, no work to do. You could’ve gone out, but your friends were all busy and it made you anxious to go out alone. On a good day, you could handle it, but today your anxiety simmered in the background even as you sat in the safety of your room, so you decided to just have a chill day at home.

It wasn’t so bad, until it got dark out. You probably should’ve gone outside for a little while at least, just to break up the day. But it was too late now.

The further the sun set, the worse you felt. You hadn’t gotten anything done– not that you even needed to, but somehow that felt like a failing of yours– and now that it was dark you definitely weren’t going anywhere by yourself.

You checked the time on your phone. Still at least four hours until the time you usually fall asleep. More time you’d have to waste. Which was all you’d done today, waste your own time.

You dropped your head into your hands, trying to cut off that train of thought. You couldn’t change that now, anyway. There was no point dwelling on it.

Honestly, you just wanted to see Peter. But he was out patrolling after a full day of classes, and you didn’t love the idea of calling him to make you feel better. You were sure he’d drop everything to come be with you, but you didn’t like asking him to. Besides, you knew how he felt about his responsibility to the city, and you didn’t want to be the one calling him away when he could be helping people. Nothing was really wrong for you, anyway. It was just a bad day. You’d had a lot of bad days by yourself before you’d met Peter, and you’d gotten through all of them. You could do it again.

At least, that’s what you’d told yourself. After an hour of switching between apps and streaming services and finding nothing engaging enough to distract from your thoughts, you decided to just give up and get into bed. So what if it was only 8:30 at night? You just wanted the day to be over. Hopefully tomorrow would be better.

You turned off the light and got into bed, pulling the covers up to your head and trying to will yourself to be tired.

Just then, you heard the sound of something hitting your window. Knocking against it, actually.

You startled at the sudden noise, rolling over to see Peter perched on your fire escape. Of course it was Peter. Who else could be knocking at your window? You lived on the fifth floor.

You threw the covers off, crossing the room to push the window open. You didn’t move aside to let him enter, figuring that Peter probably just came by to say hi or something. It was way too early for him to be home.

“What are you doing here so early? Crime take a break tonight?” you joked, trying to be casual. It helped that you were genuinely relieved to see him, even if you’d have to deal with his absence again in a minute.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asked, concern clouding his tone.

“Wh- nothing. I’m just tired,” you lied, taken aback by his question. How could this man possibly have known something was wrong? Maybe he was swinging past and saw your lights out? You tried to wave it off. “Was gonna go to sleep early, but someone-”

“Really doubling down on that lie, huh?” he interrupted, though his tone was gentle. “Think I know you well enough by now to tell when you’re pretending everything’s fine even though it isn’t.”

“Well, that’s sort of sweet and very annoying,” you frowned, your gaze slipping to the floor. Part of you was relieved that he came to see you, and the other part of you felt like he shouldn’t be here at all. He had other people to take care of.

“Can I come in?”

You hesitated. “What about the people that need you?”

“You need me.”

You wanted to argue with him, but you knew how Peter was when he’d made up his mind. And as much as you might self-sabotage at times, you didn’t have it in you to go back to being alone tonight. You stepped aside, finally allowing him to enter.

“How’d you know?” you sighed.

He shrugged, crossing the room towards your dresser as he answered. “Sensed it. D’you have the shirt I left here last time?” he asked absentmindedly, as if what he’d just said had been completely normal.

“Sensed it?” you repeated, following him to your dresser and opening the drawer with his shirt folded neatly on top. You hoped he wouldn’t notice the way your heart skipped at the thought, but when you turned back to him you could see it in the little smirk that graced his lips.

“Mmhm,” he hummed as he slipped out of his suit. “From across town.”

“That’s quite a signal you’ve got, Spider-Man,” you mumbled, standing with your arms folded over your chest as he threw on his shirt.

“Actually, my reception isn’t that great. Not usually, anyway.”

Your brows raised at that. “So… what does that mean?” you asked, though you were pretty sure you already knew. You just couldn’t believe it.

“I guess it means,” he started, a slight teasing tone to his words. “My spidey sense is especially attuned to you.”

“I didn’t know it could do that,” you whispered, dumbfounded.

“I didn’t either,” he spoke softly, stepping closer to you. He tucked some of your hair behind your ear, his hand lingering at your jaw. “But here we are. So, you wanna tell me what’s wrong now?”

You sighed. “Technically nothing. Nothing bad happened, I just… I guess nothing good happened either.”

Peter’s gaze softened as he looked at you. He stepped closer, chest to chest with you, and moved his hand to the back of your head, pressing his lips to your forehead. You took a deep breath in, feeling a weight lift off of you.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he whispered into the dark of your room.

“Peter, I… I know what you’re doing out there,” you said, looking out the window. “I’m supposed to call you away from that? For this?”

Peter sighed, thinking through his next words carefully. He understood your concerns. Of course, you knew how he felt about using his abilities to help people, had heard him go on about the toll it took on him when he arrived at a scene too late, when he felt like he had failed to do what only he could.

“Baby,” he started, moving to sit on your bed and bringing you to stand in front of him, “I.. I know I can’t do everything, right? I patrol when I can, I help when I can. And other times I can’t. And maybe that’s something I need to get through my head as well, but… anyway, what I’m trying to say is tonight, you need me. So this is where I need to be. You’re the most important thing to me. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t call me.”

“Okay,” you said, voice thick as you tried to hold back tears. You struggled to believe that you were more important than an entire borough full of people, but the sentiment stuck with you.

“Yeah?” Peter confirmed, looking up at you in the dim lighting, thumbs stroking the skin of your waist. “Just make the cops have to do their damn jobs themselves for once,” he tried, successfully pulling a laugh from you. Well, more of an amused huff through your nose, but still, it was something.

You nodded, finally accepting that he was here to stay, and let him pull you into bed. You wrapped yourself up in him, one leg thrown over his and your head on his chest as he ran his fingers through your hair. You lay there for a while, just breathing in the comfort.

You tilted your head up a bit, trying your best to look at him from your position. Your voice came out small, but still teasing, “I feel like we kind of brushed over the part where you sensed that I was upset from across Queens.”

He rewards you with a startled laugh, a soft, “You’re right, I guess we did.”

“That’s so insane.”

“Isn’t it, though?”

“I think you might love me too much.”

“Hm, yeah, I see your point. I’ll work on it.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No?”

“No, you can keep being obsessed with me, I’ll just have to live with it.”

“You’re so understanding. No wonder I’m obsessed with you.”

The two of you dissolved into quiet giggles then, Peter removing the hand that was raking through your hair to wrap his arm around your shoulders, squeezing you impossibly closer.

#tasm!peter fanfiction #tasm!peter parker #tasm!peter parker fluff #tasm peter x reader #tasm peter x you #tasm peter parker #tasm!peter parker fic #peter parker #peter parker x y/n #peter parker fluff #peter parker x reader #my fics #andrew garfield peter parker #andrew garfield spiderman

[doctor-badadvice]

Let's talk about Fast Forward for a bit.

Specifically I want to talk about the main theme of that season: why? Why did the art style deteriorate so much? Why did the writing get so bad? Why did this come out before season 5 but also supposedly happens after season 5 and at the same time only occasionally acknowledges its events? Why is there a kid now? Why am I watching this when I only really care about maybe three episodes at best?

Because I was bored. But let's go with order.

I'm going to say it now, I'm still going to claim there is no season 6 in Ba Sing Se. But at the same time, it isn't all that bad actually?

Here's the thing. FF was inevitable for many reasons. TMNT, with its aliens and magic, has the potential to go on forever. However, at some point "turtle fatigue" will set in. In the 80s, this happened around season 7 which yeah, it's about 150 episodes in. For the 2003 show it happens around season 5 but this doesn't mean the higher-ups will try stupid changes to bring back the old glory.

Moreover, the show brought it upon itself. The main culprits, so to speak, are the writing's insistence on portraying consequences as much as possible (see: Leo's scarred shell for instance), as well as season 4 with its funny gory shift (see: that one episode where Baxter watches his own body fall apart which wow).

So it isn't unexpected that the higher-ups and especially the toy maker went "Kids, could you lighten up a little?" and messed up everything that was good about the show.

So this is basically why I don’t like FF. Five seasons are a long commitment. You have to sit through the ninja tribunal arc which is boring as hell, then have to be really patient and accept that there are just dragons now for some reason. Then FF comes up and it has nothing of what you previously enjoyed. The style is different, too flat and kinda clunky and ugly in some spots, nothing that happened before matters and now Cody is there.

Remember networks, kids don't want to watch other kids go on adventures in their place and it doesn't get better with age. But you do you.

So I despised FF but after rewatching the season on its own, I have to make amends in some spots.

The general impression when you watch FF on its own, without the better stuff still fresh in mind and with something to do during the dull parts, is that of good background noise.

It takes many steps backwards. The turtles are suddenly less competent at fighting where it's convenient, their personalities are more one dimensional depending on the plot and they're kinda shitty to each other for no reason. They really suffer from that serial effect where the reset button is hit as soon as the credits roll. They used to go out to murder the Shredder knowing they might die and now it's "Today Mikey really wants a new video game and next episode we're going to a fancy party with the kid dressed in the dumbest suits ever and a silly happens :)"

Splinter also gets sidetracked a lot and he's more there to occasionally call the turtles whippersnappers but again, there isn't much of a reason for him to step in anymore.

And this brings me to the villains. I feel like the turtles only work as well as their villains. They work when they're getting into a fight with a local street gang, or trying to kick an alien empire out of the planet before everyone dies. They work when the Shredder actually does something meaningful and generally speaking are going against someone actually dangerous.

The first five seasons had Shredder, the Foot, Hun, the Triceratons and Bishop. FF has an annoying wrestler whose main priority is property damage, a gang of netrunners who I wish got up to more interesting things than scalping and quoting the Matrix, literal evil twins from the tv trope literal evil twins, and the idiots in charge.

The idiots in charge are of course beloved uncle Darius and Sh'Okanabo.

These two really are something. Darius is essentially that guy from the first Iron Man movie. He's the acting CEO because the owner is a literal child. He smiles and preaches big keeping up the facade of benevolent company of the shiny Earth utopia but he has a dark secret which is that he's making guns and a mecha suit for himself and Cody takes several episodes to realize this for some reason.

You'd think Darius would stop being a threat the moment his dark deeds are uncovered since his whole thing is "evil capitalist guy is evil". But no, he's gonna go higher, he's going to ally with Shittibobo because he needs new genetically modified minions he can badmouth while fucking around all day in his sewers loft and we don't even get the payoff of Darius realizing that he's being fucked over by an alien during the Day of Awakening.

Plus because of how afraid FF is to explore anything heavier than Mikey insisting they go out to achieve explosive diarrhea from questionable junk food, even the fact that Darius is an abusive father figure for Cody has no real importance because Cody is only allowed to look sad on screen for five seconds. Remove Darius and the overall season arc remains the same.

What about the other guy? Well, Sushibooboo is the supposed big bad of the season. He's an alien who wants to kill life on Earth to steal resources. He's something beloved President Bishop goes out of his way to personally murder. But the only thing he achieves is to confirm that he's just offensively stupid.

Sh'Okanabo is supposedly an alien boogeyman who's so evil he just can't be real, right? Unfortunately, he's the literal cause of his own demise.

Since the turtles are more than content with babysitting Cody and going around complaining about historical accuracies like that one Futurama episode, they don't know who Sh'Okanabo is and after talking to Bishop they don't care to find out. Great. This means he can operate in the dark, grow his eggs and prepare to kill everyone, right? No way. In pure Sasalele style, he goes out of his way to attack the turtles, tell them what he’s up to and scare them enough to start to actively prepare to fight him.

And on top of that he wastes time to build a time machine because somehow Shredder had to return for one episode which in turn almost fucks up his plan entirely since his ship almost explodes.

So I still don't like FF because of the way the writing plummeted. A lot of stuff happens because it's convenient and often falls back into exquisitely 90s/2000s tropes (see: the obviously evil guy gets away with evil deeds because the parents/cops/people with power are blind and children are stupid, that one car race episode which is a repeat of the previous car race episode from earlier in the show, a female character who's only there to be a love interest and is allowed to be smart and cute because Cody likes them smart and cute, just to name a few). The turtles get dumber depending on the episode and there are some attempts at comedy like Starlee's shitty family that give out levels of second hand embarrassment not seen since Star Trek TNG.

But I don't hate this season entirely either. FF is just very mid and it makes me think that it could have worked as a standalone show for a while because you can watch it more or less. I'm just this isn't what we got in place of the actual show because it wouldn’t have lasted.

Still I did enjoy some things:

Torbin Zixx is fun. He has some interesting tricks, even though 60% of them only work because the turtles are written especially stupid in his episodes. Plus he steals Bishop's space shuttle which is glorious

I ended up liking Sterling a little towards the end. I still feel like his humor is a sanitized version of Baxter's but I like that he collects clips of the turtles getting hurt to watch to calm down and that he's actually always ready to throw hands

President Bishop is so stupid, yet brilliant (and I'm going to talk about him in a separate post because the worldbuilding is really something and I have OPINIONS)

Raph commenting that power armors are so last season while fighting Darius made me chuckle even though I won't tolerate this supersuit slander

This moment:

#tmnt 2003 #tmnt fast forward #2k3 turtles #agent bishop #Sh'Okanabo is so bad he doesn’t deserve his name spelled properly #now I'm off to write about how FF casually shows what happens when Bishop is left unsupervised and everyone is just okay with that

[redr0sewrites]

How do you think Aaravos would act when his a s/o is on their period? (Can you tell I'm on my period and need comfort)

OOOOOO!!!! i feel SO bad i haven't written for aaravos (or tdp in general) for wayyyyyy too long tdp is still my main hyperfixation yall

🥀Cw: mostly fluff with a bit of suggestiveness/mentions of how orgasms help cramps, afab reader

🥀minors dni with the nsfw portion

sfw:

listen, aaravos is SOOO attentive. he probably has your cycle memorized better than YOU. he's always prepared for when you're on your period, and will approach you about it a few days before it starts

aaravos is amazing when your on your period as he never undermines you, and while he doesn't relate to your experience he definitely sympathizes with you and supports you any way he can

his powers come in handy a lot, and whenever your having bad cramps he can very easily heat up his hands or cool them down and become your own personal heating/cooling pad. he also gives wonderful massages and can also attempt spells/potions that may work as painkillers for you

aaravos is a FANTASTIC cuddler, he's 6,9 ft of pure warmth and loves holding you when you're on your period. if you're feeling emotional or sad in general aaravos is genuinely always willing to comfort you, as he hates seeing you in distress

he may tease you a little to help lighten the mood, but if you get upset or annoyed he'll stop

speaking of when you're annoyed, if you are especially irritable on your period, aaravos takes it surprisingly well. if you snap at him he'll just brush it off or roll his eyes, he knows your feeling shitty and that you'll feel bad later. he might get a little pouty though, and will be clingy when you two are trying to sleep

if you get headaches on your period aaravos is more than willing to accommodate you. he'll gently cup your face, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead before getting a damp towel to lay across your eyes

as much as you want to rot in bed while you're on your period, aaravos will encourage you to be at least a little active. he might take you for calming walks where you won't run into others, or even just slow dance with you in the comfort of your own home while lofty music plays in the background

aaravos will run lavish baths for you om your period with bubbles and fancy soaps and anything your heart desires. he really does love pampering you at heart and will gladly sit at the edge of the tub and wash your hair or massage your scalp while you bathe and relax

nsfw:

during his research on how to help comfort you, aaravos stumbled upon the fact that orgasms can help relieve period cramps. he was quick to bring it up to you, for "research purposes" kinky bitch.

he'll be gentle ofc, laying a towel beneath you both and treating you with the utmost care (unless... u tell him not to.... then thats a different story)

period sex soon becomes a pretty common occurrence as its a great experience for you both. aaravos adores how sensitive you are and loves seeing how easy it is to stimulate you. he'll tease you a lot and then overstimulate you, relishing in every noise you make

it's obviously wonderful for you as well bc??? duh???? it feels amazing and aaravos always makes you feel divine

he's a lot more into praising you during period sex rather than degrading, he thinks that your something to be worshipped and absolutely loves showering you with all the praise you deserve

aaravos enjoys mirror sex in general, but especially during your period. je likes showing you how gorgeous you are during this time of the month and is not afraid to be a little mean with his praise. if theres a trait you have that your particularly anxious or insecure about, aaravos looveessss praising you over and over about it until you can't help but agree.

aaravos always does great aftercare as well when your on your period. you both often get pretty messy, so the first thing he does is conjure a wet towel to wipe you both down. then he'll run you a bath and let you relax while he changes the sheets/bedding before joining you in the bath.

yk that audio that's like "HEEEEE'SSSS BAAAACK" on tiktok? thats what i feel like rn when im posting something for tdp for the first time in like months. (i don't have tiktok but i keep seeing tiktoks on pinterest 💀) ANYWAYSSSSSS HOPE U WNJOYED!!! ive been falling back into some of my old fandoms (tdp, acotar, etc) along w some new ones so feel free to send in requests!!! i am VERY anxiously awaiting tdp s6 hehe

#the dragon prince #tdp #aaravos #aaravos x reader #tdp aaravos #aaravos x you #aaravos x y/n #aaravos fluff #aaravos smut #aaravos headcanons #aaravos hc #tdp x reader #tdp hcs #tdp headcanons

[fox-from-fairytale]

Doesn't matter if I already know how it ends, this game will never fail to make me cry.

It's so good that I'd replay it even if I've just finished it, but thankfully there are the other seasons. The thing is, the first one really is the best one. I've always found all the characters so well written and the story is so compelling, even if there are some awkward moments. Couldn't Clem kill the walker with the bat before trying to take the gun/keys? Why didn't the bandits follow Lee and Mark through the open fence? Did Ben really not see the walkers on the other side of the door? Still, those are little things compared to everything else.

The first time I was so focused on Clementine that most of the characters were just background noise to me, but this time I had the possibility to appreciate more of the game since I already knew it, and who shined the most was Lilly. I love that woman for both her good and bad traits, and I'm afraid to replay TFS now lmao 😰

It was a bit annoying how the game seems to try and antagonise her through the other characters bitching about her, but it makes sense since that's something that of course would happen to the only person with the guts to distribute food rations. But still, having Lee as the only one who can say something positive about her and what she has done when the player has absolutely no idea about how things are in the group because it's the beginning of the episode? Lmao fuck you. Also, why does she accuse Carley but if you save Doug she kills him as a mistake? Let my woman show no remorse towards both of them.

She's already hurt for losing the only family she had, so losing the other thing she was protecting so desperately because someone within the group betrayed them is the last nail in the coffin, along with being dismissed while she was trying to find out who did it. I'm not saying it was right to kill Carley/try to kill Ben (who did what he did for understandable reasons from his side), but I still see why she snapped and I can't hate her for it.

It's a pity the game gets rid of her, because seeing someone who still didn't lose her humanity (sure, she doesn’t want other mouths to feed, which should be obvious why since she is the one giving food and knowing they can barely survive with what they can find, but she shows it when she doesn't agree with Kenny if he says that Lee made a mistake putting the girl in Macon out of her misery or when she doesn't want to steal from the stranger - she doesn't want to bear the weight of more people because it would be impossible to take care of them too and she prioritise her family and then her group, but this doesn’t mean she wants to survive on other people's expenses, which, ergh... kinda changes) doing something so ruthless it's so interesting, and I would have loved to see her progression through the game. I guess we do in TFS, but at the moment I'm torn about what they did with her in that season... Also, I simply wanted more of her in the game lmao

Protecting Duck and Katjaa as much as I could + trying to save Larry was a good combo for Kenny, I genuinely think those choices gave me the best of him. I like to make fun of him for being a pain in the ass if you agree with him about everything but a single choice is what makes him despise you and even avoid to save your ass when you need, but I really liked how things evolved in the final episode.

Kenny isn't a bad person, no one at the motor inn and who can join the group later on is, and killing someone (who at the moment is defenceless) because it's what you think is the right thing to do to protect yourself takes quite a lot, and Lee not helping him surely would make him feel like being left alone in such a hard moment and would divide them. But in the last episode, after seeing the worst of him (I mean, I believe that's in s2, but that's another story) because of his loss, the fact that he comes around when Clem is taken and treats you as a pal and uses the last bullet for Ben? I loved that, I think it showed the best of him. I thought he was going to be an asshole till the end, but I'm glad I can be on Lilly's side without having to be hated by Kenny for the whole season. I still loved to kick his ass in the third episode though lmao

I've made some pretty different choices compared to the first time, putting more thoughts behind them, especially when it came down to end someone's life.

Lee is a man who killed before it was necessary to survive, but it wasn't premeditated (or so I believe at least), and still has the heart to take care of a random kid as if she was his own. In the end, I only made him kill the girl at the motor inn who was bitten, the one screaming in Macon, and the stranger. Following this, I didn't let Clementine shoot him, and I'm glad the game made me give the actual reason I thought about: killing changes you, and I don't think a parent (that's who he is in the end) would make their child go through that, especially when said parent knows what it's like, and not only after the apocalypse.

It's clear that in the world she lives in she'll end up doing it, but it wasn't necessary to her safety, and Lee is no coward, and I like to think that he would keep prioritising Clementine over himself even in such a moment. Yes, it's sad for Lee, and Clementine surely is going to regret this, but I wanted to make the choice as Lee, not as the player nor as Clem.

These aren't all my thoughts on the game but the rambling got a bit too long, so I'm going to end it with the love of my life being pissed:

#the walking dead game #twdg #twdg season 1 #twdg s1 #twdg lilly #twdg kenny #twdg lee #lilly twdg

[mwolf0epsilon]

The Frog Trooper - (4/4)

Summary: After contracting a bad case of strep throat, Dogma ends up feeling a little less like himself and begins to withdraw from his brothers. An outside force decides to teach him about self-value and to trust in one's brothers, no matter how annoying they may be.

[And we finally get to a resolution to this froggy conundrum!

It takes a lot of effort to work out misunderstandings caused by miscommunication. You may even flail and stumble along the way, but eventually everything works itself out if you just sit down and are openly honest with the people you want to make up with. Dogma certainly needed to see it with his own eyes to finally understand what he had been missing this entire time.]

[Part 3 can be found here or on AO3]

---

It took an exact four hours and a half for everyone to retire to their bunks. Four hours and a half of sitting around in the terrarium the others had built to contain him. Pressing himself against a bed of mud that didn't feel offensive to his skin (despite his usual aversion to getting himself dirty), and even going for an occasional dip whenever he felt antsy about standing still for too long (he wasn't much of a swimmer either, but he couldn't help but feel amazement at how graceful this body could actually be when in its rightful element).

The first two hours were the scheduled (and technically mandatory) mealtime. With most of the vode having left to join up in the mess hall to eat, while a few of the more solitary sort returned to the barracks with treys in hand to have their late meal in peace. Not the best of times for him to try anything particularly bold or risky.

Dogma watched them quietly, listened to their idle chatter to pass the time, and even accepted offerings of more mealworms, crickets and even mushed up pellet food that Twitch had been thoughtful enough to fill his little dish with. He'd need the calories and energy in the coming hours. The trip he was planning would take him a substantial amount of time and effort in this clumsy little body of his.

With each squirmy, crunchy or mushy treat he consumed, the less opposed he was to his potential future as a somewhat pampered frog. His mind no doubt slipping more and more from his grasp as the instincts began to fully set in and overwrite his personality.

There was no telling how long he had left as himself. He needed to be quick once he got out.

The following two hours after late meal were a mixture of recreational time before curfew, with most troopers going to the training rooms and shooting range, hitting the showers, or simply coming to the barracks to play sabbacc, read, or watch a holofilm on their datapads.

The idle chatter became that familiar droning background noise that he was accustomed to. Noise that he'd undoubtedly miss until his brain finally gave up the ghost and fully converted into that of a mindless little animal.

So Dogma watched from the confines of his glass prison.

Watched in contemplative silence as everyone else went about their business, completely unaware of his attentive gaze. He noted with great interest that each vod had their own routine (their own quirky nightly rituals) that they needed to do before they settled in for the night proper. And, now that he had the time to consider it, Dogma realized he had never stopped to think about any of that before.

How, despite their vast differences in personality, every single trooper of the 501st battalion shared a need for the tiniest of crumbs of stability in the form of practiced patterns. Something he assumed only he required, and that they found reason to scorn him for because he was usually so meticulous about it.

It was his attention to detail that helped him recognize each and every little thing they did as a source of personal solace. Dogma could very easily associate those actions to the vod performing them. The fluffing of pillows, the tucking of blankets in specific manners, and what position they preferred to lay in until slumber took them.

Even the quieting of their voices as they drifted off into restful sleep...

He noticed that Jesse's voice always took on this very distinct timber when he was about to fall asleep, making it soft in a way Dogma never heard when he was fully awake. Because Jesse had never been anything but harsh towards him when he'd realized something was unmistakably defective about him. And yet here in the safety of the barracks, beneath scratchy blankets and head set atop a plumped up pillow, the lieutenant sounded very serene as he whispered in a half-awake state.

Hardcase was always extra giggly when he was beginning to conk out, the exhaustion further muddling his already chaotic thought process. He spoke of nothing and yet everything at the same time. Ideas for absurd sounding strategies (that with some fine tweaking could actually be feasible in a discordantly brilliant sort of way), activities he and his brothers could partake in come morning, or just random facts he'd learned that day that seemed worth sharing to him.

Out of his batch, Kix was always the last one to fall asleep. Making sure to pull the covers over his two batchers, before climbing into his own bunk and sighing contently as he rolled onto his side. He had trouble sleeping most nights, likely haunted by the many terrible things he bore witness to as a medic. But he never put up much of a fuss. Always quiet and collected, respectful of everyone else's need for the quiet.

Echo and Fives were no different from their usual selves. Chatty, giggly, restless while trying to make themselves comfortable in separate bunks, before one gave in and climbed under the other's covers for a cuddle. They slept best in pairs. Much like he and Tup once did (no matter how much he halfheartedly muttered that they weren't cadets anymore). It felt alien to think of one without the other, so naturally that they slotted together. Had Dogma not known better he would have assumed they were literally attached at the hip.

Tup... Dogma's little heart ached as he looked towards his twin's bunk only to find him curled up under the covers. Even now his back was turned away from the terrarium. He hadn't looked at Dogma once in between coming back from late meal and then going to bed. Refusing to look at the ugly and useless little creature he'd become.

It hurt that his twin didn't want anything to do with him anymore. But it did help to solidify Dogma's final decision. His resolve.

It was strangely comforting to know that he had nothing to return to, no reason to stay whatsoever. And accepting that there was no going back to how things were certainly made the whole 'being a frog for the rest of his life' thing easier...

Counting each steadying breath helped keep track of who was or wasn't asleep. They all had a certain breathing pattern when they slept that helped another clone identify whether or not their kin were deep enough under, that moving in and out of the barracks wouldn't disturb them. Dogma knew that pattern by heart.

Deep whistle of a breath in, slight stuttering snort out.

He'd listened to it often enough when he was laying on his own bunk, mind racing with too many thoughts and little to no answers as to what he was doing right or wrong as a brother and soldier. That soft sound the only indicator of them ever being openly vulnerable around him. It had always soothed him to sleep.

Twitch and Sponge were still too awake for him to risk climbing out just yet. That much he could tell from how unusually quiet they were while laying in their bunks. It was actually very rare that Sponge slept in the barracks with the rest of them, but he supposed the current circumstances had tired them out enough that they'd just given up and gone to sleep among vode for once.

Their resistance to fully relaxing was a bother however, and it seemed to be keeping Twitch awake.

"Sponge... You're shaking the bunk..." The younger medic whispered from up above. Head just barely peeking over the edge.

"Hm... Sorry Twitch..." The older medic responded in a hushed tone. They seemed a little embarrassed over being called out like a rowdy cadet caught after lights-out. "Too wired to sleep... Just can't get comfortable..."

"It's been a long day..." Twitch agreed with a weary sigh. "I can't stop thinking about it..."

"Yeah... I might just... I might just go back to the medbay. Let Beau out of her kennel a bit and... Just spend some time with her. She's been cooped up a while now..." The infamously cantankerous medic ran a hand over their face as they slowly sat up. "Better than keeping you up..."

"You're not. I mean... The shaking isn't helping but, but it's not your fault really..." Twitch also sat up, much to Dogma's annoyance. If they kept this up, they might wake someone else and then there went his plan. "If it's of no bother to you, can I come along? I could use some Beau kissy time..."

Yes! Yes go away! Go somewhere else!

"I don't see why not..." Sponge shrugged. "Take your sweater, it's chilly out at this hour."

"Only if you take your coat." Twitch smiled.

"I already was planning on doing that, baar'ur'ika..." The older medic snorted. "Thank you for the reminder anyway... Now lets go before we wake the twins. They're absolute grouches when you disturb their beauty sleep, and we can't have Fives looking any uglier than he already is..."

Twitch suppressed a giggle as he climbed down to the floor to join Sponge in going through their trunks to get warmer clothing articles. Dogma kept a keen eye on them, hoping that once these two were gone that he'd be able to finally put everything into motion.

While Sponge carefully put their fluffy coat on, Twitch looked towards the terrarium. Dogma quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, hoping the little medic wouldn't catch on to his idea. With how perceptive he was, the frog trooper wouldn't put it past him.

He kept his eyes firmly closed when he heard the pitter-patter of semi-bare feet against the tiled flooring, hoping against all odds that he wouldn't be caught. Instead of an accusatory hiss however, he felt gentle and slightly slender fingers run up and down his spine in a petting motion.

Similar to how Sponge had been caressing him before, Twitch was apparently offering him the same kindness. This time he wasn't against it. In fact, he couldn't help but sigh in contentment and lay flatter against the mud he was pretending to sleep on.

He was sure his kih'vod was smiling at the sight. Another thing he'd miss. Twitch's easy-going friendly smile. Oh who was he kidding? He'd miss all of them.

But this was for the best. He couldn't stay. Not anymore...

"Sleep well Dogma... Tomorrow's going to be a good day." The younger medic whispered encouragingly. "I can feel it in my bones."

Yes, it would indeed be a spectacularly good day for the 501st. They would no longer have to deal with a painfully punctilious pest like him.

Dogma waited for the opening and closure of the barrack doors before he dared to open his eyes again. With the two medics gone, he focused once more on the sound of his sleeping vode's deep breaths. He was in the clear. It was time to get climbing.

And climb he did.

With some difficulty at first since he wasn't exactly built to climb anymore. But a combination of stubborn determination and a bit of mud did get him up and over the glass. He mentally thanked Hardcase for his accidental contribution to his escape plan. Without the sticky mud to provide him with some grip, he'd most definitely be unable to get out.

Now came the issue of climbing down... He really hoped these frogs were more resilient than they looked, because making the trek with broken bones wouldn't be easy. Or pleasant.

Lucky for him, he landed relatively well. His body could apparently take a nasty fall like a champ. Must be the extra squishiness providing some much needed padding that softened the blow...

Whatever it was, it saved him a miserable journey. And the ventilation system saved him a potential trampling on the way out. He just needed to avoid the mouse droids.

He doubted they'd be happy to find a trespasser in their territory.

-

"This is absurd Oln..." A white and blue colored BD unit hissed disparagingly, as it watched from up above how the little frog trooper sprinted from one hidden corner of the streets of Coruscant onto the next.

Dogma was being cautious. That much both higher beings in disguise could tell, as they observed his daring escape in progress. Not a bad idea, really. While the vehicular traffic floated well above his little head, the foot-traffic was a different story. And still very much a danger to his diminutive body.

Not to mention the myriad of stray beasts that wouldn't mind making a quick snack out of him...

"Your plan did not work at all, and now that poor trooper is allocating himself to live at the zoo!" The BD's lens focused on the red loth-cat sitting lazily besides it. A righteous fury radiating off of the droid as it regarded its companion with burning judgement of their impulsive actions.

"I wouldn't say it failed either..." The cat responded calmly. "I provided a fresh perspective through the eyes of something he and his brothers seemed to consider repulsive and lesser."

"You caused him needless misery, is what you did! And it did not solve whatever turmoil he was already going through..." Arbiter stamped their foot in disagreement. "While the others had his best interest at heart, they did not communicate with him appropriately... And he continued to misunderstand what their feelings towards him truly were..."

"It is not an easy lesson to learn." Oln conceded. Well aware that a lot had not gone according to their plan, but still seeming optimistic about the current odds. "Matters of the heart rarely are, which is what makes Humans so stubbornly impossible at times... But I do believe this will spur his brothers into actually putting themselves in his shoes."

"How? He's run off and left no idea of where he is headed..." Arbiter sat back down, watching the frog turn towards another corner that would lead him into a maintenance shaft. One that lead towards the level he needed to climb to, to get to the zoo.

"That's where the beauty of bonds lay, my dearest friend..." Oln smirked in that cat-like way they often did. "His closest brothers will know. At the very least, his twin will know... And that's exactly who he needs right now."

"I hope you're right... For the poor guy's sake at least."

"When have I ever given you reason to doubt any of my plans?"

"Oh, I can list a few instances..."

"Just trust in me, Arb..."

-

Coric was, unequivocally, a bit of a restless mess.

It's not like he could really help it (not when circumstances were as they were). And he knew he wasn't the only one in this kind of state. Otherwise all of the other medics wouldn't have slowly sneaked out of their bunks in the middle of the night, and gone to the medbay to ponder on that day's mind-boggling events.

The on duty CMO was sure that he was slowly wearing a hole in the floor as he paced. Looking quite the sight of anxious energy, with one arm behind his back while the other remained raised up so that he could tap away at his chin in time with his incessant pacing.

Were he the one sitting on the floor enjoying Beau time, he might have snapped at whomever might have been in his current position. But if his pacing bothered anyone, no one seemed to have it in them to say it out loud. Not that either Twitch or Sponge were currently focusing on anything but the rotund barghest who was valiantly attempting to drown them in her slobber...

"We're going to have to tell Rex, aren't we?" Pitch called up from the examination table where he was laying with his hands over his chest. It was his best imitation of a dead body laid out by a natborn mortician for display (a rather strange mourning ritual that disturbed him to no end, once he'd learned about it).

"We told the others." Kix pointed out, seeing no reason to stall any further in terms of bringing this up to their CO. "If we keep it from him for too long, he might not take kindly... As medics it's our job to be the responsible ones and report any kind of trouble..."

"Not to mention we also told Ahsoka, general Nu and general Che..." Twitch added, never once looking up from where he was focused on giving Beau the best scratches of her life. "The captain will definitely be a little sore if we don't tell him that one of his troopers has turned into an exotic frog..."

"Yes, because approaching the captain with this topic without sounding absolutely insane is going to be oh so easy..." Sponge's muffled response was full of bitter sarcasm as usual.

"Usually, yes we'd sound like we're on Spice. But we do have proof vod'ika." Coric pointed out, giving his legs a break by sitting right next to Pitch on the examination table. "I doubt Rex would think we went to the extent to tattoo a frog just for the sake of a practical joke..."

"Doubt even Hardcase would go that far." Pitch agreed. "And he's done some pretty outlandish things to get back at Jesse and Fives..."

"And we also have eyewitness accounts." Twitch added, recalling everyone that had seen Dogma growing sick in the mess hall, and then the group that had seen him transforming. "Oh, and probably security footage from the medbay..."

Coric felt bad for the poor sod who'd have to go through that footage during inspection day. They were, without a doubt, in for a shockingly gross surprise once their shift began.

As it stood, they were all pretty much at a standstill. Basically just sitting idle while waiting for something to happen (new developments perhaps? Some miracle solution to come down from the heavens? A request for them to somehow be able to extend their leave so that Dogma wasn't left alone in his current condition?).

Ask and the Force shall provide. Or however that saying went...

The door to the medbay opened up and in walked the captain himself and their padawan commander. The former looking somewhat bewildered by something currently unknown to them, while the latter had a wide grin upon her jovial face for reasons also unknown. Whenever Ahsoka Tano was in this good a mood, the medics had learned to either be alarmed by whatever may follow, or to look forward to something quite grand.

"Good news boys! Master Nu might have found something in the Archives!" The togruta proclaimed, causing all medics to perk up and turn to face her (or, in Sponge's case, lightly readjust Beau's position so that they could see past her chest fluff).

"The general found a way to cure Dogma?!" eyes wide with both hope and excitement, Twitch practically ran over to meet with the two new arrivals. A light bounce in his step.

"About that..." Rex frowned, sending the medical staff a stern glare as he crossed his arms in typical 'I'm not angry I'm just disappointed' fashion. He was clearly not too pleased with not having been in the know. "What's this about Dogma turning into a frog...?"

Kix and Coric both winced audibly, while Pitch quickly looked away so as to not face Rex when he was displeased with them all. Twitch was the only one who didn't seem deterred, even when Sponge fidgeted uncomfortably at getting caught being sneaky. Usually they weren't too bothered with incurring the captain's wrath.

Tonight was proving to be very astounding indeed.

"We were going to tell you sir. We just hoped we wouldn't have to so soon while we didn't have definitive answers..." The younger medic explained. "And it's a good thing too. If there's a potential cure, then you really didn't need to worry about it in the end!"

"....Any of the men I'm responsible for turning into frogs under my nose, is still something I should DEFINITELY worry about. Even if there is a cure..."

"Hold your fathiers, I didn't say it was a cure!" Ahsoka interjected while holding her hands up in the universal show of getting everyone to back up a bit. "But it might lead us to one, since it is something the Force itself might be able to do after all..."

"Still better than nothing!" Pitch pointed out optimistically, an easy smile on his face. "Information is information... Oh, and if we're going to the general about this, we should go get Dogma. I'm sure he'll want to hear about this. It might do him some good since he's been a bundle of nerves all day..."

The others seemed to agree. Coric himself also agreed.

With how much their kih'vod had been reacting to stressors, it really might ease his mind if he saw that they were on the right track to getting him fixed up.

The warning they'd been given by the Master Archivist and Healer still rang fresh in their mind. And, knowing that something so small like a frog could easily die from complications due to stress, keeping Dogma's anxiety to a minimum was a must.

The Jedi knowing something, even if it was just some kind of a anecdotal tale, might get him to ease up a little.

And thus their trek back towards the barracks was a little noisier than they intended it to be. In spite of that, no one would fault them for their sudden boisterousness. After Dogma, the medics had all been just as tense about this whole ordeal as the transformed trooper himself was. If not more so, due to the enormous responsibility that fell upon their shoulders.

Waking up a few brothers in the process of retrieving the little frog trooper from his safe spot in the terrarium, would not be too bad in the grand scheme of things.

Only, there was just one itty bitty little problem with this. Dogma was nowhere to be seen. The terrarium they'd built for him with so much love and care, was noticeably uninhabited.

"Ok very funny, who took him?!" Sponge whipped around and glared accusingly towards the bunks, while Kix went to turn on the lights before dashing over to the terrarium they'd all helped construct to keep Dogma safe and happy.

All around them resting vode began to rouse from their fitful slumber with loud complaints and angry grumbles. Some either sat up to glare back at the cantankerous medic, or simply turned away and hid their head beneath their pillows and blankets to shield themselves from the assault of light and noise.

No one answered the question. Which only aggravated Sponge even further.

"Quit moaning about getting your beauty sleep interrupted! Which of you di'kuts took Dogma?!" Sponge barked back. Impatient and clearly displeased with what they assumed was a prank in bad taste.

"What are you talking about...? No one took Dogma..." Fives rubbed at his eyes as he sat up sleepily. Echo sitting up slowly beside him and looking somewhat dazed from being woken up so rudely.

"Oh really?" Sponge growled, flashing their teeth at the ARC trooper with the goatee and numeral tattoo. "Then why the hell is his tank empty?!"

At this, the others began to shake off the drowsiness to look towards the terrarium for confirmation of their statement.

Coric and Kix were both pulling a few of the decorations aside to see if maybe the aforementioned frog hadn't just hidden under them to rest somewhere quieter. When they still ended up empty handed, their concern only doubled.

Pinched expressions and tense body language evidence enough that Sponge wasn't just picking a fight out of general crabbiness. Not that they were prone to just randomly start things in the middle of the night. The others just couldn't be too sure of how stable their mood was when they were so clearly stressed out with worry.

Jesse and Hardcase both hopped out of their own bunks and moved over to help. They seemed just as confused and worried as the senior medics. And not without reason.

"That's... He was right there when we went to sleep..." The usually hyperactive heavy-gunner commented aloud while looking at the tank. He seemed utterly perplexed by this unexpected situation. "I remember giving him a little cricket and everything just before calling it a night..."

"He can't just have vanished!" Sponge huffed and puffed as they watched other clones begin to join the frantic search.

They were all looking under bunks and behind trunks, upturning anything that may hide a small critter. All trying to figure out where their now-amphibious brother had gone to while they'd been sound asleep.

Tup (who had yet to say anything) slowly crept out of his bunk to join the group surrounding the terrarium, but paused when his bare foot touched something slightly moist that sent a cold jolt up his leg and spine.

Looking down, the long haired trooper noticed a small trail of mud leading from the base of the table where the terrarium sat, to a vent that had wide enough bars that something small like a rat or a frog might be able to pass through.

Putting 2 and 2 together, he quickly realized what this meant.

"Dogma!" At his cry of alarm, every other trooper in the barracks (and Ahsoka) turned to look at Tup. Seeing how he ran over towards the wall and crouched in front of the vent in an attempt to peer inside into the vast darkness within its confines.

Exchanging knowing glances, no one had to say anything more on the matter. The captain held up his comm and began barking out orders to whomever had been assigned the night shifts. The base would be on indefinite lock-down until they could locate and safely retrieve their wayward vod.

Starting with figuring out where that vent might lead to, which might require some extra help from someone who could give them that kind of information...

-

Fox was not having a good night.

An understatement, as it was rare that he ever got a good night at all. But this particular one was certainly one among many that left him feeling surlier than usual. Mostly because it had been too quiet, and that often heralded trouble for him and his Guard.

And then, of course, he'd gotten cosmic confirmation that his paranoia was not uncalled for, in the form of a call from a certain someone who only ever remembered he existed whenever he needed a favour or two.

Rarely did he ever get to have normal social calls that didn't involve some kind of shenanigans orchestrated by his blond kih'vod'ika...

"Slow down Rex." Pinching the bridge of his nose, the marshal commander of the Guard took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice level.

As much as he hated the recent indifference his batch had shown him in terms of staying up to date on communications, he didn't need to take it out on his vod'ika who did stop to ask him how he was doing whenever he had to drag one of his men out of the Drunk Tank by the ear.

Fox knew better than to push away one of the few GAR boys that still cared enough to make polite idle chatter with him. Even if the little sheb'ika came to him with some of the weirdest requests he'd ever heard in his entire service record. And little gods only knew how many weird requests Rex had come up with, since he'd become Skywalker's second in command.

Not even a a promotion in sight and the kid was somehow doing better in terms of reputation than the actual clone commander of the 501st...

It did mean Fox interacted less with his general however, which was a pro in all of his books rather than a con, no matter how demeaning he thought it might be for his vod to be reduced to an errand boy or pet fool. Skywalker was nothing short of insufferable (and a liability) after all, and Fox preferred to avoid him like the plague.

"What's this about ventilation blueprints?" Fox ran a hand over his cropper hair, having only just had the time to shave and bleach it prior to preparing to get it dyed. He was thinking a nice teal to contrast all the blood red he had to see on the daily. Be it his paint or a suspicious amount of actual blood on his person, that he couldn't quite (nor wanted to) account for. "Hm... A frog...? Uh, depends... Some of the vents on this planet are older than the actual levels themselves and have their own very rudimentary self-maintenance systems... If your boys lost a pet in there, it's probably already been turned into minced meat..."

He winced slightly as his ears got bombarded.

"I said probably, not definitely. I don't know if your boys or the natborn officers that should be manning the GAR, actually set the vents to clean up regularly enough that.... Oh... Yeah uh, you should look into that then. You really do not want anything hazardous to actually climb out of tho-- Alright, alright! Just take a deep breath vod'ika, you sound like you're going to have an aneurysm over the comm..." Fox began to pace around his office as he continued to listen to his younger brother prattle on about a missing pet frog or whatever this was.

He sounded far too distressed over something so trivial like that.

Sometimes people (and many a clueless rookies) just lost their pets on Coruscant (it was far too common an issue with Senators even, which wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact some of them had very exotic and dangerous preferences).

Heck, Fox himself had lost a tooka he'd taken in a while back. Then again, for all he knew it had just moved on to the next sod who'd fed it more consistently. Touché Mr Socks...

"Look, maybe it wandered into the vents and got out before hopping off or whatever it is frogs do..." The commander sat down on the chair his men had gifted him. It was an armchair, rather than an office chair, soiled by years of use and weeks of being out in the curb. But the Guard had made due with what little they could salvage and, despite it's hideously stained appearance, it was actually quite comfortable and clean. "This entire planet's infrastructure has vents inside of vents inside of vents. Even if I gave you blueprints for the GAR headquarters's ventilation system and all its maintenance shafts, you would still never find-- What do you mean hang on?! Vod'ika I'm bus--Oh don't give me that attitude! Fine I'll hold on..."

Tapping his fingers impatiently against his desk, Fox waited for Rex to return. Being put on hold over a frog seemed incredibly silly (not to mention downright insulting). It was still better than attending to one of Orn Free Taa's long-winded speech practice sessions. Taking the call had at least gotten him a way to weasel out of THAT indignity...

He stopped tapping once he heard Rex's voice again. This time he couldn't keep the irritation out of his own voice.

"What do you mean you're coming to pick me up?!" Hand running down his face, Fox groaned. "Why do I even put up with you...?"

He stared blankly as he got a reply to his question.

"....'Because I love you' is NOT an answer, you absolute miserable pain in the shebs!" He hissed into the comm as he hung up, wasting no time to collect his bucket and march out of his office. Much to the confusion of everyone else he passed by. He might as well go outside before the damned gremlin showed up to drag him into whatever misadventure he'd conjured up this time.

Cody would rue the day he ever took pity on the little CT that he'd found out in the rain, looking like a pathetic sopping wet womp rat.

Fox would make sure of it, one way or another...

It turned out to be a good decision to leave ahead of time because his vod'ika was not alone. And (taking stock of who was with him) Fox doubted the group he was with would be greeted with open arms by any of the veterans of the Guard.

Everyone who'd ever worked the detainment shift had a list with photos of repeat offenders, and there were at least three faces in the crowd that were usuals at the Drunk Tank.

It almost made him turn around, march up back into the Guard headquarters, and lock the door behind him. Almost.

Sadly he doubted that whatever Rex (and the rest of his ragtag team of rabble-rousers) was up to, could go unsupervised. It was common knowledge at this point that whenever that particular shade of blue shell was anywhere outside of the GAR's facilities, that it usually ended in quite a few calls from grouchy civilians that weren't particularly grateful for the clone army's services.

It fell upon him and his commanders to make sure the 501st didn't make every single clone a target of hatred due to their carelessness while on leave.

Which is what kept Fox from fleeing for his sanity.

"What is this?" He cut to the chase, leveling the captain with a stern glare beneath his bucket. One he knew for sure Rex could guess was being cast his way, from being raised alongside Fox's batch. "It's well past GAR curfew."

"I'm well aware commander." Rex responded calmly. He'd managed to compose himself on the way. Good. He didn't much feel like dealing with his fellow bottle blond while he was a bundle of nerves. "But I do have a good reason."

"Ah." The marshal commander crossed his arms behind his back, regarding the 501st captain with some disdain. He wouldn't call whatever this was a good reason. At least not from what little he knew of what actually was going on. "Do clarify why requesting documents that are not entirely free to the public, specifically to rescue a pet frog, would be considered a good reason? Or a reasonable waste of my time? I was in the middle of Senate duty."

He wasn't about to admit he'd been dying to find a reason to ditch Senator Taa. He couldn't give all his cards away or express gratitude. Rex, sneaky bastard that he was, would try to cash in on that favour later if he knew. His vod'ika had learned from the best after all...

"That's the thing... He's not a pet frog. Or a frog... A real frog I mean." Rex tried to explain, only for one of his men (a medic, if the symbol on his pauldron was anything to go by) to step in and interject.

"What the captain means, commander Fox sir, is that there was an incident this morning concerning one of the 501st's newest sergeants." The bald medic (there were a lot of medics in the group now that he was looking at them) with the faint scar over his left eye, stated calmly. "We are not entirely sure how this happened, and we are assuming that it has to do with the Force itself experiencing some kind of a 'glitch'... But, to put things simply, our man was transformed into a frog."

"I know it sounds strange, and insane, but when you work with the Jetii you grow used to strange nonsense involving the Force." Rex continued after nodding gratefully at the medic. "Either way, I wouldn't have bothered you over a lost pet. But, as this isn't a pet..."

"Maker give me patience..." Fox shook his head in disbelief. Ok, a trooper had been turned into a frog by 'Force Osik'. That made a little more sense as to why he'd be called in to help. He supposed. "And you think he's still in the vents?"

"Well... We're not sure?" One of the other medics, this one looking younger than the rest of the group (with some rather garishly decorated armour to boot), admitted. "I mean... He couldn't have gone far, but then we have no idea why or when he left..."

"Yeah, I mean, we even built him a terrarium that was absolutely frog heaven. And we gave him lots of food, and whatever a frog might need to thrive like the generals told us to!" Another trooper, Jesse (one of the Drunk Tank usuals), pointed out. "If I was a frog, I wouldn't have wanted to leave all of that to go into some dirty vent..."

"Yeah same! Seems kind of like a downgrade to me..." Fives (another Drunk Tank usual), agreed with a nod. "Makes no sense..."

Fox stared at the two with an incredulous look that they couldn't see, but the way he slowly turned his head should be more than indicative of the mood. That said, he doubted they could sense the amount of disgust he felt at their obliviousness. What truly bothered him about this situation, is that the rest of the group didn't seem to be seeing the same glaring issue that he had no trouble zeroing in on.

"You're kidding right...?" Dropping the decorum, Fox stared (really stared) at them all with nothing short of barely contained anger. Foot tapping away on duracreet, as he tried to keep himself from shaking any of them until they heard their own idiotic words rattle inside their thick skulls.

"Uh?" Fives blinked, surprised at his curt response.

"A downgrade? Makes no sense?" Fox shook his head. "Look, if what you said is true and your sergeant turned into a frog, then I'm pretty sure he ran into the vents because he felt belittled."

"Belittled...?" The bald medic's brows furrowed slightly. He exchanged a look with the others, some of which seemed to slowly grasp what it was Fox was getting at. Good, there was hope for some of these men yet...

"If you woke up one day as a frog and you were put on display and fed like a pet for everyone to see, would you not feel demeaned in any way?" He carried on, putting as much resentment and disapproval into his words as possible.

In reality he (and the rest of his men) could relate with this situation far too easily. It disturbed him that the 501st had grown far too comfortable in the presence of natborn officers and Jetii alike, that filled their heads with empty promises. Grown so comfortable with people that didn't care for clones other than how they could be useful to them, that they'd forgotten what it was like to be regarded as anything but what they were:

Owned property.

Clones with no rights and no legal representative in the Senate, or public acknowledgement of their obvious sentience. Holding the same sort of value as a well trained massiff or (if you were unlucky enough to catch someone's eye) a very fancy show bantha to be displayed.

The idea of suddenly having your form changed into something that could be easily lorded over by others, and have no means of communicating your distress to anyone but yourself? Fox knew that feeling all to well as well... Sans the transformation part, of course. He was no stranger to having the rights he did not legally have, so terribly violated by someone much more powerful and so heedlessly loved by hundreds of millions.

That was his life as marshal commander. Suffering so that no one else he cared for had to.

"We were just trying to look after him..." Interposed the medic with the intricate lightning bolt buzz and fade "When we couldn't figure out what to make of Dogma's situation, we sought help from the Jedi Temple and were told to be mindful of his needs as a frog. We even researched what to do to fulfill those needs."

"Yes, and while it's admirable that you took charge and went to someone more qualified to deal with the issue, it doesn't erase the fact you might have gotten a little carried away in your care." Fox pointed out, watching the medic's face fall slightly. "Even with good intentions, it would feel fairly dehumanizing to be put into a situation like this. Having all your agency taken from you by people you should be able to trust in."

One by one, each of the 501st vode seemed to at last fully understand what he was telling them. Their expressions slowly changing into concerned frowns as they likely began assessing their last few interactions with the aforementioned sergeant. And, like a light suddenly cast in shadow, their previous missteps finally became painfully clear to them.

In all their worrying over trying to keep Dogma from stressing himself to death, they'd indeed gotten too caught up in treating him like you'd treat one of the frogs he had become.

They never even considered what he might feel about that.

"It's like with what happened at the zoo..." The second ARC trooper, the one with the hand print on his chest plate, muttered to no one in particular. "When Fives said that the frog in the tank reminded him of Dogma because it looked so grouchy..."

"It was a harmless joke to the rest of us, but he didn't see it as that." The younger medic nodded, seeming to know what the ARC was talking about. "And he took it to heart because every time someone makes a joke about him, it's not usually lighthearted..."

"No, usually people just make fun of him because they think it's funny to get a rise out of him..." Jesse looked away in shame, no doubt having been one of those people as well. From how his shoulders fell, Fox could at least tell he was genuinely regretful of that.

"We made a dumb joke, we laughed, and he overthought it to the point he skipped out on late meal and blocked out everyone who came check up on him..." Hardcase slowly curled his arms around himself and fidgeted uneasily as the guilt settled in. "Kriff, I think we've been looking at all his reactions wrong... He was upset because we kept talking about him like he wasn't there, and instead of paying him mind we just ran about thinking we knew what was best for him..."

"You weren't thinking about what was best for Dogma." Rex shook his head, clearly a little mad at his troopers. Fox didn't fault him. He'd be just as furious if this had happened to his men instead. "You should have come to me and general Skywalker the moment all of this happened. I know you were doing what you thought was right, but if you'd have just come to either of us, we could have avoided this entire misunderstanding..."

They all fell into silence. Inwardly processing all of this to the best of their abilities. Then, the trooper with the tear drop decals and messy topknot gasped loudly.

"That's it!" He exclaimed, startling everyone else in the process. "I know where Dogma went!"

Rex turned to face the trooper, both surprised at his sudden exclamation, and curious as to what he might have in mind.

"Are you sure, Tup?" he asked.

"I know Dogma like the back of my hand, and that's exactly the problem. Because he wasn't acting like Dogma, I didn't pay enough attention because all of this just wasn't typical of him... Of my idea of him." Tup continued, wringing his hands together as he looked at the captain. "He gets stuck in his own head sometimes, withdraws and hides when he doesn't know what else to do. And it got worse after Umbara... But... Even in one of his stupors he would have gone where he thought he'd be needed. And since he's been turned into a frog..."

"The zoo!" The medic with little to no paint on them smacked their on face in frustration. "Haar'chak... That self-deprecating clever little sheb'ika..."

"Yeah..." Tup smiled sadly "We treated him like a frog, so he'll accept that's what he is now and go where you'd find that type of frog. Since he can't exactly pilot a ship to wherever these ones come from, the zoo is the next best option."

"Right." Fox carried on, crossing his arms once more behind his back as he watched the group. "Does this mean I get to go back to what I was doing?"

They all stared at him impassively. Wishful thinking on his part. He knew in truth that (considering the zoo was closed at this hour) he wouldn't just be able to go on with his night.

It was still worth a try to get the hell away from this gang of misfits.

"Very well... Lets go then. But you owe me big for this one, Rex..." The marshal commander of the Guard growled lowly, making sure to glare at his vod'ika who seemed entirely unfazed by his rising frustration. Brat.

"I always pay my debts ori'vod."

It takes them a few lift trips to get to their destination. Then only a few swift clicks and turns of the lock-picks Fox legally does not own on record. He has them for many very good reasons, but that is Guard business and not something to be discussed openly where the wrong person could hear.

If it bothers any of the 501st boys currently trailing him (his vod'ika included), they don't dare say it to his face. It's his particular set of skills and street smarts that are getting them this far anyway, and their silence and gratitude are expected as much as they are well deserved.

All savoir faire aside, he does make a note of how easy it is to break into the zoo's security system. It's a fairly rudimentary thing. Consisting of mostly manual locks and just a few cameras and ray-shields. Tubie grade toys that anyone can crack into, and that is clearly just there for show.

He supposes things might be different in the more exclusive areas that require a fair bit more credits to get to experience, but it is no less annoying to know someone could just waltz in and steal something like an exotic and highly venomous creature...

He already has enough issues controlling the feral runaway pet population on Coruscant. He doesn't need this as another potential problem to the ever expanding roster.

"There. Go in quickly and don't stall." He motioned for the group to carry on with their business. The quicker they found what they were looking for, the better. Best they not linger around for long.

"Thanks Fox... I really do owe you." Rex gave him a courteous nod as he let the others run on ahead.

"Yes you do, you little shit." A flick to the nose was the best he could do for now, but Fox was definitely going to cash in on that favour later. There were certain things the GAR could provide him after all, and the captain was in no position to deny him any requests of his own. Especially not after dragging him on this clown show. "Just don't let them make a mess in there. I'd rather not have to be called back here in the morning because your lot trashed the place..."

-

Dogma found it infinitely ironic how incredibly easy it had actually been to get as far as he did.

Coruscant (which was more of a maze planet than a city planet in his oh so humble opinion) was often fairly difficult for him to navigate on a good day, due to all of the constant foot and hover-transport traffic. No matter how much planning he did ahead of time, or how much attention he paid to street signs, he had always managed to get turned around and it had frustrated him to no end.

As a frog no bigger than a nerf patty, it should have been trice as difficult to get to his destination. And yet, somehow (perhaps by sheer will and determination), he'd managed to sneak out of the GAR headquarters, traverse the dank and dark Coruscanti streets, and then gotten into a locked up entertainment/educational facility.

Oh, and he had also climbed into an already occupied frog exhibit without distressing his new roommates too much. That had also been bewilderingly easy, and also indicative of very lazy security measures that he was fairly certain weren't up to standards.

Although, to be fair, he doubted any of the city levels were OSHA compliant with just how much more infrastructure had been added on over the years, rather than the governing forces opting to reclaim the sub-levels. Very few sentient beings alive right now had likely ever seen the absolute basement level of the planet itself. The Jedi likely included.

All thoughts of needlessly complicated architecture and standards of building aside, maybe the underwhelming nature of his trek was just how life as an animal generally went. Overly simplified with little to no nuances or stressful aggravation (aka the human condition), or obstacles of their own making.

Maybe Dogma just had to get used to going unchallenged, now that he was an insignificant little frog. An amphibious creature with little to no value, other than being something curious to gawk at from behind a glassy barrier. A mere tidbit of knowledge shared at a party as a random trivia fact.

His new "friends" seemed to live with that just fine.

That said, he yearned for something more fulfilling in his every day life than just to sit around looking as unsightly as he did right now. Like a game of high stakes dejarik (playing for shift swaps and favours was exhilarating, even if he knew he shouldn't encourage dishonest behaviors while on duty); a meaningful conversation about things he'd learned from the few holobooks he'd managed to read in the last couple of months (mostly encyclopedias with all kinds of useful knowledge, for a future he wished for but couldn't hope to ever have); or maybe even the closeness he no longer had with any of the vode he'd left behind (he yearned for a vodpile like a starving man lusted after a Braised Shaak Roast)...

He wondered if the other frogs ever felt that sort of itchy longing in their limited thinking span. Hard to tell when those beady little eyes of theirs glanced out at nothing with a sort of vague vacancy that inspired little to no level of intellect at all.

Honestly they were just regarding him as if he were another flat surface or other such fixture of their tank. New but familiar in a way that told them this was a normal addition to their little world, and nothing to really concern themselves with. Perhaps if he willed it enough, his consciousness would leave him faster and he'd be just as dense and carefree as them.

The frog instincts that had arisen in him through out the day and caused him so much trouble, had yet to fully set in and take his ability to think from him. As a result, the overwhelming fear he'd felt at that possibility was suddenly gone from his mind.

In fact, he felt somewhat impatient now. Left to wonder when exactly Dogma would seize to be, and the geometrically marked frog would finally take over.

Settling down upon a decorative piece of driftwood and watching the other inhabitants of the tank with a minimal degree of sadness, Dogma sighed to himself and lay as flat as he could on his pudgy little belly. The one that he'd filled up with way too much food prior to his departure from the familiarity of home base. Silently he pondered on the past few days he'd experienced before finding himself where he was now.

He was maybe even considering the sleep he'd denied himself for the sake of escaping, when a noise in the building startled him into the full alertness he was trained to rely on out in the field. The other frogs quickly took offense to the sound and dove into the water to find better hiding spots away from view. Their instincts telling them that a sharp noise not made by themselves, was often indicative of danger to be avoided.

Only Dogma stood his ground to investigate further. He was still thinking too much like a soldier, something he'd need to change soon if he wanted to fit in with the rest of his new kin. But that could wait a few more minutes.

The once proud clone trooper sat still, listening in on whatever was making such a racket in the middle of the night. Fully aware that no one would be inside the facility at this hour. No one that should be there at least...

The idea of a thief breaking into the zoo to steal some of the animals did cross his mind (although he doubted they'd be so bold as to try to take something like an oggdo).

The noises were steadily growing closer, becoming progressively louder as a result of proximity. Dogma could make out a lot of footfall, so it was most definitely a group rather than a singular individual. He couldn't, however, tell if they were speaking. Their running a bit too frantic to catch any potential voices.

And then the door on the far side of the room opened up, and he saw a flash of familiar white and blue. Wasting no time, he dove into the water himself and joined the other frogs in hiding. Unwilling to be seen by the very same people he'd been running away from.

What could they possibly be doing here at this time of night? More importantly, what could they possibly want from the zoo?

"Fives, do you see him in there?" Hardcase called out as he made his way towards the budgett's frog enclosure at a slower pace than the aforementioned ARC. Fives practically had his face pressed to the tank's glassy surface after bounding over to inspect it. But (from what Dogma could tell at least), he didn't seem to be able to see him in his hiding spot among the other frogs.

It didn't really surprise him. Hiding in groups was a classical tactic to avoid scrutiny from trainers, Kaminoans and upset superior officers alike. Employing the same strategy as a frog proved to be just as effective, since the color and size variations between them weren't too drastic.

That said, his mind began to fill with questions anew. They'd come out here to look for him? Why? Last he checked they didn't particularly care for him.

That said they had seemed fond enough of the idea to keep him as some kind of mascot, which was a thought that filled him with a modicum of bitterness. To think he was more likeable to them as this...

But how could they have known to come here to look for him? Was he that obvious, or was it something else? It had to be something else.

Maybe he'd left some kind of a trail without meaning to...

"All of the frogs are in the back hiding under stuff... I can't tell if he's in there with them..." Fives replied after squinting in silence for a few seconds. "I don't fancy my chances of poking them without getting bit..."

"It's not like they're venomous." Hardcase joined his side, and Dogma pressed himself further back, eyes focusing on the two troopers that were covering his view of whom else might be coming to check the tank. He squeaked in apology as he bumped into one of the other frogs, causing it to puff up slightly and stare menacingly at him. "Just lift that off and have a better look. A bite or two won't kill you!"

"If I mess with the exhibit, I'm pretty sure commander Fox will kill me." Fives winced. "I'll be on my knees getting executed Mafia style faster than you can say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'..."

"...What the hell does that even mean?" Hardcase raised an eyebrow at the bizarre and rather long word. Funny, Dogma didn't peg Fives for the musical sort.

"It's just a fancy way of saying wonderful." Fives shrugged "Either way, I am not karking around with the exhibit. I value my life, thank you very much..."

"Yeah?" Tup huffed as he pushed past the two of them to look into the exhibit himself. "Well I value my twin's safety!"

"And Fox isn't going to execute you 'Mafia style', stop being dramatic..." The captain joined the trio. Looking all kinds of put-off by this situation. "Now help me pull that up to have a look. If he made it out here on his own, he's probably tired and we shouldn't overstay our welcome anyway..."

From his hiding spot, Dogma stood frozen in shock.

Tup was worried about him? Worried enough to come looking for him at all? It didn't make sense. Not with how distant he'd been lately... And he'd also been very unwilling to believe Dogma was still Dogma because he'd been acting like a frog (which, fair, if Tup had also eaten a live grub he might have thought his twin was possessed by some kind of bizarre insect-eating spirit).

Honestly he'd half expected to never see his batchmate ever again after tonight. He'd also assumed it would probably be good for the long haired trooper to not have a defective batcher holding him back anymore...

Well, not that he was doing that prior to being transformed into a frog. They hadn't been as close as they'd once been, especially after Umbara had happened. A little before that they had already begun to cross towards very different paths. Drifting apart ever so slightly as they tried to get accustomed to being a part of their new battalion (their new family, as Tup had put it).

The truth was that Dogma was entirely at fault for this. And he knew he was.

As a cadet he had always been bad at endearing himself to others. An issue that did not resolve itself as he grew older, no matter how hard he tried to follow his twin's advice on dealing with his awkwardness. Tup, on the other hand, was absolutely excellent with this particular subject matter. The social butterfly of the squad they'd been adopted into (because Acronym had also been somewhat shy, and both Bully and Jawbreaker stuck to each other more often than not).

Tup was just the kih'vod that everyone smiled at whenever they both walked into a room. In contrast, no one was ever excited to see Dogma. But they always lit up at the sight of their Tup'ika.

And that had undoubtedly both frightened him, and filled him with a tremendous jealousy that just would not go away, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that his feelings were irrational.

Deep down, he had always known that it was just a matter of time before his twin turned his back on him, and began hanging out with literally anyone else.

Hang out with vode that didn't dig their heels into the sand at the thought of being anything but compliant to the standards; who had better more interesting hobbies than keeping up to date on topics that bored others to near death; who weren't opposed to breaking the rules whenever they had little else to do; and who knew how to be absolutely comfortable in their own skins. Who were confident in their own senses of self.

Vode that were nothing at all like stiff killjoy boring Dogma...

The idea hurt more than any jeer or punch anyone ever threw at him, when he was still small enough that his control over his tantrums and crying fits was little to none. And it had also made him a little clingy and overprotective of his twin. Selfishly trying to insert himself into Tup's space, and hold up both his time and attention because he was too scared of losing his only friend.

Sithhells, he'd dragged him along on Umbara too. Nearly setting him on the same destructive path that had made Dogma so much of a detestable sight to the rest of their battalion. Fives's hateful glare and Jesse's snide remarks still oh so clear in his memory. But of course Tup had been smarter than him in the end. He'd made the right choice while Dogma had allowed himself to be played for a fool. He'd dug his own grave and made himself dar'vod.

If anyone had a reason to leave him to this froggy fate of his, and not look back, it was certainly Tup who'd suffered through years of Dogma's self-centered nonsense. Because Dogma was a limpet stuck to his side all their relatively short lives, and wouldn't it be better to just not have a blood-sucking parasite leeching off of him for a change?

Knowing all this, his tube-twin's presence and obvious concern really made little to no sense at all. It was frustrating how other people rarely made sense.

"We can't just... Look these things get stressed easy! And if they die on our watch we're all screwed big time." Fives continued. "I really don't want to be on the marshal commander's shit list... I hear he kicks harder than even commander Cody... And commander Cody can kick the head off of a B2 like it's nothing!"

"I'm not gonna break anything, and I'm not gonna mess with the frogs." Tup settled Fives with a stern glare. "If it was Echo in his place, would you hesitate to do look for him if he'd run off because everyone else acted like shabuirs without noticing?"

"I... Of course not." At that the ARC backed off, seeming taken aback. He'd likely not thought about it from that angle. "Fine... Here let me just..."

Dogma pressed himself flat against the tank wall and turned away so he wouldn't be facing the other troopers. As much as Tup being here (any of them being here actually) made his little heart flutter with something akin to hope that maybe (just maybe), someone did tolerate him enough to want him back, he couldn't go back on his decision now. This is where he belonged.

They had to understand that! He was no good to them like this!

He closed his eyes tightly as he heard something move above his head, and promptly ignored the angry startled shrieks of the other frogs who were now pushing into him as they puffed up and screamed at the intruders.

His tattoo would make him easily identifiable among the riled up crowd. If they couldn't see it, they wouldn't know it was him. And then maybe they'd just give up and leave before they actually broke something and got into trouble for it. He didn't want them getting into trouble because of him.

"You know...All the grumpiness and dying loth-cat noises aside, they're not as ugly as I thought they were..." He heard Fives comment as he probably stared at all the upset frogs currently screaming their heads off at them. "They're like... It's like Echo said. They're ugly cute. Like naked voorpaks."

"He's gonna be all smug that you agree with him as soon as he finds out that you changed your mind~" Hardcase purred in that pleased sing-song kind of way that always got everyone else groaning with exasperation. His 'up-to-no-good' voice as Dogma liked to call it, because he usually was up to shenanigans whenever he employed it.

"That's why Echo isn't going to find out." Fives retorted.

"Too late, I could hear you from way over there with how much your voice carries in this place." Dogma assumed that was Echo and, even though he was turned away from them, he could tell the ARC was likely smirking smugly as Hardcase had suggested.

Everyone had probably surrounded the tank by now with just how loud the other frogs were getting. He laid down flatter in an attempt to both better hide from their gaze, and to try to drown out the unbearable cacophony that was making his inner-ears ring.

Please, if there really was some kind of a merciful god or entity out there, let it have some kind of sympathy for him. Let it make his brothers give up and just leave him be, so that he could get on with this new life of his.

But of course, if there really was such a higher being out there, it did not grace him at all with anything but disdain.

"Dogma... Dogma I see you." Tup sounded relieved. "You're in the back playing possum."

"Uh, you sure it's him?" He wasn't sure who was asking and he didn't dare turn around to confirm Tup's guess.

"Well, from what Coric, Kix, Pitch, Twitch and Sponge read up on, these frogs are incredibly aggressive and are responding to us as they would in the wild." Dogma cursed himself as he listened in on Tup's logic. He hadn't thought that him playing it cool might be a little suspicious. Now that he thought about it, it made sense that he was never very good at playing games like hide and seek. He was bad at concealing himself in general. "Dogma only freaked out whenever anyone said something he didn't like, or when anyone tried to grab him unexpectedly..."

"Like when Pitch suggested making a terrarium to put him in, or when Sponge grabbed him from behind where he couldn't see their hands." Twitch, because it could only be Twitch with how incredibly chipper he seemed about this, added to confirm Tup's suspicions.

"Dogma wouldn't want to bring attention to himself, so he'd just stay still and try to hide in plain sight." Tup carried on. "Which, because he's not acting like everyone else, only brings attention to him."

He couldn't help but let out a low hiss as he looked up at the group with what he hoped was an angry glare. Annoyed at his predictability, his obvious mistake, and the fact that somehow his twin had still been able to get a read on him and his finicky nature even as a frog.

Tup's eyes only lit up the moment he caught sight of his tattoo.

"I knew it." He smiled a clearly pleased smile, which only elicited another low hiss from Dogma. "Sorry vod'ika, but I just know you too well."

He shrieked in protest, flashing the few sharp teeth he had to show just how peeved he was. Yes, Tup had gotten it right, but that didn't mean he'd go with them willingly. For as much as he claimed he knew him well, Tup seemed to not understand that Dogma didn't want to be some kind of battalion mascot.

At that Tup's smile fell.

"I mean that in a good way Dogma... If I didn't know you as well as I do, we might have never found you." the teardrop tattooed trooper's tone became less affable and a little more saddened in response to his negative reaction.

"He's right you know... We wouldn't have thought to look for you here." Echo stepped a little closer to the tank, stopping only when Dogma turned to hiss at him as well. The ARC seemed to understand he didn't want them to come any closer than they already had, so he backed away once more to appease him. "I guess we deserve that... We've been causing you a lot of grief recently..."

Fives, Jesse and Hardcase nodded in agreement, a look of regret on their faces as they fidgeted and fiddled uncomfortably in place. Seeming unsure of what to do with themselves at the moment, while the medics looked down at their own feet in shame.

It made Dogma pause in his aggressive display, regarding them with slight curiosity.

"We haven't been very good brothers to you..." Rex spoke up, eyes sad as he carefully held the hollow log he'd removed from the enclosure. It felt like a long time since he'd actually spoken to his captain. How long had it been? Since he'd gotten sick, maybe? "I haven't been a very good older brother at least. I let something like this slip under my nose, and I can't tell you how sorry I am that I wasn't there to give you a hand."

"We're all very sorry." Coric added. "We were so afraid of causing you any distress that we went a little overboard with generals Nu and Che's advice. We knew you weren't really a frog, and we shouldn't have assumed that treating you like one was the better thing to do."

No, it hadn't. If anything, it had made him feel downright awful. Especially when they ignored his desperate cries of disapproval. And assumed they knew how he'd been feeling, when they'd gotten it completely wrong...

Dogma let out a softer croak and turned away slightly. Even if they were sorry, he was still angry at them. He'd likely be angry for a long time too.

Tup sighed and then took a deep breath. Presumably to collect his thoughts before speaking up again. He seemed determined.

"I'm not sorry about the frog thing..."

At that, Dogma turned back around sharply to stare at his twin in surprise. The others seemed just as startled by his affirmation, staring at him in question.

"Tup...?" Fives gawked.

"I'm not sorry that Dogma got screwed over by the Force." Tup continued defiantly. "It sucks yeah. But..."

He sighed again, running a hand over his hair and tugging on the hair-tie that was barely holding the sloppily pulled up top-knot. His locks falling over onto his shoulder in a messy tangle of knots.

Usually Tup looked well put together appearance wise. He'd always been rather vain, which meant he put a lot of work into being presentable for any occasion. Seeing him like this was a bit of a shock, and indicated to Dogma that his twin had a lot on his mind. Enough so that he'd neglected his hair-care routine.

"Things happen for a reason, right...? At least that's what the Jedi say whenever something goes wrong..." The more sensitive of the group carried on in his explanation. Seeming a little unsure of his own words at first, before shaking away his doubts and continuing strong once he managed to make sense of things. "Maybe the Force saw that we weren't doing good by Dogma and thought we needed to try harder."

Dogma blinked slowly as he watched his twin. Tup stared back at him with clear sadness.

"We still messed it all up, anyway..." Tup's frown deepened. His eyes were a little shiny from unshed tears. "I messed up and now you don't want to come back home, do you...?"

Dogma's eyes widened. How had Tup messed up? If anything, Dogma had been the one ruining everything since day one! From Kamino to Umbara to this very zoo.

None of this was Tup's fault in the slightest!

"I promised I'd still protect you once we left Kamino, and then I let you down..." Tup gulped noisily as he tried to fight back tears. His ori'vod had always been a crier. Even now as a capable soldier he couldn't control how emotional he got. "I should have included you more whenever I wanted to do something new, now that we didn't have to worry about bullies and trainers and all those assholes that kept tormenting us growing up. I should have seen you were struggling with integrating into the 501st, because everything was so different from what we were used to and you didn't feel safe. I sh-should have known K-Krell was using your loyalty against you from the mo-moment he kept assigning you tasks a-away from the rest of us... I sh-should have t-t-tried to reach out to you w-when you were st-struggling to figure out who to t-trust... I sh-sh-should have n-n-never pointed my bl-blaster at you w-when you were co-confused and af-afraid... I..."

Dogma squeaked in distress as Tup began to openly cry while he recounted his perceived missteps.

No, no no no no! None of that had been his fault!

He moved away from the other frogs, shoving past them rudely to get closer to the glass. Closer to Tup. To his crying batchmate. His only batchmate.

"I... I'm so sorry M'ika..." Tup sniffled, reaching into the tank to pick him up. Dogma didn't hesitate to climb into his hands, croaking softly in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. "I shouldn't have j-just left you on your o-own after Umbara! I wanted to talk to you b-but I was so ashamed! I b-broke my promise and m-made a mess of everything! Bully and Jawbreaker are g-gonna be so disappointed! A-Acronym would be s-so disappointment!"

Croaking softly up at Tup, Dogma felt his own eyes begin to sting.

It was odd, because frogs couldn't really cry in the same way as people did. But he still felt the burning itch of tear ducts reacting to his emotional distress. And seeing Tup so wracked with misplaced guilt was definitely making him want to cry as well.

It was awful that he couldn't reassure him. Couldn't tell him that, no, he hadn't done anything wrong.

Umbara had been rough on all of them, and Dogma had deserved to be left to his own devices away from the brothers he'd hurt. Deserved to be tasked with the herculean chore of earning back trust and forgiveness, that everyone else was free to choose whether or not to give him.

Tup had done well not associating with the likes of him, even if it had hurt deeply that he'd done so wrong that even his twin shunned him. He hadn't broken his promise. At least not in Dogma's eyes.

Carefully placing one clumsy hand on Tup's left wrist, Dogma croaked up at his twin again as he tried to reach with his free hand. Maybe if he braced himself he could stand up and try to wipe some of the stray tears running down his brother's face?

He grunted in slight irritation as his attempt ended with him flopping uselessly onto his back, rotund belly up and useless limbs kicking about as he flipped himself back onto his stomach.

The stuffy gross snort that followed his clumsiness made him stare back up at Tup, slightly insulted.

"S-sorry... That was kinda funny." At least he had the decency to apologize for laughing. The others were trying to cover up their amusement and failing badly at it, which only elicited more angry hisses from him. "S-some things never change... Even when you're the one who should be upset with me, you still go out of your way to try to make me feel better instead."

Dogma huffed, vocal sack inflating slightly in the same way his chest would puff up at hearing something so obviously absurd. Of course he'd try to make his twin feel better! What else would he have done?

Since he couldn't wipe his brother's tears from his face, he opted with trying to pat his wrist. The awkward little wet slapping noises were a little aggravating, but not the worst sound he'd made so far. And it seemed to do the trick.

Tup smiled softly and raised him up slightly closer to his face.

"What would I do without you? Maker only knows you're the expert crybaby wrangler around here..."

There was a lot Tup could do without him honestly. But... Maybe he didn't have to?

Looking around at the present group, it occurred to Dogma that everyone had gone out of their way to look for him in the middle of the night past standard GAR curfew. And to apologize for hurting his feelings no less.

Even Fives, Jesse and Hardcase who'd openly mocked him before, all seemed incredibly relieved that he was safe and sound and not lost to them at all. Had he perhaps misconstrued what they thought of him this entire time?

It did seem like the likely conclusion.

He'd mistakenly believed Tup's avoidant behaviour to be something it had not been, so maybe the other day at the zoo was a misunderstanding as well...? And then Fives had been trying to apologize during early meal, hadn't he? Before Dogma had thrown up all over him, that is?

He felt a little dumb now that he thought about this with a much clearer head. He croaked up at them in embarrassment.

"As touching as this is, we should really get going." Rex pointed out as he glanced towards his comm unit. Probably looking at the current time on the chrono feature. "Fox is trusting us to not mess anything up, and I'd rather not disappoint him. Otherwise Fives's dramatics might actually become a reality, and he'll hunt us down one by one for giving him more problems to deal with in the morning..."

"Right, we should uh, put these back in." Fives agreed, moving over to help put the decorations he and Rex had pulled out of the exhibit. Placing them back into their rightful and proper place. Much to the relief of the frogs they'd upset.

As they did so, Tup brought Dogma closer so that he could bump their foreheads in a slightly disproportionate kedalbe. Leaning into the touch, the frog trooper sighed contentedly and closed his eyes to relish in the warmth and love he could feel radiating off his closest brother. His best friend...

Only to suddenly find himself and his twin sprawled out on the floor in a tangle of flailing limbs and startled yelps.

"AUGHCK!!!" Tup gasped as he was pinned under the full weight of a very human Dogma, who was left coughing and spluttering from the sudden shock of finding himself transformed back in a quick flash.

No horrifying flesh-melting and nightmare-inducing sequence required.

"Holy shit! He changed back!" Hardcase gasped in amazement, watching his two kih'vode struggling on the ground with wide eyes.

"Aaaaaand he's naked." Jesse covered his mouth. Both to try to hide his shock, and to stop himself from saying anything else that might make things any more awkward than they already were.

"I mean..." Twitch winced, looking at the others with a bewildered expression. "We weren't really uh, expecting him to change back and grow a set of brand-new clothes... Right...?"

"That'd be creepy... But I am more concerned as to how and why he just changed back." Sponge shrugged, accepting that Twitch was right and they shouldn't have expected anything else. "We never even went to the generals to see what they'd found out..."

Dogma shook the disorientation off and slowly took stock of himself before fully sitting up. He was practically on Tup's lap, having suddenly changed back while still in his brother's cupped up hands. Thankfully neither of them were injured from the experience.

He also noted the odd chill he felt, which gave him goose flesh that made him shudder ever so slightly. Glancing down and finally registering his brothers's words, his eyes widened and he immediately tried to hide his shame by crossing his legs and placing his arms in front of his modesty.

"Why me...?" he whined pitifully as he tried to desperately ignore the heat overtaking his face and ears. His own voice felt almost foreign to his ears. It had, after all, been a while since he'd last been able to speak at all.

"Oh, hey don't cover up on our account little brother! We've all seen what you're packing in the mirror!" Hardcase grinned, attempting to lighten the mood with good humor.

"That's not overly helpful..." Dogma shot back, clear annoyance plastered on his flushed face. This time there was no room for misinterpreting his state of mind.

"Or a welcome or appropriate comment..." Sponge hissed in disgust, clearly finding Hardcase's joke to be a little too crass for their taste.

Rex rolled his eyes and approached the younger set of twins, helping them both up onto their feet before tapping his chin in thought. He seemed to be worried about the same glaringly obvious issue, that Dogma was dreading to have to soon face.

"Alright... How are we sneaking a very nude clone into the GAR headquarters, without someone calling CorSec on us for streaking...?" The blond captain asked, only to be met with absolute silence on everyone else's part. "... You know, as much of a privilege as it is to work with the Jedi, I really hate getting caught up in Force Osik..."

-

A nice steamy hot shower had never been more welcomed in Dogma's fleetingly short life. More so after the absolute roller-coaster of emotions he'd been put through that excruciatingly long day, due to circumstances they all still didn't quite understand (and they had consulted the generals too, which just gave them a brief notion of something about testing bonds and true love's kiss coming in all shapes and sizes, whatever that meant).

Between the stresses of being rendered a diminutive creature that could neither speak or move around in a very coordinated fashion, and also falling prey to instincts that had been very against Dogma's actual nature, he certainly deserve the few extra minutes he'd spent under the warm spray. He wasn't one to overly indulge or hog the hot water privileges, but for once he thought to treat himself since there was really no one else around at this time of night who'd even need to wash up.

After his 15 cheeky minutes (5 more than his usual, he'd been feeling generous) were up, he turned off the shower and quietly padded towards the bench where he'd left his towels and clean body-glove.

One towel was swiftly wrapped around his midsection. The other was put to use vigorously drying his hair. And while Dogma busied himself with that, he couldn't help but to hum in delight at the soft texture of the pristine fabric. The towels he'd picked up from Requesitions were still fairly new, so they hadn't become the unpleasantly rough rags that most clones often had to contend with during shower time.

And he really, really, hated the feeling of those warn out towels. It was like taking sandpaper to his entire body, and it often left him feeling itchy and irritated. Chafed skin was a right pain in the shebs to deal with, especially when you had to wear a full body garment like the body-gloves.

Thoughts of unpleasant textures and damaged skin aside, the clone sergeant sighed contentedly. He felt refreshed and relaxed. It took him very little time to dress himself and even less to give himself a once-over on the mirror.

He was human again. That was a great comfort to him. And to the vode currently waiting for him.

Storing his hygiene kit away in his locker, and putting the used towels in the bins that would be taken to be washed in the morning, Dogma calmly retreated out of the showers and made his way towards the barracks.

The halls were empty of any foot-traffic as was to be expected at this particular time. The only movement really being that of himself, and a few mouse droids that were going about their own business. It was perfectly peaceful and he was grateful for that. He didn't need any more excitement after everything that had happened. At least not for a good long while...

As he crossed the threshold separating the halls from the barracks, he was met with a welcoming sight.

"There you are, Dogma!" Tup greeted him enthusiastically from where he was currently standing, motioning for him to move over. "Come help me sort this blanket out, I can't get it to sit right!"

Dogma rolled his eyes as he approached, passing by other brothers who were currently preoccupied with their own parts of the 'projects' they'd decided to construct.

He stood opposite to Tup and took hold of part of the blanket.

"That's because you're not tucking the corners right." He pointed out as he began to tuck his side of the blanket beneath the mattress of the top bunk. The way he was doing it made it drape over the bunks like a curtain. "Here, like this it won't stick out oddly..."

"You're usually the one who does it..." Tup shrugged, kneeling down so he could begin tossing pillows into the bottom bunk and the mattress laid out in front of it.

"Because I do it right. Honestly, a blanket fortress that's poorly constructed won't offer much comfort or privacy." He huffed, before stepping back to admire his handywork. "Are Echo and Fives back with the pilfered snacks yet?"

"It's not pilfering if you skipped all of four meals!" Tup grinned.

"I technically ate late meal, so it was actually only three..." Dogma pointed out before sitting down on the bunk. With all the extra padding and blankets it felt like laying on a field of cotton.

Or perhaps a fluffy cloud? Whatever the case, it felt nice.

"They're on their way." Jesse sat down next to Dogma, holopad in hand. "And the holo's nearly done downloading."

"Fives said this one's good! Something about a creche master lady that's taking care of a rich senator guy's younglings, and lots of singing and fantastical shenanigans." Hardcase jumped up onto the bunk, knocking into Jesse who subsequently bumped into Dogma.

Both scowled at him but readjusted their positions so they could sit more comfortably.

"Sounds interesting." Tup smiled lazily as he too joined the trio on the bunk. He wrapped an arm around Dogma's shoulder, pulling him closer so that he could rest his head against the crook of his neck.

He found himself leaning into the touch with a pleased sigh.

All around them several vode sorted out their own blanket fortresses and the likes to settle into mini vodpiles. Some already had snacks that they'd been stashing for one such occasion. Others had holos they were being lulled to sleep by. Comfortable, warm and safe at home base. Away from the horrors of the field for another night.

Dogma even caught sight of the medics draped over each other in a corner, having set up a makeshift cot out of mattresses and pillows. They had been so exhausted that they'd just fallen asleep sprawled out. Kix and Coric curled up at the edges to form a protective barrier between the world and their younger siblings.

He could see Sponge snoring away while their barghest lay on their chest. A dark patch of drool steadily forming over where her jaws had contact with the body-glove. Twitch in turn, was pressed up between Sponge and Pitch, one hand tangled in Beautiful's fluff.

Dogma's gaze soon fell away from the resting medics and onto the one piece of evidence of that day's misadventure. He wondered what they'd be doing with the terrarium, since it wasn't like they needed it anymore. Honestly he really hoped they would just give it back to whomever had lent it in the first place, because no one needed any more incentive for Hardcase to beg for an actual battalion mascot.

And Dogma seriously did not want them to get a frog after he'd been one himself, even if it had been for only a singular day.

It would feel a little weird. More so than his lingering craving for insects that he really didn't want to mention to any of his brothers. At least not right now (and it wasn't like this was the worst side effect he could have ended up with after becoming an animal).

"The Snack Cavalry has arrived!" he looked away from the empty terrarium to glance over at Fives, snorting when Echo shoved him for the noisy entrance he'd made.

"There's people trying so sleep, you di'kut!" The more sensible of the Domino Twins hissed, making his way over towards their group's blanket fortress.

Feeling Tup chuckle at his side, and then seeing Jesse and Hardcase trying to hide their grins as they watched Fives make stupid faces behind Echo's back, Dogma couldn't help but feel completely at peace for the first time in ages.

This is where he belonged. Alongside his twin and the rest of the 501st. He wouldn't dare forget that anytime soon.

#Eps Writes #star wars #the clone wars #clone trooper dogma #clone trooper tup #captain rex #commander fox #arc trooper fives #arc trooper echo #arc trooper jesse #clone trooper hardcase #clone medic kix #clone medic coric #clone ocs #clone medic twitch #clone medic pitch #clone medic sponge #twitch belongs to gaeasun #pitch and arbiter belong to lost-on-kamino

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Let’s pretend I finished this in actual November! Here is the last prompt, last au, a “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” au! You can find the musical for free on YouTube, would absolutely recommend!

Thank you, @tmntaucompetition for doing the prompts and idea for auvember! I was had a lot of fun in writing all of them!

@daboyau

Disco

A grungy tune rings through a hockey and action movie decorated room.

Riot, by Three Days Grace.

“….If you feel so angry, so ripped off, so stepped on…”

Cassandra Jones pauses mid one handed push-up, glancing over at her bed where she left her phone.

“….You’re not the only one refusing to back down-“

The ring tone stops as she hops onto the bed and taps the answer button.

“This is Cassandra, speak immediately!”

“Casey! You gotta come help me out here, something is seriously wrong.”

“O’Neil? Are you under attack!?”

“Not….exactly? Okay look, it’s not gonna sound that bad, but it does if you think about the implications.”

“Implications….the deadliest of all the nouns.”

“The guys went to see some Jupiter Jim musical last night, I had work so I couldn’t go but I got fired this morning and came down to the sewers to see how it went.”

“And then they attacked you?”

“No! I….heard them singing.”

“I’d just punch their throats in that case.”

“Look, I know you don’t know them as well as I do, but they usually sound like a yodeling goat when they sing! Unless it’s cold out for some reason, but that doesn’t matter! They’re too in sync! I’m freaking out here!”

“While I still don’t see what the implications are, I will come to your aid shortly.”

“You’re a life saver Casey-….what the….?”

There’s funky music in the background that she can’t quite place.

“O’Neil? What’s wrong?”

“Splints? Why are you….? No! Mikey! You hate disco!”

“O’Neil! Answer me!”

The only reply is the sound of hurried footsteps and rustling fabric. She must have started running.

Casey persists in her shouting until she hears the echoes of a sewer chamber. She was probably going to try to lose them.

Casey takes off out of her room and then her house, still listening to what’s going on. After only a minute or two, it sounds like the phone got dropped.

There’s loud splashing noises that grow quieter until they can’t be heard anymore. She still listens as she races to find a manhole she could lift.

Eventually, the splashing noises return and the phone sounds like it’s getting picked up.

“Oh heyyy, Casey, guess April dropped her phone.” Leo speaks into the phone in a sing songy tone.

“Don’t you play with me! What have you done with her!?”

“Me? I haven’t done anything. She totally just freaked out and ran off.”

“Stop lying! I know about the implications!”

There’s silence for a second or two before the call turns into a video chat.

Casey nearly stopped running in surprise.

It was naturally always dark in the sewers, so it was hard to make much out. Or, it would be, if the two turtles in the frame didn’t have the creepiest shade of glowing blue dripping down their faces.

Their smiles were too wide, their eyes were crazed.

It reminded her of when she went to a musical as a child and the actors tried to force her to join along as they walked down the aisles.

They tried so hard to look happy and the unnatural expression never left her mind.

“Awww, did you hear that Donnie? Casey doesn’t want to play.”

“Perhaps we should see if April wants to play instead.”

Casey grits her teeth.

“Leave her alone or I swear I will tear you to pieces when I get there!”

Donnie and Leo laugh in perfect unison before the phone’s camera is flipped around. The only thing in view is darkness.

Casey immediately turns on the tracking app she and April have for each other in case of emergencies.

“April! Come out now, or finding you will be more annoying than it has to be.” Donnie says with a slight growl.

“Donnie, that’s not how you ask a friend to hang out. You gotta lure her in, delicately. Aprillllll.~ Come out come out, wherever you are!”

No response.

They begin to walk forward.

Casey manages to finally get into the sewers and turns on her flashlight, running as fast as she could in the direction the phone’s location is in.

Then, Leo begins singing as the camera shows they’re walking much faster.

“Let's play some games. Let's play some games today, fuuuunnyyy games. Some funny games today!”

“Leo, look.” Donnie points to a light shimmering far in the darkness.

“Do you want to play with me?” Leo continues to sing.

“Come here, come here.” Donnie joins in.

“I want you to come here so we can play.”

They purposefully pretend they take a wrong turn near where the glimmer was.

Casey’s heart beats fast and she screams out to warn her.

To her horror, she’s been put on mute.

There’s a hope that April won’t fall for this trap.

Unfortunately, she does.

The moment she rushes past the wall, Donnie and Leo grab her.

She screams in terror as the two of them laugh in a stilted way while still in unison. Nothing like any kind of laugh any normal person would do.

Casey runs even faster and prays that she can get there in time.

Leo flips the camera once again and lifts the phone above them.

“Whoops, no recordings allowed in this performance!”

The video call ends on his chilling smile, the blue dripping down his face somehow even worse than before.

Casey nearly breaks her own phone in anger but knows that it’s the only way to know where they are.

The tracking indicates they’re on the move again. Probably dragging April to their lair.

She continues running despite how long she’s being doing it already. The burn in her legs and lungs didn’t matter as long as April was still in the worst possible danger.

Eventually, finally, and out of breath, she makes it to where April’s phone was. The lair’s lights had all been shut off except for one. The heat lamp was acting as some sort of spotlight.

April’s phone was directly under it.

Casey turns off the tracker and keeps her flashlight on instead.

She wasn’t scared, more pissed off than anything. How dare they turn on April and force her into this musical madness?

She hears something nearby and immediately spins around to shine her light into the darkness.

There stands Mikey, smiling ear to ear with nothing behind his eyes except for a dim blue glow.

“There you are, Cassandra.”

“Orange one! Where did they take O’Neil!?”

Mikey giggles creepily and tilts his head.

“La la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la la!”

“That’s neither an answer or actual singing!”

Mikey giggles more and runs back into the darkness.

Casey gives chase.

Suddenly, something shoots out and crashes into her hand. The phone smashed into a wall and takes out the flashlight with it. She’s left in complete darkness. Her fists go up and her feet slide into a defensive position.

“What is this!?”

The heat lamp from earlier suddenly shines over in front of her, revealing Donnie with a top hat he was tipping down over his face.

“It’s….a….show stoppin’ number. A real show stopper.”

Casey backs up.

“Enough with the singing! Where is O’Neil!?”

The light moves over to Leo who has a matching top hat, and April tied to a chair.

“Show stopping number! With April front and center!”

“O’Neil! Are you okay!?“

“I’m fine! But you gotta get out of here!”

“I am not leaving you behind!”

“It’s too late for me! It’s a freaking infection! They’re singing zombies, Casey! It’s literally your worst nightmare!”

“What kind of coward would I be if I left you in my nightmare!? THROAT PUNCH!” She kicks at Leo’s head.

Leo dodges with a spin and a flourish of his hat.

“I thought you were going to punch his throat!” April exclaims.

“I’ve learned yelling my attacks isn’t helpful!” Casey chops furiously at the rope until it falls apart into pieces.

“Okay, you’ve got to teach me that when we’re not busy bein in danger.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Not so fast! Slow down that tempo, you’re not going anywhere.” Donnie shouts from the darkness.

There’s the sound of clapping from his direction, then the lights turn back on.

Not in the normal way, though.

The lights flashed differently colors all over the place. A funky, discoish song plays from unseen speakers. The same one Casey heard over the phone before. It was easier to tell now was it was.

Copacabana.

Mikey reappeared alongside Raph and Splinter. In a perfect, creepy amount of unison, they danced to the song. Their fingers traced the air as their hands rhythmically went side to side. The other hand was placed on their hips.

Like Donnie and Leo, blue was dripping down their faces.

From their eyes, their mouths, their noses.

“Not again! Guys, please, get a hold of yourselves!” April pleads.

She and Casey are attacked from behind, getting kicked and falling closer to the enclosing trio.

Casey looks back, seeing Donnie and Leo had joined back up with their own disco moves.

Tossed to the ground by a disco kick.

It was both entirely embarrassing and terrifying.

Casey grabs April by the shoulders, pulling her up as she herself gets back to her feet.

“To hell with their dance fighting, we need to find a way through!”

“I’m up to any ideas you have!”

“You aren’t.“

“Wha-“

Casey grabs April’s jacket right off her and quickly ties Raph and Splinter’s hands together before kicking it down. This causes them to hit heads and get distracted. Casey uses this opportunity to make her escape with April, grabbing her hand and running.

The music continues as they run. It’s like the worst horror game soundtrack ever.

Or maybe the best.

They keep running until they can safely go up a ladder and out front a manhole. Luckily, it ended up being in an alleyway with a large dumpster they managed to push on top.

They breathe heavily, adrenaline still pumping.

“That was far too close for my liking. My enemies should be defeated with much more ease.”

April opens her mouth to respond but ends up coughing into her hand.

“….Aw nuts….”

“What? What’s the matter?” Casey glances over and tenses up.

There was the same, unfortunately familiar, glowing blue.

“I told you that you should have left me….”

“….Stop saying foolish things. You were, and still are able to not sing. We still have time to fix you.”

“How? We don’t even know what this is!“

“You’re a future journalist, O’Neil! You can figure it out. You do not give up, especially this soon.”

April smiles softly at her.

“You’re right. I’m April O’Neil! And I will not be in a musical unless I want to be!”

Casey smiles back.

“Then let’s make sure you’re not.”

The two of them leave the alleyway. April begins looking up and down the sidewalk until she finds a newspaper stand. She slams money down in front of the owner and takes a newspaper.

“Here! The theatre the boys went to, they said something crashed into it the night of the musical.”

“That’s where what’s causing this must be. Perhaps if we tear its heart out, you all will go back to normal.”

“It’s the best, and only plan we have.”

They head to the theatre. It’s closed down and boarded up when they arrive, so Casey handled the boards and they went inside.

Once in the same room as the stage, they could see some kind of mutated plant there.

They also saw the people with blue all over their faces.

To make matters worse, the turtles and Splinter dropped through a portal, joining in with the other infected people.

Donnie and Leo were once again the aggressors, coming in at April and Casey fast.

“It is time….” Donnie starts.

“to diiiiiie!” Leo completes, singing.

“You get to that creepy thing, Casey! I’ll hold them off!” April gets into a fighting stance.

Casey begrudgingly nods and rushes forward.

April does her best to distract the people, turtles, and rat that were coming towards them.

They, however, continued to sing.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we got bones to pluck! The time for chaos is long past overdue.” Mikey croons as he attacks.

April barely manages to avoid it, shoving him into one of the seats.

“Death isn't optional! In fact it’s optimal!

Your time is up and now we go through you!” Donnie sends some weaponry her way.

April dodges the projectiles as best she can until she’s grabbed from behind by Leo.

“We tried to convince you in soliloquy!”

April struggles heavily as Raph begins to leer over her.

“But now we'll kill you with more than harmony!”

“You’re not harming anyone! Or else you get it!” Casey calls out.

All the infected people turn towards her in horror. She’s holding a sharp piece of wood towards the plant.

“No!” They screech in unison.

“Do it Casey! Now!” April insists.

Casey pulls her hand back so she can stab it.

“Wait! I can give you what you want, Cassandra.” Something in her mind begs.

“Who’s saying that!?”

“It’s me, in front of you. You became infected with my spores just like the others. I have access to your mind. You don’t have to do this. You wanted to rule the world, didn’t you? I can help you!”

“Why would I ever listen to you?”

“Because it’s too late for everyone fully infected, but not too late for your friend. I can release her…..if you join me.”

“I refuse to serve something like you again!”

“No no no, you won’t serve me. You’ll rule with me. I know when I’ve met someone truly exceptional. With your help, no one will ever be able to stop us!”

Casey thinks hard about this decision until something trickles down her nose. She curses under her breath, knowing what it is.

There’s a tense air, her back is facing April.

Then, she stabs the wood deep into the plant.

The infected screech once again, writhing in pain and letting April go.

She quickly runs towards the stage in relief.

“Casey! You did it! You-!….Casey….?”

Cassandra turns around, smirking wickedly as blue drips down her arms and down to the floor from how she had stabbed the plant.

“I did. I took the next step. The only step.”

April screams in horror as the infected stop writhing in pain and start singing again instead.

“You got your silver Casey, you got your crown. You got their blood on the roses in hand.”

Casey beckons the infected, they go backstage to the costume area and come back with some props. She cheerfully, manically, twirls around with them.

“Whoa, you donned the sash and scepter, doing a dance as you crowned you queen of the land.”

#auvember #2018 tmnt #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #fanfiction #rise fanfiction #rottmnt fanfiction #tmnt 2018 #rise leo #rottmnt michelangelo #rise april #rottmnt april #rise casey #rise cassandra #rottmnt raph #rottmnt donatello #rottmnt splinter #tgwdlm #the guy who didn't like musicals #starkid

[myriadof-fandoms]

harringrove week - july

prompt: the harrington lake house

billy doesn't even want to like it. it goes against things he promised himself or just thought of as simple facts about himself. 

when steve had asked him to come with him and his pack of kids to the lake house for some weeks, billy had only agreed because it would mean time away from neil with a good enough excuse - looking after max - and because weeks without steve seemed a little too unbearable. he’d expected to hate it though. because he swore he'd always hate everything that's in a 100 mile radius around hawkins, indiana for the rest of his life. a promise made while he spent three days on the road with max, driving behind neil and just bitching back and forth about how bad this tiny shithole of town would be. 

there had rarely been as much mutual understanding between him and max as on that trip. they were unified by close proximity and a shared hatred. 

he remembers how the feeling of once again being completely on his own had gripped him when they'd barely been there three days and she'd acted as if it wasn't bad suddenly. and how burning rage had taken over in seconds to push the pain away and made him act out and do stupid, violent shit. 

(at this point he's apologised for threatening to drive over the three shitheads a couple of times, more to max but even to the three of them directly. he apologised to lucas for a couple other things while he was at it.)

but despite being in the territory he’s sworn to hate he can’t help but like it. the lake is somehow still cool and it’s right there just a minute away from the house, and billy gets to swim more than just a lane down in hawkins’ community pool. when he hurries there aren’t even any brats annoying him either. sometimes there’s even steve next to him, nagging him on and racing him to the buoys out towards the middle of the lake. which means being pulled under water and being kissed and if billy keeps his eyes closed he can pretend the water around them is salty instead of sweet and it’s the california sun warming the surface. 

billy doesn’t like the quiet. he’ll do anything to escape silence. when he’s at home he’ll turn up his stereo over the tv, creating as much noise as possible to drown out his head. 

there is something to be said about the peace of this place though. it doesn’t matter that it’s technically in a 100 mile radius of billy’s personal hell. it’s quiet and calm and everything billy rarely ever gets, nor wants. sometimes when he gets up at the crack of dawn to go running by the side of the lake the quiet freaks him out in a similar way it does when he’s in his father’s house. he can’t take it. always has to have background noise. but when he closes his eyes in the morning air by the lake house he hears life. insects and birds and squirrels and whatnot. he can even hear the movement of the water and even if it’s not the sound of the waves he longs for like a missing limb it’s good nonetheless. much better than heavy footsteps walking up to his room with an underlying promise of harm coming.

there’s also the fact that he’s not fancy. there’s not a lot he needs in life. not having to walk on eggshells to avoid being hit is really all he wants. being as far away from neil as possible is the only real goal. maybe since that goal has been reached at least for three weeks he’s developing more extravagant tastes. a couple days at the harrington’s lakehouse and billy’s really getting used to that hot tub. 

surprisingly, he likes the house in general. billy knows his way around the harrington home in hawkins well enough already but this has a different feel to it. feels more loved despite being even less lived in. he’s fairly sure it has to do with the wooden interior that manages to make even him feel homely and the way steve lights up when he recounts stories from his childhood and early teens when he came here with his parents or later tommy and carol. the different comforts and luxuries of the house are more welcome because of it, because it feels more like steve’s than the empty big house in hawkins. billy still scoffs at the unnecessarily big coffee machine or the overload of products in the bathrooms  but he enjoys the linen sheets a little easier. 

he never really expected to get on with the tiny nerds either. much less would he have predicted to at some point willingly spend weeks in close proximity with them. but they’d argued with steve long enough to get him to take them here after hearing about the apparently infamous harrington lake house and billy didn’t even mind that they’d be there when steve invited him. honestly by now he’s glad they started it all.  

he wouldn’t have objected to spending time with eleven or max in the first place. maybe only to keep up appearances. and he probably would end somebody’s life for the byers kid but honestly no one but will himself actually needs to know about that. it’s not billy’s fault the kid is so loveable. it doesn’t hurt that will was the first one of the nerds to actually approach him after the mindflayer hell. or that he’s the only one who really gets it when billy has to stumble outside in the middle of the night to breathe and his scars hurt all over again. steve understands the nightmares and eleven understands almost everything that’s in his head anyway but will went through it. will understands the guilt. so getting to spend overheated afternoons reading on a porch while will quietly draws next to him is not bad at all. 

billy still doesn’t get why the middle wheeler had to come but even henderson is fun to be around when he’s not being a smartass. occasionally even when he’s being a smartass. particularly when it means getting to bully steve with him.

then there’s sinclair. who it turns out is actually a nice guy. despite the ways he looks at max. and despite how loudly they sometimes fight. though at least the fights have clearly shown that billy won't ever have to fear having to fight someone for breaking her heart; she'll do that on her own just fine.

on the days it doesn’t feel like a literal circle of hell outside and the heat makes them all flee into the lake, billy, steve and lucas have started a habit of playing basketball together. lucas now easily accepts some pointers from billy. steve doesn't. steve keeps losing because of it though. which gives billy many wonderful chances to taunt him time and time again. and steve let’s billy get under his skin, urges him on, makes billy push right to the line. so far that billy knows to expect payback under the shower later, can feel the anticipation of falling apart under steve’s hands even while he throws another insult his way. 

and yeah, maybe that’ll always continue to be the biggest surprise. steve. steve falling asleep next to him and waking up with his face squished against billy’s neck. steve inviting him to spend weeks together in the first place. having someone in his life that would actually want him around wasn’t really part of the prospects billy had for his life.

billy didn't ever expect to fall in love. not like this, not in a way that made him feel hopeful. he only expected heartbreak and fear and maybe some desperate fucks. what he has now are doe eyes and gentle hands and a solid plan of leaving hawkins as soon as they can and heart palpitations every time steve kisses his cheek and calls him baby.

he's got a boyfriend who let's him sleep over every night and makes him coffee in the morning and laughs at the cheesy pickup lines he comes up with. he has steve who is too good to be true and who makes him feel safe. 

it goes against his expectations and against a lot of things he promised or thought of as fact but billy feels happy. 

#stranger things #harringrove #mimi makes things #harringroveweek #stranger things moodboard #harringrove edit #mimi's writing #i will post this on ao3 i just have no time okay bye #my mate said this was post-able if it's not i'll redirect complaints to her ta #billy hargrove #steve harrington #harringrove fic #billy hargrove fanfiction #harringrove fanfiction

[thewollfgang]

I have almost reached the middle of the sketchbook I'm using exclusively for Astarion. A lot of pages are just down right embarrassingly bad and I'm still trying to find the right style (I'm leaning more towards realistic(?), at least on paper, I think). Weirdly enough, I haven't done much digitally despite the frustration I feel when I try reaching for an undo button on my sketchbook. XD I'll be focusing on digital next though so I can color without worrying that doing so would ruin the drawing.

It's been raining (finally) nonstop for a few days now and it's put me in a very artistic mood. Nothing like sketching and hearing real rain instead of the recordings they use as the background noise in the scary story comps I listen to. I would love to sit on my porch with my sketchbook if I wasn't afraid of getting sick again. The aesthetic isn't worth it lol.

Game wise, I have robbed almost everyone in the tower, just because, and have done the trials in the gauntlet. The most frustrating was the Faith Leap Trial, especially when I realized the answer was right there on the floor. I got hella spooked when I thought it wasn't going to give me a choice on whether I wanted to go to Shadowfell or not after I accidently clicked on the portal. I'd like to think I'm not missing anything but I will do my usual wandering before entering, just in case.

there is something truly awful at the way tumblr formats asks so i read this message yesterday but had to wait till I got on my computer to format a proper response.

Every time you mention drawing Astarion I go and make a few drawings myself. I got a new phone with a little stylus thingy and I really adore the way the notes app handles the digital pencil too. It feels really authentic but I can still hit the undo button XD so we are in a similar boat! Astarion has one of those faces that I feel like I have to draw a few dozen times to get the hang of, plus i get annoyed with his hair and how swoopy it is so i just doodle a bunch of squiggles and call it good.

I've been sick the last few days so I haven't done much besides lay around and drink lots of Sprite and Gatorade. God bless antibiotics for real. I have been playing bg3, but not on my main game, but on two other multiplayer games I have with my friends. It's interesting to play different versions of Act 1 and make different choices. (Somehow, I'm romancing Astarion in all three????) I cheated just a little with the Leap of Faith trial cause you can hit the O key and put yourself in tactical mode and see the path XD cheap, I know, but I aint bovvered.

In my main game I am still overwhelmed with Act 3, but I managed to get a few things done, but STILL have not found Orin in her other disguises, but I did find a bunch of very sus toys in a creepy dude's basement. So there's that. I think the desire to explore everything is a detriment to me in this Act since it's simply so large and there's so much to do. I need to take it in little chunks and small quests at a time. I'll get there! .......Eventually!

#bg anon #bg3 #asks

[pastelaspirations]

How I beat sleep paralysis with the power of knowledge and my compulsive habit to research anything that I have the off chance to write about in a fic

DISCLAIMER: This is just how I beat it, people's experiences of sleep paralysis are different and some methods that may work for one person may not work for another.

Ya read the title correctly. I expect no one to read this, but I don't care. I must tell my story. In my special, niche way in that I can construct a story out of absolutely nothing with 5k words more than I needed to. So, come with me, as I recount the tale of how I successfully beat my first experience with sleep paralysis, armed with only the power of knowledge and my bad habit to extensively research anything that I might stick in a fic one day.

For some background; I have never had sleep paralysis before. Although, I have done lots of research into it in the past because I found it very interesting, not only from people's real accounts of it but from the ✧˖°.memes✧˖°. too. Your good ol' sleep paralysis demon memes. I also thought it might be interesting to write about one day! And because I pride myself on being... fairly accurate, I do a whole lot of research into things I may never actually write about because "what if one day I want to-"

So, I had a lot of prior knowledge to sleep paralysis, including what helped people wake up from it.

Additionally, I have insomnia. :D I haven't gone to a doctor to get it "officially" diagnosed, but I checked every box on the insomnia checklist. It's depressing, I know. I've had it for as long as I can remember. This is important to know as sleep disorders can increase your chances of experiencing sleep paralysis.

Insomnia makes my life very fun. Any sound or light can wake me up. Sleeping in a different bed prevents me from sleeping altogether. Being moved at all wakes me up. I wake up every time I need to toss over in bed, for example. So, just... it's g r e a t.

Anyway, this semester, two days of the week, I have to wake up at 6 in the morning in order to make it to an 8 o'clock class. It's bad. So, the night before, I take melatonin and at least try and go to bed early, all to attempt to combat my insomnia. However, my insomnia also likes giving me the problem of making it extremely difficult for me to fall asleep if I know I have to be somewhere in the morning. So, the days I need the sleep the most are ironically the days I get the least amount of sleep. :D

That said. The night before, I took melatonin and hit the sack relatively early. I also used a sleep mask just to block out any light in hopes that would help me sleep better.

Well, at one point, I think I was asleep? I am not sure. I felt like I was awake and just trying to sleep. Like, that weird, half-asleep daze, but you're still awake and not fully asleep. You get what I mean.

Suddenly, I feel all this movement and I hear all this sound. It's annoying, but I don't remove my sleep mask because I'm trying to sleep. Well, for some reason, I'm convinced my dog is on my lap, just tossing and turning trying to sleep.

Which is weird because he sleeps in my brother's room down the hall.

This does not concern me. I don't know why. I just ignore my "dog" as he's shuffling to get comfortable. He'll lie still eventually and then I'll be able to sleep. I just gotta wait it out.

Then. My bed starts jostling around even more. Now, I'm convinced my brother is in my bed. I DO NOT KNOW WHY, HIS ROOM IS DOWN THE HALL, WE DO NOT SHARE A BED. BUT I'M CONVINCED HE'S ON MY BED, FLOPPING AROUND AND EVEN OFF THE BED. JUST MAKING A WHOLE LOT OF NOISE AND SHAKING THE ENTIRE BED. BEING AWFUL.

This also does not concern me. For some freaking reason. You can see why I thought I was asleep now, huh?

I wanted to gripe at him. Tell him to knock it off, I've got to be up early in the morning and I'm trying to sleep.

But my voice wouldn't work.

I wasn't even alarmed, just thought that was weird. So, I just lay there, comprehending that, when my "brother" flopped off the bed. He then started banging around everything in the freaking room. He was being obnoxiously loud. Ridiculously loud. Banging on the walls, grabbing crap and throwing it around, he was deliberately trying to keep me from sleeping.

Now, I was ticked. I wanted to yell at him, tell him to KNOCK IT OFF. But still, my vocal folds wouldn't move. I couldn't speak even though my brain told myself to. I wasn't alarmed even now, all I thought was "Fine. If I can't tell you to shut up, I can sure as hell whack you-"

But my arm wouldn't move.

Now, I was concerned. I told my arms to move. I told my legs to move. Nothing moved. I told myself to scream. I remained silent. It was like the connection from my brain to my body had been completely severed.

My "brother" seemed to sense my irritation? Since he came stomping over and started violently shaking me in my bed. I couldn't fight back or scream, I was powerless. Then, he started pressing down on my chest. N o w, I was having a harder and harder time breathing.

All of this, mind you, I was experiencing completely blind because I couldn't remove my sleep mask.

I was beginning to freak out. Not only did I think I was going to die, but my brother.

My freaking brother is the butthead who's going take me out, what the hell. What kind of stupid Greek tragedy is this-

So, as I'm lying there, still blind with the sleep mask, freaking out and slightly annoyed at this is the way I'm going to die, a thought suddenly flashes through my head. Just one, singular thought.

"Oh! This is just sleep paralysis!"

I kid you not, that is literally what I thought.

Suddenly, all my fear evaporated. I was no longer scared. I just immediately went right into the tactic I read people who experienced sleep paralysis use to wake themselves up from it. I didn't even hesitate, just immediately jumped into it like I discovered a solution to a hard video game puzzle.

I focused all my attention on moving just one muscle. If I could move that one muscle, I could slowly work my way to other muscles, until I could move the whole limb or the rest of my face. So, I chose one eyelid. The one that would be peeking out from under the sleep mask if it were open.

I commanded and I commanded my eyelid to open. I willed it to open, the strongest I ever willed it to open before. Until finally, it snapped open. All of a sudden, all the shaking by my "brother" and all the sounds abruptly stopped. It was like nothing had happened, I was alone in my room.

So, I... just flopped over and went back to sleep. As fast as an insomniac can fall asleep anyway. I remember thinking "wow, that was a lot less scary than I thought it'd be."

AND LIKE. IT WAS. BUT BEFORE I KNEW WHAT IT WAS.

As soon as I realized, I wasn't scared anymore. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I didn't have the sleep mask on. Would I have seen an actual sleep paralysis demon?? I had the auditory and physical movement hallucinations. Who's to say I wouldn't have had a visual one too if I didn't have the sleep mask on?

But imagine that. Imagine you're a sleep paralysis demon, you've got all the power, until suddenly, your victim thinks in revelation, "Oh! You're just a sleep paralysis demon! I know what to do now! :D"

J u s t a sleep paralysis demon. Defeated by the power of knowledge and the off chance of being written about in a fic.

#sleep paralysis #first time with sleep paralysis #overly long tumblr post #Granted I maybe did have a sleep paralysis demon #My “brother” freaking shaking me and trying to suffocate me #I just couldn't see him #My sleep paralysis demon is just a demented evil version of my brother #It's almost poetic; in a Greek tragedy sort of way #I told him that and he didn't know what to think about it

[scribble-games]

Hi, hope your fine and had a good day 😊

What's the general opinion of the cast on Angel?

And what is Angel's opinion about the rest of the cast?

313 starts out disliking Angel on general principle and then they get to know more about them and end up hating them because everything about Angel's morals and personality is antithetical to 313. On Angel's side, currently they don't even know 313 exists! (well they know that you had some kind of mission control going on, but not who was doing it). But if they learn more then at first they'd be kind of interested in 313 because of their intelligence, but then get to dislike 313 as they would dislike their morality and sentimentality. The two of them are the metaphorical devil and angel on the MC's shoulder and that's why they'd be the most interesting love triangle goodbye

100's got more professional detachment about these things so he doesn't have any immediate feelings of dislike, it's more like 'yep, that's a threat' and then to him it's more of a puzzle of finding out more about them to use against them if need be. After that it's going to get interesting but i can tell you no more. He is the only one of team Spy that Angel knows of before meeting them and Angel has a kind of fascination with him (not that kind, though, don't make me get the spray bottle out)

When it comes to Team Hanson, Angel doesn't have any opinions, even for Hex who they did know. Everyone's just background noise to them, possible tools to then be discarded. On Team Hanson's side - Gareth never met them (good for him) and Vicki took one look at them and was immediately like 'bad news' (good for her). Hex previously met Angel (under an alias) at a party and they'd chatted a couple of times; Hex viewed them as a friendly acquaintance who they would probably have made a move on if they hadn't been in a relationship at the time. If it was actually explained to them that literally nothing about that person they met was real they'd be pretty unsettled by it.

As for upcoming cast members...

The Assassin (who is also a DIABLO agent) finds Angel annoying. Angel dislikes him though it's mostly jealousy :D

Sinclair (The Thief) and Angel is going to be really interesting but that's all I can tell you.

And of course Azazel and Angel are a Whole Thing which is going to take a lot of unpacking

[kidkubrick]

breaking bad/better call saul musical solo genres/sounds

this is a joke im taking seriously, i cant explain it any better than that. im vehemently against breakingbadmusical but HYPOTHETICALLY, this is what i would do if i was writing it. i would give each character a different genre for their motif. each character in the shows is doing their own thing, and ends up clashing with another character, hence literally every bit of conflict ever. it would make sense if you had different genres for different characters, the conflict would also reflect in the music itself.

ANYWAYS

walter: i keep coming back to classical music. at first its humble, but it can become pretentious and annoying SO quickly.

jesse: he's walter's foil, so it would make sense to make it early 2000's hip hop/rap but it has no knowledge whatsoever of the roots of the genre. it would be cool if it transitioned from hip hop/rap to something a like classical, like walter, except it actually sounds good and its very euphonous and stuff. yknow what im getting at?

skyler: hannah montana type beat. that's all i gotta say i think it says enough. also like Groove is in the Heart by Deee-Lite.

hank: heavy metal, but with the depth of a crime show that's been running for 17 seasons and does not give two shits about the realism of how the police and/or forensics world works.

marie: Getting Married Today from Company. All of her music is at LEAST 150bpm and would perfectly echo the mind of a high-strung, concerned nurse who's working in a very rich medical facility.

saul: new york in the 50s jazz style. really big and really loud. he's the bitch who gets the tap number and its at least ten minutes long. the clarinet is at the heart of it all though, because there has to be something to represent jimmy, but its buried under layers and layers of flashy meaningless noise

kim: leaning more towards the musical theatre genre than anyone else. very instrumental, i think the saxophone might really fit her, i think it would be cool if the music reflected her emotions more than she did herself, because kim doesnt really wear her heart on her sleeve, so you have to consult the music to gain more insight.

howard: jazz too, but its MUCH more refined and smoother than saul. like the really complicated music theory-y jazz that you hear in bars and restaurants at like 11pm on a saturday night.

mike: ok ok ok. hear me out. but i think if you had like. a lone flute, it would work. like i know it doesnt initially fit, but i feel like it does, because at the center, mike is just upset about everything, he longs for the past, i think, and i think if you wrote something in like the mid-range of the flute, or if you used a bass flute, it would sound really good.

lalo: ok so like saul and mike, lalo puts up a front. i think that front sounds like really loud miriachi music (think al compas de mi caballo). but the center is something brassy, and personally i'd lean towards trombone. trombone can go very low, sound very intimidating, but they can also go pretty high, and sound noble and kind of adventurous.

gus: ahh ok so gus is kind of this god who has a LOT of power. his center is max. so if max isnt there, there wouldn't be a center. i think gus would have like a full ass orchestra. heavy on the bass to reinforce that he's powerful. i think he'd have almost a movie soundtrack genre. if that makes sense. here's the catch. there's very little flute, no piccolo. max is the piccolo.

nacho: guitar. lot of fingerpicking. nacho doesnt get any of the band instruments because he's not really on either side? he kind of just got wrapped up in the mess and now he can't really get out. probably a lot of high notes because he's continuously yearning for a world he can't really get. also its kind of got that humbleness his family background has.

kaylee: just tap. no instruments. just a 5 year old tap dancing SO loudly for SO long.

tuco: nightcore.

#i missed a bunch but oh well #out of character #breaking bad #better call saul

[greenbirdtrash]

Things about being an autistic adult that i'm not usually talking about, pt.1

1. Sometimes I'm really struggling with maintaining even the basic body needs, and it only gets worse because i don't really feel hunger, minor physical discomfort or thirst until it's too late, which usually ends up with me being totally exhausted and getting mad at everything for no reason. Same goes with overeating and feeling sick after that - i usually can't tell when i'm full and trying to eat in small portions to prevent that

2. My masking mechanism is mirroring other people, and i found this out not so long ago.

If we started to communicate on a regular basis, over time i can "adopt" a part of your personality and some behaviour traits without processing a single thought. I'm not even noticing that unless someone points this out. This changes from one friend circle to another. Unless we're really close with each other, it's not really my "personality", it's actually yours/someone else's from the same friend group. It IS annoying for some people, but i can't really do much with it

3. Sound sensitivity. I can't "filter" the background noises, and i can hear even the soft high-pitched sounds made by phone chargers/light bulbs. At the same time, i have troubles processing speech in the loud environment, i twitch from VERY loud and sudden sounds and my eyes are just starting to get wet for no reason after that (Usually i'm good at hiding that or just blame it on the bright lights if anyone asks me). I hate it even when there's two or more people talking at the same time, i have to put myself together to get what they're trying to say if they're even talking to me. It's really hard to concentrate on it

4. Navigation and visiting new places.

I'm very good at following any routes i already know, and i prefer to take them even if there is shorter/easier ones....well, if i never was there before. I can't just pick a new route or enter a new grocery store/hospital/post office/anything else for the first time if i'm alone.I remember a day when i was still studying, and i stood outside the professor's office (at the exact same day when i had to deal with some problems with my documents) for approximately 1 hour before someone opened the door and asked if i need something

I just get something like a brain block which doesn't allow me to do something, and i can even start to panic because i'm out of my "well-known comfort zone". I often need a person who can guide me somewhere, and then i have no problems with doing it myself. You don't have to follow me everywhere, but i truly appreciate it when you help me with that.

5. Couple of years ago I also had huge troubles with just answering the phone (i still prefer text over calls, all my friends know that, but seeing my phone vibrating with a call from unknown number still gives me a bit of anxiety), because when i'm stressed, i can go completely non-verbal.

Why? I just have a feeling that sudden call means "something bad happened", and if i don't pick up, i can somehow ignore the imaginery bad stuff and it won't happen to me

Somehow i managed to deal with that with lots of practice with my therapist when i had to make my own appointments, and eventually i kinda gaslighted myself into believing that it's not much different than voice chats with my friends. Now i can at least make an important call and don't feel very exhausted after it

#birdie talks #autism vent #autism awareness