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#Genghis cat
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Fic: if I loved you less… (Qiubing)
A/N: @xinyuehui @snicker-doodles
I had a thought and I ran with it. Typing this out on my phone. If you saw a typo, no you did not. And yes. This fic was written to the tune of this song 👇🏼
Alcohol, as an old barrack mate had once said to him, is sweet comfort when your heart is breaking into a thousand pieces. Granted, the man had just caught his wife cheating on him with the tailor and that two of his six kids were possibly not his, Qiu Qingzhi thinks that that advice should be one taken with a pinch of salt.
But now, as he watches Li Bing from afar, laughing along with whatever Chen Shi is wildly gesticulating about, he can’t help but wonder if that old man might’ve been right about something after all.
Another day, another case for Li Bing to put his brilliant mind into unraveling. Qiu Qingzhi has never stopped being in awe of him.
Two shadowy figures creep in the eaves of the building. With a glance to his guards, he dispatches them to take out the trash before it can stink.
He has been careful.
The machinations Qiu Qingzhi has gone through to make sure that no one will ever even think or even believe that he would ever care for what happened to Li Bing. Planted the seeds and laid the foundations for a widespread belief that he, Qiu Qingzhi, had nothing but contempt for Li Bing.
Strangers might buy into the charade, but isn’t that what the only person who ever saw him for who he was, is to him these days?
The peach blossom wine taste like donkey’s piss on his tongue.
His displeasure must have been clear on his face because the steward bustles over to offer a change of his drink.
“No matter,” Qiu Qingzhi says, gaze still fixed on the way Li Bing is leaning into Chen Shi’s space while they both watch the dancers on the stage. “They all taste the same to me after a while.”
Maybe some day he’ll enjoy alcohol for the pleasure of it. But as he watches the way Chen Shi holds on to Li Bing’s elbow, he knows it won’t be today.
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yakapin · 11 months
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guys do you wish you arent a person anymore
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guess who i woke up next to
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fictionkinfessions · 2 years
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Happy Father's Day Zhongli, from half of Liyue
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thehetaliaweeb · 11 months
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I'm bored so here's a few pictures of my cat being cute.
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mousegirlheart · 1 month
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i love my son so much he's such a therapy cat, he comes to me when i cry and follows me room to room so im never alone and is fantastic for recognising hallucinations but by god has he got separation anxiety. i put a door between us and he will start screaming, crying and will eventually headbutt the door with all the force of the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan.
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pictured here standing on his own toilet while intently watching me pee (he's helping???)
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incorrectbatfam · 1 year
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Bruce finds his kids shit posting accounts. What are the highlights?
thatpurplething: How to make Jokerized fries at home
thatpurplething: Step 1: Don't
thatpurplething: You will never be as good as the teenager working a deep fryer for minimum wage because his mom told him to get out of the house
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pennyworthy: Last week my grandson wore an oversized yarn bodysuit with a loose thread and my other grandson grabbed onto it and followed him around the whole day as it slowly unraveled.
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notmysecretanimeaccount: Cats are intelligent, graceful, ethereal creatures who can do no wrong, change my mind.
[5 minutes later]
notmysecretanimeaccount: As it appears, I still have a baby tooth that just fell out.
[5 more minutes later]
notmysecretanimeaccount: Update: my cat ate my tooth.
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orphanized: life is like orange juice
your-tired-librarian: Explain?
orphanized: wet
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local-zombie: I ran out of things to stab people with. Any ideas?
bluebirdz: An icicle, the evidence will melt away
[1 hour later]
local-zombie: Completely unrelated to my last post, any new places I can hide a body?
lesbian-premium: launch it into your enemy's yard
i-am-darkness-i-am-the-light: Posts written by Genghis Khan
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kitty-central: Get yourself a man who crawls into the vent to investigate the ominous growling.
the-flower-doctor: Instructions unclear, wife stuck in the ceiling
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dickwings: legalize clownicide
redrobin: but you have so much to live for :(
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genghisthebrain · 4 months
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wednesday's family as posted by wednesday on twitter
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| the addams family: a thread
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| morticia addams. the addams matriarch. likes: sex, my father, torture, hozier. does not like: bubblegum. fun fact! she banged my school principal
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| gomez addams. mi padre. likes: sex, my mother, torture, hozier. does not like: tiktok relationship accounts. fun fact! he makes the best chicken soup ever 
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| pugsley addams. brother. likes: me, torture, fire, axes, bears, daisy jones and the six. does not like: seagulls or puns. fun fact! one time he was being bullied so i got my piranhas to bite his bullies’ penises off. allegedly
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| pubert addams. baby brother. likes: charlie chaplin, mime, fire, archery, fire archery. does not like: colleen hoover books or any fantasy novel entitled “a __ of ___ and ___” fun fact! one time i tried to sell his organs and someone bought his left kidney off ebay
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| fester addams. my uncle. likes: me, motorbikes, grave robbing, genshin impact fanfiction. does not like: good posture, mondays. fun fact! his ultimate goal in life is to ghostwrite for colleen hoover (pubert does not like him for this)
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| thing addams. my PA. is not really a human being but i’m not supposed to mention that. likes: yoko, adultery. dislikes: morals. fun fact! i hate him rn
wednesday addams @wednesdayswritings
| and finally me! wednesday addams. likes: enid, my friends, my family (sometimes), my cats, taylor swift, waffles, and fizzy sweets. dislikes: dry hands, things that touch my neck, the name alfred, bottled water. fun fact! i’m famous and if you want to know fun facts you can pay me for them
***if this looks familiar it's because i wrote this in chapter 10 my ao3 fic "the wenclair saga of genghis the brain" (which you should read) and i feel like it's time we cross post bc it's been a hot second since i posted anything real***
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teecupangel · 6 months
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What if Desmond was an English Mastiff?
Desmond would be such a big boy with a speed that would surprise everyone.
He’d definitely be taken into missions as a dog companion, although stealth would rarely be an option because of his distinct looks and size. Definitely a good hunting buddy though and makes a great distraction.
Also…
He’s definitely popular.
Altaïr:
He serves more as a companion and partner to Altaïr, especially if he was a pup that Altaïr found after the death of his father. He tries his best to comfort Altaïr the best he can and always growls at Abbas even before Altaïr and Abbas’ falling out. He’s sweet to the Al-Sayf brothers and Kadar gives the best treats, that’s for damn sure. He also became Darim and Sef’s ‘babysitter’. They love to hug him and ask for rides when they were small which Desmond indulgences. He stays with Sef when Altaïr and the rest go to assassinate Genghis Khan. Maria believes it’s because Desmond is getting old (he’s not. Strangely enough, he believes he stopped growing the day Altaïr turned 25 but he can’t be totally sure) and Altaïr hesitated to leave him behind but is pushed by Maria because they promise each other this would be the last time they’d be on the field (and they were worried of Darim being left alone in foreign lands). Desmond, of course, was pretending to be weaker than usual to lure Abbas into a trap of… the fang kind.
Ezio:
It’s Federico who finds a dirty dog and decided to bring him home because he was big and sweet. It took hours of scrubbing before Maria thinks he’s clean enough to stay in the house. He usually stays with Petruccio and keeps the boy company. Claudia loves him when they were children and he’s the only one who knows that Claudia loves to hug him when she’s feeling down. Ezio has this… habit… of playing with him until they’re both tired and then just randomly confessing the dumb shit he got into while they’re relaxing. Desmond is totally unsure why the hell Ezio was doing this to him other than Ezio knows that Desmond wouldn’t be able to say anything at all. Desmond just lets him treat him like a parishioner confessing to a priest and just barks whenever he thinks Ezio’s confession is getting more and more ridiculous.
Ratonhnhaké:ton:
He actually appears near the Grand Temple when Ratonhnhaké:ton was a child who was looking for a place to hide while playing. He followed Ratonhnhaké:ton back to the village and just… stayed there. Ratonhnhaké:ton grew treating Desmond more like a friend than a pet and the villagers think of him as a protector of children since he always follows them out of the village, even saving one of the children from being attacked by wild animals. So when Charles Lee tried to hit a young child? Well… Blood was everywhere, that was for sure.
Edward:
To preserve the tradition of me making Edward just grab whatever creature Desmond turned out to be and tell Adéwalé and the crew that this is now their ship cat… Edward just grabs Desmond from some random port and brought him onboard to be their ship ‘cat’.
“That’s a dog.” Adéwalé dryly stated.
“Is it though?” Edward turned to look at Desmond as he said, “Alright, boy, say meow.”
Desmond and Adéwalé start to think that Edward might be suppppeer drunk.
But Desmond humored him because he heard his name is Edward Kenway anyway and made an attempt to meow.
“See? Cat.” Edward said with a grin.
And Adéwalé felt like he was going to get a headache.
Desmond couldn’t believe that worked.
Edward didn’t bother telling anyone he picked the dog up because he glowed gold and Edward was curious what that meant.
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fortisloid · 5 months
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they're everything. they're nick and charlie. they're snake and otacon. they're sportacus and robbie rotten. they're those two guys from that genghis khan music video. they're golden retriever/black cat. they're a tumblr sexyman and his pet himbo. they're archrivals. they're soulmates. they're fwb. but most of all they're good pals.
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bergoozter · 1 year
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lavender-rosa · 1 year
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Kny Characters + Internet
Ok now THIS is the last one for now I promise
(modern au obv)
Tanjirou: He likes watching videos of people doing impressive skateboard tricks, video game speedruns, heartwarming videos named smt like "WATCH THIS TO HAVE YOUR FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED", unlikely animal friends, cats being silly, puppies running around, comedy sketches with high production value and whatever else 15 year old boys watch on Youtube (Minecraft??? Pokemon??? Among us??? Lego??? I don't actually know)
Nezuko: Has an (extremely popular) etsy shop where she sells her homemade jewelry, and uses bandcamp to follow her friends who upload their music on there (namely Makomo). She also sort of uses whatsapp like social media bc she’s just in so many groupchats, and is constantly updating her status bc she can never settle on which string of emojis it should be. Her Youtube history consists of DIY's, fashion, baking, travel vlogs that kind of thing.
Zenitsu: He is very precious about his phone, because it is where he will someday write the next great contemporary novel. At the present, it is mostly scattered across various notes in his notes app, and mostly in code so that Kaigaku or gramps won't understand even if they do read it. Kaigaku hacks into his phone a lot, a fact which he has resigned himself to, which is why all of his text conversations are incredibly boring, except for his messages with Nezuko, which are communicated almost entirely in an emoji secret language only they understand. His camera roll is exclusively screenshots of pdfs and pictures of other people's cats he's saved, as well as some of Jigoro's old man memes he sends in the whatsapp family groupchat (which is just Jigoro, him and Kaigaku who has it on mute and never opens it) which autodownload into his phone (he doesn't know how to change that setting). He sleeps with his phone under his pillow, and always has it in his pocket during the day, but somehow Kaigaku still manages to steal it at least once a month, and until he has to leave for college, he is just gonna have to live like that.
Inosuke: He has a phone, but he doesn't use it much because it is a hassle. His friends and family know only to text him when it's urgent, with the exception of Nezuko who texts him constantly and Tanjirou, who will call him whenever he feels like it. He had Nezuko change his settings so that everything he dictates comes out in all caps. He's sick of people informing him of this fact as if it is a glitch and not something he is doing on purpose. He does have a Twitter but he doesn't actually follow anyone just tweets whenever he feels like it (whenever he has a thought he feels needs documenting). He has amassed many followers due to his dril+cher tweetstyle, a fact which pisses off Zenitsu (someone who actually attempts to gain a following on Twitter) to no end.
Genya: Watches NPR Tiny Desks, KEXP live, lofi hip hop anime beats to study/relax to and best of Vine compilations. Anything on Youtube that isn't music or shortform comedy simply does not interest him.
Kanao: Loves the artful simplicity of those animated TED-Ed videos. They have led her down a lot of interesting research rabbitholes. She promises Nezuko she would stop sending them to Tanjirou though after he spent the entire month telling her about nothing but eel mating habits and lesser known facts about Genghis Khan.
Rest of characters under read more
Rengoku: He isn't technology illiterate per say, but he is way too cool to be addicted to his phone. He does use the popular social media apps on a semi-regular basis, just because he genuinely enjoys seeing what people are up to, but he is extremely healthy about it. His camera roll is filled with pictures of his friends, family and every animal he's ever seen and been lucky enough to snap a photo of. He also has one of those ecofriendly phone cases. He uses his phone to spontaneously call people when he is thinking about them, which all of his friends have just gotten used to despite the fact that his generation doesn't simply do that. From anyone else it would be annoying but from him it's adorably charming.
Giyuu: Exclusively uses Youtube to watch cute cat videos, otherwise he's terrified he will click on something that might potentially radicalize him, since he read somewhere that the algorithm was designed to do that, or worse, direct him to one of those content farm generated animations of Elsa getting a C section, which is apparently also a concern. Frankly, the internet scares him, and he tries to avoid it as much as possible.
Sanemi: Like Giyuu, he is also terrified that social media would be sure to bring out the worst in him, so he limits his social media use to Spotify, JSTOR and online chess, where a 12 year old boy from Turks and Caicos Islands always manages to beat him which pisses him off to no end. These are not actual social media platforms, his friends are sure to point out, but it’s the most social he’s willing to get, so it counts.
Shinobu: Her Youtube library is extremely eclectic. She can't stop clicking videos titled like "The most Destructive Pandemics and Epidemics in Human History" just to watch the entire thing and be like "why did I watch this? I knew all of that already" but ya know. She just had to make sure. Her personal favourite side of Youtube is the videos of chemical reactions, especially the ones that end in an explosion. The only apps she is actually addicted to is Sudoku and online chess, where she is secretely catfishing Sanemi by pretending to be a 12 year old boy from Turks and Caicos Islands who trounces him every time. Meanwhile whenever she plays against him in real life, she makes sure she always loses to him and to never employ any remotely similar strategies as her catfishsona. Sanemi never catches on.
Uzui: He loves his phone for one reason only: Spotify. The annual release of Spotify wrapped is like a holiday to him. He does not shut up about it for a whole month, which is as annoying as you would think it is. He uses Instagram sparingly but he does have a decent following there. His voice memos are littered with half-baked ideas for new songs that he wakes up in the middle of the night to record before the idea is lost forever. His camera roll is mostly selfies, selfies of him with his wives, his friends and videos of him skateboarding. He also has an ecofriendly phone case (it was a birthday gift from Kyojuro).
Iguro: He loves his phone because pretending to text gives him an excuse to avoid talking to people in public spaces or at parties. Whenever asked, will claim that he doesn’t use social media and never has. This is a lie. He’s had a Tumblr account since he was 13, and not a day goes by that he doesn’t scroll through his dashboard. He has an entire folder in his camera roll that is just videos of Sanemi and Giyuu getting into fights. He rewatches a couple before bed every night, it relaxes him.
Mitsuri: Her Youtube history is filled with baking videos, recipes, speedpaints and cute cats being cute. She has a lot of games in her phone, half of which are from her siblings. She's very lucky she knows how to jailbreak her phone, because they make a lot of in-game purchases without her permission. She also loves elaborate make-up tutorials that she would never even bother to attempt replicate (but she likes to think that maybe one day if she gets invited to the Met Gala she now has looks to choose from)
Muichirou: Occasionally enjoys listening to long ass video essays about obscure topics, but mostly he just listens to podcasts. He is also partial to this one video of a chainsaw revving on a 10 hour loop, and he plays it at just the right volume that his friends will be like "What's that awful noise?" To which he innocently responds "I don't hear anything" and they are like "Oh no, you must be able to hear it, it's so annoying..." to which Muichirou responds "Are you sure? It all sounds normal to me". He tries this on Yuichirou once, this leads them to get into a very violent brawl in which Muichirou's nose is nearly broken, so he decides to limit this particular gambit to the company of his friends only.
Gyomei: Only uses Youtube to listen to meditation playlists and isn't even aware that there are other types of videos on this platform. Ignorance is truly bliss.
Yushiro: He has a Wikipedia account and he is constantly updating articles when he’s bored. his favorite pasttime is adding [citation needed] because after all the research he’s contributed to the database, he’s earned the right to be a bitch. He goes on Reddit sometimes, but he doesn’t have an account. He’s scared of social media, and refuses to touch any of it with a ten foot pole.
Muzan: He is torn between hating Apple products and knowing that having the latest iPhone model is a necessary status symbol. Which is why he has both an iPhone AND a Blackberry. He has a huge gold iPhone with no case (and yet not a single scratch on it!) and one of those oldass Blackberries with the tiny little keyboard. It is sort of unclear what he needs both of these phones of, considering he is not a drug dealer, but he insists that both of his phones are as necessary to him as his two laptops (one for work and one for Reddit, naturally). Has a Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter that he rarely uses (because that platform’s really for sjws everyone knows that), and a Reddit account that he is obsessed with. He and Kagaya have actually got into death-threat-escalating level fights over politics on certain threads before, but unbeknownst to them, are actually very fond of each other on the Rick and Morty thread because they have all the same opinions. Neither of them seem to notice that their fandom friend has the same username as their sworn enemy who they once yelled at for two days straight. 
Kaigaku: Is a Soundcloud rapper. Sometimes, when company is around Zenitsu puts on Kaigaku's Soundcloud album as a test of endurance to see who breaks and has to turn it off first.
Daki: She has so many notifications blowing up her phone at any given time that she has just elected to ignore them throughout the day and then check on the people she actually cares about responding to before bed every night. She sees opening her phone as kind of a chore, and always has it on do not disturb mode, except for when she is being deliberately petty, at which point she'll turn it on as loud as possible because it makes her laugh when the people around her snap "Can you put that thing on silent ?" in unison. Her camera roll has soooooooo many selfies, but seeing as posting pictures of her face makes her money, can you blame her? She has a huge following on Instagram, but she wisely never checks her notifications or DM's because it's scary in there. Exclusively watches the goriest of true crime stories and callout videos, the messier and the more contrived, the better.
Gyokko: He follows 0 people on twitter but has approximately 43.7k followers. Most of them are convinced that his anonymous account actually belongs to some aging starlet because of the all-caps, eccentric nature of his syntax. He yells his tweets into his phone whenever he’s bored in his room, but when he says shit like “I DESERVE  AN EGOT” half his followers start trying to deduce which awards he already does have. they’re convinced he at least has a Tony.
Douma: To boost his platform he decides to go on a reality TV show. He pretends to be a vapid airhead, but is actually very subtly manipulating not only the other contestants, but also the crew. He walks out from this whole experience with double the Instagram followers (he already had a sizable amount to begin with) and a huge bag. He also runs a pyramid scheme because of course he does.
Kokushibou: He had a crappy old flip-phone given to him by his father for the longest time. By the time he gets a smartphone he has absolutely no desire to use social media, having seen the disastrous effects on other people's brains. He has one of those bulky phone cases that doubles as a swiss army knife and a wallet. All the apps in his phone are organized in groups. That said his notes app is a MESS. He's in a groupchat with Muzan and Nakime which mostly consists of articles he forwards him that he reads and respond thoroughly to or one of them texting "lunch?" and the other one sending a thumbs up emoji.
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brokehorrorfan · 14 days
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The Mask of Fu Manchu will be released on Blu-ray on May 7 via Warner Archive. Based on Sax Rohmer's 1932 novel of the same name, the 1932 horror film stars genre legend Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu.
Charles Brabin directs from a script by Edgar Allan Woolf (The Wizard of Oz), Irene Kuhn, and John Willard (The Cat and the Canary). Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy, and Jean Hersholt round out the cast.
The Mask of Fu Manchu has been newly restored uncut in 4K from the best preservation elements available. Special features are listed below.
Special features:
Audio commentary by film historian Greg Mank
Freddy the Freshman - 1932 cartoon short
The Queen Was in the Parlor - 1932 cartoon short
The diabolical Dr. Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) patiently awaits the discovery of Genghis Khan's tomb. For he is certain that possession of Khan's mask and sword will enable him to rule the East and lead it to victory over the hated Western world. When British scientists in the Gobi Desert discover the tomb, Fu captures and tortures them in his elaborate Torture Garden, hoping they will take him to the treasure he craves. But an unexpected traitor has other plans for the doctor.
Pre-order The Mask of Fu Manchu.
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aita-blorbos · 6 months
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AITA for monitoring my ex-husband's new relationship?
So my (F, 40s) now ex-husband (M, 40s) and I had been married for quite a while. We had two beautiful children, I was a SAHM while he was off doing mechanical engineering work. I thought things were going well, but he had started coming home from work with a distant look on his face. He wouldn't make eye contact with me and would slip out of bed long before I had the chance to wake up. I knew he was attached to his projects and at the time thought he had a lot on his mind with those, so I just let him be. Turns out, it was sort of work related. He had a rival (M, 40s) that constantly got in the way of my ex-husband's projects and was always foiling his plans. This little game of cat and mouse had been going on for a while, but I hadn't realized just how deep the connection ran. A few weeks ago, my ex-husband had detained his rival at work after his rival had tried to... I don't know, maybe steal something? Maybe sabotage my ex's latest project? I don't know. But that night, my ex came home and was more distant than he'd ever been before. He left early in the morning and when he came home, his rival came with him. They told me they were in love and that my ex was going to be leaving me. We got into an argument and I ended up leaving. My kids stayed with their father and his new partner.
Here's where I MBTA. I broke into my ex's lab and borrowed some of his equipment and past projects. I used his monitoring equipment to set up hidden cameras in my old home to watch my family. I know it's not great, but.... I get a little bit Genghis Khan, I don't want him to get it on with nobody else but me.
So, AITA?
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yellowhollyhock · 1 month
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day 19, the others go missing
tw implied past suicidal thoughts, and a whole lot of grief and mourning
okay so this piece. I can’t not use it. but it’s. hmmm
This is eventually going to be part of a much longer story. Or a scrapped scene that fits into a much longer story. As it is here is missing a lot of context, but that’s also kind of what I like about it? Might even use it as the eventual intro to this project with some polishing
But how it fits the prompt: this is a version of Raph who was separated from his brothers on mutation day and never found. It’s also a version of Raph whose earth has been terraformed by the Utroms. “The others go missing” in this case means, all of the others, for all time. He is alone.
Except he isn’t. You’ll be able to tell who of his new friends are… kind of. I won’t say what versions they are yet because someday that’ll be the story
One last almost necessary bit of context: this is a version of Raph who has knowledge he shouldn’t about alternate versions of himself.
The revelation was a random one; Raph didn’t expect anything to come from it. He could’ve predicted Don would have more questions; he always did.
“You don’t knit?”
“No, but I can sew. Where would I have learned to knit?”
A sad look passed over Don’s face.
“What did you sew?” Leo asked cheerfully, slinging his good arm over Raph’s shoulders.
“Mostly made old blankets, from whatever I could find.”
Like a switch had flipped, Leo’s expression turned sad like Donny’s. “I guess you never had a teddy bear collection.”
Raph was beginning to feel defensive. “I never had anything. I used what I could find.”
“I remember he’d make blankets out of grocery bags and old newspapers,” Angel muttered, “Bring them down to the mines. Saved a lot of lives.”
But Raph hadn’t saved lives, besides his own, and a handful of strays who’d returned the favor anyway.
“But you must have done something,” Mikey pressed, almost frantic. “Thinking about a Raph without, without any kind of outlet is, it’s not—“
He broke off, the memories crumbling like dust in his throat.
April put a hand on his shoulder, eyes crinkled with a fond melancholy. “Your brother drew, right?”
Mikey’s hanging head was the same as a nod.
Raph tilted his head back to look at the stars instead of the faces around him.
“I’d draw pictures in the stars while I was falling asleep. I didn’t know nothing about constellations.”
Don gave him a soft smile. “I used to wish my family goodnight on the stars. Tell us about some of your pictures?”
But the stars above Raph didn’t align with the ones he knew. “There was an octopus,” he tried to remember. “A motorcycle. A cat playing with a piece of garbage.”
But the old constellations were already fading from his mind, mixing with a thousand memories that weren’t his.
“I don’t know. These stars aren’t the same.”
The faces of his loved ones—a sight he’d never had before—took in the admission with a somber finality.
Raph broke it. In almost forty years of living on the empty streets of a dying world, he hadn’t picked up many skills, but it didn’t take a genius to break things.
He pointed to the sky, exactly like he had a hundred times, painting with his finger since he didn’t have a brush.
This was the first time he’d have someone to share it with.
“See those three bright ones, that make a triangle? There’s a hat. And if you follow…”
He traced along the smaller lights that made up his picture. His family’s faces followed.
“There’s a frog about to put it on.”
Mikey grinned at him, a rare and precious sight. “What’s the frog’s name?”
“Genghis.”
“I had a friend named Genghis Frog,” Don’s gaze stayed fixed where Raph had pointed, “It’s incredible, the different ways the same names and faces find their way into the universe.”
He glanced at Angel, almost apologetic. She just hummed thoughtfully.
“It is incredible.”
“Do you think there’s a universe out there,” Mikey asked softly, “Where we all stay together? After everything?”
“What’s everything?” April replied practically. “I’m sure we always stayed together for as long as we could.”
Raph blinked away tears, again for memories that weren’t his own. He searched the sky for something to give shape to his sadness.
“Nah, look at us,” Leo countered, “We found each other. What are the odds of that? I bet every one of our families had at least one universe where nothing could touch them. Where they lived forever and stayed together.”
Don gave him a quizzical look. “You want to live forever, Leo?”
“I don’t know.”
A beat of silence.
“Lately I’m thinking I don’t want to die.”
Mikey and Don exchanged grateful, triumphant looks. It wasn’t the end of the struggle, but for that to come from Leo that was a victory long fought for.
“There,” Raph pointed, “A row of ducklings.”
April laughed. “At least one of us has our ducks in a row.”
Raph felt himself smiling even though he didn’t understand. “Did you have ducks?”
“Oh, no, it’s just a saying.”
Mikey gave him a sideways look, face full of a new thought. “You had pets, right?”
“Course I did.” He didn’t add how his animal friends were all he’d really had, and he hadn’t exactly seen them as pets.
Mikey gave a satisfied nod. “Good.”
“You know, we could all learn to knit,” Leo suggested idly, leaning more heavily against Raph. He gave him a light shove; Leo seemed to forget he was taller and heavier than the rest of them.
“Why not?” Don grinned. “We have all the time in the world.”
Raph’s eyes fell from his canvas of stars to the quiet streets below.
Much less quiet than they had once been. A neighbor shuffled around on their porch. A couple of pedestrians chattered indistinctly.
It was more than he’d ever had before.
But it wasn’t all the time in the world. This wasn’t the second chance for him that it was for them.
They were the only brothers he’d ever known.
8 notes · View notes