alright finished with the tentacle story, did a real trashy cover yesterday so I just need to give it a look over and we’re good to go

And Alex got a better position where he’s working, the motherfucking bakery!!!!!! instead of pharmacy so I can stop worrying about that which is going to give me a lot of extra energy to find something else to worry about. They’re also training him to be a night manager which is fucking great because a) health care and b) a schedule that actually matches his natural night-owl tendencies.

so stuff is looking up for once

I can imagine the first cycle after moving. Probably Leo because Donnie likely has internal scarring, so leo goes through the process of laying his eggs, panics, his brother can't help, and finally, *finally* they ask for help. It's not willingly. It's not for fun. It's purely necessity. It's purely because there's *literally noone else* and the idea of telling anyone at all is so scary that the way they do so is in a note. Splinter sits them down and basically walks them through "You're safe, you're fine. We can handle this however you feel most comfortable, including getting you both on blockers if you prefer" and they just.... sigh. For the first time, there's *someone else* in their circle, and it's willing and it's warm, and it's *safe*. There will be tears.

Yes, except I'm not convinced that either of them could stand to tell anyone. Even if it was literally life or death (which it has been before,) I'm not sure if either of them could bear to give up that information. Donnie is finally, finally away from the people who hurt him when he got found out last time, and even though logically, he knows that it's different here, he's absolutely petrified of the thought that the same thing will happen again and it won't be over anymore. He's still horrified by the idea of anyone else knowing about Leo when he's gone to such lengths for so long to protect him, and Leo is likewise terrified in the same way. They've spent years with this being their more closely guarded secret, and that's going to be really difficult to give up.

But it's really not a secret they'll be able to keep for long.

They're in a completely different environment, with far less space and privacy. They're both stressed as hell and Donnie WAS on birth control and taking all sorts of vitamins and supplements to make sure he didn't eggbind again and now he's suddenly not and it's not only messing with his body, it's fucking scary. It literally keeps them both up at night. Neither of them know how to wash blood out of clothes or sheets. There's no private en suite bathroom they can sequester themselves away in. They're both literally making themselves sick with anxiety trying to deal with this, and they're used to handling this on their own, this is routine for them, but they're not used to all of this.

They'd probably metaphorically limp through a few cycles before their family puts it together and gently confronts them.

Venus probably figures it out first. She's pretty smart, and incredibly observant, and after all-- she quite literally experiences the exact same thing. April may not lay eggs, but I think she'd be able to get the idea after a bit as well. And while I think Splinter would realize something was wrong pretty quickly, Draxum would probably realize what was wrong first. Splinter has April, so he has a little bit of experience in this realm, but Draxum has Venus and so he has far more experience.

And so when they do sit them down and talk with them, it's going to be really scary at first. And then they get to, "you're safe, you're fine, we can handle this however you feel the most comfortable. It will be okay. No one will hurt you."

And then there's finally other people in the know, in the circle, people who will actually help them. And yes-- there will definitely be tears.

And with kindness leads to greatness

Patroclus is a kind man, written in between his words of doubt and low self esteem. The way he treats women he encounters with care and empathy speaks volumes then the words he utters.

His mother, everly so writtenly as meek and homely seemed to shine in his eyes as the sandy beaches of his home. As though, supposedly to dispise her from his father's lament. He remembers her simpleness like the warmth of the fading sky. Drifting and disappearing. But as the strings of her lyre, she is there only existing.

When Deidameia got pregnant with Achilles and learned that he will never ever love her, she was angry, disappointed and thrown away. She was promised of the boy and so she gave. And out of sheer destruction of a heart break, she agonizingly seeked comfort from Patroclus and demanded to lay with her so she could even by a small margin feel the soul of Achilles mending her broken heart. Cause as Patroclus quoted he is half of Achilles soul.

She's a victim in all of this as much as she tries to stand between the two lovers. And Patroclus understands this. Bedding her too but out of sympathy and kindness that she wanted to feel.

He was so human that when Briseis was turned into a prize of war, he urged his lover to take her and save her from being soiled by Agamemnon. He befriended her, clothed her, and taught her the way of the greeks. And as more prizes come, if by means possible, he wished for Achilles to take them from the humiliation to come.

In return for his selflessness, he was loved by the girl. Even offering him a child she could bare, knowing full well that she wont be the apple of his eye. But Patroclus could not dirty her like that. He knew she deserved better.

Thetis, on the other hand, had loathed him since the beginning. Yet she unknowingly seeked comfort from his memories of her lost child. Never to truly knowing the boy she had given birth to but only from the words of his lover. Patroclus was at her mercy, begging to reunite with his lover and yet instead of hating her even until death, he sang her Achilles' song.

And with the last hymns of his memory, she obliged writing his name beside her child's. The only motherly thing she had ever done.

Patroclus was the best of the Myrmidons for his sheer kindness alone. The cowardice that was bestowed by his true father was a lie but the name 'Patroclus' that meant glory of the father was true. Chiron is proud of his child. He honored him, using the knowledge he had bestowed and saved dozens of lives of hardened greek soldiers. Memorizing their names and each of their stories like his father did. Although, unlike them, he did not fight with swords and spears, he fought with his empathy in hand.

And the boy he had accidentally killed as a prince? It was not an act of cowardice of his confession, it was atonement. Acceptance of what he had done. Unlike those other kings and princes, he took the punishment as one should supposed to.

And that is why Achilles loved him. And that's why Achilles died when he did. Because he is the mortal half of his supposed to be godhood.

He is his other half, as the poet say.

wow. just had the thought of winter-soldier!ghost.

betrayed and then captured and tortured, to the point that his poor psyche just can't handle it any longer. there's been so much psychological damage left untreated and he could only suffer so much more. i like to think that — no matter how he's mistreated or interrogated — he still doesn't give up anyone or anything, though. all of his intel lives there in his brain and can't be extracted, just won't come out of that mouth of his. he can be rewired into a mindless killing machine, targets set on his once-comrades — but he's not offering any information.

and you. he goes missing and is presumed dead and you go through the whole mourning process. forced to suffer the grief in silence, because you don't want anyone thinking you're weak and can't handle the violent end that anyone could suffer at anytime. maybe you two weren't exactly intimate, but — you couldn't say there was nothing there. not after late nights and shared cigarettes, warm beer, shaking hand steadied by shaking hand.

so when he shows up in your room, in the safehouse out in the field, you're shocked. thinking you're — quite literally — seeing a ghost, though you want to believe he's alive, that he made it out. but before you can shed a tear of relief or even say his name — simon — his hands are around your throat and he's wrestled you to the ground. his eyes have always been cold and dark and distant but now — they're a void. not a shed of light in them.

and you swat at him and kick your legs, but he's so huge, this six-foot-something machine, and you can feel the blunt edge of his fingers through his gloves, digging into your skin, threatening to break the bird-fragile bones in your neck. you give up; there's no way you could fight this man off. you're waiting for the end.

— but something deep within his bones just won't let him make the final snap, like he's been ordered to.

also can i jsut say im super happy we get to enter their house in kavehs hangout? bc this means we can enter anytime since we can play hangouts over and over again, now i dont have to scold myself for forgetting to take pics whenever i was in there and then later drawing smth in the house and needing ref LMFAO

"Cuhut it out- you guys!" "Nu-uh, not until you're all perked up first! You don't want those gym challengers meetin' with an ol' mopey leader, do ya?" "Whitney's right, dear friend. No need to hide that beautiful smile of yours, alright?~"

What it takes to cheer up Johto's beloved ghost boy 👻💕

I think the meal replacement drinks are actually working thank fuck

in other news, unrelated to qsmp, since my cat has cancer he has to take a pill every single day and he obviously hates it but i have thankfully figured out a way to give it to him that has MASSIVELY decreased how stressed out he gets at pill-time

everyone cheer with me!!!

psst! hey you! yes you! i made a thing and have been awake for over 24 hours and here you go

2024 year of charlie gets a fucking break (hopefully. maybe. tbd.)

.

im literally sooo excited to have a single girl 2024 yall dont even know

MY NIECE IS FINALLY BACK HOME!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

somebody hit me with the dodgeball at some point in the past because in fics over the last 2 years I have written a) wolfwood thinking Vash could pull off an undercut (which was supposed to be a reference to LR’s manga hair), b) a woman named Rosa asking vash to help fix a dying plant, and c) a whole damn story about wolfwood’s cigarette smoke being a sensory lifeline to someone dissociating due to trauma

my partner really likes litc so i wanted to make a little doodle as a gift and i figured i might as well post it here since i have no motivation to draw atm [nor the time]

I know it's strike days now so there's a huge focus on boosting Palestinian voices, but I just wanted to share that we finally got my mum in to be checked for cancer today and the doctors said there's nothing to worry about! She's in the clear! Mum's gonna be okay! The relief is HUGE you've no idea!!!