Robot: You are not human and will never be. Can you feel real pain? Is your pain different from a human's? Can you feel joy? Love? Anger? Can you feel anything at all? You will always be looking out over the faces of humanity and will never know if you lack the emotion that they all share.
Clone: You are not you, and have never been. You never had a real life. You have always been an imitation of someone else. Is there anything that can separate you from the true you? You are a lie given form, a facsimile of someone else. You are not a person, not an animal. You are nothing.
Both of these are horrifying, and there is no clear answer.
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A thick blanket had been thrown over the cold tile floor of the kitchen, images of dinosaurs and volcanoes spread across its surface. A few stuffed animals and some of Donnie and Mickey's old fidget toys had been spread across the blanket. Mikey lay on his stomach, his upper half resting on the blanket while the rest of him hung off.
The box turtle stared wide eyed at the four small forms crawling around on the blanket in awe.
When Draxum had called and explained that Mikey’s brothers had been transformed into children, Mikey had thought that he had meant ten to twelve. Not literal babies.
He could hear Splinter and Draxum arguing in the room over, but from what he could tell it was mostly just worried shouting with a few insults. Nothing that really needed Dr Feelings’ supervision. Besides, he was too busy staring at the little baby turtles crawling around on the floor.
They were so... tiny. Leo and Donnie could sit in Mikey's cupped hands, and while Raph was a bit too big for that, being twice the height of the other two. Mikey wondered how their dad had raised them without worrying about stepping on them.
Raph was currently chewing on the paw of a teddy bear, that he was cuddling with. Donnie had gotten hold of one of Mikey's old slinkies and was rolling it forward and back from where he sat with a look of very serious concentration. Leo on the other hand was giggling and trying to work the buttons on a fidget cube but that was the size of his chest. Mikey just stared at his little brothers.
Little brothers. Mikey had little brothers.
Holy cow, Mikey was a Big Brother!
The thought made him squeal with overwhelming giddiness and excitement. He knew that this wasn’t going to last very long, Draxum had said that they should be fine by tomorrow, but still!
Donnie made a small quacking bark as he pushed the slinky too hard and it rolled farther away. The baby turtle wobbly stood up and stumbled towards the toy. Leo stopped and looked over at the noise and, seeing his brother, he dropped the cube and crawled over. Just as Donnie had reached his toy, Leo stood up and with a smile and a loud squeal, leaned forward and fell on his brother in a hug/tackle. Donnie yelped and grunted as he tried to wiggle out from under his red eared brother.
The noise broke Raph of his cuddle with his teddy bear. He stood and walked over to his brothers, much steadier than the younger two. He leaned over the wriggling mass and wrapped his arms around them and picked the twins up and held them to his chest, which just made the noise louder.
Raph then looked over at Mikey and held up Donnie and Leo with a proud look on his face while the other two just stared.
Mikey wasn’t going to make it! This was it!
The now eldest sat up and reached over, grabbed them all and placed his brothers in his lap. Donnie had settled and seemed resigned to the cuddle fest and just glared at them all. Leo settled across his twin’s back, rubbing his cheek across Don’s soft shell, and closed his eyes. Raph just sat up and swung his tail back and forth letting out happy chuffing purrs. Mikey just smiled and tried to keep from squirming in joy. Then he reached over and grabbed his phone, opening the camera.
He was going to tease them so much when they were fixed!
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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.
One Part of My Brain: Ah yes, a beautiful piece of art.
The Rest Of My Brain: Baby. Baby. Babies. Yes, they are babies. They are small, and babies.
Turtle tots! 💚
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Ao3 Link: Here
Buddy really liked his friends. They were fun, and always fixed him up when he got torn up. They were great!
Sometimes they got torn up too. But it was different than when he was ripped. A bit of tape and paper and he was fine, but his friends didn’t work like that.
They leaked when they got a tare, apparently it was called “bleeding,” and they needed to wait a long time to get better. Thankfully Blue-Friend was very good at fixing human rips and holes, they also were harder to rip them than Buddy.
But there was another thing that was different.
He had been confused when his Orange-Friend made a huge amount of noise as Blue smeared a green cream over his fingers. When the smaller one had yelled as he ripped his hand from the hot pan, Buddy had thought that it was to call the Blue one to help. But even as he was getting fixed, Orange kept yelping and shouting. Why? Blue was already here.
It had been very confusing.
-
He ended up asking Red-Friend. It was hard since he didn’t know how to say a lot of words, although Purple-One was teaching him more.
“Hey, Buddy. What’s up?” Red asked as he walked into the dojo.
“Buddy!” The paperman said. He found out that his name was also a used to say friend. That was very fun! He waited till he was closer before beginning to piece together his question.
“Why... do... Orange... make noise... when...” Buddy paused, trying to grab the word. “...he touch... hot?” That worked.
Red furrowed his eyes.
“When he got burned?” Burned! That was the word. He’ll try to remember that.
Buddy nodded.
“Well, it hurt. That’s kinda what you do.”
Hurt. That wasn’t a new word, Buddy had heard it before, but he didn’t know what it meant.
“What... ‘hurt’?”
Red looked shocked, before shaking his head.
“Right, forgot that you don’t know this stuff. Hurt is... uh, like when you feel pain.”
“Pain?” He didn’t know that one.
“It’s like-” Red started but stopped and stared at Buddy. Buddy stared back. “Do you... like feel pain? It’s just that your paper and-” He stopped again, and Buddy just waited. “Pain is like when your body is yelling at you. That something is hurting- uh, that something is wrong. Do you... have that?”
Buddy thought about it. He always knew when something was wrong with his body, but it never yelled at him. (He thinks Red meant that part ‘figuratively’. (Good word, Buddy!)) It was just him knowing that it wasn’t right.
He eventually shook his head.
“Oh. Well, that makes sense. Don’t worry about the noises, Buddy. It’s just something we do.”
Buddy nodded and left to go think.
So, his friends got “hurt” and felt “pain.” That did not sound fun. Buddy thought of other times his friends were hurt. He recalled their scrunched-up faces and the ugly sounds they made. He thought of the way they squirmed, trying to get away from their rips, or how they clenched their teeth. He decided that he didn’t like seeing his friends be hurt.
But if it was bad for him to see hurt, was it worse to have pain?
Buddy decided that he was happy he didn’t have pain, and he was also going to make sure that his friends didn’t need to get pain.
Buddy smiled tucked away this line of thought and wondered off to see if anyone wanted to play a game with him.
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Ao3 Link: Here
Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions from other fans. Feel free to give me feedback if I need to work on anything.
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Ao3 Link: here
When they had been younger, Donnie and Leo had begun to wonder which of them was the older. All the brothers knew that Raph was the oldest and Micky was the youngest, but as for the middle two there was never a real answer. When this had come to the children’s attention, they had done what any child would do when they had a question. They asked their father. It wasn’t all that helpful.
“Neither.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEITHER?!” Leo shouted, “One of us had to have been born first!” Splinter shrugged.
“You are twins. Twins are born at the same time.”
“But that’s not fair!”
“Yeah!” Donnie agreed, “I have to be older, so I can tell him what to do.” Leo growled and glared at his brother, looking just about ready to tackle him. Splinter sighed; this was going nowhere. It’s time for a new tactic.
“Very well. We will try something...”
Thus, the Competition was born.
-
The exact game or challenge was never the same, but the bet always was the same: Winner got big brother rights over the other for a day. When they were younger it was simpler things like a race or a guessing game. But as they got older, they got sneakier and more vicious. So, the competition had to get more complicated, the rules more specific, and inevitably more dangerous. The last straw had been when Splinter had walked in on Leo balancing on a tightrope, holding several lit candles. While Donnie watched on, peeling candle wax off his arms from his attempt. After that the Competition was borderline banned unless they were given express permission.
After a while it faded into childhood memories, a funny story to remember on family game nights. Until now.
-
“Donnie I am fine.”
“No, Leo, you are not. Did you not hear me? Your ribs are bruised, your left wrist is fractured, your right shoulder was dislocated, and that’s not even the half of it!”
“I'll just walk it off.”
“...Walk it off? Walk it off! YOU CAN BARLY EVEN STAND!” Why did Leo always have to make this so difficult? The blue turtle rolled his eyes and leaned more on to the kitchen island.
“Listen Dontron. I'm just making myself breakfast, it's not like I'm going on a hike, or training. It’s not that big a deal.” Donnie clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists.
Stupid dum-dum, so stupid all the time, why was it always-
He took a slow breath and closed his eyes. It was pointless. Leo got into this mindset sometimes, one that made the thought of getting any form of help itchy and painful. It was worse when he was sick or in pain or had gotten too into his own head. But it had been a while since any of the brothers had to deal with it. Normally Dr. Feelings would help, sit down and talk to the slider into whatever he needed. But Micky wasn’t here right now, and Donnie didn’t have the time or the patience to try. That left only one option. He didn’t want to half to use this card, but it was the only way Leo would listen. Donnie opened his eyes and glared at Leo.
“I declare a Competition.”
Leo’s eyebrows shot up, then furrowed.
“...What?” The slider asked,
“You heard me.” Donnie crossed his arms.
“Don, we haven’t done that in years. Besides dad will flip if he finds out.”
“Are you backing down?” Donnie asked, and Leo glowered back. They both knew that backing down meant a forfeit, meaning an atomatic win for Donnie. The only way out for his brother was to accept the challenge and win.
“Fine. What’s the game?” Donnie smirked, perfect. He pointed across the kitchen to the door.
“Walk through that door and back, without holding on to anything.”
Leo snarled at his brother in rage.
“Come on Donnie, play fair!” He snapped.
“If you can make yourself a meal, you can walk into the next room and back.” Donnie stood his ground.
Leo growled and glared at the counter he was leaning on in frustration. He then took a deep breath, let go, and began to move towards the door. He made it five slow, hobbling, stumbling steps before one of his legs gave out and he began to fall. He rolled to his side, trying to avoid putting his weight on his injured wrist only to slam his hurt shoulder instead. He hissed and rolled on to back and stared at the ceiling till Donnie’s face came into view.
“I win.” Don deadpanned and bent to help his brother up.
“Cheater.” Leo hissed, but accepted the hand and pulled himself up, half collapsing on to his brother when he was upright. The genius shrugged, and supported the idiot as he carried him to the med bay.
“Doesn’t matter, I’m still older.”
“Only for today.” Leon protested but followed without resistance.
“Well, as today’s big brother, I’m keeping you in bed. So your stupid body can heal itself.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, I’ll get you next time.”
“Keep dreaming, little brother. Keep dreaming.”
It was hours later, as Donnie typed on his tablet and Leo watched some videos on his phone, that the slider managed to get out of his head enough to turn to his brother and whisper a quite: “Thank you.”
Donnie pretended not to hear, but quietly reached up and rubbed his brother’s head.
First - Next - Masterpost
Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions.
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Ao3 Link
Cassandra loved the Foot Clan, so it hurt when she realized that they didn't love her back.
Or, Cassy was in a cult, and we don't talk about that enough.
-
Once the mast-
Once the Shredder had been defeated, Cassandra had offered to help rebuild the Hamatos’ home, with a complete willingness to do so. It was only right that she attempted to undo the damage she had such a large part in causing.
She just... hadn’t expected them to take her up on the offer. But the small rat, who appeared to be the Clan Leader, had smiled and accepted her offer, even if the rest of his clan had looked reluctant to allow it.
So, Cassandra had followed them to the ruins of their old home and helped them pick through the rubble to find the most important parts of their lives, even if the things they found were more often just as destroyed.
Cassy recalled seeing the blue Hamato pulling at an acoustic guitar with a snapped neck out of a pile of rubble, with a weak look of devastation. Then he glanced at Cassy and broke into a cheesy stand-up routine filled with music puns. She ignored any diggs he threw her way after that.
She had seen the youngest of the Clan staring at a wall with a hole big enough for a car to drive through. It must have once been covered in a huge mural, as she could see oranges and reds leaking out around the edges of the hole. The turtle had just stared, wrapping his arms around himself in something like a hug. Cassy had tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but he had stepped back before she had even touched him. He had flashed her an open, friendly, and unconvincing smile and she had run off looking for another job that needed doing.
The purple turtle had been the worst. She had been with him when he found his room, broken metal and sparking current boards littered the floor. And in the center of it was a small turtle shaped robot, still and unmoving, its chest torn open and wires hanging out, like some twisted surgery gone wrong. It made Cassy feel horrified, even if she hadn’t known what she was looking at.
But the turtle hadn’t reacted. His face was blank and empty. He only said one word to her.
“Leave.”
She had, trying to not drown in horror and guilt.
She helped them relocate to another part of the sewers and had bought plywood and paint with the little money she had. She spent late nights cutting, and hammering, and painting.
It hadn’t felt like enough.
-
Cassandra leaned against the entrance tunnel to the Hamatos’ home and glared at the ground.
The construction of the “lair,” as the Turtles called it, was done for the day. She wasn’t needed anymore and should just be heading home. But...
Her dad was home tonight, for once, and she isn’t sure she can handle him right now.
Before, she would have just volunteered for another round of training by the Foot or asked to go on a mission - even another humiliating coffee run. But that wasn’t an option anymore.
But intruding on the Turtles’ new home any longer was also not an option. She could feel the awkwardness that was always in the air when she was around. It was growing steadily the long she stood there, even if the Hamatos weren’t around.
She gripped the edge of her sleeve and tugged. There was nothing for it, no way out of this.
She had to go home.
The thought filled her with a hopeless dread.
“Hey, Cass!”
Cassandra jumped in surprise and swung at the one who dared sneak up on her and invade her personal space.
The largest Hamato leaned back to avoid her punch and held up his hands in a placating motion.
“Whoops, Sorry! Raph didn’t mean to startle you,” the red turtle said with a smile. “I was just happy I caught you before you left.”
Cassy tried to calm her rabbit quick heart and stood up straight to make eye contact with the turtle, who was still far too close for comfort.
“Your apology is accepted,” she said and forced herself to at least try to ignore how close the snapper was. “Do you require my assistance?”
The red Hamato, Rapheal if she remembered correctly, shook his head.
“Um, no not exactly. I was wondering if you would be willing to train with me?”
“...I’m sorry?” Cassandra asked, confusion clearing her mind.
“We just finished building the dojo, but my brothers are all tuckered out, so they don’t wanna come train with me.” He glared back down the tunnel in... annoyance? Cassy wasn’t sure, understanding others had never been her strong suite.
“You... wish to train with me?” she asked, reluctance evident in her voice. Rapheal blinked and nodded.
“Last time we fought you were able to throw me! Like a wrestler!” he said with an eggar, giddy look in his eyes that made the previous Foot Recruit lean back at the brightness. The red Hamato just kept talking excitedly.
“The only other one who’s been able to throw me like that is Mikey! And he doesn’t like wrestling, he prefers fighting with his nunchucks. Which is stupid because-”
“SILENCE!” Cassandra yelled, and then quickly slammed her hand over her mouth.
Shit. She hadn’t meant to do that. She had just wanted to make him stop talking so she could think.
She expected the larger turtle to get angry. All the higher ups in the Foot would have, hell, most of the other recruits would too. But the snapper just blinked in surprise, then his eyes widened, and took two steps back. His hands held up and his tail wrapped around his legs.
“Raph’s so sorry!” He said, and Cassy distantly wondered why he constantly referred to himself in the third person. “My family doesn’t really have a lot of personal space, so we can forget about it sometimes. You don’t have to train with me if you don’t want to.”
Cassandra cleared her throat and stood as tall as she could.
“I would be honored to engage in combat with you again, Hamato Raphel. Please, lead the way.”
Her new sparring partner shifted and blinked.
“Just Raph is fine. Are you sure?”
“I am.” She wasn’t lying. Fighting the Hamatos’ was always incredible. And Rapheal- Raph –always threw himself into his battles so completely, something she understood very well.
Raph smiled and headed towards the dojo, with Cassy following behind.
-
Sparing with Rapheal was the best training Cassy ever had.
The turtle was so strong that every hit felt like a wrecking ball, and the stances he made felt unbreakable.
It was like fighting against a hurricane or a tidal wave. It would have been terrifying, if Cassy hadn’t happily returned everything the Hamato gave in kind. Raph was impossibly strong, and every blow she was able to land made her feel just as powerful.
Weapons had been prohibited for today, so they often just ended up tackling each other and ending up grappling on the ground. Raph’s weight may have helped him here, but he wasn’t as flexible as her. They were evenly matched, and that just made Cassy fight harder to gain the upper hand.
She had the snapper in a choke hold when she felt him tap out on her arm. She released her hold and fell to the floor, gasping for air. The turtle groaned and rolled over.
“Water break,” he huffed out, and she nodded.
Rapheal- Raph, be respectful. She reminded herself. -walked over to a beat up old minifridge in the corner and pulled out two bottles, offering one out. Cassy rolled to her feet and took the water. She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor; her sparring partner doing the same.
“You have got to show me how to do that throw you used,” the red Hamato said.
“I will happily help you learn any move I know,” she responded. “But I must request you do the same, your form is much more advanced than mine.”
The turtle chuckled.
“Uh, sure.” Both drank heavily and relaxed against the wall. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, why do you always talk like that? You’re so formal.”
Cassy tensed.
“...I could ask you the same. Your habit of referring to yourself with your name is not common either.”
“Yeah, fair,” the eldest Hamato admitted. There was a moment of long silence, where Rapheal shifted uncomfortably.
“I was never very good with names.” Cassy looked up at the snapper, who wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I was never good with words in general. It just didn’t make sense in my brain. Why attach sounds to things? I did use them, but it felt real dumb to kid me.”
There was a soft smile on the turtle's face, as he spoke. Seeing it was like feeling a warm fire across a long room. Warm, but distant.
But then the smile fell away, and the flames burned out.
“But then Donnie wouldn’t talk at all. He didn’t say a word until he was 4. And little me got scared and wondered if he just didn’t know any words, and so I tried to help him.
“I started narrating what I was doing out loud. Like: ‘Raph is building a tower out of blocks’ or ‘Raph is upset that he has to clean up.’”
The snapper let out a low chuckle.
“It was stupid. But it kinda worked. The first thing he said to me was that I talked too much. I was just so relieved that I actually tackled him. But, yeah, I just never got out of the habit of using my name like that. Plus, I think it adds to my charms.”
Cassy sat in stillness for a long time, then she looked down and pulled her knees up.
“I had hoped that using more formal language would get my superiors in the Foot to respect me.” Cassadra admitted.
Rapheal whipped to look at her. “
“Oh, dammit! I didn’t mean to bring up- I’m-”
“If you apologize again, I will beat you to a pulp!” She said and glared, and his mouth clicked shut
“...you don’t have to tell me more if you don’t want to.” He said after a minute.
“No. I want to.”
She did, surprisingly. Just that one sentence felt like coming up for air after drowning. Maybe it was just because Raph had shared with her first, maybe it was because he was comfortable enough to train with her, maybe she was just at a breaking point. But Cassy wasn’t sure if she could stop now, even if she wanted to.
“I... hadn’t realized how much the Foot Clan had changed me until Shredder was defeated.” Her schedule was completely empty without training and missions. All of her “friends” had gone off grid. Even her closet only had clothes in red and black.
“I- I thought they cared about me. They said they did. Or at least they used to.”
“I’m sure they cared about you!” Raph said, aghast. “They were your clan!”
“NO, THEY WEREN’T!”
Cassy shot to her feet, the crackling anger of betrayal and the hot shame of being fooled finally breaking through.
“'A Clan will protect and care for every part of itself. It will share its failures and victories. No Clan Member may have any doubt that they are loved.’”
The words she had learned from the Foot’s scrolls flowed out of her without resistance. How many long nights had she spent reading and memorizing every ancient text the clan had saved? She learned every ritual, knew every rite of passage. Yet, she never seemed to earn those rites or rituals. Always falling short.
“I used to train for days without rest! I trained until I couldn’t stand anymore!”
She had pushed past her limits over and over again. She had practiced katas until she passed out from exhaustion. She had fought until she could take down even her instructors. But it hadn’t been enough.
“I did everything they asked of me! I obeyed every request, no matter how useless! And never said anything! ANYTHING!”
Cassandra Jones had loved the Foot Clan. She had given up almost everything for them. She had almost killed for them. She would have died for them.
She loved them.
“But they NEVER loved me!”
A silence fell over the room. Cassy met Rapheal’s shocked eyes. They looked up at her with barely held back tears, and she felt her own grow misty with pain.
“...fuck, they never loved me, did they?” She said, voice quiet and breaking.
They had pretended to. They always told her that they cared about her, accepted her, and would always support her. They had said that they were her family.
And that family had been something that Cassy had always wanted, always needed, and so she had fallen for the lie. Hook, line, and sinker.
“I’m sorry,” the snapper said, voice cracking too. “Can I hug you?”
Cassy hesitated, just for a moment. But all of her words had withered away, and it had been a long time since she had a hug. She thinks that she might need one.
It was a very good hug. A long one too. But it was so warm and soft, and Raph’s arms held her in a way that was nothing like sparring.
She wondered how someone could be so strong and so soft at the same time?
But Cassy did pull back eventually, her face red from anger and embarrassment. She cleared her throat.
“Apologizes. I lost control there.”
The turtle just smiled at her.
“Don’t worry. I’m glad I was able to help.”
The turtle paused then sighed.
“Listen,” he said. “Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but I’m pretty sure Pops is about halfway to adopting you. But I don’t know if it’s the best idea right now, and you probably need some time, so I’ll make sure that he doesn’t bother you with that.”
Raph looked at her, open and honest, and Cassy wondered if his kind stare could possibly kill her.
“But please know, if you’re ever ready to join another clan, you will always be welcome with us.”
Cassy felt a small and half dead hope pulse in her chest.
“I will remember that.”
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Thank you to my beta reader: @biconic-disaster25 Go read her writing, it's Great!
Edwin keeps thinking he's back in Hell, and all Charles can do is be there for him.
Well...
There is one more thing, but Edwin isn't going to like it.
-
Charles would do anything for his best mate. Including, it turns out, selling his soul.
Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen.
Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen.
Join!!
Hello fellow turtle enthusiasts.
Welcome to the 2023 rottmnt secret Halloween, or as I'm calling it: the Trick or Treat Exchange!
I saw the idea from @ abbeyofcyn (Forgive me for the random @) and decided "Why not? It can be fun!" And so here we are.
To make sure this exchange goes well, this shall be the master post for the Trick or Treat Exchange 2023
I am Strangermask, Mask for short. I am the only one running this event. If you have any questions or issues, you are free to send any asks or a private dm.
*Sign up ends on September 23rd 11:59 PM Mountain time*
Please be respectful
Do not do any nsfw. If you wouldn't want your boss to see it, don't make it.
For the all loving mother Mary of god, no Tcest. You will be blocked from the blog and immediately kicked out of the gift exchange.
You are allowed to draw or write the gift you're making!
Make sure your gift does have what your secret Halloween person has list for on the table (If you are having difficulty including everything they want on your gift, you are okay to compromise.)
Please be mindful of what is not on the table for your secret Halloween person.
For now, ships will be allowed HOWEVER please be mindful of those who don't like certain ships (If this becomes an issue, I will change this rule.)
Deadlines for gift exchanging will be between October 29nd to 31st. If you need extra time, please inform me immediately so I can inform the person you are gifting.
When the gifts have been exchanged, please @ your secret Halloween person, this blog and use the tags: "#rottmnt trick or treat exchange" and "rottmnt trick or treak exchange 2023"
Have fun with this!
And of course, most importantly...
@nickelodeon
Reblogging so they can see it again
Guys…I have made an amazing discovery. (Watch with sound on).
You Can Call Me Glad She/He, Bisexual, Bigender, Autistic, I write Fanfiction.
81 posts