#nightshift ink

[thenightshiftstuff]

The Nightshift - Part 1!

I released this a while ago but Ao3 link didn't want to format and. I give up lol Tumblr can have it now

[thenightshiftstuff]

Have a collection of Nightshift sketches from over the last few days.

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Uhh you can really tell when my motivation died lol

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[thenightshiftstuff]

In your opinion who is the most tragic Nightshift character?

THAT'S A QUESTION XD

Uhhh. I guess it depends on your perspective?

Personally Leo and Ink give me the most hurt because they lost the most genuine connections and I think are probably the most guilt-ridden with the least amount of people they think they can talk to about it.

(Keef and Kody feel guilty about their own things, but at least feel like they can do things to make up for it in their own way. And while the standard they hold themselves to is unhealthy in their own way, Leo and Ink don't feel they can do anything to make up for surviving when their friends and family didn't).

Leo and Ink were hugely affectionate heart-of-gold kids that just wanted to help, and Leo lost the people he tried to help and internalizes it as his own fault because he made more a burden for his family and failed to protect those he was supposed to, while Ink got thrown the worst hand for the person it was and got people killed trying to do the right thing until it was eventually forced to embrace something it wasn't and did irreversible harm it never wanted to do.

There's definitely arguments for the other four, but personally Leo and Ink twist my heart the most.

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What type of music would each of Nightshift members like most ????

Alright this is my preface that I know nothing about genres so we're mostly going off vibes here:

Ash: Ohhh, this is a hard one and I can't for the life of me figure out why. I think Ash would like more lyricless songs, just pure vibes and what he can make in his head from that. He'll listen to anything as long as it doesn't have lyrics and he can make stuff up with it.

Talia: I don't remember if I'm mentioned it on the blog but Talia totally listens to villain songs. One is even on her playlist lol - she's a bad guy and she embraces it through and through. I think she also listens to stuff with like, Wish You the Worst, Blood // Water and Nothing Ever Changes vibes.

Keef: I don't really know how to describe the song type I'm thinking of for her, but it's a lot of what's on her playlist. I'll Be Good, I'm Good (Blue), Phoenix, blindfolded, those kinda vibes if that makes sense. She likes songs she can relate to.

Ink: I mentioned here how Ink passes out to stuff like NVM, and I think that's its general music taste, too. Probably slower and quieter songs with a more melancholy vibe to it, maybe occasionally something more uplifting on good days. Tell Your Story, Little Girl, NVM, those types of vibes.

Leo: I think Leo has a balance of more quick-paced songs and slow and sad, kind of a mix of Ink and Keef. Hurts Like Hell and I Don't Quite Remember, but also Not OK and HOLOGRAM. I think it depends more on the lyrics for him but he still doesn't stray from that taste too much.

Kody: I think Kody also leans more into the lyrics with songs, and doesn't keep a very consistent taste. If he relates, it's on the playlist, y'know? I could see him with a relatively chill playlist that's not as dark as most of his music probably is to have for while he's trying to do something, or is trying to relax or whatever. Depends on his mood.

[thenightshiftstuff]

if you were to pair up lmk characters and the Nightshift who would you pair with who?

Disclaimer that these are character perceptions and not like, the reality of their situations. Also I need to re-watch LMK because my memory is a little rusty lol.

Ash & MK, two guys that are supposed to protect their families and keep making shit worse <3

Talia & Red Son, they have the same chaos vibes to me. Plus I think Red Son would love to help Talia screw around with making knives for some reason. Just, vibes?? Either way, they're gonna go burn down a village <3 /hj

Leo & Sandy, tanks with a heart of gold. Come on, you had to see that coming. But, I think it'd be good because I think Sandy would help try to walk Leo through his guilt a bit

Keef & Wukong. You know how much guilt these two have over little mistakes? Avoiding mentioning things until the last second because how do they mention it?? It's just going to be so many negative emotions and then by the time they're forced to confront it, it's too late. Delicious.

Ink & Mei, just because chaos gremlins that adopt their enemies. They will prank everyone. Talia & Red Son specifically.

Kody & Wukong, but for different reasons. Whenever someone gets close they both run like hell and distance themselves again (even if it's too late, and people have gotten attached/they've gotten attached to people already).

On some less "similarity" notes and things I think would just be interesting:

Ash & Pigsy: The adopters. Ash takes the full responsibility for everything his group does and for protecting them in any way possible, Pigsy protects his kids but I could also see him recognizing that he can't protect them from everything. A nice cooking session with a talk over the differences in how they approach their teams running into danger would be interesting, I think.

Talia & Red Son: Okay okay okay, it's the same duo but for less gremlin-y reasons this time. They both had shitty parents, and I see Talia simply not understanding how Red Son is still willing to connect with them. I think she'd be incredibly confused and it could be an interesting discussion in Red Son's approach with his parents vs hers. (That is to say, Red Son's parents making a genuine effort to get better and growing a bond, where Talia's were only interested in getting worse and forced Talia away in such a way they can never recover from.)

Keef & Lady Bone Demon: I'm not sure if you'd count villains under this ask, but okay. So, Keef grew up in an environment where perfection was expected, and she always fell just short. She prefers the chaos of the world and the freedom of creativity, but also understands the appeal of constantly looking put-together and perfect, especially to other people. She still puts pressure on herself to do that, after all, even if she won't admit it. Furthering that, she's one of the few in the Nightshift who doesn't see her life as better after the inciting incident that led to her eventually joining. Maybe the same, but not better. She fully understands the appeal of a perfect world where she wouldn't have had the opportunity to make such a mistake that led her down this road, and feels the pressure to conform to something closer to LBD's version of the world, and I think that would make for a very interesting conversation.

Leo & Wukong: Two very different approaches to the same issue. Leo is worried he can't protect the people he loves, and believes (if unconsciously, to some degree) that he's at fault for his siblings' deaths. He's determined to not let the same fate befall his new family, and so becomes incredibly protective and even overbearing. On the flip side of this, Wukong took to distancing himself so he wouldn't hurt people any more than he has (and before they can leave him first). I think the drastic differences in approaches would be really interesting to pick out, especially since I think Wukong would see a degree of himself in Leo - the determination to protect the people he loves no matter what, but before Wukong lost vision of his previous goal for more power. Maybe he'd try to serve as a kind of warning tale to Leo, before Leo has the chance to make the same mistakes.

Ink & MK: Ink and MK would be really interesting to me to flip sides of a kinda screwed up coin. Someone who trusts and connects with everyone blindly (MK) and someone who picks and chooses who to trust carefully, because everyone's out to get you if push comes to shove hard to enough (Ink). They both love their family deeply, but Ink is more subtle about it so it won't be used/taken advantage of while MK is proudly loving of everyone he cares about. MK is crushed with guilt in how he thinks he hurts the people around him and, to some degree, fails to help people, while Ink genuinely has done irreparable damage to others and failed to save lives it was put in charge of, and learned to live with that reality. I think it'd be interesting because I think Ink would see MK, how MK keeps getting tricked and taken advantage of, how MK thinks he hurts the people he loves and fails to save those he tries to help, and the only way Ink would know how to help is through its own worldview: trust nobody, make connections but stay on your toes, yes you've hurt people and yes you've failed but the reality of life is you can't avoid that to some degree and here's some ways I learned to live with myself. Maybe they'll help you too. I think it would be interesting because Ink also doesn't see another side to this: that MK has never tried to actively hurt someone, that everything he blames himself for isn't necessarily his fault, and that MK's ability to see the good in people has genuinely helped them - not just in the sense of having connections, but believing in others (Macaque) in a way that Ink's more pessimistic worldview does not allow.

Kody & Macaque: I think this would be fun for their similarities leading to severe whiplash between them. Kody's been betrayed, used, tricked and manipulated more times than he can count, and they both follow a very similar "Look out for number one. Because if you don't, no one will." mentality, and while Macaque's "Wukong only values people by how useful they are to him" mentality might be more individual-specific, it's still something Kody can easily apply to everyone that's taken him in then discarded him once his use was up. They handle their respective betrayals extremely differently, with Kody content to just avoid the hell out of anyone that hurt them and Macaque hunting down Wukong and even using his student for revenge (which, would definitely piss Kody off, by the way), but at their roots they can see a lot of themselves in each other, down to Kody's more tricky nature even if he doesn't see it. I definitely don't think a conversation with them would go well, per say, because Kody would not hesitate to question why the hell Macaque went back to fighting for/with Wukong when he could easily be using him again (Kody pushes the world away so they don't get hurt again, and Macaque is willing to run right back to Wukong's side when he's called?), and would get extremely pissed off that Macaque took advantage of MK that way (in a very similar way they were in the past), but I think the similarities in root that bleed out into extremely different responses would be kind of interesting. I rewrote this last one like three times though, I'm not sure, it's harder to draw a connection with Kody than it is the others.

Honorable mention goes to:

Keef & Mei - Pressure to conform to what they should be while ignoring who they are.

Sorry for the ramble, I wasn't intending it to get this long lol! Anyway, there's your gremlin stuff and then you're deep-rooted trauma angsty stuff XD

[thenightshiftstuff]

The Nightshift Reacts to Canon ROTTMNT Lines:

"This is why you never go to New Jersey!"

Keef, nodding: Can confirm, my life is infinitely better when it takes place outside of New Jersey.

"You threw me off a roof!"

Ash: When someone's pettier than Talia.

Talia: Elbows

Ash: Chuckles :)

"NEW TOY."

Ink: Donnie screwed with their brains again didn't he?

[thenightshiftstuff]

Sometimes Shelldon just needs a break, and Ink's there when he does