#// but also maybe not; especially in his original verse(s)

[fishermcn]

someone easy on the eyes, flirty smile on their lips and a hand reaching for his: hey there sailor

sam, immediately lighting a molotov cocktail: i won't hesitate bitch.

[rosetyler42]

Some Drericka and Gorgericka + Franken-Simon fun inspired by both Barley and Laurel's wrestling scene in Onward, Ericka throwing Drac around in that deleted scene, and @candyheartedchy 's Bugs + Bella play wrestling art!

I like the idea that Drac gets seriously flustered over his wife's displays of strength since few humans would not only be ABLE to fling him, but would have the gall to even TRY. I do think Drac is probably LETTING her win as much as he's putting on the "Vampire vs hunter" act here, but...since he's the stronger of the two as the monster, I think he'd get flustered over the fact Ericka can legit supplex him with just a cool playful smirk on her face like it's the easiest thing in the world. The dude's a Gomez and aside from maybe Martha or Mavis hasn't had alot of that. ESPECIALLY not a HUMAN who he sees as weaker. The man ADORES how surprisingly strong and deadly his wife is, he is INTO it.

Simon, on the other hand? He's chill about it. He and his mom have probably been playfighting eachother for a long time. He knows his mom is badass, she's the one who taught HIM how to fight and how capable humans can be. Also, though he IS the quiet and shy one?....I figure Ericka's one of the people as his family he's more confident around at times.

Bonus: Frankensimon is a more monstery version of Simon from WIR-Verse and possibly also @lovelylivelyv 's Transformania AU. Since he's humany, I decided he can have a monstery counterpart while the campy dhampirs like Dennis and Lucy are kinda sports. Originally I was just going to have Gorgericka but I thought playing with Frankensimon might be fun since I never did anything with him yet and it's Spooky Month.

@lovelylivelyv @black-ak9 @hotelt-resurrection @serial-serializednovelreader @deathfangirl9 @kittyball23 @heartsong1994 @wingingfromthezing

[augustheart]

doom patrol finale review

character-by-character breakdown:

vic's ending is definitely the best. i love this for him and i think it's the natural progression of his character in this show especially considering little moments like his relationship with baby doll--he's so good with kids of all ages and this is definitely where he would've ended up... maybe not regardless of what happened after he became cyborg, but i think this was definitely an "all roads lead to compassionate mentorship making a difference home" ending for him. i also think he and derrick should get married but that's secondary.

larry's ending is second best for me. to be clear i have no idea what the fuck they're gonna do now but i am very happy for him. we should all wish to be endgame with sendhil ramamurthy.

i really, really wish i liked k's ending but because tv-verse casey is so Nothing i don't care for it. i have complex feelings about the original morrison plot point the underground's coexistence in this way is based on but i think the show handled it fine. but i'm glad they're happy and i think them going by K is nice because it's a reflection of the fact that k-5's chosen name in the underground is k-5, not kay challis. they can't identify with that name because of trauma, but they can reclaim the girl. i may be talking myself into liking it more just by writing this. but i still wish tv casey was actually a character/anything like her comic book counterpart. she doesn't even get to have her own paragraph here.

i think i like cliff's ending. i don't like that it presents being with clara in florida as home when i don't think that's been the case at all throughout the show, but i do think i like it other than that. especially as someone who has been a fan of this character in the comics for years and wants him to be able to finally rest after outlasting so many in his life. i also find divorce having so thoroughly infected cliff's family to be hilarious. only clara and mel escaped the divorce curse.

laura's ending is good. no notes.

rita's ending is so, so close to being good. i actually really like it. she was the first with niles and she's the first to leave without him. but i don't care about agent ! in the slightest. sorry. he just doesn't mean anything to me. but i do think her getting her happy ending is good. i wish larry brought something of hers with him when he left, though. they love(d) each other so dearly until the end even when they were annoying the shit out of each other.

dorothy not being in the finale at all and only being mentioned once is very weird. where's my baby girl!

in terms of other things:

i think they should've wrapped up the actual plot of the season in the last episode so this one just could've been a homecoming finale, because as it is it felt rushed and weird. (i have similar criticism of the stargirl finale, but i give that a little more wiggle room because at least the climax happened. like. onscreen?)

clint mansell's score still goes beyond crazy because he's never composed something that doesn't fuck supremely imo

i am inherently prejudiced against stories that are like "and then they all went their separate ways but remembered their wacky found family fondly" at the end but i think the way they did it here was probably the best they could've done if they wanted to go that route.

i think my season ranking is 1, 4a, 3a, 4b, 3b, 2? maybe? as you can see those middle two are kinda wishy-washy, but i do still really like (...for the most part) the beginning of this season and of season three.

i have more thoughts but i'm having trouble formulating them. if anyone wants a more detailed look at something i left out then feel free to ask.

[despairforme]

canon questionare.

what made you pick up this character? Nnoitra first became my mood from me drawing him. I was just randomly drawing some Bleach characters one day, and I ( for some reason ) tried drawing Nnoitra, and - I loved drawing him. I became absolutely obsessed with drawing him and he just brought me so much creativity. He is my muse after all. Since I loved drawing him so much, I became interested in his character and re-read and re-watched the canon content for him. Then I decided I should try writing him, and... Well, 9 years later, here we are.

how did you get into this franchise/fandom? My s/o showed me Bleach like 14 years ago or something. I originally wasn't all that interested ( he basically had to force me to watch the first 70 episodes ), but yeah, eventually I got really into it.

what’s the best thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.? Definitely the characters. I think Bleach has a lot of cool characters, and while I'm not the biggest fan of the main ones, or the story, the side-characters really carry it for me. And, of course - Nnoitra is the best thing about Bleach for me, since I forever love him so much.

what’s the worst thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.? For me, I don't find the story all that interesting, or the main characters. I did enjoy them more on my latest re-watch of Bleach, because yeah, they really are just teenagers so you gotta cut them some slack. I also really dislike the pacing of the TYBW anime.

what’s the best thing about the fandom? Everyone is so nice!! I've had the most amazing experiences in the BLEACH fandom! Literally everyone is so kind to me. In 9 years I only had a few not-so-nice experiences, but every issue was resolved. I always feel welcomed and taken care of here, so it's like a wonderful safe-space.

what’s the worst thing about the fandom? Hmm... That's a tough one, since I generally think the fandom is awesome. I know some people have had bad experiences, but I think that'll happen in any fandom, so I definitely don't see the BLEACH fandom as toxic. I guess for me, the "worst" thing is the feminization of Nnoitra in fanart, because it's just so off-putting to me ( and Nnoitra ). But I easily avoid that stuff so it's not a big deal. I also dislike self-shippping, but again, I easily avoid seeing posts about self-shipping with Nnoitra.

what’s the best thing about the canon you are writing? Oh boy, where do I even start... It's super hard to choose, because I love everything about Nnoitra. One of the best things would be his independence and his bravery. He just does his own thing no matter what others say. Writing a character like that is really satisfying.

what’s the worst thing about the canon you are writing? I personally love everything about Nnoitra, even his bad sides, because they make him more interesting as a character. Characters without flaws are kinda boring to me. Maybe the "worst" thing about him is that he can be really difficult to approach.

have you tweaked the character from canon? if so, what did you tweak? I do try to stick to canon in my canon verse, though I did give Nnoitra the accent ( I gave it to him in modern/human!au and it just carried over to all his other verses ). Nnoitra is a minor side-character, so "sticking to canon" is really all about your own interpretation of said canon.

are there some things you dislike about how the show/series/etc. portray the character you have picked up? if so, what? No, I love Nnoitra's canon, it's great. I love that he dies so that his canon is "complete". That way I won't have to deal with new information about him being released.

what would you say is the most unique trait about your character? Most unique... I mean, probably how disagreeable he can be. You don't often see a character be this off-putting. Especially with how bigoted he is. It's a very unpopular character trait.

are there any other characters from the franchise you’d like to play? I have written several BLEACH characters in addition to Nnoitra. At the moment I'm also writing Kuchiki Byakuya and Kurotsuchi Mayuri. I have a couple more I'd like to try my hand at, but I'm just not able to fit more muses into my writing schedule these days.

are there some characters from the franchise you can’t stand?  I used to dislike quite a few characters, but over the years I've learnt through interactions on here to see different sides of them. Now I find some of them interesting, and some of them I feel neutral towards. I don't have very strong negative feelings about any characters, but if I had to choose my least favorites, I'd say all the members of 0 Division.

what are your thoughts on the canon ships for the character, if any? The most common ship for Nnoitra is Nnoitra x Nelliel. I personally don't ship this, since I don't see Nnoitra wanting to be in a relationship with her. He'd definitely be interested in something sexual with her, but it would all be incredibly toxic. The second most popular is Nnoitra x Tesla, which, again, I don't personally ship. I can see it as a one-sided thing from Tesla, where he worships Nnoitra while his feelings are not returned. Sure, Nnoitra does care about Tesla, but I don't see Nnoitra being romantically interested.

what is your personal ship bias for your canon character? I prefer crossover ships. I love imagining Nnoitra with characters from other fandoms. I also had a lot of fun shipping my Nnoitra with Lexie's Grimmjow, but I can't see that happening with another Grimmjow.

are there any ships you can’t stand, why? My least favorite ship for Nnoitra is Nnoitra x Kenpachi. It makes no sense to me.

how long have you been writing the character? A little over 9 years.

should people get into the franchise your writing from, yes or no? I have had wonderful experiences with BLEACH, but it's not my favorite show or the franchise I'd be first to recommend.

if you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be? "There ain't gonna be no mercy from me."

which song do you feel describes your character the most and why? Oh, tough one. There are so many good songs for Nnoitra. I really like Carnivore by Starset for him.

tagged by : @vilesn4ke ( thank you for tagging me! )

tagging : anyone who wants to do it! :D

[galaxy-omega]

I am unable to think properly after the spiderman movie. Didn't know there was gonna be a part two, halfway through I was like "Dang, how long was this movie again?" And I should've known.

Spoilers belowwww

On one hand I understand Miguel, he has worked so hard to keep the time lines all orderly out of not only fear of what happened to his and the one he took, but also, the fact it's never been done before. Out of infinite universes, seeing something like that happen is defeating. No other universe has ever seen it happen. He couldn't get it. I think it's a selfish part of him, that wants to say "if I can't have my happy story, and no one else can, Miles shouldn't be able to just say he can and take that risk." It's reasonable in his head. It's reasonable in mine. The logic of no one has succeeded so no one is allowed to try is faulted, but with as high of a risk as breaking down other spiderverses, it's an understandable one at that.

Something else I realized, is that the spider link thing, that takes you back to your universe, it doesn't erase all your memories of the spider verse. All of those villains have seen thousands of spiderpeople. Unless there's a process that occurs beforehand or something. But from what I saw, every villain you saw just gets zapped to their own universe with no questions asked or answered. That has to play a part in this eventually, especially with the Prowler from hopefully Tom Holland's universe coming about.

Also, In Gwen Stacy's universe, everything is like watercolored, and based on the feelings of each character the background gets distorted and altered. But when she goes to the spider verse, and a mix of other universes, it's back to Miles universe comic book dotted look. However in the case of the realistic universes or the Lego universe, the spot doesn't alter to be different just by being there. However, neither does Miles from what we've seen

Do you think having altered DNA from universe 42 makes Mile's more suspectable to transversing altered universe's? He's still obviously affected by the Glitch whenever he's in a universe he's not meant to be in.

How do all the spider people in the base not get suspicious? Thousands of spider people were climbing after miles in the chase scene and not one cop or officer, even citizen is like "WTF in the world war z of spiderman is this?"

Also, in the end scene with Universe 42's Miles Morales being the Prowler, do you think that Peter was still spiderman? Like, meant to be? Because if Miles could become dark and evil, you'd think like ever other universe, it would be Peter Parker as spiderman. Maybe miles will meet Peter in that universe. Do you think they'll bring up a old Peter actor to do the voice? Do you think we'll meet them at all?

As for hopes for Beyond the Spider verse, I hope that we get to see more Spiderpunk being spiderpunk, Hobie for life.

I hope we get to see Miles bring home his mom a cake with a nice little message on it.

I hope I get to see more Miguel O'hara cause BARk.

I think we will see other inhabitants of Universe 42's original cast. Like Doc Oc, Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, maybe even MJ. Maybe learn more of how 42's dad died. More of the spiderman voiced by Andy Samburg, what's not to love

Maybe more touching up on some Spider people who find out why Miles is running instead of everyone following blindly.

And I feel like the Spot was kinda just, a background noise at the end of the movie. It seems like he's going to go get more power, but when was the last you heard of him doing anything??? Like, previous to the first 40 minutes of the last bit of the movie? Where he at boy? Sounds sus to me. Having almost every spiderman away from base and trying to hunt down Miles Morales whilst trying to hunt down something that will take over the whole universe. I think they're underestimating the Spot again. Which will be a huge mistake

[redjaybird]

JAY’S RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name(s): Yams Mun pronouns: She/her/they/them, but also don't mind whatever OOC Contact: DMs or D.isco (mutuals/people I vibe with only ask for my d.isco)

Who the heck are my muses anyway:

He's a little shit that causes problems and pisses people off for the heck of it. A bit of an edgelord (is that an understatement?), rude, vulgar, and extremely tough to crack if you want him in friendlier stages. Good luck. He's not going to make it easy for you.

Points of interest:

He has various verses, some things may change depending on what verse things are in. Details in his design are important and have stories behind them. In his main verses, he has extra strengthened abilities and a little extra chaotic surprise, sometimes. He has a lot of anger issues and is really shit at dealing with other emotions, often turning them into anger, too, because he doesn't know how else to handle things. He likes to think of himself as a villain, but really he's more like an anti-hero. And he's got a whole revenge case he's trying to deal out. He's got some emotional issues that he refuses to talk about, and others he will just spill because he likes to talk about himself. And he's got trust issues.

What they’ve been up to recently:

Well, this varies for people and verses. Things won't be following the same paths for everyone he interacts with. In in his main f.c5 verse, he somehow got himself in a position where he's gotta help protect the Seeds, because of the relationship he ended up in with Jacob. Everything in the B.L verses kinda got put on hold, but these days its after his Arena fell. A vampire verse, in the f.c5 land, has been distressing him. Bloody City (original) verse is getting more developments lately (yeehaw). Depends on what version you wanna deal with, really.

Where to find them:

In general modern times, usually Chicago. In the borderlands, usually Pandora. In F.C3, on Rook Islands, hanging with the pirates. In F.C5, Hope County, usually in Jacob's region. Frontier, the pirate is in Montreal in the company of Mr. Grant and Mr. Pond.

Current plans:

Plans? What are plans? We'll have to see what unfolds. Anything could happen.

Desired interactions:

Enemies to awkward found family member, enemies/rivals, slow burns of any kind of relationship (because its almost always a slow burn with him), helping him learn to cook maybe? (his whole fear of stoves and fire issue man), dad bird dad bird dad bird dad bird (has an accidentally adopted daughter in some verses btw), etc.

Offered interactions:

Uh, do you like problematic little shits? Do you like conflict? Stories are boring without conflict, after all. And it makes the good times so much more worth it, you know? If you for some reason want him to work with you, however, the price is gonna be a little different. Because he doesn't care about money.

Current open post/s:

Keep an eye out for random IC posts, they happen a lot, and are generally open to anyone if they don't have a tag. (I don't always tag ic posts but I do always tag any trigger warnings when I think they need it.) Some will have specific verse tags, sometimes, just so you know where things will be focused on but yeah, generally most things are open unless someone specifically gets @'d on.

Anything else?:

[I'm not super great at writing, and am especially bad at describing things in words, but Jay will make up for a lot in dialogue because he loves talking. Interactions can inspire art, lots of drawing going on here. Also things never stop developing. I've been running this character for 12+ years now and I'm still developing him.]

Tagging: whoev's wants to do this thing go for it, i tried

[icravemusicx0x0]

rating music please don't hurt me #20 | lil boat 3.5 - lil yachty

every five entries, i will look into a significant (not always a masterpiece) album from the past (totally not a stolen idea). today we're going to talk about lil yachty's album lil boat 3.5.

lil boat 3.5 marks an interesting end to the lil boat trilogy. the two first album, lil boat 1 and 2, were an unexplainable mess during my first glance of listening, but i may not go further talking about this because i haven't got a full experience with the two pieces yet. to be honest, lil boat 3.5 is a little bit underrated, and i mean a little bit because the album is more tolerable than the two first albums, but still in a messy and unpolished fashion.

please note that i'm rating lil boat 3.5, which is the deluxe version of the original album lil boat 3. 8 new songs were added in the deluxe bundle of lil boat 3.5, they are alright, but it doesn't improve the overall quality of the album that much.

the new production style improves the album by a decent amount, and fortunately for me, it just really fits my taste alright. the production was the thing that hooked me up, but it also was the thing i feel gray about, because its kind of repetitive. the production is very energetic and fun to listen, its so crazy it made me dumbfounded, but is a hot mess sometimes.at least they can make the retro-ass synth better? but hey they hooked me up so thats a point.

this is yachty philosophy in lil boat 3.5: guest-list in front and im in the back. every got a great spotlight in the verse, except for oliver tree because how would you even let him in your album, yachty?

overall, the new album is interesting and tasty to bite the least, but that's only in my opinion. in a retrospective view, the album is yet quite messy and tasteless, and goofy, like on crack. its not boring thoguh even so its an career-defining album from the artist and will lie in his legacy, and yes it will be an interesting one.

this album may not be in your favorites, but it will be in my 'wtf is this bullshit i love this' list.

underrated gem(s): lil diamond boy - its a criminal fact that this song is so unpopular, LIKE ITS SO GOOD, t.d - every guest ate and left no crumbs, if there is crumbs it is prob lying on lil yachty deadass, westside - no comment its just not bad and not not good.

tracks that i rec listening: flex up - hello lgbtq community especially the lesbian couples from the ghetto who is a rage rap fan, coffin - i really like this repeating and hard hitting beat into the verse, charmin, just how i'm feelin', in my stussy's, top down - roblox sim game ahh beat idk, split/whole time - i went so insane when the smooth transition happened SKJDKJF, pardon me - this song will always be catchy asf, demon time, can't go, oprah's bank account - love this and drake maybe uhhhhhhhh, range rover sports truck, lemon head - throughout the song is a repetitive sample that plays like you're using that one electronic somewhat midi piano on garage band that plays the sample in tune when played.

worst track: certified - the synths are horrible, there are tracks as rubbish as this but it is explainable to be on top of this monstrosity

overall score 6.3/10 - this is all opinion so pls no hate

listen to the album here:

[delkios]

As I put at the end of the fic, here's the Tie a Knife with a Ribbon Commentary post

I don't think I've ever actually done a commentary thing for a fic before. But I had a lot of thoughts, headcanons and worldbuilding while making this that wouldn't fit as well as some things that I wanted to put in there but couldn't for one reason or another.

I might have one more fic in me for this 'verse but after that, who knows.

After weeks of ambushes, they’d finally managed to turn the tables on the commandos that had been chasing them.

So ever since Scorch's cameo in the first season of The Bad Batch I've had ideas about Delta Squad having to hunt the Batch down, how they'd go about doing it and how well they'd match up. The biggest question, of course, is why is (the remainder of) Delta Squad separated in the first place? I originally thought that maybe they had ulterior motives- mostly using the Empire's resources to get a lead on Sev among other things -and splitting up would make it easier to achieve. Recently I've been leaning a bit more into the idea that the Empire split them up, as well as any of the remaining first gen commandos, essentially holding them hostage in order to ensure they cooperated.

Basically I just want a reason other than 'because loyalty/the chip made them' because that would be boring. But when Scorch was sent to hunt down the Batch none of the crosstrained commandos could keep up with him so he pestered his CO into letting him bring in the other Deltas.

Also, I know everyone wants Vode An to play when Delta Squad shows up but I propose something different: if Delta starts off as antagonists, I say the song that should play is Rage of the Shadow Warriors. Then, after the two groups ally up and the Batch get in over their heads and Delta comes in as the cavalry

THEN Vode An can play.

They knew how to use Clone Force 99’s abilities and knowledge against them... the best way to counteract that would’ve been to stay together.

I know there's at least one video floating around that pits the two teams together but I haven't watched it so I don't know what their conclusion was but this is mine:

Due to the difference (that I headcanon) in their training, I think Delta Squad would have better teamwork and, knowing who they're up against, would be bettered prepared for the fight, especially if they're able to get the Batch into an area they've prepped. Both advantages the Batch could overcome eventually. I think Delta's best bet would be to isolate one of the Batch from the others and find ways to neutralize their abilities. For instance get Hunter in a place that would overwhelm his senses, rendering them useless. For Wrecker, get him in a situation where his instinct is to build an IED and booby trap the materials he'd use. And so on.

Hunter had closed the distance... opting for hand to hand combat rather than ranged.

Knowing Fixer's favorite weapon is the Katarn gauntlet vibroblade, this match up is about half the reason I wrote this fic. The other half is the idea of them bonding over knives.

These commandos weren’t to be taken lightly... how easy it was to lose sight of them even with glowing visors.

I love the commando visors but I have to admit that giving a unit whose job is to infiltrate armor with a distinctive glow seems silly.

...it wasn’t until the commando fell back into an attack stance that Hunter realize he’d stolen the knife right out of Hunter’s hand.

The idea of Fixer (accidentally) stealing Hunter's knife didn't come to me until I started thinking up scenarios for this fic but once it did I knew there was no other way for this fight to go. I like to imagine that when he regroups with the rest of Delta the conversation would go something like: Scorch: Did you steal a knife? Fixer: No... Scorch: What, he just gave you his weapon? Fixer: I didn't steal it intentionally. Scorch: So you're borrowing it? Fixer: (looking the knife over) ...it's a really good knife. Boss: Do I really have to go over the 'don't take other people's things just because you like them' rule with everyone again? Scorch: Yeah. Our thefts are purposeful!

“/Yes. I’m heading his way right now. The commandos seemed to have fallen back./”

Even though I like the idea of Delta Squad hunting down the Batch, in every scenario, Delta isn't doing it with the intent of beating them. They're making a good show of it but always leave the Batch at least one out and so long as the Batch keeps finding those outs or make their own, Delta won't bring them in. Either because having the Batch running wild figures into their own plans or because they're failing out of spite.

None of them were exactly happy with the situation. Certainly they were glad for the return of their missing teammates...

The very first scenarios I thought up way back in season one all had to do with Delta Squad giving the Batch an ultimatum: Delta would pass along all the information they had on leads to Sev to the Batch (some scenarios included Rex) and once Sev was found, either alive or dead so long as there was proof, they'd bust out Crosshair (and, in the Rex scenarios, Cody).

They'd been in high demand ... Only a fraction of the original generation of commandos survived and the three remaining Deltas were among them.

In the Legends books the commando's numbers were cut nearly in half in the first battle of Geonosis due to mishandling by the Jedi: being thrown into the battlefield instead of what they were actually trained for, infiltration and sabotage. After, some clone troopers were picked to crosstrain as commandos.

Given the kind of time crunch there must have been to try to fill out the commando ranks, I find it doubtful the crosstrained ones were as good as the first gen commandos. Not a diss, just pointing out the difference in what was likely a few months of additional training verses several years worth. Crosstrained ARCs likely weren't as good as first gen ARCs, either. For the record, I consider Gregor to be crosstrained as a commando as, in Legends, commandos were given RC prefixes while Gregor is a CC which has already been used by other non-commandos.

Also, fun game to play: how many missions in Clone Wars would've gone better if they'd used commandos?

Hunter didn’t know how it went down behind the scenes but it didn’t feel right leaving without thanking Rex for his part in this.

I thought about going into detail about how Rex brokered this deal but then decided I didn't actually want to figure all that out.

Chiding himself for the foolish thought, Hunter took it and slide his knife back in its sheath.

Look, let's just pretend that Tech isn't the only one that actually has gear and weapons as part of their model and everyone else pulls their stuff out of nowhere.

As much as he hated to admit it, Delta Squad was trying to survive this mess as best they could... he couldn't blame them anymore than he did Crosshair.

Look, I understand why the inhibitor chip had to exist but I think it's ridiculous that people push it as the reason clones worked for the Empire. They're slaves that were created and taught only one thing: to wage war. The Republic didn't look out for them. In Legends they originally weren't even paid for the work they did. They weren't seen as people, they were considered property and the civilians certainly didn't think much of them and many probably thought they were basically droids themselves. Clones would've had no where to go, no money with which to leave and most of them wouldn't have employable skills to fall back on. That uncertainty versus something they know they can do and know they'll at least have food and shelter, it's no wonder they'd stay with the Empire, even if it meant doing things they didn't like. They were essentially raised to be as dependent on the Republic (and Empire) as the Republic was made dependent on them.

“If anyone could survive this long, it would be Sev.”

For a while I've considered Sev not surviving. But then, after a few years away from the fandom, I decided I preferred him being alive. It helped that the game devs were considering a sequel in which he did survive and fell in with the fledgling rebellion before it was canceled.

And, even with Scorch potentially about to be an important character in the Batch, there isn't a guarantee that particular cliffhanger will be addressed (for the third time) so I'll do what I want.

“Some of our training sergeants set up a place for commandos to retire to, but…”

In Legends, some of the commando's training sergeants- a hundred people, mostly Mandalorian, hand picked by Jango called the Cuy'val Dar -set up a colony for clones (mostly their commandos but also any other clones than found them) at Kyrimorut on Mandalor. Delta's trainer, Walon Vau, was among those that helped set it up. They also researched how to stop the clones' advanced aging.

Even in their isolated corner of Tipoca City, they’d heard horror stories about what the commando trainers put their men through.

From a young age commandos were trained in live-fire exercises (meaning using actual ammunition and not simulation rounds), interrogation resistance (i.e. torture), etc. Fatalities sometimes occurred during training and Vau was considered one of the more brutal trainers. He treated his commandos as soldiers from the beginning and was determined to push them to be the best of the best even if he had to thrash them to do it. If memory serves, he was the only on that didn't lose any commandos on Geonosis.

When Hunter inspected his knife... he found it had been newly sharpened, the blade cleaned and oiled until it gleamed.

Fixer, 1000%, always intended to give Hunter's knife back even if it took years to do so. He always kept it on him, never used it and did his best to ensure it was in the best condition possible. Boss and Scorch might've thought he was being ridiculous but when Fixer commits ain't nothing swaying him.

“He seemed confident you’d get out of whatever trouble you might’ve got into on your own.” Boss had also sounded a little hesitant, like he was forcing himself to believe that...

I imagine, after losing Sev and the rift it caused and getting split up on top of that, Boss got overprotective when they were all back together again. He'd always been a little overprotective though that was mainly in things like taking responsibility for the squad and chaffing whenever control of them was taken out of his hands (Boss has control issues, fight me). But he'd always had faith that his squad could handle anything thrown at them. So having him be suddenly overprotective about everything grated with the others, especially in the beginning and Boss had to relearn how to let them out of his sight all over again.

“You’ll have to get them out of my pack, then. They should be in the left side, grab two just in case.”

How do these packs work? Are there divided sections like a backpack? How do they attach? What do they do? Why won't the game devs return my calls? I need answers, people!

Stealth had always been one of Hunter’s strengths, his enhanced senses locating any nearby guards before he was ever in danger of being spotted.

Man, how I wish the show actually utilized Hunter's enhanced senses in a consistent manner.

Hunter abruptly realized that this was the first time he’d seen Fixer- or any Delta -without a helmet

I haven't really put all that much thought into how much older I think Delta Squad is verses the 99, anywhere between two to four years old. Which would, biologically, make them about four to eight years older but I imagine Delta looks older than they are due to how hard they've been worked and the stress of their missions. They probably wouldn't look as old if they got a healthy amount of sleep on a consistent basis. Someone get these boys a vacation.

...new blood on his lip partially covering up an old scar and a long healed notch at the rim of his right ear, like something sharp had taken a slice out of it.

The scar and notch he got during training: Fixer has a tendency of biting his lip when he's stressed and, during interrogation training when one of his squad mates was being tortured next to him in order to get Fixer to break, he damn near bit through his lip to keep quiet. The notch he got while fighting another commando during knife training. They took a slice of his ear, he sent them to the infirmary. Vau was both mildly irritated and grudgingly impressed that Fixer made no move to deal with the injury until Vau told him to.

Also Fixer's nose had been broken when Scorch punched him in a fit of anger after they were sent away from Kashyyk without getting the chance to look for Sev. Fixer didn't bother getting it set properly, he claims because it didn't affect his performance but it was also due to guilt.

“People don’t usually notice me.” Fixer eventually said.

This is totally not me calling out fandom (and the books) for the tendency of pushing Fixer into the background at best or completely ignoring him at worst. It's fine that he's not people's favorite- he isn't my favorite, either -but he's not just a bland stick in the mud. I don't know why people think he would be when he's had to deal with Scorch and Sev every day for his entire life and was part of one of Vau's best squads. Fixer is just as ruthless and capable of getting into just as much trouble, he just hides it better.

That got him that soft almost-laugh again

I imagine Fixer's most common laugh is more of a huff that could easily be passed off as a sigh. It's a defense mechanism because Scorch knows Sev and Boss find him funnier than they let on and if Scorch knew Fixer did too, he would become insufferable.

(Spoiler: Scorch knows but is trying to get Fixer to admit it first)

The shield in the first gen commandos’ armor was good for dissipating the kinetic force from energy bolts but a powerful enough electric blast could shred right through it.

I know it didn't show up in the episode but I imagine the shield is why Scorch was able to tank so many stun bolts before going down. In the game there's no real pattern with the types of weapons that can shred through the shields- Geonosian beam weapons, scav droids' lightning, Trandoshian mini gun -and they don't come up in the books. My take is that they're like a weaker version of a droideka's shield. They're mostly made to hold up against blaster bolts while the armor itself deals with physical attacks. A strong electric current can overload that shields and while their blacks insulate them from weaker surges, EMP grenades or a shock stick can still leave them vulnerable to follow up attacks.

Despite their usefulness they weren't put in later iterations of the Katarn armor, probably because they weren't expecting to replace as many commandos as they had to after Geonosis and couldn't manufacture enough shields to keep up.

Hunter didn’t know when or why they’d stopped being integrated into the Katarn armor...

I haven't figured out a reason for that, though. Or why they don't show up anywhere outside of games.

...he realized very suddenly that he practically had his fingers intertwined with the commando’s.

I'll admit, that's for me. Give me all the hand holding and fingers tangling together.

“It won’t take long and it just needs some common supplies... it’d be easy for you to install once you find a compatible one.”

Even though Fixer is explicitly stated to be a tech aficionado, between it making sense that commandos would be able to maintain their armor themselves in case of damage or malfunction while in the field and Fixer's preference for the gauntlet blade, I don't doubt he'd be able to take apart and reassemble it. Whether the mechanism is easy to build from scratch, I have no idea.

Fixer finally seemed to get annoyed... “If you don’t want it-”

When Fixer offers you something, take it. He's absolutely not the type that will put up with hemming and hawing or play the polite back-and-forth game.

He was fairly ambidextrous with both pistols and knives so he supposed it didn’t really matter. “Left.”

I don't recall if he tended to use a knife in a particular hand and didn't feel like combing through episodes to find out. So ambidextrous he is.

Tech hated people touching his armor- his helmet, especially -without his permission. Fixer must be the same way.

I don't think it'd be common for clones to swap their helmets around and I'd bet some are very particular about others putting their helmet on. Fixer is definitely going to give his helmet a thorough cleaning. Also I'd bet he's done unauthorized modifications to his helmet, another reason he doesn't want people getting too close a look at it.

Sev had been trying very hard to pass off any responsibilities he’d been given during the forming of the rebellion to Boss who repeatedly declined.

I'm a firm believer that half the reason Sev stayed with the rebellion is because he was so offended by their lack of tactics and by the time he'd realized he'd become a trainer it was far too late for him to back out. When he reunited with his brothers, they all agreed that Sev called the shots for the squad which is why they also joined the rebellion. The one exception to that is Boss refusing to take over Sev's position both as a trainer and part of the rebellion's hierarchy. Partly because Boss was amused that Sev got himself in this position despite how much he complains about it and also because he's really come into his own in that time. In the field, they still fall into the habit of Boss taking the lead (and Fixer his second) unless other circumstances requires Sev doing so.

The commandos’ attitudes had changed drastically since reuniting with their lost brother.

I feel like it shouldn't need to be said that Delta's bond was irrevocably damaged after they left Sev behind. Reuniting with him helped to heal the rift but it'll never be the same way it used to be. Ironically I think Sev was the one least affected. Were he in the same position, he couldn't say what he'd do so while there is some resentment due to what he'd suffered in his time alone, he doesn't blame them for following orders like they were trained to. It probably helped that he was so shocked at how that decision hurt his brothers that, even if he didn't realize it, he was quick to forgive them.

“Because he’s used to doing things his way, he hates the idea of someone else coming along and taking over,” Crosshair once observed before turning a lazy, sideways look to Hunter, “just like you.”

Again, Boss has control issues. He's perfectly deferential when dealing with someone that outranks him, it was usually because when out on missions there was very little oversight and Boss still made most of the decisions. He tends to be more abrasive, competitive and arrogant when dealing with peers, subconsciously seeing them as a threat to his position. In Legends he nearly came to blows with another commando sergeant in part due to his attitude.

I'd imagine Hunter is much the same, especially with the tenuous position the 99 would've been in. The Kaminoans made them as an experiment but they also had no qualms with reconditioning or decommissioning clones that weren't up to their standards so Hunter would've had to simultaneously push his brothers while protecting them. It's no wonder he doesn't trust others to have his team's back.

Childhood trauma is a bitch.

Maybe it was the way Fixer seemed to prefer to fade into the background, letting his more gregarious brothers draw all the attention... Hunter couldn’t help taking great pleasure in bringing Fixer to the forefront whenever possible...

It's probably because Fixer's armor is my favorite but I tend to think he has an understated vanity, not just in terms of looks but also in his skills. He doesn't need people to acknowledge it, he already knows he's good at what he doese. That doesn't mean he won't flaunt it on occasion. In terms of teamwork, Boss and Scorch tend to draw attention while Fixer and Sev hit where the enemy isn't expecting them and, when something needs to be sliced in the heat of battle, that's usually Fixer's job so he tries not to draw attention. Staying in the background is kind of his thing, so having someone consistently noticing him, going out of their way to acknowledge him is something he isn't used to dealing with. He's very much an introvert.

Hunter could feel Fixer watching him afterward, as if Hunter was a great mystery he hadn’t been able to puzzle out.

When this first started happening, Fixer was just confused but he'd respond promptly. As he started getting more flummoxed with Hunter's behavior, he'd take longer to respond, trying to figure out what was happening. That would be the point that Scorch and Boss, who had found it hilarious in the beginning, would start redirecting attention to themselves and Fixer would stew over the interaction for sometimes days. It got him out of his comfort zone, forced him to figure out things like what about it made him uncomfortable, if he actually was uncomfortable or just not used to it, if he didn't mind the attention, if he was okay with Hunter closing that distance, and so on. Once he got all those questions sorted, Fixer began replying promptly again though not as clipped and impersonally as before. When he realized he actually looked forward to those interactions, his replies- though still always professional -were warmer and he relaxed enough to throw in a dry joke or tease in there occasionally. His brothers definitely noticed this but were so caught off guard they never brought it up with each other.

In any case, whenever a mission required them splitting into two groups, Boss always lead one and Hunter the other... they were joined by Crosshair, Scorch and Omega...

This is actually based off an old scenario I had long ago using almost the exact same teams though back then it was Echo instead of Crosshair with Tech on the other team. I thought it would be fun to mix up the two groups because I wanted to imagine how Boss and Hunter specifically dealt with the other squad's eccentricities and how well their leadership styles would allow them to work around those difficulties. But I had no idea why they were working together, what they were doing or who they were dealing with so it never got further than a vague idea. But it was where I first got the idea of Hunter throwing his knife for Fixer to use and the first time I considered the two could possibly get along.

Fixer grabbed the hilt, ripping the blade through the side of the neck. From there the commando was a whirl of movement and Hunter was transfixed.

Is this maybe me projecting onto Hunter? Maybe. Action scenes full of flashy attacks requiring lots of space to do large movements like flips and spins are all well and good but I prefer my action sequences to be full of quick, sharp movements. Where attacks are meant to either be lethal or create an opening for a lethal follow-up attack. I think there can be beauty in brutality and that needs to be embraced more in media.

“It’s a quality knife,” Fixer said. “Good weight, well balanced.” ... His voice dropped, turning something dark and silky...

This was a bit of an odd scenario because I'd had it in mind since I first imagined Fixer using Hunter's knife and it kind of went back and forth between how flirty it would be. I'd probably say this scene was what made me go from "Oh, Hunter and Fixer connecting over knives, how fun," to "What about exploring how their relationship changes using knives as a mirror". So, really, I blame all of this on this one scene.

“You are not flirting right now,” Scorch cut in. “Stop it. Sev’ll never believe me.”

That is, honestly, how I kind of feel about this entire relationship. In all my headcanons Fixer was the most insular one in the group. He was always the one most resistant to socializing outside of the squad and had the hardest time wrapping his head around why his squadmates might want romantic relationships, struggling to understand what was lacking in their fraternal one. Of all the Deltas, Fixer was the one I never saw getting into a relationship, either long term or casual. So, when this idea hit, I kind of had to sit with it, puzzle it out. Figure out how Fixer would react to it: the things that would get his attention, the things that made him want to be intimate, the things he wouldn't like, etc. It was enlightening.

I figured, as far as physical intimacy is concerned, that Fixer is more on the asexual end of the scale. He doesn't care much for sex mainly because he's repulsed by all the mess and stickiness involved. He's not above masturbation, he has an interest in toys and things like gloves, condoms, whatever will keep fluids from getting everywhere is appreciated. But, if he's in the right mood- and that seems to be following a good sparring session -he could be more receptive to something hot and sloppy.

The four of them reminded Hunter more of Fennec Shand than they did a reg, moving more with a hunter’s glide than they did a trooper’s march.

I think about clones a lot. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how much I'd care about Star Wars were it not for them. I liked the original trilogy alright but the rest is.... eh. But I have so many thoughts about clones, clone culture and the ways they differentiate themselves. To an average person there'd be very little difference between commandos and troopers. To clones, who developed the ability to easily spot differences between each other, commandos and troopers are nothing alike. The way a small group who grew up trained by a mercenary would move and act would naturally be different from a massive group who grew up trained for large-scale military maneuvers. I wish the media we're given would focus on that kind of minutia more because I don't want to be the only one that spends their time thinking about these sorts of things.

He composed himself as he’d been taught, putting on an air of confidence he absolutely did not feel and approached Fixer, pulling his knife- sheath and all -from his belt. “Here. Keep it.”

When I decided that this relationship was going to be romantic, this was obviously going to be the next step. Knives are a love language. There are few gifts more romantic than knives. And I'm not just talking about me. For a group that deals with practical and life-threatening situations regularly, one giving another a weapon they very clearly cherish is probably THE most courting gift possible.

...he said with a wink and much more bravado than his nerves were currently capable of.

One of the secrets I learned while in the military: it doesn't matter what you say, just say it with conviction. Even when asked questions during an inspection, even if you know your answer is obviously wrong, say it with your whole chest.

Fake it 'till you make it, baby.

Fixer just stared at him, looking dumbfounded and if it weren’t for the subtle shift in his scent or the rise of color in his cheeks, Hunter would’ve thought he’d made a fool of himself.

The moment Fixer realized his feelings shifted from "I'm curious as to where this goes" to "...oh".

Boss shook his head before following- Hunter could’ve sworn he chuckled as he did so...

I debated on how I'd write Boss's reaction because while he's mildly annoyed by it, it's only because it's Hunter but, 1) Boss is aware enough to realize there's not actually anything wrong with Hunter, and 2) Fixer having an interest in someone is such a surprise occurrence that he's not going to ruin Fixer's happiness by what Boss recognizes as a him-problem.

And then I was amused to because Boss is on the other end of that same situation in regards to my preferred ship for him.

Days later Omega was happily updating Tech on what they’d been up to on their weekly check-in call

I debated about being vague about Tech surviving and leaving that up for the readers to decide but what the hell. Not like this is going to be canon compliant once the next season drops in any case. So he's alive and still very much a part of the crew despite essentially being forced to retire due to injuries.

As far as canon goes, personally I don’t believe he’s dead. We watched Gregor and Echo get blown up and they inexplicably survived, Ashoka literally died fighting Vader and was saved via space-time portal. Even if he doesn't show up next season Ashoka was brought back after being missing for a season and the other two came back after even longer. If this were Clone Wars I might feel differently but it’s not like Bad Batch has issue showing dead bodies on screen so. We’ll see, I guess.

As far as Tech's state goes, he was obviously badly injured in the fall, broken bones, punctured organs, severe brain damage. Hemlock's forces found him fast enough to stabilize him- though I imagine there were periods in which he was technically dead before they managed it -and gave him enough bacta treatments to heal the worst of his brain damage but left his body badly broken. By the time he'd been rescued his body's natural healing caused a lot of that damage to become permanent, even if he was willing to get surgery (he wasn't because of the time and money that would take, finding a reputable hospital capable of doing all that surgery would mean a higher risk of the Empire finding him and, even if he got the surgery, he wouldn't be able to keep up with the Batch and would be sitting out missions anyway). I haven't thought what the exact nature of his injuries may be but it would be some amount of paralysis, chronic pain and some permanent side effects from traumatic brain injury. At least.

“He knows how to handle my knife.”

I struggled with finding a response that I liked until I decided "What would be the most innuendo" and finally liked what I wrote.

Tech’s voice was far too amused, “/I’m sure he does./”

Did Tech, despite not being there to witness it himself, deduce just from talking to the others that Hunter had a crush on Fixer before anyone else? Absolutely. Well, Phee probably figured it out first because she's very emotionally intelligent, but Tech can catch patterns quicker than most anyone.

Echo’s digestion was permanently karked from his time as a Separatists prisoner.

I firmly believe Echo has to deal with chronic pain and internal issues. I don't know if this is common in the BB fandom as I haven't done any real delving into it but I kind of hope so. The details canon doesn't give to me, I can only hope that fandom picks up the slack.

“Hey, we came bearing gifts for our poor, malnourished vode!”

I had wanted to put in a scene somewhat early on where it was discovered that the Batch don't know Mando'a. In my head, they were trained after all the Mandalorian trainers left and they didn't spend enough time with any one company to pick it up from them and Nala Se certainly wouldn't have bothered teaching Omega any Mandalorian culture. Upon learning this, Echo would've been abashed. He'd assumed, because the 99 were a later addition, that they'd refused their Mandalorian heritage like many clones did near the end of the war. He hadn't realized it was because they were never given the choice and was determined to teach them everything he knew.

Whenever he or Fixer shifted or anything happened to make him aware of Fixer’s leg against his- and he was incredibly aware of it -Hunter seemed to forget that anything else existed.

I don't know if it would be considered in character for Hunter to be this flustered but, in my defense, nothing like this occurs in canon so you can't say he absolutely wouldn't. Besides, between this probably being his first (serious) infatuation, being in close proximity with the person he's infatuated with who he doesn't really get to be with all that often and senses that can zero in on the tiniest thing, I feel justified in saying he wouldn't be able to help hyperfocusing on Fixer.

This, meanwhile, is quite a bold move on Fixer's part as he's neither a big toucher, sometimes even where his brothers are concerned, and is the least likely to socialize with non-Deltas, let alone share his space with them.

The 99’s trainers were only there for training, outside of that they only dealt with the Kaminoam scientists... and, on occasion, Shaak Ti.

This is probably going to be a hot take but I don't consider the Batch to be commandos (obviously not Echo, who's an ARC and Omega, who was meant to be a non-combatant). I certainly believe the 99 have some amount of commando training but, given they were specifically created with genetic mutations in mind, their training would most likely focus on developing and exploring those limits more than anything else. In fact, in an alternate universe where Delta and the Batch are more teeth-clenched allies, Fixer disparages the fact their commando training was a secondary concern at best.

Of course the knowledge that the Kaminoans made the 99 the way they are is hilarious when held up to Legends in which the Kaminoans' first attempts at fulfilling Jango's request for special forces clones resulted in the Null Class ARCs that were deemed too willful and unpredictable and were slated to be decommissioned if not for the intervention of one of the commando trainers. The succeeding ARCs were less independent but made to Jango's specifications while the commandos were created to the Kaminoans' specifications and were made more obedient than the ARCs.

And then with the 99 it's like coming full circle.

Hunter kind of liked the flash of warmth he felt whenever he became aware of the empty space on his belt and knowing Fixer held the missing piece.

This part was one of the first sections written and in the back of my head I kept going "oh god why is this so cute".

“One of the commando training sergeants had one like that...”

This is a reference to Kal Skirata, one of the main POV characters in the Republic Commando novels who was the trainer Delta Squad probably had most contact with outside of Vau. It was often mentioned that Skirata favored a three-bladed knife that he inherited from his father and while I don't think it was ever brought up in the books, I'd imagine someone that could appreciate a fine knife like Fixer would find that style of blade intriguing.

“This must’ve cost you a fortune!”

I don't know if this was ever addressed in the new canon but in Legends there were zero systems in place for the Republic to offer any support or compensation when they suddenly found themselves in possession of a clone army. And it didn't improve that much over the course of the war given the absence of any kind of retirement benefits and that clones who were too injured to fight would sometimes be euthanized in order to free up resources.

Vau was born into a rich, influential family before he was disowned and became a Mandalorian. At one point, enlisting Delta Squad's help to get him inside, Vau staged a bank robbery to take what he felt his inheritance from his birth family and to cover his tracks, stole millions from the vault. Everything, save for his inheritance, he put toward gene therapy research to slow the clone's aging. For all his brutality and cruelty- and one could argue he was perpetuating the cycle of child abuse he went through but I argue absolutely everyone that had anything to do with clones committed child abuse even if they tried to be nice about it -Vau cares for the clones and his men and was not happy with the Republic's lack of care for them. Therefore I believe he split his inheritance among his surviving commandos, giving them the means to be independent from the Empire and even from himself if they wanted. And, since Delta likely wouldn't have much need for the finer things in life, with some shrewd investing they probably don't worry much about money.

Looking back at Fixer’s face, Hunter could see a tightness in his brow and the corner of his lips, something shuttering behind his eyes like he was preparing to be hurt.

If you guessed that Fixer believed he was being rejected and Hunter nearly inadvertently broke his heart, congratulations on leasing a spot in my head. Rent is $5 a month or talking to me about clones.

...he saw Fixer’s helmet tilt and Hunter desperately wanted to know what that meant, if he was smiling underneath it.

In all my time in various fandoms I've come to realize there's something I enjoy about faceless or near-faceless characters and how they- and, subsequently, the people writing/drawing/depicting them -need to move or stand or gesture to get their feelings across. How does the angle of the head change how the audience reads their emotions, what's the difference in movement between a hand gesturing with emphasis versus gesturing with apathy. Seeing the character's romantic interest noticing those differences, learning the subtleties been their moods and how they hold themselves makes it even better.

...long enough to stop Wrecker from trying to sneak a pack of ryshcate into a purchase...

Hunter pays attention when it counts. Mostly.

Stealing shuttles seemed to be a habit of theirs.

Okay, I think that only happened once in the books but I enjoy the idea that Delta doesn't need their own dedicated shuttle, they'll just steal it from whatever asshole is in their area.

They said they knew some people that would strip the shuttle of anything trackable...

This is another reference to the clone colony at Kyrimorut. Assuming I'm remembering correctly and not attributing this to some fic I read, they started amassing a collection of different ships, some imperial ones to help with infiltration and information gathering. I like the idea of Delta passing some of their more useful, ill-gotten shuttles off to the Nulls to make use of.

Unfortunately for them the vessel they chose to sack happened to have Delta Squad on it... then took over their ship for good measure.

One of my favorite things is having some fools busting in some place, talking a big game and making demands, only to find themselves thoroughly outclassed by someone who was there merely by chance. And then the person in question taking the fools' stuff because they started it so why not?

As the knife felt more and more like an extension of his arm, Hunter began to move faster, the rounds getting longer until they were nearly dueling.

As opposed to the ruthless efficiency of the earlier fights, this I picture more like the sword fights from old movies like The Princess Bride or Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone duels. Testing each other's guard, not aiming to hurt but willing to take the opening if it presents itself. It's about finding each other's rhythm and matching it, like a song, like a dance, like a heartbeat. Even though Hunter could see beauty in Fixer's brutality, the beauty in this is how in sync they are.

(oh my god they're drift compatible)

...just wanted to stay in that patch of the docking bay with Fixer in front of him and all the people he cared about around him.

These boys been through a lot, they all need hugs and drinks and a therapist.

“Sooooo?” Omega drawled out before Hunter even acknowledged her. “When are you going to tell him you like him?"

Omega had been lightly grilling Fixer every time they've met because she's been on board this ship for months. He's nice, patient, has an answer for nearly any question she's had, he's a little awkward at socializing but he doesn't treat her like a child (which is probably because he's never been around a child before). So while nearly everyone else is willing to spoil Omega with things like sweets or gifts, Fixer is the one that will let her do to more adult things like explaining to her how different firearms work and being able to tell when an explosive device has been armed. No shying away from the grislier side of what they do just because she's young. She's old enough that if she wants to know, she should know. Also he seems just as invested in Hunter's well being as she is and Hunter is always happier when they see each other. If Hunter hadn't decided to make a move, she was about ready to make one for them.

Because there wasn’t much else to do when flying through hyperspace for hours on end. He and Crosshair would bitch at each other over the characters’ idiocy afterward.

Though Crosshair was able to get back on good terms with the others and Hunter was understanding of his reasons, they had a difficult time trying to get back on an even keel with each other. Complaining about those soap operas helped them to bond again and they'll deny it to the heat death of the universe but they've gotten invested in the story. Echo may or may not have been the one to encourage those discussions between them.

“Guess we’ll swing by Pabu when we get some free time.”

I really like the idea that Pabu and the people there being a sort of sanctuary for the Batch. A place to go when they need to lay low or take a break and people who are willing to explain things natborns consider second nature but was considered unnecessary for clones without judging them for it. And that's before they settled Tech there, knowing he'd have a place to recuperate as best he can with people that will give him the best possible care.

He wasn’t sure any clone did though whether that was genetic or a result of their upbringing was unclear.

Clones have a very distinct love language that a lot of other people would just pass off as them being nice. No, my dudes. When a clone shares their food, that means something. If they allow you to take care of their gear, it means they trust you with their lives. Should they give you one of their very few possessions, you're basically part of their family. And being gifted a neigh indestructible weapon is all but a proposal.

“Just do stuff for him. Take care of him.”

The unfortunate part about being aware of the differences between clone culture and natborn culture (among many things) is the subconscious worry that the way clones do things is the 'wrong' way. Clones weren't taught to be paternal, therefore they don't know how to properly care for children. Clones were never taught to be romantic, therefore their ways of showing affection that's more than platonic isn't good enough. All clones need non-clone friends to explain there is never just one proper way to do things.

...friends that aren't Jedi because by the end of the Order they were kinda yikes.

When they reached out to Sev, he grumbled and made a show of being far too busy to deal with them before transmitting a passcode to land.

Sev tries so hard to keep up a persona of being too hardcore and angry to be nice these days. Only the newbies fall for it, everyone else goes along with it just to make him happy.

“You kidding? We were about to start making bets on you two!”

I assure you that bets had already been placed but if Hunter knew that then he'd want to know how long that had been going for and would probably be mortified at the answer. Wrecker is just being a good brother by lying and making sure payments are dolled out when Hunter isn't around.

“We’ve taken to using voice changers to make it easier for the natborn to differentiate between us.”

I know why and fully expected Delta Squad to be given the same voice as everyone else but I still write them with their original voices in my head. So any scenario in which I can give them voice changers so they'll have those voices, I'm doing it.

“They can make their own excuses... I don’t know the reason behind every time they get weird.”

Boss says a very similar thing whenever his squad gets into trouble because he just needed to take a goddamn nap.

...but with the blaster holstered on one side and knife on the other, he was still framed quite nicely.

Tangentially: I never really cared for Bo-Katan as a character but in The Mandalorian, her dual pistols and the nice little box they make? Wow.

...the town was built on a combination of rock and giant mangrove roots which essentially divided the town into two levels... here the trees had been dug into and, in some cases, straight through.

I originally had zero intention of describing this outpost but this 'mini date' section, as I think of it, was the second to last thing I had to write and realizing I had to have them moving through a space in order to get the moments that I wanted out of it, I ended up making a sort loose amalgamation of two video game locations: The Grove from Guild Wars 2 and Torigoth from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, specifically the area with the suspended bridges.

“It’s a wedding boat.”

Originally it was just going to be a fishing vessel making a lot of noise as they brought up a huge haul but that seemed too mundane, too uninspired. I'd recently watched a documentary that featured ethnic groups in the Philippines and some of the nomadic people's transition to a stationary lifestyle. They spotlighted a wedding and one of the traditions was the bridal party traveling on a boat in a similar manner. This wasn't meant to be a 'nudgenudge you boys getting any ideas nudge' kind of thing, it's just that that portion of the documentary really stuck in my mind.

“You’ll have to show me that some time.” Fixer’s hand squeezed his. “Of course.”

Fixer took him out that night, after Hunter finished making dinner and they ate under the stars with the crashing waves glowing blue and soft green and orange lights around them because this was a date and Hunter deserved better than to spend it in a cramped, ramshackled room filled with random junk.

Hunter began to tense from the overwhelming sounds and smells...

Again, don't know how fandom does it, but I imagine Hunter tends to suffer from migraines, especially in places with lots of strong smells and constant loud, overlapping noises. He can- and has -suffered through it for the sake of missions or to get tasks done but it sucks and he tries to avoid crowds when he can. If he can't, he'll wear his helmet if possible so he can shut off necessary filters if it starts to get too much.

“It’s more for my peace of mind- our peace of mind.”

Fixer may treat Omega most like an adult but that doesn't stop his instincts from pinging whenever he sees her. He can't stop thinking about things like "You need more weapons than just an energy bow" and "Why do you have a helmet but no chest plate, torso shots are more common than head shots". But, as someone who is 1) not part of her family, and 2) has not been part of any discussions regarding what kind of protection she has, and 3) knows the Batch are the most invested in her safety so they'd already cover that sort of stuff, he knows it's not his place to get into that. But he'll make her that knife because, c'mon, whose gonna turn down a concealed blade?

And to find whoever made Fixer doubt his capacity for kindness and beat them to within an inch of their life.

It's not so much that Delta Squad are surprised that they're able to be kind as it is they're surprised that they'll extend that kindness to others without thinking about it. Vau was a very pragmatic and blunt trainer. He made sure, given the things commandos were expected to do, that his trainees understood that, behind enemy lines, they'll only be able to depend on themselves and if anything were to happen to them, no one would help them, the only ones that would ever look out for them are each other. Even if he didn't say it outright, he implied that offering a kindness to people that wouldn't offer it back was nothing but wasted energy. So whenever they realize they're doing so- especially when people show appreciate or give kindness back -it kinda shorts out their brains a little. They'll get used to it, though. Eventually.

“In case someone needs some space.”

That's a bit of a deflection as much as it is an answer. As stated before, leaving Sev behind caused a rift and things were said and done that Sev's return wouldn't be able to heal over. It was worst between Scorch and Fixer and, even still, if both happen to be having bad days at the same time, neither wants to look at the other be it out of resentment or guilt. Boss did his best to keep the three of them together and maybe his responsibilities now aren't as numerous or stressful or demanding but some times he just needs to get away from everyone and recenter himself. Often when there are bad days, Sev gets the brunt of it because his brothers need reassurance that he's there, that he doesn't hate them and he tries to be as patient and understanding as they need but if he couldn't get away from their smothering he would explode at them. And then there are times when they just don't want to be cuddled because it's too hot or they're feeling restless or maybe someone is too gassy and needs to be exiled from the pile.

“Didn’t realize I missed being able to pile up with my brothers until I saw that.”

Poor Omega never got to be part of a cuddle puddle. Once Hunter realizes that, he'll rectify that the next time they're on Pabu. There will be tons of cushioning for Tech and Crosshair may be skittish at the start but Hunter and Wrecker and Echo will show her how it's done and afterward Omega will demand they make it mandatory every so often.

There was a long stretch of silence and then Fixer asked uncertainly, “Is this a date?”

The thought occurred to him after everyone else made themselves scarce. It just took him this long to get the courage to ask.

“I’d like to, if you don’t mind. I like watching you handle a knife.”

And, of course, it all comes back to knives.

[thompsborn]

Which cast do you picture in the Homeward Bound universe? Id assumed it was tom holland’s peter because harley doesn’t exist in the other spidermen’s movies but I also know you’re a Garfield-Spidey fan and that Harry Osborn and Gwen haven’t been MCU’d—just out of curiosity!!

okay hi this is the first of my current EIGHT unanswered hb asks omg. i'm !!!!! actually shaking with excitement about the fact that i'm about to get to ramble SO MUCH about hb holy shit. okay. okay.

so, obviously harley is based off ty simpkins, but i kind of?? like i mean, yes ty literally plays harley lmao, but also i picture him SLIGHTLY differently in my head. like how he looks in endgame i feel is a different vibe than how ty looks irl. i don't know if that makes any sense at all but i can't explain it, it's just like. he looks like ty but to the left. that's harley in my head. i cannot describe it any other way.

hb peter is 100% tom's peter because homeward bound is 100% canon compliant up to no way home (except for some headcanons such as peter having an uncle ben but uncle ben dying when peter was still really little in order to not fuck with the spidey home trilogy being peter's origin story - there are some other headcanons too that i can't remember off the top of my head, but i tried to make all of them align with mcu as much as possible as to not fuck with canon)

for harry and gwen it's not a spoiler for the most part except for one thing is kinda spoilery but not really? it reveals something about one of their characters that has not been established in the fic yet so just to be safe i'm gonna tag this w the spoiler tag and put it under the cut

okay so i'll start with harry

so there's a lot of variations with harry - sometimes he has brown hair, sometimes reddish hair, usually blue eyes, though i love the idea of him having green eyes because. i mean. duh.

i didn't really think of fan casts for him specifically in hb, i haven't really gone in depth with his appearance in any of the chapters, but @alwaysonlineau made the actor from love, simon, nick robinson, the icon for harry's account and now i kind of can't picture anyone else lmao. nick has hazel eyes which can look greenish at times so i'm here for it. also i loved his acting in jurassic world and in love, simon so i think he could pull off harry pretty damn well.

here's the picture of nick robinson that @alwaysonlineau used that i REALLY love because it definitely has harry energy to me:

also i love that nick was in jurassic world with ty lmao. the ages are off obviously, nick is 28 and literally played ty's older brother in that movie, but for the sake of a fan cast i think nick when he was early 20's looks very Harry Osborn to me. at least he feels very fitting for fanon harry.

if someone were to actually play harry in the mcu i don't know if he'd feel super fitting, i've seen people mention harrison osterfield for mcu harry which i could see. i also looked through a list of harry fan casts and david mazouz looks harry like to me a bit. charlie heaton was also listed which idk if he could pull harry off but looks-wise i could kind of see. asher angel. i know timothee chalamet's name has been tossed around a bunch and i mean i think he could do it but he doesn't look like harry to me lmao. they'd have to make his appearance work for it.

maybe charlie rowe, who i also saw listed as a fan cast. asa butterfield was on that list as well and i could see the mcu going that route too. but in homeward bound, i pretty much just envision nick.

as for gwen stacy!

so, i thought this before @alwaysonlineau came back, and i know i'm not the only one because i've seen quite a few posts on here and other sites saying the same thing, especially after across the spider-verse came out and gwen had the trans flag and coloring and such, but i really think that hunter schafer would be an INCREDIBLE gwen.

it hasn't been mentioned in the fic yet (mostly because i didn't think of this until i was already like halfway through the fic and then i didn't officially decide on it until across the spider-verse came out) but gwen is trans in homeward bound. it's gonna be made explicitly clear as soon as i can figure out a fitting reason for why it wouldn't have been mentioned so far - it feels as though, since the fic is peter's pov and he's never mentioned it, it should be that gwen hasn't told him so he doesn't know, which means finding out is going to have to be a thing. not like a huge thing but it's going to have to become a scene of some kind that establishes the fact that she's trans and then also addresses why she didn't tell him/any of them.

i haven't decided on how yet - it might be a super casual thing where she just never thought to mention it because it's just a part of who she is and she doesn't feel the need to tell people because she doesn't think it really matters (and also hunter schafer has stated that she passes as a cis woman i remember seeing an interview after euphoria season one where she was talking about it and how like yeah it's great to have trans inclusion and representation in euphoria but also she knows that she's white and passing and that's probably a big part of why she got the role, which basically i'm mentioning because if hunter were to play gwen then gwen would also be able to pass very easily as a cis woman as well). i might make it a bigger thing, like maybe she experienced something (some kind of transphobia) in the past that made her very wary about telling people and then by the time she wanted to tell them it had been a long time so she didn't know how, etc. etc. etc.

i'm queer but like i'm a cis lesbian not trans or nonbinary or anything, i do have multiple trans friends and i've seen a lot of posts and art and such about different lives and experiences trans people have had but i'm still cis, so if anyone who isn't cis has any input on what they'd like to see, please let me know. i don't want to approach the topic with a lack of sensitivity and i want to have trans rep in hb but if people want it to be a casual thing then that's what i'll do, if people want there to be more to her backstory then i'll do that instead.

but yeah, basically i can REALLY picture hunter as gwen, like some of her acting in euphoria i feel has some potential gwen energy to it (specific scenes, some displays of emotion that i could see gwen having, etc) but also this picture of hunter feels VERY gwen to me:

also also, obviously zendaya is rue in euphoria so her and hunter are friends and have great chemistry together and as a gwemj lover that means a lot to me pdfjg

another possibility i could see is emma meyers, aka enid from wednesday. i think she's a great acctress and could encompass gwen's energy pretty well too, but my first pick would be hunter!

long answer short:

in homeward bound, i picture harry to look like nick robinson and i picture gwen to look like hunter schafer.

[deep-hearts-core]

1997

IT'S IRELAND TIME. well, not quite yet. but it is in that this is the last time they hosted the contest and also they scored second.

Cyprus Not bad & not a bad start. I don't have too much to say about it beyond the fact that I don't think it's bad. It's simultaneously very 90s Eurovision while also, I feel, laying the groundwork for the 00s entries to come. I've definitely heard bits of the chorus in compilation videos before.

Turkey Whoa, that was NOT how I was expecting the verses to sound based on that chorus. But they're really beautiful. S,ebnem knows how to use her voice and sings in a way that makes her ring through the arena, almost, I can almost hear it, during those gorgeously empty sections where it's just her and the drum. Maybe I might have my year winner already. This is GOOD. She looks good, she sounds good.

Norway I like a lot of the more upbeat country from this era, and there are parts of this that I like - like the harmonies and everyone playing the guitars. But it's not clicking. I don't think I like his voice, and for some reason my brain keeps trying to parse the Norwegian phrases as English and that's confusing me. Although that's not really the guy's fault.

Austria Loving the dance routine. It's well-executed and fitting to the song. She sounds good, too. Although, I don't love the outfits, and... I feel terrible for saying this but Bettina just looks old. She looks like a helicopter parent going to Zumba.

Ireland This song is just so 90s. I get why it scored well when it did, but I'm watching this from 2023, as someone who wasn't even born yet in 1997. It's SO of its time that I just cannot get into it. I bet my mom would like this song.

block ranking: Turkey > Cyprus > Austria > Norway > Ireland. this is a new thing i'm gonna try out for these 20+ song contests because I struggle with remembering everything and cut my watching into pomodoro-style blocks with breaks in between (i'm gonna go make some tea before SLO->ESP).

Slovenia It's just poorly constructed. I don't like the way the notes fit together.

Switzerland This, by contrast, is an alright song (backing singers did well!) but I dislike Barbara's voice a great deal.

Netherlands Yall know I love a good girl band. This is, at least, a middle of the road girl band. They're clearly having fun and I vibe with the verses (especially the last phrase before the chorus in each verse), and the chord progressions. However, the rhythm of the title lyric goes too quickly. This one also falls victim to the "too many wide shots" thing that absolutely drives me crazy.

Italy Alright, so one of the things I've noticed lately, singing in a barbershop quartet format (this is relevant, bear with me), is that head voice is a lot harder to tune, especially when vibrato slips in. This woman has that problem. She sounds good, but she's also above the rest of the music, just slightly. Also the beginning was weird and took me by surprise for some reason. Everything else was pretty good, though. Not my fave song ever but a solid 90s entry.

Spain And this one just bores me to tears. No personality to it. Sorry, Spain.

Block ranking: Italy > Netherlands > Slovenia > Switzerland > Spain.

Germany Conflicting feelings here. I enjoyed it, but also it feels dated, but also the beginning of the chorus is really good, but also I'm not sure if I like her voice or not, but also that outfit is queer af by today's standards and I kind of love it.

Poland Chorus is a little messy, but the song feels original and it has the perfect amount of sass for a song titled, if I'm understanding the Polish correctly, "But I Am". I love it. My only real complaint is that if the lady from Jalisse was slightly over the notes, Anna Maria is slightly under them.

Estonia This is a lovely subtle song, and Maarja-Liis Ilus has a sweet, very young sounding voice that is satisfying to me personally. However this is slightly to her detriment, because I feel like she kept trying to be just a little bit sexy and it just didn't work because she sounds like a seventeen year old trying to be sexy.

B&H I love love love the instrumental in these verses. They give me the vibes of the Yael Naim, Ingrid Michaelson type music I listened to in middle school. However with an instrumental like that the singer, I feel, needs to be a little smoother in tone (like Ingrid Michaelson or Yael Naim). And the chorus didn't fit with that instrumental at all. I was really enjoying it until the chorus kicked in and then suddenly it was a totally different vibe.

Portugal Distracted entirely by the fact that her backup singers are straight out of The Matrix.

Block ranking: Poland > Estonia > Germany > B&H > Portugal.

Sweden It's just kinda frenetic. It doesn't fit together and the rhythms in the instrumental are too fast. It's really not bad but... idk. Maybe i'm only saying that it's not bad because I have a certain affection for Swedish entries before their "scary success" era.

Greece The return of the hand cymbals! Eh, this one's okay. It's very Greek.

Malta Very pretty song, although she does run into the lady from Jalisse's head voice issue a couple of times herself. Or maybe her head voice is just a little shrill timbre-wise and that's just how my tired headache-having brain is interpreting it rn lol. But that dress though. Barbara Dex much?

Hungary While "Hungary goes Backstreet" is already not really my thing, this entry is further sunk by the fact that none of these guys are particularly great singers. I'll give them this, though: there's a cool shot in here where the singers are shot from behind and you can see the audience and a light kinda runs over the spectators. That looked pretty cool.

Russia Russia almost never sends things like this. But then again, this was fairly early in their participation, wasn't it. While it's not my speed, Alla definitely embodies the Primadonna title. She carries herself just like an aging leading lady. A good fit for the song.

Block ranking: Greece > Russia > Malta > Sweden > Hungary

Denmark We didn't need this. It sounds okay but like. Listen. Okay, these days I'm less of a hater of rap in Eurovision, but that's also because it's gotten better over the years. This 40something Danish man I don't think knows really how to rap well. And the dancers and the school aesthetic were def too much.

France It doesn't leave much of an impression, although I do enjoy listening to it. Mostly what I get out of this is that the singer is very young.

Croatia Heavy sigh. It's a no from me. They don't sound great, the outfits suck, and I'm no huge fan of [rifles through genres they used on Produce 101] new jack swing? Is that what this is?

UK It ain't no Walking On Sunshine, but it's still damn good. There's just this swell to it, this movement and push and growth, that feels like it's getting the song's message across. There's something in the composition that, when you listen to it, feels like love.

Iceland Gay rights I guess? Vampire rights also? It's so Eurodance (which I don't really like) and the mixing was off, I can't hear him very well. But gay rights, I guess.

ok sorter time!!!

My top 25 1)Turkey 2)Poland 3)UK 4)Italy 5)Germany 6)Cyprus 7)Estonia 8)Netherlands 9)Russia 10)Greece 11)Ireland 12)Norway 13)France 14)Switzerland 15)Malta 16)Austria 17)B&H 18)Slovenia 19)Portugal 20)Spain 21)Sweden 22)Iceland 23)Hungary 24)Denmark 25)Croatia

Miscellaneous thoughts I really enjoy the messages from past winners and other contestants that they played after every other performance. Best one was probably Niamh Kavanagh telling Linda Martin, "it's your fault, you started it" and Linda responding, "well, you gave them the heart attack the next year." Obsessed with how messy that winner's recap was. Katrina got the words wrong! The tambourines were off rhythm! It was endearing. I also love how multilingual this contest was. Not only English and French but a solid amount of Irish in there. I suspect we'll see less and less English as we go further back in time.

[reincarnight]

— mobile about + verses.

— basic information.

full name: soma cruz (来須 蒼真 kurusu sōma) title(s): reincarnation of count dracula

age: 18-20 (canon), 21+ (post-canon) birthday: 21 august 2017

gender: male (he/him) species: human

nationality: japanese occupation: high school student (aria of sorrow), university student

sexuality: hm (pending) marital status: single

current location: japan

close friends and allies: mina hakuba, yoko belnades, hammer, genya arikado and julius belmont.

— physical appearance.

height: 172 cm hair color: naturally white eye color: grey, appear almost silver

usual attire: a fur-lined, white trench coat with blue accents. black turtleneck. blue jeans and knee-high white boots. he isn't seen without mina's talisman post-dawn of sorrow.

— personality.

on the first impression, soma comes off as a serious individual. more often than not, he's blunt and doesn't beat around the bush. prior to aria of sorrow, he used to be less open and more difficult to approach.

he is friendly, loyal and deeply caring towards those closest to him; he's especially protective of his childhood friend, mina. he will be pissed if you hurt any of them.

while his friends and loved ones are his anchor, losing them might mean soma coming dangerously close to, if not completely, losing himself.

he's stubborn and set on doing what he believes is right. telling soma not to do something has a chance of him doing it anyway. in a similar way, he's adamant about not becoming the dark lord (or anything like his past self).

admittedly, he can be incredibly reckless and impulsive at times.

he has a strong sense of duty — and according to hammer, no sense of romance... which would be correct.

he's also shown to be a little naive (ie. taking graham jones at face value) and awkward at times. and maybe he's a little bit of a dork, but that side tends to show around friends.

he gets flustered when he's being teased about mina.

— abilities.

power of dominance. soma can gain dominance over the souls of monsters and demons he kills. basically, he can use their abilities as his own. it laid dormant until the solar eclipse of 2035.

yep, this power comes from him being dracula's reincarnation (soma's soul = dracula's soul/magical powers).

the souls he possesses can be divided into bullet souls, guardian souls, enchanted souls and ability souls, with the first two consuming his MP on use. he can only equip one bullet, guardian and enchanted soul at a time.

arms mastery. soma can wield a variety of weapons, such as swords, spears and maces. he has even wielded legendary weapons like balmung and claimh solais.

magic seals. used to counter demons that regenerate their lives through the portals of darkness. yoko belnades taught soma how to use them.

— miscellaneous notes.

following the original version of aria of sorrow, my version of soma was never an exchange student.

he has extended family living in europe; some of his family lineage can be even traced to romania.

he generally feels weird about wearing all black after aria of sorrow.

while rather uncommon, soma may experience flashes of (usually negative) emotions that aren't his own. or even more rarely, a fragment of his past self's memory resurfaces.

he has developed a habit of carrying a pocket knife on his person... just in case.

it's heavily implied that soma loses the souls he gained during dawn of sorrow. while i am cool with writing him that way in any post-canon verses, i also personally like the idea of him keeping them. therefore, that will be decided on a thread-by-thread basis.

— verses.

canon. self-explanatory, covers both games or anything that happens in-between the two.

post-canon. also a catch-all verse for any interactions in the modern world. soma is a student working on his degree; or maybe he has already graduated from university. but all things considered, he's living a pretty normal life... unless something decides to drag him back in.

pre-canon. everything leading up to the solar eclipse of 2035.

unawakened. follows the alternate ending of aria of sorrow, where soma is none the wiser to his identity as dracula's reincarnation. escaping the castle leaves him with a strange feeling... but hey, at least he now knows what to do if he ever finds himself there again.

bad ending. soma succumbs to the darkness within him and becomes the dark lord. this verse can take place during/after the bad ending of aria of sorrow or dawn of sorrow; i default to the latter as it's more of soma's choice in that instance.

time travel. for crossover interactions with other characters in the series; can work with non-castlevania characters as well. so, what do you do when you encounter a guy from the 21st century?

crossover. the default verse for any interactions that don't fit into other verses. soma is still from the 21st century japan & possesses the power of dominance. he's just confused about how he ended up here.

and anything else i can think of. i'm always down for aus/crossovers/whatever, so feel free to ask!

[yourbuerokrat2]

@cchipollo I also have had a few headcanons regarding Q being a constant and I think this mutual dislike, Q actually being the humorless one in this universe could actually work in some ways. Because what if Q meets the other versions of Picard after having gotten to know 'his' Picard. It's partly curiosity but with the mirror verse it's also his job. Because here humanity is actually all that Q accuses it to be in TNG but I think because this entire universe operates on different 'rules' the judgement is 'easier'? I mean to me the Trial is always kind of a weird thing because there are just so many much worse species in TNG than humans.

But I am getting off-track. Q likes Picard. A lot or even loves him. And mirror!Picard is a twisted mirror version of what he likes/loves. It's Picard but it's still all wrong. It's kind of a 'how dare you have the name and the look of Jean-Luc Picard' kind of deal and he does think highly of Picard behind 'his' captains as was even implied in All Good Things when Q at the end of the episode genuinly smiles down on PIcard and tells him that even though the other Qs told him he could't do it Q knew that PIcard would be able to solve the anomaly.

So yeah, imagine being in a different universe and meeting your best friend, a person you maybe even admire, only in this universe they stand for everything they in your universe hate. And you for some reason are forced to deal with this horrible parody of the person you actually care about when you could instead be spending time with the version(s) of them you actually like.

And the thing about Q is that while he is not exactly the most moral person especially in early TNG after Deja Q there actually seem to be some morals to him although maybe not human ones. He is not evil, that's what I am saying. So I do not even think that he would enjoy being in the mirror verse all that much and that, yes, in comparison to most other people in the mirror verse Q actually would be quite a decent person.

It would also be funny if Q was forced by the Continuum to deal with 'some problem' his human was causing in the mirror!verse and Q reluctantly dealing with this all the while being quite humourless about it because he does not want to be here, he does not want to deal with his version of Picard when he could be playing and dealing with any other version of his capitaine or even better the 'original' one. Only for Q to gave a sigh when he got that sorted out, gets back to his now 'favorite' verse and greets 'his' Picard being all condescending smile and slightly benevolent trickster entity again.

mirror universe q and picard phone doodles (they are bad and sketchy as but its ok)

[butternut-zippersqaush]

Love Languages: SWK and Macaque

My brain has been itching to write this down hajfakfj but I really wanted to present my take on the monkeys and the way they show affection because I feel like I got them down pretty well T^T this is also kind of a show on how I write them in the cherry blossom fic too so expect scenarios like these as the story continues on!

Sun Wukong

Quality Time + Physical Touch

Wukong's a show don't tell type of guy.

This monkey has absolutely no clue how to keep his hands to himself. It's a bit subtle in the show, but he's shown to be touchy with the other characters (e.i. hands over the shoulder, patting backs, hugging, tail grabbing, giving MK piggyback rides with no hesitation at all, if I might add, which I find adorable) so it would only make sense that with a S/O he's gonna be like that, just much more extreme.

I'd imagine you would cuddle, ALOT. He loves hugging you, sleeping next to you, and holding you whenever you're doing anything at all. He's super strong too, so if you ever ask he'd be more than happy to carry you around! Piggyback rides, bridal carries, whatever you want, you shall receive.

A bit self-indulgent to say this, but I also firmly believe he's the type to give you kisses all the time. They’re short and sweet, but come in swarms as he attacks your face with one too many at a time. I'd say his favorite spots are your cheeks and forehead.

The forehead especially when he's being more sentimental. If you happen to be stuck in a battle, that's the first thing he does when he gets to you, as if it's an affirmation to himself that you're safe.

Also, Wukong lives on a mountain by himself, along with the other monkeys that take residence there. In the original story, the other simians are sentient and can talk, but in the LMK verse, we don't see that. He may be okay with the solitude, but it still affects him more negatively than he would ever admit. To be his best self, and for him to be, well, happy, he needs to be surrounded by others!

You don't need to have plans when you're together; he just wants to stay around you as much as possible. He's perfectly content with the two of you lazing around at each other's place of living. If you want a proper date though, picnics and movies are his go-to! Or maybe you'd like to fly around with him on his somersault cloud?

These love languages are the ways he most naturally expresses his affection. I'm definitely not saying he isn't willing to give you gifts or spoil you with words if you ask (although he'd probably struggle a little with that T_T), but in all honesty, I think cuz of his own upbringing he's unfamiliar to these forms of endearment between couples. He is a monkey, after all. He likes things plain and simple.

If you let him, he'll be stuck to your side almost all the time. I doubt Wukong would mind if you wish for boundaries of any sort when it comes to these things however. Consent is important after all!

Macaque

Word of Affirmation + Acts of Service

Macaques pretty much the opposite of SWK when it comes to words. He's a smooth talker, even if what he says is full of shit. That can be said for when he's being genuine too!

Compliments are his go-to when it comes to making you feel nice. He's quick to butter up MK in the show, and even though it's just for his own agenda, he does mean what he says to the guy.

Macaques very observing, so he'd be able to find things to praise about you, whether it be your looks, personality, skills, or quite literally anything else.

Definitely, the type to say "I love the way you say __". He'd make you speak all the time even if it's nonsense- his six-ears just can't seem to get enough of it.

He talks big, but we all know it's to cover up his insecurities. Make sure you tell him that you love him, and how important he is to you! Macaque will appreciate it a fucking lot, especially if he can sense the genuineness in your tone.

When it comes to love, Macaque doesn't do big showcases of his affection. It's the small things that count. Need something from the store, but don't wanna go out? He'll pick the items up for you. Hate doing the laundry? He can dabble in some housecleaning to lighten your load. Want to order takeout? He knows what your usual order is by heart. Feeling overwhelmed? He's always by your side, ready to make you feel better.

His ways of showing how he loves you are very subtle, even when he's saying things out loud. This monkey is a theater kid! He wants you to play along with the act, for maximum dramatization. If you're the type whos super oblivious though, he's gonna be forced to be obvious in his affection. Expect a beet-red face when he has to say those wretched three words out loud for you to get a hint.

I'd say that Macaque would really like to indulge in physical affection with you, as he is also a monkey. This isn't one of his main forms of affection though, due to his past traumas and inability to trust others (I can't really blame him though, the number of times he's been thrown around in the show >.>) You would have to let him warm up to you first, and he'd have to make the first move.

Hopefully these sound in character 😭 but these are my interpretations!

[coffee-in-veins]

If the heroes could play instruments, what do you think they'd play? Sarmenti is the obvious one, but what about the others?

ho boi... this one took a while to make. I have a lot of headcanons, not gonna lie, but bear in mind that my knowledge of music is mostly based on a few years of learning to play the piano (fruitless endeavour, ngl) and Sideway’s rants about it (honestly, go check the dude, he’s amazing and talks on a level even someone with zero knowledge can understand). 

So brace yourself, a lot of very odd things are incoming with a lot of sample links. Because it’s hard to explain music in words. Thou hast been warned.

Heroes are sorted in alphabetical order by their class, with added “canon” names for clarity. 

Abomination/Bigby - oof, only starting, and this one was already a hard one, but I think I have one that would fit him: a glass harp. We have records of it being used as early as 1492, so it should fit the setting, I guess? And also it fits him, imo. There’s more to this man than his chains and his rags, as there’s more to some water-filled glasses than what they look like. Also, it doesn’t require a lot, just glasses, some chalk and water. And lots and lots of patience. Fitting, don’t you think?

Antiquarian/Josephine - this one gave me the biggest pause. Because frankly, I don’t really have an opinion on Josephine. She was a useful mule in-game but as her own person...? Ehhh... This one was hard. But I can propose tambourine despite it being canonically used by Jester (based on his trinkets), maybe? It’s both unassuming and can be used for more than you can initially imagine, but still sounds very distinct - much like the antiquarian class in itself. I can also definitely see her sneaking one in her bags on an expedition (before I went and double checked, I was sure she was holding one in the Curious Incantation skill icon).

Arbalest/Missandei - something like french horn comes to mind, frankly, with all the march references she has in her toolkit. Or maybe a trumpet. Trumpet fits a bit better, imo, considering the “Marked for Death” quartet she’s part of. Metallic, militaristic, much like her armour and her crossbow. Or her character. But also capable of sounding incredibly sincere and gentle.

Bounty Hunter/Tardif - yet another one which gave me a big pause. But he looks a lot like Varangian Guard, imo, so I looked up some Byzantine instruments and found one that I think fits both his “always on the road” bounty hunter lifestyle, his aesthetic (since it can be played without taking off his helmet cloth... I guess, don’t quote me on this one), and the feelings he probably invokes in people upon meeting them - aulos. Just listen to this beauty, especially the starting dissonance. It sounds like an alarm siren to me. And if it’s not Tardif in music form, I dunno what is.

Crusader/Reynauld - a strong contender for “his voice is his instrument” because of his chanting, but nope, while our boi Rey can yell commands in a way that makes Barristan proud, I don’t think that singing is his strong suit. If we abandon his demonstrative disinterest in anything not Verse-related for a moment, I really wanna put something like zitra in his hands to show his gentler, humane side and because he is now strongly associated with Franko-German origin for me thanks to @engelsschwert and his real-world inspiration. Psaltery might fit it better? Sounds closer to how I can imagine him, at least. And the name is like ‘psalms’ too. But it’s still a part of the zitra family, so a win-win, imo.

Flagellant/Damian - his voice. No, really, I can easily depict this man bellowing the gregorian chant with the might needed to be heard from any remote part of a cathedral. Human voice is an incredible instrument after all, it was the very first one we had, and I believe Damian can use his to the fullest. It also fits the “having nothing but burden” mentality of flagellants, I think? You can’t get any more minimalistic than that. I think his singing voice also makes Rey jealous but he’d rather die than admit it.

Grave Robber/Audrey - she most likely knows how to play some “proper”, “feminine” and classic instruments like the harp. Because of that, she most likely hates it with passion and would rather strangle you upon the request than play a melody, even if she can play decently “since that is what’s expected from a proper lady”.

Hellion/Boudica - another contender for using her voice as a musical instrument, more in a “war chant” scenario. But also I can see her using tagelharpa. I suppose she’s meant to be Celtic with name and all, but Celtic lyre is too gentle-sounding, and I don’t think she was a chieftain/chieftain's daughter to be given a carnyx to play. So yeah, may be historically inaccurate since we cannot prove her being related to Vikings if we omit stereotypes, but the sound fits, imo, and DD as a whole is a historic nightmare, so...

Highwayman/Dismas - this one was incredibly easy and strong: harmonica. Small, compact, can be made out of a leaf and a comb, or just a leaf if you know how. Easy to use on the road, easy to conceal if needed. Can be used to gouge our someone’s eye in a clutch. Ideal for a constantly low on funds runaway convict or a vagabond. Also it feels like a very cheeky instrument (pun definitely intended) and it fits the character quite well, imo. The saxophone comes close second if we’re going bonkers. Oh, you all know why. He’s the most shipped character for a reason.

Houndmaster/Willam - I’m not gonna beat around the bush with our beloved dog guy. It’s the Irish tin whistle also known as feadóg. Don’t judge me. I couldn’t pass this one.

Jester/Sarmenti - although the lute might be his preferred music instrument, I would’ve really, really loved it if the mad lad found remains of an organ in the Abbey and with enough help from Baldwin and the company could restore it. Because honestly, the guy is a mad genius, and have you seen how many pins, keyboards and the like the thing has? The sheer freedom, range and scale! He’d fit right in, just as much as I believe in his dedication to break through this monster of the instrument and make it obey his whim. 

Leper/Baldwin - canonically plays the flute (at least until the point where he still has some lips left to do it); however, based on the noble upbringing of that era, he probably knew some other, “proper” instrument as part of his upbringing. Oud, maybe? It’s very complex from what I could gather, and has a lot of regularly used scales, but you wouldn’t assume it by looking at it. Much like you wouldn’t assume that a mere leper is a once-King. 

Man-at-Arms/Barristan - I can easily imagine him knowing the drums. Snare drums to be specific. But not in a way of music, not entirely, more in a way of military-signals-turned-music, if that makes sense? Though I believe he can perform one hell of a solo if you nag him long enough.

Musketeer/Margaret - this one was more of a continuation of Arbalest, Houndmaster and MAA quartet, if you will, much like the Margaret herself is, mechanically at least, just a reskin of Misendei. So to finish the arrangement, I decided to give her fifa. Not only does it fits their general “soldier” idea, but also it’s a flute, an instrument that got a lot of “feminization” and sounds gentler than the trumpet, but is capable of sounding just as harsh and demanding if needed.

Occultist/Alhazred - another strong contender for his voice being his instrument. If the guy can yell “ Y'LW'NAFH N'GHFT “ without stuttering, he deserves it, in my opinion. But I also find kamancheh quite fitting. It sounds like a lament, to me, which fits Alhazred’s narrative and the instrument itself also looks both sophisticated and very elegant. It can also be considered a ritualistic instrument, used at many celebrations and is widely used in classical music. 

Plague Doctor/Paracelsus - this one was tricky, and at first, I even thought I’d have to admit that she isn’t musical but. But. What is the music if not the fluctuations in the air? What are they but math and physics, give or take? And if so, you can make a scientific way of producing it - a marble machine. Unorthodox, just like the woman in question. And admit it, it even looks like something she’d try to build just to drive Sarmenti up the wall.

Shieldbreaker/Amani - initially I wanted to give her a rattle (I’m a horrible person, I’m aware of it). I also was sure she had some sort of jingles, much like Jester, during her moves, but no. The problem is, she’s one-handed, and it’s rare you can use an instrument with only one hand. But I found one and it actually fits her, thematically - zills! And first ones of those were found in Greece around 500 BC, so no issues in using them in our medieval-ish setting.

Vestal/Junia - this one was also a doozy to think of, but I think I have a very nice fit: a handbell. It can be gentle, it can be deafening, it’s useless in untrained hands, and has the added bonus of having a strong link to church bells if you squint hard enough. Also most of the carols I’m aware of use bells, so do with it what you will.

[dappercritter]

I do like the sound of that hypothetical nuanced adult-focused revival Duncan Rouleau, especially if they can handle it like the better parts of Alien Force's run, maybe do some of the saturday morning child hero deconstruction stuff.

Personally, whether CN and WB actually lets them do that or not, I feel like another for-the-kids relaunch is inevitable and I think Ben 10 works just as well that way. "Kids shows" can be as nuanced as anything on HBO, we all know that by now.

Also they still got toys or whatever to sell.

But regardless I feel like Ben as a main character has run his course. Sure a lot of his more annoying traits was the result of executives demanding the show stay relatable to kids no matter how old he gets, but I feel like Ben "at least 10" Tennyson was a product of his time.

Not in a negative sense, just that his character and the show as a whole is a bit like a time capsule for 2000s cartoons at the time. And for what it's worth sequels did try their best to adapt to the changing times of the 2010s in spite of the corporate interference.

With all that said, I don't think I'm over-exaggerating when I say that it's the mid 2020's now.

We still need more diversity, especially, in kids shows.

I'm sorry but we can't keep doing the same "bratty white boy needs to learn sensitivity and responsibility over and over again."

It's 2024.

Steven Universe happened.

Spider-Verse happened.

The Owl House happened.

Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake happened.

(See, there IS a precedent for Girl AU spin-offs already! I'm not completely crazy!)

I'm not even looking for brownie points on this hellsite, I'm genuinely begging and pleading with whoever is listening that if we can't original stories from big studios anymore we can at least TRY to give more kids, especially girls, a chance to see themselves as the heroes in stories again.

If they try to reboot Ben 10 again I genuinely hope they make Gwen the main character next time.

[beepboop358]

A Prom in S4 Theory & Music Coding Predictions

Some leaked set pics indicate that there MAY BE a junior/senior prom at Hawkins High, which they are calling the "Lover's Ball". It's unclear if this prom will be included on screen, or if it will just be mentioned as an event coming up at Hawkins High because this flyer could just extra set decor. Regardless if the prom happens on screen or not, there will probably be some tension about 'who's asking who' to the prom that we will see in s4. Given that this picture was just leaked a few weeks ago, it probably falls closer to the end of the season sequentially.

Having a big school dance in s4 is suspiciously close to how they had the Snowball scene in s2. This would certainly follow the even/odd season patterns, (and actually add to the list of the patterns), which kind of makes me think we will see this prom on screen, or at the very least it will be mentioned in the course of the season.

The Duffer Brothers love Steven King and reference his work and especially 'IT' a lot in the show, but they haven't done anything with Carrie yet so maybe we will get a Carrie moment this season at the prom...

Carrie was on the video store fridays movie inspiration board for ST4.

At the "Lover's Ball", there will be definitely be some music coding relating to Byler. Since music coding is kind of a key thing in the show, I've been rifling through 80's songs to try and find some that may fit with s4's themes/character storylines (and I may do a seperate post about that later), but for this post I'm just gonna focus on what they might use at the prom for relating to Byler.

Since the season is most likely going to take place in 1986, I only selected songs that had a compatible release year so it would be historically accurate. (these songs would also be great for a byler playlist!)

Some strong contenders for the songs that might play at the prom to reference Mike and Will's relationship could be:

"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986)

This song is honestly too good of an option for them not to use. I'm reallllyyy crossing my fingers for this one.

It's hard to take courage In a world full of people You can lose sight of it all And the darkness inside you Can make you feel so small

"And I see your true colors Shining through I see your true colors And that's why I love you So don't be afraid (don't be afraid) To let them show your true colors True colors are beautiful (you're beautiful, oh) Like a rainbow Oh oh oh oh oh like a rainbow"

If this world makes you crazy And you've taken all you can bear You call me up Because you know I'll be there

"Heaven" by Bryan Adams (1984)

This first verse is literally just the story of Byler... 😭 The rest of the song applies but that verse verse is just sooooo accurate. (I'm crossing my fingers for this one too)

"Oh thinkin' about all our younger years There was only you and me We were young and wild and free Now nothing can take you away from me We've been down that road before But that's over now You keep me comin' back for more

Baby you're all that I want When you're lyin' here in my arms I'm findin' it hard to believe We're in heaven And love is all that I need And I found it there in your heart Isn't too hard to see We're in heaven

Oh once in your life you find someone Who will turn your world around Bring you up when you're feelin' down Yeah nothin' can change what you mean to me Oh there's lots that I could say But just hold me now 'Cause our love will light the way"

"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (1986)

This song is on Will's Spotify playlist, and I thought it could also be used at the prom since it's a romantic song. I see it as an 'entrance to the prom' moment song, almost like a 'first look' - like the Mike and El moment at the snowball when she first walks in, but with Mike and Will this time. I think the lyrics clearly hint to this kind of 'first look' moment as well.

"Watchin' every motion in my foolish lover's game On this endless ocean, finally lovers know no shame Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn around and say...take my breath away"

Watchin' every motion in this foolish lover's game Haunted by the notion, somewhere there's a love in flames Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn my way and say...take my breath away"

"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981)

This song was originally meant to be included in the snowball scene from s2, but it ultimately was not used and "Every Breath You Take" was used for this scene instead. Since it was intended to be a part of the s2 dance, that's why I think it may be used at the prom this season. (you can read the scripts on 8flix)

——— I forgot to include this explanation originally BUT, I think this song might be used to show some anger/resentment between the two, and to show a decent amount of tension, depending on their development this season. Like maybe Mike is kind of leading Will on in private by continuing to initiate intimate scenes between them, but in public Mike is still trying to put on his “straight boy act” and kind of being a jackass about it, and this song could be used to show the tension between them that has caused.

"And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, (Oh lord)

Well, I was there and I saw what you did I saw it with my own two eyes So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been It's all been a pack of lies.

Well I remember, I remember don't worry How could I ever forget It's the first time, the last time we ever met But I know the reason why you keep this silence up

No you don't fool me The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows It's no stranger to you and me"

"In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (1986)

Some of the lyrics in this song just SCREAMS byler, just look at the 1st, 2nd and 4th paragraphs. I would be suprised if they didn't use this song in either s4/s5.

Love, I get so lost sometimes Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart When I want to run away I drive off in my car But whichever way I go I come back to the place you are

All my instincts, they return The grand facade, so soon will burn Without a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside

In your eyes The light, the heat (in your eyes) I am complete (in your eyes) I see the doorway (in your eyes) To a thousand churches (in your eyes) The resolution (in your eyes) Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)

Love, I don't like to see so much pain So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away I get so tired working so hard for our survival I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

"Heroes" by David Bowie (1975)

David Bowie was bisexual. A cover of his song “Heroes” is used in the show twice already, sung by Peter Gabriel. The song plays when they pull Will's fake body out of the water in season one and Mike cries in his Mom's arms, with some very queer-coded lyrics in the background, and after Hopper's letter in s3 (which is very Byler-centric)

"I will be king. And you, you will be queen 'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact. Yes, we're lovers, and that is that. Though nothing will keep us together. We could steal time just for one day We can be heroes forever and ever. What d'you say? I, I wish I could swim, like dolphins, like dolphins could swim I, I can remember (I remember) Standing by the wall (By the wall) And the guns shot above our heads (Over our heads) And we kissed as though nothing could fall (Nothing could fall) And the shame was on the other side. Oh, we can beat them forever and ever. Then we could be heroes just for one day We're nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer just for one day"

I just thought the above songs might be some highly likely possibilities given that they fit the year of the s4 and also make references to not only love, but the idea of hiding, pain, shame, longing, etc., and can make some (partially stretching here) references to other things in the show such as:

RAINBOWS and TRUE COLORS, SHINING THROUGH (rainbows imagery is always associated with Mike & Will in the show and a is symbol of lgbtq+ pride, True Colors shining through = who you really are on the inside finally coming out)

IF THIS WORLD MAKES YOU CRAZY ("crazy together", "only love makes you that crazy" and references the "world" motif in the show)

YOUNGER YEARS, ONLY YOU AND ME, YOUNG, WILD AND FREE (references "not wanting things to change" and wanting "to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter, and the "But we're not kids anymore" comment during the Byler fight)

ENDLESS OCEAN and SWIM, LIKE DOLPHINS (references water's significance in the show)

FLAMES (Will in front of the burning car in s4 teaser?)

LIES and LYING (Mike lying to El about how he feels)

INSTINCTS RETURNING, FACADES BURNING, WITHOUT MY PRIDE, I REACH OUT FROM THE INSIDE (Mike's feelings for Will are his instincts, the facade is the act he put on in s3 to seem straight, burning could reference Will & fire, and I think the last 2 lines of that 2nd verse reference vulnerability- perhaps in an apology/confession)

I GET SO LOST (confusion about his sexuality, feeling lost without the other) and SO MUCH WASTED TIME (known each other since kindergarten but were unaware the other felt the same way/was dealing with same things, they could have been even closer)

KINGS and QUEENS (the d&d game mike wrote where he has king Tristan give him a medal in s1)

STEALING TIME (references "turning back the clock, to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter and the time theme in s4 and time is central to the s4 plot)

AND WE KISS - AND THE SHAME (references the shame they both feel about being gay since it was so stigmatized in the 80's)

Byler @ Prom Possibilities:

If Mike and Will did dance together at the prom, they will probably get bullied because they live in a small conservative town. They will probably either run out, upset, or Eleven will step in to protect them which could lead to the Carrie moment.

Or Mike and Will will not dance together in the actual dance room, but instead sneak off to somewhere else in the school and have a private Byler dance moment where they can't be teased and it's just them together.

OR Mike and Will are still acting weird at this point in the season because neither of them is communicating what needs to be said out of fear, or one of them has confessed or done something to indicate how they feel, but the other hasn’t so everything is weird between them. There would be lots of tension from this and we would get lots of longing looks and adoring moments between the two of them from the sidelines. (I think this one is the most likely)