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aladaylessecondblog · 2 months ago

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Red Mountain Waffle House, pt. 14

Author's Note: Angst & misunderstandings

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Somehow or the other she had been drawn to the Shrine of Azura. Before falling in with that group of former slaves in Zebabi, Sadara had looked into where the shrine was, and figuring Azura would have some answers, headed over that way.

The priests sold her some glow dust, and she made the offering as the sun was going down.

"Azura," she said, "I don't ask for you to do me any favors - I just want answers. With the prophecies, and all that - was I the Nerevarine? I mean clearly I'm not fulfilling them, so did I have ANY purpose here? What was it?"

There was a pause, a slight breeze, and then a voice in her mind.

"You have served the purpose I set out for you."

"What purpose?"

"You ensured Nerevar's bones were brought to Dagoth Ur." A pause. "There have been many Nerevarines, and you were meant to be the last. So many have failed, and you remain...the cycle repeated, in my vain hope one of you would follow the prophecies. But there have been too many failures - and so I have chosen a different path."

"What path?" Sadara felt her stomach drop. You have served your purpose.

"Nerevar will surely follow my will and destroy the Tribunal; he was ever faithful in life, and I see no reason that his loyalty should fail now. I am glad of your assistance, but your part in this is done."

She turned away without saying anything more.

Fuck Azura. Fuck everyone...except maybe Jiub.

Nothing had changed. Nothing would ever change.

----------------------

Traveling about and killing cliffracers was okay for a week or so, but on using her name in Molag Mar, she'd drawn some attention. The healer had looked up, and gone, "Sadara? What're you doing here?"

"Working," she said, "Cliffracer plumes sell for a decent amount."

"You're working? Why?"

"For a living? Why does anyone work?" she shrugged.

"There are some people looking for you--"

The moment her wounds were closed she left, and bought a cloak to cover herself a bit better on the way out. Why would they be looking for her? They had the bones, the moon-and-star, the heirloom ring of Dagoth Ur's. What more could they want her for? Gilvoth had made pretty clear she wasn't wanted there. But then something else occurred to her--the Tribunal temple would probably want to see her gone still, despite her showing no inclination to fulfill the prophecies. She'd handed over Nerevar's bones, they might have linked her to the one who'd stolen the bones in the first place...b&e, theft, some sort of heresy charge, that'd put her away for a while. And that was if the ordinators didn't outright kill her.

Whatever goodwill she'd built with Vivec when she'd done that favor of getting the tattoo was surely burned away now...and Almalexia, she was another thing entirely.

She left Molag Mar, and thereon stopped using her name.

When she cleared the slavers' cave of Zebabi and freed the khajiit and argonians, they had asked her name. She'd thought for a moment, and said, "Nammu."

Finding out about Fyr's offer to pay for blood had come as a result of one of the argonians, Chalureel, who'd said the slavers had dragged him up to Fyr to give his blood. He was some rare type or the other, and seemed overwhelmed with the idea that the sum paid to the slavers would go to him now.

Sadara agreed to stay with them until they all figured out what they'd do with their newfound freedom. The presence of a Dunmer could handwave some things away, avoid some types of trouble...

The morning after she cleared the cave she asked Chalureel to go up to Tel Fyr with her.

"It's a city unto itself," he said, after giving a description of the route they'd need to take, "There's a lot of things there we could get ahold of, especially if your blood's a type they want."

Fyr was a reclusive sort, but those that worked for him obviously needed places to stay, and a tiny medical school of excellent reputation had popped up, and then there were all the services THEY needed--

The point being, there would be plenty of places to hawk what they didn't need of the slavers' things, and to buy what supplies they needed. She'd sold enough bandits' gear after coming to Morrowind to have a reasonably good discerning eye on the most common stuff. Daggers, leather armor, spell scrolls.

"Alright, so do we have enough water here? Not the salt kind," Sadara said, "How many bedrolls do we need to buy? You all deserve to sleep on more than just the ground like you've been doing."

A list was put together of the things they'd need, and while she and Chalureel were going to Tel Fyr, the rest would head to the shore to do some fishing and foraging.

"It rains fairly frequently here," Chalureel said, "So a rain barrel might be a good idea. The water in the cave...is not exactly clean, because of those slaughterfish the--slavers were keeping. We could boil it, but..."

"We can buy some bottled water at Tel Fyr and get a rain barrel, or something like it, and boil the water here if it's absolutely necessary. There's some cooking supplies here, so we've got a pot for it...we've got the list, so let's head out."

The blood donation didn't take all that long. It was mainly filling out the forms and negotiating for things other than money that took extra time.

In exchange for a reduced payment she managed to wrangle out getting a couple potions and to be taught Restore Health with the first donation of her own blood. Fireball she figured would be next - that would make the campfires a bit easier to start up. Then a frost spell, so they could have form up a crude refrigerator somewhere in the cave.

They were kept another hour and give some orange juice, and healed up just to be safe. Then they went shopping.

The rain barrel angle didn't pan out, but they got several jugs and bottles of water, as well as some dried fish, a couple kwama eggs, saltrice, and some shein. A box of rations from a surplus store. It felt like a wealth of food, what was in that box...

But the real treat came when she spent what she'd put aside for herself. It wasn't much, only twenty gold, but she got a new robe, the first bit of clothing she'd bought in ages that wasn't from a secondhand store.

And a green candle. There had been red ones. Smelling them had given a scent of cinnamon and memory of Jolene--Dagoth Ur, her mind corrected her. That look in the picture that had buoyed her for a little while, made her feel adored, what might have been the first stirrings of love, but which now--

Surely you understand it has always been Lord Nerevar that he wants?

The words reminding her that she was to stay in her place, that she was not to reach for anything better.

She put the red candle back and hurried along with Chalureel, whose own treat seemed to be four bags of cheese puffs. The remainder that they weren't saving went to a couple bottles of soda and some off-brand chocolate the others liked.

At last they headed back, and she thought that evening, on looking at what had been the slave pen and was now her room, that all things considered this was better than she'd had in a while, even if there wasn't any plumbing here.

It was a roof over her head, food in her stomach, and a safe place to sleep. That was all it used to take to keep her happy, and it would have to be enough now.

If she just kept believing it, maybe it would be true.

------------------------------------

When Jiub saw the golden-skinned mer approaching the Waffle House a week after the last sleeper, at first he wondered why an Altmer that clean was coming out here.

Then the door opened, and the new waiter dropped to his knees. "Saint Nerevar!"

"Rise," the mer, Nerevar apparently, replied, "I have--to speak to your cook."

"Of course, of course." The waiter moved in close and said, "Be on your best behavior."

"Right." Jiub shrugged, and the waiter headed off to clean the bathroom, or smoke, or something - he didn't really pay attention. Once the man was out of earshot he looked to Nerevar.

"Is Sadara not here? The Sleepers keep saying she doesn't work here any longer."

Jiub scoffed. "And their word wasn't good enough for you?"

"Where is she?"

"She doesn't live with me anymore, if that's what you mean. Do you want coffee? Eggs?"

"Where--where did she go?" Nerevar's voice was more insistent now.

"As if I'm going to tell you."

"Look--" Nerevar's tone went stern, in what Jiub supposed was his military-leader voice. "--you need to tell me where she is."

"Why should I do that?" Jiub turned, and kept one hand in his right front pocket, where he'd moved his box cutter to. "Huh? The volcano man not quite what you expected?"

"There has been a misunderstanding--"

"Misunderstanding!" Jiub laughed harshly. "Oh yes, Sadara didn't even come home afterwards, I'd say it was more than just a fucking--get out. Now."

"Who do you think you are?"

"The man who knows where she is. So I suggest you keep your hands to yourself. I fucked up your wife, I can fuck you up too."

"She's not my wife anymore, I don't--this isn't about her. I want to know where Sadara is, so I can bring her back to Red Mountain."

"What, to be mocked some more? Do you need a punching bag so you don't get bored?"

Nerevar glared in a way Jiub assumed was meant to intimidate him. It didn't work.

"That was never what was intended."

"Really, what was intended? Because whatever was said was bad enough she didn't even repeat it to me, and she tells me everything. Just said it was nothing we hadn't heard before." Jiub crossed his arms. "Why should I tell you fucking anything when you're the reason she's like this?"

"The person she talked to--did not--" Nerevar groaned, and buried his face in his hands before looking back up. "How do I convince you I don't mean her harm? I only want her to take the place that's rightfully hers now. I thought--we hadn't seen her, so we assumed she must not have been interested in being Lady Dagoth. Then one of the Sleepers let us know she DID show up, and we simply hadn't been told about it."

"Yeah, she delivered your bones," Jiub replied, "You'd think you'd be more grateful."

"I didn't KNOW! One of Voryn's brothers turned her away and--look, I just want to correct the situation. I want to make things right. Then you won't see me again."

"It's her seeing you I'm worried about. Why should I trust you, eh? Give me one good reason not to hurl your ass out like Jazz." Jiub thought for a few moments, then cracked his knuckles. "Tell you what...if you kick my ass well enough, I'll tell you where she is."

A pause.

"Are you game for it? Or are you a big golden chicken?"

-------------------------

The kagouti hunt was not going very well.

They had enough to eat, but Sadara had headed out into the blight storm since she was immune to the blight, saying it'd probably be a good idea to get some fresh meat anyway. The slaughterfish in Zebabi's water (Gish, oddly enough, seemed to think of them as children) were happy enough with scraps, but...leftovers surely weren't healthy for them

In reality she preferred not to while away her time in Zebabi. Even with the others around it was too quiet, and if things were too quiet she'd start thinking.

And if she started thinking, she'd just end up making herself miserable. No. Better to get outside and actually DO something, until she was tired enough she'd go right to sleep when she got back.

But the blight winds were thicker than usual--or at least, thicker than she was used to--and she found herself stumbling along the paths, groping along the rocky mountainside to keep a sense of which direction she was going in. She was almost afraid to pull out her phone. Suppose it blew away, in all this wind?

Sadara took another step, leaned harder when a gust of red ashy wind blew right in her face--and fell into darkness.

"FUCK!" she screamed, and thanked any gods who might be listening that she'd had the Fyr people teach her the Light spell last time she was up there.

It looked like she'd fallen into some kind of hallway...a long corridor, there were visible doors along it. She'd think it was a dwemer ruin if it wasn't for the tombish look about it, and the lack of brass accents.

She set her quiver down to mark the spot, and then headed down the hallway. The doors opened, and she saw ash pits, with offerings covered in dust. Clearly, no one had been here in ages and ages.

A ghost or two rose...but gave her only a look before meandering about the room.

Probably a really old Hlaalu tomb.

She'd been to one or two tombs and left small offerings, but had never actually seen the ghosts wandering around like people had reported. Here, though...they seemed to be everywhere here. Some of the older looking ones ignored her, while a young one or two followed her for a while. Most vanished when she looked at them directly.

Then she came to a larger room--and the ash pit here was much, much larger than any of the others she'd seen.

As with some of the others, a ghost rose from the ashes.

This one, rather than looking at her and then quickly away, fixed her with a keen gaze that didn't once break away.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Sadara," she said, "I'm sorry, I fell into the tomb from the outside. I don't mean any disrespect. ...though I assume you must all know that already, since no one's attacked me."

"You must have married into the house," the ghostly woman said. "There is no other explanation."

"This isn't a house Hlaalu tomb?"

A snort.

"Oblivion, no. This is a House Dagoth tomb."

Sadara immediately started to back out of the room. "Well, I guess...I guess I'm technically one of you, but the marriage...isn't going to last."

"Isn't going to last? When the one you married has been rude enough not to bring you here to introduce you to the family..."

"It wasn't the one I married, but one of his--brothers that told me." Sadara shrugged. "I married him drunk, his brother said it was a mistake, and with Nerevar there again--look, I'll get out of your hair."

"No, no, stay. Stay, tell me what happened. The man you married, was it one of Voryn's brothers?"

"It was Voryn himself, and one of his brothers to--why am I telling you? It's probably getting annulled soon, I won't be part of the House for much longer."

"You shouldn't let yourself be shoved out so easily. Any Lady Dagoth should be strong enough to form herself a place. Voryn's brothers have ever been overprotective of the family honor and nobility--they tried to push off Nerevar, and now they are trying to push off you. With the same tricks, I imagine. But just like Nerevar, you--"

Sadara turned and bolted out the door, back down the hallway, ignoring every attempt by the ghosts she passed to call her back.

Just like Nerevar.

All she wanted was to escape that name, to escape his shadow, but every attempt seemed to deepen the trap she was in.

How long do I have to live in his shadow?

-----------------------------

The blight storm hadn't let up in the least by the time she returned to the cave--and with her arm raised to protect her eyes she didn't nothing the ordinator standing just inside the cave. He stood straight and pointed his spear at her when she approached.

"Who are you?"

"S--Nammu, I live here!" Sadara corrected herself, "Don't tell me it's been seized!"

"Not seized. ...temporarily commandeered," the ordinator said, "Go inside...but there are more of us in there, and if you step out of line you'll be dealt with."

Great, she thought, just great. As if I needed more problems right now.

She went on inside, noting there weren't that many extra ordinators inside, or rather, not as many as she expected. Nuralg was the first to see her, and shook her head on being told the hunt hadn't gone well.

"This one could have told you it was a bad idea to hunt in blight winds. The only thing one can catch out there right now is a blight disease. Dinner will be ready in a bit...but there is someone occupying your room. You'll have to have a chat with her."

The her in question was entirely a surprise. No sooner did she open the little door (which was flanked by two more ordinators) than she laid eyes on--

"Queen Barenziah?"

"Sadara!"

Both were equally surprised to see one another. Sadara walked forward, trying to think of how to not explain the situation to her.

"What are you doing out here?" was the queen's first question.

"The job didn't pan out. What're you--this doesn't seem the kind of place you'd frequent." Sadara gave a faint smile.

"I was making a trip to Tel Fyr for an injection...I've got something called rheumatoid arthritis, and I would far rather have the doctors do it than trust the job to a maid or to my shaking hands. The blight storm grew stronger while we were trying to sail by, and...well, we took shelter here, not knowing anyone had already made it a home."

"It's not too bad here, provided you fluff your pillow up well enough. And have a good bedroll. Maybe it's a bit too quiet, that's my only complaint."

"Besides not having running water?" Barenziah laughed slightly. "It reminds me of the old days, but...I prefer not to go back unless necessary."

There was a pause, and for that silence Sadara thought that no more would be said.

But of course, she would later think, she could not be so lucky.

"Hunting cliffracers?" she asked, "I expected you could find another job waiting tables up in the north, with your experience."

"I wanted to get away from the region," Sadara replied quietly. She shrugged a moment later. "Lot of drama went on...Almalexia turned up, and there was...a time I got very drunk, and...it's all behind me now."

Barenziah fixed her with a Look.

"What?" she asked, "I think I actually prefer living here over that shithole I was living in. It's by the ocean, it rains more often, and..."

No response.

"I do pay attention to the online discourses, you know," the queen mother started again, "And I can put two and two together."

"I don't want to talk about it," Sadara replied quickly. "Please, let's just talk about something else."

Literally anything else. She simply wanted to keep her mind off the Situation. Eventually that ache would peter out and everything would be as it was before. Everything went down the drain anyway, eventually this would too.

"Answer a few questions, and then I will speak no more of it. I already know about this infamous marriage of yours, and I simply want to know--"

"Do I have a choice?" Sadara slumped slightly.

A few questions and then this'd be over. Barenziah would leave, and she'd get on making the best of this place.

"Did you get thrown out?"

"Not out of my apartment, no, I just didn't go back. There wasn't much to go back for."

"And Dagoth Ur?"

"I haven't seen him since the night the wedding happened. When I visited the--that palace he lives in, all I saw was his brother. If I hadn't left he'd have put me out."

"You poor thing," Barenziah's tone was sympathetic, "This is what I was trying to warn you about. These men will use you and cast you aside the moment you are no longer useful to them."

"I...I brought him Nerevar's bones. Thought we'd have to talk anyway. But...I guess he didn't want to talk..."

You have served the purpose I set out for you.

She gulped slightly. "Anyway...I suppose you'll be staying overnight. We can feed the lot of you, but it'll be a bit tight...not what you're used to, I'm sure."

"We've got some stores of our own to add, if you're inclined to make a stew. Or if you're not, I like my entourage to be well prepared." There was a pause. "I apologize for pressing, but...if you'd like the marriage annulled, I'm sure--"

"No, let him live with the stain." The venom in her tone surprised even Sadara, and she shook her head. "The only revenge I can have right now is that my name is still linked with House Dagoth. He has Nerevar now, and he'll want to marry him soon, which'll mean he'll want my signature on the divorce papers."

She'd seen how easy it could be to get a divorce in Morrowind. Thirty days apart--and they were fast closing in on that number--no matter how short a time it had been since the wedding--with papers signed, and that would be that.

It could be as if it had never been.

"Maybe I can get a bribe out of it. They want to call me a gold-digger, maybe I should just quit trying, and...and give them what they're--"

She took in a sharp breath.

Barenziah's open arms was all it took.

Sadara sank into them, sobbing, and wasn't aware of very much else for a long while afterward.

Just this time. I will let myself be sad just this time. But no one else will get to see it. No one else.

#fanfiction #morrowind #nerevarine #azura #fuck azura all my homies hate azura #jiub #nerevar #indoril nerevar #barenziah #tes #tesblr #elder scrolls

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unidentified-ending · 1 year ago

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Coming out to Aizawa

Aizawa x student ftm headcanons

Takes place during the dorms

Sorry guys, this kind of sounds like a oneshot

First headcanon post, hope yall like it

If you prefer directly talking:

If you directly come out to him after class has ended it'd be easier for him to speak to you

But if you wrote it down on a piece of paper or any nonverbal communication, he'd try and talk to you at the dorms, when just you too were there

When everyone left for the day, unhappy coz they got extra homework because Mina and Denki were messing around. after class you'd knock on his door

"If your going to ask for an extension on the extra homework, the answer is no" Aizawa said not looking to see who it was

"Uh-no it's not because of that" You say and Aizawa turns to you

"What is it then? I'm kind of busy" He says

"I just wanna talk to you but its fine now" you say, thinking your bothering him

"Kid, come talk to me if you want to, i dont mind" Aizawa says realising what he said was a bit harsh

You go into his classroom and he signals for you to close the door

When you close it, you go to sit in a chair. Fidgeting with your hands and sweating.

Aizawa notices your discomfort and says "You know, you can tell me anything. I would never judge you, I'm your teacher for a reason."

You felt reassured and muttered up the courage to say "I'm transgender"

He looks at you, slightly surprised but its only noticed by the slight widening of his eyes. "Oh okay, would you like me to use different pronouns and a new name?" He asks without questioning you

"If you wouldn't mind." You say, slightly nervous

"What would you like me to call you and what pronouns are you comfortable with?" He asks, looking at your nervous face for an answer.

"I would like to be called Y/n and could you use (insert pronouns) on me please" You say

"Sure Y/n, would you like your provisional license exam card to be changed?" He asked

"Yes please!" You exclaimed, happy that he was able to do that

"Alright Y/n, you should go back to the dorms, it's getting late"

"Thank you for this sir, see you later" You say

"Goodbye, Y/n"

As soon as you started to release he called you name and you turned to him

"If you ever need anything, I'm always here to help you" He says and you smile and thank him

If you prefer indirect taking:

It first started when you finally wanted to tel your homeroom teacher you were transgender but you didn't want to tell him upfront

You were too shy so you decided to leave a note on his table ,when he let his classroom at lunch, saying "I would like to tell you something" and you had no choice but to put your deadname on it

When he returned to his classroom you were gone, he read the note, not really surprised because lots of his students do that when they're to shy to tell him something

When he say it he write on a small piece of paper "what do you want to tell me" and then left it on your desk

When you saw the note you woite on the back, with great difficulty mustering up the courage to actually write it, "I'm trans" and left it on his desk when he wasn't there

The next day you saw another note on your desk, it read "Okay, thank you for telling me, if you would like your name and pronouns to be changed just write it down and leave it on my desk, ul get that sorted for you"

In the end, he does what he said he would and it all turns out well. The end

Hey guys, sorry for the kind of oneshot, hopefully you like it :D

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xclowniex · 6 months ago

Note

Every time people talk about how Israel isn’t losing as many people in wars, I want to groan so much that my throat gives up on me. Like, dude, why do you think that is? It’s not because Hamas doesn’t try. It’s the fucking Iron Dome, which takes a huge amount of money and portion of the budget to keep going. It’s because the buildings are specifically been designed with a shit ton of infrastructure that can survive missiles and rockets. It’s because there’s the bare fucking minimum in Israel of bomb shelters

You know that it’s actual regulation that almost every building needs to have some sort of shelter? They do this with flats too, my cousin and her boyfriend’s shelter is literally their bedroom because they NEED this and there wasn’t enough space to put it in other places. It used to be just shelters below buildings, but they’ve changed it to other rooms too because in the 90’s the chance of missiles which used toxic gas were becoming increasingly high (this is something my parents went through, once there was a missile attack, they were told it could be gas too so they couldn’t go to the shelter. What they had to do was stay in their homes and just put wet towels on ever window and door that had a gap in it. My parents were on the phone the entire time, they were both beyond terrified and my mum thought she was going to die)

And here’s the thing— Gaza could absolutely have that too! Gaza could have missile diverting technology, Gaza could have shelters, Gaza could have strong infrastructure that can survive bombings much better. But they don’t. And the reason— Hamas takes all of this aid supplied, billions of dollars, and either siphons it off for their leaders in Qatar to enjoy, or uses it to build their tunnels and buy more weapons. And it’s a fucking tragedy, when I think about it I start to feel sick and you should too. Because this is horrible, and Gazans deserve so much more than this. But they can’t have it, because their government (if you can even call the mess that is Hamas a government) has decided that their lives aren’t valuable enough

You can criticise Israel for its current assault on Gaza, absolutely. While the idea that the idf as a whole (not talking about individual soldiers, which is still horrific when it’s only a person and not a system, don’t get me wrong) is actively targeting civilians is ridiculously wrong, and leans into the ‘bloodthirsty Jew’ trope. What you can say is that while the idf provides warning, they still aren’t putting civilians high enough on their priority list. They’ll warn a family and help them get out if they’re about to bomb their house or near it, but they won’t not bomb it if the family refuses to evacuate. You can absolutely cut criticise that (just make sure you understand that, very upsettingly, this is a very common thing in war). But this— acting like Israel using aid to help its own civilians, and then implying that it’s its fault for somehow not doing the same for Gaza? This? Is fucking bullshit, and all you’re doing is showing that you care more about the perceived reality of the ‘evil oppressor Israelis who have never faced anything in their lives’ than you do about the truth and real people’s lives

(Also side note, why do they always point to Tel Aviv to be like ‘see! Israel isn’t affected by the war at all’?? Like, of course Tel Aviv isn’t going to be affected by rockets and missiles much. It’s well in the Iron Dome’s territory and very far from Gaza. If you want to see the devastation from this war for Israel you can go to Sderot, or any Bedouin village, or the Golan if you want to see what Hezbollah’s done. They just live in a fantasy world lol)

I 100% agree.

#israel #i/p #palestine #i/p war #gaza #ask clownie

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ingek73 · 3 months ago

Text

Interview

Michael Moore on how Harris-Walz can defeat Trump: ‘Do weird and cringe until the debate, then nail him’

Edward Helmore

Progressive film-maker says he’s more optimistic than he’s ever been since Trump announced first run eight years ago

Thu 15 Aug 2024 11.00 BST

With Joe Biden looking for re-election Democrats feared they were looking at an electoral catastrophe. Now, with Biden dropping out and Vice-President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, it suddenly feels like it is Donald Trump who is staring at possible defeat.

The liberal film-maker and Democratic whisperer Michael Moore says he’s more optimistic than he has ever been since Trump stepped on to the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his first run for the presidency eight years ago.

“This isn’t just a sugar-high or what [recovering] heroin addicts call a pink cloud,” Moore says. “It was so depressing for so many weeks and then it was instantly not depressing. I am hopeful now but it’s ours to blow – and we have a history of blowing it.”

Moore, 70, has in recent years become something of an electoral sage. He predicted Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, in part because of the sense of political-cultural superiority Democrats emanated and because he had noticed that the campaign was fearful of inspiring Maga supporters. He predicted, too, that Democrats would buck the trend and be fine in the 2022 midterms.

In this election cycle he is in some ways in line with the pollster Nate Silver, who recently said that “the strategy of the Harris campaign should be to triangulate the strategy of Hillary 2016, the Harris 2020 primary campaign, and Biden 2024, and do the exact opposite.”

But Moore says he understands why Democrats are nervous that the Harris-Walz ticket could come apart, though it shows no current signs of doing so, particularly if Harris gets tarred with Biden’s unpopular “Bidenomics” or responsibility for his full-throated support of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Biden, sadly, is going to be remembered for funding the war in Gaza and providing the armaments to Netanyahu, not arms for protecting Israel, but extra money to kill Palestinian civilians,” Moore says. He remains “saddened and surprised” that Biden, who had refused to meet Netanyahu last September, flew to Tel Aviv after the 7 October Hamas cross-border attack and hugged him.

“You can say what’s in a hug?” he says. “But ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce Neville Chamberlain to you. It doesn’t take much for history to see that in the moment you needed to display courage you did the opposite.”

But he’s cautiously optimistic that Harris is signaling a change of direction. She did not pick as expected the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, who had harshly called out student protesters against the war in Gaza and settled a former employee’s claim that she was sexually harassed by a senior aide.

Harris, he applauds, went against the conventional wisdom, upending the predictions of many TV pundits, and chose “this guy from the midwest, a football coach who had offered to be adviser to the gay student group. It’s pretty stunning.”

And while as vice-president Harris has no power to speak against Biden on Israel, Harris has made her feelings plain. She declined to sit in on Netanyahu’s address to Congress, which echoed Pope Urban II’s 1095 call for the first crusade, instead traveling to a Zeta Phi Beta sorority meeting in Indianapolis.

“Couldn’t they have made up something that sounded important with foreign policy attached to it? No, She’s busy at a sorority meeting … and she refused the traditional diplomatic “grip-and-grin” after meeting with Netanyahu. It was very public.”

The first days of the Harris-Walz ticket have shown precisely the change of direction that Moore has argued for. The ominous but complicated “threat to democracy” anti-Trump platform has been dropped for “threat to freedom”. Trump’s folk story confabulations resist fact-checking, so that’s been refined to a kind of medieval textual charm, “weird”.

Jibes over JD Vance’s “couch capers” and eyeliner discussions work in much the same way. What Harris-Walz are doing is much as Moore advocated when he offered the Clinton campaign “satirical support” to come up with lines that would get under Trump’s thin skin, especially in a televised debate.

“I think I’m going to see what I was hoping for for eight years,” he says. “Once anybody gets under that thin skin anything can happen. On live TV? Trump could explode, start talking like a 12-year-old, though no offense to 12-year-olds, or get up and leave.”

But didn’t Democrats bet on the Biden-Trump debate being a success? And the Trump prosecution in New York? The Republican candidate’s polling and fundraising went up after both.

“It’s a holding pattern until she gets on that stage with him. I understand why people are nervous it might be a sugar high but Harris and Walz are people of substance. They’re being slow and cautious enough to get it together. It’s just been a couple of weeks. They are going to have to tell us what they’re going to do and hopefully come up with the right thing. And there will be mistakes.”

As the Harris-Walz campaign “humanize” the ticket it is clear that the November election represents, on the Democratic side, a generational shift.

“I’m so happy to hear Gen Z and X are over half the vote because it’s called facts and data,” Moore says, pointing out that the number of boomers over 65 who have died since 2016 is exceeded by Gen Z and millennials who have become eligible to vote. “How many of them do you think are going around in hats saying Make America Great Again”? They’ve never known it to be “great”, let alone “again”.

“It’s not just a cultural shift – it’s a generational shift. The boomers may not be the No 1 voters in this election. And that’s why Gaza is so important. Young people hate war and they’re totally against Biden and his support of the war.” Harris, he says, needs to tap into “affordable housing, student debt, peace and the dying planet”.

His prescription? “Do weird and cringe until the debate and then nail him,” Moore said. “But nail him with irony, satire and a simple way to point out the beyond weird absolute idiocy and insanity of what these two men are talking about. Reach them on a commonsense level so it doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat or Republican.”

“Once anybody gets under that thin skin anything can happen. On live TV? Trump could explode, start talking like a 12-year-old, though no offense to 12-year-olds, or get up and leave.”

#michael moore #us elections #kamala harris #donald trump #democrats #republicans

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sheenashifts1217 · 1 month ago

Note

HELLO, HEY, HI, IT'S ME AND I AM BACK TO SHIFTING. I SAW YOU HAVE YOUR CHANNELED MESSAGES STILL OPEN AND I'D LOVE ONE RIGHT NOW!

Your name and pronouns

Ludovica Abate, she/her

Your DR person’s name and pronouns and who they are to you

Lucas Walker, he/him, friends to lovers! He is someone who followed me through many DR'S and someone who knows i am a shifter and has insights on me, that even i don't know about.

Name of your DR

Italy DR! It's a better CR DR / fame DR

Question for your person or whatever they want to tell you

Maybe what he knows about DR me and CR me (since i did script he has knowledge i don't even think i would ever tell him) and how that connects to my shifting journey.

💗

Hi gorgeous! And I did this for your Hogwarts DR since you DM’d me 🤗

What Lucas knows about you and how that connects to your journey…

Lucas has known you for a long time, he feels that your souls are connected. Therefore, it’s safe to say he knows a lot about you.

What he knows best about you is your mind and way of thinking. You are a strong, smart, resilient woman. You see the world around you and you wield it to your own. You have hopes and dreams. He loves that about you. You are an incredibly powerful person and he thinks you know that.

He feels that your issue is that you ignore that you are incredibly powerful so you jump from place to place hoping to find things to validate yourself and your beliefs instead of using your knowledge of yourself for your own validation. He knows that you can rely on external validation a lot. However, Lucas knows that you know that too.

He reminds you that your reality is a mindset. You are going to stay in your CR if you keep up your CR mindset. He tells you to stop, take a breath, and assess your situation. Take a breather. By this, he does not mean quit shifting or that you have to go on a year long shifting “break”.

He’s just telling you to give your mind a break. You exhausted your spirit by trying to force things on it. You’re trying to convince yourself of something you already know. Again, it’s that external validation. It’s essentially the same as you telling someone to pinch you because you’re dreaming and they pinch you and you feel it but you decided it wasn’t hard enough so you tell the to pinch you again and they keep doing it because even though you feel the pinch, you tel yourself it’s not real so they keep pinching you until you get a bruise. Lucas is telling you to trust. Instead of having someone pinch you to wake you from your dream, ask them if you’re dreaming and when they say no, believe them. Say okay, just accept it.

Remind yourself that you are in the now. What others have said in the past does not affect you because you are no longer in that reality. Take some time to yourself and breathe. Recharge your discernment and decide for yourself what you want.

You have everything you’ve ever needed and dreamed of, celebrate it. Lucas reminds you that you have him and your family in your DR.

What he’s really trying to push here is that your DR is your CR so stop thinking and acting like it’s not. It all exists and it’s all yours. You have to change those negative thinking patterns and let things pass. Find balance. You can take a hit without having to change your entire path. You may need to take a detour, but you can still get on the path again. Allow your discernment and intuition to flow fully. Just because something feels off, doesn’t mean you have to stop, maybe it just needs tweaked. Take time to understand why it feels off and what you can do to change it.

Your CR self and DR self are the same person, they’re you. Shifting is just growing. Your “Dr self” is just you with a healthier and better mindset.

Act like who you want to be. Accept the mistakes, feel them, and learn from them. Keep going. Shifting is normal. Lucas loves you for all you are, you should too.

It all comes down to you. When you feel lost or confused, remember to block out the external voices.

#mcu shifting #reality shifting #shiftblr #marvel shifting #master shifter #shifting blog #shifting motivation #law of assumption #shifter #shifting community #kaysshufflemancy #shufflemancy readings #marvel desired realities #desired reality #desired reality reading

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photogirl894 · 9 months ago

Text

"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 29

"All Too Easy"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: Back again, my lovelies! Another new chapter just in time before Bad Batch season 3 (y'all, I am NOT ready 😫😫)

However, I wish I could say this chapter will be all sunshine and rainbows...but I'd be lying 😅 Cuz you know, we're on Bracca...we all know what happens there. Also, I skipped over a couple parts of the episode for the sake of brevity and cuz I didn't wanna split it into two chapters 😝

Enjoy anyway!!

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @cole-kenxbi , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx , @idoubleswearimawriter , @techs-stitches , @fantasyproductions , @sverdgeir

《 Chapter 28

》 Chapter 30

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: While still on Bracca, things take an awful turn for the Bad Batch.

Kimber found herself somewhere in the middle of the Bracca shipyard, sitting on an edge and watching the sun setting in the distance. For the first time in a long time, she felt content; like everything was back to the way it was.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a sunset,” said a familiar, nasally voice.

She turned and smiled at Crosshair, who had just seated himself beside her. He was back in his Bad Batch armor, which made her smile even more.

“I’d imagine. The sun isn’t seen much on Kamino,” she said.

He didn’t say anything and just simply grinned.

“I’m glad we get to watch them together again,” Kimber told him, nudging him lightly with her shoulder.

His arm came up round her shoulders and he answered, “Me too, sunshine.”

Her smile grew even more as she laid her head on his shoulder. Hearing him call her “sunshine” again on top of him just being there made her happier than she could ever put into words. This was the way things were meant to be; the way they should always have been.

As the sun got lower, her eyes drifted down slightly and watched the line of the sunlight going down Crosshair’s body. However, as it descended, she noticed something was happening to him. As the sun line passed, his armor was shifting from red and gray to black...changing back into his Imperial armor.

Just as the realization hit her, Crosshair’s hand that had been resting on her shoulder suddenly moved up and grabbed her roughly by her face, pulling her up right next to his head.

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” he hissed in her ear.

“Crosshair--!” she gasped, but he silenced her by moving his hand up over her mouth.

“I’m not coming back for you,” he said with a growl. “You’re leading me straight to all of you, which is what I want. You will be Clone Force 99’s downfall.”

She struggled against his hand. “No!” she cried.

There was a rumble next to her ear as he chuckled, amused. “I’ll be seeing you soon…sister.”

Next thing Kimber knew, he shoved her off the edge and sent her falling towards the ground. As she hurtled towards the ship parts down below, she heard Hunter’s voice crying out for her, followed by the sound of a blaster shot and then Omega screaming for Hunter.

Kimber jolted awake with a gasp and it took her a moment to process that she was out of her nightmare and back inside her bunk in the Marauder. It had been a while since her last one.

The bed shifted slightly and Hunter came into her peripheral vision. “Kimber? Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?” he asked her, laying a hand on her arm.

It took her a moment to compose herself and then she nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he then inquired.

Any other time, Kimber would’ve relayed her dreams to him without question, but this was a different situation. Her nightmare had been about Crosshair and in order to explain why, she would have to tell him about the conversation she’d had with him prior…as well as all the messages she’d secretly sent to Crosshair for weeks. Despite not wanting to keep secrets from Hunter, she knew she had to keep this a secret for now. Hunter hadn’t been very receptive to talking about Crosshair for some time now, which was part of why Kimber had to cope with Crosshair’s absence in a different way. If Hunter found out what she’d done, it would not go over well. She just figured it’d be better to reveal everything once Crosshair came and she could explain everything. Hopefully once he and the others knew that Crosshair was going to get his chip removed, they’d be more receptive to him and then everything could go back to normal like they all wanted.

Instead, after taking a deep breath, she just responded to him, thinking it would be enough to deter him, “It’s nothing…I dreamt that I was drowning and being pulled underwater by the dianoga we faced earlier. It just…startled me.”

Hunter seemed convinced and just gently hugged her close to him. “It’s all right, sweetheart. I'm here, you’re safe. Nothing’s gonna hurt you.”

She snuggled up closer, nestling her head in his shoulder and taking in his warmth. “I know.”

Instead of leaving Bracca right away, the Bad Batch had decided they would stay the night and rest and then figure out their next plan the following day. They were all exhausted from the day’s events, so luckily they all rested well. Then the next day, Wrecker and Omega went out for a while because they’d found a thermal explosive and, realizing there could be lots of them throughout the shipyard, Wrecker wanted to teach Omega how to disable an explosive as a precaution and test her.

Hunter and Tech stayed behind at the cruiser while Kimber and Echo went out on their own, as well, to just kind of scout the area as well as seeing what else they could find.

“Keep your eyes out for any scrappers,” Echo warned Kimber as they walked through the shipyard.

“Got it,” she answered.

Though, as they kept going and searching, she kept her eyes on Echo. Something about him seemed off and she couldn’t exactly place why. Maybe he was just still recovering from the surgery and wasn’t quite feeling himself at the moment. Though, she still couldn’t help but wonder if it was something else.

“Hey…are you okay, Echo?” she inquired. “You seem a little…off this morning.”

He stopped and sighed loudly. “I’m fine. I just…I talked to Rex last night sometime before he left.”

“Oh? What did he say?” she asked.

Her best friend looked a little dejected as he responded, “He told me of his plan to find other Clones and get their chips out. Not only that, but he’s hoping to build up a network to resist against the Empire eventually. I just think we should’ve gone with him instead of staying here.”

She then understood his predicament and laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve always been unwaveringly loyal to Rex as well as your reg brothers. I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do.”

Turning to face her, he asked back, “Do you agree with me, Kim? Don’t you think we’re meant for more than this? There’s more we could do to fight against the Empire and helping Rex build up a resistance would be better suited for us.”

She gave it thought for a few seconds and replied, “If we were up against the Separatists, I would’ve agreed in a heartbeat…but this is the Empire we’re now facing, an enemy of a much grander scale than they ever were. Not to mention an enemy that’s hunting us specifically. It’s better for us to remain under the radar the way we are now.”

“But think of all the good we can do for the galaxy if we’d gone with him,” he countered.

“I know and I don’t disagree,” she said back. “Perhaps, one day, we will be able to join up with Rex and help him find more Clones, but it’s just not the right time for us at present. That doesn’t mean we still can’t help in our own way, but we have our own problems to figure out first.”

Still mildly dissatisfied, he turned away, diverting his gaze to the ground.

However, Kimber brought her hand to Echo’s cheek and gently guided his eyes back to look at her. “You’re not wrong for wanting to do more. I understand what you’re thinking, I do. The time for greater bravery will come. We just need to wait everything out until that time comes.”

“I’m just impatient,” he stated.

“I know you are,” she said, nudging him with her elbow.

“I don’t want us to have to keep working for Cid. It’s a waste of our time and skills,” he added. “You know she’s just using us to make money and doesn’t care about us at all.”

She rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I know. I don’t like working for that miserable, old dragon lady either. It’s not ideal, but we still have our debt to pay and it’s just what we have to do for now.” Then she muttered, “Though, I’m half-tempted to see if Kida has any family funds she can pull from to just cover our debt and we can get out of it.”

“I’m sure she’d do it,” he commented. “At this point, I’d try anything.”

However, Kimber shook her head and said back, “No, I won’t do that. We’re not that desperate yet.”

Then Echo groaned in exasperation. “You really had me going there.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” she said with a chuckle.

He bumped her with his shoulder teasingly, causing her to laugh a little more.

Just then, Echo’s comm chirped and they heard Hunter’s voice, saying, “Echo, Kimber, head on back to the cruiser. Get Wrecker and Omega, too.”

“Copy that,” Echo replied.

Putting her hands on her hips, Kimber declared, “Well, let’s go find the two troublemakers.”

The two of them ventured off and didn’t take them long to find Wrecker and Omega as they heard Wrecker loudly yelling, “Too late! Run for it!” in the distance.

“Something tells me Omega messed up on diffusing the explosive and he’s messing with her,” Kimber commented to Echo.

He snickered. “Good thing he thought to use a smoke bomb,” he responded.

They made their way over through the wreckage until they came to a hill, where down below they spotted Wrecker teasing Omega about being afraid of a smoke bomb instead of a real explosive. Echo called down to the both of them, telling them to pack it in because Hunter wanted them all back at the cruiser. Then both he and Kimber jumped down from the ledge they were on to meet up with the other two.

“How’d the test go?” Echo asked Omega, who looked frustrated.

To further confirm that she was, she looked away and grumbled, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Cheer up, kid. I failed my first disarming test, too,” Wrecker reassured her. “With my help, you’ll be a pro in no time.”

“I failed my first, too,” added Kimber. Then she smirked up at Wrecker and said, “I think Wrecker’s just a lousy teacher.”

“Ouch, that hurts,” replied Wrecker, feigning pain by putting a hand over his chest before punching her lightheartedly in the arm. “I’ll remember that the next time you want a swimming lesson.”

They all laughed and proceeded to all walk together back in the direction of the cruiser. However, as they were walking, they could see light reflecting off of something in a crevice nearby and realized it was a scrapper watching them. Echo and Kimber then spotted more than one hiding together, watching them.

Keeping casual, Echo muttered under his breath to warn the others, “We’ve got eyes on us.”

“Yeah, I see ‘em,” Wrecker replied quietly.

“How many?” Omega whispered.

“At least three,” Kimber answered.

“Stay casual,” Echo told them. Then turning slightly over his shoulder, he asked, “Wrecker, Kimber, you ready?”

Wrecker responded, “Waiting on you.”

“Ready when you both are,” answered Kimber.

They all threw on their helmets and took off running towards the scrappers, hoping to catch them off guard. It seemed to work because once the scrappers saw them coming, they panicked and started running back to their large, round speeder. Wrecker was quick with his blaster rifle and was able to stun two of the three, but the last one managed to dodge the stun blast and got the speeder ready to take off.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Wrecker cried out, grabbing the edge of the speeder to keep it from leaving. However, as he grabbed hold, the one scrapper started to speed away, taking Wrecker with them. “I've got this under control!” Wrecker called over his shoulder.

“Not good,” Kimber commented. Then she got on her helmet comm right away and said, “Hunter, Tech. We were spotted by scrappers.”

Then Omega chimed in, “Wrecker is in pursuit. He says he has it under control.”

“Kimber, get a visual,” Hunter ordered over the comm.

“I'm on it!” she answered.

Quickly, she looked around for a good vantage point. The scrapper was driving in circles around the area in an attempt to shake Wrecker off. There was a tall, makeshift hill made of ship parts just a couple yards away that would help her.

“Echo, cover me!” she cried out as she took off towards the hill.

Without question, Echo followed after her, keeping his eyes out for the scrapper’s speeder coming back around.

Kimber climbed up to the peak of the hill, getting her rifle ready as she reached the top and crouched down. She raised it up, peering through her scope as she looked for the scrapper.

“Kim, on your left!” she heard Echo call to her.

As he did, she saw the speeder come around a corner just as Wrecker let go and dropped to the ground into a roll. The scrapper zoomed by, passing just meters in front of her.

“I don't think so,” she said out loud as she took the stunning shot.

She hit her mark and the scrapper fell unconscious at the wheel, sending the speeder crashing into a wall and the driver was thrown from the speeder over a ledge.

As she stood up and rested her sniper rifle on her shoulder, Echo commented, “Nice shot.”

“I still got it,” she replied, giving a confident shrug of the shoulder as she started walking down to join him.

They jogged over to where Wrecker had landed and where Omega was now handing him his things he'd dropped in the pursuit.

Kimber asked him, “Are you okay, Wrecker?”

He took his blaster rifle from Omega and responded as he put it on his back, “I was just waiting to make my move.”

Chuckling, she replied, “Of course, you were.”

“Come on, let's grab the scrappers and then meet back with Hunter and Tech at the cruiser,” ordered Echo.

After gathering all the unconscious scrappers, the four of them went back to the cruiser just as it was beginning to get darker outside. Hunter told them he wanted to go through the ship and gather as many weapons from inside as they could in order to clear their debt with Cid. Tech also indicated he could gather intel from the ship's central system that could be worth selling, as well. Omega and Wrecker were indifferent to the situation, but Echo didn't fully agree with it, arguing that they were soldiers, not arms smugglers. Kimber understood both sides. Echo was still stuck in the past of being a dedicated soldier as well as wanting to fight more against the Empire, but they were in a difficult predicament with Cid and Hunter was doing his best to try and get them all out of it. They wouldn't, at least, be doing this for forever. Hunter didn't leave much more room for debate as he stated they had to take this opportunity while they could and retreated inside the ship. The others went after and Echo was the last, following reluctantly.

Everyone was going to the artillery bay while Tech was heading for the bridge to gather the intel as well as getting the power to the ship back online. Kimber decided to go with him in case he needed any help. The bridge was dark inside, save for some natural lighting coming from outside and the occasional sparks that fell from the ceiling. Once they got there, Tech began pushing a few buttons and switches on the central console.

“Will this banged up cruiser still have power left?” Kimber asked him.

“Most Venator cruisers have rather large power reserves that last a long time,” Tech informed her as he started doing some scans on his datapad. “Even if the ship is out of commission like this one, it's still possible to tap into the backup power.”

After his scans were done, he began trying his hand at the buttons again until finally, there was a hum that emanated from the console and spread through the bridge. The lights on the switches flashed on and the ones in the room flickered dimly.

He activated his helmet comm. “The power's back on,” he told the others.

“Yeah, we can see that,” Wrecker responded.

“Nicely done, Tech,” said Kimber. “Now the question is: is there still salvageable intel in the central system?”

“A question I intend to answer momentarily,” he stated as he got to his knees, laid down on his back and inched underneath the main console, getting out his welding pick.

While Tech got to work, Kimber glanced outside the viewport at the landscape full of crashed ships and wreckage of all sorts. The sky was beginning to get cloudy and dark as evening was falling. Her gaze wandered up to the sky for a moment, wondering when Crosshair would be arriving. After she’d told him where they were, he said it wouldn’t take him long to get there. It was a bit difficult to determine if she was excited to see him again or not. While she was glad to know he was coming back so they could all be together again, she had a feeling the meeting with the rest of the squad wasn’t going to go over all that well at first. Especially with Hunter. Despite that, she was certain they’d be able to get things worked out. After that, they’d get Crosshair’s chip out and then they’d be a complete family again.

After a short, contemplative moment, she shook her head and brought herself back to the situation at hand. She peeked down at Tech, who was still prodding away with his welding pick. “How’s it looking?” she asked him.

Coming out from under the console, he responded to her, “We’re in luck.” As he then plugged in a cord connected to the console into his datapad, he informed her, “Whoever scuttled this ship didn’t wipe the hardware’s data imprint. I’m transferring the files, but I still need to copy the master drive.”

“I can do it for you,” she offered.

Tech then withdrew a computer spike from his belt and told her the master drive was under a certain panel on the console. Kimber took the spike and was about ready to plug it in when a button on the console started flashing red.

“Tech, this button’s blinking. Isn’t this the proximity sensor?” she asked him. He’d taught her a couple things regarding ship controls, but it had been a while since they’d last discussed such topics, so she wasn’t entirely sure of what the button was off the top of her head.

He came out from his spot, stood up and walked up next to her. “You are correct. It signals when there’s an approaching vessel. It’s most likely a short circuit,” he answered dismissively.

Right then, they both heard the sounds of incoming ships…and to their surprise, three ships zoomed overhead of the cruiser.

Recognizing the types of ships they were, Kimber stated aloud, “Those are Imperial attack shuttles.” The Empire had found them! But how?

Immediately, Tech got on his comm and said, “Hunter, we’ve got company.”

Hunter’s voice came through, inquiring, “Is it more scrappers?”

“No…it’s the Empire,” Tech answered.

“You’d better get up here,” Kimber added over the comms.

“I’m on my way,” Hunter replied.

Tech quickly unplugged his datapad from the central console and started typing things out on it right away. Kimber went up to the console, got down onto a knee, withdrew her sniper rifle and set it on the console, using the long-range scope to keep an eye on the shuttles. How had the Empire discovered where they were? Had they gotten to Crosshair? Is that how they’d figured it out? She saw Imperial Clone troopers exiting the two shuttles on the sides and forming up in lines outside. The middle shuttle was the last to let its troopers out.

It didn’t take long for Hunter to get to the bridge. Just as he got there, he took out his binoculars and watched the last group of soldiers coming out of the shuttle. “That must be the command shuttle,” he pointed out.

Just as he said that, a group of soldiers in dark armor dismounted the shuttle with one soldier at the front without a helmet…and Kimber’s blood ran chill.

It was Crosshair.

Hunter sighed and then said, irritated, “It’s Crosshair, all right.”

Kimber couldn’t move or speak as she watched Crosshair through her scope. No…it couldn’t be. He was supposed to come alone; he was supposed to come back to them. Yet there he was with an entire battalion of soldiers to come after them. Then it all hit her at once what was going on.

Crosshair had used her.

He had lied to her and, in her desperation to have him back, she’d given him their location, thinking he’d been truthful about his intentions…which now, she realized she should’ve known better. He still had the chip in his head, so why would he suddenly show interest in returning to them? How could she have been so stupid?

“Oh no…what have I done?” she whispered, her rifle lowering.

Behind her, Tech relayed to Hunter, “He won’t be able to detect us. I’m blocking their scanners.”

“That won’t stop him…,” Kimber told him in a low voice. If she knew her old partner, this was not going to be an easy escape from him by any means.

She felt Hunter’s hand on her shoulder and when she looked up at him, he told her, “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this. Come on.”

As he turned and ran out with Tech, Kimber had a feeling he was mistaking her reaction for fear at seeing Crosshair there. This was not going to be good. Preparing herself for whatever was to come, she put her rifle back in its place on her back and followed after Hunter and Tech.

They found Echo, Omega and Wrecker already waiting for them outside of the corridor that led up to the bridge. Echo had a cart full of crates--most likely filled with weapons or artillery of some kind--and Wrecker had a proton torpedo resting on one shoulder and another crate slung over the other.

“How many troopers we talking about?” asked Echo as they all came together.

“Three attack shuttles’ worth,” Tech told him.

“We already got what we came for. Let’s get to the Marauder,” suggested Wrecker.

“Wrecker’s right. We need to move now and fast,” added Kimber.

Hunter stated that they needed a covert way out since Crosshair and the Imperial troops were already on board the cruiser. Echo suggested they alternate corridors as he predicted the Imperials would do a forward-to-aft sweep. With that plan in mind, they moved quickly yet quietly through the corridors. Tech was tapping into the enemy's comms to monitor their movements. At one point, they had to hide in one of the halls to avoid detection as troopers came marching through. Just as the soldiers left, Tech got through into the enemy's comms and they heard Crosshair's voice give his orders: to push the Bad Batch towards the hangar…which was where they were already headed. With that in mind, Hunter told them to cut through the artillery deck instead, hoping to get ahead of the Imperials.

As they went, Kimber could feel her anxiety building with every step. If they ended up crossing paths with Crosshair here, she was in huge trouble. He would definitely reveal how he figured out where they were. If they somehow managed to elude him, she could easily lie and say she didn't know how the Empire found them…but she knew it would kill her even more to lie and keep such a secret from her boys. Even more so from Hunter.

Soon, they got to the artillery deck; a long, wide room with several huge cannons aimed through the sides of the walls. Echo, Tech and Wrecker went and peeked over the edge to see the long drop down to the ground.

“Okay, I'm not going out that way,” Wrecker stated nervously.

“Hopefully, we won't have to,” Kimber assured him.

“There they are!”

Doors on all sides of the room burst open and suddenly, the Bad Batch found themselves surrounded by the Imperials. Wrecker, Echo and Tech ducked behind one of the cannons while Hunter drew his blaster and pushed Omega behind him. Kimber pulled out her rifle and positioned herself behind Omega, keeping the girl protected between her and Hunter.

Then a voice she hadn't heard in person for some time spoke up mockingly behind her: “Tapping our comms to track our movements? So predictable.”

“Blast! He really does know our every move,” Kimber thought to herself. Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder and sure enough, there was Crosshair, standing on the other side of the room with his rifle aimed at them and several Imperials standing behind him, all with their weapons drawn.

Wrecker scoffed aloud and peeked out from behind the cannon. “Nice to see you, too, Crosshair,” he retorted sarcastically.

Kimber gulped at seeing Crosshair. She had a bad feeling about this.

“Look at you all, scavenging like rats,” Crosshair taunted them, his attention on Hunter for the moment. “How pathetic.”

“Why come after us?” Hunter demanded.

“You're traitors,” Crosshair answered, giving the signal to the other soldiers to surround them.

“Crosshair, wake up!” Hunter pleaded. “You're being controlled by an inhibitor chip.”

Kimber’s grip on her rifle tightened. “Oh no….”

Then Omega stepped out and said, “He's telling the truth. The Kaminoans put chips in all the Clones.”

She was about to say more, but Crosshair interrupted her, “I know all about the chip already.”

“What? How? When?” Hunter asked.

There was a small moment of silence before Crosshair gave his answer. Three words that changed everything:

“Kimber told me.”

She flinched at hearing him say her name and she clenched her teeth together, having been dreading this moment. Then she could feel everyone's eyes on her. Then she turned fully around to face Crosshair, ignoring the fact that Hunter was staring at her and glad that she couldn't see the inevitable look of shock and disappointment underneath his helmet.

“What is he talking about, Kimber?” Hunter asked her, a slight tremor in his voice.

Before she could answer, Crosshair spoke up in a snide, condescending tone, “Oh…she didn't tell you, Hunter? She's been sending me secret transmissions for weeks, pleading for me to come back. I knew the moment I decided to answer her and play along, she would tell me anything in her desperation to get me to come back...and she gave me everything I needed. She led me straight to you.”

All the Clones’ eyes were back on her. However, Wrecker then cried in defense, “Kimber would never do such a thing!”

“If you don't believe me…ask her,” Crosshair jeered back.

“Kimber…please tell me he's lying,” Hunter implored her. “Please tell me you didn't do what he said.”

She turned away in shame for but a moment and then looked back at Crosshair, her anger boiling within her. “You used me,” she said, seething. “I thought you wanted to come back. You manipulated my feelings and you betrayed me!”

“You made it all too easy,” he said back dismissively.

“A mistake, I swear I won't be making again,” she vowed, raising her rifle up and aiming it at him.

Crosshair stepped forward. “I suggest you drop your weapon--”

Suddenly, the cannon next to them where Tech, Echo and Wrecker had been hiding behind activated and fired a shot, causing a kickback in the machine that slammed into Crosshair and his troops and knocked them off their feet. The rest of the room trembled from the shot, but the Bad Batch used that to their advantage. They all began firing at the remaining Imperials around them that were still standing. Some of the ceiling began to collapse and they had to jump out of the way of the falling debris. Once it seemed the way was clear, they all ran at Hunter's orders towards the doors on the other side. They were stopped in the doorway by a trooper who shot a jet of flame at them with their flamethrower, but Wrecker was quick to act and he launched his proton torpedo at them, knocking them back.

“Direct hit! Yeah!” he cheered before picking up his other case and running with the others.

“I've got a plan to get us out of here! Follow me!” cried Tech.

They didn't stop running until they reached a corridor that they were able to seal the doors behind them so the Empire's forces couldn't pursue them. For further insurance, both Tech and Hunter welded the edges of the door together.

Once they finished, Tech stated, “There. That should keep the Empire at bay for now.”

Kimber stepped up and stated, “Guys, I can explain.”

“I don't want to hear anything right now,” Hunter abruptly cut her off, simply walking past her.

Echo then asked, “Hunter, shouldn't we at least hear her out?”

Stopping and turning back, Hunter responded, “Nothing she says will matter if Crosshair or the Empire catches us, so let's get out of here.” Then without waiting, he continued onward.

The rest of the boys looked back at her for a second and then kept walking after Hunter.

Kimber stood there, watching them walk away and doing her best to fight back tears. She knew she'd messed up big time and now, her boys were angry at her. Hunter, more than the rest…which she'd predicted right away. They all were now paying the price for her mistake. Even if they all made it off of Bracca after this, it wasn't going to feel like a victory at all.

She felt a hand on her arm and she looked down to see Omega looking sadly up at her. “Don't feel bad, Kimber. I'm sure you had your reasons for doing what you did,” she tried to reassure her.

“I thought…I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was helping him…but he lied,” Kimber replied.

“He can't help it. It's not your fault,” Omega said.

“The boys won't see it that way,” said Kimber.

Omega took her hand and began pulling her along with her. “They'll come around. I'm sure they will.”

Unfortunately, Kimber did not agree with that sentiment, but she chose to say nothing as the two of them went after the rest of the squad.

They were led into the ion engine chamber of the Venator, where Tech stated it was their ultimate egress off the cruiser. They made their way deeper into the chamber all the way to the other side that led to the outdoors. However, as they came to the edge of the engines, a shot rang out that nearly hit Tech and Hunter had to catch him before he fell out. To their dismay, Crosshair had headed them off and had been waiting for them outside with another shuttle of Imperials. Hunter ordered everyone to double back, but as they did, they felt the whole engine starting to rumble. Hunter surmised that it sounded like the engines coming back online, but he didn't think that was possible. Although, Tech countered saying that it was possible since he'd restored the ship's main power core when he accessed the central system, so the engines could technically still be activated.

“Crosshair wouldn't do that…would he?” inquired Omega nervously.

“Honestly…I wouldn't put anything past him at this point,” Kimber grumbled.

The air around them began to swirl around and get ducked into the engine as the engine continued powering up. They wondered what they could do and couldn't come up with anything right away. Wrecker suggested Plan 7, but was quickly chided by Echo who reminded him that Plan 7 had nothing to do with their current situation whatsoever. Luckily, Hunter and Tech speedily devised a plan to use the explosives from the armory on the cone of the engine to break away before the engine engaged. They each took an explosive and placed them where they could around the ring of the engine. The quaking intensified, which meant that the engine was close to activating and they were running out of time. Wrecker took out the control to activate the explosives and everyone got down to the ground just as he pressed the button. The explosives all went off, severing the cone from the engine with multiple small explosions. Once that happened, the floor beneath them lurched along with them. The cone fell straight down and they had to run along the floor, which soon turned into a wall they had to climb and grab onto to keep from falling. Soon, the engine cone hit the ground and lurched again, causing most of them to fall. Wrecker caught Echo, but Hunter and Tech fell a few feet and landed on a ledge. Omega landed right onto Hunter and he tumbled over the edge, but quickly flipped back and grabbed the ledge with one hand while holding Omega against him with the other. Tech caught Kimber’s hand and halted her fall.

“Hang on, Kimber!” he called to her.

The cone began to lean again, prompting them to get back to their feet, but seconds later, it crashed and split down the middle. Kimber felt the ground beneath her jolt and she fell backwards as the half she fell into started rolling. Her body rolled and she was getting tossed about painfully, colliding with the ridges of the cone for a few moments until finally it stopped rolling. It took her a second to get her balance and regain her bearings. Once she got to her feet, she realized that Hunter and Omega were close by, but there was no sign of Echo, Wrecker or Tech.

Just as she was about to get on comms, Echo's voice came through in her helmet: “Hunter, Kimber, we landed on the port side. What's your status?”

Hunter looked over to see Kimber was with him before answering, “We're by the engine and we've got company.”

Just then, one of the shuttles flew overhead and shot down at them. Fortunately, it missed, but the shots came close to hitting them.

“Meet back at the Marauder,” Hunter ordered the others as he and Omega took off running.

Kimber followed them for a few yards until they ducked behind a large metal pillar to stop and catch their breath.

“Do you think we'll make it back all right?” asked Kimber.

“You'd better hope we do. You're the reason we're in this mess in the first place,” he spat back.

“Hunter, I'm sorry,” she said with despair, his stinging remark cutting deep.

“Let's hurry,” he said before running again, seemingly ignoring her apology.

The three of them ran as fast as they could, making their way through all the ship wreckage back in the direction of where they had parked the Marauder. All the while, they kept their eyes out for any Imperial shuttles in the sky.

They climbed their way up into the area where the ship was and were surprised to see a docked Imperial shuttle next to the Marauder and a few Imperial soldiers…all lying dead around the ship.

“What happened to them?” Omega whispered.

Hunter and Kimber stealthily moved forward to examine the closest dead soldier.

“Someone's here. This wasn't the scrapper's handiwork,” Hunter stated quietly.

Then another voice; a deeper, alien-like voice spoke nearby, “Wasn't much work.”

All three of them looked up to see someone leaning against the open doorway to their ship. A Duros; a blue-skinned, red-eyed alien with tubes attached to his neck, who was wearing brown leather armor and a wide-brimmed hat. Two blasters rested against his hips in their holsters. Whoever this guy was, he looked very dangerous. Very much like a bounty hunter.

“Omega, get behind us,” Kimber told the young girl.

The newcomer casually strode down the steps of the ship towards them, being followed by a small boxy Droid hovering on two boosters in its legs.

He said to them, mostly to Hunter, as he nonchalantly took out a toothpick and put it between his razor teeth, “I've taken down so many Clones over the years. Once you figure out one, the rest are easy.”

“You're in for a surprise,” Hunter challenged him.

“I doubt that,” the Duros responded.

Omega then observed aloud, “He's a bounty hunter.”

“Ain't you smart?” the now-confirmed bounty hunter said to her sarcastically. Then he said as an aside to his Droid, “The kid's got it all figured out.”

Kimber took a step forward. “Don't you dare speak to her.”

“Better watch yourself, missy,” the bounty hunter warned her, “or things are gonna get messy real fast.”

The little Droid then taunted them in a higher-pitched voice, “You're in trouble now.”

“Who hired you?” Hunter asked firmly.

“Son, that's confidential information,” the Duros simply replied back. “Now hand her over.”

He was looking at Omega.

“She's with us. She's not going anywhere,” Hunter told him, moving forward into a defensive position.

The bounty hunter also stepped forward, drumming his fingers on his blaster. “That's unfortunate…for you.”

Kimber watched Hunter carefully as he ever so slowly edged his hand just above his own blaster, never taking his eyes off the bounty hunter. The tension in the moment was almost physical; like she could feel it or even taste it. There was no telling how this was going to go, but she was confident in Hunter's abilities. He'd surely take care of this threat without issue. She sidestepped slightly to put herself in front of Omega.

Then everything happened so fast.

Both Hunter and the Duros whipped out their blasters and fired and suddenly, Hunter dropped to the ground, unmoving and with a smoking blaster hole in his chest.

His own shot had diverted and hit the Droid in the leg. The Duros quickly holstered his blaster without a second thought.

Kimber's heart ceased beating. This couldn't be happening. She wasn't seeing this; it wasn't real. Her Sergeant couldn't have been beaten like this. Flashes of a previous nightmare she'd had a long time ago of seeing Hunter shot in front of her and then her recent one of hearing his voice followed by a blaster shot filled her mind.

“Hunter!” she shrieked in terror.

In her anger, she went for her own blaster, but then she heard Omega cry out Hunter's name behind and suddenly, out of her peripherals, she could see the young girl running towards Hunter.

“Omega, no!” she shouted, moving and reaching out to grab her.

There was the sound of another blaster shot and searing pain shot up from just above Kimber's knee through her whole leg, causing her to fall to the ground with an agonized yelp. Omega halted, calling out for Kimber before looking back at the bounty hunter, terrified.

“Sorry, little lady,” he said to her, pointing his blaster at her and firing a stunning blast at the girl just as she drew her bow, making her drop unconscious.

“No…!” Kimber cried through a pained moan. She reached for her blaster, but as she grabbed it, the bounty hunter's Droid swooped in and knocked it from her hand.

The bounty hunter came over and towered over her, his almost glowing red eyes leering down at her menacingly. “I wouldn't do that if I were you, missy. If you know what's best for the kid…and unless you wanna end up like your Clone friend….” He then raised his boot and stepped down right on her leg where she'd been shot, pushing slowly down on her and eliciting a scream from her. Then he finished his threat with, “Then you'll stay down and not cause a scene.”

She clenched her teeth tight and tears spilled out the corners of her eyes as she fought the agony in her leg. Even if she wanted to risk fighting this bounty hunter to protect Omega, she knew there was no way she'd be able to even stand on her leg, let alone walk or fight. He'd wounded her badly and she knew, to her great dismay, that she was down for the count.

She watched in despair as the bounty hunter scooped up Omega’s limp form and slung her over his shoulder, calling for his Droid to follow. They got into the Imperial shuttle and before long, the ship lifted off the ground and took off. A yell of anguish, both from the pain of her wound and the pain of losing both Hunter and Omega, ripped itself from her throat. Her nightmare from the night before returned to her mind. She heard Crosshair’s voice telling her she would be Clone Force 99’s downfall…and for once, her nightmare had come true.

Because of her, everything had gone wrong.

Kimber had failed.

She crawled her way--albeit painfully--over to Hunter, tears falling down her face as she cried his name. He couldn’t be dead…he just couldn’t be. When she reached his unmoving body, she pressed her hand to his neck. To her immense relief, there was still a pulse. Hunter was alive.

Knowing that, she activated her helmet comm and spoke through grunts of pain, “Echo…Tech…Wrecker…help!”

“We hear you, Kimber. Where are you?” she heard Tech respond.

The wound in her leg was throbbing intensely and she moaned again, getting out what words she could, “Marauder…Hunter…and I…been shot. Hurry!”

Then she heard Echo reassure her, a hint of urgency in his voice, “Hold on, Kim. We’re coming!”

Kimber collapsed next to Hunter, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. “I’m…so sorry, my love,” she whispered, knowing he most likely couldn’t hear her. “I’m so sorry.”

He stirred slightly and she heard a light groan from under his helmet.

“Hunter?” she asked, inching closer to him.

Just then, she heard running footsteps approaching and heard Echo call out for them as he, Tech and Wrecker appeared in front of them. Echo knelt at her side and helped her sit up.

Picking up Omega’s bow that had gotten left behind, Wrecker demanded, “What happened? Where’s Omega?”

“Bounty…hunter,” she answered as she sat up, gritting her teeth from the burning in her leg. “He…shot us…and took her.”

“Hunter has been shot through the chest plate. We have to get him onboard,” Tech informed the others.

As Echo got Kimber to her feet, Wrecker yelled out, “Incoming!” and started firing behind them just as more soldiers came into view. Tech pulled Hunter up and pulled him into the ship while Echo scooped Kimber up into his arms and carried her inside. Once they all were onboard and the door was closed, Tech practically leapt into the pilot’s seat, powered up the ship and they sped away from the planet.

Wrecker removed Hunter’s helmet and his eyes were open. He clutched at his chest where he’d been shot and then inquired, “Where’s Omega?”

“A bounty hunter took her. Kimber told us,” Wrecker informed him.

To everyone’s surprise, Hunter whipped around and asked Kimber angrily, “You let him get away with her? Why didn't you protect her?”

Echo was guiding her down into one of the chairs and she replied in equal anger, “I was shot, too, Hunter! There was nothing I could do.”

Hunter’s eyes flashed wide for a second at hearing and seeing that Kimber had been hurt, but his own frustration at her and what she’d done was more powerful in the moment.

“That isn't very fair, Hunter,” Tech stated over his shoulder at him. “Crosshair was one thing, but I'm certain Kimber had nothing to do with the bounty hunter being there.”

“Though if Crosshair hadn’t shown up and chased us around everywhere, we could’ve been off planet before the bounty hunter even got there,” Hunter said back.

“Hunter, please!” Kimber pleaded.

He spun his chair around with a slight wince of pain and declared, “No! You put all of us in danger and because of you, Omega’s now gone!”

Echo stepped in between and exclaimed, aggravated, “That’s enough! We can discuss everything later, but right now, we need to tend to both your wounds and we need to get out here before the Empire catches up to us.”

Hunter said nothing and simply cast a look of disappointment at Kimber, a look just as sharp as his vibroblade that cut down deep. She didn’t know what hurt more at that moment, her leg or her heart. Her head fell back against the headrest of the chair and she sucked in air through her teeth.

If they managed to evade Crosshair and the Empire, the rest of this flight was not going to be enjoyable at all.

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #sergeant hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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nianeyna · 4 months ago

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I kept a bullet-pointed liveblog in a notes document as I played the new ffxiv expansion. now I have finally finished the story so I can share with the class without fear of someone responding to me with spoilers. speaking of which everything below is dawntrail spoilers, for the entire expansion, in case that wasn't clear.

⬇️ SPOILERS. FINAL FANTASY XIV DAWNTRAIL SPOILERS BELOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ⬇️

Dawntrail Liveblog

- ok so the mean claimants are obviously not going to win, but catboy promise is a dark horse. also not ruling out "nobody wins"

- Urqopacha is super cute

- CAMPFIRE SCENE!

- Erenville's deal continues to be very mysterious no matter how much he contrives to appear to be telling us about it

- lol Erenville dialog: "I spoke too much" YOU BARELY SAID ANYTHING BABE

- Kozama-uka is sooooo pretty

- I like how the entire first dungeon was totally unnecessary since we would have got there FASTER if we'd just stuck around and helped Alisaie and Erenville repair the boat lmao. but that's not how the WoL does things!!

- CAMPFIRE SCENE!

- erenville lurking in the background... siddown boy lmao

- unknown dude: hey you uh... forgot something. yeah back there. come with me and get it this is definitely not a trap

- oh no it was a trap! who could possibly have predicted this??

- awwww, Koana. wasn't sure about him at first but he's just a cute little muffin isn't he

- wuk lamat getting all excited about eating the xibruq pibil was so cute omg. she just likes food!!! I appreciate that in a woman

- oh shiiiiit wuk lamat origin story?! dun dun dun...

- aaaaaand solo duty... ulp

- haha get wrekt

- CAMPFIRE SCENE!

- the mamool ja should look into tourism... this place is pretty as hell

- ok koana shooting the tablet was a pretty cool move

- have my doubts about the golden city being in yak tel... like if it was there why'd they go to xak tural then

- ok, I guess it... was there? or... the *entrance* was there... according to gulool ja ja, anyway...

- road trip alone with erenville be still my heart!

- out of context erenville quotes: "this is your first time, so let's take it slow"

- no need to apologize erenville... you can drag me into anything you want

- oh wow this is really fucking sad. wow. I wasn't expecting that!

- the ridiculous train plan is cheering me up a bit thank god (editor's note: it didn't last)

- sigh... there always has to be at least one zone per expansion that's all dark and gross-looking. did they sign a contract to that effect or something??

- I can't believe how mean this plotline is to erenville

- this is fucked up... this is so fucked up

- npc: "sorry to darken the mood" NO THAT'S FINE I DON'T THINK THE MOOD CAN GET ANY WORSE!!

- I want to rip Spene's crown off and push her off a cliff. her little I'm so cute and innocent and helpless act makes me want to puke.

- CAMPFIRE SCENE!

- if any more parents die in this story I am really truly gonna lose it

- YES finally we get to fight these horrible people. machine army. whatever.

- I hope the next trial is sphene... I want to kick sphene's ass SO bad

- well there goes otis which brings the fucking dead parent toll to at least 4

- finallyyyyyy made it out of heritage found... *collapses onto the floor of tuliyollal like a shipwrecked sailor reaching land*

- (ok obviously I've technically been back to tuliyollal while I've been doing these godforsaken quests but THIS IS DIFFERENT!)

- we didn't fight sphene but the prospects are looking really good for me getting to punch her in the face soon. probably not literally like we got to do with zenos, but I guess you can't have everything :(

- wow sphene really BELIEVES she's just a helpless little girl. fucking incredible.

- next expansion let's have a final zone NOT populated entirely by ghosts. change it up a little

- so should I count namikka and cahciua's deaths twice on the parent death toll scoreboard or what

- you know what I still don't get. is why the yok huy went to xak tural to look for the golden city. *why did they think it was there*? I mean heritage found is there *now* but it definitely wasn't hundreds of years ago!

- that face on the tower looks more like meteion than sphene tbh

- two more dead parents!

- I can't. believe. sphene erased herself before I could beat her ass. this is the most unfair thing that has happened in this expansion, and it is up against some STRONG contenders

- it's just not satisfying to pummel a weird robot that has none of her memories!

- oh sphene's SORRY? *loudest fart noise ever*

- it's a good thing wuk lamat is here to be nice cause if I had to do it I'd throw up

- "their lives remain unchanged"? uh.... we shut off the afterlife. which was a real physical place you could go to. I feel like that changes things a bit!

- I DID IT I'M OUT CREDITS ROLLED UP I'M DONE THANK GOD

First half I rate: 9/10

Second half I rate: 3/10

Overall I rate this expansion: 5/10 I guess

Up until the lightning dome appeared I was having a blast. after that the gameplay experience became one of gritting my teeth so I could get out and be done with it. all the alexandrian zones are dark and unpleasant to be in, which would have been bearable except the plot was literally nightmarish and any new characters I didn't hate either died or were already dead (except gulool ja, who's cute of course, but his story was still pretty upsetting in a different way). This is not to say the writing was bad, because I don't think it was. In the alternate universe where I was LOOKING for a tragic existential horror game I might have even really liked it. However I really really wasn't looking for that at all, so in the real world I feel pretty betrayed and upset. There's a line between "plot twist" and "false advertising" and I think they left it behind in the dust.

But hell, at least we got 4 campfire scenes.

#ffxiv #dawntrail #spoilers #dawntrail spoilers #ffxiv spoilers

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lgchyoseop · 7 months ago

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scales and flowers

hyoseop had been surprised when he was told he was the younger out of the pair, and that he needed to pick their date spot. he’d been used to being older than many as a trainee, he would argue it wasn’t because he was old, but because these trainees and idols kept getting younger and younger. he’d originally chosen another spot, but as he talked with his sister and talked about the idea, she took the idea and left him to find another spot to have his date. he wanted to look good in front of his date, hence he’d chosen ‘cafe jool’, a place they could get something to drink, and paint a piece of pottery, which meant, hyoseop would get to show off his painting skill.

who his date was though, he had no idea. he’d been given an item as a hint who it was, a ‘justice scale’ had been shown to him, he’d stared at it for a long while before asking if he was going on a date with one of legacy’s lawyers. safe to say, he had no idea who his date was. still, he’d dressed up for the occasion, dropped his usual look that consisted of sandals, white tight shirt and sweatpants. changed it out with denim pants, converse and a shirt with flowers on it. he stood with a rose in his hand, waiting for his date (whoever they were) to show up.

<3 @lgcyein

#chachacha hyoseop thread #lgchyoseop #lgcyein.#lgcyein #written ( scales and flowers )#partner ( yein )#lgc:datelottery #( just tel me if i should change something ! )

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thewatercolours · 4 months ago

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King's Quest Fic: "Priorities," Chapter 3

Lady Piernoir,

I have done some thinking about the conversation we had at the Lily and Throne last week. I told you I would write to you once I had made up my mind about whether serving Count Carolus was for me. Well, I have decided. It was kind of you to offer me a place in your household, but I think I can do better here in the Count’s castle.

I would like to take the chance to remind you that I have a sister who is looking for work, and that if you ever have an opening for her, I’d be glad for you to write to me. So I can get in touch with her. You can pass the note on to me through the guards at the gate – they’ll make sure I get it.

Grimm

Dear Amaya,

I’m just praying that they’re right and milk works just as well as invisible ink as lemon juice does, because I sure couldn’t get my hands on any lemons. But if you’re reading this, I guess it worked well enough.

I know we’re trying to keep letters to a minimum, but there’s new information you have to know about before any more time goes by. I have to keep this short, so I’ll stick to the most important things:

Whisper and Acorn are definitely here . I rub shoulders with Whisper just about every day, and I tracked down Acorn too. They’ve been made servants too – or slaves, really. Amaya, the Count doesn’t seem to have any magic himself, but he’s got a collection of these horrible rings that make the servants and guards’ minds warp. When you’re wearing one, it starts changing you slowly, making you feel loyal to the Count.

And there’s no way to take them off without the key. I know, because he fitted me out with one too. I have tried everything to get it off – sliding it off with butter or axel grease, filing at it, smashing it against the stone wall. I thought if I could just get it off, there might be a way to fake I was still wearing it, at least to anyone not looking closely. But nothing works. It might as well be a diamond for all the good filing does to it, and it won’t budge no matter what I do with my finger.

But I’ve got to get it off. That thing started working instantly the moment I got it locked on. I don’t know how to explain this, but the whole time I’m writing this, I feel just so. Guilty. Not like I’m nervous to get caught. More like I’m doing something ungrateful, or even downright wrong, telling you the Count makes us slaves or that I want to take the ring off. I feel like going to him and making a clean breast of it all. Of course I won’t. I can reason it through, and I know what’s actually happening to me. But I’m worried about whether I’ll be able to do that long term, just based on what I see in Acorn.

He's much further gone than Whisper, even though I guess they were brought here at the same time. They’ve got him working down in the armoury (one place in the castle you’d probably like, if the situation were different.) I’ve managed to meet with him twice. The first time he recognized me, and Amaya, he was furious with me for coming there, even when I told him it was a rescue mission. He kept talking about how the Count depended on him, and he couldn’t up and leave, and he wasn’t going to stand for bad talk about him. He seemed to realize the ring was affecting him, but he said the magic in the rings only magnifies what you already believe, and he believes in the Count. I couldn’t get through to him, and I was worried to push too far. I was afraid he might turn me in. The second time I was sent down there with a message, he had a hard time knowing who I was. Like I was familiar, but it was hazy. I am still trying to decide if I should try to remind him who I am, or if I can do him more good by just being another servant who’s noticed some disturbing things.

Whisper’s all right, I hope. Further along than me, but when we were alone it seemed like a big relief to him that I was there. He wanted to know if I was going to get them out. Of course I told him I would. He’s trying to put a brave face on it, but I can tell that “loyal” voice in his mind is louder than mine is. He wants to get out, but he also wants to obey. But he’s hanging on for now. Funny that Whisper should be doing that better than Acorn could.

I have no idea what timeline my own mind is on. I need to check in with you somehow, so that if things start getting bad, you can intervene. Maybe it’s good you weren’t able to visit Lady Carolus because she was giving birth that day – this gives you a fresh chance to try and call on her and try to strike up a friendship. Which I will need you to do if you ever suspect I’m losing myself. I can’t write you check-in letters. That would be too suspicious. We need to save these for the really important news. So, I don’t remember – can you see the tallest tower from the Lily and Crown? I’m a family servant, so I’m housed up there. Maybe the whole signalling with a lantern thing is overdone, and suspicious, but I think it’s the best we’ve got. Every three nights, around midnight, I’ll put a lantern right in the window, just for a minute, and then take it away. If you see it, you’ll know I think I can keep going. If I miss it twice, please find an excuse to come here if you can. Make Whisper and Acorn the priority if it comes down to it.

(I hope I forget about this signalling thing if my mind goes too far. It would be awful if I remembered and tried to use it against you. But what else can we do?)

There’s barely any room left on either side of the paper, so let’s leave it at this: I have a few plans to try to get our friends out. I won’t write them here for now, but things are underway. If it’s safe to, please keep Number One up to date with everything going on here in Arkney.

I’d tell you to be strong, Amaya, but that would be ridiculous coming from me to you. So – all the best.

#I shouldn't be writing this I shouldn't be writing this I said the last instalment was the last and what about Path of Kingship #but it's written now. Augh #king's quest #king graham #fanfiction #my writing #priorities

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dirtybitfic · 11 months ago

Text

TRIP-pt.2

Shower, getting ready, flirting, talking about being turned on

You and Chris were just finishing up your food and drinks when you heard a knock on the door.

You got up to answer .

You opened the door to see Mrs. James she smiled at you as you smiled back.

“Hi y/n I was just making the rounds to check on everyone and make sure y’all were settling in well.”

“Oh yes thank you Mrs. James were doing great just ate and ate about to get ready to go to the bonfire” you said smiling at her.

“Oooh sounds fun we’ll y’all have fun and be safe . Me and Mr. Bendoza will be staying the night at a different resort for a couple nights since the room we had booked had some issues and they are fully booked but I have you guys numbers so if you get a call from a random number please answer since it will be me and I will be checking up on you guys”

“Okay sounds good thank you ! Have a good night Mrs James” you said as she waved at Chris behind you and went on her way.

“Shit we got a whole room to ourselves for two weeks on the opposite side of everyone else and no teachers to bother us for a couple of days… you know what that meannns” you look at Chris concerned for what he was about to say.

“ We can literally do whatever we want whenever we want for however long we want” he said as he smirked at you.

You blushed a little bit not knowing exactly if your picking up what he’s putting down.

“And what you do you mean by that Christopher “ you asked a little nervous for his answer. All your mind was thinking is dirty things.

“Oh you know we can get up to some mischief. Run around early hours of the morning . Drink as much as we want and go anywhere the resort takes us” he says smirking more seeing the blush on your face.

“Oh yeah no for sure to be honest I did not know where you were going with that “ you laughing nervously.

“Well anyways we should pick out our outfits for tonight. I could you use your help . Since you’re so good at finding good fits.” He says smiling at you.

“ I’m not that good sometime I hate my outfits and think I look like shit and when people tell me they like them I never agree “ you said.

“Oh nah you always look good trust me “ he said as we walked to the closet to unpack his bag .

You blushed at the compliment not knowing if he meant it the way you took it.

You went to the closet to find something to wear which won’t be to hard since you over packed way to many options.

“Should I do a dress , matching set or pants and a top” you asked Chris .

“How about you try on the options for me and I’ll tell you which one looks the best” Chris says smiling down at you.

“Okay I’ll change in the bathroom and I’ll come out and show you” you said grabbing all your options and walked to the bathroom.

“Okay option 1 what do you think” you said walking out to show him.

“Dayum okay this one is gooood” he said smiling wide at you as he looks all around your body.

You laugh a little bit blushing from the way he’s looking over you intensely. You go back to the bathroom to put in the second option.

“Okayyy option 2 “you walked out and looked up at him .

“ OH YEAH this is the one no more option this one “ he said as he stared at you smiling .

“Okay well glad you like it . I’m gonna shower real quick if that’s okay and then I’ll throw up some makeup then help you with your outfit okay?” You said to Chris.

“Yeah sounds good just don’t lock the door cause I have a feeling that drinks gonna hit me in a little and ima need to pee” he says laughing .

Okay I’ll leave it unlocked just knock before just incase I’m still in the shower and the whole walk is glass so don’t wanna be accidentally giving you a peep show” you said laughing.

He blushed a little bit and shifted in tel bed as he laughing a little with you.

You went into the bathroom and started the shower . Not gonna lie you didn’t really need to shower but you wanted to just because of how fucking cool the shower was.

Like come on who wouldn’t want to shower in here there’s rain showers coming down on you no matter where you stand . You look of all your clothes and hopped in jumping a little and screaming from how hot you had the water . You heard Chris knock loudly on the door.

“Y/n you good I heard you scream” he said sounding a bit worried.

“Oh yeah sorry I didn’t realize how hot I had the water just hurt a little when I got in” you said laughing .

“Okay good I got scared you fell or something” you heard him sigh out of relief.

“I’m good thank you for checking though “ you said.

“Yeah of course “ he said and you heard him walk away. You said notice before you got in that there were speakers on the shower walls and that you could Bluetooth your phone to them to play music. You hit shuffle on the wall console and music started playing . It echoed through the shower making you hear it from all angles.

You started singing along and you washed your body and hair. And letting the water fall over your body relaxing you.

You heard a knock on the door and yelled out what.

“Hey I really gotta pee I swear I’ll look anywhere else but the shower “ he said kinda frantically.

“Okay come in just turn away from the right walk as you walk in and we’ll be good “

Okay thank you he says as the door opens and you see him covering his eyes as he fully turns to the left wall and walks side ways to the toilet that was behind a little side wall to create a little privacy.

“ I don’t know you listened to nardo” Chris says as he finishes up and awls side ways to the sink trying his very best to not look at you even though he’s very tempted.

“Oh yeah I like some of his stuff since you play it a lot in the car you put me onto him “ you said .

Chris’s pov-

god how could a girl be so gorgeous , sweet, kind, funny , and have good music taste. I thought to myself as she answered my question.

I heard the water turn off and heard her feet hit the bathroom tile while she probably was grabbing a towel off the shelf.

“Okay you can look at me now I have a towel on” she says.

I looked up at her and smiled . “That was very stressful making sure I didn’t look over especially as we were talking “ I said laughing a little .

She giggled so softly god it was music to my ear to hear her giggles. They were always go soft like a nice ocean breeze when it hits your skin .

“You gotta see how cool the shower is though !look” she says as she turns it back on.

“Damn that’s the fanciest shower I’ve ever seen” I said.

“I know right “ she smile at me as she turns it off.

“Okay I gotta change sooooo” she says.

“Oh yeah my bad I’ll be in the room if you need me “ I said walking out closing the door behind me.

God . Seeing her in that towel with water droplets on her skin and her hair wet got me hard . She has no idea the effect she has on me .

From the first time I met her I was so enamored by her beauty and after getting to know her I love her personality even more . She just . Well perfect .

If I get drunk enough tonight the truth just might slip out and I don’t know if that would be good or bad but I guess we will find out.

Y/n pov-

I just finishing drying off and getting my outfit on . I decided to just let my hair dry in its natural wave pattern since I didn’t wanna blow dry it and started butting on some light glowy makeup.

Then I was done.

I walked out and met eyes with Chris.

“Fuck . You look gorgeous y/n “ he said looking you up and down.

You blushed hard core and looked down smiling to yourself “thank you Chris” I said .

He got up walked over to me putting his hand under my jaw to me look up at him. I looked up at him and blushed even more from the eye contact he was maintaining.

“Anytime gorgeous” he said as he caressed my jaw softly . Then let go to walk to the closet .

“Okay help me pick out what to wear please I’ve tried but I just can’t figure out what looks good together” he said sifting through his clothes.

“Ooh do this shirt with these plants you’ll look so good “ you said as you handed them to him.

“Thank you “ he said as he set them on the bed and started taking off his shirt. You couldn’t help but stare. The way his back muscles moved as he took his shirt off and the way big broad shoulders looked . God your mouth was begging to dry up as all the wetness in your body moved down wards between your legs as you imagined how much better it would look with scratches from your nails down it.

You hadn’t realized he turned around to show you his final outfit since you were so deep in your thoughts .

“ helloooo earth to y/n” he said waving a hand in your face laughing.

“Oh… fuck sorry what” you said looking up at him. He looked down at you smirking.

“I was just asking if you liked the fit ma” he said as he ran his hand through your hair that was getting in your face.

Your breathe hitched at the way he called you ma and the way he moved your hair out of your face.

“Oh y-yeah it looks really good” you said feeling your cheeks heat up.

He moved his hand to your neck softly caressing the side with his thumb.

“ God your so beautiful y/n” Chris said .

PART THREE COMING SOOOOOON. 💋

#chris sturniolo #fanfiction #spotify

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