#Alrighty now I’m gonna go work on some writing stuff and comms!

[mossy-paws]

Lightblox (PHIGHTING!)

“And I’m floating in a most peculiar way, And the stars look very different today.”

alt versions:

[reimahowaido]

Alternate story roads for Dread, anyone~?

Alrighty, working on my writings again now that I've managed to get to credits on PLA But to dabble right back onto the writing fandom: let's have some speculative Fun 'what if's for Metroid

This is gonna be LONG (over 3k words long for this whole post). You know me~ So, get yourself a drink and get comfy I guess? I'll try to split it into sections of some sort

The main subreddit (oh boy I should make an account there shouldn't I. .... mmm eh, someday) has apparently called off the need to spoiler stuff, but imma still include that warning here, because boy will I spoil stuff for this.

So, SPOILERS for Metroid Dread ahead!

Ok! So. Alternative things are always fun. I'm basing this on some old bit of 'oh lord oh boy' stuff I scribbled up some months ago. But here's some cleaner takes on it

- For a moment, imagine if Quiet Robe didn't have to die where he did. That he lived past that point, and played a bit bigger of a role overall other than being a fantastic man and giving us enlightening lore bits. Or, well, at least think of him as living through the robot encounter - Samus has good enough reflexes, notices the suspicious Robot Chozo and grabs Quiet Robe so he doesn't get shot - this way we still get to fight the robot, but QR is spared

- A little slight bit less pissed of Samus and a living QR is our result of this. QR would have known that speaking about things would put him on the bad side of Raven Beak pretty automatically, so destroying one of his 'precious soldier replacements' doesn't change his position, since it's already on the negatives

- We love our good boy. Of course we'd like to see him live! And wouldn't it be fun if instead of "ADAM" talking to you through the comms, it'd be Quiet Robe instead? He'd certainly have some insight on stuff. Perhaps he'd even be able to inform Samus about Elun. Of course, you'd still need to go retrieve Plasma Beam to progress - unless QR would have some tech that'd help you with that, meaning you don't need to actually go to Elun (which would be the absolute best case scenario, I'll get to that and the Why This Is The Case a bit later)

~~~ 2 ~~~

- So, throughout the rest of your journey you'd be chatting up with QR. Of course, this is kinda where things have other possibilities. Raven Beak will of course still want QR dead, now more than ever since he's actually actively ruining his plans and getting on his way. No longer a passive onlooker, this would prove very troubling indeed. Both QR & RB are smart, and who knows how long they've spent on ZDR with just the two of them. RB would be able to come up with more plans, ways and methods to try and still get Samus' DNA, to guide her according to His plans. But QR has known of this plan for a good while too, he's helped to put it to motion afterall

- So, it's likely that to RB's irritation, QR could further agitate him by being able to predict and read what RB has and is planning and would be able to guide Samus past anything RB tries to set up - or at least warn her about them up front. Certainly it'd lessen the fun of discovering mysteries and all that, so they'd have to go about it in some ways to still keep things fun for the player if this turn of events was the case in gameplay. One of my personal headcanons is that QR hasn't been allowed to explore the planet on his own. He only has certain paths he's allowed to take and specific areas he can work at = he wouldn't know of every corner and location of things. He'd have heard of stuff from other Mawkin when they were still alive and about, but these tales and stories of other areas like Ghavoran and Cataris are pretty much purely based on what he's heard and been told. And of course he'd tell Samus what he can

- QR really has nothing to hide from Samus - other than maybe her relation to RB if he knows of the DNA donation. Who knows how Samus would react to getting to know that afterall. She might and will still be pissed about what happened on SR388, so she'd want to beat RB up. But she's just a slight bit less pissed because QR is alive. Still very uncool from RB to try and assassinate QR, but at least in this alternate take that attempt failed

~~~ 3 ~~~

- To jump back to some gameplay stuff. They sure did put a lot of emphasis on the E.M.M.I. units in preparation for Dread's release. So it'd be a bit of a shame and a cop-out for them to just be out of order from now on. A twist for sure, that they'd only be a small faction of the game and then not even be relevant after the halfway point. But what's the fun in that?

- Which means we'll have to bring them back somehow, right? What I propose, is the funky fun stuff of 'QR is pretty much in charge of the E.M.M.I. anyway, so who's to say he couldn't be able to control them in other ways than just switching them on and off'. Yeah they're set to hunt down Samus, but we don't see wildlife/other creatures in E.M.M.I. zones until you've blown up the E.M.M.I. = There's a good chance the E.M.M.I. will still annihilate any and all beings that make noise and move about. Which leads me to this: RB would be short on ways to interact with Samus since QR is doing his darnest to prevent it. What does RB have though? He has the robots, and we know he sends several of them after Samus throughout Dread. Those of you who hate fighting them, rejoice, because now there's a fudge ton more of them! Yaaaay! Absolutely amazing. Perhaps there's even more variants of them now since they've just gotten a promotion. Ones that look, act and are built closer to the infected Chozo Soldiers you fight after Elun, hmm?

- Ok ok. So. Now there's More Robot Chozo Soldiers. Brilliant. The increase in activity outside of just Samus ought to be noticeable by QR, and he'll have to have a bit of a chat with Samus. Of course the E.M.M.I. are still not friends of her, but within their zones (if not even outside of them?) QR could reactivate them to deal with the Robots. This now means that while you could get ambushed by a Robot outside of the zones (some are likely weaker than the miniboss variants, just there to be an additional enemy that simply doesn't respawn just like the other critters), you'd not be ambushed by them within the E.M.M.I. zones. E.M.M.I. zones are still dangerous because of, well, the E.M.M.I., but this time they're the more 'safe' zones so to speak. Dunno if there'd be jumpscares with the robots, or semi-scripted encounters, just More - but I'm sure people who get scared easily would just, celebrate jumpscares. Enjoy~

- Also who is to say a Robot Chozo Soldier wouldn't rarely be able to get in the E.M.M.I. zone at the exact same time as Samus does. Maybe once or twice. So have fun running away from both or trying to fight a robot while you're also running away from an E.M.M.I.. There's no guarantee that QR can turn off every single E.M.M.I. just as quickly as he does with the Purple one in Ferenia - aka literally next door to where he himself & the control panels for them are located. There could be a delay, so you'd not get help if an E.M.M.I. catches you (or maybe you get more time to counter than previously, but you still need to hit the timing. Pick whichever option you prefer, aid or no aid)

- Another fun thing with the E.M.M.I. that we need to consider is the fact Samus gets abilities from them. QR probably can't just give them to Samus, he wouldn't have the time to work on her suit along with how ever long it might take to gather things for the abilities - I'd assume resources are scarce. So you'd be faced with the choice of destroying the E.M.M.I. for their abilities, or leave them be so you’d have some place where you couldn’t be randomly ambushed (you can hear when an E.M.M.I. is in the same room). You'd have 'less safety' in a way, meaning you'd face the robots more often and perhaps new stronger types of them too - but you'd have new abilities to deal with them + you can take shortcuts now with these new abilities, so progress is faster and there's more options on where to go now. Amount of exploration on a balance board. Either just find hidden ways to progress in or go a more straightforward way while also gaining more new areas to explore. Dunno if destroying all E.M.M.I. would be required in the end, or if you'd be able to make it without doing that. Adds to replayability potentially

~~~ 4 ~~~

- Now then, back to QR. There's probably one pretty glaring thing you might have thought of by now. He survived an assassination, but where is he now? Still the same room? Is he safe? He might be attacked at any moment so probably not that safe. It'd certainly be something to have QR travel with Samus, but I'd imagine the amazingly fast-paced gameplay would suffer from escort missions. I love QR a lot, but it's pretty much a given that he's not going to be as nimble or agile as Samus. I can't. Imagine old man QR. Just. Doing flips after Samus. His bones. The precious boy is going to break his back, and legs, and every other bone. Nope. Samus would have to carry him I'd say, to get from a safe room to another. Restricts your movement, but at least you aren't waiting on him to catch up

- Still, I'd imagine it'd be more realistic for QR to stay in his room rather than getting outside of it. Obviously there's a pretty clear downside to this. It's very likely he doesn't have a way to defend himself there. He could though, maybe there's some stuff he has done and he can lock the place up? But let's be honest, that robot soldier got in there, they're gonna get in there again. Meaning that QR is likely on a timer and not exactly in a good spot. Who knows at what point in the story he'd just end up dying regardless of having survived the first encounter. Samus can't stay there forever, she needs to get out and she said she'd finish this once and for all afterall. It's a bitter thing, but with a high % the most likely outcome

- Besides, I feel QR has already resigned to his fate. He's got survivor's guilt, he has helped RB do all sorts of things that are likely not exactly that great - like the whole 'Make E.M.M.I. hunt Samus' thing - so high possibility on him being ashamed of what he's done. And giving his life to assist Samus could be a way to pay for his deeds in his mind

- Samus isn't going to be happy about this. She does understand sacrifices to a very personal level though. She's witnessed them several times now, and has even suggested sacrificing herself in Fusion. Who knows how she'd take this. She could prevent this, it could come full circle from her trying to prevent a sacrifice (Ian), to letting it happen - although begrudgingly (Adam), to trying to sacrifice herself and being convinced of an alternate way, to now taking AI Adam's place and convincing that a sacrifice in this case could be avoided. Or she could take Adam's place in the flashback with sacrificing another for the sake of the many (though teeeeeechnically she already supposedly did that with letting Adam go with the 'unfreezable Metroids' but hey). Either way, choices, possibilities, development. All the more fun if both are options for replayability - but a nightmare for those making the game and good lord what would even be canon at this point. The lore has turned into spaghetti. What is this, Zelda? (Don't ask me I don't actually know Zelda lore, I only know there's like multiple timelines or something?)

~~~ 5 ~~~

- Back on track! Remember Elun? Remember our fun jelly gummy parasite friends? Of course you do. You absorb your vitamins through your powersuit you absolute chad. - Now, here's the writing bit that started this all.

{{ Freaking... Imagine if QR wasn't dead yet by the time the X were released. Instead of the "... Goddamn it..." kinda reaction Samus has, do ya think she'd have more of an "... Oh FUCK." kinda reaction? And suddenly the 'sad/creepy' cutscene where the red X takes over QR's corpse becomes a whole lot more terrifying and worse. Would they reach him easily? Would it be just the X? Or would it be the wildlife? Would he be torn to shreds or perhaps he'd have a safe room built in case of an outbreak? Would Samus run right back to try and save him? Might they try and make a vaccine? Would that have been an alternate sinister way of getting Samus to give her Metroid DNA to them willingly? QR obviously would not want it. He'd probably rather perish than give RB what he wants - likely so at least, he's not exactly a fan of the stuff they're doing, but more over QR is worried about Samus and doesn't want to harm her in any way. But just imagine the scenario, RB offering Samus a choice: Dead/Infected QR or her Metroid DNA. And even then there's multiple paths the story could have gone in. Gotta love speculating, right? }}

- Ok so that's probably a lot to take in. Lemme break it up for you. So firstly, if QR has managed to live this far, are we just going to end up loosing him, again, but this time instead of a swift death, it's possession instead. He's gonna lose his mind, his free will. Will he be scared? Try to run? Or would he have been prepared and made his peace with it. The X started it all, it might as well end him and he's fine with that. It goes against him not wanting to hurt Samus, but you can't be perfect. Witness her scrambling to try and save him, and be absolutely broken. Will you make it in time? Will you outrun the ridiculously fast spreading X Parasites? What if you're too late? Do you have to kill him now? Just like you killed that scientist in Fusion? Is the game going to make you fight our precious boy? QR boss fight?

- Or will the room be empty? Previously you could return here to have a more direct chat and exchange with QR whenever, but now the place is just dead and empty - perhaps there's a rampaging creature here, but no QR in sight. You're made to wonder what happened. This would kinda allow the end of the game to play as it does in Dread already

- If he does somehow manage to survive and makes it out without getting infected, and Also avoids death by any other manner and makes it to Samus' ship in one piece and all that.. Pretty much impossible, but this would be the 'happy ending' kinda deal. Realistic? Not really. But if you wanna dream I won't stop you. Boy I can't even stop myself. I Want this, but I know we ain't getting it. Besides, who is to say he'd end up living even in this situation? If Metroid Samus shows up, you bet QR is gonna let/make her absorb him to be able to regain control with the extra Thoha genes. And Boom, more emotional damage for Samus. Yeah maybe QR could steer the ship, take off as Samus is still trying to figure stuff out, but we're really twisting things here to try and get the best possible ending

~~~ 6 ~~~

- And now for that other bit, it being yet another plan RB crafted up. Man's got backup plans a plenty that he can come up with on the spot. If QR's life means nothing and he's just a pawn among the rest, and he sees Samus can be emotionally manipulated (assuming that's possible, she's pretty hardened by now), that means this pawn just promoted to play a more important role on his board. If he can't use force, and the 'awaken your inner Metroid' doesn't work quickly enough to RB's liking, he could threaten Samus & QR with Elun. RB is smart, he's been steering Samus with fake Adam so far, so clearly he's got some mindgame experience to him. QR wouldn’t want to let RB have anything, but Samus would have to weigh an ally’s life on this decision. And that’s kinda cruel. They’d either have to talk it out or rush stuff

- Raven Beak though? Yeah he's absolutely disrespecting all his fallen Mawkin brethren by just undoing the seal - QR will handily point this out to him - but it's about pride and desire now, and you should know better than to doubt the iron will of a man ready to sacrifice his own and a whole separate tribe for a cause. He's got all the pieces he needs, and he's gonna use them. Feeling guilty? Don't know her. He's gonna run his plan through, one way or another

- Main threat here is that while Samus is immune to the X, QR is not. RB is ready to take risks and gamble, but currently he's pretty cozy and safe away from the threat of X. In fact, he could just blow up the whole place right now and leave. Yeah if he'd do that he'd have to scrap the whole Metroid plan - which obviously isn't happening. But Samus and everyone else would lose if she'd die here & she said she'd finish this once and for all - and we gotta assume that that doesn't involve her losing

- All of this is obviously hanging on the fact that they'd be able to make another vaccine in the first place - one that would work and not just go crazy like it should have had it not been for Samus' unique DNA zoo. QR is a Thoha so there's probably a chance it'd work even better? Or not be quite enough. Perhaps they'd need a pure Metroid for the vaccine, but really, they make Metroids out of exploded particles cleaned off suit surfaces, they can pretty much go ham

- And yeah it's going to potentially fall apart if RB needs for someone else to go to Elun and can't actually remotely unseal it in the first place. But even there he does have his robots. If it has to be a scannable person then he oop, but these are just ways of looking into it deeper. Surely if this scenario would be the one to go with he'd have a working method (outside of "I'll go myself and then turn into 'fast as frick boi' as I, the mighty Raven Beak, depart the section faster than the X can". Dude can Shine Spark without much set-up and get fancy with it and Flash Shift, and the ego to believe)

*

So yeah : ) Those are some thoughts I've been rolling in my head. Hopefully you had a time reading 'em all~ It's a lot, but sometimes you wanna read all you can

Anyway, I'll get back to writing stuff following canon lore, with extra spice but mostly still keeping it to what I could see as 'this is how the story went' kinda take on events (If you wanna write your own 'what if' takes and alternate storylines, boy I'd love to read them <3 Hit me up if you do~)

[aces-to-apples]

DVD commentary meme! Whatever part of Family Before Honor you'd like to talk about, please!!

Alrighty, since there isn’t much of it posted and chapter two isn’t very long to start with, I’ll just do that then. Author’s commentary on chapter two of “Family Before Honor” beneath the cut:

Two Months

Domestic: 1) of or relating to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family. 2) no longer wild; tame.

I suppose the first thing to note is the pattern of the chapters and summaries—each chapter, and there’s only going to be three, is titled based on how long it’s been in the fic since Cut’s death and each summary is the theme on which the chapter is built. “Two Months” is more meant to bridge the gap between “Two Hours” and “Two Years” and is based around Rex making the transition from military life to civilian life. Settling into a rhythm with Suu and the kids that works for everyone.

Rebuilding the La’Cuane farm is an undertaking both larger and smaller than Rex had first estimated.

Ah, yes, “La’Cuane”. Because fuck Dave Filoni. Before I watched The Deserter, I was under the impression that Lawquane was most likely pronounced more like “lah-kayn” but, as is my custom, when I learned the “official” version I said “nah, fuck that” and came up with my own. So, “Lawquane” is a mistranslation as so many Basic Twi’lek names are. Because fuck you, Dave.

The first few days are an unending game of hurry-up-and-wait: for Republic forces to finish routing the Seps, for Jesse and the boys to come back to retrieve him when he didn’t answer their comms, for Suu to sniffle and stutter her way through the story they’d cooked up to explain his ‘death.’

I just don’t like “Seppies”, okay? I just don’t. “Covies” I’ll accept from Halo, because Marines, but “Seppies”, “tinnies”, and “shinies”? Mmm, how ‘bout the fuck not?

Then waiting for various scans of the remains to come up positive for Fett’s genetic material, for ‘his’ chip to come up too damaged to ping as more than simply present, for Kenobi—well, it turns out that Kenobi had a softer heart than Rex had ever thought. From what Rex spies, he looks damn near devastated for a few heartbeats after Suu tells him the news.

Departing from @norcumii’s version, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, I decided that it’s too early in the war for Rex and Obi-Wan to have actually started a romantic relationship and kept it as more of a “what if” kind of thing for them to regret. More pining, that way ;)

Then the children march up to him and Jesse, carrying Rex’s armor in their undersized little arms, and Jek loudly proclaims that they want to keep Rex’s bucket. “He was like a, a superhero,” Jek says earnestly, and next to him Shaeeah nods vigorously. “He was so brave and he saved us from the monsters and we’ll take really good care of it.”

Listen, the La’Cuane kids are just insanely cute, okay? And according to Legends (I think?) they were aware enough that they had several million uncles out there in the universe that Shaeeah wrote a book about it, so they absolutely grew up with stars in their eyes about their extended family.

Suu makes a little scene of chastising them, calling it disrespectful, saying that his brothers should have his helmet, it was only right. Rex is dazed by the layers of manipulation they all go to just for him to keep his face; he’s even more dazed by how well it works.

Kenobi clearly melts at the display but looks to Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase for the final decision. Rex can read the silent conversation between them as clear as day. When Jesse crouches down to gaze intently into the visor of Rex’s helmet, he knows the children have won.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Jesse says decisively, and it’s settled. Quieter, he adds, “I think he’d like that…”

If Rex wasn’t so traumatized right now, he’d be absolutely indignant that Jess just blatantly lied like that. How dare you slander the good name of Captain Rex, good Lieutenant, by implying this small child whom he only knew for a few hours and “died” to protect should keep his face when Kenobi is standing over there trying not to cry. Come say that to his helmet, coward!

Rex doesn’t think about where Cut’s bucket had ended up.

I like throwing out lines that if you think about them for longer than it takes to read them then they might become incredibly depressing. What did happen to his helmet? What happened to his armor?

Jek clutches the helmet to his chest in victory and Shaeeah smiles sweetly and Suu has this fond, exasperated look on her face that Rex assumes comes standard with being eyn buir. The children magnanimously offer the rest of his armor to the men, stacked as neatly as they could manage. Rex stares as Kenobi helps pack it away with the supplies for safekeeping, subtly pocketing his left vambrace as he does.

I’m gonna be honest, at this point canon and fanon have merged so much for me that I don’t even know what’s true and what’s not. Just go with it.

Rex doesn’t think about maybes and what-ifs.

Then Kenobi turns back to Suu and his gaze goes past her to the ruined farmhouse and Rex gets the feeling that Kenobi’s about to do one of those terribly un-Jedi-like things he had never, ever admitted to sometimes doing. He pulls out a credit chip and Rex knows.

He has to turn away from the scene and take careful breaths. Kenobi wasn’t perfect—Cody has spent hours venting to Rex and Wolffe and whoever else managed to meet up at once about his hypocritical, sanctimonious Jedi—but just like Skywalker, just like Tano, just like Windu and Yoda and Secura and every other Jedi, he had his moments of breath-stealing goodness.

Listen, I love some Jedi characters to death, but I have—had, now that Tumblr filters out posts with words like “fuck” and “wank” in the tags when you search for them and pretends they don’t exist—a #fuck the jedi order tag for a reason. The narrative tends to frame both the Jedi Order and most Jedi characters as Righteous and Good, while also having them commit pretty heinous acts and tossing the audience horrific implications/pieces of information at the same time. I’ve said it somewhere before, but The Clone Wars wants to have its “deep, edgy, grimdark exploration of war” and eat its “fun, wacky space adventures” too and while we’ve all noticed the tonal whiplash that the show gives us, it plays hell with the narrative itself. Unspeakably bad shit happens in one arc, and nobody ever mentions it again. The Jedi control a slave army, and that’s Bad, but we’re told that they care about their troops and want to help them Later, which cancels out the Bad and keeps them Good Guys. In universe, it absolutely doesn’t work. We all know the Jedi pull some fuckshit every two weeks, so you bet your ass the clones know it too and routinely get sauced and rant about it to each other where no one can hear them. But they also can be extremely helpful and empathetic between three to five every other Thursday. Sorry, just mentioning #fuck the jedi order sends me off into a rant and I actually deleted a lot of other stuff from this part because Not Important.

Rex should’ve known his last act as a captain, and his first act as a free man, would be finally witnessing one of those moments.

And then Kenobi is gone, his brothers are gone, and the work begins.

- - -

It’s slow-going, and at times back-breaking, and it quickly becomes apparent that the nerve-damage Kix had warned about has set in good and proper. After the children have gone to bed, Rex and Suu go outside to have a rousing argument about what to do—the first of many on the horizon.

I know, I know, it’s common wisdom that disagreeing with your partner are normal but knockdown drag-out arguments Are Not and while I absolutely understand that, I come from a family with an absurdly large number of siblings that subscribe to the Taika Waititi School of Siblings and therefore it’s perfectly reasonable to shout yourself hoarse about some nonsense or other and get mad and stomp off and then two hours later throw a pillow at the other person’s head and say “hey dickhead come look at this funny post what’s for dinner later”. And as such that’s how every sibling relationship I ever write will function because I genuinely don’t understand siblings who don’t drag each other at every opportunity and then pop up around a corner like an awful gremlin to scare them at 2:30 in the morning just to fuck with them.

Suu demands they use part of Kenobi’s credits to pay for surgery to remove and replace the dead arm; Rex counters that he can function with only one arm, but none of them can function without a roof over their heads and walls to shield them from the elements. Suu says that they will contact a doctor she knows on the other side of the planet tomorrow and that’s final; Rex blinks, says understood, sir, and stands down.

The next morning, between frying eggs and waking the little ones, Suu apologizes for 'pulling rank’ on him. Rex can tell the words sit strangely in her civilian mouth. He accepts her apology and says nothing about how he hadn’t even noticed his own automatic reaction to her tone the night before, but. That was exactly how he’d reacted, wasn’t it?

When next they argue, about him ‘overdoing it’ and ‘exerting himself too much’, he’s ready for the gut-punching Commanding Officer Voice and shouts back when it’s his turn to talk. It works for them.

Listen, I don’t know about you, but when I hear certain tones of voice I automatically respond in certain ways. Like the vocal version of being full-named.

- - -

“White is death,” Rex explains once the final layer of base paint has settled on the plastoid. He runs his hand firmly down the prosthesis in its finalized form, from the ball of the synthetic shoulder to the tips of each finger. It’s as much to test that the molecules of paint bind properly as it is to get himself used to the difference. “White is the bones of those long gone. White is the snow that covers the fields in winter. It… stifles, and kills, but it’s also. Possibility, I suppose. White armor is shiny and new, but that just means it has yet to prove itself. You never know what you’re gonna get when you scratch beneath the surface.”

I had a lot more of @izzyovercoffee’s Mandalorian color theory stuff that I ended up cutting just because it didn’t really fit, but you should check them out because they’re suuuuuuper interesting. I love cultural worldbuiding shit like that.

Hanging on his every word, Jek and Shaeeah nod breathlessly. They watch as he picks up a foam brush and dips it into a small pot of 501st blue. He sets it to the very top of the arm and brings it down in a smooth, careful, practiced motion.

“Blue is reliability,” he continues. The unbroken line he draws down to the wrist is thinner than it was on his armor, but copying his armor isn’t the point; the point is to create something new out of its loss. “It’s faithfulness, and consistency. It’s the sky—the very air—and you can always in trust that.”

Listen, if you want subtlety, go read deadcat’s stuff. If you want to get bashed over the head with this shit, you’ve come to the right place.

Lastly, he picks up a fine detail brush and dips it into a second pot.

“This one is different,” he says eventually, gauging his little cadets’ avid expressions. “You use red to honor a parent and the word for ‘red’ in Mando’a is ge’tal—literally, ‘almost blood.’ It’s a complicated word, because to Mando’ade, your family isn’t always going to have the same blood as you. It might not be red at all—it might be green, or blue, or something else entirely. But with family, you’re always ready to spill others’ or your own in order to protect them; it’s about honor… and love.”

“Mom,” Shaeeah deduces, her voice quiet as a mouse as they all gaze at the sharp, cutting magenta that coats the brush.

Rex nods.

“Just so.” He twirls the brush around and offers it to them. “Now, what should we do with it?”

Listen, it’s very important to me that we cut that toxic masculinity shit out of Star Wars, stop linking pink to femininity, more important stop linking femininity to weakness, and ultimately I want to see more clones wearing pink. Pink flowers and curlicues mixed in with 501st blue on Rex’s sick robot arm? Sign me the fuck up.

—

Aaaaand that’s the Author’s Commentary on Chapter Two of Family Before Dishonor, hope you enjoyed!