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protemporescitor · 11 months ago

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"But she ded tho" (a.k.a. the dumbest argument against Clerith) - A rant

To expand on my previous post, in which I posited the crazy, far-fetched theory that in a fantasy setting mayhap death is not the relationship brick wall that it would be in a more grounded, realistic one*, I just want to bring up a few points to further buttress this off-the-wall notion.

"Cloud can't be with Aerith. She's dead!"

We've all heard it a thousand times. It is the argument most commonly levelled against Clerith. It is also the worst (and laziest) one.

It's often delivered in a declamatory and glib fashion, as though it were some sort of obvious conversation ender. Q.E.D. End of debate. The ultimate gotcha. "Checkmate, Clerith fans!" the haters think to themselves, chortling and patting themselves on their backs for this profound insight. (Insert tasteless and juvenile comments about Aerith being "shish kebab-ed" by Sephiroth as desired.)

And all I can think is "That's it? That's your best argument? That's some weak tea, man."

Despite its myriad flaws, this idea continues to radiate throughout the fandom a good quarter century after the original title's release, as though it had never once been challenged. It is a feeble and untenable position, a house built on sand, and one that deserves to be thoroughly demolished. With Rebirth on the horizon, and all the shipping wars nonsense rising from the grave once more as a result, it is high time, if you'll forgive the expression, that we laid this cliché to rest once and for all.

(*Note: Even in a more "realistic" setting lacking any kind of fictional afterlife, this would still be a gross oversimplification of the story's themes of loss, regret, and yearning, as well as entirely ignoring the idea of love transcending death, but we'll set those concerns aside for the time being.)

Lastly, before we begin: This is not an anti-Zerith / CloTi screed. Those pairings both have an undeniable canonical basis. My aim here is simply to demonstrate that the notion that Cloud and Aerith are forever separated by death is rendered invalid by virtue of the type of setting that their story takes place in. (Something that, frankly, one would reasonably assume to be perfectly obvious. Alas, such is not the case. And so I find myself yet again pointing out the glaringly obvious.)

Now, without further ado, let's begin:

Part 1. Before (the Compilation) Crisis

In the beginning, there was the year 1997, and Squaresoft had just released their latest title. And lo, it was good. We spent days and weeks following our favorite polygon people around their embattled little globe. We fought, laughed, cried, and struggled up until the Meteor Crisis reached its crescendo, and the credits rolled. Gosh, what an ending! But what did it all mean? How did things REALLY turn out? Did we get a happy ending at all?

According to some, Cloud lived happily ever after with his childhood sweetheart, Tifa. According to others, he continued to roam the earth in search of his Promised Land to be reunited with his tragic lost love, Aerith. Yuffie swiped everyone's materia (again). Cid finally went to the moon. Red XIII opened a haberdashery in Costa del Sol, or something. No-one really knows for sure.

And so, the fandom began to spread to every corner of the internet in search of answers. Thus began the age of dissension. Opinions clashed across fanzines, blogs, and fanfic country alike. Wild fan theories abounded pertaining to special codes, methods, and blood rituals capable of bringing back our erstwhile flower girl. The fan-made media bubble surrounding the game turned into a lawless land of misinformation and vicious disagreement. None were spared.

A brief digression on why said rumours persisted for as long as they did (CAUTION: Massive spoilers for Chrono Trigger).

One side proposed a simple solution. A way to cut the proverbial Gordian Knot of our fandom. It was quite obvious, really. Just staring everyone in the face. The flower girl was dead, and that was that. Thus, there was only one possible conclusion to our narrative. Cloud's feelings on the matter were, of course, irrelevant. With Aerith out of the picture, the only logical choice left to him was to settle down with Tifa, and that was that. Never mind the themes of doomed, tragic love and the possibility, strongly hinted at throughout the game and outright confirmed during its ending, of existence after death.

Overall, direct evidence for said afterlife was scant, but not entirely absent from the story. As an example, at one point during her childhood, Aerith speaks to Elmyra, trying to comfort her, saying that the spirit of her husband wanted to come visit her, confirming that an afterlife presence did indeed exist. But for some, this simply wasn't evidence enough. And so the war raged on. Which brings us to…

Part 2. Advent Children: The smoking gun

Remember back when a certain portion of the fan base insisted that Gaia erased all the humans at the end of the story, on the flimsy basis that we don't see any during the game's brief post-credit scene? Well, that little theory was neatly undone by subsequent releases in the Compilation, showing regular ol' humans still roaming around Gaia in all their everyday human-ness. Hence, it is rarely brought up these days. Would that the pernicious notion of "but she ded tho" could follow in its footsteps, given that the same film roundly contradicts it in every way possible.

For starters, the film inexplicably bring two characters, Rufus and Tseng, hitherto assumed to be dead, back to life, probably in an effort by Square to shoehorn as many recognizable members of the cast into their animated feature as they could. But that's not all. Next we have three characters that everyone agreed were deader than doornails ALSO making appearances, first in flashbacks, and then directly influencing the world of the living. Zack speaks to and encourages Cloud during his struggle. Aerith reaches out to him (quite literally) from beyond the grave and assists him in defeating Bahamut. And of course Sephiroth pops back into existence just in time for his contractually-obligated boss fight near the end of the film. All three demonstrate quite clearly and definitively that death is not the impenetrable barrier to continuing interactions between the living and the dead in the world of Final Fantasy VII, as a certain segment of the fan base would have everyone believe it is.

To be blunt, I don't know what level of dense you'd have to be to keep up this so-called "argument" in light of this information. Advent Children reiterates what most of us already knew, that our story takes place in a fantasy setting* with a confirmed afterlife existence.

(*You'd think that the name of the series would clue people in.)

The notion that death represents, within the context of said setting, the ultimate end was already softly contradicted by the original game's narrative, and then (because that was apparently too subtle for some people) flat-out annihilated by the existence and events of Advent Children. It should have long since ended this nonsense. But somehow, it didn't. These revelations, obvious though they are, remain ignored for some reason. And so, the cycle of willful ignorance continues.

But we're not done yet. We now move on to more tangential, but still relevant arguments against this line of "reasoning".

Part 3. Stop Hitting Yourself: Why "but she ded tho" is insulting to everyone

And I do mean everyone. Let's examine this, shall we?

It's insulting to Cloud.

To suggest that he loses interest in Aerith the moment she sinks beneath the waters, or that he is obligated to move on simply because she is no longer among the living, with no mourning period, no time to work through his guilt and grief, is to portray him as shallow and uncaring, something that goes against virtually all the characterization that he's been given throughout the story. The line of thinking apparently goes "Well, she's gone. That sucks. She was cute, too. Better move on to the next available piece of meat."

Sounds pretty gross when you write the quiet part out loud, doesn't it?

It's insulting to Aerith.

"Didn't even toss the b@#h a Phoenix Down, just dumped'er in the water LAWL"

I'm sure you've all come across comments like that at some point, usually originating from some errant redditor or blogger. Thinking themselves fine fellows and enlightened, above-it-all gadflies, they provide us at length with this and other prime specimens of 14 year-old internet edgelord "humour" that carries about as much edge as a perfect sphere. Remarks like these serve little purpose beyond confirming my suspicion that our fandom is indeed plagued with illiterates who can't tell the difference between the terms "revive" and "resurrect", and insist on conflating game mechanics with storytelling. And you wonder why some people are confounded by words like "flammable" and "inflammable".

(All right, I'll put the salt down. For now.)

"The party's designated white mage dies, oh no, that's so sad, boo-hoo, life goes on," I hear you say.

But boiling Aerith's role down to one of merely that of a temporary party member who kicks the bucket halfway through the story, never to be heard from again, both cheapens her purpose within the larger narrative and denies the clear effect that she continues to exert, directly and indirectly, on it and the other characters after her passing.

Though Aerith may have departed the world of the living, the story makes it abundantly clear that her influence on it has not ended. There are hints here and there that she still tries to assist her friends from the afterlife. As an example, when the party rediscovers Cloud in Mideel after assuming that he might be lost for good, a villager sums it up best with the following remark: "That boy must have one hell of a guardian angel."

It's only mentioned as a vague hint in the original story, but it is clear that some beneficent force is acting on Cloud and Tifa's behalf, aiding them in their survival and uniting them in the Lifestream in order to help Cloud recover his memories. Later supplemental material confirms that to have been Aerith's doing. If that's not enough to convince you, though, the original game's ending leaves little room for ambiguity as to Aerith's continuing influence. When Holy sputters and fails, she coaxes the Lifestream itself to intervene, burning away the calamitous meteorite, helping her friends put an end to the planetary crisis long after her own demise. I suppose the lesson here for silver-haired godhead wannabe villains is this: Strike her down, and she shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

So the idea that Aerith's participation in the story immediately comes grinding to a halt upon her death is both puerile and easily demonstrated to be false. But even if that were the case, downplaying her lingering influence on Cloud and the other characters in this manner would still be ignoring the creators' intent. Whether one interprets Cloud and Aerith's relationship as romantic or merely platonic, it is clear that her death, the loss of one of his closest allies, is something that wounds him deeply, and scars him forever. Two years on, he still pines for her company and desires her forgiveness for his perceived failures. She clearly occupies a special place in his heart, and her memory and legacy live on within him, spurring him on as he wanders the planet, searching for some way to meet her again, defying the impossible. (Which, as we all know, isn't going to happen. This is, after all, Final Gritty Reality we're talking about here.)

Ah, but all of this is a moot point, you say? Even if he did wish to be with her, preferring the company of the last Cetra over that of his childhood friend… well, too bad. That's no longer an option. We can spout all of this verbiage about "soul pain" this and "star-crossed lovers" that, but at the end of the day, Aerith is still dead, and that's that. At least, that's what ardent CloTi fans will insist, no matter what. So, what is Tifa to Cloud, then, by their own logic?

Which brings us to perhaps our most salient, and most overlooked point, at least as far as CloTi shippers are concerned. If all that wasn't enough for you, you may want to consider that it's deeply insulting to Tifa, as well. Grievously so, in fact. Quite possibly more so than any other character in this whole equation. And the reason why should be plain as day if you stop to think about it for a fraction of a second.

Here's the thing… if you can't articulate why you think Cloud would prefer to be with Tifa in spite of Aerith being alive, then you are essentially declaring her the "winner" by default on no other merits than the fact that she's still sucking down air. Stating "but she ded bro" means relegating Tifa to the role of a consolation prize. I don't think I could ever hurl such a staggering insult towards her as her biggest fans keep doing, without even realizing they're doing it.

Ask yourselves, is that really what you want for your supposed favourite character? To frame her as being doomed to eternally play second fiddle to her fallen friend? Cloud's "plan B"? The "side piece"? Someone who only stands a chance if her rival in love is literally six feet under? I'm sure she'd be thrilled by the high regard in which her own fans seem to hold her. (Hey, you said it, not me. It's not my fault if you don't take the time to actually consider the ramifications of what rolls off your keyboard. But by all means, keep insulting your own favorite character just to put down a ship you don't like.)

In closing, if we unearth the subtext and reframe it to highlight what people are, in essence, saying, it's this: "It's a good thing that she-who-shall-not-be-named bit the dust, because otherwise our beloved Best Girl Tifa (tm) wouldn't stand a chance."

It's a simple enough question: Why do you think that Cloud and Tifa belong together? What, in your mind, makes them a good fit for each other?

"Well, the competish is dead." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for your best girl, now is it?

Part 4. "Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose": A brief word on hypocrisy

In fandom, it's often the loudest and most obnoxious voices who tend to drown out the more reasonable ones, those of fans who are just minding their own business and grooving on the thing that they like. Which, unfortunately, renders this next part a necessary component of the greater argument that I'm trying to make. Multishippers and sane, reasonable CloTi and Zerith fans may consider themselves exempted from the following harangue.

The rest of y'all, buckle up.

The too-oft repeated refrain of "but she ded tho" entails a twofold hypocrisy. The first part is:

Case of Tifa: Fan hypocrisy regarding death.

Strident anti-Clerith fans, with their usual level of maturity, will often bring up Aerith's demise in a gleeful, mocking tone that can best be summed up as "ding dong, the witch is dead!" And if the shoe were on the other foot? If their Best Girl Tifa (tm) were the one pushing up daisies instead of Miz Gainsborough? Would they be quite so cavalier in their attitudes?

Who wants to bet that these fans wouldn't be making this "argument" so loudly if it was their ship that was in question? Consider this scenario: Suppose that the remake trilogy does the unthinkable and has Tifa die in Aerith's place. What then? Would they accept that "but she ded tho" is, at best, a double-edged sword, one that applies equally to their own favourite ship were their fortunes to be reversed?

Something tells me that's not the case.

But if you think that's hypocritical, you ain't seen nothing yet. This first point pales in comparison to…

The Zerith Exemption: Fan hypocrisy regarding the afterlife.

You know what my favourite thing about this whole debacle is? When people inform me that because they are separated by death, Cloud and Aerith have no hope of ever being together again. They will then unironically pivot to shipping Zack and Aerith, two characters who are together in the MOTHERFUCKING AFTERLIFE.

It's wild. How do you even compress that much cognitive dissonance into one skull? We're talking about mind-melting, Olympic medal-worthy levels of mental gymnastics here.

Now, before someone accuses me of being morose, I'm not suggesting that Cloud hop off the nearest cliff just to be with his beloved (Aerith would not approve of him throwing his life away, for one), just that when he reaches the end of his natural life (which may not be too long, given the cells eating away at his body), he can finally be reunited with her in the afterlife.

Many ardent CloTi shippers see themselves as bound by law to uphold Zerith as a shield against the dreaded Clerith plague. But to proclaim, implicitly or explicitly, that the afterlife encompasses one but not the other is not an idea that can be taken seriously. It remains an utterly bizarre blind spot, one that beggars belief.

On a related note, there is the infamous misconception that is…

Part 5. The ZaCloud Fallacy

While this is not directly related to my main point, I nonetheless find myself compelled to address this issue. There is a long-standing confusion that bedevils our fandom, one that has its roots in the Shipping Wars (tm). I am, of course, referring to the ZaCloud Fallacy.

We owe this particular misapprehension to Crisis Core, a prequel/gaiden game that was released ten years after the original FFVII. Already, its existence can mess up the timeline, so to speak, as, strangely, people tend to treat it as a sequel rather than a prequel, and as though it were adding new and vital building blocks to the world of FFVII instead of merely distorting the original story while retreading it with a far less interesting cast of characters. It also retcons major elements of the original story that it shouldn't have (such as the events taking place in Nibelheim five years prior to the main narrative), lazily steals Clerith scenes only to rehash them with Zack and Aerith, and forces players to endure, at length, crimes against literature, courtesy of Genesis.

It's an odd prequel, to say the least, given how heavily it relies on the original story for context. Sequentially, it may take place before FFVII, but it can only be fully appreciated with the original in mind; it cannot be treated as a stand-alone story. The worst thing about Crisis Core existing is that playing it first can outright ruin people's perception of the original narrative by spoiling several major plot elements and even lessening them in the process. Crisis Core's writers are especially guilty of cheapening dramatic moments like Zack's last stand by transforming it from a quiet, tragic, harrowing scene about sacrifice to an utterly over-the-top and emotionally overwrought trainwreck. It all merely serves to add to the confusion, especially for gamers who started with this title instead of the original.

But if that were not enough, Crisis Core's reckless meddling with the story combined with the acrimonious and all-consuming nature of the shipping wars has resulted in one of the most nonsensical misconceptions in the entire fandom. During Crisis Core's ending, Zack implores Cloud to carry on his legacy, thus giving rise to the erroneous assumption that Cloud's behaviour in disc 1 is merely that of him "being Zack". Clerith-hating fans, in particular, pounced on this idea as a way to put a safe distance between him and Aerith, characterizing their interactions, whether platonic or romantic, as merely a case of Cloud utilizing Zack's memories and personality around her (Never mind that Zack and Cloud's personalities are as different as night and day).

It is a fundamental and willful misreading of the story, a gross oversimplification of a more complex and granular truth in service of a fan-originated meta-narrative, one that has been assembled in order to reach the conclusion that Cloud and Aerith's relationship is null and void, and that therefore the romance between him and Tifa remains unchallenged. (Never mind that the story is intended as more than just some playground tug-of-war romance). To maintain this lie is to do violence to the story by destroying Cloud's character arc and reducing him to a virtual non-entity until the very end of the game.

Having already been rebuked in regards to this pervasive delusion, certain fans have tried to hedge their bets by suggesting a second, more advanced version of this idea. ZaCloud Fallacy 2.0, if you will, which states that Cloud is only in Zack Mode (tm) when he's around Aerith. I don't even know what to say about that sort of nonsense. To paraphrase Charles Babbage, I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such an assertion.

I'd go into this in more detail, but YouTube creator LinkOnTheBrink has already covered this topic extensively in their superlative video essay "How Shipping Can Ruin a Narrative".

It may seem like I'm trashing Zack or Zerith here, but I'm really not. That was never my intent. So let me be clear about this: I like Zack. I just hate Crisis Core and what it's done to this fandom. If you prefer CloTi and Zerith to everything else, I don't much mind. Ultimately, this isn't about shipping wars nonsense, but protecting the narrative from such nonsense.

And that leads us to…

Part 6. I Against I: Where the fandom went wrong

We all know that the infamous FFVII Shipping Wars (tm) are as stupid as they are inescapable. Anyone who's spent any time at all within this fandom has inevitably run afoul of them and their detritus at some point, whether they've chosen to participate in them or abstain from the whole debacle. But there's a reason why this acrimonious dispute has raged on for as long as it has. Much like Blade Runner fans would argue until they were blue in the face about whether or not Deckard was a replicant, fans of this story have been squabbling about CloTi versus Clerith for ages for similar reasons. (Zerith got roped in as a "political wedge", I would argue, as much as a pairing in its own right.)

It's more than just a war over shipping, it's a war over canonization, over character motivation and psychology. Of how we ultimately interpret the story and its characters. Given the vagueness of the story's ending, one can't help but wonder and speculate as to how everyone ended up afterwards. (Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus may have offered some answers, but they still largely sidestep these questions in a noncommittal, to-be-continued manner.)

The problem is that, for many fans, it isn't possible to simply say "It's my preference" and be done with the matter. Unlike most rarepairs and bananas pairings like Cait x Jenova, CloTi and Clerith remain hotly contested because they go beyond mere shipping, or even aesthetic preference, or which characters one most identifies with; they lie at the core of how we perceive the story and its inhabitants. In that sense, I don't consider it to be an entirely frivolous debate, just an unsolvable one.

So, what's the answer?

There's this long-standing piece of received wisdom about JRPGs vs. WRPGs, where the latter involves more freedom at the expense of focused storytelling, and vice versa. This idea might hold true to some extent, but it is not some iron law that must be obeyed without question. For a game like FFVII, choices that radically affect the narrative structure would be considered an aberration and not the norm. And yet, it might represent the only way out of this quagmire that doesn't involve throwing half the fandom under the bus in the process.

For me, Mass Effect and similar titles (e.g., Quest for Glory) have already presented an obvious solution: Let the players choose. (There is already some precedent in the form of the Gold Saucer scene, although it ultimately doesn't change the outcome of the story all that much.) It may not be a perfect solution, but I'd argue that it's far better than leaving one side out in the cold. At least this way, everyone gets something.

"Ah, but this is not feasible," I hear you respond. "Not for an Eastern-style RPG, at least. Only one of these pairings can be correct, and one must, above all, respect the creator's vision."

Yeah, look where that got us.

Part 7. As You Like It: Ship whatever you please (just stop this nonsense)

I realize that this little essay of mine has been digressive, rudimentary, rambling, extemporaneous, and scattershot. So let me try to reach some kind of meaningful conclusion here.

Much of this anti-Clerith rhetoric we've seen over the years seems to stem from a place of insecurity, whether it's murmuring "but she ded tho", claiming that Cloud was only ever Zack in disc 1, inventing a fictional sex scene underneath the Highwind from whole cloth, and so on… The thing is, there is no need for it. Clerith and CloTi both exist canonically. Even the game manual says as much, describing Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith's relationship as a love triangle. In other words, the love triangle is what's canon, and the rest is by and large up for interpretation. (Zerith also canonically exists, and we've known this since the OG.)

The true reason why this whole disagreement has gone on for eternity, I suspect, has less to do with any debate over canonicity alone than it does the sheer enmity and pettiness that it has continued to spark for so long. It has metastasized over the years, going from being a mere squabble over which pair is canon to an exercise in holding the other side in contempt. That endless cycle of disrespect and reprisals is undoubtedly where it all went wrong in the first place. (If I had a nickel for every time someone commented "but she ded tho" or "wHy iS zAcK bLoNd iN tHiS pIc?" when someone posts a piece of Clerith fan art, I'd have a pretty nice collection of coins by now.)

Obviously, we should all try to just click off when we encounter content that we dislike, but it's not always easy, especially when something we harbour a strong aversion to is so deeply enmeshed within something that we do enjoy. And so, our fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. Before you ask, yes, I'm as guilty of that as anyone else.

Still, I firmly believe that the occasional olive branch can go a long way. So let me simply say that I have the utmost respect for Tifa and Zack. They are worthy characters in their own right. So create and share all the CloTi/Zerith fan works your little hearts desire. Hire a fleet of skywriters to declare Zerith your favourite couple. Throw a giant CloTi parade through the middle of Times Square. We don't mind. Honestly.

As stated above, whether it's CloTi, Clerith, or Zerith, you can stop fretting over which one is canon; they all are. The other three permutations (Zakkura, Zifa, AerTi) don't get much in the way of canon acknowledgement, but they probably should at this point.

In the end, this is about saving the narrative from the shipping wars, as much as anything else. To say that you prefer CloTi or something else to Clerith is fine. To assert that Clerith doesn't exist in any form, however, is where I begin to take exception.

Ultimately, I say ship what you like. All I ask is that you retire this sort of narrative-wasting nonsense. It's time we threw it into the garbage can of gaming history where it belongs. As for questions of motives, character interpretation, canonization, and so forth… if we cannot reach an accord, then let us at least try for a more amicable disagreement.

As for my fellow Clerith supporters, the next time you see the withered old canard that is "but she ded tho" being bandied about in the wild, feel free to laugh and treat it with the derision and contempt that it so richly deserves.

#final fantasy vii #ffvii #ffvii rebirth #final fantasy vii rebirth #final fantasy 7 remake #clerith #cloud x aerith #rant #final gritty reality #but she ded tho #spoilers

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cosmic-metanoia · 1 year ago

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Femininity Concepts in FFXVI

***Spoilers for Final Fantasy XVI***

Well, here I am again, now focusing on the female characters.

Like I did in the previous post, I will focus on the female Dominants first then highlight some secondary characters that really stood out.

*Jill - Come on, we gotta start with our beloved gal. She demonstrates this silent but strong (and even fearsome) spirit. She's very supportive of Clive but is not afraid to voice her opinions. She possesses a natural elegance and grace but demonstrates her fierce capabilities on the battlefield. She has a knack for negotiation and relating to others. We really see her unveil her dark side when she confronts her past head on in the Iron Kingdom. What's fantastic is that she asked for Clive's support and understanding but made it clear that she would be the one to face off against the Crystalline Orthodoxy's head priest (his name escapes me). Jill may not always make background commentary but her words are carefully selected and measured.

*Benedikta - She is your classic femme fatale that plays with men to further advance her position. Yet the one who she is in a love/hate relationship with is the one she can't have. She is ferocious yet what makes her different is that she contains this hidden sorrow and just wants to be genuinely loved. The way she frantically panicked when she lost her Eikon honestly brought tears to my eyes. She ended up with the wrong crowd and played this game of political chess in a room full of powerful men yet she instantly realized how useless she was to them in that moment of losing her most valuable piece.

*Side note: Let's hope that Leviathan the Lost is another female Eikon when the DLC hits in the next few months!! <3

*Jote - Okay, this awesome woman is HIGHLY underrated! She is incredibly enigmatic and we learn so much about her from the thoughts of other characters but never from her own lips! Initially players may brush her off as some unimportant maid servant but we see that she is so much more - a shield, a formidable fighter (though never witnessed!), a healer, a scout, etc. She's basically doing the jobs of Tarja, Clive, and Gav wrapped up in one! Yet her eyes give away her feelings towards Joshua and especially when she frets over his health. Yes, she longs for him but what makes it unique is that she loves him for who he is, not for what benefits his Eikon brings to the Undying that worships him.

*Mid - A freakin' prodigy. I mean, she is the head of the hideaway engineers! An occupation that is stereotypically masculine. She is 100% focused on her tasks and is not your typical 16 year old gal for sure. Her genius inventions, zest for life, and fast-talking mannerisms has all of the hideaway family wrapped around her finger (true, also because she is Cid's daughter). That whole scene with Joshua kneeling to kiss her hand upon meeting her cracked me up - she's the last woman who requires a chivalrous display but what I love is how she laughed and pulled him up and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

*Charon - What can I say, this woman does not take s--- from ANYONE. She's even intimidating to some of the men at the hideaway which is absolutely hilarious. She is a hardened woman that commands respect but has her softer side which takes time to reveal. Money is on her mind but eventually she learns that there should be more to life - using her abilities as a cunning merchant to help a cause greater than herself.

*Tarja - Like Charon, she also does not accept any B.S. and takes her job as the non-magical physicker very seriously. What's great is that she isn't a nurse but the actual (and only) doctor of the hideaway. Her extensive knowledge is incredibly valuable and the hideaway would definitely not have survived without her.

*Vivian - A woman held in high-esteem who is so focused on the garnering of knowledge that she even gets targeted by assassins. Her intelligence certainly tips the scales in favor of the Cursebreakers to gain the upper hand.

*Anabella - I have a huge post written about her but I figure it's worth mentioning a particular aspect. She possesses quite the evil ambitions and is able to persuade not just the theocratic Sanbrequois emperor but powerful men from other nations - NOT just through her looks but through her conniving strategies. She longs for a powerful legacy forged by the greatest possible noble blood and even views herself as the prized breeding cow.

Some other examples of different aspects of female characters include: Eloise who is an astute businesswoman who conducted deals and contracts while her brother Theodore (sob) became her trusted porter; Martha who is the tough protector of Martha's Rest - the Rosarians put their trust and faith in her; the same with the Northreach residents when it came to Isabelle. What's great about her is that she is a courtesan but we see her blossom into a strong and trustworthy leader that many held in high esteem.

Even the stoic Dorys is the commander of a Cursebreakers squad.

I love how the story had female characters each with their own drives and ambitions whether they were motivated by a just cause or for evil reasons.

#ff16 #ffxvi #final fantasy 16 #final fantasy xvi #ff16 spoilers #ffxvi spoilers #jill warrick #ffxvi jote #ff16 jote #ff16 tarja #anabella rosfield #benedikta harman #midadol telamon #ff16 mid

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hugmekenobi · 2 years ago

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Wardrobe Change

A Bad Batch Series interlude oneshot

Image from the Popverse courtesy of Lucasfilm (my gif searches were being very uncooperative)

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Summary: Times change, uniforms change and this new design has its fair share of admirations.

Warnings: No use of y/n, pet names (sweetheart), Cid being Cid, I make up a timeline, affectionate possessiveness, fluff and feelings, Force communication working how I say it does, PDA in the form of making out and affectionate biting, spicy/suggestive dialogue, getting caught/interrupted, awkwardness

Masterlist for Season 1 chapters

Word Count: 4.7K

Rating: 18+

Author’s notes: It’s the last of the oneshots before we get into S2! This was purely because I wanted to start S2 off with the armour changes being understood and so I didn’t have to describe them lol but I hope there’s more substance for y’all to enjoy! Big shout out to @hugmedin who helped me when I got hit with a bad bit of writer’s block and wrote a section of this, including my favourite line in this fic that had me freaking out when I read it, love you my guy!!

“Okay! I have them! Ugh this is so heavy!”

You all turned your attention over to the loud thud and you smiled as you saw Lyra collapsed over the container she had previously been carrying. She’d only just managed to get it through the doorway. “You should’ve told us. We’d have helped you bring it over.” You said as you stood up and walked over to her.

“It’s part of the service.” Lyra panted as she stood up and smoothed down her top. “I think you guys will like what I’ve done.”

“Can you get that out the way? It’s blocking the entrance! We don’t have all day for this. I have my own business to run!” Cid said by way of greeting.

“You weren’t exaggerating.” Lyra muttered.

“Give it 6 months and you’ll be on mildly better terms.” You uttered back with grin.

“Oi! Either help her or get out of her way. It’s bad enough you’re using my place as your fitting rooms!” Cid barked over at you.

“Better terms?” Lyra said with a small laugh.

“I did say mildly.” You replied, grabbing the other side of the box, and lifting it over to where the rest of your squad had congregated in the corner.

“Are they finally ready?” Omega asked excitedly as she gave Tech the datapad back.

“Omega, we haven’t finished-”

“Come on, Tech! I can do it later!” Omega griped.

Tech sighed in defeat.

“A quick break won’t hurt Tech.” You appeased.

“Let me see!” Omega said.

“Okay kid, hang on.” Lyra said with a smile. She opened the box and began the process of handing the updated armour out. “I played around a bit with them.”

“How much?” Hunter and Echo asked warily as they took theirs from her.

“Don’t stress. It’ll all look perfect. I changed the colours and symbols as requested but I got rid of a couple things that weren’t really necessary. You guys have more civilian type clothing to wear underneath now, rather than just those blacks you’d handed over. And that means you don’t have to always change into these clothes you’re wearing now if you want to take your armour off. Oh, and your codpieces are gone.”

“You took away a whole section of our armour?” Tech asked sceptically as he took his.

“They were annoying me.” She replied simply. “And I don’t think you’re in a position to act like it’s a super crucial piece you’re missing. You don’t have any thigh armour. That wasn’t a change I made, that was all you.” She added pointedly.

Tech opened his mouth to protest but he couldn’t think of a rebuttal fast enough.

You chuckled as you watched Tech walk away, mumbling something under his breath about how it suits his needs just fine.

“Where’s mine?” Omega asked eagerly.

“Alright kid. Here you go.” Lyra passed the pile of clothes over to Omega who grabbed them keenly and dashed off to change.

“Did I see a hat?” You asked as you watched her turn the corner.

“It makes the outfit.” Lyra replied with a smile.

You laughed. “I won’t question your style.”

“Good. Cause now it’s your turn.”

“You only changed the colour, right?”

“In a way…”

“Lyra…”

“Calm down. It’s nothing crazy. I still kept the hood and mask element you like. I just started from scratch. The top you bought from me before isn’t really suitable for what you do. I didn’t realise you operated with no armour at all. If I gave you the original one back, it would only be a matter of time before you had rips in it. I’m surprised it was in one piece for so long.”

“Okay… so?”

“So, I got my hands on this new material that is generally just sturdier so that’ll help, and you have some armour of your own.”

“Armour?” You said sceptically as you watched her reach down.

“Not a lot.” She reassured you. “I figured you liked the freedom of movement, it’s just a couple of things. Here’s the top.”

You took it from her, and you could already tell that it was better quality. The black fabric was thick but when you put it over your head, it fit snugly but still allowed for flexible movement. The mask and hood were indeed still there and where your previous top had red lining on the outside, this one now had a turquoise. Your eyes also noted the small white half skull that seemed to have been another element that was carried over. “And this was an essential thing you needed to keep?” You said, pointing to the sign.

Lyra grinned. “You both like it and don’t try to deny it.”

You rolled your eyes but smiled with her. “This is perfect though, thanks!”

“I’m not done.” She handed over the additional pieces to your ensemble.

You took the small parts of armour she’d give you. They were black and decorated with a mix of white and turquoise stripes. You also realised they were like the ones Hunter wore on his forearms. She’d also added a pair of black gloves.

“This means you’re also getting rid of that horrendous thing keeping that vibroblade on your thigh.” Lyra ordered.

“There’s nothing wrong with it!” You said defensively, glancing down to your thigh where your vibroblade was encased. Sure, the strap was fraying, and it was no longer the same colour as it was when you had first got it and some of the leather was showing cracks, but it served its purpose just fine. Plus, it had been with you through a lot of highs and lows and although a mantra throughout your life had been ‘no attachments,’ you had found that both Hunter and this strap were exceptions to the rule and you were rather fond of it.

Lyra just gave you a sad look. “Look at it. It’s disgusting. Throw it in here and never think about it again.” She insisted, turning the box towards you.

You sighed and chucked your vibroblade on the table before you threw your old strap into the empty container. You attached the new pieces to your forearms before you sheathed your vibroblade into the one on your left arm. You then put the next pieces that ran from your shoulders to the end of your upper arm. You were annoyed to find that Lyra was right, and you didn’t feel restricted by having them there.

“And you told me yourself your blaster holster is a hand-me-down from Tech. Put that one away too.”

“You were just waiting for a chance to upgrade my stuff weren’t you?” You grumbled as you took your blaster out and removed your holster. It joined your old vibroblade strap.

“Oh yeah.” Lyra said with a smug smile.

You attached the new holster to your thigh and put your blaster in it. “Happy now?” You asked, gesturing up and down your body.

“You look hot!” Lyra said as she circled you, studying how you looked with the new parts on.

“Shut up.” You laughed, slightly flustered.

“Your sergeant is a lucky guy. How’d your secret project got by the way?”

Before you could reply, a shout got both of your attention.

“We’re ready! I love it!”

You turned to the sound of Omega’s voice, and you grinned as you saw her delighted expression. It had been a while since Kamino and Omega had definitely grown so it was about time she had something that fit with that, and she did now. She had grey bottoms and a red top which was worn underneath a light blue layer, and she had red fabric wrapped around her right wrist. The hat was a cute touch as well. The rest of your squad also looked pretty good. It was odd though, seeing them in colours that weren’t the signature ones they used wear and any insignia illustrating them being Clone Force 99 being gone.

Lyra clapped her hands together. “I truly outdid myself! You guys look fabulous!”

“Yeah, you guys look great!” You added.

Wrecker and Omega beamed, whilst Tech and Echo merely gave small nods.

“You look great too!” Omega said as she walked over to you.

“Yeah, Hunter’s got colours like that too. You guys’ll look good!” Wrecker added.

You smiled and rolled your eyes. “Speaking of that, where is our fearless leader?” You asked.

“He wanted to rearrange the scarf.” Echo replied.

“Scarf?” You repeated, your throat going dry. You looked over to Lyra.

She shrugged. “I like accessories. Sue me.”

You turned your head over to the sound of Hunter coming back into the main area and it took everything in you not to stare at him for an abnormal amount of time. His armour, like the rest of theirs had maintained most of its original structure-minus the codpiece- and his colours were indeed similar to the ones you had. He had the more civilian looking clothes underneath with the rest of his armour donning a mix of black, white, and turquoise. He had the same bit of orange running down the centre of his chest plate like his brothers had and his helmet still had half of it painted white to match the skull tattoo on his face. The red wrappings around his wrists mirrored the one Omega had and the red scarf… well the scarf was definitely a nice added feature.

Hunter nearly did a double take as he saw you. You looked… well you looked powerful, capable. Not that you didn’t look like that already but there was something about seeing you with actual armour that accentuated that part of you. Plus, the fact he was wearing colours that matched with yours was an added bonus.

“Well, my work here is done!” Lyra said cheerily as she bent down to grab the now empty case.

Hunter tore his eyes away from you and nodded his thanks to her before he saw that you were still looking at him. “What?” He asked as he joined the others and grabbed a drink. He brought his cup to his lips.

“Nothing. Looks good.” You said casually, turning away to follow Lyra out. Just thinking of all the things a scarf can do that a bandana can’t.

The choked splutter that followed had you smirking to yourself as you walked out the door.

“You sure we don’t owe you anything for this?” You double checked as you both stood outside the entrance to Cid’s.

Lyra shook her head. “You guys helped me out when I was being harassed by Marco and his goons. We’re even now.”

“Yeah, but getting to beat up Marco and Co is fun.” You said lightly. “You don’t need to repay us for that.”

“I wanted to. Besides, it was actually kinda fun. I haven’t had a project like that to work on in a while. Just point people in my direction if they ask who did this fabulous work and we’re all good.”

You huffed out a laugh. “You got it. I’ll see you around, Lyra. Thank you.”

“Yeah, see you around!” She grabbed her stuff and walked away.

You fished the necklace out your pocket and studied the small symbol on the end of the black leather cord. It wouldn’t be noticeable under his clothes and armour. You just hoped he would like it.

You and Hunter seemed to find any excuse to gravitate towards one another and touch each other, even if it was nothing more than a simple touch that lasted a matter of seconds. Yes, you’d started it with your comment about the scarf, but he really wasn’t helping with things. The air between the two of you had been charged ever since you’d walked back down those steps and now every touch sent warmth flooding through you, and you were sure it was the same for him. To the others, the hand wrapped around your shoulder seemed completely innocent since you were all engaged in casual conversations, but it sent a thrumming through your veins you couldn’t control. And, judging by the way he’d tensed up when you’d laid your hand on his thigh, you weren’t the only one. You all had shed your armour since Cid didn’t have a mission so that definitely wasn’t making things any easier for you.

It felt like a test. Who was going to be the one to give in first? You really didn’t want it to be you and you think you had a way to do that. As Wrecker and Omega got up to go play a game of Dejarik, with Tech and Echo going to watch, you turned to face him. “Can I talk to you outside?”

Hunter looked at you quizzically but nodded and followed you as you stood up.

You made your way to the exit.

“Where are you going?” Omega asked as she waited for Wrecker to make his move.

“We’ll be back.” You replied.

“Everything okay?” Hunter asked as you began to pace in front of him.

“Yes. I just- Look I’m- What I’m trying-.” You stopped with an aggravated huff. You’d rehearsed this countless times in your head, and it wasn’t a big deal, worst he could say was no.

“Sweetheart.” Hunter grabbed your wrist to get you to stop walking. “Take a breath, look at me.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Don’t call me that.”

Hunter tilted his head. “Why not? You usually don’t mind it. In fact, you tend to quite enjoy it.” He added with a smirk.

You shot him a playful glare and removed his hand which had worked its way to your waist. “Yes, exactly. You’re distracting me and I have a plan here. You’re not going to ruin it with your-” You didn’t finish your sentence, you just gestured to him.

Hunter held his hands up in mock surrender and leaned against the edge of the entry way.

You inhaled deeply and started pacing again. “I consider myself a pretty independent person, you know? Not one to be dependent on much, certainly not a man in my life. But then you come along, and suddenly I’m finding particular things I thought I would hate, quite, well, quite attractive. Take this for example.” You pointed to the half skull on your top. “I was convinced I would hate it, but I don’t. I don’t mind the message it sends.” You stopped and faced him. “However, I can’t just be what this suggests. You’re a part of me, the whole squad is, but I don’t want to be seen as someone whose only purpose is to belong to you.”

Hunter straightened up as he addressed you. “I know that. If I’ve given you reason to believe otherwise, I’m sorry. I’m sure Lyra could change it. I didn’t mean-”

“Hunter, I know.” You reassured him. “That’s not what I’m saying. I only mean I thought it would be nice if you maybe had something that- uh.” You broke off with an awkward cough before you continued, “Represented me.” You brought the necklace out and handed it to him.

“Where’d you make that?” Hunter asked quietly as he studied the necklace which had attached to it a tiny metallic symbol. A symbol he’d seen many times during the Clone Wars. It was the symbol for the Jedi Order.

“Lyra gave me access to her stuff. Don’t worry, she didn’t know exactly what I was doing.” You added quickly as you saw the concern that flashed across his face. You looked down at the ground and scuffed the toe of your boot through the dirt. “Do you like it? I know it’s a bit risky but figured you could conceal it easily enough and I-” The strong hands on your waist that guided you backwards to the wall cut you off. You glanced up but before you could take your next breath, Hunter’s lips met yours and what little resistance you had left crumbled, but hey, technically he kissed you first, so you counted it as a win. You let him press his body tight to yours and you kissed him eagerly. You like it then?

Hunter didn’t answer directly. He just kissed along your jaw and nipped the skin by the spot behind your ear that he knew would elicit a moan from you and you didn’t disappoint. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” He said, still out of breath and his voice even lower than what it usually was.

You released a sigh and your head fell back against the wall as he continued to leave marks on the skin of your neck. I have a pretty good idea.

“I’m serious.” He slid his hand on your cheek, so you were forced to look at him and he very nearly lost it. Your eyes were wide, and your breathing was still uneven, and he wanted nothing more than to continue but he needed to say this first. “From the minute you showed up on Devaron to help, I was enthralled by you. You took out a line of droids with nothing more than a slightly longer vibroblade on your back and acted like it was a regular day. Sure, later on we discovered there was a bit more reason behind that.”

You smiled slightly but your eyes dipped down as a wave of guilt washed over you at the memory of your dishonesty.

“Hey.” Hunter said softly as he saw your mind leave the current moment. He tucked his finger under your chin and angled your face back up. “That’s not why I brought it up. Don’t go back there. Stick with me here cause there’s a point to all this, I promise.”

You sighed and nodded.

Hunter breathed deeply. “You were incredible and there was no hesitation from me, or the others quite frankly, when it came to offering a place with us. I just underestimated the impact you were going to have on my life. It didn’t take long for my brothers to start giving me a hard time, but I was too stubborn to listen.”

Join the club.

He smiled at you before he continued. “Remember, when there was that stampede of Reeks and I got hurt. It was about two months after you’d joined us?” When he saw you nod, he carried on, “You remember how I got injured?”

“The last dregs of the Separatist droids sent a final charge our way. The blast meant I slipped and fell into the cavern where they were running. You came after me and pushed me out the way.” You said softly.

“Yeah, I did. I- I was in love with you then.”

“Well, then we were on very similar timelines.” You revealed with a smile.

Hunter huffed out a laugh. “So, fast forward to now. You’re wearing something that ties you to me and I don’t think you realise exactly the effect that has on me. And then I come out to see I’m wearing the same the colours you are. And to top it off, you’re asking me to wear something that ties me to you? I can say with no hesitation that you’re a part of me too.” With that, he looped it over his neck.

You took a shaky breath as you watched him put it on and you understood why the half skull on your top had meant so much to him. “You think the colours thing only mattered to you? Why do you think I had to give it to you now?” You murmured. “You were killing me in there.”

Hunter nuzzled into your neck. “That why you dragged me out here? Couldn’t wait?” He muttered into your skin and began to place light kisses on your neck, altering what side had his attention.

“That why you followed me out here?” You countered as you struggled to keep your composure.

“I thought you wanted to talk.” Hunter replied, his eyes lifting to yours, an unspoken challenge behind them.

“I-I did talk.” You maintained.

“And now?”

“And now I’m done.” You grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him with fervour. And I’m counting this as a win. You broke first.

Hunter chuckled and moved so his lips brushed against your jawline again as his hand trailed from your cheek down to your neck where it stopped for a moment before he continued, and his palm came to rest on the left side of your chest. Your heartbeat pounded beneath his fingertips.

You didn’t let him linger there too long. Wrapping your hands around the back of his neck, you pulled him in even closer and bucked your hips forward into him in an attempt to banish the remaining space between the two of you. As you did so Hunter let out a moan into the crook of your neck and the resulting vibrations sent your mind to mush. Your hands frantically grabbed at his shirt, the fabric bunching in between your fingers as you tried to bring him even closer. You let out a frustrated moan, you felt like he was holding back, and you were losing patience.

Hunter let out a soft chuckle and you could feel his smile against your skin, genuine and unfiltered. “Relax.” he whispered into your ear. “I’m right here.”

Your hands slid from his waist up the length of his back, his muscles rigid but warm against your palm. You nipped at his ear, your hips still bucking into him, and you’d never been more thankful that Lyra had gotten rid of the cod pieces, but it also meant you became more and more desperate.

“I need you closer.” Your voice came out strained as you looked up at him and you made no attempt to disguise your desire as you continued to press yourself against him.

“That can be arranged.”

The lights in the alleyway were dim but you could have sworn you saw a glimmer form in his eyes, the kind that only appeared when the two of you were alone. Upon seeing that, all sensible thoughts about the risks of doing this in public left your head completely.

Bending down ever so slightly he brought both his hands to the back of your thighs lifting you up against the wall in one swift movement. Instinctively, you wrapped your legs around his waist as he held you in position against the wall. Your fingers found themselves wrapped up in Hunter’s hair which you used to gently tug his face away from where he was placing deep kisses along your collarbone. He let out a deep sigh which caught in his throat and resembled something close to a growl. As you held his head there you allowed yourself a moment to admire the way his eyes had grown darker, and his chest and shoulders heaved as he caught his breath. His lips remained parted as he patiently waited for instructions from you. Removing your hand from his hair you brought it back to caress his tattooed cheek, this time allowing your thumb to softly trail his lower lip.

He drew you into a deep kiss, the kind that left your lips raw and your lungs begging for oxygen that you swore you could definitely live without - but eventually you had to give into your reflex and come up for air.

Hunter broke away first, bringing his forehead to rest tenderly against yours. His hands reached under your top; his gloved hands caressed your skin. “You sure about doing this here? I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop once-”

Yes. You nodded eagerly but before you were able to continue, a horrified shout got both of your attention.

“Ugh are you kidding me! You two really couldn’t wait?! Ugh my eyes!” Wrecker complained as he instantly turned away from the scene in front of him.

Hunter quickly let you down and he was sure your mortified expression matched his and you both turned to face the backs of Wrecker and Echo.

“Oh, uh, hey boys. What, eh, what brings you out here?” You winced out as you adjusted your top.

At the sound of your feet hitting the ground, Echo turned to face you both and gave a disapproving stare. “Omega is about to play Tech and wanted to see if any of you wanted the next round so, we came out to ask. She nearly left to ask herself, but I figured based on past experience-”

“Okay.” Hunter interrupted him before he went any further.

You can turn around, Wrecker.

Wrecker took you at your word. “What happened to talking?”

“I mean… we did talk. Just got a bit carried away.” Your eyes focused on fiddling with the end of your sleeve.

“I’ll say.” Wrecker griped.

“That’s the third time this month. We’ve talked about this. It was bad enough when Tech interrupted you guys in the cockpit.” Echo chastised you both.

Hunter couldn’t find any words. He just kept his eyes on the ground.

“Hey, you didn’t have to listen to the lecture he gave afterwards on the importance of hygiene and sanitation.” You grumbled.

“You’ve been lucky it hasn’t been Omega yet.” Echo continued, paying little attention to your words.

You knew he was right. The two of you had been pretty reckless lately and the very fact Omega hadn’t been one of the unfortunates to witness said reckless moments is something you thanked the Force for. “I’m sorry, we’ll be better.”

“Yeah, sorry boys. It won’t happen again.” Hunter said firmly.

A few beats of uncomfortable silence passed.

“You guys aren’t coming back down any time soon, are you?” Echo asked reluctantly as he nodded to where both of your hands were.

The two of you hadn’t noticed the new places your hands had found themselves in. Your fingers were lightly tracing up and down Hunter’s arm whilst his had found itself around your waist again and his thumb rubbed up and down your side. Upon hearing Echo’s words, you both glanced at each other. Tell Omega I owe her a game. We’ll be back later tonight. You said in a way of reply, your brain slowly starting to block the presence of the other two out.

Echo sighed tiredly. “Just get out of here. Come on, Wrecker. We probably don’t want to linger here much longer.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Wrecker hastily turned on his heels and walked back down the steps to Cid’s, with Echo following close behind.

“Well… that could’ve been worse.” You mumbled into his shoulder after they left before you trailed a line of kisses along his neck, your teeth lightly grazed his skin.

“I can’t say I can see how. That was- that was pretty awkward.” Hunter managed to stammer out.

“I could’ve been in a more compromising position.” You purred as your hand trailed down his chest and you made to kneel in front of him. You knew he was feeling more sensible, and you definitely knew it was better to head back to the Marauder but that didn’t mean you couldn’t have your fun.

He swiftly tugged you back up and shook his head at you as he saw the cat-like grin on your face. “Careful, or I’ll have to continue this here anyway.” Hunter groaned as you slowly ground your hips against him.

“Promises, promises.” You whispered back, tugging his lip between your teeth and you took pleasure in the low moan that left him. Your hands kept a tangled grip in the scarf as you kissed him and tugged him to you.

Before he really did get too carried away, Hunter pulled away, but he still kept you tight to him. “I believe you had some thoughts for the use of this scarf? I got some ideas.” Hunter rasped.

“Hmm, I’m much more of a practical learner.” You hummed against his lips.

Stifling a groan, Hunter kissed you once more before he wrapped an arm around your waist and the two of you hustled away to the Marauder.

Masterlist

Tagging@ @noeasyisnoisy, @tpwkcalli, @fuckoffthanos, @arctrooper69, @graciexmarvel, @flyingkangaroo, @nightmonkeysstuff, @a-streakofazure, @ladytano420, @dragonrider9905, @keep-calm-and-drink-caf, @yyourmotherr, @xxeiraxx

#the bad batch #hunter x reader #hunter x fem!reader #hunter x femalejedi!reader #hunter x female!reader #sergeant hunter x reader #sergeant hunter #hunter tbb #hunter the bad batch #the bad batch hunter x you #hunter x y/n #tbb hunter x reader #the bad batch fanfiction #star wars #friends to lovers #smut

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getvalentined · 11 months ago

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More Pokémon Holy/Meteor stuff. Nero's little profile isn't here because I have a whole picture of him on the same vein as Vincent's that I'd like to finish eventually. I am missing a handful of characters that would be in the "game," most notably the title's Professor (for which I am still torn between two options and may never settle) as well as Grimoire and Veld, who are both in the story but not technically integral to the main storyline(s).

There's a lot more than this bouncing around in my head but it's a lot so I'll stop with these and the notes below unless people are interested in something specific not covered here. (If so, drop me an ask and I'll happily answer! I love talking about my needlessly complicated crossover AUs, but they are so needlessly complicated that I don't generally just infodump about them.)

Other notes under the cut!

Cloud is the player character; the starting age for a Pokémon Journey in the Midgar region is 14, and he was 16 at the time of the accident, making him 21 during the main story. The storyline reflects this, as Cloud is much older than a standard protag for this series, but he's been out of the world recovering for long enough that he's still got a unique sort of naïveté. (Tifa would probably be the female protag but Cloud is the default here sorry.)

Sephiroth is the main "rival" in Pokémon Meteor, Genesis is the "rival" in Pokémon Holy, although they both appear in both titles and serve the same overall function for the narrative. They are not antagonists.

The Legendary for Meteor is "Jenosynthe," a reference to Jenova Synthesis; Holy has "Omegaia," which is a reference to Omega and to Gaia/Minerva. They have particular connections to Sephiroth and Genesis respectively, and Grimoire's contribution to the plot allows the player to obtain the other title's Legendary post-game.

The Midgar region is the only one to have "Variant" gyms, which focus on regional variants rather than a specific type. This is a new, secondary path with badges that can be mixed and matched with standard type-based gyms to reach the required number of badges to take on the League.

Other gym leaders: Kunsel (Psychic, he battles blindfolded), Reno and Rude (Electric), Yuffie (Hisuian variant), Rosso (Fighting*), Sonon (undecided on his gym but he's here), Weiss (Ground, because I love a stupid reference), and Chadley (secret unlockable Shiny variant gym, only accessible if you beat all the other gyms on both paths, bestows the Shiny charm), as well as others. *Veld's gym used to be Fighting-type but Tseng converted it when he took over following Veld's retirement, allowing Rosso to move out of her previous position with the League and set up a new one.

Other members of Team Helletic: Azul, Rayleigh, Gillian and Angeal (the "multi-generational multi-battle"), Sebastian and Essai (who are under the control of Something), and Shears, as well as others. Hollander was a member until the incident five years ago, which is implied to have led to his death.

Other important NPCs: Cid (the fast travel guy, may work with the Professor), Barret (runs the Pokémon breeding center), Cait Sith (a navi system that shows up through a specific set of sidequests and is revealed to be Reeve's at the end), Shelke (appears in the same sidequests as Cait Sith), Dio (runs a facility for fast EV training), and Johnny (nobody knows why he's here but he sure is), as well as others.

#pokemon holy/meteor #headcanon warning #pokemon crossover #final fantasy VII #FFVII #final fantasy 7 #FF7 #before crisis #crisis core #dirge of cerberus #the gang's all here!

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mooonjin · 2 years ago

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Hi I don't know if your requests are open but can you do a Hunter X female reader she likes nature and he does too they connect it be a soft wholesome story.

Butterfly

Notes: SUCH A CUTE PROMPT!!!!! ii hope this is what you like <3333 and as promised, the fic!!! i hope this is also confort enough after the tbb finale :((

Pairing: Hunter x f!reader

Summary: You, a nature lover on Raxus has to deal with the changes of the New Empire. But a new path has opened, a path to another nature lover. A person you wouldn't expect to love nature too.

Warnings/Tags: fluff, mentions of the Empire, nature, implied f!reader but i dont use many pronouns (i dont think 0.0), cute tension ⁠— tell me if I've missed anything!

The suns rays gently pushed its way through the lush, orange and green mixed trees. It was always such a lovely view to admire and even better to even sit and relax under. The golden ropes shining against you as you feel the warm heat.

Raxus was responsible for the beautiful horizons and lands you grew up around, your mother and father always making sure there was time for the family to go out and acknowledge what the planet offered.

They shielded you from the war, considering they were on the side of the Separatists, they didn't want you in on politics, especially because your mother was a senator for Raxus. They wanted you to be happy and appreciate the better things in life.

That's how you fell in love with nature.

Everyday, just how your parents did it, you would go out, sit on the same tree log that you carved your names into—with cutely failed love hearts that almost looked like stars��and just sit. Sit and cherish the time you had with the singing birds and the sun that continued to shine.

It was post-Clone Wars now. The Galactic Empire rose to power.

Suddenly, the atmosphere around you changed drastically. As you grew older, you slowly learned about the horrible war that happened and now, a new position in power is pushing all of these absurd laws. Weren't you practically on their side?

Now, finding the time to be by yourself and away from everyone else became difficult. There was either a clone or a TK trooper around every corner you turned.

Luckily, there was a forest close to your home that the trees tower over, making it tough to land, large, Imperial shuttles on.

They attempted to cut them down but they were too thick and wasted time, according to the really angry commanding officers you overheard.

You now had a beautiful space to relax in. You were upset the log that had your parents names on it wasn't by the forest but the Empire would've arrested you and you wouldn't have been able to sit in environment solitude any longer.

The sun rays continued to shine through the trees, the rays longer and brighter because of the tall trees. There seems to be more animals around this area, you assumed they moved habitats because of how forceful the Empire was.

You were able to close your eyes, feeling safe and listen to the insects, the mammals do their animal things.

You had an idea to bring a little notebook with you and write songs with the tune of how the animals sang to each other during the day and how they chirped at night.

"Ah, the beauties of life," you grinned.

"We are coming up on Raxus," Tech's voice echoed down the Marauder, hoping Wrecker wasn't asleep. As the shuttle entered Raxus' atmosphere, the view of the orange and green arranged forests was even better aerial.

The city heart was in the distance, the buildings standing strong and silver. Despite the pretty exterior, the city was surrounded by Imperial troops from head to toe.

Tech landed the shuttle in a remote area, a forest with tall trees to stay undercover.

The sun was already beginning to set, Cid giving the Batcher's almost no information about the retrieval mission. It seems they had little time to break out whoever their client was.

"Wow, this place is beautiful," Omega was in awe as her eyes panned the high trees and the lush grass around them, her irises sparkling against the sun rays.

A small butterfly landed briefly on her head, causing her to chuckle before it flew off into the distance.

Hunter watched her, like a protective brother would do. He too was in awe with the plants around them.

He was particularly fond of nature, not even his brothers knew. Whenever they were free and Cid hadn't given them a job, he would sit against logs to watch the clouds surf the Ord Mantell mountains.

It was the only nature he could watch, the sandy atmosphere not bringing much but he still appreciated what he was given. Hunter always thought of visiting Raxus, having luscious ambience. He would've even considered putting aside his soldier life to live here.

Unfortunately, he had to visit the wonderful planet on the opposing side.

On the other hand, Echo and Wrecker were a little wary about this place. Crosshair was off to the side, chewing on his toothpick. He was wary too but a job was a job at the end of the day.

All they knew was their client is a Separatist and they're rescuing them.

"Hunter, four Imperial shuttles have just entered Raxus' atmosphere and are headed for the capital city. We might not be able to engage at all and complete the mission without getting caught." Tech was tapping away at his datapad, the small nods of his head suggesting they don't go forth with the mission right now.

Hunter sighed, "Do we have time early morning?"

They all looked at Tech, who was probably calculating the hours of possibility. With one last button touch, all he responded with was, 'yes.'

With a defeated sigh, everybody trekked back to the Marauder. Wrecker was desperate to sleep the evening away with Omega and Crosshair. Maker forbid when they sleep, Wrecker snores. Tech and Echo had their business about mechanical stuff up by the cockpit, maybe to double-check what needed to be repaired and added to the list.

However, Hunter wanted to do something else.

The night was breezy, the weather was nice, and you could hear the nocturnal animals emerge from their homes. The Imperial patrols usually regroup and do their daily meetings and reports so you had freedom to roam the forests without getting caught.

You carried your night lamp, your journal inside your pouch, and of course an electro staff for your own protection. Fortunately, you rarely had to use it.

As you walked down the sandy hill towards the high trees, you noticed there were more fireflies out so you cranked down the brightness on your lamp to embrace the natural light.

The trees always provided you comfort. They were like protectors. You kept walking along the sandy rubble, the path slowly fading into the green grass beneath your feet.

You waved to the curious rabbits that popped their heads through the fluffy bushes. You chuckled gently as the fireflies surrounded you curiously, almost tickling you as they made their way through the forest.

Hunter was sat on the ramp of the Marauder, his helmet off next to him. He was watching the white moon walk the night sky of Raxus, the gentle breeze brushing up against his long curls.

A curious tooka cat trotted towards Hunter, sniffing the ramp and his armoured boots. It purred, looking up at Hunters eyes. He smiled at the animal before it ran off, something else catching its attention.

Hunter stood up, walking down to the grassy plains beneath the ramp. He ran his fingers against the soft plants, inhaling the fresh air.

This felt nice, putting the soldier role aside and admiring what else life had to offer.

You were nearing your resting spot, grinning softly as you observed the birds feeding their childrens and singing lullabies. You jogged to your little spot, a small rocky cliff area to get a beautiful view of the rivers.

You closed your eyes, breathing in the air and listening to the gentle sound of the flowing water.

Startled, you yelped a bit as a butterfly landed on your nose, "Oh my, you scared me. I don't blame you, this a lovely place to play around," you chuckled, gently picking the insect and letting it fly away.

As Hunter walked back to the Marauders ramp to call it there, his senses picked up something in the distance. There was mumbling in the distance, he couldn't tell exactly what it was but it alerted him. He was swift to grab his blaster and his helmet to approach the noise.

Obviously approaching something you don't know isn't smart but Hunter was not about let something or someone jeopardise the beginning of the mission. As Hunter stealthily walked through the tall trees in the direction of the noise, he saw a silhouette.

He pushed away a bush to get a better look.

It wasn't a creature and definitely wasn't anything Imperial.

It was a person.

A very beautiful person.

Hunter lowered his blaster, his gaze softening under his helmet. You were giggling at the same tooka cat he saw earlier that was now brushing up against your knees. The tooka seemed to be extremely comfortable with you, almost jumping up onto your shoulders excitedly.

The cat meowed particularly loud and unfortunately, in Hunters direction. It caught him off guard. You were confused why the tooka suddenly ran away meowing like it was in distress.

That was when you saw Hunter.

Instinctively, you drew your electro staff, lighting it up. This man, who you've never seen before had managed to sneak up on you, wearing armour that was too similar to the clone troopers in the Empire.

You were just confused as to why it was all black and red.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" You called out to the trooper. Hunter tucked away his blaster, his hands coming up and out defensively.

"It's okay, I'm not here to hurt anyone." Hunter took one gentle step further, causing you to jolt the staff in his direction. He flinched.

"I don't enjoy repeating myself," you huffed, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Hunter slowly took off his helmet to show he wasn't a threat. He even took out his blaster and threw it aside.

Your eyes scanned him. He had a skull tatted on half his face, a red bandana with a skull imprinted on it. He had a prominent nose, dark brown eyes, and a strong jaw.

He also looked like a clone. Well, the face shape of one at least.

"Hunter, and I'm here by myself," that was a lie, "I'm just here to enjoy the forest."

You titled your head slightly. This... man, who had very similar features and outfit as a soldier, enjoying nature? That's a first.

You deactivated the electricity on your staff but you still kept it grasped in your hand, just in case.

You introduced yourself to him. His voice was low and soft, raspy but clear. There were visible wrinkles on his face and he tends to squint a lot when he spoke.

"Never met anyone on Raxus who enjoys the forest," you spoke. It was true, everyone was too focused on the economy, the war, the Empire, and trying to get off the planet. No one seemed to have time to sit down and admire nature.

"You learn something new," Hunter shrugged, "Do you mind if I sit?" you hesitated, your fingers clenching the hilt of your staff. You didn't know if he was undercover for the Empire or not.

Despite discarding his blaster, there was a vibro knife holster on his arm, very yellow and obvious.

"No tricks."

Hunter nodded, approaching your side to sit down. He was surprised at the view he was met with. A calm and clear river running down the slopes like it was skating against the rocks.

You sat down down, your staff clinking by your side as you let go of it. This Hunter person doesn't seem too bad so far, he was too focused on the water flowing. He was an attractive person, you'll give him that but you couldn't let that thought control how you were going to interact with him.

"How did you find this place?" you ran your fingers against a pebble before throwing it into the stream to be swept away.

He shrugged, "I like plant-y, environment stuff. I thought this place looked nice," the tips of your mouth lifted up into a small grin. You were already getting flustered over his voice and you met him five minutes ago. You coughed, shoving those thoughts to the back of your head.

The silence wasn't too uncomfortable. You tuned to the soft noises of nature, trying not to get immensely distracted by the man sat next to you also enjoying the soft noises of nature.

"Do you come here often?" Hunter asked. You watched all of those holofilms before, isn't this what they ask when they have no experience with conversation starters?

You chuckled, "I do, actually. Grew up around here."

Hunter gently nodded his head before facing the stream of water again, "So, you're pro-Empire."

"Hey, just because I grew up here doesn't mean I am," you playfully punched his shoulder, shaking off the slight pain from your knuckles because he was literally in full armour. Hunters hand came up defensively, apologising for his accusation.

"Then I'm surprised you haven't been caught by troops."

"Well, the trees really help with that. They're like my best friends," you stuck your hand out, drifting through the air.

Hunters eyes watched you carefully, he looked at you how you looked at nature. The way your eyes and cheeks lift up into a grin made Hunter smile himself. He had no experience with hanging out with someone other than his brothers. Especially mid-mission.

"I see."

Your hand came back down only to be met with Hunters gloved hand. Flustered, you quickly took your hand off. You mumbled an apology, situating your hand onto your lap. Hunter, who was also flustered, but more embarrassed swiftly changed the subject to save you both.

"So... how much do you know about plants?"

"I know enough to become a botanist," you picked off a small dandelion, blowing the seeds off and watching them float with the wind. They ended up crashing and covering Hunters face, some getting caught in his curls and his bandana. It wasn't very pretty for Hunter, but he looked like an angel covered in it.

Except for the sputtering that happened right after when some managed to get in his mouth.

"Very funny."

You gave him a hearty laugh, "It wasn't on purpose!"

"Whatever you say," Hunter patted himself clean. There was probably a long lost dandelion seed buried in his hair somewhere but he'll find it some how.

The two of you sat comfortably in each others' presence, chatting away about Raxus' trees, the dusty and dry dunes of Tatooine, and the bustling technologies of Coruscant.

You learned he was an ex-GAR soldier, that explained him lugging around in clone trooper armour. He also has an odd obsession with taking care of kids. He sounded like he's very experienced in that field.

The very same tooka cat came back to play around with the both of you. It managed to accidentally stick its fur in Hunters nose, causing you to rumble into a fit of laughter once again. It sent a smile to Hunters face but he was also slightly humiliated.

A couple of stars shot through the navy blue sky, the two of you making wishes that ranged from wanting an Empire-free life to hoping the other person wakes up as a worm.

You both talked, played, pushed, and comforted each other until the suns head poked from out the horizon; you both had fallen asleep next to each other by then.

The chirping and cawing of the birds woke you both up. You had to smack away a couple hungry fruit flies as you sat up. You blinked, stretching your muscles to wake yourself up.

Hunter yawned, "Good sleep?"

"Mhm," you mumbled, your croaky morning voice coming through.

"You seemed at ease when you slept." Hunter also stood up to stretch, unaware of how his words came out.

You chuckled when you saw him freeze in realisation, "That's how it is in the forests."

Hunter brushed off the loose grass that managed to pile up on him whilst he was sleeping. He reached over to grab his helmet, knowing he can't stay here much longer. He would've loved to if he wasn't getting paid to do a job.

"Leaving?" you sounded a little disappointed. You grew to like Hunter and him leaving sort of made you feel lonelier.

"Well, we have our own paths in nature, don't we?" he grinned. Before you could smile too, there was shouting deeper into the forest. Instinctively, you reached for your staff.

"Hunter!" it was another man's voice calling out for Hunter.

"Don't stress, I know those people," his hands came out again defensively. You lowered your staff.

"I suppose you're leaving now?" you rubbed your arm, upset that he would be gone just like that. Maybe he would come back?

Hunter took a couple steps forward, inches away from you. He gently took your hand in his, handing you a spare comm device. You looked into his deep brown eyes, trying not to blush, "My frequency, if you want to stay in touch?"

You nodded, coyly, grasping the comm device. Hunter stepped away, giving you one last message.

"Promise to comm sometime?"

"Of course, trooper."

"See you soon, butterfly."

Hunter's helmet hissed as he put it on before disappearing into the forest just like that.

Butterfly. You liked that nickname.

Post-Notes: im still recovering from wesndays episode TT

wanna be a part of my taglist?

~ ~ ~

@elsastoes @nekotaetae @jiabeewrites @lokigirlszendaya @imalovernotahater @backyard-bear @namesmox

#hunter the bad batch #star wars #the bad batch #the bad batch x reader #hunter x reader #clone trooper x reader #tbb #tbb hunter #mooonjin #HAPPY REDNGGGG!

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seeking-elsewhither · 3 months ago

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@margindoodles2407 @whyoneartheven I bring to you my mother's favored characters on the Bad Batch

1. Hunter - the FIRST name she gives me, says he's good at making the right decisions and at leading (the right decisions?? Mom, are we watching the same show???)

2. Wrecker - the FIRST character she gave a justification for, and she isn't someone who tries to justify herself usually so make of that what you will. Says he's very childish and strong and likeable.

3. Crosshair - she likes the villain, antagonistic aspect of him, likes how there's something more to him than what you first see

4. Nala Se - says she's kind, talks about how she was selfless in trying to help Omega escape instead of using her to gain a position in the Empire, how she tried to help Emerie out by hinting at helping the children in the vault (O.O gosh Mom, you like the most controversial character out there??)

5. Emerie - likes how balanced she is, how she keeps herself on neutral ground instead of choosing sides

I asked her about Tech and Echo and she said there wasn't much that stood out to her about them and they seemed pretty normal.

She said she didn't care much for my girl Omega either *cries*

My notes:

Okay, so Hunter coming out first didn't surprise me much, but it also did. That man has HALF HIS FACE tattooed, and my family is pretty conservative, and my mom doesn't think too highly about tattoos in general. I didn't think too highly of tattoos in general myself until I met the clones, so now I'm neutral to them.

But the right decisions??? Sure, Hunter's making the only choice available - which is usually sub-optimal and pretty unimpressive from a moral standpoint - in most of the episodes, but that doesn't make them right. Echo points this out when he decides to strip the downed Venator on Bracca in order to get out of the debt they owe Cid.

He probably has to make hard decisions a lot of the time, and the Batch trust his intuit on this, but Echo's a more recent joinee so, of course he, who's moral compass is steady as stone, is going to question Hunter.

Omega questions Hunter too when Hera contacts them and he refuses to help Hera. Also when he treats Hera pretty callously after scouting the area and deciding it's too dangerous, and Omega is understandably fuming when Hunter gives Hera a stern no.

I did NOT see Wrecker coming second. That was SO UNEXPECTED honestly, like a sucker punch to the gut.

Crosshair, okay, to be expected, partly because he's impressive as a character and partly because the show sets him up in such a manner over the three seasons so the audience ends up liking him. Do note that the latter fact does not make one stupid for falling for the trick of liking him, because he's such a complicated and wonderful character in his own right.

Nala Se. NALA KRIFFING SE. Whatever I felt for when she said Wrecker, this was TEN TIMES as bad. In Mum's defense, she watched only tbb along with us, and also not consistently. Also, I do remember her mentioning out loud when we first watched Aftermath how Nala Se jammed the hangar doors and let the Batch escape, so yeah, I think she likes this one.

Emerie was pretty unexpected, and I don't have much to say about her unfortunately, but that neutrality is something I didn't notice until recently.

Tech and Echo as NORMAL??? Mom how???

Omega poor lass ;-;

Bonus:

I'm pretty sure my dad likes the Batch too (especially cuz he loves war films and films about soldiers and action and such) and while he does play the part of indifferent-and-slightly-bored-about-this-show-my-crazy-kids-are-watching, there have been moments where he stops and watches along with us.

Getting his opinion on it, however, is harder than impossible. You'll sooner get the world to turn inside out.

He watched the finale, and I wish to GOD I knew what he thought of it :/

#far away galaxy #look!! words!!#seed the stars #defective and effective

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dreadfutures · 1 year ago

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Ooh, what was your inspiration? Music, aesthetics, plot points, etc- anything you feel like sharing! I love hearing about what inspires artists ❤️ Dead Pasts and Dread Futures has such an interesting Lavellan journey and I’m wondering where you get your ideas - ty and have a lovely night ❤️

Hi thank you!! that means a lot. and thanks for indulging me.

For DPDF, the whole origin of the fic was surviving a series of really bad friend breakups that affected me more than anything else in my life and really shaped my worldview, and Ixchel often grapples with similar things. DPDF is very much about depression and isolation inextricably, from different angles.

Beyond individual relationships it keeps popping up in the form of "inspiration" as I think a lot about being mixed race, about being second generation, about clawing my way to positions of leadership and privilege and how best to open doors and empower my peers and those who come after me, about being both afforded privilege but also being marginalized in those spaces too, about building community and coalitions... They're just really central to a lot of my daily existence and the spaces I move in and there aren't clear answers or narratives so I like to write them when I can. And imagining the world as I wish it could be, where sometimes just saying "it shouldn't be this way" loudly enough will give people pause, is important work to keep me hopeful and motivated to live and do the hard work in my relationships and communities.

On more fun notes, some of my biggest inspirations:

Music

These songs make me incredibly emotional, they all have a lot of personal meaning to me about friendships that I've had and lost, and they also have directly inspired a lot of ixchel's relationships with the people closest to her. just listening to agnes these days is enough to make me cry my eyes out.

beige (yoke lore) - unburdened

bad dreams (faouzia) - stripped

running up that hill (placebo) - x

i found (amber run) - ft. London Contemporary Voices

agnes (glass animals) - stare into his eyes **(see below)

Plots, Language, Storytelling

I find myself drawing elements and plots from lots of my favorite books growing up, such as:

Riddlemaster of Hed (Patricia A. McKillip) (ideas about magic, identity, collectivism vs individualism, pacifism, betrayal and love comingling)

Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander)

Earthsea (Ursula K. LeGuin) (magic, accepting darkness within you, collectivism vs individualism, other things)

Thirteen Clocks (James Thurber) (whimsical language, poetry, a different way of writing fairy tales, fridge horrors)

Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy) (lifted some of it for Wycome)

The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper) (shoutout: golden owl eyes)

Song of the Lioness (Tamora Pierce) (man. really complicated and nuanced friendships and interpersonal relationships.)

A version of the Robin Hood story whose author I don't know :(

El Cid

The Bartimaeus Trilogy (Jonathan Stroud)

Specifically themes relating to loyalty, chivalry, doing what's right even when it means you lose or life is harder or it's lonely.

Honorable mentions to Peaky Blinders, Pacific Rim, all the Studio Ghibli films (especially Spirited Away).

But also a lot of fanfics I read growing up were really formative.

Elecktrum's Chronicles of Narnia fanfics, and Tonzura123's Chronicles of Narnia fanfics, were especially impactful with how they treated platonic devotion and loyalty.

** a note about agnes

this was originally in the youtube description but I think Dave removed it. But it means a lot to me so I'm copying it here:

dear friends…nervously excited to share with you the video for Agnes. it’s hard to explain exactly how it feels inside a human centrifuge. you sit in a small egg-like pod about the size of a horse which hangs off a 50 foot steel horizontal frame. It looks like something out of a bond villain’s lair. it’s claustrophobic and uncomfortable and also incredibly hot. slowly the whole thing starts to rotate like a helicopter blade. Faster and faster until every part of you becomes crushed under the extreme gravity. its like being slowly sat on by an elephant, or like your whole body being punched in slow motion. you have to flex every muscle and use every ounce of strength you have to keep going. breathing requires serious effort. movement becomes incredibly strained and almost painful. everything that once weighed 5 kilograms now weighs 50. its difficult even to keep your eyes open. it hurts in places you really didn’t know existed. veins and capillaries burst under the pressure and bruising begins. its a rapid physical overdrive. the blood rushes from your brain making it impossible to think rationally or focus. your eyes are also drained and you get tunnel vision…only able to see small circles of the world directly infront of you and your sight goes completely greyscale…no more colour. your balance and spatial awareness goes and the world begins to spin like you’ve had way too much to drink. but the most striking thing is the way that the machine pulls on your heart. you can actually feel it struggling to beat and changing shape…flattening inside of your chest. Its similar to that horrible sinking, tugging heartache that comes only with complete and overwhelming sadness. and then you pass out. we ran the centrifuge 18 times while i tried to sing along to a song which i find difficult to listen to at the best of times. this was probably the most intense video-making experience I’ll ever have. But its the only way that we could just about begin to simulate for a moment what happens within Agnes. speak soon, dave

#long post #dead pasts dread futures #depression #suicide #personal

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4th-make-quail · 11 months ago

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1. 2. 3. 6. 9 but make it ff12 flavor

list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s) - that it's still going, although very slowly! - the never-ending creativity for Putting Them Guys In Situations - the way we can all interpret the most heart-wrenchingly awful and brilliant meanings from small translations

2. a headcanon you weren’t sure about at first but have come to like! HMM this one is quite hard because I'm usually only exposed to the hcs of my bros, and we're all p much on the same page about all our faves lol. HOWEVER this did prompt me to have a backscroll in xii gangbang and i can honestly say that no, my bros are always onto something, all our headcanons are perfect!! 100/10 no notes

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate I didn't appreciate Ghis or Bergan until I read the amazing longfic Where the Wind Dies, and now look at me! Dirty Bergan RPer!!

6. something you see in art a lot and love a lot of friendship, it seems! there's a large cast in xii, and they have all sorts of relationships with each other, and it's lovely to see so much art of them all!

9. a ship that isn’t your OTP but that you enjoy honestly I'm too much of a multishipper in xii slk'dgfd I guess ships I've not created anything for in many years but I still love: Ashe/Basch/Vossler, Balthier/Al-Cid, Ashe/Balthier/Al-Cid

#ask quail #ffxii #ffxii meta

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kayayeteae · 1 year ago

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List of thoughts I have with FFXVI!! (That no one asked for).

This is me being a hater. Read to you own discretion

Jill’s entire character, arc, story, person, being. Girl they did you SO WRONG.

Also, didn’t homegirl have the curse too. She was a dominant of WAR. are we just gonna ignore her illness

On that note, are bearers with the curse just doomed to sickness and disability post ultima

The most unrealistic part of FFXVI is the fact that they didn’t make some fake ass slur for bearers

Clive showed NO BEARERS CURSE through out the game. Was that intentional. Bitch was snorting aether by like the first third of the game.

I love Joshua. 🥰 I love him so much. He’s probably my second favorite character.

Ya kno, if you make Josh and Clive unrelated, replace Josh with Jill, made Jill play the role as a young dominant that Clive is the shield for, their love story would be more believable (is that too FFX to do?)

I got a very good amount of Clive crying and I reveled in every second of it. He’s so pretty when he cries.

I know cid had the right mind to destroy the crystals, but I wonder if Clive doubted himself for a second for doing it bc if he didn’t, the cycle of violence would just continue.

I really like Clive as a character who needs positive male figures in his life for his lack of one after Phoenix gate. His reliance on cid and Joshua is very endearing.

I love anabella 😌 she’s a wonderful villain.

What happened to the girl with the poultices. Like u can’t just give her closure off screen!!!

The same goes with Terence!!!!

Does Byron inherit the region of Rosaria as the last Rosfield.

How is the DLC gonna cover Clive more? Let me play as Joshua lol.

This game wants to be Devil May cry so baddddd

There are many instances where we could have and should have controlled the other party members

The game was overall was very easy. I died mostly on purpose to try new techniques. It actually got boring at some points

The barnabas fight was the best

Judgement cut isn’t useful for my play style

I don’t understand why Joshua had to capture ultima and hold him. And why does he suck at taking his meds

Every character in this game has no growth except Clive

I still believe that they should have labeled cids group as a cult filled with terrorists. The political impact would insane.

What is the population of storm cuz there were a LOT of akashic soldiers I killed

Ngl I forgot why there were wars going on in storm.

Did cid fuck his way to being the outlaw? how did he gain so much respect and connections??? This is why he should be viewed as a cult leader

There were a few instances where the game could’ve had horror elements. The one sidequest regarding the orphanage is one of them. And Cyril’s quest is another. Shoulda been the RE4 opening lol.

Did cid get ramuh when he was older? He mentioned that ramuh chose “this old sack of bones”

Dion deserved better

‘What happens without the crystals?’ The Industrial Revolution, that’s what.

Bro and how does stealing dominants work. Like do u have to die? What about Jill. The only survivor of shiva. Wtf.

I stand by my unhinged claim. Mid and Clive should have been endgame.

The way that Clive begs both Joshua and cid to not give him their dominant is so heartbreaking. I love it 🥰

What happens to the uh. Order of the Phoenix. The one who follow Joshua. Like what is their purpose now.

How tf did Olivier succumbed to ultima so quickly. And like. Why. lol

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terraxcloud · 2 years ago

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Cyan’s WoR Story

Act 4, Chapter 2 - Part 2 of Opera Omnia is rather intense with the Clerra hints.

Terra says something peculiar, and since she says it with Vincent and Eiko in the scene I feel like I have to post the translation.

Terra: “But I want to believe in inevitability. My esper father and my human mother met beyond the boundaries of their world. Maybe I was born to connect the two races with this power I was struggling with...I'm ready to move forward.”

This scene is all about finding someone to love (the whole chapter is about loving someone, tbh), so in essence, that’s what Terra’s talking about here. It’s not really clear with just this line alone, so I’ll put the line that she’s responding to below (which comes before a line by Vincent, who always portends Clerra-related storylines in DFFOO):

Chelinka: “Hmm, maybe it hasn't clicked for me yet, but someday I'll meet someone like my mom and dad, and just "know"! But...isn't that an incredible miracle? My mom was a priestess, so she could see it, but for normal people, depending on the world's situation and position, there are times when you can't fall in love, right?”

A few scenes later Cyan will recall his World of Ruin story...

Cyan: Yes...I once encouraged a girl who had lost the will to live after losing her lover. She looked so haggard...but when she talked about her memories of love, she looked lively and I felt relieved.

The FF6 Opera was more informative, so I just kinda ignored Cyan’s story, but it’s now time to mention it. Here’s Cyan’s letter:

Dear Lola,

I’m writing to beg for your forgiveness. I am guilty of perpetuating a terrible lie. I have only now realized the error of my ways, and taken up this quill in hopes of correcting a great wrong. Your boyfriend, who you believed to be in Mobliz, passed away some time ago. I have been writing to you in his stead. We humans have a tendency to become trapped in the past and refuse to move on. I implore you not to let this happen. Now is a time for you to look forward, and rediscover love and all of the other joys of life...

Cyan

The hint that this is “secretly” about Terra and the cut main character are the flowers surrounding the letter, since it’s clear that the “filling the world with flowers” dream was a original story element from FF6 involving Terra and the cut main character. It’s very easy to see, and I’m sure a lot of stuff in FF6 has this "missing main character storyline” rhetoric. It’s interesting that Cyan mentions the guy as being in Mobliz, since that’s where Terra’s World of Ruin story takes place and where you get the Fenrir esper, which I know was always supposed to be for Cloud (thanks to the similarities with Squall’s Griever).

At this point when FF6 was released, I don’t think they had any plans to “reunite” the main character and Terra (Square was struggling when they made FF7)...Nomura decided on that during FF7′s production as they were almost going to give Cloud a different love interest (it was an early form of Aerith). Nomura’s decision to instead put the original FF6 main character in the game as Cloud gave birth to Zack. The FF6 Opera does hint of the possibility of a reunion at the end of its translations, but the FF7 Remake makes it apparent that Terra’s not the one going to wait (”Hollow” lyrics are a good example).

This line Cyan says gives me “Loveless” vibes, and on that note, Crisis Core devs decided to specifically include the last line from Loveless’ ending (originally said by Cid at the end of OG FF7):

Went to see LOVELESS From: Kunsel

Contents:

Genesis, K.I.A? Yeah, right. Who do they think they're trying to fool? Just got back from seeing the stage production of LOVELESS in Midgar. Genesis was a big fan, wasn't he? I usually don't care for classic drama, but it was pretty damned good. The guy is the hero in the original, but the play was more from the viewpoint of the girl who helps the guy. When I heard that last line: "Of course... I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing that you'll be here." Aw, man, that's when I lost it and just started bawling. Received: After being promoted to 1st.

It’s surprising how many Final Fantasy games have this rhetoric, but it is in essence about Cloud and Terra or a product of what happened to them. Yet, despite all their hinting in a bucket-load of games, no one seems to “get the hint”.

By the way, when I put the bold over “The guy is the hero in the original”, I realized that many people take these story elements too literally. Sure, you can assume that Square-Enix is creating “new intriguing stories”, but this isn’t what’s happening. Why would they say “The guy is the hero in the original”? The original line literally came from the end of FF7 and had nothing to do with Genesis’ gibberish. It’s about Cloud and Terra, no joking, period.

#Clerra #FF6 #FF7 #FFVI #FFVII #Loveless #DFFOO #Opera Omnia #Terra Branford #Cyan Garamonde #Cloud Strife #World of Ruin

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thungerstorm · 12 days ago

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i have to go with the mhach series from hw, personally. leofard, cait sith, radlia, the dread and wonder that seeing the void ark floating in the sea of clouds for the first time...damn. nothing since has surpassed that level of adventure and awe for me. i LOVED the storyline and all of the fights were fun if not also challenging (at the time. diabolos especially could be very demanding). void ark's pacing and fights are good. weeping city's boss fights are literally all bangers. ozma! calofistieri!! OZMA!!!! dun scaith is an absolute fucking delight visually. the eyeball roses just before scathach's room, and that room itself...holy fuck dude. and then diab's room and all the cool shit that goes along w that fight. and then you got to go to the redbills' floating base and walk around and talk to some of the crew! it's the best. did i mention caith sith is there.

2. ivalice probs. great fights, fun visuals, engaging. i did not know much abt ff tactics before entering but war of the lion is literally kyojin's/my partner's favourite ff property so i got the full rundown as we went through and i am so, so grateful for that. knowing who ramza and delita were made that whole raid so much more special for me. also thunder god cid's fight is fucking awesome. and agrias. and mustadio. and fran is there!! i need to finish ff12.

3. myths of the realm, i think. beautiful raid, fights were (for the most part) a lot of fun and engaging but approachable, but mostly tbh? the fucking music. in that raid. i'm obsessed w llymlaen's and nophica's songs, the most. also the plot is really fucking cool when you sit down and think abt what really happened and what that means for eorzea down the road.

4. crystal tower :P it's age shows so badly, which is a shame, because i still think the story holds up so well. it's still a visual treat- every wing in that raid is so colourful and has such a classic video game vibe. the fights are very meh, again owing to it's age. you can definitely tell it was their first raid series. still fun. i love angra mainyu and amon especially.

5. yorha, just because i don't know much about the nier story and it wasn't any kind of meaningful to me as a result. i know some basics because i have played a bit of automata and friends have given me the coles notes version of the narrative and themes, but wasn't enough to make me care. i enjoyed some of the visuals (running around in the space station was cool) and some of the fights are fun, but it's an easy last place for me so far

i have no idea what echoes of vana'diel will be like, but the first wing has been fun so far. i love the first fight. i hate the other two. (2nd boss is A Lot of movement as a melee who has some kind of interest in hitting positionals and 3rd boss is just. annoying. the floor aoes confuse and irritate me.) the story, for now, is a nothingburger because i did not play much of any of ff11 and have no emotional ties to any of it. none of this means anything to me. maybe if we go to bastok? idk. at least bakool ja ja is there :)

sorry for long post!

#spoilers #long post #i hope i didnt spoil anything if you havent done these #but i think you're probably ok #tbh you could probably tie myths of the realm and ivalice together as my no. 2 #i literally only put ivalice over myths bc i thought the story was very slightly better told and i like the visuals a little more #but if you take both of them as a whole they are p much equal in terms of quality in my eyes

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omglisalithium · 1 year ago

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With season 3 fast approaching, I'd like to finally post the project I've been working on since October:

Cinema Sins: Everything they did wrong/could have done better in TBB Season 2, according to me, and some other people.

Warning: this review of season 2 is very negative. If that's not your thing, then don't read. I did decide to add in some positivity about parts that were good writing choices and my personal favorite bits, but it doesn't start until episode 3. I would have added more in, but I have zero interest in watching season 2 again after all of the below atrocities. Please note: I'm just a very picky, very snobby writer when it comes to critiquing professionally produced content.

Season 2 episodes 1 and 2:

What they did wrong: Making us wait over a year for season 2 and giving us little to no updates about it. The perfect example of laziness and mindlessness.

Could have done better: the Batch's new outfits/armor. I get it, they had to blend in a little better. But it's just... not exactly right to me. Why is Tech's crotch not covered by his armor anymore? Was that for us or just a mindless choice made by the design department?

Could have done better: No visible damage on the ship after they escape the crabs. It looked like the crabs were ripping it up and yet the Batch were able to leave the atmosphere with no issues. OK.

What they did wrong: AZI being a drink server. Really? He's a medical droid and the writers didn't think to use him for something useful?? Wasted potential. Ok then.

What they did wrong: Not utilizing Bolo and Ketch yet. Really, what were the writers thinking?

What they did wrong: Having the Batch still working for Cid. I don't even need to defend this one.

What they did wrong: Introducing a love interest and then having her be rude to each of the Batch members right off the bat (Phee). At least try to make her likable? And she just dropped the cup into Cid's hands and ordered Wrecker around. Wow.

What they did wrong: Hunter giving in so easily to Cid's manipulation tactics.

What they did wrong: Having Wrecker aquire a new weapon only to have him never utilize it again. Maybe this will change in S3.

What they did wrong: The Batch never speak about how they still have Crosshair's sniper rifle after they acquired it in the last episode of S1. Really? Enough said.

What they did wrong: Having Tech break his leg only for it to have zero repercussions or healing time throughout the season. Lazy writing.

Season 2 episode 3:

Could have done better (rant incoming edition): I liked this episode, I liked seeing Cody and Crosshair working together. My problem is with the direction the writers decided to go with Crosshair's arc. I get why they did it; they wanted to show that Crosshair would see what the Empire was doing and slowly but surely change his mind on his own. I get it, but it's boring. I was really looking forward to Rampart and the Empire finding out that Crosshair escaped with the Batch on Kamino and dish out horrible punishment as a result and the Batch would need to rescue him, but we got this arc instead. Rampart even finds out that the Batch is alive and still doesn't do anything about it, he just keeps that information to himself. I get why, but still. Yawn.

Could have done better: Explaining why Crosshair is still in the black armor. Why demote him and then continue to put him in a different color armor than the other people at his level??? Or is it just because the other armor doesn't fit his unique build and the Empire doesnt want to waste resources on clones?

What they did wrong: Having Cody's squadron shoot the droids right as the droid was saying "there are no survivors" and then followed by "You can return to the city" "Roger Roger". Like hello???? Was it Crosshair that shot at them because he's not used to stealth missions, or did no one else hear the reply to go back to the city??? Explain this please.

Season 2 episode 4:

What they did wrong: HAVING THE BATCH STILL WORK FOR CID. ENOUGH SAID.

What they did wrong: Hunter and Echo had to deliver Chicken McNuggies and we don't get any references to this probably hilarious mission again.

Season 2 episode 5 (please note, watching this episode required an appetizer watch of a South Park episode, copious amounts of alcohol, and lots of hair being ripped from my scalp):

Could have done better: A LOT better. Part of what was making me tear my hair out was the musical score. I love the Kiner Bros work, but this particular episode's score drove me to tears. I hate it. Less dramatic, please.

What they did wrong: An appearance from Phee, followed by her being demeaning to Tech. Again, please at least try to make her likable.

What they did wrong: A side quest that did nothing for the plot.

What they did wrong: Hunter just going along with the rest of what the team wants. I get it, he has a soft spot for Omega and seeing her act her age and be excited to do something must be heart warming for him. But I'd love to see him in Sargent Mode again.

Could have done better: Older than the Jedi??? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the Jedi are 25,000 years old. You're telling me something with this kind of tech existed before then? Bet.

Could have done better: The pacing. Yeah. We get it. It's a puzzle. Pace it faster please.

Could have done better: Hunter and Echo's look to each other before venturing into the place further. I would have loved for them to share a few lines. They both clearly didn't want this "mission".

What they did wrong: Having Phee, Hunter, and Omega get separated from the rest of the group. If you're going to sell us a love story about Phee and Tech, at least let them have some time together. I hate the idea of love interests in this show (unless it's in fan works), but if you're going to do it at least make it believable. It seems to me that Hunter and Phee have more chemistry in this episode (*vomits at the idea*) than Tech and Phee ever did. Phee just waves off Tech's ideas while she seems to play off of Hunter better.

What they did wrong: The stupid mechanical dinosaur thing. You're telling me it existed 25,000 years ago and was able to move again after all that time without a ship load of space WD-40? Bet.

What they did wrong: Hunter saving Phee instead of Tech saving Phee. Again, way more chemistry there.

What they did wrong: That mission was boring and all for nothing. Filler. Enough said.

Bonus: That poor droid 🫡

Season 2 episode 6:

Could have done better: The team trusting that Omega wouldn't find trouble. It's been over 6 months; they should know better by now.

Could have done better: Explaining why Hunter knows Wookie language. Maybe it's a throwback to the unfinished Clone Wars episode. I'm not sure. Is it because Hutter has more hair than the rest of the Batch?

What they did wrong: "We'll all find a new path." Bruh I don't think they meant a path downwards 9 episodes later 😳

Bonus: I'm not going to complain any more about this episode. The references to Order 66? The reaction of a Jedi seeing clones after Order 66? Seeing a Jedi on this show after Order 66 (aside from Kanan in Rebels)? Seeing Tech do more translating? Seeing Omega see a Jedi and also a lightsaber for the first time? Seeing Omega interact with another kid and showing extreme care towards him? Seeing Wrecker get excited about food while also seeing Echo get disgusted by it? Seeing Hunter go back into Sarge Mode? Wrecker imitating Wookie roars? "Where did the kids go?" A grizzly implied-death of a bad guy? "Hmm not bad?" "They're both just kids but they don't get to be, not in this galaxy"? Seeing normal Batch interactions like how they were back in season 1?????? I'm all for it. Give me more of that, damn it.

Season 2 episode 7:

What they did wrong (spoiler alert): Crosshair not being the secret sniper at 79s. Yawn.

What they could have done better: CT0409 not being a known clone from TCW.

What they did wrong: Not having Crosshair in the episode at all and yet having parts of his theme play. Quit amping us up just to have us be disappointed by the end of the season. Stop it. Get some help.

Bonus: CORUSCANT!!!!! WE GET TO SEE 79s!!!! OMG POLITICAL FIGURES TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE CLONES! BAIL ORGANA! RIYO CHUCHI!!! RAMPART!!!!!! RAMPART'S THEME!!! CLONES TALKING TO RIYO ABOUT THE FUTURE! CT0409 REVEALING THAT RAMPART ORDERED TIPOCA CITY TO BE DESTROYED! RIYO AND RAMPART MEETING! "Follow the money"! Showing accurate shell shock in Riyo when her guard is killed? CAPTAIN REX???

Season 2 Episode 8

Could have done better (it took a while to get to this point because of how many good things this episode has): The Batch, Riyo, and Rex bringing Omega to see the dead body. Ok, for this one, I'm not placing the blame on the writers, as they were making the characters as canon as possible and I applaud that, but it doesn't show any growth aside from Echo, who is a bit more tactful by gently moving Omega away from the body.

What they did wrong: Make hints about (and eventually develop) the future Mount Tantiss Arc (more to come on this one).

What they did wrong: Ok, I admit this one is personal. Rampart being arrested. I loved him as a main villian. Ok moving on.

Could have done better: Echo's leave. It had to happen. I get it. But the goodbyes were a little less-than aside from Omega. It's not really implied about who knew and who didn't know that he was leaving aside from her. Also, it was very random and I admit that I did cry after the episode. Him kneeling in front of Omega was about the point where I was going "HEY! HEEEYYYYYY!" really loudly when I was still sharing a wall with my parents so.

Could have done better: Echo telling Omega to "keep an eye on the others". I have to admit, I'm really torn on this issue. We've been told that Omega is older than the Bad Batch, but developmentally, she still seems to be a kid. As a child who was parentified myself, that line struck a nerve in me. She's still a kid even though she may be older than the Batch (although it was never specified if she was older than Echo). I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Bonus: EVERYONE'S RELAXING! GONKY! OMEGA MEDITATING BECAUSE OF GUNGI! ECHO TALKING ABOUT HIS IMPRISONMENT AND HIS RESCUE! REX! STRATEGIC DEBATE! OMEGA SEEING CORUSCANT FOR THE FIRST TIME! ... The Batch are probably on the planet at the same time as Crosshair :( ahem... RIYO CHUCHI MEET THE BATCH! "Hello!" *Omega waves*!!! ECHO VOLUNTEERING TO BE A WITNESS! OMEGA OFFERING TO HELP! NEW OUTFIT FOR OMEGA! OMEGA MEETING RAMPART AND SHOWING DISGUST FOR HIM! RIYO SHOWING OMEGA THE SENATE FLOOR AND OMEGA EXCITEDLY RUNNING TO THE EDGE TO LOOK DOWN! RIYO FIGHTING FOR CLONE RIGHTS! OMEGA MEETING BAIL ORGANA! FORMER SENATOR OF KAMINO! OMEGA BEING UPSET! A LAMA SU REFERENCE! A GOOD OLD BAD BATCH MISSION FEATURING REX! WRECKER SHOWING DISCOMFORT! NEW WEAPON! ECHO AND REX TALKING ABOUT CLONES (sad foreshadowing but necessary)! REX IMPROVISING! WRECKER COMPLAINING ABOUT HEIGHTS! TECH DOING TECH THINGS! HUNTER SAYING "TECH" IN THE OLDER BROTHER SARGENT VOICE! "New plan. 14, 5, 86" "All of them?"(also 86 reminded me of my days in food service. It's code for "we're all out of ingredient/dish)! "I was off by 6.4 meters. Not my best."! MORE POLITICAL STUFF REGARDING THE CLONES! ECHO FLYING! EMPORER PALPATINE! OMEGA SEEING PALPATINE IN PERSON! PALPATINE BEING PALPATINE AND MANIPULATING THE SITUATION TO HIS FAVOR! IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER OFFICIALLY NAMED! The view of a child being like "I don't understand what went wrong when we did the right thing." :( What would have happened if the Batch didn't intervene??? OMEGA HUGGING ECHO!

Season 2 episode 9:

What they did wrong: They're still working for Cid. No further criticism needed.

Could have been better: Bad lookout planning. I stand with people that said that Hunter should have been the lookout. I get that the writers made everyone unbalanced on purpose but the team knows better.

What they did wrong: The ship being stolen. We get it. Every mission goes wrong. Yawn. Pick a different theme.

Could have done better: A Lion King refrence? Really, Disney? Yawn.

Possible plagiarism alert: Everyone go read "These Silver Linings" by Rowanartist on Ao3 NOW. I swear that someone on the creative team read this fanfiction centering around Tech and Omega and decided to almost exactly copy it. Weak.

Bonus: THE MUSIC! HUNTER TRACKING! OMEGA AND WRECKER TALKING ABOUT ECHO! Bruh all that designing from the creative team that went into the Ipsium drill! HUNTER'S SENSES BEING UTILIZED! OMEGA SEEING PARENTAL FIGURES FIGHTING! OMEGA FINALLY THROWING AN AGE APPROPRIATE FIT! TECH AND OMEGA BONDING! OMEGA PERIL! Just... beautiful scenery... THAT BREIF ANIMATION OF TECH CLEARING OUT HIS GOGGLES! TECH IS CANONICALLY AUTISTIC! CROSSHAIR IS FINALLY MENTIONED! TECH SHOOTING THE IPSIUM!

Season 2 Episode 10:

Could have done better: Ok, to be fair, I didn't make this same connection that my husband did. The second that the thief was on screen, my husband went "HONDO?!" and he was really disappointed that it wasn't Hondo when he took the helmet off. So I'm calling the design choice a fail.

Bonus: GONKY IS REFRENCED! Awesome use of manipulation and gaslighting from the antagonist in this episode also. OMG 5 PEOPLE ON THE SAME BIKE LOL! PRETTY SKY! WRECKER SMASH! OMEGA BEING INTIMIDATING! WRECKER ASKING GONKY IF HE'S OK! TECHNO UNION REFRENCE! BRUH THAT SCENE WITH HUNTER REPELLING DOWN! OMEGA AND BENNI TEAM UP! BICKERING BATCH! AWW TECH GAVE OMEGA HIS DATAPAD! OMEGA SHOWING KINDNESS! HUNTER PROTECTING HIS TEAM! DOUBLECROSSING! OMEGA PERIL! KIDS TEAMING UP TOGETHER! HUNTER AND OMEGA TRUST FALL! (seriously though, that was the ultimate show of trust right there) BAD GUY DED NOW! WRECKER PICKING UP GONKY! OMEGA AND TECH BONDING!

Season 2 Episode 11 (I'm going to get really critical on my review past this point. If that ain't your thing, stop reading):

What they did wrong: The entire Mount Tantiss arc as a whole. I was perfectly happy with Lama Suu being dead and Nala Se being taken into a secret base, never to be seen again. That should have been the end of it, but nope. The writers decided to extend that arc into the next season. I'm pretty sure that mostly everyone here had zero to no interest in a continuation until they reintroduced it. It seems like they're trying to tie it into the sequel trilogy that they ret conned a few years back. Why??? For what? As far as I'm concerned, all talk about the cloning technology should have ended after Tipoca City was destroyed. The end. Bye. Pick a different arc.

What they did wrong: The Batch decides to keep working for Cid even after she didn't help them.

Could have done better?: Tech saying "do not concern yourselves, I will be fine." Foreshadowing.

Could have done better: Explaining why Omega is used to the cold but the Batch (mostly Wrecker) doesn't seem to like the cold.

What they did wrong: More cloning shenanigans. All Zillo Beast stuff should have died in TCW. Enough said.

What they did wrong: The Batch staying to fight instead of leaving immediately. Fr why are we here? This is pointless and boring.

Could have done better: Explaining what happens to those villagers. I'm autistic so it's difficult to put the pieces together. Explain better.

What they did wrong: Again with Mount Tantiss. NO. JUST NO. Pick a different arc.

Bonus: Ok yeah this is a scary episode. Creepy scenery. The screaming. Yes. Omg it's a clone commando. He skid. Zappy fail. Oh no he above. Ok fine Hemlock is a cool character. Also Emerie. And no music for a few minutes is a bit unsettling. Ahem. OMEGA TRYING TO SAVE PEOPLE IN THE SHIP! THE TEAM BEING INTERESTING! OMEGA SHOWING KNOWLEDGE FROM HER PAST! ALIEN REFRENCE! THE MUSIC AGAIN YAS! EVERYONE SHOOTING TOGETHER! "Facinating" EVERYONE PROTECTING OMEGA! "It ate the crew? It ate the crew." FOLLOWED BY WRECKER COMFORTING! OMEGA AND TECH COLLABORATING! HUNTER PILOTING! OMEGA SHOWING KNOWLEDGE! TECH SAVING OMEGA! TECH GETTING OMEGA ON THE SHIP! OMEGA COMFORTING FROM LULA! ECHO AND REX ARE MENTIONED!

Season 2 Episode 12:

I'm starting out with the good this time, as there's literally only one complaint I have about this episode. THE MUSIC! OMG A CROSSHAIR EPISODE FINALLY! BRAGG FROM LAST SEASON! LIEUTENANT ASSHOLE! ICE VULTURE! CLONE SASS! MORE CLONES! CROSSHAIR TALKS WITH A REG! MAYDAY! AMBIGUOUS ICE VULTURES! CROSSHAIR SNIPING! CROSSHAIR TRACKING! CROSSHAIR SLIDING! THE DEADWEIGHT EXCHANGE! CROSSHAIR HAS TO RELY ON MAYDAY FOR HELP! CLONE FORCE 99 IS MENTIONED! MORE BANTER! TRUST! TEAMWORK! PERFECT AIM! FLOP! CROSSHAIR REALIZES THAT THE EMPIRE IS SHIT! THE ANIMATION IS SO FUCKING GOOD WITH THE SNOW AND THE PARTICLES AND THE FOG! CROSSHAIR SAVES MAYDAY! CROSSHAIR AND MAYDAY WHUMP! CROSSHAIR AND MAYDAY USING THE SNIPER RIFLE AS A CANE! CROSSHAIR PLEADING FOR A MEDIC FOR MAYDAY! THE ANGER AND RAGE IN CROSSHAIRS FACE OMG I CAN'T! LITERALLY EVERYTHING THAT UNFOLDS AFTER THIS (except the ending) IS JUST YES OMG!

What they did wrong: Mount Tantiss again. Yawn. And it came out of nowhere too, like was the Empire just waiting for Crosshair to screw up so they could send him to Mount Tantiss? Explain.

Season 3 Episode 13:

It admittedly took a while for me to get to this episode because it is one of my most hated episodes but here we go.

What they did wrong: Phee putting Omega in a dangerous situation.

What they did wrong: Still working for Cid.

What they did wrong: GET YOUR HAND OFF TECH!

My own opinion: This episode made me anxious and I'm not sure if the creators planned this. The comfort? Omega being a kid? A nice meal? Hmm. Gives me the ick and I don't like it.

My Californian opinion: Ok, as a native Californian looking at other people's interpretations of an earthquake, the earthquake/tsunami scene was terror for me. The animals acting strange was the first sign for me. Earthquakes are LOUD. Shaking is one thing, but seeing the animals react before the quake, hearing the loudness of the stuff moving... It really reminded me of real earthquakes here. The oceans receding like omg get UP NOW! And thankfully, I haven't lived on the ocean but tsunamis are a real threat that I feel like they really nailed. Kudos to the research team on this.

What they did wrong: Now showing Phee's interest in Tech. Wtf.

What they did wrong: Phee redirecting Tech away from part of his team. Isolating behavior. Ick.

Bonus: HUNTER USING HIS ENHANCED SENSES! THE TEAM WORKING TOGETHER! WRECKER THEME! TECH BEING TECH! OMEGA SHOOTS! A MISSION IS A SUCCESS! Um... Omega, Hunter, and Wrecker all shake with their left hands but Tech shakes right? Hmm. "I have not heard her laugh like that in some time" THE FATHER REFRENCE YEE! "Have fun" "I'm full. I am never full!" "I will note the date and time to commemorate such an occasion" "I'm so sorry. But you're safe here." THE WATER SCENE WAS SO GOOD OMG! AND THE YUCKY WATER THEY SHOW THE DAY AFTER YAS THAT'S ACCURATE!

Season 2 episode 14:

Bonus: WOW WE REALLY OUT HERE STARTING THE EPISODE WITH HOWZER AND THEN ECHO AND GREGOR COME TO SAVE HIM! ECHO SAYING "I need more time" JUST LIKE TECH! CROSSHAIR! WHUMP YEE! AND THEN SENATOR CHUCHI! WOW! MORE CROSSHAIR WHUMP! CROSSHAIR FIGHTING BACK! MOUSE DROID! CROSSHAIR HAVING GOOD AIM DESPITE NOT BEING 100% HEALTH! CROSSHAIR WARNING THE BATCH TO STAY HIDDEN! WRECKER CATCHING FEESH! FLYING LESSONS! SCARED TECH! THE TECH TURN! DRIFTING, GIRL! LEFT HAND SHAKE! ECHO HUG! WRECKER CHASING THE KIDS! THAT CUTE LITTLE SCREAM FROM OMEGA! YAY THE SECOND CROSSHAIR REFRENCE!

What they did wrong: Echo not having his kama. No explanation needed.

What they did wrong: The Princess Bride reference. I get why the writers did it. It makes Hemlock scarier, but honestly I would have preferred to see him in a gas mask or something.

Season 2 episode 15:

It took me a lot of weeks to get to this point. Let's do it.

What they did wrong: Phee trying to get Tech to act more neurotypical. Nah.

Could have done better: Tech being separated from the team.

What they did wrong: Saw Gurrera. Enough said.

Could have done better: Gurrerra's efforts not doing a damn thing that mattered in the end.

Bonus: CROSSHAIR REFRENCE! TECH WANTS TO GO FOR CROSSHAIR! KRENNIC APPEARANCE! I love Wrecker's fear of heights tbh. NO TECH DON'T SLIP! Wrecker asking Omega if she can handle placing the tracker aww. Everyone working together and comming! Typical deterral chaos! MOUSE DROID DEATH NOOOOO! TECH BEING SMARTER THAN GURRERA! Ok tbh they did Krennic beautifully in like the 2 minutes of screentime he has. OOO THEY DOING BLASTER BOLTS AT THE TK TROOPERS! TEAM TOGETHER AGAIN!

Bonus: Music edition!

The music at 23 minutes was the sign that I knew something big was going to happen. I love and hate that.

Season 2 episode 16:

THE MUSIC IN THIS WHOLE EPISODE. The music is literally why I didn't want to watch this episode again. From the moment it started, it put a hole in my stomach. This episode has the best and worst score in the series because of all of the emotion, terror, and helplessness it held. When this episode was released, I was going to be married less than a month later. This score left me so breathless and unable to function for so many days that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to shake the dread and uneasiness that it caused by the time it was my wedding day (my day turned out perfectly btw). Just a beautiful and terrifying score and it still evokes the same emotions as the day it was first played for us.

What they did wrong (Everything is on this What They Did Wrong because yes): Tech slipping again and being separated. That jump. Killing Tech. I'm one of the #tech'snotdead believers tbh. But the writers didn't need to do us so dirty here. Hunter being offscreen mostly when holding Omega back. They decided to go back to Pabu. Tech's goggles? The way Hemlock talked to Omega always rubbed me the wrong way. So creepy. Not having Crosshair say any more lines. Emerie being another female clone.

Bonus: The 99 refrence. Wrecker's "NOOOO". Hunter jumping to save Omega during the crash. Hunter and Echo in the background. Omega calling Tech's name. The in and out of consciousness thing. Hunter carrying Omega's bow. Wrecker carrying Omega. Omega's POV. AZI!!! Wrecker and Omega hug. Everyone caring for Omega. Cid showing care. Echo remembering Tech in the pilot's seat. Honestly I get Cid's position. Hunter getting Omega out of there. The paternal comment. Cid's hesitancy. Omega trying to protect her family! "Echo?" " Gotta be Echo" Scorch carrying Omega. Hunter watching Hemlock's ship leave. Hunter with Wrecker's gun. The ship having stuff broken. "We are going to get her back and we don't stop searching until we do." Omega being reunited with Nala Se.

We are finally at the end of our journey for season 2. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Season 1 was so perfect, and it felt like they were setting up for an earlier Crosshair redemption. It completely reminds me of when The Force Awakens came out and it had such promise, but then the next 2 movies were, to put it lightly, garbage, and it's because they refused to listen to what the fans wanted. I do not trust the writers at Lucasfilms to make good decisions anymore. They've ripped the rug out from under us for too long. I've been honestly very angry about Season 2 and it wasn't until I got the idea of watching it again to point out all the flaws and facepalm moments that I realized just how angry I was.

I was hopeful when the season 3 trailer dropped, but then after a few certain scenes were shown, I was left facepalming and groaning about the writer's choices again, but I was willing to have some hope. Then the sneak peek dropped and my hopes lowered yet again.

Here's how I hope season 3 to go:

Crosshair and Omega escape Mount Tantiss but Omega is captured again and Crosshair is forced to leave her.

Crosshair finds the Batch (or what's left of them) and teams up with them.

The Batch hires bounty hunters, Ventress included, (not sure where they get the credits to hire them but whatever) to help get Omega back.

The mysterious clone is Tech.

The Batch finds out that the mysterious clone is Tech.

The mission changes to "we're getting Omega and Tech back"

Omega and Tech are back and everyone lives and goes into hiding.

The end. No room for ambiguity and no loose ends. I want to see a finality in the series finale, like in TCW. These people are definitely alive, and these people are definitely dead. No leaving us wondering. Just us going "That's it. That's the end."

I still don't trust the writers though.

#star wars tbb #tbb season 2 #cinema sins #I really really wanted to like the season but i just dont #wasted potential #sorry in advance #bad batch

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rosegoldandsequins · 1 year ago

Note

[LAP]: sender pulls receiver onto their lap (for @leviinbolt because his lap has to be more comfortable than those car hoods)

@leviinbolt & prompts.

❛ ❤ ⋯

Guinevere stood in the doorway for a moment and leaned her head against the frame. Her blonde locks tumbled down her back, free from the ribbon that held them out of her face earlier. The heiress was dressed in a silky gold robe that barely came to her mid - thigh — useless, really, but the fabric was almost cool to the touch and comfortable against her skin. Around her ankles and wrists were delicate chains, which paired perfectly with her nails. As always, Guinevere was exceptionally put together.

The only unflattering aspect ( as she would have said ) of her appearance was her thoughtful frown. Glittering emerald eyes stared ahead, studying the broad back of the man sat at the dining table. His dark - colored t - shirt had seen better days, as the faint stains from grease and worn threading suggested. It looked like his boots and jeans were in a similar state.

Guinevere resisted the urge to sigh. All of the money she gave him ( even still, even when their arrangement was bordering more than . . . or so everyone whispered ), and the man couldn't get himself decent clothes.

The heiress finally pushed away from the doorway and walked toward him. She announced her presence by running her fingers through his hair, playing with the short style. Beneath her hands, Cid chuckled — a dull sound, at first like a thunderclap brewing on the horizon, the sort that worsened the little fire in Guinevere's belly that he so often inspired.

"The bath is open," she murmured pointedly. The words were whispered in his ear as she shifted her position. Slender arms, smelling of blossoming citrus flowers and cloaked in thin metallic cloth, slid over his shoulders. Guinevere stroked the top of his chest leisurely.

"That so ??" Cid asked, turning his head just enough to brush his facial hair against her cheek. A hand, textured from years of labor and the occasional scrap, rose from the table to grab her fingers. " — and what good'll that do me, princess ?? I know you'll just be making me sweat here shortly. Unless you're getting in with me, then I'm all f'r it." He raised Guinevere's captured hand and grazed her knuckles against his lips.

"Cute," the blonde replied, wriggling her fingers free. She seized his chin, nails scratching into his scraggly beard. In her eyes now blazed the look of determination, of promised reprimanding to come for his antics that the repairman in her grasp couldn't help but crave.

"Eh ??" Cid breathed, raising a brow. The simple note was both an expression of admiration and challenge to his lover. He knew what he was doing.

Their banter, however, was cut short by a notification that caused Cid's phone screen to light up. It was not the short chime or the subject of the alert that caught Guinevere's attention ; the heiress' green gaze was drawn, rather, to the background image that Cid was using.

"I told you I didn't like that one," she said suddenly, pulling away.

Cid glanced over ( as if he didn't have that picture of her memorized ). He had taken it when they shot images for the charity shoot, a handful of weeks ago. The repairman knew why Guinevere wasn't fond of it. In between her gorgeous, flowing poses, he had made her laugh. Saying something utterly stupid, no doubt, given that his stint as an amateur photographer that evening hadn't been without his trademark colorful commentary. Nonetheless, she had laughed, scrunching up the bridge of her nose and allowing those hidden smile lines to show. It was one of her cuter expressions that she made, though Cid was not allowed to see it frequently. Precious few were.

Mindful of his company's feelings, Cid turned over his phone. "You've also told me before that you've got no bad side, love." He grinned. "That we can agree on."

Guinevere narrowed her eyes. A short exhalation left her, and she moved back a half - step.

"You're pouting," Cid said. His voice was flat, but there was an undeniable degree of affection to the statement. Before the heiress could fully escape, he gently grabbed her waist. "C'mon — come here, Gwen." Cid guided her around the chair and into his lap. The heiress came without complaint, but her ever - present poise told the repairman that she was doing it of her own accord. As she settled neatly on top of his legs, Cid fancied for a second that he wasn't sure if he had even suggested the action or if she intended it to happen all along. ( or, maybe, that was merely the power of a beautiful woman, to make a guy's head spin without ever uttering a word. )

Guinevere folded an arm behind Cid's right shoulder for support. She picked up his phone with her free hand, ignoring the slight hiss of "Gwen" from her handsome perch.

"Perhaps, I'll put this in the bath," the heiress mused, waking up the device in order to glare at the photo she despised.

Cid jumped slightly beneath her. He had learned with the blonde sat across his thighs that it was best to take every threat she uttered seriously, no matter how idle it seemed. "That — prefer you didn't, princess," he said, smiling a little uneasily. In an effort to distract her, he drew her into his chest. "Alright, look . . . I'm sorry you don't like it. What'll it take, hm ?? t' making you feel better ??"

Guinevere held up the phone, which she held securely in a fist. "You would also want this back, I trust ??" Her emerald stare bored into the repairman, who swallowed thickly.

"Aye," Cid answered, hoping his honesty might earn him something.

The heiress untangled herself from his arms and stood. She kept her rectangular captive against her side as she leaned down, over the seated repairman. "My bathroom, Cid," she breathed, soft lips hovering just shy of his. Suddenly, her unoccupied hand seized his crotch. In his shock, Cid issued a low grunt. Her irises were hard, predatory, and ( like the delighted fool he was ) the repairman cursed himself for ever thinking that he could get cocky with her.

" — and my name is Guinevere."

With that, the blonde straightened. She removed her hand and instead placed it under Cid's chin. Guinevere kept him looking up in the interests of showing how neatly she tucked his phone between the swell of her breasts.

"Hurry, Cid. I hate waiting." She grinned, and Cid immediately noticed the faintest of wrinkles at the top of her nose.

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