#But he's not going to serve a sentence... Because he has connections?

[sskk-manifesto]

I'm like, fairly sure that counts as corruption, but okay

[houseofhyde]

omg i LOVE ur manchild fic🙏🙏

i so feel like the first time they’d say i love you would be over the phone when bucky was away on mission

hed def be the one to say it first

like youd jump to pick up the no caller id call knowing its him

and yk how like hed always keep it short like one sentence and would wait for her to say hello

shed be like ‘hello’ expecting him to js say ‘im fine’ or ‘go back to sleep’ and hed just say ‘i love u’ out of the blue and then hang up the phone before u could even get a word in

i swear buckys acc the loml😔

no bc you actually dug into the crevice of my mind and pulled this out, anon!

they're such an unconventional pair — despite being made for each other — because, between reader's attachment avoidance issues and bucky's... well, everything, labels and traditional relationship milestones would often happen unexpectedly.

i'm 100% on board with both the fact that: 1) bucky says it first & 2) he says while away on a mission. it's barely even enunciated properly, more just a pile of letters smushed together in bucky's mouth and spit down a staticky line of poor-connection.

"iloveyou," and he's hung up, gone, abandoning you to the silence.

except, with bucky's infamously bad timing, this is the one time you're not in silence, you're not in bed, you're not even at home. you're stood completely still in the middle of a club's dance floor, drunk out your face (or not, wtv floats you boat), with your friends dancing all around you, and you're just staring. out into space, wide eyed, while pitbull or neyo or wtv early 2000s pop song is playing over the speakers.

that (sweet) motherfucker has just stained the first i love you in the taste of vodka, the stench of sweat, and he has the nerve to not even physically be here for you to berate him over it, and then kiss him ofc bc he's so handsome, and sweet, and he loves you.

you don't bring it up when he calls the next day. or the day after. or even the day after after. so bucky is, of course, doing what bucky does best: panicking!

good. serves him right.

safe to say his hands are a little shaky when he's eventually unlocking the front door to your apartment, until he sees you, cursing under your breath and holding your hand under the running water of the kitchen sink.

attentive and worried, his bags are abandoned on the floor in favour of racing over to you, heart beating harder than it was when he was actively being shot at two days ago (he will definitely not be telling you about that, ofc). all that panic just to see you've accidentally burnt the tip of your fingers taking something out the oven and, even though you try to shrug off his worried chastising, you fold instantly to his silent request to kiss your fingertips better.

"i think i'll just stick to letting you bake," you eventually cough up in shame, and that's when he finally notices something on the kitchen island.

a very poorly decorated cake, featuring your awful handwriting that he's learnt to understand: i love you too.

he eats the cake, and then you.

god i'm actually insane about these two, someone take me out back and shoot me!!

[thedaythatwas]

on nagito komaeda and love

I just think it’s sort of funny that for a character whose (arguably) most well-recognized CG is this: 

komaeda’s narrative so heavily centers love. and I don’t just say this because I’ve had komahina brainrot for years (though this is true!!). even if you don’t care about komahina, it’s tough to deny komaeda is a walking tragedy in large part because of the role that love plays in his life. his characterization is driven by the way his luck has denied him love, and how he seeks it out regardless. in that sense, I think that without understanding komahina as at least one-sided, you miss out on one of the juiciest, most miserable pieces of komaeda’s character development.

tldr; a love-centered reading of komaeda makes sense, recognizing komahina as “a thing” in DR2 (whether you ship it or not) is pretty important to understanding how komaeda operates, and I’ll try to prove it right here under this page break!!

Part 1: Komaeda’s Love Life (or, his life without love)

I think it’s safe to assume that if you clicked here, you know about komaeda’s absurdly miserable, tumultuous childhood, but I’ll do a quick recap just in case! meteor kills his parents on a plane, he inherits a ton of money. he’s kidnapped by a serial killer, he finds a winning lottery ticket in the garbage bag he’s thrown out in. he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer and dementia, he gets into hope’s peak.

in his free time events, komaeda *explicitly* frames his luck cycle as something that takes away the people he loves. it only “takes action” against him after his relatives have died (for the sake of this essay, let’s assume that komaeda loved his parents, or would have at least been hurt by their passing). by way of other close connections… well, his wording here implies that by the time of his diagnosis, he didn’t really have anybody in his life. 

either komaeda didn’t allow himself to get close to anyone after the meteor incident, or he did, and they were taken away by his luck. at some point during his childhood, komaeda learned he should view himself as a death sentence.

so, how does this loss of love shape the komaeda we know? I’ll talk about this in terms of four of his defining (and connected!) traits in DR2 canon – the ones that really make his actions make sense: his self-loathing, his hope-seeking, his learned helplessness, and his certainty that his existence poses a threat to those around him. komaeda’s experience with loss makes him view himself as a source of death, which in turn fuels these tenets of his character. ultimately, his loss and the complexes that arise from it give him good incentive to push people away.

his self-loathing

komaeda hates himself. he views himself as worthless outside of his potential to serve as a “stepping stone” for the hope of the ultimates. he claims that this is driven by his beliefs around talent, which are in turn linked to the way his worldview rests on viewing hope as “absolute good.” the talentless (himself included) are only good for advancing the hope of the talented. still, his self-loathing is a bit more personal than that. take what he says and dig just below the surface, and it’s a clean cut trauma response all the way down. which leads us directly to…

his hope-seeking

komaeda is willing to do literally anything to serve hope. on the island, this (in short) means dying. this is where I prod at komaeda’s reasoning a bit more: komaeda’s willingness to act the way he does in canon also stems from his belief that his dying would be a net good for the world. his existence kills the people around him. his illness will kill him anyway. he has less than no value, and hope is invaluable. to go out for the sake of hope would give his wretched life purpose; it’s his dream come true.

and it’s no mystery why komaeda cares so much about hope: again, it’s a coping mechanism! komaeda’s belief that all bad luck is a necessary precursor for good luck and that hope will always triumph over despair is (as he himself says!) the only reason he’s managed to stay alive. I’ll say it again because I really can’t emphasize it enough – komaeda thinks that just by existing, he kills the people he loves. ouch!

learned helplessness / his existence as a threat

komaeda has, essentially, learned to submit to his luck cycle. all bad luck is good luck in the end – isn’t that amazing?! almost paradoxically, he’s hyper-vigilant about the negative impact his luck has on those around him. this is a tricky one. I make sense of it this way: komaeda’s perception of how much his luck impacts the people close to him isn’t inflated, like, at all. the supernatural way the world bends around komaeda to screw him over really does pose a danger to himself and others, and he takes measures to minimize that danger. his stated acceptance of his luck cycle is… well, again, he’s coping. 

if komaeda really thought that all bad luck is ultimately good luck, he wouldn’t try to protect his classmates from his bad luck. but, as we see in island mode, he does!

but really, who could blame komaeda for lying to himself? I’ll restate the facts. komaeda thinks that luck is absolute power. he says that he’s powerless against it. his luck has taken his family, and it’s left him with nothing but money that he doesn’t want. he’s certain he’s a curse, and there’s no end to that in sight: so long as komaeda exists, he’ll keep on losing – murdering – everything he loves. 

in the face of all of that despair, what can you do but abandon your self-esteem and pray for something good to come out of all of it? how else could somebody possibly survive carrying that burden, truly believing that load will never be lightened?

tldr; komaeda thinks his existence is a threat, and a big chunk of his personality is a frankensteined way of surviving the pain that comes with that. still, we should question how much of his worldview komaeda has really internalized without inner conflict. 

Part 2: Enter Hajime Hinata

we get some answers on that front when we see that despite the clear and obvious danger it poses, nagito komaeda still finds himself falling hard for hajime hinata. that’s really, really loud.

I’ll preface this part by saying that you don’t need to actively ship komahina to understand what I’m trying to get at here. this said, I’ll be recapping an argument you’ve almost definitely seen before: komahina is definitely “a thing” – at the very least as a one-sided thing. to this, I’ll add the (perhaps bold?) claim that without recognizing that much as true, you’re missing out on a big part of what makes komaeda so interesting.

komaeda’s FTEs make it abundantly clear that komaeda has feelings for hinata. apart from his famed failed love confession, the fact that komaeda is willing to allow hinata to get close enough to learn about his views on hope and luck is telling. 

(the smoking gun here hinges on trusting that komaeda was telling the truth during the time you spent with him; in so many words, that he only lied about lying. so, for the sake of argument, let’s assume this is true! there’s good proof for it, anyway.)

if you read his final FTE as komaeda flashing his soul to hinata and making a decision at the very last second to retreat, turning to old coping mechanisms to protect hinata from his luck, it’s sort of a komahina bombshell. that capitulation spells out for us that komaeda understands sharing his life experiences with hinata to be one of the most intimate things he could possibly do.

he recognizes the exact moment he lets hinata get too close – when his life story is finally told – and he does what he’s learned he needs to do to get them both out of that situation safely: he tries to make hinata hate him, and tells himself (and hinata!) that he did it for the sake of hope.

(and yet, komaeda let hinata approach him every FTE, knowing damn well that they were both playing with fire… very interesting.)

now, let’s say you don’t consider the FTEs to be integral to canon. I mean, you can really easily miss out on all of komaeda’s content if you choose not to hang out with him in chapter 1! so, for the skeptic, in the unskippable main story, komaeda tells hinata this:

komaeda cares about hinata despite everything. and I really, truly mean despite everything. at this point in the story, the fact that he still cares about hinata calls into question basically every single one of his core beliefs. he’s read his final dead room prize – not only does hinata not have a talent, we can presume that komaeda also knows hinata became ultimate despair along with the rest of them. 

hinata has continually sought out komaeda’s company, even though komaeda knows himself to be worthless at best, lethal at worst. komaeda was willing to let him get closer, even though he knows how dangerous that is for hinata. he can’t help but let hinata try to know him. 

isn’t he awful? to want what he knows he can’t have, even though that wanting has never done anything but cause pain? he’s really the lowest of the low, to love someone who destroyed the world, who makes him question the views that will allow him to do the only good thing he’s ever been able to do for it: to die for hope. 

and yet, it’s a nod to how incredibly capable of love komaeda is that he’s still willing to reach out for it, no matter how many times it’s burned him in the past, and how much it hurts him in the present to want it. he understands more than anyone that his feelings can only result in disaster. reading komaeda as someone who can’t help but go on loving anyway makes his story hurt so much worse. 

but, you miss a whole lot of that without an eye for komahina. seeing hinata as the eye of komaeda’s emotional hurricane (and keeping tabs on their connection accordingly) allows us to glimpse past the cracks in komaeda’s front. we see that komaeda’s worldview is less stable than he presents it as – hinata is where komaeda’s coping mechanisms, for better or worse, run up against a wall. that tends to be uncomfortable for a guy who’s just barely coping in the first place. then again, growth is supposed to be uncomfortable, isn’t it?

Part 3: The Future He Chooses

so, all of this considered, I think one of the most interesting ways you can flesh komaeda out post-canon is by asking how he’d find himself willing to accept love. whether that love is from hinata or the ultimates, whether it’s platonic or romantic, love is the thing that komaeda wants AND fears in equal measure more than anything. it’s the source of his self-loathing and his obsession with hope. it’s the reason he’s lived the way that he has for so long – lonely, and afraid of being anything but.

getting into a relationship wouldn’t solve komaeda’s problems for him, and that’s a good thing. it would force him to confront old ones, and probably create dozens of new issues for him, too. writing him through that makes for great character study!

hinata (or anyone else, for that matter) can’t love komaeda into loving himself, but he can give him a shoulder to cry on while he works through 22 years of fear and sorts through the wreckage of a worldview that’s long since stopped serving him. I don’t think his progress would be linear. but, I think that he could do it. komaeda learning to accept care is what his healing looks like. 

(well. and physically recovering from cancer and dementia. but that’s neither here nor there!)

a post-canon komaeda learning to love narrative is also in line with the themes of DR2. hinata leads the survivors out of the neo world program because he makes the decision to choose his own future, creating a new version of “hope” for himself and his classmates. likewise, komaeda can make the decision to save himself. that is, if he trusts himself enough to actually touch and hold the thing that he’s never been able to stop reaching out for, anyway.

after all, hinata is lucky too. (and if it turns out he isn’t… y'all like angst fics, right?)

(shoutout to @cynopter for looking this over and confirming that I'm not spouting nonsense <33 thank you for reading my thesis of the week <33)

[maidenvault]

I feel like it kind of comes out of nowhere how Andor, after Luthen’s death, suddenly wants to prop him up as the guy who supposedly did more and gave more than anyone else for the rebellion, and a lot of discussion of the show accepts this and kind of whitewashes his moral ambiguity that is what makes him a really fascinating character, the standout one of the series imo. Luthen was never the only person building and running a spy network or the only one funding and supplying the rebellion.

And what has he sacrificed that’s supposedly so much more than anyone else’s sacrifices? Compared to all his agents who were more regularly on the ground risking themselves. Or victims of genocides like the one on Ghorman he was happy to have some responsibility for if it made the galaxy wake up more. Or Vel who lost Cinta, Cassian who’s lost everyone like family to him, and Mon who lived with her every move being watched for so many years and left behind her family without even getting a goodbye. If you give up all human connection, you don’t have much to lose, really. (And yet he didn’t even actually do that considering what we learn about Kleya, and his methods would have ultimately been self-defeating if it weren’t for her, the only person he didn’t alienate over the years.)

But even Cassian, of course, clearly doesn’t think everything he did was justifiable. He defends Luthen despite having complicated feelings about him. The series has constantly made a point of juxtaposing his perspective and his methods with those of other characters and he’s not always proven right. So why does the fandom seemingly take Luthen’s rationale at face value?

His defense of the move he made with the Aldhani robbery is to unapologetically tell Mon that the point is to hurt people and escalate things. To him it’s more about that than the money. As Tony Gilroy’s said himself, he’s an accelerationist. And yeah, Cassian being used for slave labor as an indirect result does begin to radicalize him (but the messages Maarva leaves behind are also surely a big motivator in getting him all in). But because of the legislation passed after Aldhani there are probably millions of people still in those hellish prisons for a very long time with the public having no idea how they’re being treated. Luthen doesn’t know about the Death Star project and the gargantuan labor force needed for it. The Empire was surely going to find a way to use slave labor to build it regardless and he quite possibly just gave them an easy excuse to ramp up arrests and extend sentences.

Then he basically plays into the Empire’s hands by aiding the rebellion on Ghorman because he doesn’t know what the endgame is and that the Empire wants the Ghor to fight back. Isn’t it crazy how we’ve been shown from the beginning Dedra is good at her job because she can think like Luthen, and she’s the one who comes up with the idea to stoke resistance among the Ghor and make them look dangerous? But he never considers that using the enemy’s weapons against them can just end up handing the Empire more weapons because chaos and fear are easy to take advantage of. Using those has always been Sidious’s playbook. I mean it’s no wonder nobody at Yavin likes Luthen when he’s still on his accelerationist bullshit two years before the Battle of Yavin, when the rebellion is starting to gather forces there and is already getting stronger every day without the additional push of another genocide.

Cassian’s instincts are right when he doesn’t get involved with the Ghorman resistance, and I think it’s kind of meaningful that Cinta dies so senselessly following Vel on their mission there. Vel’s a very capable rebel but has sometimes served as a kind of foil showing how much more of a natural leader Cassian is, and she doesn’t make the same call when arguably none of them should be there that night.

Ultimately what we see is that the Empire never needed any help from Luthen to hurt people enough that they inevitably fight back. They’ll do that completely unprovoked and with no reason but needing a resource in the ground under people’s feet. Ghorman was going to be destroyed no matter what, which is Dedra’s terrible excuse for her participation and no consolation to Syril, but nonetheless surely true. The Ghor fighting back with help from Luthen only makes it easier for them to control the narrative. A narrative Mon has to risk her life to tear apart on the Senate floor in a move that’s perhaps more powerful in encouraging resistance than the deaths of millions of people who couldn’t choose to sacrifice themselves.

Luthen is human and he makes mistakes. He isn’t a Jedi, he has normal weaknesses and limitations, so he has to make compromises. But after he’s been doing this so long, he clearly has stopped weighing the cost every time and become a little too comfortable with those compromises, like he’s just got to be in for a penny in for a pound to keep justifying to himself what he’s already done.

And in the end, all his work pays off in such a huge way with his Death Star intel only because he got really lucky - or perhaps because he was meant to be there at the right time. It also pays off because he didn’t do the ruthless thing he usually would at the end of season one, never getting an opening to kill Cassian without talking to him first. He breaks his own rules sometimes, he cares about Kleya, and that also pays off. His humanity and fallibility is exactly what makes him a hero - he had to start so small and with absolutely every disadvantage and he still did what he did. He still got a kind of redemption in the end when he wasn’t even looking for it. He could always see the endgame in his designs and that there’d be hope in that he couldn’t share in himself, but ultimately he is part of a destiny that’s even more important than anything he could have expected his efforts would bring about. The hope was always there and maybe he wouldn’t have done some things the same way if he could see it.

[sxorpiomooon]

How do they feel about you - pac reading

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Pile 1

Pile 1 I'm sorry, the first thing I noticed was that my eyes kept forcing themselves to shut down for some reason it's like when you are thinking about someone and you sort of force yourself not to that's the vibe. I feel as if this person feels like you are walking away from this connection. I want to tell you that you are very brave for making this decision as I can see how stressed you look. Pile 1 might be extremely exhausted I heard "it's time to go" and had a vision of a clock tickling a brown one very light or dark academia core I think it was 9 o clock? I heard "i let go off what no longer serves me". This person has a victim complex they still that they are the victim here, the one who was wronged they are refusing to see the truth it reminds me of the first thing I mentioned while writing this the eye thing. This person self sabotages things and then cries about it. It's like someone is crying with their eyes closed to everyone that they are tied with rope and can't move but they don't realise that they are never tied in the first place. OML im so mad😭😭😭 this person has placed everything in your power I'll tell you what this is the kind of man who would NEVER plan ANY dates or anything and will ALWAYS say "we'll see" etc I'm so mad this person refuses to put any efforts and wants you to do all the WORK and they might also Gaslight you oh my pile 1 you are doing right throw this son of. A bitch away this made me mad too. Also for those who need it, the flower that you guys choose is lotus and the reason why lotus is my favourite flavour is because even while being surrounded by mud, it never loses it's beauty and goodness. I hope you remember that<3

Pile 2

i like this whoever this person is they might be really forgetful air signs if you are asking about a man ooo he good looking might have good eyes but dark circles I'm seeing a dark blue tshirt and very dim yellow lights is this a party no idea a libra is involved anyways this might be a new connection or you guys might be starting a new cycle. Also the second thing I got and I forgot to include was that whenever this person remembers you they might do it in a very pleasant manner it's like a bunch of people talking about you and all a sudden they'll be like "ooooooo xyz? Oh yea they're good they're nice they're very nice i like them" that's the vibe I'm seeing whiskey??? This connection has alot of raw potential only slowly unleashing or revealing itself now, you have the power to take this connection wherever you want it go rn. There are endless possibilities. Apples keep playing in my head SOMEONE STPP IT. I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I feel like either they feel like this or its both of your energy but there's something about childhood trauma here I keep hearing something shattering like plates or glasses broken family and disharmony is what I heard. And this person might also think that you might be a loner or someone who just really enjoys their own company I had a vision of painting? I guess this might also be interpreted as this was a connection with alot of potential but past trauma kinda ruined shit for the both of you and if that's the case I'm so sorry to my pile 2

Pile 3

Someone here might speak like singing as in even while saying normal sentences you might say it in a very melodious manner something about singing also had a vision of a takeaway as in the window and vibing alibi started playing YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT UUST HAPPENEDNNOTONCE BUT TWIECE OKAY MY RUMBLR CRASHED OUT OF NOWHERE AND THEN OPENED AND I WAS SVARWD THAT MY 3NTIRE READING WILL BE WASTED BUTBIT GOT RESTORED AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN BUT AGAIN IT WAS RESTORED. Anyways for some of you something might have happened in this connection that destroyed it as in there was so much hope and light which all ended up in darkness for some reason "all this rage was once love" came to my mind and a very nice warming instrumental played in my head. This is a pile for a very few of you, you might be asking for a past connection. I think there is hope however there's also a need to let go off your emotional baggage in order to continue to connection or for anything. This person also feels this way, that you might have walked away or both of you did because of the unreleased trauma. I hope everything works out in your favour pile 3 <3

[misterdetectiveswag]

❝ STARS IN THE VAST INK❞

summary; being completely enamoured in the topic of space, you serve the epitome of a nerd when given the chance to talk about it.

pairings; sae itoshi x gn!reader

warnings/tags; fluff, suggestive, cursing, ooc!sae, not proofread, shutting the reader up, reader is implied to be playing with sae as his teammate, reader lowkey has a superiority complex LMAO

a/n; i was struggling if this was supposed to be a sae or kaiser fic. but anyways this fic has references to You, Me, Us by @\daosies! I love their fic sm go read

laying down on the soft grass, gazing upon the balls of light above. sae didn't exactly plan out his date with you to be a whole lesson, but here you were, yapping about space and stars.

"the fact we barely know anything about space sends chills down my spine, but the beauty of it all makes up for the gut-wrenching theories."

you paused to check if he was still listening — he was, as always. however, you couldn’t help but notice the way he was slipping into dream land every time you looked away. which reminds you that sae itoshi is a man of many things, but a twist in his sleeping schedule is not plausible. (which you prove false, barely.)

yet, you continue to talk your ass off because if you’re the only one whom sae makes an exception for, who are you to not take advantage of it?

sae mumbles a curse when you continue to speak your mind. you think its because of the bugs crawling into his skin on the grass, maybe its because of the way you won’t stop talking. you opt to believe in the former because who wouldn’t want to take in the glory of basking in your beautiful voice?

“fucking nerd.” he managed to make up from the string of his incoherent words. but you choose to ignore him because again, who doesn’t want to take in the pleasure of your voice?

“so. anyways, the milky way smells of rum and booze. which reminds me of the time where I came home drunk from the celebration party for winning the match against the Blue lock eleven.”

“you’re barely 18 and 18 isn’t even the legal age for drinking in japan.” sae responds with a tired sigh.

with your benevolence, you decide to turn the other way (because once again, your greatness can only be reserved for the most worthy of events), proving to sae that you, in fact had the capacity to keep your mouth shut.

but then, you start talking about space once more. and sae tumbles all over again.

“sae, did you know that the moon is shaped like a lemon?”

you couldn’t even finish your sentence (such disrespect to your greatness!) when sae very harshly forced your lips shut with his. and for once, you decide to keep shut for once. you find yourself bending for the whims of your teammate. because you’re the y/n l/n who is always willing to grace people with your presence, this time however is in the form of silence because silence is loud with you. sae finds that everything is loud when it is with you. he doesn’t know what to do with it though.

so he does what he feels is right and kisses you harder. not allowing a wink of oxygen into your lungs (is he trying to kill you? you don’t know. but you don’t find yourself retreating.)

with teeth clashing together, one of his arms find their way to your waist as his free arm supports you from the ground. (a prince indeed, worthy to be held with such elegance. this time, you allow yourself to take him in fully.)

you don’t dare to whimper nor whine his name aloud. he does the bidding for you though.

with a soft whine leaving his lips, his mouth travels down to the space connecting your shoulder and your neck. his teeth grazing your perfect skin. he remains the exception to taint such perfection.

this time however, a light whine leaves your mouth.

no one hears you. only you, him, us.

sae thinks you’re crazy, sae thinks you’re a person of many things, however submitting is not one of them. (you yield for power and glory!)

yet he finds it satisfying when you find yourself at the whim of sae itoshi.

tap tap, your fingers tap on the rhythm of the milky way. (your benevolence could reach the stars)

and it ends like this.

with sae itoshi coaxing you into your raw self. yet a prince such as you doesn’t seem to mind. and with the right touch, at the right time you fall comfortably at the hands of sae itoshi. a cruel man indeed.

© misterdetectiveswag

[deleteddewewted]

Modern 40k Ideas:

I have an idea for the greater Modern 40k universe I’m making. These are meant to be canon ideas for the supermarket romance fic series mainly cause I plan on making some spinoffs or extra fics for the series with other characters.

All of the Emperors sons, the Primarchs, were made because Big E was once a broke college student trying to make ends meet so he donated sperm. He would go to a sperm bank every so often and make a quick buck donating. So not only did a bunch of families get the ability to have children but it would explain why the Primarchs are all so ethnically and culturally diverse.

The only reason why the Primarchs are all united in adulthood was because when Big E was donating he said he was fine with the kids that were a product of his donations could reach out to him for whatever reason since he knew that they might have questions down the line about their health history.

Most of the Primarchs met when they were in their teens since many of them lived in very different parts of the world. Horus who lived in the same city as Big E got to meet his biological father much sooner than the rest of his brothers.

Relationships and dynamics are all pretty much the same since they all got to connect when they were young and kept in contact up until the events of current modern au timeline.

Horus is not currently in the picture as he’s serving a 4 years prison sentence for wire fraud. Big E could have sued him and gotten his son life in prison since wire fraud wasn’t the only thing Horus did but he felt betrayed and saddened that his closest son would betray him that he didn’t open his mouth at all when the authorities questioned him to ask if he knew anything else about his sons business.

Rogal Dorn and Perturabo both lead the graphics team but they don’t lead the marketing department. Neither one of them know how to run a social media account and Guillimans even worse so they had them lead a subsection of the department that focused only in the appearance of promotional material, email marketing, flyers, and ads.

Guilliman pursued business and ventured into his own small business while still working for Big E. Big E takes this as a betrayal because he feels like Guilliman had taken all of the resources he had given him and miss used them for his personal gain. He hadn’t, Guilliman wanted to make his own company that had nothing to do with the company his father runs. Guillimans business is actually a nonprofit with a focus on helping ex veterans.

Big E is in a bit of a hiatus from work. Not really. He’s still around doing things here and there but overall he stays out of it because he was planning on passing the business to his sons anyways.

Big E hadn’t planned on having his sons join him in his business but everything just aligned perfectly that it made sense for him to include them. He secretly does adore his children. He never planned on having any of his own, mainly because he didn’t find the point in it but now that his sons are with him he’s more than eager to make sure that they learn how to bond with one another.

Horus Heresy was just a big family argument that led to Horus being arrested but the rest of his brothers who took his side ended up serving a very reduced prison time or just community service.

The entire company focuses on humanitarian efforts across the world. So funding for medical access in impoverished communities, access to clean water, food assistance, education, etc. This all came about because Big E grew up in poverty and worked his ass off to get out of that situation. Having had the foresight to understand that not everyone has the same access as he did or the same chances as he did, he made it his mission to help as many people as possible.

[tennessoui]

prompt --- meeting in prison au (maybe Anakin is serving a few years for crossing the line in defense of his mom and Obi-Wan is a volunteer teacher/lawyer?)

[this is in response to a prompt game i reblogged a year ago, but hey! wanted some dark obi-wan this evening so i'm finally getting around to it!] [warnings for hints of non-con typical for a prison trope fic where one is a pretty boy, also for dub-con and power imbalance] [obi-wan is another prisoner here] [supposedly] [2k]

It’s not actually something one asks here, which comes as a surprise to Anakin. He’d thought—well, he’d always assumed that was just something you traded in prison, like deathsticks and dirty holos maybe. Information, what are you in for.

Anakin had been worried that first night in his cell, mind shuffling through a cascade of concerns and memories and landing on one that seemed inconsequential, stacked as it was against the other contents of his life, but gripped him with a fear he hadn’t felt since he was small. What would he say, when they asked him what he was in for? 

Massacre is what’s written on the record. It’s some variation of the truth as well, though Anakin can’t even remember his own crime. Just the sting of the sand, the heat of the dying day, the blood on his hands. Mostly true, though Anakin thinks of it still as justice. Vengeance. The reality of bartering on Tatooine. A life for a life. A village for a mother. 

He could say massacre. As far as crimes go, it’s one that carries weight, could earn him a certain amount of respect among his fellow criminals. 

But then they would ask him how he did it. He isn’t necessarily small, but he’s hardly a man. Nineteen years old and lanky with it. His master used to assure him that he would grow sturdier with age, grow into his frame. 

His master hadn’t even looked at him once during the trial. It had been the security guards on Coruscant who had cut his braid.

So his fellow criminals would ask how he did it, how he killed an entire village of Tuskens when he is nothing but a nineteen year old boy.

And he would have nothing to say. Because being a Jedi…even just a Jedi padawan, even just a failed, ex-Jedi…it would attract too much attention. Too much of the wrong sort of attention. After all, the Jedi Order was probably responsible for half the prison sentences of the criminals here, and Anakin doesn’t think that any criminal would be able to just set that aside. Even if Anakin had barely had a hand in any sort of galactic-wide justice.

Even if the Jedi Order and Anakin don’t exactly agree on what justice is.

So he’d been afraid, that first night in his cell. Afraid and made powerless by the Force suppression cuffs locked tight around each wrist. Afraid that they would ask, that others would find out that he used to be a Jedi and punish him for it. Beat him as if they could beat their captors through him.

But no one asked.

Apparently, information like that isn’t shared or bartered. No one actually seemed that interested. And no one asked that first day. Not that first week. Oh, Anakin was told sometimes what other people did, how they came to be here, the length of their sentence. But only by the criminal themselves. There were rumors he heard about others, sometimes. That was all.

It eases some of the fear he feels that first week, that no one calls him as a Jedi, that no one seems to care about his past.

And with that fear taken care of, he has room to realize something else.

He’s pretty—and those in his cellblock have taken to noticing.

It’s nothing much at first. Lingering stares on his face, his lips, during mealtime. Lingering stares during the communal sonics. Out in the rec rooms. In the yards. He has no cellmate, at least, an empty bunk on top of him at night.

Thank the Force for small mercies.

Lingering stares turn into loud whispers that make Anakin want to scream. Perhaps the Force suppression bracelets smother his connection with the Force, but they do little to dim his Force-gifted hearing. It’s indecent. It’s skin crawling, what they say.

It’s also incredibly useful. Surprisingly so.

“Don’t know why I gotta respect some sleemo’s claim,” he hears from across the yards as he bends down to put the weights he’d been using back on their rack. “Man’s not even in the block and the boy’s mouth’s made for it.”

“You don’t have to,” someone else says in response as Anakin forces himself to keep his shoulders relaxed and low. He feels like prey. A piece of meat, ready for the taking. “That’s your grave dug though. It’s not just any sleemo. It’s fucking Sol who’s got his name on him.” 

“Fucking Sol,” the guy repeats with angry passion. “Been here two months and he thinks he owns the place.”

Two months. Where was Anakin two months ago? On Coruscant. At the beginning of his trial. Realizing too late that he’d done something he would not be able to undo. 

“--cut off a guy’s arm with a sharpened piece of plastoid,” the other man is saying when Anakin tunes back in. “Cause he was fucking bored. He can own this shithole all he wants. I’m not getting on the wrong side of him. Even for a round at Skywalker’s ass.”

Anakin beats a hasty retreat from the yards after that, though he can’t help but turn the new information over in his head.

He’d been wondering when the heated stares from the other prisoners would turn into attempts to—touch him. It’d been growing as a fear in the back of his mind. Without the Force, his defenses were shot. He was strong and well-muscled, but some of his fellow prisoners could almost certainly hold him down.

But apparently—they won’t.

Because someone else—some mysterious prisoner, Sol—already has first dibs.

The thought makes Anakin shiver, and it keeps him up for half the night. 

“You’re up rather late,” a voice murmurs through the cell wall a few hours into his restless pacing. The sound jolts Anakin into sudden stillness. “Oh, no, please don’t stop on my account, darling,” the voice says.

Anakin blinks. That’s a Coruscanti accent, though the prison is located in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the mid-rim. “What do you want?” he snaps automatically, arms crossing as he stares at the wall in front of him. On edge. Prey. Powerless.

“To talk,” the man says. “Obviously.”

Anakin’s eyes narrow of their own accord and he steps closer. “No one’s been in that cell before,” he states. “You’re new.”

“Oh, well done, you,” the man replies in a tone Anakin can’t decide is grating or pleasing. “You’re an observant one, aren’t you, Anakin?”

“How did you know my name?”

“Darling, the whole prison knows your name, I’m sure,” the man says with a chuckle that makes Anakin’s skin dimple. Fear? “Though I would hazard to say I know a little bit more than they do.”

“What do you mean.”

“Your past, darling. Your Jedi roots.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anakin snaps, even as his heart rate picks up. Jedi. He hasn’t heard that word in ages. He never wanted to hear it again. This man knows. This man knows.

Danger. Danger.

“I can hear your pulse from here, Anakin,” the man says, sounding calm. Sounding amused. Anakin blinks at the wall in front of him. Danger. Danger.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says again.

“Hm,” the man says. “You’re afraid, I take it. Of others finding out.”

Anakin pinches his lips together, quiet. Silent.

“No need for that though,” the man says, as if this is a conversation between two friends—not one of Anakin’s worst nightmares brought to life. “You are under my protection.”

The words make Anakin’s stomach drop. “Sol.”

“To some,” the man—Sol—agrees. “I’d rather like it if you called me Obi-Wan though. Obi-Wan Kenobi. For now at least.”

Anakin sneers though the other man can’t see it. His heart races even faster now. Sol—one of the most dangerous men in the prison, if not the most dangerous one. Sol—the man whose name carries enough weight that he was able to claim Anakin as his own—what, bitch? What, plaything?---even from another block of the prison.

Sol, who somehow managed to get transferred between blocks, to the cell right next to Anakin’s own.

Who wants Anakin. 

For what?

“What do you want from me?” Anakin whispers. He clears his throat, tries again, louder this time and more insistent. “What do you want from me?” “I do think that is for me to know, darling, and for you to find out,” Sol—Kenobi—replies, tone light. Amused still. “But we can start with the simplest thing. Tomorrow morning, during our recreational hour in the yard, I would like you to come to me.”

“No kriffing way—”

“So you would like them to know of your past, darling? I’m sure I could forget myself. I’m sure I could…renege my claim rather easily. If you would prefer a more…brutal touch. Touches.”

Anakin’s skin crawls. The meaning and the threat in Kenobi’s words is clear. Either Anakin does as he is told or the other man will take away the protection currently keeping Anakin unmolested. And he’ll tell the others that Anakin was a Jedi. How many would jump at the chance to fuck a Jedi?

It’s not an option. It’s not a future Anakin would survive. He knows this.

But can he really—submit himself to another man, to this man? This dangerous, cruel man?  

“I don’t know anything about you,” he says roughly. “I don’t…”

“You will learn,” Kenobi says, dark promise coloring his words. “I will be beneath the chromometer. Tomorrow in the yard. You will come to me then.”

“Do you wish for me to crawl?” Anakin snarls, anger and powerlessness raging through him. His fist hits the wall between him and his executioner. It changes nothing. 

“Did I ask you to?” Kenobi snaps back, voice sharp as a blade. A moment passes. Another. The man lets out a breath and then says, “I do not want a dog, Anakin.”

“Then what do you want?” Anakin asks again, voice breaking under the weight of it all. He has always hated traps. He has always hated being powerless. Imprisoned.

Kenobi is silent as he appears to mull over the question. “I want an apprentice.”

Anakin has no idea what to say to that, and so he says nothing. Kenobi too is quiet. He remains so for the rest of the night.

In the morning, when Anakin is released from his cell after a sleepless night, he looks automatically to his left, but the door to Kenobi’s cell stays shut with no indication that there’s anyone in there.

He comforts himself with the thought that perhaps he imagined the whole affair up until the moment he is led into the yards during the morning rec hour.

It is immediately and painfully obvious which of the prisoners is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sol. Even without the instructions that he’d been given, Anakin thinks he would be able to pick out the other man, just from how the others treat him.

Sol stands alone, back against the far side’s prison wall, ankles crossed and a deathstick in his hand. No one gets within several meters of him, giving him a wide berth. Out of respect? Fear? Both?

Anakin swallows.

This is not the man he thought he’d be when he was younger. This is not who he wanted to become.

But somehow he is here. Somehow this is the man he has become. Somehow, after a decade of freedom, he has been found by a new master.

Sol’s eyes flash golden in the weak sunlight as he watches Anakin approach him slowly. He tilts his face to examine him, to look at Anakin examining him in turn. His beard is neat and well-kept, as red as his rather long coppery hair. His smile is crooked when Anakin stops in front of him. He’s shorter than Anakin. It feels like a hollow victory, especially when the man plucks his death stick from his mouth and places it between Anakin’s lips.

“Good boy,” Obi-Wan purrs and Anakin feels a roar of emotions roar up in him at the words. Sickness. Hatred. Anger. 

And strangely, out of place and unexpected, a thrill of excitement.

[muzetrigger]

Nevermore Theory: It’s not about “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Okay, it’s time for another Friday night rant.

Recently, I’ve been coming across some excellent thoughts and predictions about Season 2, so now I’m ready to throw own my hat in the Nevermore Theory ring.

In Nevermore, almost every character is based off of one of Poe’s works. Lenore is from the poem “Lenore”, Morella is from the short story “Morella”, Prospero is from “The Masque of Red Death”, etc. There are also some characters that draw on more than one of Poe’s works, most notably Duke who takes inspiration from “The Cask of Amontillado” (Fortunato) and “The Duc de L’Omellete” (Duke).

Now, Annabel Lee is obviously based on the poem “Annabel Lee”, which the webcomic even opens with, but @moxiepower2 and @takescrackseriously have also made the connection between Annabel Lee and “The Tell-Tale Heart” and theorized that Annabel might also be a dual-themed character like Duke. I personally find that reading very convincing too!

(I mean c’mon, her spectre has a giant heart-shaped hole in it, the logo for the WEBTOON is beating heart with wings, it’s one of Poe’s most famous works, so on and so forth.)

But today, I’m going to stick my neck out and say, it’s NOT about “The Tell-Tale Heart” (at least not entirely. Annabel Lee could be based on even more than two works!).

I think Annabel Lee’s character points to another of Poe’s stories that lines up really well with the direction of Nevermore as a whole:

That’s right, it’s time to talk about “The Pit and the Pendulum”.

First, I’m going to need to explain this leap in logic, because it’s definitely not as clear as Annabel’s heart motif. Let’s start with the visuals.

Yes, Annabel Lee and Nevermore in general have a strong heart motif, but isn’t it a little odd that Annabel’s heart isn’t totally empty?

It’s a great visual focus for her character design, but that shape is awfully familiar, and it swings around an awful lot like a pendulum, doesn’t it?

And we know that Annabel (as an actual ghost-type spectre) can control the pendulum.

AND Annabel Lee gives the pendulum back to Lenore, with a lock of her hair tied around it, literally binding herself to the tool.

That’s… an awful lot of interaction with an item that is unrelated to her inspiration poem AND has served exactly zero purpose in the story so far. There HAS to be a reason Red and Flynn keep bringing this damn thing up because they play the long con with their foreshadowing (Dirt on Ada’s hands, Annabel Lee’s panic attack, Lenore taking Annabel’s blot, the gun having no bullets at the very beginning of the webcomic).

So now, I want to delve further into the actual text of “The Pit and the Pendulum” because it mirrors a lot what we’ve seen so far in season 1 and could be a good start for predicting what comes next in season 2!

For those who haven’t read “The Pit and the Pendulum” it follows an unnamed narrator who has been arrested by the Spanish Inquisition, pronounced guilty to some crime (it could have been anything, that’s just how the Inquisition rolls), and is subjected to all kinds of unusual torture methods before being rescued by the French army.

What I find so interesting about this story though is that its structure loosely matches the trials that the Deans have set up at Nevermore Academy.

For instance after swooning at his sentencing, the narrator wakes up in a pitch-black room and tries to figure out the shape of his prison by making a circuit. He finds that it’s around a hundred paces, but because of the “many angles in the wall” he can “form no guess at the shape of the vault”. In reality however, the room is perfectly square and only half the number of steps in circuit.

How did the narrator make such a big error in estimating the size of the room? Because he passed out right after missing the marker he had been using to keep track of his location, thus making two laps instead of one.

Now let’s compare it with the first obstacle for Nevermore students, the Labyrinth. Students are thrust into the maze without any knowledge of how to manifest (Annabel only knowing how to because of the Deans making a surprise appearance in class). So metaphorically, they’re also in the dark, and as Lenore and Duke find out as soon as they enter the maze, the labyrinth’s geometry also seems to shift.

Most convincingly (in my opinion), Lenore also looses track of herself during the Dementophobia trial, just like how the Pendulum narrator faints, which is one of the main reasons the misfit trio almost fail.

That near failure also mimics what happens next in the short story, the narrator trips and narrowly avoids falling into a giant pit (hence the title).

That really ticks off the Spanish Inquisition, just like how Lenore pisses off the Deans by surviving, and so the Inquisition does what it does best, and devises a new torture method. This time, the narrator awakens to find himself strapped down to a plank and gazing up at a figure of Kronos, only instead of Father Time wielding a scythe, he’s wielding a massive bladed pendulum (there’s the second half of the title, you’re welcome).

I find this image very telling because it’s supposed to relay the message that the narrator’s death is inevitable. You can’t fight the passage of time, and it doesn’t get less subtle than the god of time killing you with a clock part.

Similarly, ringing the bell in the widow’s watch is supposed to be an impossible task, meant mainly to give the students who have manifested a chance to flex their powers. The Deans admit as much:

But back to the short story, the narrator doesn’t exactly realize his predicament at first. He just thinks it’s kind of an interesting change of scenery and he’s more worried about the fact that his captors have provided him with “meat pungently seasoned” and no water to quench his thirst, which he figures is the real torture method. Oh and the rats. They’re pretty scary too, especially when it occurs to him that he’s definitely not the first person to be shoved in this room, and those rats have to have been eating something.

Eventually, he does notice the pendulum slowly lowering and spends the next *checks notes* 9 paragraphs alternating between despair, apathy, and frenzy. (There’s actually quite a lot to dissect here with regards to Nevermore’s treatment of madness, but let’s save that for later.)

Then he gets a bright idea and rubs spicy meat all over his bonds with the one free arm the Inquisition left him to presumably eat said meat.

Why does he do this?

To entice the rats into eating his bonds, of course! He has to play dead for a bit, and also let rats crawl all over him, but it works and our narrator escapes after a few cuts.

Okay, now let’s take a look at the parallels to that trial in Nevermore. I’ve already gone over the comparison to the bell ringing class as a kind of Sisyphean task, but Lenore also almost gets eaten by Prospero’s rats:

She also succeeds because the people, who are supposed to be her enemies, help her, just like how the rats aid the narrator in escaping. Did I just compare Ada, Pluto, Morella, and Annabel Lee to rats? Yes. Yes, I did.

But I’m going to specifically single out Annabel Lee in this case because Lenore also has to play dead in order to ring the bell. Specifically she pretends to give in to Annabel’s “Kiss of Death”.

So both Lenore and the narrator are momentarily successful after reports of their death are greatly exaggerated.

Then they have the crushing realization that they’re still trapped. Then narrator in the dungeons of Toledo, and Lenore with…

(Minor aside, this is some phenomenal scene work.)

And now the final trial (for our hapless narrator at least). The Inquisition, having been denied their sliced prisoner sandwich, decide to roast him alive instead. You see, the metal walls of the cell can actually be heated up, oh and also they can flatten themselves by pulling the corners apart like a collapsing square.

So the narrator has two choices. Death by being burned alive, or death by falling into the pit at the center of room (remember that detail? It’s still the same room).

To put it in Nevermore terms, Lenore can either test her luck with the Deans OR:

This guy :)

Now, do I think the Deans created The Wild Hunt? No, and I would be very interested in if the Stag turns out to be related to Theo in some way, but I bet the Deans purposefully invited The Wild Hunt into the Academy in order to corral them back into obedience/kill off the troublemakers. (Or maybe they were just bored, who knows?)

NOW FOR THE ACTUAL THEORY PART (How in the world did it take so long to get here? I only have a paragraph left in the short story to use for theory crafting!)

”The Pit and the Pendulum” ends with the narrator being saved literally as he is falling into the eponymous pit by General Lasalle of the French army. That doesn’t make sense because Lasalle wasn’t in the Battle of Toledo where the story takes place, but anachronisms are incredibly prevalent in Nevermore. Pretty much every character comes from a different time and place than the others, most prominently Eulalie, who is probably Japanese and probably died in WWII (though who knows, maybe she was a proto-weeb and died in the firebombings of Dresden).

My theory is that similarly, the main cast is going to be saved by a third party who intervenes during the Hunt. Then, the narrative is going to shift away from Nevermore Academy and towards the afterlife at large. We’ve gotten plenty of hints about the outside, particularly towards the end of Season 1, so I don’t think it’s that unlikely, and if I may make a second literary connection, Nevermore is kind of like the Hunger Games.

Wait! Let me explain.

You have a group of kids/young adults fighting in a premade arena designed by antagonistic game makers where only one of them can come out alive. Generic? Yes? But looking at the Hunger Games Trilogy’s structure, we start with the Hunger Games, get a variation in the Quarter Quell, and then abandon the games to explore a broader scope of the world.

Now, I have the utmost faith in Red and Flynn’s ability to keep the dark academia setting fresh, but the path of least resistance might be getting out of the classroom.

It’s a weak and vague theory, that I don’t even really subscribe to myself, but I thought I should follow the short story to its end at least.

But if I don’t believe in my theory, why did I bother spending the last two hours writing this post?

Well, one, I really like pointing out the parallels between Poe’s work and Nevermore. It’s clear that Red and Flynn put so SO much effort into Nevermore and I genuinely think getting to be in on all those details enhances the reading experience.

But two, do you remember how I started this post?

That’s right, talking about Annabel Lee.

I’ve been doing a lot of comparison between Lenore and the actual text of “The Pit and Pendulum” but I want to show you this illustration of the short story by Harry Clarke:

Does that outfit remind you of anything? Maybe…

Now, Clarke drew the above piece nearly 80 years after “The Pit and the Pendulum” was first published, but considering how prominent this illustration is for the short story, I bet Red and Flynn studied it when writing Nevermore, and I find that really intriguing considering where they chose to reuse the outfit.

There are ribbons all over Nevermore (everyone with a ponytail has one to tie up their hair, Ada uses hers to set Lenore’s broken fingers), but the motif of being bound by ribbons occurs when the narrative is invoking ideas of madness and memory, specifically for Annabel.

And would you look at that. “The Pit and the Pendulum” brings up both of those ideas together: “the madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things.”

That’s the last line of the third paragraph, and it’s exactly what Annabel is doing in the bathtub, recalling taboo memories of Lenore.

Plus, this passage happens as the narrator is trying to recover from a swoon, and what do you know? There’s only one character in Nevermore who swooned in season one: Annabel Lee.

Okay? So? Nevermore already has a lot of parallels to this damn story, and I’ve spent the entire post point them out for crying out loud.

But! Poe is very specific about how we recover from a swoon:

“In the return to life from the swoon there are two stages; first, that of the sense of mental or spiritual; secondly, that of the sense of physical, existence. It seems probable that if, upon reaching the second stage, we could recall the impressions of the first, we should find these impressions eloquent in memories of the gulf beyond.” (Emphasis added)

Again, doesn’t that sound familiar? Throughout season 1, the main cast have all been slowly recovering their memories and thus unlocking their spectres which represent fragments of their true selves and desires.

So here’s my actual theory: in the past, Nevermore Academy was used by lost souls to recover their “mental and spiritual” identities, before they reclaimed their “physical existence” at the light beyond the grounds in order to “return to life”.

More importantly, I think the final arc of Nevermore (or epilogue I guess is more likely?) will take place in the mortal world and be about the cast “[recalling] the impressions of [their mental or spiritual senses” (ie. their time at Nevermore Academy) post-second stage, thus completing Poe’s perfect recovery.

Reincarnation isn’t Nevermore’s endgame.

Maybe they have to leave their spectres behind at Nevermore Academy like in the “Theo is the Stag” theory and the final act is about them reclaiming their personas stands spectres to fight against the Deans, or maybe we’re going to go Kimi no Na wa and just get them running into each other and remembering (which would be lame) or Annabel being the only one who remembers and gradually hiking across the globe to find the others (which would be a very cool reversal given how Lenore is usually the one trying to form genuine connections [we’re starting to see some promising Prospero-Annabel friendship development though!] but now we’re also getting into fanfic territory).

Personally, my happy ending at the moment would be Annabel and Lenore teaming up, kicking the Deans out, and reestablishing Nevermore Academy as a sojourn for reincarnating spirits. That way we don’t have to go through reincarnation drama (again) and everyone who sticks around can just chill out and lead peaceful (after)lives or be teachers and show newcomers how to awaken their spectres. But again, fanfic territory.

Wow, that was a whole lot of text that didn’t really amount to an actual theory, but I hope you guys enjoyed reading it?

TLDR if you didn’t: Nevermore season 1 is actually a sapphic rewrite of “The Pit and the Pendulum”, the Deans are the Spanish Inquisition, and the Nevermore’s endgame is going to take place in the mortal world after reincarnation.

Also, I have no spine like Ada and don’t have any conviction in my theories lmao

[freneticfloetry]

So this is a thing that's happening. Just going to pretend it's seven sentences. Also, there is one em-dash in this entire snippet. Who even am I right now?

Thanks to @heartstringsduet @carlos-in-glasses and @carlossreaders for the tags. 😘

Tommy takes a second, trying not to come at this wrong. The running joke is that he has a friend for every occasion, customs brokerage to construction woes to courtside seats for the Lakers. Tommy always knows a guy, Sal had said once, leaning across him with a beer in both fists to sort of address the bar at large. Just fuckin' crazy connections. You ever need a kidney, call Kinard. It'd been a joke, but it wasn't far off. The life Tommy lives has been cobbled together with countless names that each serve a specific purpose, a carefully-curated collection of numbers he can call to accomplish any one thing. It's ironic, really, just how many people it takes for someone to be completely self-sufficient. So sure, Tommy Kinard has friends. But Evan Buckley has family — one hard-fought handful of hearts and homes that make up his whole world. Looking into those too-blue eyes, he wonders where Evan will fit. If he'll ever be someone color-coded and filed away for days when Tommy can't help but hate himself. I know a guy who could've been everything.

Tagging in @liminalmemories21 (because this is all her fault, really) @paperstorm @never-blooms @rmd-writes @walkinginland @herefortarlos @reyesstrand @anincompletelist @strandnreyes @ladytessa74 @lightningboltreader @carlos-tk @whatsintheboxmh @lemonlyman-dotcom @bonheur-cafe @afiendishthingynisba @alrightbuckaroo @cha-melodius and @welcometololaland

[burningcheese-merchant]

When Burning Spice was introduced a lot of people made comparison with Capsaicin, and even thought they were related. You have any thoughts on that?

I do, and you're all probably going to be very disappointed lol

Not only do I NOT vibe with the idea that they're related, I'm actually really annoyed that it's as popular as it is lol. It doesn't even make sense. Burning Spice was in prison for thousands of years; when, where and how did he have a kid? At what point in time did this occur? Capsaicin is a young man. A regular mortal, outside of his "Spice Overlord" thing. I ask you all again: when? Where? How? WHY? Has anyone ever actually thought this through?

"ThEy LoOk SiMiLaR" okay, and? So fucking what? Neither of them own the concept of "long hair" or "muscles" or "sharp teeth". Pitaya has those too, and he has an arguably more substantial connection to Capsaicin because they're actually from the same fucking area. Happenstance. Lots of characters in this game have similar attributes, that doesn't necessarily mean anything

"ThEy'Re BoTh SpIcY" Refer to point A. Do you all think all the nut-based cookies are related, too? That's the logic you might as well be operating on. Correlation is not causation

"Blah blah both go 2 jail" you know how many characters in this wack-ass phone game count as felons, bro? How many of them SHOULD count as felons lol? The Cookie Run universe might as well be one giant Alcatraz with all the shit these little affronts to God get up to every day, I ain't making them all each other's relatives because of it

They're the wrong ages for them to be family. Burning Spice was serving a life sentence since long before Capsaicin was even thought of, he literally got out after the guy was already a grown ass man. They're not even from the same fucking CONTINENT! Capsaicin has probably never even HEARD of Beast-Yeast! Even that little comic the CRK Twitter account posted makes fun of all this shit!!! The Wild Spices mistake Cap for Spice from behind, and then get confused when he turns around because THEY VERY CLEARLY DO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS AND HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE! Wouldn't an army know if their general had a son, even if it was only mentioned in passing? Wouldn't THIS army have a vested interest in having their general's son around if he existed, and stop at nothing to bring him home should he vanish, to gain favor with Spice and because of how powerful Capsaicin is and how useful he could be to them?

I wouldn't be so bent out of shape about all this if it wasn't LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYWHERE!!! I cannot enjoy any content of Burning Spice OR Capsaicin without having to endure a fucking barrage of "hurr durr father and son" posts!!! I just want to ogle my hot, sexy, deliciously evil spice man BY HIM-FUCKING-SELF in peace, I never asked to have to hear the exact fucking same "hi son I came back with the milk" joke over and over and over again

I know I sound like a massive dick right now and I'm truly sorry. You are more than welcome to think of these two as related in some way if you wish. I am not your mother, nor your leader, nor your god, I'm just some cringe loser on the internet. Enjoy this game and its characters in whatever way you choose. I even actually like a good bit of the father/son art, a lot of it is cute and funny. I'm able and willing to say that with complete sincerity.

I just wish I didn't have to feel like it's being forced on me. That is one of the biggest issues I have with this fandom: how oppressive it often feels. You MUST ship this particular pairing, you MUST headcanon these characters as family, you MUST take this one-off joke that was clearly just a goddamn joke and preach it 24/7/365 like it's the gospel truth that Devsis themselves wrote on stone tablets and delivered from the top of Mount Sinai. And then when someone doesn't want to do that, everyone else descends upon them like a plague of fucking locusts. I actually saw a Dad Spice + Son Cap post on here with the person who made it saying something like "ok since everyone agrees that these two are family [...]" and I just got so fucking irritated. No, actually, not everyone agrees. Not everyone agrees on a lot of the fanon that's shoved down the entire community's throats on a regular basis. PLEASE stop acting like they do. I still remember when people would get flat-out harassed for not acting like Herb is Sea Fairy's son (old ass drama lol).

Say what you will about me, I'm just one person and you can block me or whatever dumb tags I use for my dumb shit. There is NOWHERE I can go to avoid this. Twitter? Plagued. Tumblr? Plagued. Even fucking reddit is on this nonsense (only in my personal opinion). But that's what I get for acknowledging Reddit in any capacity lol

I shall once again sincerely apologize for my harsh tone here, I am not attacking you personally or anyone who headcanons these two as relatives. I am just generally, profoundly frustrated and I need to get it out. I appreciate you taking the time to ask me an honest question, I hope you can forgive me for my painfully honest answer

[leohtttbriar]

NEELIX: Eleven years ago, I saw my world in ruins, my family murdered. All that's kept me going is knowing that one day we'd be together again. That I'd see them again. But it's not true. And I can't live without that hope. CHAKOTAY: I understand that this can change how you look at things, but it can also lead to an even stronger faith. You don't know. You're not there yet.

"Mortal Coil," Star Trek: Voyager

SEVEN: I've been thinking about what you said, that this was a place to encourage your imagination. JANEWAY: Is that appealing to you? SEVEN: I'm not certain. I find myself constructing scenarios, considering alternative possibilities. What if my parents and I had not encountered the Borg? What would our lives have been? I would have been raised by them, learned from them. It would have influenced what I became, who and what I am. JANEWAY: And you would have done the same for them. If you'd like to know more about your parents, there's information in the Federation database. SEVEN: Information? JANEWAY: It seems they were fairly well known for being unconventional and for some rather unique scientific theories. You might like to read what's there. It might encourage your imagination. SEVEN: Perhaps I will, some day.

"The Raven," Star Trek: Voyager

there's an irony at the center of voyager's story that i think is unique to voyager. it's related to the irony of the name of the ship itself--voyaging typically implies a willful journey out and back where voyager's journey is an accidential cosmic sentencing to return from a place none of them chose to go. but from the first episode, janeway, who i've talked about before as being a very representative kind of character more than an immediately personal one, talks about the need to still exercise their purpose within the typical implication of their ship's name. that is, they still make efforts to learn and discover on their way home.

the uniqueness to the way this ethos plays out in voyager versus other star trek shows is the way that so much of this "discovery and curiosity" ethic influences how characters approach material doom. doom in the sense of a fate, so to speak, out of their control and utterly beyond them. the discovery ethic often drives characters to both accept that which is beyond them and also to retain an openness to future change, in the same mental move. it's as if the show has framed "curiosity" as a survival tool--on the surface level, as a way to enact the context they've carried over from their corner of the galaxy--on a deeper level, as a way to continue living in what seems like an inescapable path to walk.

neelix is an interesting character to carry this particular thesis, since it most makes narrative sense for characters actually from the alpha quadrant. but in "mortal coil" he is confronted with what he at first perceives as an inescapable path to walk, a hopelessness of ever seeing his family again--which is very similar to what every one from the alpha quadrant has been living with since the beginning. chakotay, who, whether or not this can be classed as a "good" (for whatever definition) portrayal of indigeneity, is one of the characters most connected with and most certain of his faith, and he gets to say to neelix that as much as some things are certain and inescapable, "you don't know"--there are things still that neelix doesn't know.

this conversation mirrors the conversation between seven and janeway a few episodes earlier. seven is also an interesting character to engage with this thesis because she's been removed from herself in a wholly different and, in many ways, more complete way than the rest of the voyager crew. and then she's been removed again, this time from her established-life and collective-personhood. curiosity about herself and past serves as a mechanism for coping with a new inescapable reality.

because voyager is so removed from everything that grew and defined it, the ideas of "maybe" and "you don't know" and discovery aren't so much ideals but methods of living out the rest of their narrative setting--the random cosmic sentencing of plopping them a lifetime's distance from home.

[whennoodlesformwords]

One Joongdok AU (criminally good flavored) to go

legit had this idea just a while ago, like fresh outta the oven and cooled and ready to serve with milk kinda while ago too lazy to format so here we go

yjh is a terrorist/criminal head of a syndicate/notorious delinquent idk, but he gets arrested

kdj is an overworked prison guard who does shifts and security surveillance (and the actual warden but nobody tells that because....reasons, and they're very good reasons) and is the one who processes yjh in

and yjh gets annoyed by this guard who tries to get him to cooperate in this prison by seeing what he wants as soon as they hit the interrogation room. he's let out without making a deal, and at least agreeing to be cordial and warn kdj if he's ever in any danger of being attacked by the inmates (yjh is very confused at that - are all the inmates here violent?) and is let into his cell for the night, given the schedule of when to expect food, and how the next few years of his life will go

its slowly revealed, as yjh interviews the other prisoners, that this is how kdj has been able to secure his position so low on the chain, remain there for years, and maintain some semblance of peace within the prison; by semi-baiting the prisoners to be on their best behavior with under the table dealings and reforming them. he's found that incentive is the best way to keep riots and fights down, pacifying people is easier than beating them into submission, and literally has every single inmate wrapped around his finger

and he chooses to slack away all day because of it, and everyone knows it. he's the unofficial warden because he's allergic to paperwork (yjh learns he got bed sick for almost a week when promoted to second-hand man, and since then the inmates have kinda taken care to make a hierarchy around this man so nobody, cooperative or not, disrupts the delicate balance they have)

he also learns kdj likes investing emotionally in these people, and while contemplating what kind of deal he should strike with kdj (because its kinda an unwritten rule that until you converse with kdj and make a 'deal with the demon king' you're better off as an outcast, and it signifies that you'll be doing less time, being one of those in and out cases) that, as long as he has kdj's better interests in mind, he could figure out how far he can go

asking one of the inmates, he learns that kdj, because he's on surveillance, uses it as a chip to put inmates in place, by either ignoring what he sees or fabricating evidence, so its best to not get on his bad side or if one wants to cash in a favor for the right price, a quick meeting should be able to go unnoticed

thus, yjh years of scheming what to do with kdj begins, and progresses to the point he even starts to begin pursuing romantic intentions with kdj

(later on, after releasing from parole, he'd get arrested with the right charge and he'd get put in prison again, just long enough to tease kdj more, until kdj made him realize that yjh could become a head prison master given enough years of reform and all that jazz. kdj then watches as yjh is let out one final time, and doesn't see him again for a while, and sorta forgets about him like the man he is, until he's introduced to the hardass new warden (think sp now that yjh has had to prove himself worthy of leaving the underground network, it wasn't easy to cut off his connections so he escaped with the most valuable thing being his life) and wanders around for like a week wondering why this guy looks so familiar and then approaches yjh and goes 'wait a minute i know you' and proceeds to say he looks like that one guy who stayed for maybe a month over robbing milk from the store, aka someone who is not yjh. then, yjh gets pissed and makes it his mission to make kdj remember who he is, and falls back into his flirty habits, then they live happy the end)

yea idk how it got to this long and filled out in like *checks time* thirty minutes?? from the three sentence summary of:

Criminal who falls for the local prison guards and who keeps getting arrested after being released just to keep seeing him

Is very specific in how he’s arrested so that its not too tight or loose for security so that he keeps seeing the guard

Guard does not get paid enough for this

but i found it very joongdok coded since theyre already both having a foot in crime, so why not

take it as you may, i really think this is hilarious personally, but i hope yall liked it too

stay healthy keep urself hydrated and have a wonderful day ~

[starsreminisce]

Azriel offered her a small smile that Elain quickly looked away from. Cassian tucked away his puzzlement. Lucien was certainly not here to snarl at any male who looked at her for too long.

Gwyn had been distracted today—one eye on the other side of the ring. Cassian could only assume she was watching his brother, who had given Gwyn a small smile of greeting upon arrival. Gwyn hadn’t returned it. Cassian cursed himself for a fool. He should have asked her if she’d be comfortable with Azriel here. Perhaps he should have asked all the priestesses about including another male, but especially Gwyn—whom Azriel had found that day in Sangravah.

In ACOSF, two sentences share a similar structure: Azriel gives a small smile to a female, Cassian notes the female’s very different reaction, and then makes an observation that strikes him as peculiar. What’s intriguing is that Cassian uses this moment to remind readers of something significant about the female.

First, Cassian brings up Lucien and Elain’s bond. He reminds us that Lucien is still mated to Elain and, in doing so, draws a connection to Rhysand’s comment in ACOMAF about accepted mating bonds. This reminder hints that there’s more going on between Elain and Lucien than we might realize.

I’ve seen males of reason and education shatter a room because another male looked too long in their mate’s direction, too soon after they’d been mated.

While we don’t know the current status of their bond, various observations—such as Cassian asking Lucien about Elain, Nesta’s comment about Elain sitting away from her mate, Feyre's comment about Elain's consequences for not wearing Lucien’s gift, Azriel’s reaction to their bond scent, and Rhys’s statement about Lucien defending his bond—show that it’s really Elain and Lucien who are avoiding their bond, even though everyone else has something to say about it. Typically, mating bonds are snapped and then accepted, with the longest period being three months, as seen with Feyre and Nesta.

Similarly, Cassian also notes Gwyn’s reaction, reminding us that she’s still dealing with trauma around males. Yet, Gwyn’s reaction to Azriel is markedly different, which echoes something Nesta mentioned about how most people respond to Azriel.

Maybe that was why Azriel had never said a bad word about Nesta. Never seemed inclined to start a fight with her. She saw him, and was not afraid of him. There weren’t many people who fit that bill.

Despite this being their first encounter since Sangravah, Gwyn isn’t hiding or shying away from Azriel. Later, we learn more about Gwyn’s trauma and how Azriel saved her, and it’s revealed that they’ve had further interactions. This includes moments like Gwyn glancing at Azriel when Cassian asked about the ribbon and Azriel going over dagger training with her.

Azriel’s bonus chapter further clarifies the nature of these interactions. While Elain avoided Azriel’s gaze because she was interested in him, Rhys brings insight into why a romance between Elain and Azriel wouldn’t work and it was revealed just how ill-planned their romance is. Azriel himself admits that he had been avoiding Elain. Meanwhile, Gwyn shows just how comfortable she is around Azriel, so much so that they are left alone together, and she reveals her curiosity about him. She knows he prefers solitude, wonders if he can sing, and notices the positive response of his shadows to her.

Az observed her, striding barefoot into the ring. “I like swordplay better. Hand-to-hand is too close for my tastes.”

The bonus chapter isn’t meant to introduce new information but rather to support what’s already in the narrative. SJM has purposefully shown Azriel drifting away from Elain and Mor while drawing closer to Gwyn throughout ACOSF, hinting that Azriel and Gwyn are headed toward something deeper.

The use of similar descriptions throughout the book serves as subtle confirmation that Elain and Lucien’s bond will be addressed in their own story, while Azriel and Gwyn are being drawn together, as many fated mates are.

[cece693]

Oh No, He's Hot! (Jason Voorhees x M. Reader)

Summary: What m/n believed would be a rather simple job has him encountering a masked murderer named Jason. But, oh no, why does m/n feel weirdly attracted to the dominant man?

M/n didn't know what he expected when his friends urged him to apply to become a camp counselor for the newly, about to be opened, Camp Crystal Lake. Poison ivy, yes, fallen tree trunks, sure, but a 6 ft 5 masked man chasing him around with a machete, no. Having left his friends (because who would stick together when death was knocking on the door?), m/n ran through the dark campsite before noticing a decrepit-looking cabin ahead. Looking behind for any sight of the man, m/n opened the door before locking it behind him.

The room was dark, with a tiny twin bed in the corner, and no source of light nearby. Controlling his breathing so as to not attract the murderer, m/n just hoped Jason (if that was even his name) found entertainment in killing another camp counselor and forgot all about him.

M/n should've listened to the townspeople who warned him that the camp was a lost cause, that camp blood was inhabited by a monster, but m/n (like the dummy he is) waved them off. Well, now guess who was regretting doing that? Yeah, this guy.

"Huh." m/n mumbled, noticing that the cabin was rather stocked with supplies. Inching closer, m/m crouched to inspect the ground, noticing tiny bones formed into a pile. "Well, shit." Those were animal bones—meaning that this cabin was, more than likely, Jason's hideout.

Quietly scrambling back to the front door, m/n was about to return to the forest when heavy footsteps began inching towards the door. Knowing the weight didn't belong to any of his friends, m/n looked around for a hiding spot before the door was ripped open, revealing Jason. Letting out a scream, m/n instinctively ducked to the side, narrowly missing the swing of the machete. Knowing the murderer blocked his only exit, m/n knew he had to somehow disarm or disorientate Jason.

Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he scanned the room for anything that could serve as a makeshift weapon. Bingo. Noticing a heavy wooden chair nearby, m/n grabbed it and immediately swung it towards Jason's head. Celebrating as the man stumbled back, m/n made a dash for the open door and began running. However, it didn't take long before he felt a powerful force slamming into his back, sending him sprawling forward. "Oww..." m/n whispered, when his face connected with the ground, and a line of blood obscured his vision. Just great, he somehow managed to cut himself.

Forcibly turned unto his back, m/n watched as Jason bent down and gripped his neck. M/n's world seemed to spin. The pressure on his neck tightened, and he felt the air being slowly squeezed out of his lungs. Panic surged through him, but to his surprise, a strange sensation overcame the fear. Instead of pleading for mercy, an involuntary moan escaped his lips.

Curiosity and confusion could be seen in Jason's eyes while observing the male's response. The moans of pleasure, rather than cries of pain or pleas for mercy, were entirely new territory for the infamous killer. To ensure it wasn't a fluke, Jason tightened his grip once more, only to be met with another round of apparent pleasure from m/n.

"Didn't expect this, huh?" m/n wheezed, his words carrying a hint of both amusement and disbelief. The encounter had taken an unexpected turn, leaving both survivor and killer in uncharted territory. Jason's hold disappeared, and m/n, though slightly shaken, quickly stood on his feet. He looked at Jason. Really looked.

Besides the whole murder aspect, Jason was handsome. And yes, m/n knew he would be considered crazy for admitting such a fact, but the man did have some appeal—his bulky, muscular form for one. Still staring at one another, m/n let out a chuckle.

"So are you going to kill me or...."

Before he could finish his sentence, Jason, emerging from his trance-like state, turned the machete so the handle could be seen. In a swift and unexpected motion, the handle of the machete swung over m/n's head, connecting with a solid impact. The woods briefly echoed with the sound, and m/n crumpled to the ground, consciousness slipping away.

This was a perfect opportunity for Jason to kill the man, but something held him back. Securing his machete to his belt, Jason, instead, lifted m/n from the ground and stalked back to his cabin.

Gently laying the male on the bed, Jason retrieved a cool of rope before skillfully bounding m/n's hands and feet to the bedposts. Ensuring there were no other exits besides the front door, Jason, with a stoic determination, left the cabin. The night was still young, and as Jason ventured into the darkness, his elusive silhouette vanished into the shadows.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Mediation...?

This one I came up with as I walked to work, and so we will all explore it. It is a Post Empire AU. I know, I do not usually go for post-empire, but the horror and humor of this idea spoke to me.  

Let’s take a look, yeah?

The AU part is that both Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker survived through the end of the Empire. So we don’t have to deal with too many changes too early, Obi Wan was severely injured and in Bacta for the entire time of the OT (or he got injured again just before the events of each movie, whichever works better). 

After Vader comes back to the light, he is fitted with prosthetics that actually fit (including being the correct height). He is still required to wear a mask ,but it is more like Plo Koons than Vader (covering his mouth and nose but not his entire face). The burns he got from Mufastar meant that he had no hair, and the suit he wore for those years meant that he was unnaturally pale. As a consequence he no longer looks like Vader (not just because he lost 5 inches in height with the correct legs).  

Most of the galaxy does not know that Vader and Anakin Skywalker are the same person. Anakin was also largely forgotten, and the few who did remember him (without knowing the Vader connection) would quietly muse about how much Vader seemed to hate Anakin Skywalker, the Hero without Fear (there is no doubt in my head that the person Vader hated the most was Anakin). 

The Rebels do know that Anakin and Vader are the same person. Even as they are working to build the New Republic, no one is quite sure what, if anything, Anakin Skywalker should be charged with (War crimes. So many war crimes, they would need to invent new war crimes specifically for Vader-Though to be fair he is not the only living member of the Empire’s ruling body for this to be true). If he does need to be charged, and they could figure out what with, does his fall to the dark side constitute a mitigating factor (some kind of diminished capacity) or an enhancement (like a hate crime)? Where does killing the Emperor fit into any sentence he would have to serve? Is there even a way to enforce any sentence that a court could impose?

All of these questions and more would have to be answered before any trials could commence (including: how far does “following orders” mitigate actions, and how far up the chain of command can that excuse be used?). In the meanwhile Anakin hangs awkwardly around with his son when he is able. 

Luke wants, deeply, to help his father become comfortable around people again. He also does not quite…understand is probably the best term…understand the depth of the horrors that Vader/Anakin created in his 20 years in the suit.  In his mind he knows, and has been told, most of what Vader has done, but to a certain extent he separated Anakin and Vader in his mind so there is a bit of disconnect (Some understandable cognitive dissonance). 

He is at least aware enough that he is not looking to find Anakin friends among the rebels, who would naturally think of Vader first (and thus it would be uncomfortable for all involved). He understands that asking someone like Leia to try and befriend the being that tortured her then blew up her planet is not a good idea. 

But there is one person he knows thinks of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader as two different people. Obi Wan Kenobi.  Who is decidedly avoiding Anakin (in this Anakin can not blame him, the return to the light means that he does actually need to face everything he has done), but is also low key avoiding most people. Mostly Obi Wan is staying around the clones that still live (both to help those clones with their own guilt over their actions while chipped, the fact that their aging has finally been brought to human normal,  and frankly because he likes them more than most people these days-I imagine at least Cody-CodyWan for the win-, Rex, Gregor, Appo, and Wolffe but there are a good crowd), and the few Force users that survived the Purge. Also spending time with Leia.

Now a few things need to be made abundantly clear at this point. Luke does not know of the horrors Anakin perpetrated, as opposed to Vader (For all that Palpatine labeled him Vader before the march on the temple, I always headcanon that his last act as purely Anakin was the slaughter of the children in the council chamber but even then he did not truly become Vader until after he finds out that Padme died), not really. Few enough who live remember the march on the temple, what it meant that the temple (the home of the Jedi) was pillaged and burned. Fewer still ever knew that it was Anakin that led the march and slaughtered the children.  

Oddly enough, Anakin Skywalker is the only person in the galaxy who knows the true horrific extent of his own crimes. 

So Luke, with all the best of intentions, notices that Obi Wan is avoiding Anakin, and decides he will help his father and his teacher/mentor/uncle/that weird dude that lived in the desert makeup. Luke is attributing the awkwardness to Anakin’s 20 years as Vader (which, if we are being completely honest, is the least of the issues between Anakin and Obi Wan).

Luke decides he is going to hold something like a mediation to bridge those 20 years. Anakin is, at this point, incapable of denying Luke anything and agrees (in spite of the fact that even he can tell this will go poorly). Obi Wan does not actually agree as Luke does not tell him what they are meeting for, but once he arrives is semi blackmailed by Luke (leveraging the whole ‘you told me my father was dead thing/you lied to me my whole life’) which really only works because Obi Wan is also fairly vulnerable to young Skywalker children who remind him of the people who Obi Wan has lost (Satine would have done something similar, Obi Wan think nostalgically). Thinking that an audience would help create a more neutral location, Luke makes sure that Obi Wan is accompanied by a few of the clones (Appo in particular), and that Leia, Han, and Mon Mothma (as one of the few people who remember Padme and Anakin) are in the room. There are others. 

Now Luke has all the best intentions with this, but he is, at best, missing some very critical information. At worst he is taking after one of his father’s worst traits (so sure he can fix a relationship that is not his, and is probably better left broken). 

Both Anakin and Obi Wan silently agree to humor the sunshine boy.  At first they try to keep it to lighter disagreements and misunderstandings  (who saved who and who made the situation worse kind of thing). Anakin brings up at one point being unhappy that Obi Wan hid his children from him for almost 20 years, Obi Wan corrects that he hid them for almost 10 years from Vader, since he believed Anakin actually dead for the first 10, during which Vader maintained that Anakin was dead. Anakin withdraws his objection.

Then Anakin brings up the limb removal on Mustafar (which causes most of the room to go still, no one but the clones-whom Obi Wan had told- knew about the Mustafar fight). Obi Wan shoots back with an slightly irate rejoinder that it was a really measured response considering that Anakin had just: led a group of brainwashed soldiers into their home and slaughtered as many men, women, and children that he could; choked his very pregnant wife; ignored repeated attempts Obi Wan made to end the fight without further violence. 

It was at this point that Appo started to have a panic attack (being one of the few surviving Clones who was actually there in the temple).  Obi Wan looked over at Luke, apologized and said this was not a good idea.  Then left with the clones, all trying to calm Appo back down. 

The entire room is just…dead silence. Like Luke everyone, barring Anakin who did know this was going to go so badly, had sort of forgotten that Obi Wan was more than the weird desert guy who hung around with the clones, and sometimes Leia.  Luke is sitting there, really pale (He did have good intentions).

Like the people who realized the Jedi suffered a genocide when the Empire came into power had mostly died, the few that had survived all these years had buried that knowledge under the subsequent horrors of the Empire (They also largely forgot, or didn’t understand the horror of the chips both in the context of Order 66 and following orders in the Empire). It was not done out of maliciousness, or even ignorance, because the Jedi and the Clones (in that they lost everything of themselves and their culture in a moment) may have been the first genocide of the Empire but it was not the last. 

I’m not sure where it would go from there, other than Anakin is charged with so many war crimes and accepts whatever punishment is determined.