#Cadet routine revealed

[manasastuff-blog]

Daily Routine of Cadet National Defence Academy#nda#daily#routine#trending#national#defence Dive into the Daily Routine of Cadet National Defence Academy and uncover what a typical day looks like for aspiring defense professionals. This video takes you through the rigorous schedule, training regimens, and unique experiences of cadets. Whether you're considering a career in the National Defence Academy or just curious about military life, this detailed breakdown will provide insights and answers. Join us as we explore the demanding yet rewarding life inside one of India’s premier defense institutions. Don’t miss out on this exclusive look into the daily discipline and dedication that shapes future leaders!

Call:7799799221

Website:www.manasadefenceacademy.com

#DailyRoutine, #CadetLife, #NationalDefenceAcademy, #MilitaryTraining, #DefenseCareer, #AcademyLife, #CadetRoutine, #IndianArmy, #NDA, #MilitaryAcademy

[lundenloves]

@bringinsexybackk69: can i please request dad simon with a boy? like yeah he has all his girls and then there's either the youngest or the oldest and it's his only son? i can just picture like the girls are jealous cause he gets new clothes not hand-me-downs, he gets to do his own sports with out his siblings, he gets to go shooting with the 141- just like totally sibling rivalry and fighting over who is dads favorite?!

youngest.

simon is over the fucking moon when he finds out it's a boy - he's one of them dads in american gender reveals who says “i think you're a girl but i need you to be a boy" 💀

instant attention all goes to this kid, because A) he actually knows how to do it now and B that's his boy. that's his fuckin lad.

the kid looks like you. boys look like their mums, girls look like their dads n all that but christ does he have simon's quietness.

a complete observer like his dad. will be in silence while the girls argue, quietly exchanging glances with simon who internally feels like fucking high-fiving himself for creating a kid who finally understands him.

however the clothes are admittedly down to you, you love buying shit. any excuse. and having a son instead of another girl gave you great reason. though you did go too far sometimes. credit card bills rocketed.

he gets his own room too. straight off the bat, fresh into this fucking world and he's got it all. or that's how your daughters seen it.

“how does he get everything."

“give him a fucking chance." mumbling something about how he's only a week old. the dad sigh strikes again.

him and simon fuck off together a lot. they'll be away camping somewhere, simon teaching this (probably half uninterested) kid how to do all the survival stuff since his girls were never interested.

and when he gets older, maybe around seventeen to eighteen he's so game for that stuff. realistically, was probably in the school cadets n all 💀

when he's able enough, he'll maybe tag along on a run with 141 or summat. this is an incredibly humbling experience to say the least, though uncle soap is there to make everything a laugh n slow the run. "boys, boys, give the lad a chance eh?"

gets into his dads routine of the gym in mornings too, simon watching his workout from a distance before giving him pointers - hands on hips before stepping back to see if he's doing it right or not.

although, simon does not let him apply to the army. all fun n games till it wants to happen isn't it padre?

probably applies behind simon's back ngl. resulting in a huge fuck off argument once a letter comes in stamped under british army branding under the kids name instead of his own. yikes.

classic son x father shouting match.

i’m probably going to get asked to write that now aren’t i? happily, gladly, don’t get me wrong. sorry i haven’t been writing much but i do enjoy talking to you lot in the inbox.

simon 'ghost' riley taglist: @vamppxncess @crowbird @tallrock35 @fluffmonster @islanderr @blueoorchid @lea3773 @coldflapjack @rayhawk05 @han11dh @liishook @melovetitties @fallonx @rvjaa @fuckmelifesucks @bhayatsara @takeomisbitch @local-spidey @konigsblog @penutjuice @babychoi03 @sheluvzeren @sparklingtragedy @maviee @wiserebelpartypie @daddylorianisastateofmind @bhayatsara @mistydeyes @writingmysanity @johfaam0 @idkbbyx3 @gressseyy @fwibblefwobble @shibble @maladaptivedaydreamingbum @airghostlyfox @hotgirlsshareaccounts @simpxinnie @cliosunshine @bloobewy @lazybutsmexy @maki-z @yyiikes @tieflingteatime @cosmoscoffee @lilvampirina @cinnabeanz @bubbyblob @spencerreidisbae123 @ellies-girll @paperbag-prncs @cookiecutta @sluttyforsimon

[laf-outloud]

https://collider.com/jared-padalecki-fire-country/

Jared Padalecki Is Exactly What 'Fire Country' Needed

Yea he is!!

As Camden Casey, Bode Leone's (Max Thieriot) new boss, Padalecki shows off his impressive range as an actor. Who would've thought that from Gilmore Girls to Supernatural and Walker, and now on Fire Country, Padalecki would be routinely cast as characters who couldn't be more different? This time around, Padalecki plays a maverick, but an extremely likable one who has a legitimate reason for the chip on his shoulder. It turns out that Casey's entire unit died on a call because he didn't follow his gut, instead allowing himself to get bogged down by procedure and red tape. Haunted by being the only survivor, he trains cadets to learn from his mistakes and to run into the fire with the full intention of saving lives and not just avoiding legal controversy. According to an official CBS featurette on Padalecki's role on the show, he and series star and co-creator Max Thieriot have actually been friends for a long time off-camera. "We talked about it since day one," Padalecki reveals about his finding a spot on Fire Country. "He brings such a positive energy to the set and the people around him," Thieriot adds. Frankly, we can tell. Gabriela Perez actress Stephanie Arcila noted that Padalecki only spent about 10 minutes prepping for his introductory fight sequence at Smokey's, where he saves Bode's honor from some of Diego's (Rafael de la Fuente) old friends and instantly proves to be Season 3's breakout character. No one else on Fire Country is quite like Camden Casey, and his SoCal demeanor adds some flavor to a show where we've come to know the cast all too well. More than that, it's just fun to watch Jared Padalecki play such a different personality.

Bolded some of my favorite parts. There's more to the article but this section had some good stuff!

Link

I love that his reception is so well received! The spin-off vibes just keep getting stronger!

[sunflowersunite]

Eremika post war headcanons

(in a world where the Rumbling wasn't Eren's fault and he can live well and happy)

once everything is over, EMA hugs one another so tightly that they might burst. They're a bundle of tears and laughter and dust, and they've done it.

Armin became an ambassador to help the island rebound from the catastrophe, whereas Eren and Mikasa returned to Paradis afterwards. That scene where we saw Mikasa leaving Marley after the war-- yeah, that's with Eren (all of him, not only his head). They ran away together, hands clasped, gear discarded. They stowed away on the first ship to Paradis.

They rebuild their old home in Shiganshina and stay there for a while, but as the island thrives, then realise that Shiganshina is getting too crowded. So they move to a cabin in the forest, secluded enough to be at peace. They visit Historia for lunch often (I mentioned Historia in other post war hcs too, and in my opinion, she's a must. Everyone visits Historia post war and they all dine together).

Mikasa doesn't wear her scarf anymore. She doesn't need it, Eren is with her, she sees him every morning and falls asleep knowing he's in the next room. She matures to realise that no one will take him away now. She feels safer. She tucks it away and wears it only in the winter.

They fall into a routine together, do chores, Eren hunts sometimes (Mikasa is better at it, but he stubbornly insists on doing it).

Neither touches on it, but they know that they're not kids anymore. They sense how different things between them are now.

Mikasa already knows how she feels for Eren, she's known for a long time, but feels like he needs space, since he hasn't said anything yet, nor has he revealed a wish for anything between them to change. It's enough for her that they're alive and together.

They're all awkward, they don't know what they are to each other.

Historia is fuming when Mikasa tells her that. "You two aren't together already??"

They turn beet red. Historia berates Eren and Mikasa separately ("don't you realise how much you mean to her/him? Come on, do something! We all knew since we were cadets!"), and they go home like punished schoolkids. They look at one another and crack a smile.

Eren knows how he feels but Mikasa deserves someone better and maybe he's not good enough and maybe he'll mess this up and how do people even do such things, how does he even ask her something like that, how does he tell her...?

Eren searches their old clothes and finds the scarf. He marches up to her, wraps it around her neck, remembering an old promise, and says "I'll wrap this around you, now and forever and as much as you want. For the rest of our lives."

Mikasa is startled and somewhat confused, so Eren has to say it out loud, face red. "I love you Mikasa. Marry me."

And she accepts. She locks him in a hug and spins him around. They get married that same day. They debated on waiting for Armin, but decided that enough was enough and also it was what Armin would have wanted.

Armin returns to visit them with the ambassadors after months. They're not waiting for them at the port, and he immediately knows where to look. He finds them under the tree.

EMA reunite and exchange their stories. ("took you long enough," Armin said. "Surprised you didn't get married first thing when you came home".)

They greet the rest of the ambassadors later. Jean has already started to heal and move past Mikasa, so he congratulates them happily (Eren and Jean drink a little more that night and fistfight, but it's okay because they're all together again).

Mikasa and Eren's firstborn is Carla, with Armin as her godfather.

Their second is Sasha. Connie cried when they announced him the name and asked him to be her godfather.

They grow old together. Levi still manages to kick Eren in the face despite being in a wheelchair. He tolerates their kids (he loves them but don't tell anyone). Hange becomes the crazy aunt (yeah Hange is alive too)

Did I mention they grow old together

They don't work out that much anymore because they live a life of peace. Their physique isn't that ideal anymore (they still look very good but yk) and they don't care. They have a garden and a home and their friends and their kids and each other. They don't want anything else anymore.

Armin tells the world their story. Eren and Mikasa have been asked to sign copies of the book sometimes.

They're buried under the tree but after a long and fulfilling life by each other's side.

[charlottesbookclub]

time after time – chapter twenty (armitage hux x reader)

time after time masterlist

Summary: Hux learns that you've been cleared to return to your quarters

Warnings/Tags: gn!reader; set pre-TFA; medical settings and procedures; serious injuries; let me know if I've missed anything!

Words: 3009

Author’s Note: for everyone who was worried about reader's decorations/trinkets, this one is for you! 😘 I think this is quite a fun chapter since we've got protective!Hux (my beloved) and also Mitaka is back!! I really hope you enjoy! 🥰🥰

Visiting you in the med bay everyday soon became his treasured routine. His medical leave had been lifted, so he would complete some work in his office before taking a break to see you. He was fairly certain the medics had started drawing lots for who would escort him to your room, since he came prepared each day with a list of questions about your condition and the work that had been done to ensure your recovery. He tried to be as polite and professional as possible, but it was clear that the medics didn’t prefer non-medical personnel taking such an invested interest in their work. They would simply have to live with that, he mused, since a few annoyed glances or short responses from medics was far from enough to dissuade him from doing everything within his power to be helpful to you.

When the escorting medic had withdrawn, he would gently take your hand and start speaking to you. He got better at it over time. He would tell you things about his day, stupid anecdotes really, but things that he thought might make you laugh if you had been in a position to do so. He had always enjoyed giving speeches, but with you, he found he didn’t like monologuing. He missed the sound of your voice, the musical notes of your laughter; he loved hearing what you had to say. He longed for you to reply, to laugh at a joke or point out a new perspective, even though he understood that it wasn’t currently possible. Regardless, he could tell that your condition was improving. The bacta patches were slowly being removed, revealing healed skin underneath, and your hands had more warmth to them when he clasped them in his own. He found that his scant thirty minutes with you was feeling shorter and shorter by the day.

He was overjoyed when he received the notification that the head medic had given clearance for you to be returned to your quarters and for the sedative medications to slowly be decreased. As soon as his schedule offered a free moment, he flew to your quarters only to find a flurry of activity there. Regardless of the fact that most of the present personnel were medics, he outranked them all, and had no qualms about using that authority to ascertain what was going on.

He strode past a jumpy medic near your door and into your main living space, only to find a cadet beginning to remove your wall hangings. He turned on her immediately.

“Cadet.” The anger in his voice caused her to startle, and he felt a slight twinge of regret. She had certainly been set at this task by someone else. He tried to ease his tone slightly. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“General, I—” She snapped nervously to attention. “One of the medics reported them as not being in accordance with regulation, and I was sent to remove them.”

“Do you know the name of this medic?” Hux’s fingers itched inside his gloves, eager to type up an infraction report.

“Drail, I believe, sir.” 

“Thank you, Cadet. The captain has permission to possess these items, a fact which you may relay to Medic Drail or anyone else who questions their presence in the captain’s private quarters. If they have further concerns, they may speak to me personally. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.” She responded with as much energy as she could muster, though Hux could tell she was still on edge.

“Your services are no longer required here. Dismissed.” With a small salute, the cadet scurried from the room, leaving Hux alone in your living space. Most of the activity was centered on your sleeping area, so he immediately turned his focus there, meeting a medic outside the door. He recognized the man; it was the medic who had taken him to your room on the first day he had been allowed to see you, and who had since escorted him through the med bay a few other times. 

“Medic…” Hux allowed the title to trail off, waiting for the medic to fill in his name. 

“Ador, sir,” he responded.

“Medic Ador, what is the present situation? There seems to be more commotion than expected for a simple move from the med bay to the captain’s quarters.” He tried to keep his voice calm, but his anxiety was steadily increasing as he tried to peer into the room beyond Ador. The medic glanced furtively in the same direction, a streak of panic evident on his face when he turned back to Hux.

“I— there’s been a complication, sir.” Ador’s hands flexed around the datapad he was holding.

“A complication?” Hux arched one eyebrow, attempting to maintain a coolly authoritative tone, but rockets of panic were shooting off inside his body, the all-too-familiar ice of anxiety beginning to congeal in his blood.

“Upon release and transport, it seems the head medic has discovered a significant infection.” Ador cringed away from the general as he finished the statement, and rightly so. The freezing shocks of panic had melted into fiery anger. What was the kriffing use of all these blasted medics if they couldn’t follow simple orders, much less actually do their jobs? For your sake, Hux tried to keep his tone level, despite the flames of fury that were licking their way up his body.

“Medic Ador, did I not explicitly instruct and order you to ensure that someone checked for this exact potential complication?” Despite his best efforts, the words came snarling out of his gritted teeth. Ador cowered.

“Yes, sir – you did, sir. I apologize, sir – I— I did ask! I was assured that all proper precautions were being taken. I didn’t have the clearance to perform those checks myself.”

“And who assured you of this?” Ador seemed to be telling the truth, so Hux made a concerted effort to reign in the venom in his voice, even if his anger was beginning to make his ears and temples grow warm. Ador stuttered and mumbled for a moment. “I need a name, Medic Ador,” Hux reminded him sharply.

“I—I don’t know, sir. I can’t recall. I would have to check the logs.”

“Then ensure that you do just that, and report back to me as soon as you have a name.” Hux growled as Ador nodded fervently and finally ducked out of the general’s way. 

At last, Hux could see into your room. Through the flurry of activity, he could tell that you had been situated on your bed, and a number of medics and medical droids flitted around you, moving and adjusting various tubes and machines. In his current state, Hux felt he could do little to be of use, so he retired instead to your couch. Alone for the moment, he let his head fall into his hands. Of course this had happened again. If those idiotic medics had just followed his orders… He gritted his teeth and tried to will his anger away. There would be time for infraction reports and demotions, but he would be of little help to you if he let himself be blinded by rage. 

There was one strikingly positive point to this whole situation, he realized. Now that you were out of the med bay, the medics no longer had the authority to limit his time with you or to send him away. In fact – as he had recognized before – he outranked them all here. He could make himself an even more present annoyance to them, if that was what it took to ensure that you received the proper care. And he was more than willing to do just that. 

He called Mitaka over coms, quickly explaining that you had been granted release to your quarters.

“That’s excellent news, General. But… is this something I can somehow assist you with? I fear I’m confused.”

“You certainly can assist me, Lieutenant. I need you to bring me a few things from my quarters.” He provided Mitaka with a brief list of items he would require.

“Understood, General. I’ll be there soon.” The call clicked off.

True to his word, it wasn’t long before Mitaka appeared at your door, accompanied by a transport droid. He helped Hux remove his items from the large containment unit with which the droid was fitted before sending it on its way.

“What’s going on?” Mitaka asked, depositing the objects in his arms on your table and craning his neck to see the cause of the activity in your sleeping area.

“They’ve discovered that the captain has a serious infection.” Hux couldn’t keep the frustration from his voice. “Which I told them to look for.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, General.” Hux could tell Mitaka’s words were genuine.

“I’m sure it will all be resolved,” Hux responded with a sigh. “I just wish they had done what I asked and actually checked.” He sat down on your couch again, arranging his items. It only took a moment for him to realize that Mitaka was staring at him.

“What is it, Lieutenant?” he asked offhandedly.

“Nothing, General – it’s just that you’re taking this… well.” Mitaka seemed to search for the right word to end his sentence. Hux took his meaning.

“You mean that I haven’t shot anyone over it yet?” he asked wryly. From the periphery of his vision, he thought he saw Mitaka fighting to suppress a smile.

“Well, I wasn’t going to put it quite like that, but…” There was humor in the lieutenant’s voice.

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant, there will be consequences for this failure on the part of the medical staff. I’ll make certain of that.” He let out another small sigh as he finished organizing his things. “But I can’t afford to be like certain individuals who allow their anger to consume them. If I’m going to help the captain heal, I need to keep a clear head.” It only took one glance to see that Mitaka knew exactly to whom Hux was referring. 

“You’re intending to help the captain recover?” Mitaka inquired, almost too much innocence in his voice.

“Yes, of course,” Hux replied guardedly, instantly suspicious.

“So there is something—” 

“Don’t, Lieutenant.” Hux cut through Mitaka’s celebratory exclamation, warning darkening his voice. 

“Fine,” Mitaka held his hands up in surrender, “but you could at least…” His words trailed off as he looked around at the things he had brought to Hux as though suddenly becoming aware of them for the first time. “Wait – are you staying here?” 

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Hux responded, keeping his tone matter-of-fact, “I would have preferred to ask the captain’s permission before assuming I’m welcome, but seeing as that’s not an option right now, I have to assume that my presence will not be an imposition. It’s the best way to ensure that the captain receives the proper care.”

“General…” Mitaka sank toward the floor, crouching near where Hux sat on the edge of the couch, his voice quiet. “I know you asked me to suppress the rumors as much as I could, but this is going to get out. People are going to talk.” Hux rubbed his hands over his face. He knew Mitaka was right. In truth, he didn’t care anymore. In fact, he found he liked the idea of people knowing about you and him, now that he was mostly assured that you wanted it just as much as he did. The only thing that worried him was the thought that some personnel might take this as a further opportunity to be unkind toward you. Although he reasoned they would be foolish to do so now that they knew who they would answer to for their words and actions. He liked that thought maybe a little too much.

“I am aware of that, Lieutenant, and I understand that it is beyond your power to contain something of this nature. Just… do what you can to keep the rumors from getting too… unpleasant.”

“So it’s official?” There was far too much excitement in Mitaka’s voice.

“What? No – nothing is official! Lieutenant, you can’t— ugh!” Hux braced his fingers against his temples in frustration. “Were you this insufferable about Lieutenant Hondrill and her… suitor?” He waved his hand absently, reaching for a fairly neutral term. It was far beyond Hux’s comfort level to discuss his staff’s private lives.

“Wait, you know about that? About Hondrill?” That was what Mitaka had taken from his words? Hux huffed in annoyance.

“Yes, of course I know about it, Lieutenant,” Hux retorted, very ready for the conversation to be over.

“Fascinating – you’re not as oblivious as I thought.” Mitaka immediately realized the error of his words, shrinking under Hux’s sudden glower. “No no no, that’s not what I meant! You’re very perceptive, General. It’s just that— when it comes to interpersonal things, I wasn’t sure… You just seem…” Mitaka gave up on trying to salvage the sentence, and Hux let him. Mitaka wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean Hux wanted to hear it.

“I think now would be an excellent time to conclude this conversation, Lieutenant,” Hux stated.

“Yes, I completely agree, General,” Mitaka replied readily, raising himself to stand. 

“Thank you for your help again, Lieutenant.”

“Of course, sir. Please let me know if there’s anything else you need.” He offered a salute, and Hux merely nodded, dismissing him.

As soon as Mitaka was gone, he turned his attention back to the collection of objects on the table. He did feel a bit uncomfortable simply inviting himself to stay in your quarters, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. He would try to make himself as unobtrusive as possible – to you at least. He fully intended to keep a very watchful eye on the medics. That, and the fact that he longed to be close to you again. Your very presence just a room away made him feel… better. 

A medic emerged from your sleeping area, standing at attention in front of Hux, who rose from the couch to his full height, happy to use any powers of intimidation his tall stature might grant him. Either it worked, or the medic had seen what had happened with Ador, since she couldn’t meet his eyes when she addressed him.

“Sir, we’ve isolated the cause of the infection and have begun an aggressive treatment of antibiotics. We still consider the captain’s condition to be stable, but we won’t be able to decrease the sedatives as originally planned until the infection is more under control.”

“And what are your plans for ensuring that happens?” The medic quailed slightly at the warning in his tone.

“We’ve set up an extensive monitoring system, and even if there are no alerts, a medic will visit every few hours to check on the captain’s condition and make any necessary adjustments.”

“I would like to see a complete schedule of when these visits will occur and by whom they will be conducted within the next cycle.”

“Yes, sir.” Her words came out as a small squeak.

“Now, may I see the captain?”

“Yes, sir,” she repeated, sounding almost a little surprised at his request. Regardless, she motioned for Hux to follow her toward your sleeping area.

He so vividly recalled walking through your door last time, seeing you for the first time since the accident, needing to grab the doorframe for some semblance of support as his world went spinning even further out of control. This time was so different. Seeing you propped on the bed, stuck with tubes and wires, that slight twist of pain on your face – it still made a rush of sickness sweep through him. But this time he was going to be there for you when you needed him most.

The remaining personnel moved to make way for Hux as he stepped toward your bedside. Carefully avoiding the tubing and machines, he found his way toward the head of your bed.

“Is there anything else that needs to be done to ensure the captain is receiving the proper treatment?” he asked the room at large.

“Not at this time, sir,” one of the medics responded, “someone will be back in a few hours for a check-in.”

“Understood. You’re all dismissed.” There was a small flurry of activity as the medics bustled from the room. When the main door to your quarters had whirred shut, Hux became very aware of how quiet it was, save for the rhythmic beeping of the machines.

Just as you had done for him in the gardens, he rolled one of his sleeves to his elbow, lightly pressing his forearm to your temple. You were hot. Certainly it wasn’t a very accurate gauge of precise temperature, but even Hux could tell that you were not supposed to be that hot. He allowed himself a hum of frustration before lowering himself to a chair beside you. He took one of your too-warm hands in his.

“I promise I’m going to make this alright,” he murmured to you, meaning every word. He sat there for a moment, lost in his own thoughts, planning for how best to facilitate your recovery. Then, with his customary gentle squeeze, he rested your hand carefully back on the sheets and returned to the main room.

He made himself a makeshift bed on your couch just as he had on the night that he had first truly allowed himself to dream of something more. He didn’t intend to get much sleep, not with medics coming in every few hours. They would certainly wake him, plus he hated to be caught off guard by someone unfamiliar. It would hardly matter – intermittent dozing between tasks during what was supposed to be his dedicated rest period was far from unusual for Hux. He let himself slip into a light resting state – he could hardly call it sleep – always listening for the sound of a medic at the door or for any concerning noises from the monitors in your room.

[happytroopers]

Literally anything about Echo, please. Could be before or during bad batch, I’m just completely head over heels for the man

PAST LIVES // Echo x Reader

Summary: Echo's been rescued from Skako Minor, settling into Clone Force 99 slowly but surely. His past catches up with him during a routine diagnostic run, and you... well, you're unknowingly somewhere between a memory and a reunion. Echo is convinced he knows best.

Something wasn't right, things were too soft and hazy, too golden, too warm, dreamy… But the way you were smiling at him, the way your warm fingers were tracing patterns through his hair, Echo couldn’t bring himself to think too hard about it. It had been far too long since he’d had time with you like this, legs tangled together, his hands were settled on you waist, and you were smiling lazily. Maybe something was right for the first time in a while. 

Where was he again? Your apartment on Coruscant? The Barracks? Why couldn’t he tell? Then you shifted, rolling so you were on top of his chest. The hand not on his bicep crept up his torso, nails scratching just right to make his back arch. Maybe it didn’t matter where you were...

"We gotta get up." Your voice was sleepy but happy, muffled as you dropped your face into the crook of his neck. Echo wanted to focus on your voice, on the feel of your lashes against his jaw, but under your voice was the hint of something else. Something that injected a bit of urgency into his system, but nothing here was that urgent right? Echo wrapped his arms a bit tighter around your waist, but nothing felt different, like you slipping through his fingers. 

"Echo, you need to wake up now." You said again, suddenly not buried in his neck but staring down at him expectantly. The warmth was sapping away, despite your touch his legs were feeling colder and stiffer. Your voice wasn’t soft, but an order, behind it was the reverberation of someone else’s. Rex? Fives? No, that wasn’t right either. Echo started to try to sit up, reaching up to run a hand through your hair, locks slipped over his quickly cooling fingers like an water washing away an illusion, revealing a durasteel scomp link in it’s place.

The urgency was rising, his other hand running over his head to find his cropped cut gone. Barely any stubble had started to regrow, his face had gone gaunt. Furrowed brows lifted his eyes to you, the golden version of you smiling and the cold urgent version of yourself flickering like a faulty holo-com. He tried calling your name, but a static shock at the base of his neck catapulted him first into darkness though he was becoming rapidly more aware of his reality. 

Half a moment later, a hand shook his shoulder and he startled awake again. The harsh white light of the Kaminoan medical bay was a stark difference to the hazy golden light in his dream.

It had been a dream, of course it had, Echo hadn’t spoken to you since…well, since he’d been a different man. 

"Diagnostic scans are looking good. New implants are operating satisfactory. " Tech announced, tapping away at a data pad that was connected by a couple wires to the base of Echo’s skull. The former ARC trooper sighed, craning his neck this way and that though the cybernetics along his spine wouldn’t let the joints pop. 

"Great, can we find a way to test these things without knocking me out?" He groaned, watching Tech tap at a few more things. The genius rose his eyebrows. 

"We could but we risk neural overload, neural underload, brain fry, memory lapse, short term memory loss, long term memory loss, hallucinations,…" Tech’s list was on going, bordering on droning but Echo’s focus was lost when motion at the door way caught his eye. The medbay doors swished apart, making room for two clones. Two older cadets in training armor, one half supporting his brother who was sans helmet. The injured one had blood dribbling down his forehead and looked more than a little dazed. Training incidents, those happened all the time. It was the pretty civilian nurse who flanked the pair that held Echo's attention, taking the injured cadet under his other arm to help him walk straight. 

You.  

It was like being shocked all over again.

Echo was an entirely different man now, but you… You’d barely changed. Sure, your hair was a little longer now, a couple more shadows under your eyes. But, you were still you. The woman that Echo had loved, still loved. He couldn't help but watch you sit the injured trooper down, asking both cadets diagnostic questions. They seemed flustered under your keen eyes, casting each other wide eyed looks when you’d offer them that soft, reassuring smile you gave all your patients.

You’d given Echo that smile, it seemed like decades ago now when you’d met, and, kriff, it’d stunned him to silence, too. Still did. Echo watched you put gloves on, sliding them over a ring he’d given you shortly before he left for the Citadel. And he watched those gloved hands gently feel over the Cadet’s head, not quite like you used to play with his hair, but just as gentle. He couldn’t quite hear your voice, but he could see your lips moving, your face was still gentle, probably explaining what you were doing or cracking a joke as opposed to the scolding you used to serve the 501st when they’d get hurt doing something dumb. 

The cadet flinched as you started to clean the shallow wound on his forehead, and Echo almost laughed at the face you made at him. There was the scolding, judging by how the cadet sat up a little straighter. It didn’t take you long, cleaning, bandaging, shining a light in the clone’s eyes. 

"Alright, I think you’ll survive, just barely." 

Echo couldn’t hear you, but he knew that glint in your eyes. You always said that when treating minor wounds; you thought it was funny. He knew exactly the lilt of your voice, which words you put emphasis on, the quirk of your brow, the breath of a laugh you’d tag on the end as you patted the Cadet’s knee. He’d heard you say it a hundred times, been the patient on the receiving end when he’d make excuses to come see you in the medbay before he asked you out. 

Tech was prodding his shoulder again, trying to get his attention. Echo could just barely hear him over the rash of memories going through his mind. 

"Are you even listening to me? Something made your brainwaves spike." Tech questioned finally looking up from his datapads to follow Echo’s line of sight to you, "Oh." 

The cadets were leaving now, you were cleaning up the bit of mess you made before taking a sweep of the infirmary. Your eyes landed on the two different clones, your brow twitched for a moment as you looked at him. A spark of recognition dimmed by a crash of sadness before you shook your head, offering the two of them a smile and wave. 

"Can I help with anything?" You called after setting a cleaning droid on your station. You were walking over, curiosity in your pretty eyes. 

"No, just routine diagnostics." Tech answered when Echo just stared at you like a ghost. Ironic considering he was the more ghost like of the two of you. You slipped more into work mode,  eyes scanning over the cybernetics on his head and dumbstruck look. 

"And they’re coming back green?" You asked, sincerely, reaching out to gently take hold of Echo’s chin. Kriff, if you touched him he didn’t know what he’d do. He’d been so carefully avoiding you since his rescue. Stars, the truth was clawing up his throat to tangle with the wisps of your perfume that he’d breathed in, like sparks and gas. It burned your presence into him, but, dank farrik, it was nice to be warm again.

But could he do this to you? You deserved more than what he’d become, he couldn’t give you what he once could. Could he put you through that after everything? 

Rex had told him. How hard you took it when the news of Echo’s apparent death was broken to you. Everything you’d been through afterwards. Rex told him that you weren’t coping well, you were becoming reckless, distant. Barely eating, barely sleeping, less patient, quiet. The only reason you were still working in the GAR at all was because some of the boys were worried what might happen to you if you were formally discharged. So, Rex pulled some strings, had you transferred back to Kamino where you’d been primarily an instructor, teaching cadets medical skills, running drills with them to show them how to work with civilians in the field, and taking shifts in the infirmary just to keep busy. Compared to what Kix had described, you seemed to finally be doing better. You seemed like you. 

Echo could feel the warmth emanating off your fingertips as they got closer, reminding him exactly why he needed to not be this close. That spark of recognition was back in your stare, your brow twitching. At the last second, Echo flinched backwards away from your fingers, leaning away to try not to choke on your scent as he cleared his throat.

"Just a little out of sync when things come back online, ma’am, nothing to worry about. ‘M fine." Echo forced his voice to be rigid, cut and dry, the way soldiers were supposed to talk to civilians like you. Anything else, he’d be afraid you’d clock him based just off his tone. You always could do that, pick him out of a crowd with your eyes closed. Sometimes, Fives and Jesse would convince Echo to play ‘musical armor’ to try to trick you, you wouldn’t even have to turn around. The moment Echo opened his mouth, you’d hit him with a sweet greeting. It always made the guys laugh, but it made Echo feel… right, warm all the way through. So, he couldn’t risk it and kept his voice firm. 

Echo expected you to look at him weird, maybe even be irritated at his cold tone, but instead, you just smiled, shaking your head with the slightest laugh as you dropped your hand back to your side. 

"What?" Echo pressed, fighting the urge to smile back. He shouldn’t have, he needed to leave. It was nice to have you this close again, but it’d just hurt more in the long run. You straightened up, taking a half step back. 

"Sorry, you just… remind me of someone I used to know." 

Echo tried not to flinch at that.

"We’re needed in the docking bay." 

Both of you had completely forgotten Tech was there. The batch’s genius was watching Echo carefully and you curiously, and for all the crap they gave him, Tech had obviously picked up on Echo’s inner struggle. Tech stood slowly, slipping his helmet on and handed Echo’s to him, "We’ll see ourselves out." 

Echo nodded to Tech, and also to himself, before offering you a curt nod as well, just for the excuse to give you another short look. Your brows crinkled again, but Echo turned on his heel to follow Tech out before he could give you anymore reason to question him. 

"Oh, alright. Bye then." Your voice was soft, confused as you stared at the two men leaving the infirmary. 

—

"You knew her." 

Tech’s phrase wasn’t a question, but a fact. Stated as such as they walked back to the docking bay. Echo answered it like one anyone, after he slipped his helmet on, hoping it’d make him harder to read. 

"Uh, yeah. She used to work in the 501st." Not a lie, you had worked in the 501st, after the incident on the Rishi moon. 

"Your body language suggests some sort of deeper relation than simple coworkers. Your pupils dilated, brainwaves spiked, vocal change, hyper fixated focus, fidgety muscle reactions-"

"Don’t need a biology lesson, Tech." Echo groaned, "And I’m suggesting that it doesn’t matter anymore." 

"It just insinuates that-" 

"Un-insinuate it then." 

"Hmm." Tech hummed, casting an odd look to the newest member of the Batch. 

"I..." Echo thought for a moment, trying to come up with some sort of dismissal, but that truth was still crawling up his throat. His shoulders slumped a bit as he fixed his helmeted gaze on the pristine white floors, "I'm not the man she knew."

--

wow this is so dramatic and unedited lol

[theoriginalspaceexpeditionist]

Treasure Planet Shorts: New Look

Jim stared at himself in the mirror that morning in the barrack's bathrooms. Behind him, other cadets came and went, undergoing their morning routines before heading to mess or to their early morning drills. He was lucky in that, with it being his final semester before graduation, the majority of his courses were now live practices in the field and scheduled for the afternoon vs the early hour laps around the base he'd had to do as a first year. Jim couldn't believe how fast time had flown since his rocky misadventure to kickoff his time at the Academy. In a couple of weeks, he'd be an official ensign of Her Majesty's Royal Navy, with his first real mission in space—that is if he survived the graduation exercises. As Jim ran the shaving cream over his jaw, his heart leapt up at the multitude of questions he'd been turning over ever since learning that the fourth year company's positions for the graduation exercises would be announced within the week. If his hard work had paid off, he'd have a real shot at stepping into the role of first officer during the exercises. And if someone was lucky enough to be chosen to oversee a ship their first run out of port, it was safe to say their promotion to captain was soon to follow. Kate had been agonizing about it all week, and Jim couldn't blame her. After they'd put aside their differences, Jim was convinced the only reason he'd managed through some of his classes was due to Kate's late night help in the library. Meanwhile, it had been a real privilege to see her improve in their pilot training courses. Thinking about Kate made Jim realize he was going to be late meeting her for breakfast if he didn't hurry up and commit to his task. However, as he ran the blade down his face, clearing away the beard he'd been attempting to grow before deciding against it, a new thought struck him. With a little water, Jim rinsed off the area just below his chin to now reveal a clean jaw with a small patch of hair that ran the length of his chin just below his lip. Testing out a smile, his face broke into an even brighter grin as he admired the new look. If he continued to trim it properly, he'd have a filled out goatee in a couple of weeks. Shrugging, Jim rinsed his blade and continued to the other side of his face, ignoring the area beneath his mouth. ******* Kate had been reading a newspaper she'd nicked from the library that morning over her coffee. Every so often, she enjoyed getting caught up with the galaxy's politics. If they were going to be serving in Her Majesty's Navy, they might as well be aware of current events alongside their orders. She had just turned the page when someone suddenly invaded her space, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as they bent over her from behind.

"Hey, Kate," Jim greeted as Kate twisted.

"Morning J—" She stopped as Jim took a seat beside her, hair, as usual, a windswept mess, but that wasn't what had Kate's attention. "What is on your face?" she demanded, zeroing in on the small patch of hair he'd so lovingly left behind from his obvious morning shave. "I'm trying something out," Jim laughed under his breath, awkwardly scratching his cheek now. "Does it look that bad?" "Something tells me my opinion won't change how you do things in the slightest," Kate shook her head. "You're probably right," Jim chuckled before snatching Morph who slid out of his pocket. "Hang on, Buddy, I'll grab us some breakfast."

And the two stood up, Jim approaching the line for his own meal with Morph in tow. Kate watched him for a moment longer. Truthfully, she thought clean-shaven Jim did wonders for his jawline which had strengthened and leaned out over the course of their past few years, but a blasted goatee....?

She wasn't about to mock him, but a little healthy teasing? Maybe she'd have an opportunity to shave it off in his sleep one of these nights. "Good morning," came yet another voice as Kate turned to see Onyx now appearing before their table.

"Morning, Onyx," Kate said offhandedly before narrowing her eyes back in Jim's general direction. She wanted to love it, she really did, but she couldn't help the slight cringe she felt each time she took a look at his face now.

"May I ask what you are looking at?" Onyx quirked a rocky eyebrow, following Kate's gaze before doing a double take himself when he saw Jim.

"Hair," was all Kate said as she turned back to her newspaper.

[tojiscrack]

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄

: ̗̀➛ word count: 12.4k

: ̗̀➛ pairing: levi ackerman x reader

: ̗̀➛ notes: the new trailer being released scared the ever-living shit out of me. salty that my bbg eren wasn't even shown. not ready for the ending to be animated at ALL.

: ̗̀➛ things were going well for you (can you actually believe it?) this past week. however, that miracle seems to have an expiry date after another encounter with captain levi, in front of all your fellow classmates..

previous chapter :)

next chapter :)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

you'd had good days in the training corps, contrary to popular belief (quite literally popular belief, for marco had once informed you that the cadets had had a conversation about how you probably suffered the worst of the wrath of keith). and today was one of them.

you were over the moon after your frequent training sessions with captain levi. it had been a week since the first one, and although sleep was dragging at your eyes, you had never been happier. you could spend a thousand years doing countless laps just to be in the presence of those dazzling, silver-grey eyes --

"oi, are you even listening to me?" a wretched voice distracted you, pulling you out of your partial slumber.

drowsily and groggily, you blinked several times, your vision having been previously blurred, now moving into focus to form the view of jean's scowl in front of you. you averted your gaze to your right where you found marco staring at you fondly -- you were all in the mess hall, eating breakfast before regular training began. 

"i'm still half asleep. excuse me for blocking out your dramatic monologue."

before jean could start on you (you had prepared yourself by sitting upright and narrowing your eyes at him defensively) marco had helpfully intervened, calming the usual tension between you all.

"she does more training than the rest of us now," he had informed jean with a shrug. "give her this one, will you?"

jean looked betrayed. 

"you're usually the one taking no sides here, what happened to that, huh?" he demanded, clearly offended. he turned his glare to you once more. "it was you, wasn't it? you probably bribed him under the table or something, you devil --"

"and how do you suggest i do that, huh?" you grinned, wriggling your eyebrows suggestively so that jean's initial point had flown out of the opened double doors and his face had paled notably. much to your amusement, marco had turned a pretty shade of pink as well, the poor boy. you concluded that this was all jean's fault, as per usual.

marco coughed, looking uncomfortable. you laughed, pushing your bowl to the side, a silent gesture for sasha to come and down the rest of your porridge like every morning (it was routine by this point).

"calm down, marco. i'm only interested in one man and it's not you," you revealed. you took note of the way marco was scratching the back of his neck. "it was a joke, buddy."

"that is why you should be siding with me," scoffed jean, after gulping down the rest of his water from his cup. "hope you've learned your lesson, marco."

"'hope you've learned your lesson, marco'," you mimicked, in an unusually deep voice. "do you ever shut up?"

instead of jean throwing his spoon at you, which you could see he was contemplating on doing -- judging from the way he aimed it directly at your forehead -- he frowned, brows furrowing and unclenching his jaw. 

"what, got something on my face?"

"yeah, a weird smile," he responded with disgust. "why are you doing that? it's creepy."

"her smile never hurt anyone," marco intervened kindly.

"it's scaring me --"

"shut your mouth you donkey --"

jean choked. "i preferred horse."

"yeah? well donkeys are uglier," you stated without a skip of a beat. 

"what?"

"guys.."

"you'd be looking at a mirror if you ever came across one --"

"WHAT?"

you stopped, biting your cheek to stop yourself from laughing at jean's face. now, he looked more like a donkey than ever. marco, despite trying to play peacemaker (once again), covered his smile with his cup, bringing it to his lips as if you weren't sitting right next to him, aware of it all. 

"you're not the prettiest flower in the field either, l/n --"

"well let's think about this!" you exclaimed, clapping your hands and then resting your chin on them, elbows standing on the wooden table for grip. you faced marco. "would you rather be a flower or a donkey?"

putting marco on the spot seemed to startle him. he glanced over at jean -- who might just have steam shooting out of his ears soon.

"don't answer that," jean ordered bitterly. "leave marco out of it --"

"alright," you nodded, silently agreeing with him for the sake of marco's comfort. you searched the rest of the table. "connie!"

the bald-headed cadet, who had the end of his spoon in his mouth to play a game with his porridge (flicking it up with the spoon and catching it again), looked up at you, alert.

"would you rather be a flower or a donkey?"

he didn't even try masking his confusion, but he answered nonetheless. 

"flower, obviously," he answered, as though it were the most apparent thing in the world. and then he went on a tangent. "i think i'd be a lily. they look sick. and it's probably the only flower i know from the top of my head, now that i think about it --"

"no, you'd be a dandelion," you counterargued calmly.

connie looked intrigued. "why's that?"

"one blow and it's got no petals."

everyone on that table had started laughing. it was only mina who attempted to mask her snickering with a hasty cough, bless her. 

"what?" connie questioned over the sniggering (the table next to you was now taking part in the laughter too). "what's so funny?"

"back to my original point," you said, turning back to your main two friends with a smile (jean looked too safe for your liking, joining in on the laughter as if he wasn't the root cause of it). "thank you for calling me a flower, jean!"

he gave you a dirty look. "it's a metaphor."

"well mine isn't a metaphor, but i know i look better than you, that's for sure --"

"not true --"

"that's why you can't pull anyone --"

"rich, coming from the girl who thinks she's married to the strongest man within these walls --"

"what's your point?" you demanded sourly.

"you're delusional," retorted jean, drawing out the letters with more length so it sunk in. "no one would listen to a girl that has quite literally lost it when she says that i can't pull --"

"well let's think about this!" you exclaimed for the second time that morning, smiling all too wide with an air of annoyance. 

jean groaned, giving a pointed look to marco for assistance; marco shrugged. 

you looked down the table again. 

"sasha!" you called out. sasha had been finishing off your bowl of porridge when she heard you say her name. "sasha -- do you think jean's good looking?"

"hey!" snapped jean, kicking your shin under the table.

you shrieked, immediately clutching your knee in pain. with a sharp glare at the culprit from across you, you raised your leg and kicked the bench he was sat on harshly. he nearly laughed, perhaps at how you 'missed', but hadn't gotten the chance to, before he found that the bench had slid from right beneath his bottom, and he had crashed harshly to the floor. everyone else on that bench merely moved the slightest inch, and then laughed at jean.

"you won't.. say something embarrassing after, will you?" sasha asked hesitantly. "like you did to connie?"

"yeah, just so you know, i know what you meant!" connie had intervened heatedly, glaring at you with his eyes narrowed. 

you barely regarded him. "pipe down, dandelion."

as he attempted to shout at the rest of the table laughing, you glanced back at sasha, shaking your head.

"connie's on my bad side, he knows that," you informed her, remembering how he had made fun of your attempt at a wink. "you're good."

"phew," sighed sasha, chuckling. "anyway, sorry jean, but you're not that good looking to me."

"whatever, potato girl --"

"cut it out!"

the arguing had continued on the table. marco eventually gave up trying to stop it when sasha and connie had gotten involved, and eventually, even reiner and bertholdt found interest in the debate going on. it was almost a surprise, for the two barely interacted with situations like these.

"i don't think looks matter at all that much," hannah diament added softly. as all heads had turned to her (seated at the very end of the table) she blushed. "i think that you have to get to know the person first --"

"ouch, franz, she basically just said that you're ugly," you muttered out from the corner of your mouth, eyes wandering about the ceiling dramatically.

hannah had begun sputtering out protests. "n-no! i didn't and i -- i wasn't even talking about franz!"

franz, who was sitting across from her, had covered his face with a hand. but from what you could see, his ears were pink. the two were way too close with each other on a daily basis. the whole corps knew that they were an item, yet they still felt the need to deny it all the same. 

"you were giving him heart eyes across the table!" connie accused her, placing his head in his hands and then forming a face which must've been a re-enactment of what he had seen. "i saw you!"

the rest of the table agreed, and even after the conversation had ended, hannah had found it necessary to still try and convince a few people that she was most definitely not talking about franz ("i swear, it was just my opinion!").

breakfast had ended not long after, and the cadets were called to stand out on the training field and line up accordingly. you position was situated in between armin and eren and across jean. this was not the usual schedule that the cadets had to follow, however, keith had ushered you all out of the mess hall, declaring that he had an announcement to make. 

no one was more curious than you, for keith was not a known enemy to them like he was to you. it was good to know your enemy's next move, their ideals, just any info on them. but nothing had prepared you for what you were going to hear today.

as the rest of the cadets were coming out of the hall, taking their places on the field, you made eye contact with jean, who seemed rather annoyed with you. you honestly did not care, you just needed someone to talk to.

"what do you think he's going to say?" you asked, voice an octave lower than usual.

jean did not respond; he chose to glare at you instead, his eyes glinting in a way that practically screamed at you to shut-the-fuck-up. how very impolite.

fine, you supposed armin would be open to having a conversation with you (you refused to start one with eren, the bastard deserved what he got). 

"armin, what do you think he's going to --"

"leave him out of it," snarled jean, who had finally decided to speak to you. "don't drag innocent people into your bullshit."

"bullshit?" you repeated, irate. "it's a harmless question!"

"can you guys stop talking?" the devil's spawn asked from your right. his green eyes flashed angrily, and although his question addressed both you and jean, those same eyes focused solely on you instead, as though jean was no longer in the picture. 

"why are you getting involved?" you shot back, doing the complete opposite of what eren had asked of you, voice growing louder with every word.

eren's brows had furrowed to the point where there was a deep crease in between them. "shout louder, why don't you?" 

"no, no, no, you idiot," jean spat out, eyes narrowing at eren menacingly. "you think she won't do what you just said?"

"wha--"

"'cause she will."

"i will," you agreed. "what, scared of getting in trouble again?"  you were attempting to indirectly refer to the last time you and eren had spoken (or barely spoken, in that case, seeing as you had not said a word to him when you had keith reprimand him).

"no," grumbled eren. "but i've got a bone to pick with you --"

"eren, i don't think we should be arguing here of all places," armin whispered from your left. bless him, he's just like marco, you thought to yourself, amused. "just do it later."

eren wanted to argue -- it seemed like it, at least -- but ultimately let out a breath through his nose in frustration, glaring ahead, his eyes being forced to land on poor mina, who looked confused as to why she was being targeted (the con of having been placed opposite the anger-management-child).

you mouthed 'don't worry about it' to her, which eren had seen from the corner of his eye, and you noticed how the fists placed behind his back had clenched notably. what an angry child. 

none of you had to wonder where keith was for too long, for his booming voice had penetrated the still air the moment you had begun looking around for him. you had tried to figure out what the hell he was planning through the tone of his voice, but it proved to be more difficult due to the distance between you and him: he was shouting from somewhere far behind you, walking up and down the lines, saying something that barely touched your interest. 

until it did.

"this isn't your usual routine, so things will get confusing!" he had said. barely of any relevance to you, clearly. he continued loudly. "but that is no excuse! i expect each and every one of you maggots to know what you're doing -- DO NOT EMBARRASS ME!"

you repressed the urge to scoff aloud. you're literally an embarrassment to yourself.

"now," he went on, undisturbed by you or anyone else who dared to even breathe properly around him, "in preparation for your graduation approaching in a couple of months, you will be trained on everything you've ever known and more with a particular expert! straighten your backs, scums, you look like worms with that awful posture!"

there was movement in the lines, almost like a ripple in water. you hadn't moved an inch. who the hell was he to tell you that your posture was bad? your back was as straight as the wires shot out of the odm gear. 

"you will continue to train as normal, only, through the eyes of captain levi, member of the scout regiment!"

now that moved you.

jean's eyes shot over to you as you visibly turned around, standing on your tip-toes to try and get a good look. the captain was shorter than average, of course, and you weren't excelling in the height department much either, making it more difficult for you to see over the heads of those tall bastards behind you. unlucky for you, it was bertholdt who was placed directly behind you. it's as if..

it's as if keith placed you in that line-up position because he knew. 

he knew damn well what he was doing, saying his speech at a faraway distance where you knew captain levi probably was.

that bald homewrecker --

you could actually scream in frustration. 

"turn around, you fucking dingbat!" jean hissed, voice low but holding every bit of venom it would carry even if he spoke at his usual volume. "oi! listen to me!"

"leave me alone," you squabbled back, waving a hand at him without actually looking at him. "can you see him though? you're tall, jean, where is --"

"i'm not helping you, knucklehead."

"ugh, you're such a chicken."

so when jean did not help you (and you would never swallow down your pride and ask for eren's help) you turned back around and placed your fists against your back again, disappointed. today, you vowed to yourself: you will see him again, and he'll train you specifically. 

"you literally saw him this morning."

"shut your mouth, you donkey."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

you saw him.

but he was watching other people. he wasn't watching you, like he should be doing.

is that seriously how it's going to be right now? while you work your butt off with your dear friend marco, he was going to pay attention to other people?

the fake knife in your hand you had disarmed from marco only moments ago was now the centre of your thoughts. if you could just jam it directly into your chest, maybe then he'd pay attention to you, the little shrimp.

"y/n, don't get distracted again," marco told you gently, whilst you threw the knife at him (he caught it easily with one hand). it was his turn, again, to try and stop you from disarming him. "i'm sure he has his reasons."

"you look for the good in anybody," you reminded your friend, bitterly. "there is nothing good about this -- ah!"

marco, the sly devil, used your distracted state to his advantage by jamming the knife forward in an attempt to hit your chest. you bent back into a bridge to dodge, and then flipped yourself backward to straighten yourself up in surprise.

"that was low, marco."

he shrugged, chuckling. "i did what i had to do."

"you're just as bad as him," you told him, as if expecting him to drop down to your feet and kiss them, begging for your forgiveness. "both you and jean." 

"i never thought i'd see the day where you put me in the same category as jean," replied marco, smiling that innocent smile.

you raised your brows at him, folding your arms over your chest in disappointment. "neither did i, but people can surprise you."

marco thought for a moment, silent as he gazed at the floor, before surprising you when he looked back up.. not exactly at you, but staring at something behind you, eyes wide.

"what's wrong wi--"

"he's looking!" he alerted you.

you stared at marco, snatching the opportunity to impress captain levi as you straightened up, mouthing a 'what?'. and when marco nodded frantically, you did what you had to do. rapidly, you used your two hands to grab the arm where the knife was held, slid underneath it to pin his arm behind his back as he bent forward in response. you took the time to quickly knee him in the chest, which caused the grip on the knife to fall as he throws it up in the air (presumably for him to catch). you don't let him, releasing him from your grip and kicking him to the ground, hurriedly extending an arm to catch the knife successfully. 

you spun on the spot, breath heavy as you eyed the captain..

who wasn't even looking your way.

you glared at the ground, before slowly turning to stare at your friend on the floor, who was gripping onto his side in pain. 

"you lied to me?"

"what?" gasped marco, his kind, freckled face now overcome with confusion. "no! he -- he really was looking --"

"don't lie to me!" you snapped, throwing the knife at him and stomping your foot in anger. "i did all of that for nothing."

"traitor," marco had the audacity to say, as he sat upright and reached for the knife. 

you shrugged, grinning at him. "i did what i had to do."

marco smiled. "typical."

you and marco continued to train together, occasionally glancing back at the moody captain every few minutes, and you yourself felt as though your husband was starting to rub off on you: no longer were you the bubbly and bright person you were that very morning. now, you were just as grumpy as him, and he was the root cause of your sudden change in mood. in your own mind, you believed that even if you were the same now, you were still made for each other.

less than half of an hour had passed by, and it seemed that keith was now copying you in being aggravated. you grit your teeth together as he shouted for everyone's attention. of course, you thought, eyes narrowed at the bald man making his speech, in order to steal captain levi's heart, you have to become just like his wife. well, you decided, as you listened in, keith was smart for that one, though this was unusual for his game-plan. 

you shrugged it off: he could never be you.

"i'm tired of the same old partners!" he called out roughly. "you won't learn if you don't battle with someone different!"

there were murmurs following his comment, but no actual movement. that aggravated him even more.

"well what are you waiting for, you bunch of sloths? SWITCH!"

several people jumped up at his demand, and immediately, all of the pairs began forming one big huddle, people picking different partners obediently. not you, of course. you still wanted to be with marco. 

"where the hell do you think you're going?" you snapped at him when you saw him standing up and turning away. "you're my partner."

marco scratched the back of his head, smiling at you. it was a mask, you knew. marco always followed orders to the best of his ability. 

"you heard commandant shadis," he said, his voice smooth like water. "he wants us to change partners."

"i still want to be yours!" you remarked, annoyance seeping from your harsh tone. 

marco laughed at you. this guy even had a gentle laugh, too. what was not so innocent of him? marco didn't have a single bad bone in his body. 

"i want to be your partner too, but we can't, y/n," he told you, gesturing to the movement of people around you. "i'm sure you'll find someone better than me anyway. i've had my ass handed to me multiple times now --"

you tried catching the eyes of people passing by, but it almost seemed as though people were purposefully avoiding you. you rolled your eyes, raising a brow at marco.

"all right, whatever," you said, yielding at last. "i hope someone else beats you up better than me."

marco raised his eyebrows, looking as though that could not be farther from the truth. "you're the best at hand-to-hand, y/n. i doubt that." and then he walked away, finding a new partner, one who you recognised to be milieus zeremski. 

you shrugged, turning away. was that the reason why people were avoiding you? it wasn't quite like you to wallow in silence wondering about it. so, naturally, you spoke up, of course. 

"hey," you caught mina's arm. she turned to you with a smile, and you hurried to finish off your question. "why's everyone avoiding me?"

mina's eyes widened and you were now swallowed whole by the soft black in her eyes. 

"oh," she began, chuckling quietly. "well, it's kind of a good reason, if you ask me. everyone knows you're good at close combat, so no one really wants to bare the brunt of your anger. speaking of, are you all right? i've noticed that you aren't quite as happy as you usually are."

you smiled back at her in an attempt to be polite. mina has never annoyed you, and the two of you usually met up with a couple of other few girls before bed to have a comfortable chat. 

"i'm fine, but captain levi is pissing me off," you grumbled.

"i'd ask why, but i'd better find a partner for myself," she responded, looking around. "good luck though!"

and then she walked away, leaving you staring after her, deep in thought. perhaps there was something good out of not having a partner... a plan was forming in your head, and maybe it was obvious, because even as jean walked past you, he made sure to comment on it.

"stop making that thinking face and find a bloody partner!"

he was lucky you were too busy thinking, otherwise you would have marched over to him and given him a black eye to sport for the entire week (and more). 

ignoring him, with an even more irate expression on your face, you thought to yourself carefully. if you had no partner, the attention would be on you -- specifically the attention of a certain someone. someone who had been neglecting you lately. the plan was perfect! all you had to do was make sure everyone stayed away from you (not a problem there) and then not only would he have no choice but to pay attention to you, but if you were lucky, you could also manage to be partners with him, captain levi!

part a of the plan was working: people were avoiding you. you waited for a bit, standing in the centre of the huddle, making no movement to search for a partner. it pleased you how, at the same time, this would be defying keith's orders too; a bonus point. 

until you heard someone call out to you, the voice distant and far.

"hey, y/n!"

just ignore it, you thought to yourself, the rhythmic beat of your heart speeding up and becoming less in tune with your breathing. it'll go away, it'll go -- 

"y/n!"

the voice was closer.

"y/n l/n!"

the voice was clearer.

"l/n!"

the voice was masculine.

"i'm talking to you!"

the voice was right behind you.

now you were angry.

you turned around, jaw clenched and brows furrowed deeply, staring up at the culprit. you couldn't believe it. had he still not learned his lesson?

eren jaeger.

you could actually gauge out his eyes in frustration. why wouldn't he just stop being so nosy? stop being so annoying? stop being so bothersome?

"get away from me," you demanded, making a move to walk away.

and the boy.. oh this boy.. he had the nerve to pinch at the sleeve of your jacket to stop you.

the worst possible scenario for your plan, because now it looked as though you were partners. eyes darting to captain levi, your blood boiled when you saw that his attention was elsewhere. slowly but surely, you turned your head to glare daggers at the brunette tugging at your sleeve. you ripped your arm out of his grip and gave him one of the dirtiest looks you could muster.

"don't ever touch me again."

eren did not take this lightly. "you were ignoring me, what did you expect?"

"can you just stay away?" you shouted, indignant. "now's not a good time!"

"i have to ask you something," he continued as if he hadn't heard you.

"go away!" you hollered, almost desperately. "ask me another time, okay? just. go. away."

he followed you like a lost puppy even as you began walking away, hoping to create some distance. you nearly contemplated running.

you stopped walking in annoyance and he nearly bumped into you when you stood your ground. you glared up at him.

"why can't you just listen?" you whispered, voice shaky with spleen. you had now resorted to using hand movements to prove your point. "why do you have to be so nosy? why can't you just bother someone else? WHY?"

eren was persistent despite your anger and your demands. "why did you get me in trouble with the commandant the other day?"

you stared at him in actual disbelief. of all the things he could have asked, it had to be a question as dumb as that? this very question was about to tarnish your plans, and it couldn't have waited? he couldn't have waited for a better time to ask, like you basically promised? 

if you were angry before, then lord knows what you were feeling now, because you were seeing red.

"l/n!" keith yelled at you as he drew closer. "who's your partner?"

you took in a deep breath. just in time, you thought to yourself, and then jabbed a finger in eren's chest without even looking at him.

"him," you answered, voice low. "he's my partner."

eren had no time to protest before keith shouted at the two of you to begin the sparring by standing in your starting positions and getting into formation. 

and that was how eren found himself on the floor (he put up a good fight, better than most, you must say) with you above him, panting with each punch you gave him.

"why --"

punch.

"-- won't --" 

punch.

"-- you --" 

punch.

"-- learn --" 

punch.

"-- your --" 

punch.

"-- lesson?"

when you paused to catch you breath, eren took the moment to fight back, flipping you over with him looming over you. his expression was something that you had never seen before. 

all right, perhaps that was a lie. you had seen it before, but it had never actually been directed at you. usually, jean was at the receiving end of that look -- his brows knitting so close together, a deep crease formed in between them; his teeth gritted and jaw clenched to the point where a vein was actually bulging at his neck. 

"WHY DID YOU GET ME IN TROUBLE?" he demanded, apparently furious at your ignorance to his question. 

you immediately gagged, recoiling back and turning your head sideways. 

"god, what the hell did you have for breakfast?" you choked out, your nose abused by the rancid smell that had protruded from his mouth. 

he might have been angry, but you were angrier. 

without another second to waste (the time in which his anger was slightly masked over with a look of confusion) you brought your hand to the back of his neck and forced his head to clash against yours. he let out a loud yelp and you took over, securing your place over him once more. 

your punches resumed, attack after attack, and you did not even think to stop. not even when you noticed, from the corner of your eye, how people were focused on you and your fight (perhaps they had been watching the entire brawl, perhaps only you had noticed them now).

and even when eren barely fought back, you continued.

"i --" he uttered between punches, teeth gritted and jaw clenched, "concede!"

and still you did not stop. 

in fact, you gripped onto his short, brown hair and pulled his head up with it, slamming it back down every time you said a new word.

"you --"

slam.

"-- tarnished --"

slam.

"-- my --"

slam.

"plan!"

slam.

"l/n," you heard keith call out, somewhere far back in your mind, perhaps, because his voice sounded low through the ringing in your ears. "did jaeger say he concedes?"

you didn't answer, but eren did.

"i conce--"

"shut up!" you snapped, and placed a hand over his mouth to prevent him from completing his sentence. 

"L/N!" keith all but bellowed at you. his voice was clearer now, probably because of how loud he was being. "GET OFF OF THE BOY NOW!"

there was a dull ringing in your ears and all you could focus on was beating the brunette to a pulp. he deserved it for how nosy he had been: perhaps this would teach him a lesson. stop sticking your nose in places where it shouldn't be, otherwise you'd get it beaten into your face by y/n l/n.

well, he could stick his nose in business that did not belong to you, you didn't mind that of course.

but seriously, had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have found the need to actually go up to you and ask you why you did what you did. you thought it was obvious? for example: connie, who you had publicly embarrassed for publicly embarrassing you with your failed attempt at a wink; jean, who you had managed to get sent to the stables as punishment for not helping you when you were in trouble with keith. 

eren was no different, he did not get special treatment.

he got you in trouble with keith, so you would get him in trouble with keith in return. there was no genius needed to figure that out, and if he so desperately needed one, armin was practically the leader of geniuses. why did he choose to confront you? you made it crystal clear that he could ask his question another time, that now was not a good time, that he should go and bother someone else for the time-being. 

but no. he just had to be so persistent. so stubborn.

when you made no move to get up, the higher ups had taken it upon themselves to stop you. rough hands had slid around your waist and pulled you up, dragging you away from the poor brunette, whose chest was heaving up and down with each breath he took, looking as though he had just survived a bear attack: dishevelled and fatigued. 

you, in question, were the bear: your own hands gnawing at the pale ones tightly gripping your abdomen, your eyes practically glinting red, and the hairs at the back of your neck sticking to your skin. you did not know who the person dragging you away was, but whoever they were, they were nex--

"oi, stop fighting," his voice came out harshly against your ear. 

you complied. 

your eyes met his, lost in the pool of grey that were glinting in a way that made them look almost silver-like.

did you say that he was next? 

no, that was a mistake -- you would never say that.

not to him, at least.

even though you had stopped struggling against his iron-like, tight grip, captain levi still found the need to continue to pull you away from the training sight. you were going to question when he was going to stop, until you realised that he already had -- you were the one holding onto his arms now. 

he didn't even say anything, but you did not need to look back at him to know that he was probably scowling at your action.

"this is ni--"

"let go of me."

"yes, sir."

you dropped to the ground after releasing your grip. he did not bother helping you up, but you did hear him sigh when you made no move to get up. you looked over your shoulder at him, chin tilted high into the air, a hand hovering over your brows to shield your sensitive eyes from the bright sun.

he was pinching the bridge of his nose, looking stressed. you would murder whoever made your husband so stressed out, you promised this to yourself. 

"what's wrong with you?" he demanded out of no where.

when your features only moved to form a look of confusion, he felt the tiring need to clarify.

"when your opponent gives up, you stop anything else you plan on doing."

"oh i know that," you stated with a smile. did the captain really think that you were not aware of that?

"which concerns me even more," he said, rubbing his forehead exasperatedly. he regarded you crossly. "get up."

you did as you were told, even taking care to salute once you stood up. there was, however, one thing that was stirring up in the pit of your stomach. it was an aching feeling, something that you had never felt before. 

the time of its arrival was significant, too. you had just noticed that due to eren's actions (the constant pestering, as annoying as it was) captain levi had paid more attention to you, more than he originally would have if eren had just left you alone.. and the poor boy.. you had beaten him to an extent where he actually chose to concede. what made it worse was the fact that eren jaeger barely ever gave up. you had driven him to the point where he just had to.

you snuck a glance at him: he was being comforted by armin and mikasa, both of whom had gotten a scolding from keith for not focusing on their own training. you didn't understand them, for if it had been jean who had gotten quite the beating from one of your classmates, you would have stood there and laughed. 

but, arguably, you wouldn't have done that for marco. see, for marco, you'd have done what armin and mikasa were doing for eren. now you understood.

"what, feeling guilty now?" captain levi coldly interrupted your thoughts. you didn't respond, the guilt causing you to be rendered speechless for the first time in a while. "you should. the kid looks like he came out of a war because of you."

"i --" you began, your salute now softer in your hesitation. "i just got a little angry, he was bothering me!"

"you get as good as you give."

"what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"oh, i'm surprised you understood that."

"i didn't."

"never mind then."

you thought about it for a moment and then scowled at him once it clicked. was he insinuating that you were bothersome, and therefore eren (as some form of stupid karma) was being bothersome to you? 

"wait --"

"no," said captain levi, firm. "get back on the field."

but really, the whole reason why eren got such a vicious beatdown was because you thought his persistence caused some disturbance in your plan for getting the captain to notice you. so you didn't actually want to leave and return to the training field.

"but who's going to be my partner?" you questioned, trying to sound innocent.

captain levi folded his arms over his chest, but did not respond to your question. after a good ten seconds of him simply staring at you (perhaps the more accurate word would be 'glaring') he caught the attention of the rest of the cadets. 

"your combat needs a little work," he called out to everyone, looking mildly disappointed. "but we can't work on it for as long as i initially wanted to. unfortunately, some people can't control themselves."

you almost choked on your own spit. you had been standing behind him, tall and poised, nodding along to everything he had been saying. until, of course, that last line. you stared at the side of his face, outraged and offended. was that a jab at you? publicly, too? 

you didn't care that you looked visibly stupefied by what he had said. you didn't care that everyone was now staring at you with amusement. what you cared about was why your husband was acting the way he was. what had gotten into him? was that comment really necessary? 

that horrible comment, meant to clearly reference you, might give keith the opportunity to sneak his rancid self into your closed relationship. in fact, he was probably conjuring up some mini plan in his head right now, and it was all because of your soulmate. perhaps you needed to have a chat with him sooner or later about the way he spoke about you. you weren't at all impressed with his behaviour.

"get the odm gear out," captain levi ordered loudly. "we're moving onto the manoeuvring gear training."

he looked over at you, his infamous, neutral expression plastered over his face as he watched you carefully. 

"what, are you no good at it?" 

perhaps you had been looking rather disappointed -- you felt like it -- otherwise he wouldn't have felt the need to ask such a thing. you raised your brows at him, straightening up immediately and shaking your head.

"'course not," you denied, because it was still true. 

you weren't bad at using the gear at all. you were good, just not as good as, say, mikasa. she was an absolute monster with it. you will never forget the time you had suggested playing tag. the memory of it made a shiver run down your spine. 

"i just like hand-to-hand better," you answered, trailing along behind him as he walked further on, heading for the trees where the gear is best used. "can't we do more of that?"

"you're bold," he said, voice laced with chagrin, "to even suggest that when you're the reason i had to stop it."

"you didn't have to stop it completely," you said with a frown. "keith usually puts me on a time-out when i do something he doesn't like. everyone else just continued."

"keith?" he repeats, his eyebrow twitching as he looked down at you, stopping before the first tree you guys had been met with. 

you almost did not understand what he was getting at, before his gaze hardened and you remembered one of his first orders he had given you. refer to keith as commandant shadis. 

"i mean.. commandant shadis."

"right," said captain levi, continuing on with his walk. 

you followed on after him, keeping close to him even as more voices and footsteps could be heard somewhere far off behind the two of you. when you turned to see, the rest of the cadets were passing down the gear, securing it on each other as they walked into the woods simultaneously. perhaps it would have been a better idea to do the same, leave the captain on his own to wear the gear and prepare yourself, but you just.. did not want to. and that was a good enough answer for you to continue walking alongside the captain.

"never heard of a time-out being a punishment before," he commented vaguely. 

"during the gear training, he usually makes me sit on the tallest tree branch and just watch everyone else," you told him, almost as if you were telling off of your arch-nemesis. 

"that's why you don't want to train?"

you shrugged. "call it trauma."

"you're using the gear," the captain told you in a there's-no-argument type of way. he stopped, turned, and looked down at you as everyone began catching up to the both of you. "you'll be the first if you keep protesting."

"what? why? i already used the gear this morning. with you."

"i'm aware," said the captain. and then he walked past you, taking a spare manoeuvring gear out of a large box held by reiner (no surprise, he was, arguably, the strongest out of you all) and held it out to you. "you're up."

people had now surrounded the area you were standing in: deep into the woods, with lots of trees and space to move around simultaneously. it was perfect for the use of odm gear. 

you slowly took the gear from his hands, examining it for scratches, dents, or random breakage. the last thing you needed was to fall off the trees and die from the use of a faulty wire or something. 

"but i don't have a gas cylinder," you tried reasoning, even as you secured the straps over your chest and the ones behind your knees. 

"don't worry," the captain responded, going as far as to even help you with the ones you could not reach: your back. you felt him swat your hair away, tightening even the ones you had done yourself for extra precaution. "i've heard that your own gas is a great substitute, fart girl."

your jaw dropped (as did everyone else's). you were absolutely mortified as you turned your head ever so slightly to look back at him. unlike everyone else (all of whom were now stifling their chuckles and giggles) he remained unfazed. and despite that comment that made heat rise to your cheeks, he still handed you a gas cylinder to attach to your side. 

embarrassed, angered, and absolutely petrified, you could not even register the fact that he was expecting you to take the cylinder from him, for you were too shocked to even think straight. this was embarrassment to a point that you had never actually experienced before. everyone knew about the situation where you had been rather confident in releasing your own gas, but you had assumed that they would have forgotten: no one had mentioned it for quite some time.

until now. 

and it was all because of your uncontrollable husband.

ex-husband, now, because as much as you loved him, this was crossing the line.

leisurely, you took the cylinder from his extended hand and stared down at it. you could barely concentrate as the laughter from your peers travelled to your ears in a manner that was not very graceful. traitors, they were -- the lot of them.

now you definitely did not want to use the gear. you held the cylinder up as if to hand it back to the captain.

"i can't do it," you told him, your nerves spiralling inside you.

he looked as though he did not believe you, which made sense, of course. if you were him, you wouldn't have believed yourself either, not when he had watched you fly around with glee early that very morning. 

i have to lie, you decided in your mind. there was only one issue, however. although lying was your expertise, lying whilst racked with nerves is not. you either stumbled over your words or lied about something that was not relevant to the topic.

"why not?" said captain levi, looking sceptical. 

everyone was silent now (save for the occasional snort here and there).

"because i did odm training tomorrow so i don't need to do it yesterday," you answered, barely taking a breath before attempting to undo your front straps.

there was silence. if it hadn't been daytime, you were sure there would have probably been cricket noises here and there.

"what is she even saying?" you heard connie call out, and you had to physically restrain yourself from shooting your wires deep into his chest. 

"well don't look at me," shrugged jean, sounding defensive. when you followed the sound of his voice, you saw that he was leaning back against a tree with marco, who was looking startled. 

if the earth could just swallow you whole, you'd be extremely grateful. you had to leave. you just had to. there was no way you could ever show your face to these people ever again. maybe you could leave and change your identity: from y/n l/n to n/y n/l, from female to elamef, from 20 years old to 02 years old. whatever it be, you had to leave. 

so you tried to. 

you took a step forward, but barely made it any further than that before you felt your head being tugged back by some type of force -- captain levi had pulled you back by your hair.

"not so fast," he said, barely moved by your actions. it was almost as if he had predicted it. "fix your straps and attach the damn cylinder. you're up."

you swallowed down on nothing, trying to ease yourself. you could barely register the crunching of twigs and leaves growing closer to you -- marco had taken it upon himself to help you fix the straps you had undone. 

as you stared up at the trees, you felt him politely take the gas cylinder out of your own hands and slowly attach them to your gear. his face was right beside your ear, keeping his voice low when he took the opportunity to speak. 

"stop scheming," he murmured, and you were certain that nobody but you could hear him. you did not question what he meant, although he felt the need to clarify. "got that look on your face.."

you had no idea what look he was talking about, but you could not deny the fact that (in truth) you really were conjuring up a plan in your head, figuring out the steps and the advantages you'd have with the position of the stagnant trees. 

anytime someone would use the gear to fly up and above, they'd move forwards, using their advanced speed and agility to reach the finish line where another higher up would be standing. since keith was not around, you concluded that it would probably be him. but if you wanted to leave, you could just turn the other direction and go backwards instead..

you bit back a smile.

besides, it was not as if anyone could chase you down without the captain's permission: you'll be long gone by then. 

as marco tested the strength of the gear for you, rattling and shaking it with all his might, you found that it was secure on you, less likely to break. you smiled at him as he took a step back, whispering out a 'good luck' before taking his place against the tree next to jean again, being so positively encouraging as to give you a thumbs up for extra measure. 

"you finally ready?" your ex-husband asked. 

you did not bother answering him, and turned away, digging your feet into the ground as you gripped onto your blades.

"hey, why're you facing that way --"

too late. you had already clicked the top trigger, firing your anchors into the nearby trees before you clicked the bottom trigger to fire out your compressed gas. 

and up you went, the rest of the captain's sentence trailing off into nothingness the higher up you went from the ground. 

the force of the flight against gravity resulted in the wind forcing your hair back as you continued to shoot out your anchors, flying in the opposite direction to make it back to the main base. you could hear people yelling after you, their demands that you return dying out the more you moved. you laughed loudly, which might have been a mistake seeing as the wind you were pushing yourself against flew right into your open mouth. 

you closed it immediately, but still found yourself smiling as you flew through the woods. this is what they got for underestimating you, for making fun of you. the thrill of using the gear to defy physics was already feet-tingling as it was. however, adding more thrill to it by opposing the rules made it feel even better, like you were on cloud nine with all the excitement. 

exhilaration had never felt better.

until you heard his voice somewhere behind you..

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

the captain watched after you with lazy eyes. 

it had shocked him at first, he wouldn't deny it. he genuinely thought that he had you under control at this point. 

he was wrong.

though he couldn't say that it surprised him too much, now that he was really thinking about it. he hadn't realised just how sneaky you were, far sneakier than any cadet he had ever encountered. it was clear that you had no shame, which was probably the reason why you were able to do things usual people could not. he could barely tell if you were actually embarrassed by the new nickname he had given you.

and new nickname it was, for your fellow classmates were now addressing you by it.

"look at fart girl go!" 

"only fart girl would do shit like this."

"do you think fart girl did that on purpose?"

there was only one place you could be heading for -- back to the main training field, straight to your dorm. captain levi had been so preoccupied with thinking about what the hell he should do about you, that he had not realised the silence that had consumed the rest of the cadets he was no responsible for. 

he stared at them, eyes particularly focused on the two boys that he knew you were tight with. both were tall, one significantly taller than the other, with lighter hair and a longer face. the other boy had soft freckles decorating his features, a softer look about him. 

the main factor that the captain had caught on to (which made them different to the rest of the cadets staring up at the sky in awe) was how unsurprised they seemed. it was almost as if they had expected nothing less from you. 

the boy with the freckles caught the captain's eye, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck with a smile.

"er -- permission to go after her, sir?" he asked, in an almost tentative manner. 

captain levi looked back up at the trees. "permission denied," he said, though not unkindly. 

he seemed to be thinking to himself. this training session had not gone to plan. and it was all because of you. you were really beginning to become an itch on his side, one that he could not quite seem to reach. a headache, even. and usually, he would be able to cure it with a simple cup of tea. you were proving to be as difficult as keith shadis had mentioned.

"any volunteers to go up next?" he asked, looking around at them all. and then he exhaled through his nose. "and if it's not clear enough already, you move that way." he pointed to his right. 

in the end, an enthusiastic, green-eyed boy jumped up at the opportunity to prove himself. it was only after a couple of seconds of light staring did he realise that it was the very boy that you had savagely beaten. the captain thought he had a staring problem, for the boy had an odd sort of attachment to the wings of freedom etched upon his uniform. perhaps he was another one that wanted to join the regiment of literal death.

while the boy adjusted his gear, captain levi addressed the rest of them.

"training's no different. you'll take turns after you hear the commandant's call that he's reached the end. you'll be timed," he instructed, mind half distracted. "and you," he added, talking to the green-eyed boy. "when you get to shadis, let him know that i've got to deal with a rogue cadet."

the boy raised his eyebrows.

"rogue cade--"

"he'll know exactly what i mean."

despite looking slightly confused, the green-eyed boy simply shrugged, planting his feet into the ground. the captain searched his pockets, before sighing in frustration at the realisation of something that (surprise-surprise) you had been the cause of. resisting the urge to simply take off and tackle you, he called out to the rest of the cadets.

"anyone have a pocket watch?" he asked exasperatedly. 

if one of them did, perhaps you'll be safe. 

if none of them did, however... well it's a good thing that you had a head start.

you got lucky: a girl with pigtails stepped forward with a shaky smile and handed the visibly annoyed captain her own pocket watch. he took it from her, nodding when she saluted and returned to her position in between a tall, dark-haired boy. he stared down at the pocket watch in his hands. how was he supposed to monitor wherever the hell you had flown off to and time the cadets at the same time?

"you," he said suddenly, walking towards a short, blonde, blue-eyed boy who had been looking displeased with the practical training (the captain had eyes everywhere). 

the boy immediately perked up, straightening his back and saluting, eyes wide at being addressed by a higher up. 

"sir!" he squeaked, seemingly surprised.

"at ease," said captain levi, aware that shadis was probably beginning to get impatient now. he extended his arm, the hand attached to it presenting the other girl's pocket watch. "you look capable. time them like usual. i have business to attend to."

the boy looked hesitant, but did not look as though he would suggest an alternative option as he took the pocket watch and nodded. 

"i'll be back soon," he stated loudly, his voice laced with authority. "so don't mess around."

and he took off, trailing after you without another word.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

perhaps you shouldn't have stopped at a tree branch to rest your legs. the adrenaline rush nearly had you lose control in your moment of exhilaration.

you didn't know it yet, but the captain was after you. not that it mattered too much, of course. you were wise enough to go deeper into the woods than to simply go for the main base -- it was merely a resting point. you'd go back to moving soon anyway.

you had taken it upon yourself to rest on the highest tree branch possible, legs outstretched and back flat against the ongoing tree trunk. nobody would find you here unless you wanted to be found, and after that round of embarrassment, you certainly did not want to be found. with not only being higher up than it was actually allowed (unless you were told to sit in time out) your small form was obscured behind several leaves and branches, hidden away like a prized gift. 

from that high up, everything looked so small. bushes that you knew were rather wide and difficult to get through looked as though they were nothing more than several obstacles for an ant. 

maybe it's time to get a move on now, you had thought to yourself calmly as you secured the straps on your knees and adjusted the gas cylinder on your side. you would never forget the time daz's gas cylinder slipped out of its small case during flight; everyone had been considerably more careful since then, including you, as reckless as you were.

you nearly tumbled out of your standing position on the tree branch when you heard a loud shout of your name. and it wasn't just any shout...

"L/N!" captain levi practically bellowed from somewhere far away.

no... you thought, alarmed. that didn't make sense. he wasn't allowed to leave the cadets unsupervised. was he not supposed to be busy with timing everyone? was he not supposed to alert someone else that you were missing? why had he taken it upon himself to find you? 

oh this was bad... this was really, really bad.

the captain was practically a machine of some sort. his hearing was immaculate too, just like a bat. it didn't matter if he would ever go blind one day, his excellent hearing made up for the lost sense. 

he was, perhaps, the only person who would be able to seek you out, even with your fabulous choice of hiding. 

although, now that you thought about it, sasha had several heightened senses too, but it was not as though you had heard her voice call out your name several seconds ago.

you kept an eye out for any closeness of ruffling leaves, any rough movement, or the sound of gas being pushed out of its cylinder to enable flight against gravity. so far so good, you had almost convinced yourself that you were being paranoid. maybe that had been a sign for you to get back to your dorm. and quickly, at that.

you relaxed your stance against the tree, relieved. perhaps that had been your second mistake in the same minute.

"L/N!"

you actually did fall this time. panicked and alarmed, you had no choice but to hurriedly click the top trigger of your controller grip, your wires shooting out to latch themselves onto the tree branch you had fallen from, leaving you hanging upside down in the air. 

it was silent now, only the sound of your blood pounding in your ears as the liquid dived to your brain. your head was beginning to feel heavy with the added weight. 

he was listening, you knew. he had heard the sound of your wires and the latch, and he was probably trying to track you down.

you had to make a move. now.

taking a deep breath in, you pulled the lever, reeling the wires back in as you fell several feet. heart pounding against your chest, you clicked the trop trigger again, shooting your wires against a tree to your left and a tree to your right. with great impulse, you pushed your legs over your head to flip yourself, no longer upside down. 

"cadet l/n!" you heard him yell, almost as if he had spotted you.

you wasted no time in clicking the bottom trigger, your gas shooting out of its cylinder as you took off, flying through the trees and making it back to main base.

with a short glance over your shoulder, your teeth gritted once you realised that the captain was nearly hot on your trail.

"get back here, that's an order!" he snapped, displeased and unimpressed with this game of cat and mouse.

you clenched your jaw, turning away from him and continuing your trip despite his order, your fingers working in that similar pattern: top trigger, bottom trigger, and then back again. 

and then you had been met with another problem.

because your hiding place had been deeper into the woods, going for the main base would take longer, especially now that you needed to be quicker because of the man following after you. you had to think fast, then. 

"l/n!"

going for the cadets would be quicker as you could run through the training field and head for the dorms, take the short cut, and be out of sight. men weren't allowed in the girls' barracks after all.

"l/n, turn around and --"

it would be a brilliant plan. other than the fact that you had to face everyone again, but you could tolerate it. just for a bit. 

instead of latching your wires onto a tree to your left and a tree to your right, you hooked them both in the same direction, swinging all the way around to change your direction.

and then you head back, using more gas because you knew that the captain, although stumped by your choice, was now closer than before. squinting your eyes, you could see that the area you had escaped from was growing closer and closer, yet the cadets there had grown smaller and smaller. when you were only around twenty trees behind, you could see that the training had continued: armin had been tasked with the job of timing the cadets. 

of course. that did make sense, after all. 

"l/n!"

the eyes of the remaining cadets had turned to you. you caught marco's eye (jean was no longer there) and gave him a grin, one that he did not know whether to return or not. instead, his eyes merely travelled to the presence behind you, looking worried at the sight. 

you flew over your classmates, almost as if it was your turn to be tested (armin had muttered a 'should i time her?') and continued to fly off.

but the captain was still trailing after you. 

"oi, fart girl!" he snapped angrily.

now that...

that stopped you.

you were now hanging low in between two trees your wires had gripped on to. 

you looked over your shoulder, eyes narrowed and brow twitching. looking down, you could see that you had barely made it away from where the cadets originally were (originally, for they had now come running over to you and the captain, who was standing on a tree branch higher than you, glowering). 

"what did you just call me?" you asked lowly. you landed yourself on a different tree branch, looking up at him with an expression of contempt.

captain levi clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

"if i'd known that you would've responded to that rather than your own name, i would've said it sooner, fart girl."

you contemplated ridding yourself of your gear and simply diving head first into the ground. dying and never returning seemed a better option than to stand where you currently were and simply take the degrading lecture. you never got embarrassed. EVER.

so why, now, were you feeling heat rise to your cheeks? why was the hairs on your neck standing up? why were you curling in on yourself and avoiding the gaze of the captain?

the conclusion: you were embarrassed.

and to an extent you had never thought was even possible to reach.

"so you've found her!" a booming voice from below you called out to the captain.

keith shadis.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

you hadn't been let off lightly (that was obvious, special treatment did not exist in the training corps even if you thoroughly believed that you deserved it).

but as you slammed the door to your room with ill-contained anger, you became well aware of what keith and captain levi were going to do. 

angry with not only yourself, but with your ex-husband and your arch nemesis, you aggressively pulled open the drawer attached to your bed-side table, strong enough to actually detach it completely. and that only made you more indignant. 

you placed the broken drawer on top of the table and pulled out your long forgotten diary. dust had collected on top of it, flying around your eyes when you blew it away and patted at it. it was a silly, old thing. something to just write your thoughts in (one of the villagers in your home town suggested it a long time ago, and that was a different story). it had been neglected for a while, every memory of using it locked in the back of your mind all the way up until now. 

it was a journal styled book, with pages incredibly similar to the texture and warm colour of fresh parchment paper. as you opened the book, your eyes merely skimmed over the rough doodles and bad handwriting:

you sighed as you stared at the first couple of pages of your diary. those were easier times, ancient ones, but easier all the same. that version of you, the one that first started the corps, clearly did not know what difficulty she'd be put through later on. 

you hurriedly flipped over to the next blank page. your eyebrows raised when you looked at the date of the last time you had written in there: november 29th 848. that was just before your meeting with commander erwin. you hadn't updated your diary on that event, but that was fine. you had other matters to address. 

pulling your wooden chair back eagerly, the legs screeching loudly against the floor boards, you sat yourself down and reached for your pen, writing down the date and the events of your dreadful day.

it hadn't been too long before you found yourself completely invested in writing more and more in your diary. but because of the new (and constant) gentle knocking on your door, you had to stop yourself, making a literal note to update the book soon. 

after being publicly embarrassed, you were almost one hundred percent certain that the person behind your door was marco. he had seen it all and he was always the type to comfort you when you needed it. right now, though? you needed time to yourself. you needed to vent out your anger. you needed to scream, be put in a room where you could smash things (particularly the heads of your ex-husband and your rival). 

surprised, you nearly kicked yourself at how the thought of hitting your ex had even come to mind, even if it did sound enticing. 

knock, knock!

your chair squeaked against the floor as you stood up, pushing it away from you absentmindedly as you turned to the door and silently shouted curse words at it. to be fair, your words weren't directly targetted at the person behind the door, more so at keith and captain levi. still, you had taken the anger out on yourself all the same, gripping onto the roots of your hair in a silent threat to pull it off your scalp. 

you mimed punching the door, fists clenched as you shook them.

the door had opened.

and it wasn't even marco that had been behind it.

it was mina.

and she had just witnessed your silent tantrum, eyes narrowed as her brows furrowed, hand held up as if she was about to knock again.

you froze, moved back to a normal stance, and stared back at her, blank faced.

"erm," she began, clearing her throat and wiping the palm of her hand on her pants. "you didn't come down for dinner, so i was wondering what you were -- what you were up to..."

you didn't say anything, tilting your head to the side as you awaited for a complete explanation of what she needed now.

"but if you're busy..." she continued, sounding unsure of how to react. her brows rose after the odd look on her face left. "well you looked busy --"

"get out."

"ok."

you had followed her out of your dorm despite the weird encounter.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

captain levi was very irritated. 

very.

and who was it all because of?

well you of course! you were, he decided, practically the bane of his existence.

he had spent the last twenty minutes or so having a discussion with shadis about you in the commandant's office. the two had gone through a list of the punishments you had been given for previous misbehaviour (and mind you, there were a lot). captain levi had never seen so many reports in one file.

it only made his stomach flip over on itself when he had reminded himself that he would probably have to deal with this in a couple of months seeing as you were adamant on joining the scout regiment for whatever stupid reason. were you giving him a simple taster of what was to come? was this you preparing him for the trouble you would have him endure once you joined? 

shadis had informed the captain that he had inflicted every form of punishment the training corps allowed to be used on its cadets. 

every. single. one. 

and your behaviour, if anything, had possibly turned over to be at its worst: it seemed that disrespecting the captain of the scout regiment was crossing the line, for shadis had come up with a brand new form of punishment, designed specifically for you... and if the training corps ever encountered another cadet as wild as you in future (though it was clear that both shadis and captain levi doubted it ever would).

and shadis, the actual bastard, had put the job of breaking the news to you to him -- captain levi. 

that was what pissed him off.

firstly, you weren't even at dinner where you should have been. each cadet is legally required to be provided three meals a day, and it was crucial that everyone had their foodwith the amount of training and energy needed for a regular day. 

secondly, your friends had no idea where you were too. apparently, you hadn't been seen since the cat and mouse game you had played earlier. when he asked them why they hadn't looked for you (were they not supposed to be your friends?) they made it quite clear to the captain that you evoked fear from everyone -- even if they did not voice this. 

so you were missing and captain levi had no idea when he was supposed to alert you of your brand new punishment. oh, and did he mention that the punishment was supposed to start from tomorrow, too?

he stood by the double doors of the mess hall, watching as the girl with pigtails -- the one who had handed him her pocket watch earlier -- walked past him, heading towards the dorms. 

he was the captain of the scout regiment. scouting did not mean that he had to scout the whole of the training fields in search for you, a regular cadet. this was never mentioned in his contract; he had not signed himself up for this. even escaping the wrath of a titan was easier than the task forcefully handed to him by shadis, the bald coward. the commandant was your mentor, his responsibility. not the captain's -- at least, not yet.

after contemplating his life choices for a few more minutes, he found himself growing more agitated at the realisation that you were probably hiding in your dorm room.

the very area in which men were not allowed to enter.

he huffed, brows furrowing in fury and eyes glinting with annoyance. only you would put him through the shame of walking down the girls' barracks where he was not actually allowed to be. 

and that's where he found himself: walking down the girls' barracks in search for your dorm, ignoring the odd glances sent to him by several random female cadets as he plucked up the courage to ask one of them where your room was.

he did not wait for any questions the second the answer was given before darting forwards to find you.

where the hell is hange when you need her? he grumbled to himself in his mind, a black cloud of negativity looming over his head as he neared the door to your room.

he probably would have yelled out in frustration if he wasn't already being watched by several people. 

your stupid door was left open.

and that only meant one thing.

he stepped inside, dread filling his stomach: you were absent.

i walked all the way down here for nothing? he questioned silently, repressing the urge to kick the leg of your wooden chair and snap it in half.

he nearly turned away, about to storm off when something had caught his eye. your drawer was broken, left unattended on top of your table. he drew closer, unsure why, but he did, mildly interested.

the drawer was nearly empty, filled with hair ties and a few pens. 

but the thing sitting beside it was what peaked his interest more than he would have liked.

curious, he eyed the open book, feeling foolish when he had come under the impression that he had seen the nickname he had given her written down somewhere there. 

but he was right.

his eyes scanned the page, pointer finger sliding down the paper when he had seen it:

'he made everyone call me fart girl!'

and he felt even more dotish when he had taken more than a minute to realise that this was your diary.

he flipped the page back, more engrossed than he would have liked to admit as he picked up the thick book and leaned against your table to read. 

what the fuck?

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

he was back in his own office, having analysed your diary once more.

it was a good thing that his reaction time had been tested several times on expeditions, for he was equally prepared when the door had open loudly without warning.

he knew it was hange: she was the only one in the entire regiment who had never bothered to knock. 

and therefore, there was more haste than he usually had in hiding that book of yours inside his own drawer (much less prone to breaking, might he add). 

but perhaps he had been a little more slower than usual, or maybe the look on his face was more neutral than usual, for hange's eyes had narrowed behind the usual glasses she wore, looking at him with that look.

that look, the one where she used her brain to uncover secrets, puzzles and complicated plans.

there were few things in this world that worried captain levi. along with you being one of them, that look hange had settled comfortably on her face was another.

"what?" he snapped, irritated.

maybe his bark had a little more bite to it too, because the section commander's brows rose significantly.

"why do you look like that?" she asked, ask though she were uncovering the most fascinating thing in the world. it was the look she had when trying to discover the nature of titans. 

he stared at her, deadpanned.

"like what?"

"like you've just seen a ghost," she answered, stepping inside his office without his permission (as per usual, he had gotten used to it). "like you're hiding something --"

"get out."

"not until you tell me what you're hiding!" sang hange, walking further inside despite the captain's demand that she leave.

"not hiding anything," he lied calmly, picking up his discarded pen and scribbling random notes over his very important papers. he would worry about the damage later, he decided. "now leave."

hange continued as if she hadn't heard his final comment. "no! now, what's your secret, levi?"

"hange --"

"come on, levi!" said hange, standing up straighter than usual and placing a hand over her heart. "i won't tell anyone, scouts honour!"

it didn't take long before levi had finally decided that he had had enough and personally kicked hange out himself. 

she found herself standing outside his office, face met with his office door. 

she would find out what the secretive shorty is hiding.

she was determined.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

can anyone guess what her punishment will be? i highly doubt any of the guesses will be right... as mentioned, it's very unique ;)

all characters belong to hajime isayama, apart from y/n, who i've inserted into the story myself.

previous chapter :)

next chapter :)

taglist: (send an ask to be added)

@inkthgoat @loki1230 @leviackermanst @laccey @awesomeness1679 @wandavengerberg @marumxy

[seven-oomen]

Caught somewhere in time au:

Omega meets Cal and Ahsoka on Kamino during a routine inspection. She didn't expect to meet other children. Nala Se keeps her away from the cadets and other clones. Even master Ti doesn't know of her existence.

But Cal is exploring the facility and he finds his way to the special laboratories wing on Kamino. Ahsoka is assigned to watch him and after an hour of searching she finally locates him playing games with Omega.

Omega knows her new friends are not supposed to be here, but it's great fun to finally interact with people closer to her own age. And she feels a rather close bond with Cal for some reason. So much so that she reveals herself to the Jedi and the other clones and comes with Cal and Ahsoka.

Shaak Ti has a lot of questions and Omega finds herself surrounded by people who are greatly invested in her well-being. And then she, Cal, and Ahsoka meet Clone force 99.

[legally-brief]

MOVIES WITH MEN IN UNDERWEAR (This is outdated- website shutdown early 2000’s)

“D”

D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) Disney romp sequel. In a revenge prank, the Ducks introduce fire ants into the seniors' dorm. About a dozen guys rush out into the corridor, most in their T-shirts and boxers.

Dam Busters, The (1954) Wartime dramatisation. In a spot of RAF roughhousing, one man can be glimpsed in the corridor in his shirt and white boxer shorts. Midway through the movie.

Damn Yankees (1958) Tab Hunter changes his pants in the baseball locker room, showing off his white full cut boxer shorts, just before he meets the sultry Gwen Verdon.

Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) Aboard a rich high society yacht, Joan Crawford throws an underwear party for all her male and female friends. Since everyone is in tuxedos, and people want to swim, they strip down to boxers of various 30’s type, including some printed full-cuts, and jump into the ocean.

Dangerous Ground (1997) Crime drama. Ice Cube tries to sober up his junkie brother Stephen (Eric Miyeni), who's wearing an orange satin shirt and black briefs. In a later scene, he and friends go to a guy's apartment, tie him up in his in his bathroom in his T-shirt, socks and boxers, and give him electric shocks.

Dark Side of Genius (1994) Patrick Richwood. Towards the end of the movie, he wears an open robe and very tight black jockey shorts (the kind with the fly-front) and you can see every bit of his big dick! ENORMOUS BASKET!!! I saw that actor at the Beverly Hot Springs, here in Los Angeles and he is, in fact, hung like a horse!

Darling Lili (1970) Rock Hudson wearing white World War I ‘drawers’ as he has a comic bedroom scene with Darling Lili, played by Julie Andrews - a comedy indeed.

Day the Earth Caught Fire, The (1961) Sci-fi disaster movie. Edward Judd in white boxer shorts for a moment.

Day the Fish Came Out, The (1967) A young Tom Courteney spends most of the movie in his Jockeys.

Dead Poets Society (1989) Short scene in locker room. Guys with towels, a few boxers and a great view of Ethan Hawke, looking up his short Umbros - white boxers.

Dead Presidents (1995) Violent crime drama. Larenz Tate, in his white underwear, dresses quickly to avoid being caught by his girlfriend's mother.

Dead Ringers (1988) Jeremy Irons and his ‘twin brother’ walk through several scenes in their printed boxer shorts.

Deadly Outbreak (1995) Action. Early in the film, one of the bad guys tries to rape the heroine, but is interrupted by Jeff Speakman. His pants drop, revealing printed boxers, and Speakman grabs his pants and flips him over, before kicking him in the crotch.

Death of a Soldier (1987) Couple of cadet boxer scenes ... a guy on the john too.

Death Race 2000 (1975) Action. Don't miss David Carradine, wearing only his black face mask and underwear, slow-dancing with his gorgeous female navigator. Hilarious.

Death Warrant (1990) Action. Jean-Claude Van Damme and several other men in boxers and T-shirts, as they are processed into jail.

Delicatessen (1991) Surreal black comedy. The hero strips down to his large boxers in a flooded room.

Deliverance (1972) Infamous rape scene with Ned Beatty in his "panties."

Design for Living (1933) Fredric March waits for his pants to be pressed in a momentary full-cut boxer short scene, while he paces.

Detention (1998) Rick Schroder as a crazed gunman who goes out and shoots up his old high school. Early in the film, before the shootout, Schroder is shown in his bathroom, wearing only his boxers and white socks.

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) Comedy. "Deuce does an exotic dance routine for a woman in his tightfitting briefs. She grabs his underwear and stretches it down before letting it go, causing it to snap him in the groin. Later, we see Deuce and this woman's husband doing a dance for her in their tightfitting briefs.

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) Tense film noir. Fabulous 1940s cars, and, for a moment, Denzel Washington getting out of bed in his underwear. Much of the rest of the time, he's wearing a ribbed, white undershirt, as here:

Devils Don't Dream! (1995) (Investigating the Story of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (1995)) Movie about the former president of Guatemala. September 1954: overthrown in a CIA-sponsored coup, Jacobo Arbenz is stripped down to his underwear and presented to the photographers, before his journey into exile.

Devlin (1992) (TV) Bryan Brown is in laundromat doing laundry. He took his pants off to wash them and he wears a jacket and blue jockeys.

Diaboliques, Les (1955) When Simone Signoret loses her keys in the pool, one of the school boys, about 14-16, strips to his classic white jockeys to dive in the pool. Really hot scene as he emerges with totally wet undies and his bulge is clearly seen. Really hot for a ‘50s film.

Dick (1999) Comedy. "briefly see the top of the backside of guy's underwear as he pulls down his pants after being accidentally stabbed by a pin."

Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) Action. Bruce Willis is instructed to show up in Harlem in just his white full-cut boxers and a sign containing the ‘n’ word.

Diggstown (1992) I think it’s this one James Woods in white boxers and sweatshirt.

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) Rahul (Shahrukh Khan, aged about 32), out shopping, goes into a dressing room to try on a shirt. Sounds simple enough, but he forgets to put his pants on and walks out in his underwear. Pooja sees him but tries to avoid him, so as not to embarrass him.

Diner (1982) Kevin Bacon in boxers in an outdoor scene.

Disco Years, The (1991) Short coming-out drama. The young lead jumps into a swimming pool in his underwear (which his friend then pulls off).

Disorganized Crime (1989) After accidentally falling on an anthill, Corbin Bernsen strips off all his clothes, except for a pair of black bikini briefs, and goes running off into the woods in only his underwear. Ed O'Neill plays George Denver, a detective who goes to a small Montana town. At one point, he needs to cross a river, to join his partner who is waiting for him on the other bank. Since he doesn't want to wet his suit, he removes it and his shoes before stepping in the river. But the water is icy cold and some of the pebbles are quite sharp, making the crossing a bit painful and difficult for the cop carrying his clothes in his hands. When his partner shouts at him not to drop their precious flashlight, George trips over and drops both the flashlight AND his clothes, which are swiftly carried downstream by the strong current. Poor George! After that, he gets to spend the rest of the day - and the whole of the following night - running around the countryside in his shirt and tie, and full-cut white boxer shorts!

Diving In (1991) High school boys in Speedos.

Divorce American Style (1967) Dick Van Dyke, angry at wife Debbie Reynolds, refuses to speak to her as he dresses, wearing his full-cut white boxer shorts.

Divota prasine (1975) One of the two partisans in this Yugoslavian tale has lost his pants and must lug around a huge machine gun, the other is a young boy who hero-worships him. They are caught behind German lines and are in as much danger from their cowardly countrymen as they are from the Germans.

Doctor at Sea (1955) [Not sure if this is the right title. Can anyone confirm?] Comedy. Chubby, mustachioed police chief ends up stripped to his outsize, spectacularly colorful boxers in a jailbreak.

Doctor Detroit (1983) Dan Akroyd makes a running change, exposing his bare legs and printed full-cut boxers to all who’ll see. The print is a polka-dot pattern.

Doctor Takes a Wife, The (1940) Ray Milland wakes up one morning in his full-cut white boxers and garters, only to find out that he’s married to Loretta Young, and that she and another man have hidden his pants. The comedy intensifies as Ray Milland paces about, loudly screaming "Where are my pants?!!!"

Dogboys (1998) (TV) Thriller. Many scenes with prisoners in their prison-issue olive-green boxers and undershirts.

Dollars (1972) ($) Crime caper starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. Hawn plays a prostitute, and during one scene a client is running all over her apartment in his underwear and black socks.

Dolores Claiborne (1995) Drama. Kathy Bates laughs at her husband when his pants split. At first, he laughs along and pulls the split wide open to show off his white briefs; but then the mood turns ugly.

Dominick and Eugene (1988) Bed scene with Ray Liotta in white jockeys and Tom Hulce in blue jockeys and white A-shirt.

Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996) Spoof comedy. Sight gag sends up the saggy-pants fashion, as the camera pans across three young black guys standing with their pants hanging low, lower and lowest (hips, knees and ankles), showing off their white undershorts. Another shot shows some fancy boxers.

Don't Just Lie There, Say Something (1973) Abysmal British trouser-dropping farce.

Don't Just Stand There! (1968) Comedy. The plot involves some clothes-swapping and affords the chance to see Robert Wagner's white boxers.

Don't Look Down (1998) (TV) Chiller. Billy Burke in gray boxer shorts.

Double McGuffin, The (1979) A group of boys goes swimming in their underwear. The youngest looks about 13 and flashes his bare butt.

Downhill Racer (1969) Robert Redford momentarily, in his longjohns.

Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995) Tim Daly (Wings) handcuffs himself in bed wearing white Jockeys. HOT HOT HOT scene. Very big bulge. Also, takes his white boxers off and shreds them in the paper shredder at work. Nice ass!

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) Jason Scott Lee as Bruce Lee is only wearing white Fruit of the Loom briefs as he gets up from bed to answer the door.

Dream a Little Evil (1992) Has scenes of the very hot older brother in his underwear at the beginning of the movie and about 30 minutes into it. White briefs for a couple of minutes.

Dream Team, The (1989) Comedy. Middle-aged mental patient is stopped just before stripping naked in a revival meeting, and is thrown out in his underwear.

Dreamscape (1984) Dennis Quaid is a clairvoyant who is being tested at a sleep clinic. One of the doctors enters his room while he is sleeping. Dennis Quaid wakes up and gets out of bed in just a pair of skimpy black bikini briefs while in discussion with the doctor. Sexy scene.

Dress Gray (1986) (TV) Alec Baldwin in Speedos in a swimming pool. Lots of shots of his chest in the whole movie.

Drive, He Said (1971) A seldom seen movie of the early 70s, directed by Jack Nicholson, and (to my knowledge) not available on video. Sexy, fairly long scene of male leads in a college basketball locker room scene, stripped to their white briefs. At least one other white-briefs scene involving one of the leads. A real underwear movie, worth getting hold of if you can.

Drop Squad (1994) Abrasive satire. Vigilante squad abducts blacks they consider sellouts. One man is kept chained up in a cage in his boxer shorts.

Drugstore Cowboy (1989) Matt Dillon in boxer shorts.

Dumb & Dumber (1994) Comedy. Jeff Daniels sitting on the john taking a heavy-duty dump with his pants down, CK briefs clearly visible, after being tricked into taking a laxative.

Dying to Love You (1993) (TV) Tim Matheson in his T-shirt and striped boxer shorts a couple of times.

[louvay]

Since we are talking about braids! Fee, braiding Arthur 3 lines~

“Almost finished up here Artie,” the pegasus knight proclaimed, excited to show off the braids she entwined within her partner’s ever so long hair. Arthur grumbled at the nickname she gave him yet had to keep himself seated still otherwise his initial worries would be proven correct. “You sure know how to tend to hair despite yours being short,” he stated to her sincerely, hoping she wouldn’t take it the wrong way. “Do you give braids to Annand as well?”

“Oh nah. Pegasi have sensitive manes so you’d be bothering them if you try to pull it in anyway. And besides… I actually used to have mine long too,” Fee responded rather awkwardly and could’ve swore Arthur chocked up from shock after she revealed that fact. “Really?” he asked as Fee hummed. “It was a long time ago, back when I was a page. See, me and the other trainees used to spar with each other as part of our training routine and I’d always trip up when my hair used to swing sideways, getting me off balance when holding a lance. Used to even cry too when I hit the ground,” she sighed, remembering the rougher parts of her adolescence. “So one day, I decided to shorten it down to where I’d look no different than Cedsy and boy did it work! Sure my mother got the jitters when she saw me like that at practice but I managed to graduate into becoming a cadet in no time. Never regretted it ever since,” she spoke with an aura of pride in her words and Arthur was impressed hearing such an act of resolve from her. “Huh, I guess you were quite the different person back then, eh Fee?”

“You can say that much but what about you? Did you always have hair that long or is it just a fashion statement you picked up?” Fee asked in return. “Oh… well…” Arthur cleared his throat before explaining himself. “I used to have short hair, it kinda looked a bit like Scathach’s now that think about it. But I didn’t know anything about maintaining it since well, someone else would do it for me…” Fee was about to assure to him that he shouldn’t continue speaking if it would bother him but Arthur tried to lighten up the mood in his own way. “Heh… it’s funny. You’d think having loose hair that covers most of your shoulders would make for some poor camouflage in the snow but it seemed to work fine for me back then. Might’ve been because of the color of it…” he stated that much as he laughed faintly. “Yeah… maybe it would. But hey, at least you’ve come a long way from that, right?” Fee remarked to him with a gentle yet peppy smile. The pat on the back from her was this time appreciated by Arthur. “I guess so. We’ve both come quite far from where we were haven’t we?” Arthur responded, this time more livelier now, as he pointed towards the rack where Fee had hung her Falcon knight armor on. Her aunt and mother would no doubt be proud of her. “Yup, we sure have!”

[ymfingsteadilyon]

[Image description: a thread by user Crémieux @ cremieuxrecueil, transcribed below.

Why is San Francisco so incredibly gay? Military policy.

[photo of a streetcar decorated for Pride.]

In 1982, Randy Shilts published his biography of Harvey Milk, entitled "The Mayor of Castro Street". For those who don't know, Harvey Milk was the first open homosexual to be voted into public office in the state of California. He was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

[picture of the book cover]

The biography contains a fair bit of background, not just about Harvey Milk, but about San Francisco's gay community more generally.

In its early years, San Francisco attracted large waves of mainly male migrants motivated by the promise of gold in California.

[stamp with the text "California gold rush 1849" and a picture of four men panning for gold]

Boys will be boys, and out of necessity and selectivity, these early migrants tended to be a bit more accepting of homosexuality than the people back east. The gays among them enjoyed more license, attracting more gays, many of whom abided by the handkerchief code.

[photo of someone's back pockets covered in handkerchiefs of various colours]

As San Francisco grew from backwater to a bustling city of some 50,000, its licentious attitudes led to gays migrating there just to be around more gays. This reputation was so renowned that even Oscar Wilde talked about it:

[quote.] The scandal sheets of a more Victorian America fretted about the city's unnatural vices in the 1880s. In England, Oscar Wilde noted, "It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be last seen in San Francisco," an observation that undoubtedly said as much about Wilde's company as it did about the city's magnetism. [end quote]

The Spanish-American War saw thousands of young men come to call the city home, and many of these young men learned that they could make extra money escorting older men.

[painting of a battlefield]

But the bustling gay scene wouldn't last.

In 1906, the earthquake destroyed 80% of the city, including most of the underground gay establishments. It also attracted church leaders who ran clean-up campaigns that were followed by even more extreme efforts during Prohibition.

[photo of men pouring liquid into a sewer]

The campaigns against gay establishments and establishments that accepted them due to their 'looser morals' were coupled with private efforts to blackmail gay men.

Some navy men would dress up in their tightest uniforms and stake out Market Street, hoping to find gays to extort.

[quote] survived. Resourceful gays staked out Market Street, the city's main thoroughfare, as a cruising zone and there shopped among the always numerous sailors for satisfaction. Dangers abounded. Some plucky navy men would dress in their tightest blues and memorize license numbers of cars that sputtered slowly by. From motor vehicle records, the voter registrar, or the city directory, the military men could trace the cruiser's address. Before the week was out, many a hapless victim would receive an extortionist's invoice, casually mentioning that if payment were not promptly received, both family and employer could expect revealing mail. [end quote]

If that weren't enough, the "Lilly Laws" enforced by the police made things much worse. One method the police used to detect homosexuals was to set up their best-looking men in the Market Street theater, a popular cruising spot. And, well, just read this:

[quote] authorities routinely assigned seats there to the most comely police cadets. Once a gay man sidled into the next seat, the cadets would wriggle their legs suggestively. After the preliminaries of fellatio, the plainclothesman would suggest that the pair meet outside for more fun. In the darkness of the theater, the gay cruiser would not know the policeman had painted mercurochrome on his penis. The artistry, however, was obvious to vice squaders who stood in the lobby, arresting any man who emerged with telltale red lips. [end quote]

The gays who got away with living their lives were the lucky ones. Gay living in the city had been effectively snuffed out prior to World War II even though it had such a fruitful beginning.

But notice I said prior to World War II. Starting in 1916, the U.S. military started dismissing soldiers who were found to be homosexual. Gay soldiers, officers, and navy men alike were given blue discharges (aka blue tickets) signifying that they were dishonorably discharged and everyone was to know it.

[image of blue discharge papers]

From the point of discharge, these men had the letter "H" stamped om all of their documents. And I mean all of their documents: If they went to the doctor, the bank, or any potential employers, everyone would know that these men were homosexuals.

World War II was the largest mass conscription event in American history, and it was the first time the military actively sought to purge its ranks of homosexuals.

Because San Francisco was the main Pacific theatre point of debarcation, it's also where these men were dismissed.

[quote] questions it would raise. Most of the men discharged from the Pacific theater were processed out in San Francisco, and that's where they stayed. By the end of World War II, the military establishment had given San Francisco a disproportionately large number of identified gays. [end quote]

Tens of thousands of men from across the U.S. were discharged from the Pacific theatre and they suddenly found themselves taking up residence in San Francisco. Because of the damage from the big letter "H" on all their documents, it wasn't feasible for most of then to leave.

The result was a community that had no choice but to get on, openly. If everyone knew you were gay due to the big blue letter branded on everything about you, why act like you're anything else? So America's largest gay community was born.

This meant that gays didn't hide (as often) in San Francisco. This fact also attracted people who didn't want to hide to the city.

[photo of a street corner]

What's more, the military labeling gays as gays gave rise to the first truly modern gay bars in America. After all, why care about getting caught when you've already been found out?

[quote] It was in these turbulent years that the modern gay bar started. Unlike the clandestine gay speakeasies and parties of the past, these were public institutions – the first places where homosexuals could publicly assemble. Their patrons had less to lose than their predecessors. Many had already been publicly identified as gays by the military. Once plucked from the isolation of generations past, it was only a matter of time before this new San Francisco minority would begin its slow and irresistible movement toward civil rights. [end quote]

These discharges were a major injustice and their scale remains unknown because the military hasn't owned up to it. But they are how San Francisco became incredibly gay.

If you want to know more, the book is widely available online. Go give it a read!

End of description.]

[agirlnamedzoya]

I Would Come For You

part four! part three

Part IV - We'd Fight Our Way Out Together

"Guys, we've got our first posting!" Omega told her cadets excitedly. Last week, they had presented their first field test to the Commander's Committee, and as Omega put it, they had outdone themselves and certainly exceeded her expectations, if they do not count Kolton's (secret) use of the Force and the detonation of a bomb that resulted in the blasting of five training droids. They had collectively scored, as Rex had revealed yesterday, a whopping total of 94 out of 100 marks.

"Where?" Hawke asked, datapad in hand to begin typing away.

"Ryloth. One of our prison cells are there under the supervision of Captain Howzer and there have been a lot of breakouts. So, we are there as reinforcements to handle the increasing outbreaks."

"OK. Even though it'd not be my ideal mission, I approve of anything to break our usual routine." Hawke said, not raising his eyes from the robotic contraption that he had been fiddling with for the past three days.

"We set at daybreak. Pack your bags." Omega issued the order and went off to pack her own stuff too.

At night, as usual, the cadets, now soldiers, chatted on, and even Hawke left his work to enjoy the chatter.

"Sergeant?" Christa called. "It must be really hard to break through the defenses of the prisons right? Like, they are solely built for this purpose and you just override them or something to gain freedom?"

"Definitely. That's why we're called in because the break-ins are frequent now." Omega told them, brushing her short curly hair with her fingers.

"Even though it is one hell of a challenge, and you'll have to risk your life even, it must be really thrilling. Sergeant, with your previous squad, have you ever been or witnessed a prison breakout?"

All eyes laid on her. She gulped. It was time for a story then...

"Yes, in fact, several of the break-outs were orchestrated by us. You should remember, before you pass judgement, that most of the cells were Imperial, so the prisoners were rebels or clones. We had to help them." She suppressed a grin. "I even broke out of prison, twice under the Empire and once under a bounty hunter, Cad Bane." Honestly, she had been through too many break-outs that she couldn't remember all of them. Even if she remembered, she did not want to tell them in case they got some ideas.

"Seriously?" Kolton bolted up. "You never tell us about your adventures! Now, that's so cool to brag about, that our Sergeant has broken out of prison more times than the number of times we can say our names in ten seconds."

"Shut up," Omega snapped, but she looked deeply amused.

"Wait. One time, you were kidnapped," Keilara counted off her fingers, "the second time, you broke out from Mount Tantiss with your brothers, and the third one? I'm not sure we're familiar with that one. Please, can you tell us the story?"

Omega sighed. "Of course. Take your seats."

The moment her audience was seated, she began, "So, you know that I am a clone, and I used to work as a lab assistant for Nala Se, the head Kaminoan scientist."

"You were a medic?" Mohamed asked, incredulously.

"Yes, but I guess being a soldier was my destiny's calling." she shrugged. "Well, the day the war ended, the Bad Batch returned to Kamino. I had been waiting for them for a while, and I was delighted to see them again. At first, they avoided me, the bugging girl everybody called the lab scrabber, even going as far to tell me to keep my distance for my sake.

"Then, Admiral Tarkin came for an inspection. I was with Nala Se when he told us that he'll send them on a mission to test their loyalty and allegiances. I got worried, I didn't trust that man. I went straight to Hunter and warned him against coming back to Kamino. I tried to come with them, but Hunter rejected once more, saying I wasn't a soldier.

"I still don't know what their task was, because I never got the chance to ask them, but something happened that changed their mind and they came back to take me with them. They only told me that Tech was the first to suggest picking me up from there. At the same time, back on Kamino, I was imprisoned because evidently, the Bad Batch had failed their mission and their barracks were being emptied, but I barged in and tried to salvage some stuff. So they put me in prison. Luckily, the boys were brought to the same cell I was brought to.

"Crosshair's inhibitor chip had begun to activate. He was being harsh to everyone, especially blaming Hunter for everything. We didn't understand back then, just thought it might be his nature or some moody crankiness. After a short time, Admiral Tarkin had him called, and the next time we saw him was as a man thirsty for our blood." Her face drooped. "Thanks to Tech's suggestion, Wrecker punched a hole thick enough for me to climb the plumbing-"

"YOU ALSO CLIMBED PLUMBINGS? AND THEN YOU SCREAM AT US FOR DOING THAT!"

"Look, at that time, we needed a solution desperately. What you're desperately needing right now, young man," she warned Kolton, "is a good beating by Cody. 

"Anyways, I opened the exhaust vent hatch such that it opened directly on the guards and they took the hit. I opened the prison, and the remaining four boys fought the remaining guards with blasters and in Wrecker's case, body strength, before they followed me to get the materials that were removed from their room. Before we could go to look for Crosshair, we were surrounded by clones led by Crosshair himself. To conclude, there was a huge firefight, and we had to fight our way out of there. In that battle, Wrecker got injured, and I fired a blaster for the first time in my life. That day, we fought our way to freedom."

"It must be so cool to be rescued by someone. And even cool when you get to break out of prison!" Kolton sighed.

"It is cool, but you should remember we got a hefty good price on our heads after that. And we had to fight one of our brothers for at least a year," she reminded them.

next

[pyrepostings]

For the WIP tag game: Dartboards and Ink (Tattoo Gun Whumptober)

So this is a more casual, revealing of backstory in an attempted non-expository way. Later in the story, when Kevin is back on Paradis Island, one of the routines he settles into is going to a bar once a week with a bunch of other recovering whumpees from the halfway house he's staying at. Julian and Quinn tag along sometimes too.

This chapter is a conversation during a dart game there, about the battle masks Kevin's regiment wear, which are white and painted a design unique to the one wearing it, which I've likened to aviator helmets before. Cadets get blank masks and part of graduation is putting on the decorated mask for the first time. The conversation shifts with some teasing to why Kevin has part of the design actually tattooed on his face (a small green clover near his ear, underneath where it is on his mask)

This also reveals some insecurities Kevin is dealing with at that time about being an outsider inherently, and some impulsiveness on his part too.

"At the end of my training, my graduation was delayed by about 2 months. See, there was to be a change in command, and so if I graduated under Ezeran, I would need to reaffirm my vows to Elsa in just under two months when he stepped down. So it was generally determined most efficient to hold off until that ceremony happens to swear in the graduating class.

"But I was 17 and impatient. I was done with training in every sense save all the pomp and fanfare that said so. And I was getting really tired of that blank mask. Some part of me wanted that pomp and fanfare, craved it.

"So I took a sewing needle and ink and a mirror, and a pot of water to boil the needle- I was being very safe about the whole thing."

"And how old was your partner in crime at the time?" Julian interjected casually, fully knowing the answer.

"Zander was 12 then, but that's irrelevant."

"mhm, of course."

"And it would have been fine even if you hadn't snitched."

"As far as I'm concerned, it is not snitching if it is to a medical officer with a medical concern. Which, this was. Infection kills."

[roxsannel]

Lapidius (A Nation Found Book 1) by Matt Runals.

Joey is a young boy of thirteen who lives at home with his mother and sisters, it isn't an easy life, but it is the one he has been given, but fortunately he has good friends, that is until one day he is sent off by his mother for a better life at Lapidius. Lapidius is a school, but other than that, Joey has no idea of what to expect when he gets there, but the fact that his friends are going with him helps the transition.

After a few days in the wagon travelling to Lapidius, Joey is anxious to get out and see where he is and what his future will look like and at first glance, all he can see is the majesty of the building and the beautiful smells coming from a nearby group of buildings, however, he soon realises that is this is no ordinary school, it is a military one as he sees the officers and cadets who are lining the pathway to the school who are intimidating to the highest degree, not to mention the barracks where he will be staying and the introductory processing he experiences.

This is where anything commonplace disappears and Joey soon discovers that nothing is what it seems and what can only describe as being magic is being used and this terrifies him, especially when horns blare out in the middle of their first night and a cry of "Monsters" goes up in the halls. After everything has settled down and sleep claims him, Joey is awoken early for inspection and his first day of drills, exercise, lessons and chores and his routine for the next few weeks until he discovers which house he will be placed into.

He quickly realises that what he has been taught in school before was seriously lacking and his new lessons are revealing information which he never dreamed could be possible and when he realises that it is the truth, his life changes forever, but will he be able to survive this new world and the monsters within it, or will he fall at the first hurdle? This is a great beginning to an adventure series full of military training and dangerous escapades which will keep you wanting to know what happens next.

[kudosmyhero]

Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor #1

Read Date: July 01, 2023 Cover Date: July 2017 ● Writer: John Barber ◦ Christos Gage ● Art: Alex Milne ● Colorist: Josh Perez ● Letterer: Tom B. Long ● Editor: Carlos Guzman ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● I know nothing of Rom, so I’m going into this blind ● ah, a space knight ● Stardrive… pretty! ● and deadly

● I love her ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: In the Gray Area, the border region of space between the areas of the galaxy governed by the Galactic Council and the Solstar Order, a Galactic Council vessel pursues a fleeing ship from a Cybertronian colony world. The Cybertronian ship is shot down by the Council and crashes on an asteroid, but the scene is witnessed by the Solstar Order's Rom the Space Knight, who demands the Council explain themselves. Uninterested in justifying their hatred of Cybertronians to the Space Knight, but nevertheless unwilling to risk conflict with the Order, the Council ship warps away when Rom is distracted by signs of life from the Cybertronian wreckage. Picking through the debris, he discovers a lone still-functional protoform, still in the process of taking shape.

At the insistence of Rom, doctors of the Solstar Order repair the protoform, which is kept fueled and healthy by energon the Order is able to synthesize based on a sample recovered from the wreckage of the ship. The protoform takes the form of a female Cybertronian and is enrolled in school, where she is taught the destructive history of her own race, and is dubbed "Stardrive" by her classmates for her car alternate mode. One day, on a class field trip to the planet Mato Grosso, Stardrive is attacked by a Dire Wraith, one of the shape-shifting alien wizards who are the Solstar Order's greatest enemies. Once more, she is saved by Rom and a team of Space Knights, and though the Wraith is able to escape, the encounter convinces Stardrive to join the ranks of the Space Knights.

Five years later, Rom, fellow knight Livia, and cadets Auxin and Sata arrive on Mining Colony 25-6-41 in the Farouko Cluster. Though they inform the colony personnel that they are on a routine visit, Rom privately notes that the mission is a dangerous one, and orders Sata to stay with their ship (about which the young knight-in-training is not happy). Using their Analyzers, the Knights soon locate numerous Dire Wraiths hiding amongst the populace of the colony; as battle breaks out, Auxin takes off alone after a Wraith that attempts to escape, only to be lured into an ambush in an alleyway. Unfortunately for the Wraiths, they have overlooked the unattended car sitting nearby—which reveals itself to be Stardrive in disguise as she transforms and takes them all out! Despite the fact Stardrive has likely just saved his life, Auxin is angry at being deprived of the honor of his first Wraith-kill, but Stardrive just about manages to restrain her own annoyance at his attitude. However, she fails to hold her tongue when Livia proposes that they destroy the entire colony to ensure the Wraith infestation has been wiped out, and speaks out against the idea. Rom agrees with her, and orders the Knights to withdraw.

With Stardrive now joining them aboard their ship, the Knights head off on their next mission, but it is not a pleasant journey for Stardrive; she has never been truly accepted by any of the Knights besides Rom, and as Livia and Rom argue (the former fearing the latter has been softened by Stardrive's naive idealism, the latter believing the former has become too bloodthirsty), Sata and Auxin badmouth her behind her back. Presently, the group arrives on Solstar Order station Orchid Crossing, orbiting the planet Xetaxxis. As Stardrive recharges, Rom and Livia explain to her the full reason for their presence on the station. As the Solstar Order pushes them back further and further, the Dire Wraiths are increasingly likely to flee into Galactic Council, or even Cybertronian space. As the Knights must be free to pursue them, the Order intends to open negotiations with the Galactic Council after years of avoidance, in order to secure passage for the Knights into Council space, and to prevent potential interference from them in any dealings that may become necessary with Cybertronians. Representatives of the Council will be arriving at the station he next morning, and Stardrive is there to serve as proof of the fact that the Solstar Order is capable of keeping Cybertronians "in their place."

When the Council representatives arrive the next morning, pleasantries are short and they immediately begin pouring scorn upon Stardrive and the very notion of working peacefully with Cybertronians. But disrespect for one of their Knights soon proves to be the least of the Order's worries when the Council representatives reveal that they are, in fact, Dire Wraiths, and that their ship is the Cybertronian Decepticon Astrotrain! As Auxin perishes under an onslaught on Astrotrain's firepower, a team of Decepticons led by Starscream comes blasting through the station walls, and joins the Wraiths in assaulting the Knights. Stardrive appears to be the reason for this alliance of evil, as the Wraith leader Vekktral points her out to Starscream; Stardrive in turn recognizes the Wraith as the one who attacked her on Mato Grosso, and fights to overcome her fear. Before she can get her wits together, she is seized by Starscream, who quickly realizes that she has never seen another Cybertronian in person before, and tries to tempt Stardive over to their side. When she refuses, Starscream kicks her through a wall, revealing the true object of his interest on the other side: the energon synthesizer Stardrive uses to recharge, which Starscream had deduced the Order must possess. Before anyone can make another move, however, another hole is blasted in the station's hull as Autobots Ultra Magnus and Bumblebee arrive to stop Starscream's plans!

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Shining_Armor_issue_1)

Fan Art: movie Bumblebee by Dan-the-artguy

Accompanying Podcast: ● Swerve's Bar Podcast - episode 05