#I do not have him very much egging on the idea of abandoning her if she runs another way in any fic. nooooo.....

[the-weeping-dawn]

This is a normal level of interest in the prism, don't worry about it, you're not being brought along because of a shared need for the free will box.

Nope. Disguised mindflayer.

Easy mistake to make oddly enough.

[key-rk]

Today's Doodles of Darkwarrior because I rewatched 'Time and Punishment' I adore this episode so much, honestly in my top five favourites.

(legends I'm gonna nerd out here bc I like sharing my thoughts [THESE MIGHT BE VERY SURFACE LVL SORRY]) - In general, his plot of losing his daughter is a good idea, and I think moving to extremes for him works so well. It's pretty obvious as he eliminated all actual crime, he went off and sort of began, Parenting his city--Eg; the curfews and healthy diets.

But him becoming another Alter ego is so fitting. Gosalyn is the whole reason he went back to his civilian life--to take care of her. And with her gone, there's not really any reason for him to be Drake Mallard. Looking back on "Clash Reunion" and "Paraducks" he obviously didn't have the best adolescent years, and once he felt the praise of being someone else (Dw) as a high schooler, he abandoned being Drake Mallard altogether. (assuming cuz of convos in DDTD pt1+2)

Darkworrior in a way works as a good distraction from reality for him, hence the insane obsessing over small humanely errors--to keep him occupied. Granted as time went on he lost a couple screws to the point of him not even changing when Gosalyn returns but ah well.

Also from this ep it's safe to assume Drake isnt the most mentally put together as his whole 'Sanity' was held together by one person. Add this to his very low self-esteem issues, and his claim, 'getting manically depressed on the weekends' it really does make sense for him to go crazy. In conclusion, i ove him and I need ppl to appreciate him as much as i do xp

ONCE AGAIN SORRY FOR THE LONG ASS CAPTION N ALL THE INFO MIGHT BE SO OBVIOUS BUT I RLLY WANTED TO CHAT ABOUT DRAKE, IF U HAVE MORE TO ADD PLS DO🙏💥

[moononmyfloor]

My Year End C-drama Review (2023)

Part 1

.

17. Actors I newly discovered in 2023

Hong Yao, Wang Yinglu, Marcus Li, Tian Jiarui, Qin Hailu, Wang Ke

Some of these are new actors, some are already very experienced but I discovered only now. All of them provided phenomenal performances in their roles this year.

.

18. Favorite Child Actors of the Year

Wang Haoze (Ou Zimo- Be Your Own Light), Phoebe Sun Yichen (Duoduo- Stay With Me)

Child actors in C-ent always baffle me, I have zero idea how they are SO good. Impeccable performance. I want to take them home. 🥺

.

19. Feminist Cdramas of the year

Be Your Own Light, A Journey to Love

The premise of the first is about women to begin with, the second only partially. Most of the time the self-identifying feminist stories fail massively in realistic depiction of women, let alone idol dramas where the focus is elsewhere.

But these two shows really understood what women think and say, their priorities and what they want in life, how they conduct themselves....and not through the eyes of men who assume women crave xyz things only. The arcs and growths of women in these two shows felt very organic and relatable.

(I hear there were few other such dramas this year as well, eg: Faithful. But this is all I managed to watch huhu)

.

20. A drama that let me down

Destined

The chemistry of the real-life pair Bai Jingting and Song Yi was adorable, but the story just wasn't my cup of tea.

I absolutely loved their spacious bedroom tho!

.

21. Favorite BGM

Be Your Own Light- I Only Wish to Face the Light by Liu Yuning

Stay with Me- Stars Shine by Zhang Jiongmin, Xu Bin

I Am Nobody- Sea of Time by Zhou Shen

Young Blood 2- Lending a Ray of Light by WineQ (圈9)

Romance On the Farm- Letters from Spring by Su Yunying

Silence of the Monster- Cross a City Just to See You by Huang Yi

.

22. Favorite wardrobes

Sui Yi (Sun Yihan)'s wardrobe in Silence of the Monster and Pang Hongmei (Peng Xiaoran)'s fits in Unshakable Faith

Oh they looked so delightfully vintage and exactly my style! 😍

.

23. Best Breakups

Moxi and Jiagui (Gone With the Rain), Xiangyi and Wanmian (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

I HAD to include this category simply because of these two pairs. I LOVED those two scenes. So mature! Such thorough discussion about how their feelings have changed over time, the frank admission that there are indeed some remnants left (because contrary to popular depiction, feelings don't POOF overnight), how they'd always consider the other as a special someone that they were lucky to have met in their lives, the wish to remain as tight friends in the future as well.... 🤌🤌🤌👏👏👏

.

24. Worst character designs

Road Home

Gods know I only sat through this for Jing Boran in army gear and snow. The characters were so mind-blowingly flat despite the actors giving their best to "understand" their roles and make them relatable but there was only so much they could do. All the interpersonal relationships happened just because the writer said so. There was a child character who was passed from hand to hand for whenever the writer wanted a "warm childcaring and family moment" but was discarded without a glance the next second, I got second-hand abandonment issues from watching that lonely kid. I did not understand why anyone was doing anything at any given moment.

.

25. Most convincing villains aka characters I loved to hate

Yuan Hao (Young Blood 2)- Gotta be one of the most dangerous villains I have ever seen. He was insanely smart, unpredictable and cunning AND strong, and it took all the heroes of the story to defeat him and still it was barely enough. He was so well written and portrayed, till the very end of the show the viewers weren't sure of the outcome of the battle.

Jiao Liqiao (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)- AHH Jiao jie! We all love a good unhinged female villain who isn't uwufied in the name of some weird "women should always be portrayed with tearjerking backstory" notion. Let her go crazy all over the place, we support women's wrongs as well as rights! She always meant what she said and did what she meant and it was terrifying to see.

.

26. Favorite murder kittens of the year

Gong Yuanzhi (My Journey to You), Li Tongguang (A Journey to Love)

Oh these two bois were VERY disturbing individuals and I wouldn't go within 1 mile radius around them but were them such delightful affection starved meow meows with killer (ha!) hair and eye acting? Heck yes.

.

27. A drama that I wished was longer

Romance On the Farm

I really appreciate how 3D and empathetically portrayed all the family members are. We are shown all their sides and what made them what they are today without making a mockery of Asian family values, but rather constructively analysing + celebrating the good parts.

And then there is a political thriller story arc.

And then there is "this is all but a game" part which I had to try very hard to pretend like it's ignorable.

And then there was the basic premiere of the pastoral country life story.

Clearly the dramamakers had LOTS of ideas. And you can see none of them were empty bite-more-than-can-chews but had actual potential.

If only.... it didn't try to do all this at once under the guise of a 26 ep lighthearted fluffy romcom genre.... it would've made such a difference.

.

28. A drama I wanted to watch but couldn't

SO many! For all sorts of reasons.

Ray of Light, Butterflied Lover, The Road to Ordinary, Pledge of Allegiance, Where Dreams Begin, There Will Be Ample Time, Faithful, Stand By Me

ARGH!😭

.

29. A drama I wish more people watched

Stay With Me

This is a Chinese BL, with Chinese cast, Chinese locations, but produced by a TW company. That's all I'm going to say about it, give it a try. You won't regret it. (Maybe don't watch last episode tho lol)

.

30. Most favorite Cdrama of 2023

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Why? Because... well if you are in the fandom you'd know, if you aren't... I can write ESSAYS about it so I won't 😂 In short, it was such a healing watch.

.

31. A Cdrama I'm excited to see in 2024

JOL 2. Obviously.

.

Conclusion

2023 served to solidify my belief that there's really no 'perfect' drama, what I can do is listening to the stories people have to share and then take what I want from them, and leave what I don't want behind. Some may resonate more with me, some less. Some may teach me new things, some may feel redundant. Sometimes you will enjoy only 50% of a drama and hate the rest, but that won't diminish the impact that 50% had on you. It could be a totally different experience for another viewer and that's fine. I watched all the DMBJ shows this year as well (but didn't speak about them in this list since my focus was on 2023) and it really was an exercise on not being overly critical and going with the flow or you would totally miss out on all the good things DMBJ had to bring.

Overall I enjoyed 2023 Cdramaland a lot. I hope this review helped some of you to try out dramas that you didn't know existed/were hesitant to press play or continue on!

.

More Posts by Me

[robotslenderman]

Question.

Your dark materials and vtm fusion fic.

Do daemons have to resettle and change when you get embraced?

I wonder if the banes effect the daemon, like an ugly nos daemon or a really aggressive brujah one?

Also I'm on chapter 2, it's really good!

aaaa I'm glad you're enjoying it!

My headcanon is that yes -- when someone dies, their daemon turns to Dust, and when the Embrace is finished the daemon spends a few hours reforming. The daemon remains unsettled for about fifteen years, which is how long Cainites are considered fledglings for, and the daemon resettling is usually the signal that it's time for their sire to formally release them.

However... my headcanon is that this doesn't always happen. In humans, it takes major trauma for a daemon to unsettle -- it's the trauma of the Embrace that causes a daemon to unsettle. So people who make a much smoother transition and are less ruffled -- their daemons either resettle more quickly, barely change, or don't unsettle at all. For example, Wendy took to vampirism pretty well (kennels notwithstanding) so her daemon, Sammie, merely changed colour from a sable ferret to a white one.

Before the Masquerade, it was a lot more common for people's daemons to unsettle for only short times or not at all because their lives weren't turned completely upside down; they could still remain in touch with mortal families and so on, if they so chose. Not any more. Becoming a vampire so dramatically upends your life that it's very rare now for daemons to unsettle unless you were already a ghoul used to the life.

I also headcanon that Tzimisce daemons never resettle again and always retain the ability to shapeshift.

Another headcanon is that dying very much acts like the same severing that witches undergo with their daemons in HDM; daemons can now wander from their vampire without limit, and while that magical empathy is still present a daemon can be awake when their vampire sleeps and vice versa. A vampire with enough self loathing may be abandoned by their daemon or abandon their daemon. Elders are less fazed by this, but neonates find it horrifying.

Thinbloods, however, can wander farther from their daemons than mortals but there's a limit. In the prologue of the fic the Thinblood is really anxious and worried about Aredvi possibly wanting to abandon him one day, and feels discomfited when she leaves his side for a greater distance than she could while they were alive, even though they've been a vampire for a few years by then.

A daemon is affected by the same vampiric weaknesses but I hadn't considered physical banes. In my head Sammie just looked like a normal ferret, but the idea of a Nos daemon looking hideous is something I hadn't considered and is a really good idea. I'd definitely considered them to share the same emotional/metaphysical banes (eg inability to photograph Lasombra daemons, Brujah daemons being contrarians, Tremere daemons being prone to blood bonds), but not physical ones, oooh...

[faunsoda]

sbi ib au w wilbur as mary is a concept i cannot stop thinking abt, like i haven’t touched ib in years and i was more into smaller dynamics in sbi than sbi as a whole, but it makes me so insane. you’re a genius and i adore that au concept. techno as gary is also so much fun, i rlly liked the whole thing. also the art was SO nice, your style is very neat. if you have any more thoughts abt the au as a whole i’d love to hear them, but if not, just know i love the concept so much

WOOO i hear u, my favorite dynamics within sbi are crimeboys and bedrock bros (it really shows in this au) because i am a huge sucker for sibling dynamics. the remake for ib came out for switch recently so the childhood hyperfixation reawakened like a beast

i have so many thoughts in my brain let me drop these bad boys. infodump time.

my idea of a first meeting between techno and tommy! rather than having his rose stolen like garrys, its tommy stumbling in on techno getting cornered by one of the lady paintings. techno probably wouldve gotten out just fine eventually, maybe lost a few petals but tommy distracts the painting so he can escape unharmed! then theyre like 🤝 team up time

please ignore the shitty ooc dialogue everywhere ive just been getting ideas jotted down in my free time hehe. i imagine the dynamic between techno and wilbur in this au being pretty tense! techno is IMMEDIATELY suspicious/wary of wilbur & wilbur wants to leave with tommy, taking technos place. techno doesnt wanna be too protective of tommy because a) this is some kid he just met what does he care b) he doesnt really have any reason to be suspicious about wilbur because hes done literally nothing wrong so far hes just off so techno doesnt trust him

also philza as guertena means he doesnt show up like at all BUT i really liked the theory from a few years ago that part of marys dislike for garry stemmed from garry resembling guertena and her feeling like she’d been abandoned since i cant really imagine she can grasp the complete concept and weight of death. so i did have techno resemble philza a bit here (eg. emerald and stubble that i keep forgetting to draw-) which will probably be unmentioned in stuff i draw for this au because again philza wont show up much. so yeah ooh possible idea that wilbur might resent techno for that a little bit or just be like kind of annoyed by it. idk man im just sitting here.

i also did the three main endings! promise of reunion and together forever were kinda quick because i did not have time to properly draw and color them :,] but i found a neat brush and wanted to draw the forgotten portrait painting because ow. in my original drawings of this au tommy didnt have a green bandana but i decided to give him one as a stand in for the hankerchief ib carries! after all this ill probably do some redraws of moments from the game or try to reimagine the toy box since wilbur is notably not a child like mary is!

yeah hey that was probably like way more information about this au than anyone couldve wanted but B] if you have any thoughts about this au that differ from mine or if you just have thoughts in general id love to hear em! my brain is rotting. thanks for coming to my ted talk (and thank you for the ask, i am new to tumblr so this is my first ask yippee!!)

[carewyncromwell]

"One more time!"

x~x~x~x

Told you Carewyn and Jacob's other aunt Claire was coming up quick for my Halloween costume series! I dressed Lane's second older sister as Rothbart's stooge (called "Bridget" in the sequels, even if honestly "Odile" would've been a more appropriate choice if we follow the source material) from Richard Rich's The Swan Princess, specifically when Rothbart disguises her as our leading lady Odette!

Like with Pearl, I struggled a bit to find an animated villain that suited Claire, because truly, she's not evil -- just really easily led and kind of stupid -- and so she ends up doing some very wicked things purely because she's so badly influenced by the toxic people in her life and she doesn't put any thought as to whether their actions are right or wrong. So yeah, really, Claire is more of a villainous sidekick, rather than a straight-up villain -- but sadly most of those such characters in the animated films I grew up with are men, not women. (Lefou, Smee, Fife, Kronk, the King of Hearts, Wiggins...you get the idea.) Two big exceptions I thought of were the Stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella, from Cinderella and -- as you can guess -- Rothbart's henchwoman from The Swan Princess. I was very tempted by Anastasia, considering that she actually gets something of a "redemption arc" in both the second and third Cinderella films...but Claire is honestly much more the sort of person to passively let things happen around her and not rock the boat, and Anastasia -- as much as one can definitely point to Lady Tremaine's toxic influence affecting her behavior -- is never a passive character, whether as an antagonist or deutragonist. She rips apart Cinderella's dress with very little egging-on. She bosses her around constantly and accuses her of putting a "rat" in her teacup. She actively tries and fails to overshadow her sister Drizella when they both go up to meet the Prince. She's just as jealous of Cinderella's grace and beauty as her mother and sister are, and she takes those feelings of inferiority out on her. Claire, however, wouldn't think deeply enough to even consider being jealous of another person. Whereas Blaise keeps a possessive hold over his family out of a fear of abandonment, and whereas Pearl stoically denies expressing or receiving affection out of a misguided sense of duty, Claire just stupidly accepts what she's given without question, not expecting or even contemplating anything better. And that really did come across as much more like Rothbart's little stooge, to me. She barely even talks throughout the entire movie, but her performance communicates that she's a follower personality with little going on behind the eyes who gets swept up in Rothbart's desire for power, but can just as easily get swept up in her own romanticism for the Royal Chamberlain. And yeah, admittedly, Rothbart's old henchwoman does quasi-reform herself in the Swan Princess sequels, pointing to her not being wholly evil. Whether the people around her really should've given her a second chance or whether any of those sequels weren't flat-out garbage is a different matter entirely. Honestly, even though I loved this movie as a kid, I see a lot more of its flaws as an adult, despite the nostalgia I have for it.

Next up, we'll end with the God Grandfather himself, Charles Cromwell! Which animated movie villain do you think I dressed him as?

[burning-bubble-tea]

I just reread a webcomic that I finished last October and it was a pretty short read and I forgot the big twist so I reread it and it’s sooooooo good

It’s Wavering Worlds and it’s about a girl who switches places with herself from an alternate universe and then there’s a mystery.

SPOILERS FOR THE FRIEND I PESTER TO READ AND WATCH THINGS I DO

so the main character is used by her alternate self as a scapegoat and it’s honestly really interesting. The mystery builds well because the main character is guilty of a crime she didn’t do.

And the big twist is very out there very wild but on a meta narrative level (I think I only vaguely understand what the term meta narrative is) is sorta of using common tropes within manga n webcomics but instead of it being the catalyst so the story occurs eg truck kun sends someone to a different world it uses multiple ones together as a twist.

The big twist being that one of the main supporting characters is actually in a time loop and the story exists in the most recent loop.

So it’s an interesting combination of an isekai and a time loop story. Like it’s a bit rushed and convoluted but I really enjoy the creativity of the twist. And honestly any thoughts I have on “realism” doesn’t matter because the suspension of disbelief is high because it’s an isekai.

Like the character that is in the time loop has a red herring where the main character thinks they also have switched places in an alternate universe only for them the reveal that they’re in a time loop thus explaining their past behaviour throughout the story.

Honestly one of the main reasons why I like this story so much is because it really feels like raw creativity. It’s the artists first story and the first chapter was created when they were still in high school. It’s kinda like reading an ao3 fanfic and it’s just the most unique use of the characters that would never be done in official media.

Like the pacing is odd but honestly I don’t care. The story feels like someone creating something because they had a good idea and they finished it!! It has plenty of creative ideas and good art and I just love what they did with the concept.

The conclusion did kind of come very quickly but I’m happy with how once everything was laid out and the mystery was solved, the characters enacted a solution that solved the problem. Like yeah there’s no explanation as to why one of the characters was in a time loop and why and other was able to hop universes but frankly, a lot of time loop stories have weird conditions where the loop just ends and it’s mainly because time loops as a narrative exist because it’s interesting and the fact that it’s entertaining means that it’s worth having it be unexplained and convoluted.

The webcomic is sort of just a really cool use of time loop, parallel universes and isekai tropes to me.

Anyways I do feel bad because WEBTOON placed the story under romance and the artist did say that their intent was not to make a romance but a mystery so they added a romantic epilogue.

Like I think the author had it right. They didn’t add much romance in the plot because the main character was too busy with the mystery and the stress of thinking she was trapped in a parallel universe forever away from her family and friends.

But the epilogue has the male lead suddenly show up in her universe and it just leaves too much unanswered like did the male lead switch spots with his universe’s counterpart? Did he abandon his loving family and friends to be with the female lead?

Since the epilogue was mainly written to appease those who wanted a romance over the mystery, I choose to believe that the male lead is just temporarily switching places because he missed her or that this is that universe’s version of him that she met and they’re going to become friends in this universe too.

I don’t love the fact that the male lead abandons his family and friends for some girl he knew for a few months. Like they’re teenagers. He can just miss her.

But yeah the epilogue was just fanservice so I’m choosing not the accept it as cannon.

The story ends with the bittersweet happy ending of the lead going home but missing the friends that she made in the alternate universe. And maybe the guy can visit but no I don’t think he would abandon his loving mother and friends.

Either way love this webcomic.

[xo-adeline]

hello i saw that your requests were open so i have one as a fellow genshin and bllk fangirl 😍

ik combining 2 fandoms sounds tough but pls i promise you’ll like it (i can’t actually promise that) but pls hear me out.

the type of vision bllk boys would have and why.

eg: snuffy: anemo, because he has a dead friend, or ness: electro, because he’s a simp. (i’m so sorry about the snuffy one.)

for the bllk boys im requesting, it’s quite a long list but if you think it’s too short you can cut it if you want!!

manshine trio (they’re my favourites), bachira, niko, barou, sae, rin, shidou, charles, kurona, hiori, our beloved mc isagi, kuni (pre or post wildcard, up to you), and german frat boy (you know who i mean.)

15 characters is a lot so it’s understandable if you wanna shorten the list or not take this request 😭😭 i just thought of it in the shower and thought maybe you’d like it since we’re both genshin and bllk fans but i hope you like this idea!!

OMG I love this so freaking much, and I have been thinking about it since I got it this morning and you are not ready for the ride I am about to take you on in my reasonings <3 (Also I ended up having no ideas for Barou so I did pre and post wild card Kunigami!!) (And yes, Kaiser's will be a whole tangent about him since I love him so much, and I am very deeply connected to that man, my blue dyed tip hair and blue rose tattoo will agree.)

Just because I felt like elaborating more on your ideas I'm gonna start with Snuffy and Ness<3 Marc Snuffy: Anemo - I mean firstly and most importantly he lost his best friend and that's a very big key component in Anemo, but also he continued to go and find a reason to keep living on (winning the major 5 european championships) Alexis Ness: Electro - Not only falling under being a simp, following the path of Sara and her devotion towards the Raiden Shogun, but being seen as abnormal by even his own family for liking the things that he likes (Magic). Reo Mikage: Geo - Working really hard to be able to play football/soccer even with the bumps in his way like his parents (more specifically his dad, as shown in Episode Nagi) trying to get him to work more on taking over the company, but yet he still works hard on his dream to becoming a pro athlete. Nagi Seishiro: Anemo or Cryo - Nagi is a little weird since he could follow down the Anemo path like Sayu, but he also has a lot of tendencies to be a potential Cryo. Having his internal conflicts during the second selection to be able to break apart from Reo to become stronger and be able to compete at a level that challenges him, but also his past (seen in Ep. Nagi) of his parents kinda leaving him and abandoning him. Chigiri Hyoma: Hydro - Having himself a moral code that he created for himself to follow when it comes to playing football/soccer, and even with his injury continuing to follow the path that he created for himself to become the best and help him in his upbringing to get back to the way he was with no fear and continue to be a 'chosen one' Bachira Meguru: Pyro - Being very passionate about the sport that he plays and wanting to always surpass himself and become better. Even trying new chemical reactions and trying new things to become better then he was before. Niko Ikki: Dendro - The knowledge of the field that he has through his eyes and the way he sees the field. It could be under the consideration of "hidden" knowledge as it isn't something the other team knows about until you figure it out yourself, and with that he has a risk for trying new things to be able to score and continue using the knowledge that he has to grow and eventually be able to beat people using it. Sae Itoshi: Hydro or Cryo - At first with his whole thing for not thinking he's good enough to become the best striker after his whole thing and Spain (and most likely something to do with Leonardo Luna) which then turns him into having an internal conflict and then brings to his change and changing his morals to be instead the best midfielder but still keeping that mindset of being the best in something. Rin Itoshi: Cryo - Itoshi family thing, yet again, another Cryo. He also has a big internal conflict, but with his brother, as he is the main reason why he is even playing the sport and why he is so keen on becoming the best, and by that he really just means beating his brother. He also has quite a few of the tendencies of Cryo characters from the game, as he does mostly distance himself from others and is really only seen talking to them when somebody else approaches him first. Shidou Ryusei: Pyro - Another person who is quite passionate (even sometimes a little too much *cough cough* U20 game *cough cough*, especially when he finds people that he likes playing with (ex Charles and Sae). It is a little hard just because we don't know anything about his past so I'm really just basing it on the way he acts! Charles Chevalier: Pyro - Same thing as Shidou, as we really don't know anything about his past it makes it a little harder. Though I would like to say he def gives Pyro energy, same boat as Hu Tao. He is very passionate when on the feild, and about the way he acts towards the things that he likes, which is being a pain in the ass contrarian.

Kurona Ranze: Electro(?) - This one was I think the hardest for me since there isn't a lot on Kurona, but I did try my best! I was thinking more electro as he is most likely seen as more abnormal as he tends to stay behind and help out other players (ex. Isagi) which is most likely uncommon for a place like Blue Lock, since it's all about opening an ego and making things for yourself. Though I can say much as, we have nothing for his backstory, and nothing much on his wiki!

Hirori Yo: Dendro or Cryo - Hiroi has already been known as somebody who has a lot of info when it comes to football/soccer, most likely due to his parents. Though when he first meets Isagi and Nanase he is seen giving quite a bit of information out which ends up helping them in the long run, so his knowlodge of the game very deeply resonates with the dendro element. Though the constant struggle of trying to find out if what he's doing is right follows him along the way. As it was his parents main thing to get him to play, so constantly wanting to not do it does follow him and makes him question things for sure about it.

Isagi Yoichi: Hydro or Geo - A man who has his principals in check, your honor. This man is pretty good at know what's right and what's wrong and can often be seen as the person being in the middle of fights (Ex. Nagi and Barou) and making sure that things don't get to crazy between them. Though he also has a good work ethic and is always trying to make himself stronger and wants to boost himself to the next level.

Kunigami (Pre WC): Hydro - He has a very good goal in life, well at least at the start of Blue Lock. Wanting to be like the hero's he saw on TV, but also wanting everything to be fair. He is constantly making sure (even from the first time we saw him) that everything is fair game, even if it wasn't strictly mentioned in the rules.

Kunigami (Post WC): Cryo or Electro - They never outwardly said it but something must have happened to that man in Wild Card that they are not telling us! So in short I have a feeling that he is dealing with something from the past that went on in there. Though another thing that would go with Electro is his views were most likely changed though the process of Wild Card. Nobody just flips a switch like that for no reason. So a bigger picture to this is that he was probably learning things about what he needed to do to become the best and staying on the path he was, wasn't going to get him there.

Michael Kaiser: Cryo - Ah yes.. Kaiser. Boy do I have a lot to say about you. (And that's on having a similar backstory<3) His whole egotistical personality most likely stems from his childhood (as most things do about people) More often then not do kid who have no attention on them as children end up living for that attention and praise as they get older, case in point Kaiser basically wanting to be the best striker and having a pretty good title of it, until you learn that he wants to move on and make his own name, which is most likely another sign of him trying to have the attention on himself, though it also stems from the abandonment he had a as child not only form his mother, but the abandonment of a father figure from his dad. Though the conflict start coming in when you see the drastic change when Isagi starts scoring goals and making many more problems for the name that Kaiser was creating for himself. Though with a loss of figures of parents that is only to be expected as the praise is no longer coming from other people, but instead just the person that he manipulated (Ness.)

Now obviously I can go on and on about this, but I won't, you've already had to read through the rest of my brainrot so I won't be saying anything else<3

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Owl House Finale

I’ve written my preliminary review of the Owl House finale, see below. 

Overall – Very nostalgic and sweet ending to the series, managed to capture so many of the emotions that it needed to do. Surpassed my expectations by not getting so caught up on the threads of plot that it had thoroughly neglected in the previous episode.

Not everything is resolved by any measure. The other archivists? Were the titans killed? What about Bill? What about the Collector worshippers? I feel that there were elements of plot that were supposed to be covered in season 3 that had to be abandoned.

However this is not devastating. The series finale decided that instead of trying to be an entire season of episodes in one go, like the previous two eps, it was just gonna be the climax. I'm glad it made this choice because it meant we got as much time as we needed for the emotional scenes in the ep, and plenty of other scenes are implied (eg. Darius adopting Hunter). It tried its best.

The opening scene is frustratying for me as someone who ahs followed Luz having this dilemma for ages and clearly understanding from the outset, no, theres no similarities to Belos, stop trying to sell me that there is, please stop. But as a bookend? Well the opening scene reminds us that Luz is comparing herself to Belos, but when she King's dad and he tells her that Belos doesn't have any origin of noble intentions, it's great buildup to the final scene where she stares Belos down as he melts in the rain.

I think given time we will see this as a relatively anticlimactiv end to Belos, I feel like it was building up to something greater with him specifically, especially after the last two eps where we saw flashes of  Caleb. Belos and  Hunter had no interactions at all. Belos just dying in the rain is weird when he's survived literally everything else. However it's fitting that the Boiling Isles themselves kills him... in addition to Eda, King, and ESPECIALLY Raine xD

The scene where the Collector realises mortality for the first time is heartbreaking. I knew going in that Luz would die, meet God, and come back to life. I was not really pleased to hear that spoiler, I didn't like how it happened in Amphibia. I thought it was MUCH better in the Owl House, though still a fakeout death, because we had a chance to see how Luz's death impacted other people. We saw King and Eda go into FUCKING BEAST MODE and kick shit out of Boiling Isles Belos.

Why didn't Belos do this in the first place? Weird. Maybe he wasn't far gone enough? He hadn't become The Thing yet. Maybe he was too determined to go back home as a human being, it's only now he's let the illusion of his humanity go.

This special played with and directly subverted tropes in similar Disney Shows. Amphibia and Star Vs both episodes where their protagonists die, meet God, and awaken to a greater magic. Owl House did this again and played it straight. I thought Star did it best, but Owl House did a fucking fantastic job as well with TITAN LUUUUUUUZ. She's so COOOOOOL!  

The other ideas, plural that owl house played with, are

Forgiveness. They manage to convert the Collector, but it's directly shown this isn't happening with Belos, he gets annihilated just like Horde Prime, Luz feels no guilt at all for his death, only hatred. It's a lovely contrast after how much she thought she was like him, she understands now that letting him die does not make her the same. Eda King and Raine ALREADY knew this and are more than happy to finish the job. “That was really cathartic”.

The Death of Magic. Partially played straight with the disappearance of Titan Magic. HOWEVER, it makes you think Luz grew up in the human realm without her friends, but then turns it around and theyve been hanging out the entire time. The Owl House door was recreated so Luz and Camilla and Vee can go back as they please.  Lots of very cute images, such as Luz and Vee's graduation. I felt that this was playing with our expectations of the Death of Magic, like OF COURSE Luz has to “grow up” and let go of her magical fantasy, but owl house says FUCK YOU, WE'RE WEIRD FOREVER.

The parts I got most emotional at were Luz, Eda and King reuniting and showing the Collector their memories, then Eda and King and the Collector reacting to Luz's Death, that incredibly funny scene with King Dad even if him and Luz being alive makes absolutely no sense, and the ending where WE SEE HOW EVERYONE GREW UP IT'S SO CUTE. Sometimes these flashes of the future are bad, sometimes theyre good, personally I think the one in shera was a bit sappy for my taste, but the one here is lots of fun and shows us the characters we love being their best selves.... I don't think it's at all generic and boring, because frankly it's not like the Owl House world had lots of unused potential so really it fleshes things out here and makes it more exciting than the situation was before the Collector took over.

Raine is an absolute Regent and watching them fight Belos with blood in their mouth was so fucking cool.

I am sad that we will never get cartoons like this again, this was the final great on air at the moment. Maybe Netflix will commission something decent eventually, maybe Fionna and Cake will not be terrible (doubt), but I feel like the new blood that emerged after Adventure Time has come to an end. All those beautiful artists have to move into different fields or do trash work because there isn't an environment that loves them anymore. I guess that maybe we'll get some excellent reboots in the next few years that these people work on...

[mushyposts]

TUMBLR PLEAAASE LET ME POST THIS NOW PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

OF COURSE!!! This is the sort of analysis I could honestly talk about for hours, and if you have ANY more thoughts on my fic, please please PLEASE dont be scared to message me and hash it out!! I absolutely love the chance to think critically and analytically about my work.

You are absolutely not projecting, and even if you were, that would be entirely valid!! Creativity exists as a vessel for us as humans to feel, and if my writing at all helps you process any feelings you have around the themes I explore in it then I think i have more then succeeded in my task as a writer! : D

I also think that as a writer, I can put as much intent as I physically can into my writing. I can spend hours working to make sure a certain theme is perceived the specific way I want it to be, but if someone takes it a different way then I cant change that! I can take it as it is, and from there move and try to approach the theme in a different way, but people all have different live experiences that will make them see what i write differently. My experiences with parental figures, their presence, lack of, and their affection towards me will always be different to yours for example, and that means you will see how I write the parental dynamics in my writing different to how I do! Does that make sense?

Okay onto the actual analysis LMAO!! I think that people get caught up in this idea of "The choice was made for the greater good, so he should be absolved." and although yes, there is merit to understanding Hakoda didn't want to leave and was doing what he thought was the best choice for his kids and the future of his tribe its also SUPER important to understand that there were other ways.

A few things when considering the argument of Hakoda taking ALL the men, is firstly that we don't actually know how many people were in the "fleet" and there is some defence to the idea of them needing every working hand they can get, however I also think that alongside this argument is if Hakoda was doing this to protect his tribe it would have made sense to at LEAST leave enough men to defend them, or train Sokka and the other younger boys to have some form of defence.

I think the closest we get at seeing how many are in the fleet is pre-black sun, when they all meet up, and even then those numbers are skewed because of the involvement of other groups of people. EG: The swamp benders, the earthbenders and then the people who took residence at the northern airtemple. I do, however, personally believe that there should have been some men left behind to defend.

Another thing to consider is the canon timeline for when Kya dies and then when Hakoda leaves and then to canon actually is kind of inconsistent? We can assume Hakoda left around when Sokka was 13, but during the flashback of Kya's death along with the flashbacks in Bato of the water tribe where we see Hakoda leave, Sokka actually looks a lot younger. As far as I'm aware, as a show only watcher who doesnt actively intend on reading the comics, we dont really know how long the time between Kyas death and Hakoda leaving is. I even say at the start of my fic that I fucked with the canon timeline a bit to make it line up a bit better.

I think the show acknowledges Hakoda's abandonment and the complex ways thats hurt both Sokka and Katara in subtle ways. Katara very outwardly displaying her upset, albeit initially passive aggressively, she does eventually burst out, telling him "we needed you." and Hakoda apologises. Sokka is more internal, he obsesses over his ability to explain his plans, how he's perceived by his peers, an obsession with masculinity and what it means to be a man when you were never truly taught it in the first place.

I also think something that people tend to get mixed up with when it comes to critiquing Hakoda as a father, is they often equate being a bad dad, to being an abuser.

Hakoda, at least in my interpretations and I never intend for him to come off as so, isnt an abusive father. He is not a perfect father, he has made many choices that led to the long lasting hurt of his children. Speaking in the development of my own fic and how i've worked with Hakoda's character, he is an absent figure who was faced with an impossible choice and should have thought through it in more depth. He made a choice, and although its hard to fully say without a doubt he chose wrong, it had severely negative ramifications on the mental well being of his children.

Theres a lot to be said on the nuance of abuse, neglect, absent parental figures, especially fathers, and I don't want to speak TOO heavily on this because again, its such a nuanced and complex topic that I think I couldn't even begin to unwrap in tumblr reblogs. Theres some incredible fics out there exploring this with Hakoda and Sokka's dynamic, and I even have a one shot in the making all about this stuff in the canon universe seperate from my writing, but I just REALLY want to emphasise that I am so aware of how Zuko will come off to Sokka as a replacement.

I think in Zukka fics, or any fic with their dynamic, Sokka is often used as a tool for Zuko's healing, and his own trauma and negative experiences are put on the backburner in turn for Zuko's more outwardly present trauma. This is never something I want to do in my writing, I want to give a stage to each characters trauma, experiences and lives and try to show that things arent always as clean cut as they seem.

Hakoda abandoned Sokka and Katara. he left Sokka to be a man, without truly giving him the tools to do so.

Hakoda saved Zuko from death, and gave him a chance at life again.

These are two things that can exist at once, and the existence of one does not negate the other. People are a mess of good, bad, neutral, and its so hard to untangle it. Sometimes it doesnt even need to be untangled, sometimes you just need to hold the mess that people are and know it isnt a slight on you. You didnt cause the tangle, some tangles just are, yknow??

I also do personally believe in canon there are a lot of gaps that dont fully make sense in reference to Hakoda's character, and I think he honestly could have been executed a lot better in canon, so thats also something I like to consider whenever I am thinking too hard abt Hakodas character!!

I hope this made ANY sense at all. I usually have to sift through my writing like, a hundred times to get any kind of sense out of it, but truly this has been such a pleasure to write about!! : D Ur thoughts are so well written, and its incredible, as i said before, to see people picking up on the more nuanced things I'm trying to set up for future chapters!! it helps keep my steam for writing this honestly WAY bigger fic then I intended going!! : D I am MORE then happy to indulge!!!! If anything, this is indulging for ME! So thank YOU!!!

(Also, to answer ur tags, it isnt bad ur a bit mad at Hakoda!! He's flawed, thats okay! He's made mistakes just like anyone does. His just have more ramifications since he's the adult. I am a HUGE Hakoda stan and I do love him, but trying to work around canon and make him be a good father... A bit tricky!!)

I already put this on ao3 in a comment but you made me cry so you have to see it twice now. I know this entire story is Zuko-centric but I literally can't stop thinking about what this au means for Sokka.

Ok I just have to say I felt so heartbroken for Sokka here. All I could think about was how all of a sudden there's a boy in the place he's supposed to be. HE should be travelling with the men, HE should've been with them for the last three years, HE should be trusted enough with all this important stuff he should know if he is the next chief/acting chief.

He is being told this new kid has seen and done things the most skilled of warriors couldn't have done, like he is this almost untouchable standard Sokka can't reach. Then to be told he's taken Sokka's place in the tribe as Hakoda's and Batos' adopted child, teaching him how to be a man over the three years Sokka didn't even know his father, never a letter, never knowing when they would come home. Then being told by that same kid that he was only playing war. not to mention the piercings and jewellery he's adorned with.

Sokka has been the leader of the remnants of the Southern Water Tribe for three years, and due to the strict gender divides, had no one to teach him how to lead in the way a chief would. He has been the one hunting, defending, in charge of the future of their civilisation, the education of the children, which is really important in their culture. the memories of his father would be so twisted to the memories Hadoka has of Sokka. Sokka, in the months before he left, lost his mother, protecting his little sister. he then saw his father fall deep into depression, becoming very detached, and from what is described, angry and violent, not towards him, but that his still scary behaviour to witness. Then, his father left, and he was told he couldn't come, and that he was in charge of the village. Even though it was probably to boost his ego at the time more than anything, the impact on Sokka in that moment, combined into quite literally what his job becoming.

Just imagine when he finds out the secrets Zuko's hiding and how his father and Bato knew and didn't tell him. Sokka has struggled with feeling like he isn't important, as a non-bender and his relations with his sister, her being a prodigy + a bender, and his father, always feeling like he wasn't enough for his dad, not good enough, not smart enough, not needed, but the Zuko's good enough, Hakoda loves him.

Zuko, who has had an incredibly traumatic and difficult childhood, the last three years of his life is where he has found and made a spot for himself in a positive community that loves him and supports him, Sokka has become increasingly more and more isolated, and his sense of self has changed even more dramatically in the last few weeks.

Sorry for the long rant, but I could just feel Sokka's fears and insecurities screaming at me throughout the chapter. Love this work though, just cried for Sokka <3

HIII OH YOU SO GET IT!! OH YOU SOOOO GET IT!! The fic is for SURE Zuko-centric, but I have been intentionally layering on the potential for his arc to align with Sokka's in completely the opposing way. Zuko has everything Sokka wants, he has a space with the crew, the warriors. he spent the last three years with his father and Bato, bonding, developing his identity as a person alongside the tribe, welcomed in, he has gotten to be everything that Sokka has always wanted. Meanwhile, Sokka has everything that Zuko wants. Sokka was home, somewhere safe with people who cared for him and looked up to him, with his sister, away from his parents and in a position where he was in charge of his own life. Its such a twisted, complex situation where the two crave, desperately, what the other has without thinking about the context. Without thinking of what got the other to the point of having what they wanted, both in turn. IM SOOO happy to see someone talking about Sokka ohhhughhh im so fucking happy. I think a lot of people have focused on Sokka's initial attitude towards Zuko, without thinking about every single thing you've brought up in this beautifully constructed comment, of which I am really excited to eventually flesh out when I am back from hiatus. Sokka, more than anything, wants to be a warrior alongside his father. For Zuko, he doesn't think Sokka fully understands the gravity of what that would look like, especially after having experienced such a heavy loss as he had recently. (RIP king im sorry) but for Sokka, he see's a replacement. he doesnt know the nuances, not for lack of intelligence but he just literally hasnt been told and although he is owed explanation he isn't owed Zuko's story in its full, of what led Hakoda and Bato to the decision of keeping him on board. I firmly believe if Zuko had have been older, or had have been a child from any other nation, Hakoda and Bato would have not kept him. I actually go over this a lot in the early chapters where they're deciding wtf to do. It genuinely ended up being a problem of "well. No matter where we put him he's gonna get killed. How fucked up is that, safest place for this kid is LITERALLY on a warship of the enemy. great." I also think acknowledging the fact that Zuko HAS had a lot of support and comfort in the last three years whereas Sokka has not is a super important point to be made! Despite the current circumstances, and the ones that led Zuko to being in the position he is/was, Zuko did have support which Sokka lacked. TBH, if I hadve had more wiggle room and decided to fuck with canon more then I already had, I would have left a good amount of the warriors in the SWT, unlike in canon. Or had Hakoda go back to leave soldiers there when he realised they were going to be gone for longer then what I am assuming was initially planned. However I was more then aware that would SIGNIFICANTLY change the circumstances of Sokka's experiences and how it aligns with Zuko's, in canon and in the fic, so i chose against it. This is such a sporadic messy reply I am just so happy to get a comment picking up on all the stone I've been laying for a big discussion on the details of Sokka's own trauma and how its going to clash with Zuko's.

All this to say, Sokka will absolutely be getting his turn to hash out everything you've said here and I can promise you no stone will be left unturned when it comes to his trauma and life experiences!! I think a big thing I am most excited for is having the two hash it out and realise where their lives overlap, where their feelings and experiences align and managing to acknowledge that each others traumas dont cancel each other out. Zuko's experiences do not cancel out Sokka's, and Sokka's do not cancel out Zuko's.

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

Feelings without a name

I think I couldn't provide too much Angst or any if that but I'd compensate it in prompt 20, hope you still like it anyways.

I'm gonna do both of them btw-

Dialogue Prompt - 22. Look he/she wants you, just make him/her happy | MILD ANGST | FLUFF | DOMESTIC|

" could you scooch a little ?" Draco asked harry with two wine glasses in his hands.

Harry took his legs off the couch, shifting over and making some space for draco.

" thanks " draco murmured as he collapsed down next to harry and handed one wine glass to harry.

" white ?" Harry asked and draco nodded.

" what did I miss ?" Draco asked he he shifted to bring his back supported against the arm rest and his feets tucked beneath Harry's thighs.

" they're trying to set me up on a date with someone and apparently making a deal of how long I would be single for " harry rolled his eyes with a little playful grin over his face.

" oh, count me in on the bet " draco announced to the room full of their friends raising his wine glass.

" you're supposed to support me " harry playfully hit draco before he raised his right arm and adjusted himself to lay his head over draco's chest. Draco very casually circled his arms around Harry's available torso and gave him more space so harry was cuddled into him.

" I mean it only makes sense, you've been single for more longer than my parents are married for " draco joked. Harry nudged draco by his elbows before laughing it off.

" how about the guy from the flower shop ?" Blaise asked cuddling Ron into him.

" eh, he gives straight vibes " harry mumbled

" okay how about the guy you met in IKEA, he gave you his number didn't he ?" Ginny asked eating from her bowl of popcorn

" nah, he's too lanky " harry shook his head pouting.

" what about " Hermione paused thinking of someone " oh right, the guy from your quidditch practices "

"mione I saw him making out with Megan" harry raised an eyebrow at her to validate his point

" date a rabbit, you won't find flaws in it " Seamus suggested

" as good as it sounds, I wouldn't make a nice humping toy " harry joked.

" harrrry, eww" everyone cringed throwing some popcorn at him before the room dissolved into laughter giving up the idea of setting harry up with someone.

Almost 2 hours later, harry was wandering about the house trying to find draco and ultimately realising he wasn't on the floor and decided to check upon their sneak up spot, the terrace.

Harry almost smiled when he caught glimpse of draco standing against the railings before harry stepped on another stair and caught full glance of draco and theo kissing.

Until that moment harry had never realised how much draco kissing someone might've effected him until he saw the very look of it and couldn't bring himself to look away and only broke his trance when he heard his name being yelled and in all abruptness harry went downstairs a strange feeling constraining his heart.

" where were you ?" Hermione asked but harry only shook his head not trusting his voice. Hermione frowned at him before she tried asking if everything was fine and harry responded with a nod.

But everything was far from fine.

Harry always knew he somewhat felt differently about draco but until now he never knew how differently or what kind of different and now when he saw him kissing theo, he knew it was a strange combination of sadness and jealousy forming a strange chemical reaction inside of him.

But he tried not be effected by it everytime after that he saw draco. The more he saw him, the more he was faced with harsh reality that draco liked theo because if he didn't, he'd had never kissed him. And in all sanity harry maintained his distance until he figured what he felt for draco. Of course it wasn't love, but it wasn't nothing either, it was something, it just didn't had a name.

Although it was very vividly clear to everyone that harry was partially ignoring draco. It was clear in the ways that harry sat now on the floor rather than on the couch with draco even when it has space, or even when draco offered but nobody dared to ask because everyone knew better that if harry wanted to talk about something, he'd be clear about it and if he didn't, he's just waiting for the right moment but draco played the only exception in his life. He didn't take Harry's shit and more often called him right out which created a lot fights between them in past and present and perhaps this was also the reason why harry always felt draco was one of a kind.

" you're ignoring me " draco said one day when he dropped by Harry's office before they went home.

Harry was stuffing back his bag when he heard draco but didn't stop and continued keeping his things in the bag " I'm not "

" yes you are " Draco snapped as he slammed the door shut and dropping his bags on the floor.

" I'm not " harry replied zipping his bag and wearing his coat.

" don't lie to me. You've been keeping distance. I want to know if there's something I did wrong ?" Draco asked following after harry as he walked in the room, locking things away.

" you didn't do anything draco and I am not ignoring you " harry replied more sternly as he casted the curtains shut.

" don't fucking lie to me " draco snapped as he whirled harry around to face him

" you think I don't know you're ignoring me, I can see it. You won't even look at me as if I've done something wrong " draco scrunched his face as if he was disgusted.

" yes,fine, you have. I thought we're best friends and supposed to tell each other everything but somehow I think it may have slipped your mind to mention that you're snogging theo now " harry Snapped jerking away from draco's hold and collected his bags of the table.

" oh " draco only replied as he too slowly turned around " I " he breathed " I didn't know you knew that "

" I saw you two kissing " harry sternly replied facing draco properly now.

" it was nothing act-"

" then why didn't you tell me ?" Harry crossed his arms over his front.

" because it meant nothing- or- I don't know- it doesn't matter. You don't like theo and I would never date someone I know you hate " draco hastily replied decreasing the distance between them.

" do you like him though ?" Harry sucked in his cheeks waiting for an answer.

" do you ?" He asked again when met with silence.

" I- I don't know " draco replied shrugging. Harry exhaled heavily before he picked up his bag and almost left the room when Draco stopped him.

" wait- I- I really mean it, I don't know. If it were something I'd had told you before "

" do me a favour draco then, if you know then tell me " harry replied and Marched out of his office.

The next time they saw each other was 2 weeks later at Luna's birthday and harry was sitting at the bar talking with the bartender, when his eyes fell upon the door of the bar and people outside who seemed to be fighting. Harry frowned trying to get a clearer image when he finally saw the other man walking away, theo and in an instant harry realised it was draco standing abandoned. It ached harry to even find the sight of a draco looking hurt. And Before he could even process anything, he was making his way Outside to draco.

" hi " harry titled his head for emphasis.

" hey " draco sighed as he turned around to face harry.

" saw you two fighting " harry reduced some distance between them.

"yeah- we- well we haven't started dating yet and everything and he already have issues " draco sighed leaning against the wall before sitting down over the ground, his knees pressed against his chest.

All of Harry's anger, jealousy evaporated when he saw draco. Didn't he Always swore to be the best friend he could ever be?!

Without much thinking harry went and sat down next to him.

" I mean I am no one to say but if he's already fighting do you think he's the one for you ?" Harry asked as he side glanced draco.

Draco inhaled sharply leaning his head over Harry's shoulder before speaking up " I don't know. I like him harry but I - I can't date knowing I'm dating Someone you absolutely loathe and it's not because of how he's an asshole or anything but because he treats you like shit-"

" draco- wait- stop, you can't not date him because of me. If you like him date him " harry egged him on

" but-"

" no. If you like him don't let me be a reason to stop you from dating him. I'll deal with it. So what If I'll only meet you guys twice a month or call his name wrong every single time, I'll deal with it " harry Chuckled. Draco gave a small laugh before he raised his head from Harry's shoulder and looked at him.

" you'll be fine with it ?" Draco asked

Harry wanted to say no, how could he be fine with everything, how could he be fine knowing that he doesn't have draco to call his own even if he didn't know what he felt for him. No, he wasn't fine with seeing him being someone else's boyfriend. He wanted draco to be his boyfriend but he wasn't selfish enough to stop him, he'd never be.

" does he like you ?" Harry only asked

" yeah, I think so " draco raised his eyebrows for emphasis.

" does he want you ?" Harry asked again

" yeah " draco nodded.

" then be with him " harry replied

" harry -"

" look he wants you, just make him happy alright " harry cut him off.

" and what about you ? Does that make you happy?" Draco asked looking into harry's eyes.

Harry heart skipped a beat, his eyes travelling from his eyes to his lips and then again to his eyes and he whispered " yes. I'll be happy if he makes you happy "

Draco brushed a strand behind Harry's ear before he rested his head against his shoulder again, draco arm encircling around Harry's muscles in comfort.

" what kind of a boyfriend do you think he is ?" Draco asked after a while.

" a shit one compared to me" harry gave a small laugh

" really? And you'd be a good boyfriend ?" Draco asked amused.

" oh yeah for sure " harry nodded before he laughed it out with draco.

It took them moments to calm down and draco snuggled closer to harry and looked at him through his shoulder.

" if you were my boyfriend, how would you be ?" Draco whispered.

Harry swallowed not Daring to look at draco, his thoughts running wild with everything he had thought of until now, how he'd treat him, how he'd like to be treated, how he'd want to wake him up with breakfast in bed and several other things that he had in Denial thought of, but really did.

" I'd be like a friend, only better.. I'd take you on a fancy date every Friday, spend the Saturday at the animal shop because you love animals and have a lazy Sunday because we work too hard all week, and feed you cooked dinner on Sunday nights. We'd do the staying at each other's place for a while, one weekend at yours, one weekend at mine until we move in together and I'll snap at you for leaving your towels over the floor "

They laughed.

" then what ?" Draco bit his lip still watching harry from his neck..

" then " harry breathed roughly as his heart raced Faster and he fumbled with his fingers " then I'll cage you away in a den and make you my prisoner" harry joked away to hide away his feelings but draco didn't laugh and only Stared at him until harry gazed back at draco. It might've been the moment harry had been waiting for, the one where they stared at each other Long and the dissolved in a small kiss but harry remained in his senses even if draco wasn't and cleared his throat looking away.

Draco gulped, shifting away from harry and soon standing up, clearing his throat too " I- I'm go-"

" yeah, you go ahead. They must be looking for you " harry hastily replied as he stood up shrugging his back of his clothes to dust it off.

" yeah. You're joining right ?" Draco awkwardly asked.

" oh yeah- ofcourse I am. I'll be inside in a second " harry nodded his head vigorously .

"great-i- I'll see you then " and with stumbling over his feets draco walked back inside.

Harry released the breath he had been holding on for far too long and finally walked back inside too, wishing the night didn't happen.

Things remained strangely awkward between harry and Draco for a while which included awkward head bobs, nodding at each other randomly, weird hand shakes, and stolen glances which left everybody else confused. Meanwhile draco had began dating theo and harry had tuned into little isolation for his feelings to go away.

And perhaps everything was working fine until the common Saturday night when Harry had friend's over and was getting out of the washroom when he met with draco standing just at the door.

" hi"

" hey" harry replied.

Draco bit his lip while Harry clicked his tongue, waiting for Someone to say at least something first.

" you want to use the washroom ?" Harry finally asked pointing inside.

Draco nodded Before he shook his head " no I'm good " and practically ran away..

Harry shut his eyes for a moment, sighing to himself knowing the Time had come to talk to draco and dreading it all the way too.

Nearly an hour later harry finally decided to talk to draco and made his way to the terrace because he knew he'd be there and so he was, alone this time.

" draco " harry called him before he went and stood next to him..

" am I needed downstairs or-"

" no, I Just" harry breathed turning to draco " I came here to talk to you actually "

" oh " draco awkwardly breathed in before he urged harry to go on.

" nothing happened that night between us right. And it's just- it's getting weird and I was wondering if we could just work on it "

" of course, yeah, I was gonna do the same thing" draco rambled.

" right so " and they both stopped talking waiting for the other one to speak up until they both did simultaneously

" whatever happened-"

" nothing happened-"

" let me, maybe it'd better ?" Harry asked after the dead silence and draco nodded.

" nothing really happened that night.. we were just caught up in the moment and there's obviously no feelings involved so it shouldn't be this awkward right. Besides you're with theo now so " harry pressed his lips in thin losing his vocabulary to further go on.

Sensing harry had come to a stop draco nodded vigorously " of couse, yeah, totally agreed "

" then we're sorted, that's cool " harry raised his shoulders

" definitely " draco nodded.

" good. I'll be going then. I- well I have nothing to do but I should wind up downstairs " harry pressed his lips in thin line, earning no response and finally turning to walk away.

" harry- wait "

" what ?" Harry asked as he turned around to see a restless draco.

" there's" he breathed " there's at least something involved. I don't know what or how or when but it's just there. It's something which only comes sometimes or maybe it was always there but I never really realised but Its there, like I can feel, not with theo of course if you're worried about that, it's you, like that night when nothing happened, on technicality of course nothing happened but something did and i don't know what-"

" I like you too " harry chuckled, interjecting draco's ramble holding his arm.

Draco released a heavy breath before he rested his head against harry's shoulder and waited for his breathing to get back to normal.

" merlin thank you do or I would've flipped out "

" you were already flipping out draco " harry chuckled holding draco by his waist now..

" well, I mean-"

" shush " harry whispered cupping draco's face and pressing their foreheads together.

" all the questions and answer can wait till after this "

"may I ? harry whispered and draco nodded and Harry cupped draco's face and kissed him softly, letting his consciousness subdue in the pleasure and pulling draco closer to him.

It doesn't matter for how Long they kissed or for how less they kissed, they focused on the breathlessness and the need to keep kissing but they did break it away only to kiss again as of their life depended on it, maybe it did, they didn't know but the answers Could've waited for after this and the questions Could've waited for after the answers. It was their moment and the holocaust could've happened, they still wouldn't had broken away from their blissful moment.

300 followers appreciation dialogue Prompt requests open

notice : MASTER LIST 2 IS IN PROGRESS ( out in a few days

I honestly don't like this one. Thank you for bearing with me

Angst prompt requests open

[chamomileteainabuttercup]

For the ask game

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

thank you!

🦅 I mentally outline fics in the form of daydreaming about them for a couple of days until I want to write them down. This is not very effective but there's only so much a woman can fight her own brain, especially for something I'm doing just for fun. On rare occasions I have managed to bullet-point the key details of a scene or interaction but I tend to be thinking about these things when I can't write (eg driving in the car) and then when I can write, well, I want to just write what I've thought about. I never have a plan for an entire plot and the few fics I've finished, I only thought of a satisfactory way to end them by happy chance. So it's mostly a pants thing.

I run out of steam on longer fics because the comments die off and they're such a huge part of what stimulates the development of the story in my mind, plus the feeling that no one is paying attention any more. I don't regard this as some injustice or insult, nobody owes me the response I would enjoy, it's just clear that what I'm putting out is not getting picked up and the energy I have for that idea fades. Then another one comes along. I don't know whether outlining and having a conclusion planned would change or fix this but for the above-mentioned reasons I don't think I can pull it off anyway.

👀 The only things I have officially "in progress" (as opposed to tacitly abandoned like Just Business, Nothing Personal, alas) are Wrought Iron, the Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett Bobadincobb farrier domestic AU (and I know my steam on that is getting low which is sad, it might end up in the abandoned pile) and the Stranger Things 4 Steddie fix-it canon divergence which I called Rock Steady only because I couldn't think of a title and defaulted to a pun. I've been really enjoying writing that but it has only one posted chapter so far with very little engagement (it's been up a week or so and has 168 hits) so I suspect it's not what many people reading that ship want, or it's too much the same as what lots of people are writing - Eddie Munson survives his injuries, the ending of ST4 is softened (for Max's sake if no one else!), Eddie and my dearly beloved Steve Harrington have the opportunity for the undercurrent of attraction between them to develop.

Two cakes, yes, but there can be a glut on the market of a particular flavour of cake. Elements of people getting their lives back together following a disaster, a tight friend group expanding/absorbing a new member, recovering from the physical and mental trauma of a near-death adventure, learning which after-effects will heal and which are just a part of life now, supporting each other and growing closer, teenage/young adult starting independent life/failing to launch goofiness, internalised homophobia causing hesitation, panic and will-they-won't-they, and also intermittently worrying about maybe becoming some sort of vampire.

A theme that I wasn't expecting it to develop but that I think follows from what we've seen in the show, ever since in ST2 we saw that even before Dustin picked on him for help, Steve was still carrying the bat with nails in it in the trunk of his car, is Steve's sense that what he may want to do with his life is limited by the need to stay at his post, as it were, and be a guardian. If your life is developing into a vigil against a villain you can never be sure is vanquished, how do you look to the future?

🤩 Whoever I'm writing currently, really! I regularly switch POVs in romantic/smut fics because it's satisfying to know what both/all sides are thinking, particularly when neither is sure what the other is thinking and both are inwardly freaking out about it. In the current WIP, Eddie is great fun because he's a weird nerdy bogan with an off-colour sense of humour, and Steve is a little bit more of a challenge because of the delicate balance of depicting his intellect. Steve's kinda dumb, Steve doesn't think he's dumb which is part of his dumbness, Steve does nevertheless have common sense and is gradually becoming more introspective. I love him a lot so it's hard to do him justice, and I want to show him a good time.

[cblgblog]

what do you think of howard stark?

cause i see a lot of people saying he’s abusive and shit (talking about mcu rn) and like,, emotionally distant maybe but abusive? idk seems a big stretch

I think at least some of these people get it from an Iron Man prequel comic that was meant to count as MCU stuff at the time. There’s a bit where Howard grabs him and shakes him and flips out at a young Tony over something stupid. Which is very much not his characterization ever again, bar that one thing that was written back before 95% of the MCU was written. Plus, basically all those early MCU tie-in books have stuff that contradict actual canon.

But yeah, I think Howard is very much exemplified by that bit in IM 2 where Tony is messing with something in the lab, wanting to be near Howard. Dude doesn’t scream at him or hit him, he’s just annoyed and calls for Maria to take him away.

To be clear, that’s not great parenting. It’s not really good parenting. I don’t think Howard had it in him to be the father he talks about wanting to be in the EG time travel bit. I think he maybe liked the idea of having a kid at one point, and he had good intentions, but he either couldn’t put the work in, or didn’t want to.

As you say, he doesn’t strike me as abusive, not in the way some stans mean it. He says some dickish things to Tony, I’m sure. You see shades of it in CW, his sarcastic little, “you’ll be a great man someday,” to Tony. I think he was more of an asshole than he realized, and he was always caught up in SHIELD, his inventions, his company, whatever, and he wasn’t there enough for Tony. I think in that sense, his resentment of the guy is justified, and worth talking about in therapy.

But all the stans who cite abuse? There aren’t examples in those posts because there’s none to cite, unless you bring up that tie-iin book that’s old and contradicts all other characterization. 

Was he a good father? Eh, not really. Did he love his son? I believe he did, but again, he was too wrapped up in his own stuff to show him. Even Tony says in that same CW scene that he knows Howard did the best he could. Was that enough? Not really, and Tony did deserve better, frankly, because every kid does, but Howard is by no means the sociopath child abuser some stans like to portray him as.

Howard’s one of the better dads by MCU standards, frankly. Peter Quill’s dad literally tried to kill him, Bruce’s dad in the comics was actually the abusive sociopath Howard gets painted as. T’Chakka was pretty great except that whole abandoning his nephew and leaving T’Challa to deal with the fallout thing hapoened. Gamora’s dad literally killed her, I could go on but I already made a post about it so.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

@headspacedad

First of all thank you so much!!! Ngl creepy and dark really arent my strongest strengths so this genuinely means a lot to me. I just am really really fascinated with idea of the scars remaining. The Empire ruled the universe for 10,000 years, our written history is younger than that, humanity was still living in caves during that time. Like? That is genuinely a lot of time for nothing but war and colonization and suffering and genocide. Pain like that can not be ignored, whether it be in the shape of empty planets with long forgotten pasts, ruins still intact and abandoned and forgotten, or corpses of every being from the sentient species to the wildlife, of the plants and insects even the microorganisms like bacteria that causes the bodies to rot who died when their planet was destroyed.

(And just imagine Coran who is the only person alive who was there 10000 years ago when Altea was destroyed. Imagine him setting foot and seeing Altea in any of the above three states, each equally as devastating and horrifying as the other. Coran is an old man who has outlived his family and his friends and his people and his planet and his daughter figure and knowing how little humans live compared to Alteans, he's going to outlive his human friends too)

Second of all, agreed on Monsantos saying crap things in interviews, and i dont know if it is me and Monsantos being completely different people, because honestly? So much of the characterization, ideas, and concepts that interest me the most in vld are the ones that were never really explored, written on accident, or just werent supposed to interpretated the way i interpret them

Like for eg, Hunk, one of the first things that stood out to me about him was that yeah he is kind and he is nervous, but also he doesnt trust anyone he doesnt know easily (he didnt initially trust the lions, that episode with Rolo) And he can be insensitive (Keith Galra reveal and him making fun of Lance's very very serious crush on Allura) and also has a tendency to disregard personal space. Now the last bit i know wasnt really meant to be Hunk scene as much as it was to set up Pidge's backstory, because if it were it would have come up.

But the point is when i look at this i see an actually a complex and interesting character who is very much more than a fatphobic comic relief and gentle giant than he was portrayed as, and someone who could have had a much bigger role in the story he was given (i for one think it should have been him who should have had discovered Lotor's truth and it should have happened because he never trusted Lotor and so decided to investigate him. Seriously are you telling me he went all "Yeah, he's cool, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" about a guy who has tried to murder the team multiple times? Like i am sorry but even Lotor had a plot armour almost as thick as Keith)

Similarly i am very interested why different aliens cultures seem to have different types of quintessence magic despite the source being same, and why humans who despite living in that universe dont seem to have any inclination towards quintessence (something that seems to be life itself), and how would it look if they Were able to use it.

I am interested in Zarkon who says he loved Honerva, says he did all of this for Honerva, maybe even did love Honerva or atleast believed himself to love Honerva, but also let her do experiments that were clearly killing her and than proceed to lie to her about her own identity for 10,000 years because this gave him power and control

I am interested in the Space Whale and the altean colony and how it showed Keith future and how it means it most likely also shown Lotor future as well. Are Lotor's actions a result of some future he saw? A danger he decided needed sacrifices to prevent only to lead to his doom in a Greek Tragedy style? Could he have seen Honerva's rampage or is there another danger that has yet to come? (Also there's very likely chance that all the Alteans with Mark of Chosen are dead. It seems to be a genetic thing and Lotor went for all the Alteans with high quintessence which is linked to the Mark of Chosen. Soooo yeah. Oriadne if it was revived is very likely closed for good)

And just so many things i could go on about that interest me but clearly didnt interest the EPs. Maybe they didnt do it cause they didnt have the time to explore them (this show did 8 seasons in 2 years after all) maybe they didnt do it cause they simply werent interested in it. But yeah i am paying close attention to Monsantos ideas cause so many of them can be good, but also simply do not care for what they have actually do have to say.

Ok so i dont particularly care about what monsantos have to say about vld especially after it ended but i still think about LM saying Allura only brought back those who died during Haggar's tantrum and "planets which died before their time and not the life on it" (or along those lines. I think it was in the interview after the show ended? Someone made a post detailing it). Like i dont know about you all, but i found the idea absolutely fascinating in a morbid way.

Cause like maybe they come back as completely empty. The planets and their landmasses come back intact, rejuvinated, but not even a whisper of the lives that once lived. The planets are back but they lay bare, even the memory of life upon it now long dead. They have potential to nourish life, but what is the point? When there is no life, no beings to be nourished. These planets came back empty shells, with their children long dead and forgotten.

Or maybe they come back as they died. Maybe their soil is deep and rich, only in the way forest soil can be, maybe there are islands made up of what used to be bones of corals. Maybe there are well trodden paths, leveled lands, diverted rivers, and mined grounds. Maybe there are empty buildings, unused roads, abandoned items of every day use, each telling a story of life that once lived but the pages are long torn and the pictures have faded. Planets which were scarred and loved by the unique life that lived on it, but the beings that did that have long since been dead. These planets come back as ruins, still haunted by its inhabitants.

Or maybe (and i am going full SCP 2935 here) the life does come back, but dead. They had been dead for thousands of years but now there are bodies here waiting to be buried. They do not rot, because decay itself needs life and everything on that planet is dead and has been dead for a long time. Frozen in time, to see them is to come face to face with the devastation brought, because it is much harder to deny personhood of a fresh corpse, than of stories and ruins and fossils. No one is left to mourn them, to remember them, to hold a funereal because everyone that could died with them. These planets come back as graveyards and memorials, holding the grim proof of what was taken from them.

[lilyofthesword-writes]

The Deal (The Mandalorian Oneshot)

Summary: You work as a mechanic and part time mercenary (when required) for Ran and his crew. Ran forces you on one more mission with an old Mandalorian “friend” alongside Mayfeld, Burg, Xi’an and Zero.

Pairing: The Mandalorian/Din Djarin x Reader

Word Count: 3,220

Warnings/Disclaimers: Some violence, mentions of past injury

A/N: Takes place during The Prisoner. There will probably be a follow up piece at some point. I need to decide which direction to go in first.

Masterlist

You had just set down your soldering iron, having almost finished with an incapacitated droid’s wiring, when a pre-Empire ship landed in the the docking bay. Was this the “old friend” Ran had mentioned with a suspiciously sly grin? Part of you hoped so. This guy was supposed to be your ticket out of here. At least... If everything goes according to plan.

Pulling off your gloves, you swiped away the sweaty hairs sticking to your forehead before moving to the nearby lockers for your armor. Now that the esteemed guest was here, you might as well get ready. You didn’t have much armor-wise but it was enough to protect your chest and back. Being the newest member of the crew, they had not afforded you much to work with.

Now suited up, you attached your blaster to your hip and hid a vibroblade in your boot. When you turned back to face the ship, the ramp was down and Ran was walking vaguely in your direction with a Mandalorian at his side. Wait... A Mandalorian?! Ran had failed to mention that part.

They stopped by Mayfeld first for introductions with you being called over shortly after Mayfeld made his typically dumb comments. You offered a handshake to the Mandalorian while giving your name.

He hesitated momentarily before taking your hand in a solid grip. “Call me ‘Mando’.”

You nodded resolutely. Man of few words. You could work with that. It was certainly better than Mayfeld never shutting up.

Then, Burg found his way to your group, making mention of how he expected Mandalorians to be bigger. And finally there was Xi’an. She started in her typical psychotic fashion with one of her knives to Mando’s clothed throat. He didn’t even flinch having obviously already met, something else you had to learn on your own. Apparently, this Mando had run with Ran’s crew years ago. Just from this meeting, you wondered what changed. The current Mando just didn’t seem the type.

During the whole exchange, you kept quiet off to the side, trying not to roll your eyes or shake your head. Your “teammates” were being assholes again, and you wanted no part of it. Though Mando’s helmet faced the others, you could feel his gaze on you. Being a part of all of this... Yeah, he had no reason to trust you.

As the group meandered to the ship you now knew as the Razor Crest, you fell to the back and made yourself as small as possible so as not to attract their attention. Mando was the only one to notice, fading away from the crew to fall in line with you.

“What’s someone like you doing with them, Mesh’la?” he asked in a hushed tone.

Mesh’la? What does that word mean? You just shrugged, keeping your gaze straight ahead. Burg may have said he was small, but to you he was tall and imposing, especially when he was so close to your side. “I don’t have much choice. I owe them.”

His helmet tilted to the side, silently asking you to continue. Why does he care? Shaking your head, you sped up your gait and climbed the ramp.

Once your little rag-tag group plus the droid Zero settled aboard the ship, you took a moment to lean back on the wall and close your eyes. It was one of the ways you calmed your nerves. With Zero plugged into the system, Mando climbed down the cockpit, joining the rest of you in the hull. Then, the “fun” began.

“Let’s see your face, Mandalorian,” Burg started in along with Mayfeld.

You pinched the bridge of your nose, sighing quietly but still with plenty of exasperation. This was Mando’s ship, and they had the nerve to harass him about his helmet. “Are we really doing this right now?” you muttered under your breath.

Xi’an called your name in a poisonously sweet tone, “Dear, keep your mouth shut.”

Guess she managed to hear you over all the noise. Maker, you really did not like her. She was always on your case about something, trying to make your life harder than necessary.

The boys continued egging Mando on, Burg going so far as to get physical to force the helmet off. In the scuffle, they managed to hit a button for a compartment in the far wall, causing it to swish open and reveal both the cutest and strangest little creature you had ever seen.

Mayfeld picked it up and held it out where you were able to get a better look. Its bright brown eyes enraptured you immediately, and stars, you wanted to pet those big ol’ ears. Its oversized robe that it was swaddled in tied together the whole aesthetic. It hadn’t even been five minutes, and you would give your life for this child.

Then, the former Empire lackey had to start screwing around. Mando visibly tensed underneath all that armor like he was ready to rip Mayfeld apart if anything happened to the kid. It was when he pretended he was going to drop the little one that you broke. Pushing yourself off the wall, you gently snatched the kid away into your arms, one hand holding his head protectively.

“Kriff, what is wrong with you?!” You tenderly stroked the child’s head. He happily cooed at you, reaching for your face. “You may be a merc, but there are lines that should not be crossed!”

The entirety of the hull was stunned into silence at your outburst, including yourself. You usually kept to yourself, only speaking when spoken to, but you were fuming now.

As you faced Mando to return the kid, Zero announced an immediate drop from hyperspace. Tousled and sent to the floor, you somehow swiveled yourself just enough to keep from squishing the child, landing hard on your shoulder blade. The Razor Crest violently docked on the prisoner ship, preventing you from sitting up to check on the kid. The instant the vibrations ceased, you found yourself being pulled up to your feet.

“Thanks, Mando.” Cute baby babbling attracted your attention. “You good, Little Green?”

He squeaked, pleased with his new nickname. His clawed fingers clutched your chest armor. Had you not been wearing your armor, he probably would have left little holes in your shirt with how tightly his claws clung to you. You gingerly pried him off, and passed him to Mando, earning you one solid nod. He placed the kid back in the sleeping compartment, safely shutting him inside when he was comfortable.

After making sure the hatch was correctly attached to the prisoner ship, Mando returned to your side. His stance made it clear he was not going first. That was Mayfeld’s job anyways. You usually were somewhere in the middle when it came to scoping out a new environment, so you stood by waiting for your turn. Once Burg was down, you started towards the hatch, but you were harshly shoved to the side and knocked into Mando.

“Oh, sorry, Sweetie. Didn’t see you there.” Xi’an’s lips curled into a predatory grin.

You gave her no reaction, not wanting to add fuel to the fire. You waited for her to disappear down the hatch before shaking your head with a sigh.

“Hasn’t changed a bit,” Mando muttered.

You shrugged with a light laugh. “People like her probably don’t want to.”

With that, you slid down the ladder.

Of course there had to be a shootout. Your group had run into a set of security droids, their fire pinning you down in the hall. Firing a couple of shots, you turned to Mando but only caught a glimpse of his cloak swishing around the corner. Kriff! Where’s he running off to?

It was only when he was completely out of sight that the others noticed, Mayfeld griping about him abandoning them. You continued shooting at the droids, not doing a very good job of aiming from your position. Cautiously poking your head out to get a better idea of where they were, you saw Mando standing proudly behind the droids. As though for dramatic effect, he paused before extending the blade to the knife he was holding. The way he did it with such confidence... Okay, kinda hot.

Stuck in a trance, you could only crouch there and watch as Mando radiated grace and power, slicing through the droids like a whirlwind. And you had to admit the unexpected flamethrower was a nice touch at the end. What other weapons did he have at his disposal?

With the droids out of the picture permanently, you gathered yourselves and made for the control room where a rather sad, unimpressive New Republic officer sat quivering. Mayfeld immediately teased and threatened the poor guy, though you were pretty sure he was more terrified of Mando’s presence than Mayfeld’s word vomiting. The officer held up a remote that could call in the authorities who would destroy the ship. Having had enough, Mando stepped in to calm the situation. However, your soft breath of relief was short lived. Mayfeld brandished his blasters, aiming them at the officer. Mando set his firearm’s sight on the ex-Imp who returned the favor.

“We don’t have time for this,” you scowled and raised your blaster at Mayfeld. “Let’s just get what we need and go!”

“You know, I liked you better when you didn’t speak,” he spat. “And what, you’re on his side now?”

Mando almost imperceptibly inched his way to place himself more in between you and Mayfeld.

“And I liked you since never. So there’s that,” you snarked, keeping your firearm trained on him. “Mando’s right. No one needs to die.”

You caught a glimpse of hope in the officer’s eyes that was immediately snuffed out with one of Xi’an’s throwing knives. No one appreciated that move, especially since it caused the remote had been accidentally activated. Finding the cell number, you all ran from the room and down the alarm-ridden halls, Burg using his raw strength to pummel and throw a couple of large, black droids housing heavy artillery along the way. Reaching the target’s cell was easy after that.

When the cell door opened, you did not expect to see a male Twi’lek. Then again, you didn’t know what you were expecting to begin with. Qin, as you quickly learned, was Xi’an’s brother and Mando’s former ally from when he worked for Ran. Before you had time to comprehend everything, Burg was shoving Mando into the cell. You reached out for his arm to pull him back out before it was too late, but wound up on the floor next to him.

Xi’an’s lips turned upwards into a sneer and peered at you through the opening in the door, making it clear she was the one you threw you in.

“Guess this is goodbye, Sweetie. Just so you know, I always hated you being around,” she hissed with a grin.

“Tch. At least the feeling is mutual,” you growled back and sat up. How did anyone put up with her?

Before running off, they shot a blaster into the cell. Mando pulled you underneath him, wrapping around you so his beskar could shield you both from the laser blast loudly bouncing off the walls. When the sound ceased, Mando lifted his head tentatively just to be sure the blast had dissipated. He lifted his weight off of you, and helped you to your feet.

“You alright, Mesh’la?” There was that word, again.

His hand lingered on your shoulder just a moment longer than it should.

You nodded with a frown. “Other than being pissed at those guys for locking us in here, I’m fine.”

A light squeeze to your shoulder and he released you, checking out the opening at the top of the door. He let out a frustrated sigh. There wasn’t much time to get back to the Razor Crest, and if you did manage to get out, you’d have to make it back before the others did. Things were not looking very good.

You leaned against the wall, closing your eyes to think. “This was supposed to be an unmanned vessel, right?”

Mando rotated on his heel to look at you. “Yes.”

“So then the droids are the ones who can open the doors.”

“Yes...”

His head snapped back to the door, hearing a droid marching down the hall. It was like he read your mind. You were about to ask him if he had anything that could trap a droid when a grappling wire shot out from his vambrace, wrapping around a security droid and dragging it to the door. He proceeded to drop the droid while keeping its dismembered arm which he used to open the door.

“Damn, you’re good.” You had to keep your jaw from dropping.

With a cocky head tilt, he ushered you out of the cell and back to the control room where Mando hit the right switches to close specific doors, splitting up the four mercenaries. Rats in a maze.

Burg was the first combatant. He had gotten to the control room where you and Mando ambushed him. While the win did go to you two, damn it hurt being slammed into the ground like that. After that, Mando had you head straight for the ship to take care of Zero while he focused on the others. Unfortunately for you, you ran into Qin just as you were about to climb the ladder.

“Aww, how cute. You abandoned your little Mandalorian to get out of here alive,” Qin cooed menacingly.

You whipped around with your blaster in hand, clicking the safety off. “If that’s what you want to think, fine.” Your lips pressed together in a fine line.

“Now, now, Sweetheart.” He kept coming towards you slowly as though trying to make himself seem docile. “How about this? You and me leave together. We live and you get whatever reward Ran has for you.”

“If you’re anything like your sister,” you scoffed, “then I’d be better off leaving you for dead here. Now stand down.”

He chuckled, “How can I stand down when I’m unarmed, Sweetheart?”

Hearing that pet name from his mouth made your skin crawl. You wanted to get away from him as fast as possible, but you’d never make it up the ladder in time nor would you be able to run past him. You could just shoot and he would never bother you again, but you really did not want to kill anyone. You had gone the past few years as a temp merc without having to commit such an act. Sure, you hurt people but you could never bring yourself to cross that line. It still made you sick just leaving a bruise on someone.

Qin could feel your reluctance and kept slinking closer. You needed to do something. If he made it within arms reach, he would attack and you could possibly lose your gun, your advantage, in the scuffle. While you were scrappy, your physical strength could be easily overpowered. Thankfully, you didn’t have to worry too much about that.

Mando rounded the corner silently (how in all that armor you will never know) and now had his blaster pressed against the back of Qin’s head.

“Unarmed but still a threat,” Mando snarled through his modulator.

Qin froze on the spot. “Mando... Good to see you, again...” He nervously laughed.

Mando did not say a word. He grabbed Qin by the arm, forcing him to turn around so his back was to you while being cuffed.

“You killed them, didn’t you?” Qin asked quietly.

“They got what they deserved.”

Back on the Razor Crest, you sat in the copilot seat to Mando’s left while Qin, who was not allowed out of anyone’s site, sat to the right. Just before Mando jumped into hyperspace, the child appeared next to you, tugging on your pants. He practically clambered up your leg to settle himself in your lap, much to Mando’s chagrin.

“Hey, Little Green,” you whispered, bouncing the cutie on your leg.

With hyperspace, came a comfortable silence. You were lucky Qin decided to keep his mouth shut. He was technically still a prisoner.

“I used to be a mechanic on Coruscant,” you started.

The pilot seat swiveled just enough for you to know Mando was listening, his helmet titled curiously.

“You wanted to know how I ended up on Ran’s crew, right?”

He nodded for you to continue. In the corner of your eye, you saw Qin pretending not to pay attention.

“Because Ran and his crew started up a shootout with a rival merc group, I was shot and bleeding out. He did help me but apparently saving my life after being the cause in the first place wasn’t a fair trade to him. I wasn’t in my right mind to argue...”

Qin just smirked knowingly. After getting to know Ran, it wasn’t uncommon for him to pull stunts like that. He always got what he wanted.

Mando turned to fully face you as you looked away to rub the little one’s ear who contentedly babbled and played with the fingers of your free hand.

“Is there any way out of the deal?”

You shrugged. “This was it. If I helped retrieve the target,” you paused to glare at Qin, “then Ran would consider the deal fulfilled.”

“Then, you’re done.”

You sighed heavily. “I hope so. Pretty sure he won’t be too happy about losing three members while only gaining one.”

A chuckle snuck through his modulator. “You let me worry about that, Mesh’la.”

Qin sauntered down the ramp first, happily greeting Ran. Mando followed shortly after, placing himself in front of you.

“Where are the others?” Ran frowned.

Mando straightened his stance more, if that were even possible. “No questions, right?”

“Right...” Ran’s gaze focused on you as he said your name. “Got some more droids that need fixing.”

Taking a deep breath, you attempted to not grind your teeth. “That wasn’t the deal.”

“Yeah, well you lost crew members.”

Mando shifted to block Ran’s view. “The target has been retrieved and delivered. The deal is complete.”

He definitively turned his back on Ran, his cloak flourishing behind him. It had a very “I have spoken” vibe. Mando nodded for you to return to the ship. You registered Ran folding his arms like he was angrily pouting before walking off with Qin.

Back in the cockpit, the kid crawled his way back into your lap during take off.

Mando tilted his helmet in your direction. “Was there anything of importance to you on the station?”

“No... All I have are the clothes on my back.”

“Good.”

That was when the X-Wings dropped in and fired at the merc station, explosions lighting up the area.

“You brought that remote with you...”

Mando hummed in response.

“Nice.”

The Razor Crest jumped into hyperspace and fell into another contemplative silence. Now you could appreciate the way the blue and white lights whizzing past reflected off Mando’s beskar. It was almost ethereal. As if on queue, he spun the pilot’s seat around.

“So. Need a job?”

You smirked lopsidedly as the child took one of your fingers in his tiny hands. “Why? You got any openings?”

[99liners]

hi author! Kesi hain aap? :p

I'm in love love with nodus tollens and also the fact that both characters are very well written<3 both characters are charming yet have flaws. How their issues impact their decisions sm. Rei with her abandonment issues and low self esteem caused her to stay w jimin even tho the man is 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

and pjm w his serious unresolved conficts and insecurities which made him so manipulative and over bearing + his constant need for validation from rei(sir u need therapy) the way you made me love and hate his character at the same time ma'am- ur incredible.

I was wondering if we could get a scenario related to pjm's chereography and work, and rei gets involved. Eg as a choreographer has to teach a couple's dance so he brings rei along to the studio and they do that together. that would be so so wholesome+ i can imagine him swooning over her when she dances.

oh, i am good. you know — young, hot and afflicted with low to moderate back pain.

what a day to be alive, two asks about nodus tollens. mhm, manifesting works xD

bbs, you flatter me really. thank YOU so much for reading and enjoying it. nothing brings a writer more joy than to see that the readers read between the lines and understood the implied nuances too. 💙💙💙 best feeling ever 💙💙💙

right in front of my dal chawal? 😂😂😂😂😂 who makes these???? why???? 😂😂😂 whoever makes this, i hope you know you are a menace to the society 😂😂😂

and the part about the request,,, okay this is creepy because back then nodus tollens used to be just a draft and i hadn't written shit for it,,, i was still wondering what the OC's character would be like, what would be her profession and for a second i was debating about making her a dancer too, preferably, jimin's student. howbeit, the student-teacher thingy was reserved for adronitis so i dropped that idea but what you have mentioned is eerily similar to what i had in mind for a scene 🤡🤡🤡 i don't understand this. is someone recording me when i sleep talk?

on a different note, i would love to write it but you know the drill, nothing before liberosis is finished.