#I have no data or proof but it’s true

[olivers-cocoapuffs]

The marauders would love the Hilltop Hoods

[lilgynt]

okayyyyyyyyyy got lost for 3 plus hours with half a tank of gas trying to find the closet rest stop to my work with shitty directions printed at the libaryyyyy staying with a friend tonight and then probably heading home to be talked into moving back tomorrow but aha i am the devil 

[saphronethaleph]

Longform Statistical Analysis

“Master Nu,” Windu said, with a smile. “It’s nice to see you in the Council Chambers once more.”

“Thank you,” the librarian replied, inclining her head. “Unfortunately, I bring dire news.”

“...you do?” Windu asked, worried now. “What kind of dire news?”

“Dire news coming out of the library is usually either trivial or an absolute disaster,” Ki-Adi-Mundi contributed. “Which is it, so we can decide how worried to be?”

“Quite possibly, both,” Nu told him. “To summarize… Masters, two years ago we discovered that the Sith were not extinct. With this in mind, I have been engaged on a long-term project – I evaluated data about the discovery, admittance, tenure and ultimate loss of every single Jedi for which we have data. Every one in our archives.”

“Now I understand why it took so long,” Even Piell said. “In fact, I credit your skills for taking so little time. That must have been… what, a thousand years… there are ten thousand knights now… hundreds of thousands of Jedi total?”

“Around that,” Nu confirmed. “But the problem is… this. This is the number of active Jedi at any one time, during the first hundred years after Ruusan.”

Her holoprojector activated, showing a kind of flow diagram made out of strands of light. Light yellow marked those newly discovered and accepted as initiates, green padawans, blue for knights and purple marked those who were masters. The tiny Order, wounded but triumphant in the years immediately after Ruusan, was reborn and swelled as it gained more members and those members it had reached greater degrees of Mastery.

“Two hundred years,” Nu went on, as the diagram swelled and zoomed out. The growth was slower now, harder to see on the same scale, but the Order pulsed in colours of green and blue and purple as the Golden Age of the Republic continued.

“...you said this was dire?” Adi Gallia asked.

“We’ll get there,” Nu said, accelerating the projection a little.

As it ran forwards, decade after decade passing by until it approached the present, Master Yaddle leaned forwards in her seat.

She wasn’t the only one. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but the Jedi Order – which had swelled to enormous, triumphant scale during the Golden Age – had begun to contract again.

By the time it reached the present day, it still possessed deep reserves of strength, but the colouring was… just a little different. The purple of Mastery was less common, though the blues and greens of Knighthood and Padawan were still fully present, and Nu manipulated her controls a bit more.

A second strand appeared, this one much thinner and more intermittent. And, as time tracked towards the present, it went from a shading of mostly blue hundreds of years ago to shades that were a little more green.

“This is the members of our Order who left our ranks due to their death,” Nu explained. “While the differences year-to-year are so minor that I would hesitate to describe them as meaningful, when given the long view and looked at in aggregate the effect is clear.”

She folded her arms. “The Sith faced by Knight Kenobi is the anomaly – an open Sith attack which makes no pretensions as to what they are. This is what I would call a true threat, Councillors. Not a single Sith who seeks to kill individual Jedi in a duel, but a centuries-long program of gradual, subtle, pervasive damage to the Jedi Order, chiefly through the loss of Padawans before they become Knights.”

“You think the Sith are behind this?” Ki-Adi-Mundi asked.

“Behind any given casualty?” Nu asked. “...no. I have no proof I could offer, though a detailed examination of the loss of any given Padawan may conclude that there was some other factor behind their death. Behind the whole pattern? I think it’s quite possible, Master Mundi. We know the Sith can plot and plan for something for a thousand years, and there are only two targets for such a plot that make any sense – ourselves, and the Republic.”

She met the gaze of each councillor in turn. “If this is not due to the Sith, my friends, then we must ask ourselves – what is? They have been doing something for ten centuries and we know nothing about it.”

After a slightly dismayed silence, Yoda tapped his gimmer stick on the floor.

“Much to think about, we have,” he said. “Master Nu – more to say, have you?”

“Yes,” Nu replied. “My presentation, I hope, serves as a reminder that the Sith did not appear out of nowhere two years ago. They have been doing things over the last thousand years, and it is quite possible that we have run into their machinations without identifying them as such… it would be a great mistake to generalize from the Sith defeated by Knight Kenobi.”

“...hmm,” Windu said, frowning. “During the interrogations of Nute Gunray. He said that his actions were based on a shadowy figure pressing him to get a treaty signed by Queen Amidala of the Naboo. That treaty would have benefitted the Trade Federation, but nobody else.”

“The wording of the treaty, benefit the Trade Federation, it would,” Yaddle said. “The existence of the treaty – benefit someone else, perhaps?”

In his office, Sheev Palpatine paused halfway through reading a law.

He had the strange feeling that he’d just been betrayed by his greatest ally. But that was nonsense, since the closet thing he had left to a true ally was paperwork…

[razztazzel]

Thought it would but cute to revisit this old au of mines and give it some lore!

I’m really passionate about this au specifically because I LOVE sci-fi like ALOT… so I might make a lot of content of it… OFC Helios planet will still be going on trust

Non filtered version + lore ⬇️⬇️⬇️

LORE!!!

All the toons are aliens!!! On a completely different planet (exoplanet) about 4.2 Light years away from earth. The company, C.V. inc. aka Cosmic View Incorporated labeled it “Proxima Centauri b” (Its a Genuine exoplanet that’s the closest known to earth it’s so cool) Let’s just say In this au, Earth is extremely Sci-FI like, reaching advances where it wouldn’t be really…. Possible as earth is now…

And so they developed travel though hyperspace (just to clarify, Hyperspace is a fictional concept and not based on current scientific understanding; it's often portrayed as a different dimension where normal space-time rules don't apply - google or something) and managed to land on Proxima Centauri b! The people traveling were highly advanced scientists and they were like, woahhh look at these little whimsical creatures!!! But only like 4 “handlers” went Cause it was still in development!!! So it was kind of a suicide mission to put it frankly

They didn’t die.. Thankfully!!! And they successfully made it back probably old and decrepit, just with a few aliens that totally weren’t kidnapped or anything (They done took the mains, Besides Zee(Vee) she didn’t exist on their planet since she’s a robot made by C.V. Inc.) Vee was made by the soon to be handlers in an attempt to collect direct data from the totally not kidnapped toons! Her emotions are 100% programmed but ran through an advanced ai that study’s the emotion of literally everything living that’s around her so her emotions can be pretty accurate to a certain degree before the robot part generally makes way, Her ai detects any subtle or visible emotion and collects data of it to train itself on how to process and express emotion, but she’ll never have TRUE emotion

Unlike original Vee they’re smart and makes her entirely water proof and very much heat resistant, Zee just cannot be Submerged in water. Anyway a group of.. more like.. scientists in like…training became handlers as a little hands on experiment for them since the owner of the entire thing was really really interested in the toons and wanted to be involved with data processing so she assigned newbies (ish) to be the handlers.. She herself handles Andy (Dandy)!

The toons are all kept in separate rooms similar to those of like experiments just less cruel, like SCP type shit but cooler and not evil… looking… trust trust… so they can be observed and have data recorded…Besides confinement they’re actually treated really well! Sprout learns to bake through his handler and generally enjoys it so he’s allowed to bake every now and then, Shelby (Shelly) gets loads of attention for being an alien bro does NOT wanna leave, Genesis Rock (Pebble) is treated like a legitimate dog gets walked and has play time even though since he’s a rock he probably doesn’t need it, but data is data, Andy hates it there they tried to feed him plant fertilizer once cause he resembles a flower..

Anyway Vee is the only one who’s not in confinement and is generally like a little bot helper for the company, YES!!! THE TOONS ARE ALLOWED TO ROAM!!! Those lovely creatures are not locked away… forever…

TOON TRIVIA

Andy(Dandy) Now has 4 arms!

Astro becomes spiderman ( Ok not really he just gets 6 arms and is constantly floating, Studies show that he cannot seem to stop..)

Shelby (Shelly) Is a mixture of an alienized fossil with a freaky chameleon, with more feral-ish aspects like protruding fangs and sharper hands compared to the others

Genesis (Pebble) can literally walk on air

sprouts hair is ALIVE do NOT cut it he will scream and he has awful fashion sense because refuses to take the scarf off because it was a gift from cosmo before being taken by weird tall things he didn’t know hashtag last thing he has from cosmo hashtag fruitcake angst hashtag NO MORE FRUITCAKE/j

Zee (Vee)is specifically meant to look similar to the alien toons, She doesn’t have a handler though the handlers like to let her wear a coat, they think it looks cute on her small frame…🫶🫶

Sprouts handler encourages sprout to wear the cute aprons they give him, he always refuses… one day.. one day..

Astro generally cannot stop floating, luckily for some reason gravity won’t allow him to float too high so he’s just chilling fr

I think I’ll call this au Cosmic Veiw incorporation /inc or to put it simply, Alien or space au for easy tagging

[tanadrin]

At the risk of sounding profoundly ignorant, is it possible that 'traditional' economic indicators aren't actually good indicators anymore?

This gets brought up a lot, perhaps as a way to achieve synthesis between the two sides of the argument, and while I understand the intuitive appeal, I don't think it works in practice. I think the term "economic indicators" maybe makes people think of very indirect measures that only loosely correlate with aggregate wellbeing. But what would it mean for numbers like "median real income" and "unemployment" and "labor force participation rate" and "household savings" and "household debt" to no longer be "good [economic] indicators"? How much money you are making (in real terms), how much debt you have, whether you have a job or not--these are, at least when it comes to mere material and economic matters of the sort we are trying to measure--among the most direct measurements we can make.

Yes, when we're talking about large data sets, these numbers will always be an aggregate, and will tell a story about general trends. A nation of hundreds of millions of people can be phenomenally prosperous, and still have millions who struggle. I think one reason Stancil gets pushback is because people imagine he is glib in the face of those millions who still struggle, but he isn't, really. And neither am I! But another contingent will fall back on the millions who still struggle as proof that things can't be good, as if aggregate increases in prosperity are somehow not real if they are not perfectly uniform, and I think that's wrong, too.

(There are narrower versions of this synthesis, like that rising house prices in particular somehow broke consumer sentiment, and I think that while stronger they also suffer from the problem of having some mysterious threshold effect that only kicked into gear in 2022, and they seem like a sort of ad-hoc modification that is still too wedded to the assumption that consumer sentiment must be absolutely reflective of real conditions. I don't think that's true. Aggregate opinion is wrong about a lot of things. Aggregate opinion of Republicans was already somewhat divorced from economic performance. Aggregate opinion on crime has always been wildly out of whack. Aggregate opinion on other issues can sometimes track real conditions and sometimes be totally insane. There is no reason why we must assume a priori aggregate opinion is always correct, except as a cudgel against our ideological opponents, and frankly I think it's much more interesting to ask why aggregate opinion might go off kilter.)

[mariacallous]

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has hailed the company's new Recall feature, which stores a history of your computer desktop and makes it available to AI for analysis, as “photographic memory” for your PC. Within the cybersecurity community, meanwhile, the notion of a tool that silently takes a screenshot of your desktop every five seconds has been hailed as a hacker's dream come true and the worst product idea in recent memory.

Now, security researchers have pointed out that even the one remaining security safeguard meant to protect that feature from exploitation can be trivially defeated.

Since Recall was first announced last month, the cybersecurity world has pointed out that if a hacker can install malicious software to gain a foothold on a target machine with the feature enabled, they can quickly gain access to the user's entire history stored by the function. The only barrier, it seemed, to that high-resolution view of a victim's entire life at the keyboard was that accessing Recall's data required administrator privileges on a user's machine. That meant malware without that higher-level privilege would trigger a permission pop-up, allowing users to prevent access, and that malware would also likely be blocked by default from accessing the data on most corporate machines.

Then on Wednesday, James Forshaw, a researcher with Google's Project Zero vulnerability research team, published an update to a blog post pointing out that he had found methods for accessing Recall data without administrator privileges—essentially stripping away even that last fig leaf of protection. “No admin required ;-)” the post concluded.

“Damn,” Forshaw added on Mastodon. “I really thought the Recall database security would at least be, you know, secure.”

Forshaw's blog post described two different techniques to bypass the administrator privilege requirement, both of which exploit ways of defeating a basic security function in Windows known as access control lists that determine which elements on a computer require which privileges to read and alter. One of Forshaw's methods exploits an exception to those control lists, temporarily impersonating a program on Windows machines called AIXHost.exe that can access even restricted databases. Another is even simpler: Forshaw points out that because the Recall data stored on a machine is considered to belong to the user, a hacker with the same privileges as the user could simply rewrite the access control lists on a target machine to grant themselves access to the full database.

That second, simpler bypass technique “is just mindblowing, to be honest,” says Alex Hagenah, a cybersecurity strategist and ethical hacker. Hagenah recently built a proof-of-concept hacker tool called TotalRecall designed to show that someone who gained access to a victim's machine with Recall could immediately siphon out all the user's history recorded by the feature. Hagenah's tool, however, still required that hackers find another way to gain administrator privileges through a so-called “privilege escalation” technique before his tool would work.

With Forshaw's technique, “you don’t need any privilege escalation, no pop-up, nothing,” says Hagenah. “This would make sense to implement in the tool for a bad guy.”

In fact, just an hour after speaking to WIRED about Forshaw's finding, Hagenah added the simpler of Forshaw's two techniques to his TotalRecall tool, then confirmed that the trick worked by accessing all the Recall history data stored on another user's machine for which he didn't have administrator access. “So simple and genius,” he wrote in a text to WIRED after testing the technique.

That confirmation removes one of the last arguments Recall's defenders have had against criticisms that the feature acts as, essentially, a piece of pre-installed spyware on a user's machine, ready to be exploited by any hacker who can gain a foothold on the device. “It makes your security very fragile, in the sense that anyone who penetrates your computer for even a second can get your whole history,” says Dave Aitel, the founder of the cybersecurity firm Immunity and a former NSA hacker. “Which is not something people want.”

For now, security researchers have been testing Recall in preview versions of the tool ahead of its expected launch later this month. Microsoft said it plans to integrate Recall on compatible Copilot+ PCs with the feature turned on by default. WIRED reached out to the company for comment on Forshaw's findings about Recall's security issues, but the company has yet to respond.

The revelation that hackers can exploit Recall without even using a separate privilege escalation technique only contributes further to the sense that the feature was rushed to market without a proper review from the company's cybersecurity team—despite the company's CEO Nadella proclaiming just last month that Microsoft would make security its first priority in every decision going forward. “You cannot convince me that Microsoft's security teams looked at this and said ‘that looks secure,’” says Jake Williams, a former NSA hacker and now the VP of R&D at the cybersecurity consultancy Hunter Strategy, where he says he's been asked by some of the firm's clients to test Recall's security before they add Microsoft devices that use it to their networks.

“As it stands now, it’s a security dumpster fire,” Williams says. “This is one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen from an enterprise security standpoint.”

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Okay, my one and only major complaint about Bad Batch is that I don't think they handled Tech's death properly (I still don't think they should have killed him off at all, but here we are; and even if they intend(ed) to leave things open-ended to maybe bring him back later, the titular characters in the show wouldn't have known that); and with all the reasons I've seen floating out there as to WHY Tech's death was handled the way it was and why the characters reacted the way they did (or didn't), I just want to explain why none of the "reasons" cut it for me. If you're satisfied with how Tech was handled in season 3, I am genuinely happy for you (and lowkey jealous, ngl 😉). I've just been thinking about this a lot and need to spell it out!

Reason #1: "Why do we need to see more of the characters mourning? What we got was enough. We don't need a 2 hour episode that's all about the characters grieving." (Yes, someone actually used "2 hours" in their argument.)

Let's recap what we got: 1) A scene where Echo looks sadly at the Marauder's pilot seat, Wrecker actually sheds some tears (bless him), Omega's in denial, and Hunter tells Omega they're going to retire on Pabu because Tech is gone... followed up almost immediately by the villain dropping off broken goggles as the only proof that Tech was ever on Eriadu; 2) a scene where the audience is shown Tech's goggles but Hunter doesn't interact with them- instead, he looks at Lula, proving that his driving motivation is recovering Omega (which is fine when taken from the perspective that he can't do anything about Tech, whereas he can do something for Omega; but that perspective is ultimately just headcanon because the show never reiterates or follows up on this); 3) Wrecker alluding to Tech (not by name) to try to convince Hunter to be more cautious; 4) Omega name-dropping Tech (wait, does Crosshair even know what happened?... yay for context clues, I guess); 5) Echo name-dropping Tech in relation to data decryption with the team looking down sadly for 5 seconds (I timed it) before Crosshair changes the subject; 6) Phee name-dropping Tech in relation to her not knowing what m-count is; 7) Crosshair referring to Tech's information on Ventress; 8) Omega leaving Tech's goggles in the Archeum with none of her brothers around (hot take: it kinda bothers me that the goggles are given the same treatment as Lula, I totally understand the context/deeper meaning of Omega leaving her childhood behind by leaving Lula, but we're talking about the one relic they have of their fallen and irreplaceable brother being given the same emotional weight as a doll); 9) Phee referring to Tech having a discussion with her about Crosshair while Tech's goggles are in the background (and, noticeably, Crosshair doesn't react at all and just changes the subject back to needing a ship); 10) Crosshair says the squad died with Tech, Wrecker says Tech understood the risks, and that's that.

So, what we got was enough to establish that the characters were sad in the immediate aftermath of Tech's death, that some of them may have stayed sad about it all through season 3, and that the show didn't completely forget that Tech had been a main character at one point.

What we DON'T get is any real reference to what Tech meant to the family as an individual and a brother, any real indication of how the loss of Tech (distinct from the mission to save Omega) influences his family's actions or the story's overall narrative, any actual acknowledgement in the show of Tech's sacrifice having any meaning or the family moving past grief to express any form of gratitude for Tech's presence and influence on their lives, any reference to Tech having a true impact on 4 of his 5 siblings (Omega is the closest we get to witnessing Tech's continued influence on any of his siblings and even seeing that involves squinting/head tilts at times)... in other words, we get a few minutes of sadness, but never any catharsis. We see they miss him, but never does this truly inform the narrative or their decisions in season 3, AND it's left frustratingly vague where the characters are in the grieving process (more on that later).

Besides, no one (that I have come across, at least) was ever asking for a 2 hour episode. At most, Kanan got a 22-minute "eulogy" episode, and most of us aren't even asking for that. I'd have been at least minimally satisfied with a "Mayday moment" for Tech - and that scene lasted a grand total of 20 seconds. What would have been more satisfying would have been the show taking all those superficial name drops and converting at least a few of them into meaningful mentions indicating what Tech means to his brothers and/or how he continues to have an influence on his family and/or how his sacrifice is a motivating factor for them.

Reason #2: "There was no time."

Leaving aside the fact that there was apparently plenty of time and opportunity to make Tech (among others) a red herring...

Let's assume that the showrunners were not only told they only had 1 season left to wrap everything up, but were given highly specific time allotments for each episode to where they weren't allowed to add any scenes (I highly doubt this is what happened, but we're rolling with the "no time" thing here). You know what you do in that scenario when you're talking about something like following up on a main character's death that clearly has left your entire fanbase in an uproar? You MAKE time: you trim down the action scenes, you make the characters walk a little bit faster, you decide whether an extended scene of Echo giving Omega a crossbow that is never going to show up again is actually worth saving (I actually like the scene, by the way; just giving an example), you cut out a few of the extremely vague lines of dialogue Fennec and Asajj indulge in. What you DON'T do is kill off a beloved main character and then rely on convenient time lapses/time skips to just brush over all the fallout apart from a few name drops that do nothing to establish just how important said character was to the other characters in the show.

What's more, they could have EASILY included some true closure with ANY of the Tech name-drops/scenes that were already in the show. Have Hunter look at Tech's goggles before looking beyond them at Lula in 3.02. Have the brothers be present with Omega when she decides to leave Tech's goggles in the Archeum in 3.11. Have any of the brothers say one meaningful line about Tech while they're otherwise silently basking in the sunshine in the end scene on Pabu in 3.15!

Reason #3: "They're soldiers."

Of all the reasons given for why Tech's death was mishandled, I dislike this one the most. What does CF99 being soldiers have to do with the aftermath of Tech's death being reduced to perfunctory allusions? (If you want to get into the argument that soldiers in general have to figure out a way to "move on" and The Clone Wars didn't really spend any time on the clones processing losses after battles, let me just say I don't care for how this topic is covered in The Clone Wars either, and Bad Batch was a golden opportunity for the Star Wars franchise to move past this unfortunate trope.) Fallen soldiers in real life get memorials/funerals too, even if it's months after the battle. Fallen soldiers are honored and remembered by their families and those closest to them. If the show is trying to push the stereotype that soldiers move on from tragic deaths of comrades by being "stoic" and holding it all in and never talking about it, I strongly disagree with the perpetuation of this stereotype; and if the characters as soldiers actually DID grieve Tech in a healthy way, why didn't the show depict it?

Reason #4: "Star Wars writers don't know how to write meaningful scenes/payoff regarding death and characters dealing with death/loss."

The Bad Batch writers proved time and again how brilliant they are at writing emotional storylines with maximum payoff. Case in point: Mayday. Enough said (I'm writing too much on this general topic as it is).

Reason #5: "They got over it."

Maybe I'm reading things wrong, but a rather drastic change in behavior for one character (going from cautious and weighing all risks, to reckless and jumping headfirst into situations without proper backup), and another character including Tech's death as just one reason why he "deserves" to go on a suicide mission, does not read to me as the characters "getting over it." It reads to me as "avoidance behavior" and "continued internal conflict." (Granted, Hunter's more reckless behavior in season 3 likely had as much to do with the Omega situation as it did Tech's death, but the point still stands. And if the point DOESN'T still stand, then I've got even MORE issues with how this plotline was handled, so we'll just keep assuming it does.)

Furthermore, if the characters had truly "gotten over it," there shouldn't have been any hesitation or issue with them discussing and honoring Tech in meaningful ways.

Reason #6: "They DIDN'T get over it."

Right, and we ended the show that way, with no clear resolution to them actually coming to terms with Tech's death and honoring his memory. Great.

Reason #7: "Whatever. It's good Tech stayed dead. Tech's sacrifice meant something."

... Did it? Did it really? I mean, I know I say quite frequently that Tech's sacrifice is what made the happy ending possible for the others (because that's the only thought that got me through a rewatch of season 3). But the show, the narrative itself, certainly doesn't act like it really meant anything. Hunter says in the season 2 finale that they "weren't going to waste Tech's sacrifice" because they were going to retire on Pabu... and that discussion promptly gets forgotten and never brought up again, not even when the squad is trying to stay off the Empire's radar in season 3 after Omega returns. Never is there any discussion that "not wasting Tech's sacrifice" by hiding on Pabu to make sure no one else dies (a very understandable reaction, of course) also goes against the very mission Tech pushed for in the first place: rescuing Crosshair. Never do we hear Omega tell Crosshair, "Tech didn't give up on you, I'm not giving up on you, that's why you ARE going to escape with me." Never is there any talk about "Tech wanted us to live and stay together, so that is what we are going to do." Never is there any acknowledgement at the end of the show that they are all going to live in peace on Pabu because Tech made sure they could live.

The last half of season 4 of Rebels is full of references to Kanan's sacrifice actually meaning something and having direct tangible consequences not only for the family but for Lothal and the Rebellion. For one thing, the show itself literally spells out that the mission to shut down the Imperial factories on Lothal was actually a success because all the fuel reserves were destroyed - Kanan had died, but the mission had succeeded and directly led to the success of the bigger mission to completely free Lothal, and while this is very poor consolation for the loss of Kanan, at least the show openly acknowledged it. Kanan and his influence is also openly credited for Ezra foiling Palpatine's plans with the Jedi Temple and the WBW, Ezra learning to let go and again disrupting Palpatine's plans in the finale, and doing what was needed to ensure Lothal was fully freed.

Imagine how different Rebels would be if Kanan's death had been treated like Tech's: no mention that his role on the mission had any impact whatsoever. No reference to Ezra or any other member of the Ghost crew living up to what Kanan had taught them all - or, at best, there's a perfunctory reference in the epilogue that Ezra decided to keep using the Force the way Kanan had taught him to. No depiction of Ezra or Hera or Sabine or Zeb accepting Kanan's death and letting go of the pain while holding on to the memories. Nothing to show that any of the Ghost crew members act in memory of Kanan or that he is a motivating influence on them. No indication that Kanan's sacrifice drives Ezra to decide to follow up on their initial success with the factories and ultimately completely drive the Empire from Lothal.

Rebels just wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling.

Now, imagine if Tech's death had been treated like Kanan's, and maybe it will become more clear why I have a REALLY hard time agreeing with the argument that the show itself actually depicted Tech's death as "meaning something."

[boinin]

Batten down the hatches: Rin's ego is about to land

The latest chapters show Rin playing with an unfamiliar aura: what looks like swirling rivulets of water.

This represents the refinement of his ego and playstyle since the under-20 match. But what exactly are they going for with the swirling water? Here's my two cents.

Rin is strongly associated with water, specifically the sea. He grew up by the coast; he and Sae shared a love of watching the sunset over the water after training together. Those childhood memories are turbulent now, like dark clouds on the ocean's horizon.

It's here he realises that he can no longer play the puppetmaster football that helped him thrive in Blue Lock. As good as he is, it wasn't authentic... and it's nowhere near where he needs to be to compete with his brother, or even Isagi.

Rin's flow state is the most unique out of any others we've seen. Let's dig into it. All panels are from the official translation, which is important as the translation choices are 1) consistent and 2) likely chosen carefully.

In the dying moments of the match, Rin complains about feeling restrained. Being Itoshi Rin is eating him alive.

Cool, calm and aloof.

A genius. Prodigy. Puppetmaster.

Team player. Team captain.

Isagi Yoichi's partner. Shidou Ryuusei's rival.

Itoshi Sae's little brother.

The prospect of defeat rudely wakes him up. His pretence comes crashing down hard, triggered by his ineffectiveness in spite of the teammates around him. It's one of the best rugpulls in sports manga.

When the power of friendship comes knocking, Itoshi Rin tells it to fuck off and die.

What a glorious moment... and not just because it posits Rin as a Uchiha Sasuke kinnie. I prompt you to examine his eyes in this panel.

They're a swirling vortex of hate and destruction, befitting Blue Lock's angstiest character. The shape reminds me of this:

Satellite images of Hurricane Franklin and Hurricane Idalia, August 2023. Image credit: NOAA Satellites.

Rin's true ego, which he unleashes against Sae, is a storm.

Optional soundtrack for the rest of this post (because Rin 100% listens to this once it comes out in Blue Lock's universe).

Although it isn't portrayed visually as such in the under-20 arc, the metaphor fits Rin's evolving playstyle. What is more destructive, more uncontrollable, more senseless than a hurricane? A violent force of nature that we can predict but never avert?

When a storm approaches, all we can do is rank it, track it, then attempt to mitigate the inevitable damage.

In football terms? Sounds a lot like playing Rin.

It's even alluded to in chapter 250: the graphics for Rin's formation are similar to the satellite images of large storms.

Within the U20 match, there are exchanges that support this theory. Darai calls Rin's evolving playstyle arrogant and avaricious. The latter (meaning extreme greed) is evocative of a force that pursues what it wants without regard for anything in its surroundings. What it can't have, it destroys.

Niou is confident enough in his physicality to try withstand his opponent's attrack. Rin literally flips him into the air. Niou's hubris brings to mind all man-made constructs which are supposedly storm-proof... until a cyclone comes along and proves otherwise.

The contrast between Rin and Sae's egos are interesting. If we accept Rin's is a storm, i.e. a destructive force of nature that cannot be controlled, Sae's is the opposite despite being as impossible to defy. Sae's motif is defined in the manga as "beautiful destruction", plays and passes depicted in graceful data strings. Rather than natural, his playstyle is sleek and controlled, and dominant to the point of appearing pre-ordained by his opponents.

Their attitudes are equally different. While Rin drools and loses composure in the final minutes, Sae does little more than raise his eyebrows throughout the entire game. He's completely emotionless.

It's the extremes of human nature: animalistic rage versus robotic detachment. This time, the latter wins. Will Rin have an opportunity to face his brother again, with a better grasp on his ego? Here's hoping.

My final thoughts on Rin are speculative. How does one beat a storm? Not just endure—but subdue and calm one?

It's beyond human capability. The ability to control the weather exists only in myth and fantasy, and even then it's usually in the hands of powerful entities, not mere heroes or wizards.

Subduing something as powerful as a hurricane would require a god.

Is this Isagi and Rin's endgame?

Time will tell.

[mythicalartistx]

How Riku has no idea that Riku means so much to Sora

An Analysis through mom

Riku has always been afraid of being forgotten and left behind by Sora. And this is how he is able get manipulated by Maleficent. She tells him his greatest fears, that Sora found new friends and doesn't care about him anymore. She gives him proof letting him watch Sora being silly and argue with Donald and Goofy.

But from day one as soon as Sora is separated, he wants to find Riku. All on his mind is finding Riku (and Kairi too) and when he finds Riku in Traverse Town he is happy and to make sure he isn't dreaming he goes up to him and pulls on his mouth.

Riku is glad he had found Sora and wants to continue to play the role of protector but when it seems Sora can handle himself he doesn't know where he is supposed to fit in. Sora has these new friends and now can handle himself, Riku is afraid of being forgotten.

But throughout kh1 Sora keeps trying to reason with Riku and it's important that his friend sees what's right. And when they close the door Riku tells Sora take care of Kairi.

COM

He doesn't exactly do that.... The first thing he does is wanting to find Riku. That's on his mind. He ventures through castle oblivion in hopes he can find Riku. And when he faces Repliku he is so happy even though his thoughts of trying to find Riku is almost replaced with Naminé.

This Repliku is bitter about that and upset even saying how Sora never care about that or cared about him (being Repliku). But Riku hates how he feels towards his friend and how he wants his friend still even though he believes Sora has forgotten about him saying, You always have wormed your way into my heart," and Sora is confused by this statement.

And once Naminé tells Repliku to stop and he falls back Sora is completely overwhelmed by what happened to Repliku and what did Naminé do to him. This scene is especially good in the novel where it shows Sora holding Repliku.

Later Repliku realizes how true Sora's feelings towards him are (how he cares for him as an individual not being a Riku) before leaving, still Sora is sad he is leaving and still wants to find him.

During Rebirth/Reverse when Repliku fades away into darkness he doesn't mind if he fades away but what he actually cares is that Sora remembers him. He doesn't want to get forgotten by Sora or get mixed up with the real Riku.

Kh2

Sora wakes up and forgets everything in Castle Oblivion and still has the same desire to find Riku. Throughout kh2 all on his mind is where is Riku, is he okay, I really miss him. And it's the most precious thing. He integrates Mickey about it and it isn't until Mickey accidentally slip up that Sora is so happy and jumps for joy.

Another time during land of the dragons when he finds out Riku been there he is excited because it meant he is okay and nearby. He didn't care that he might be with the organization, he just cares about Riku. During the novel, Sora talks about fighting Riku was so fun.

And finally when he actually sees him he goes on his knees crying because he misses him and is happy to finally be with Riku. In the novel he states how happy he is to be fighting by Riku's side and is just bashful about this.

Riku doesn't care that much about himself and thinks less of himself on why anyone would actually care for him. And is surprised when Sora helps him up and brings him through the dark world. He admits in the novel, he is sad Sora is there and didn't want him to fade into the darkness but is glad he isn't alone. Sora seems to precious and important to Riku that he doesn't believe he deserves his friendship.

He is afraid of being forgotten but he accepts that he might not be worth it and as long as Sora is happy that is all that matters. He doesn't realize how much Sora truly cares about himself. They come to the conclusion they both will be okay because they're together.

RC

Even though it's technically not them in recoded data Riku doesn't believe in his worth after how he messed up everything in the data worlds. Sora is sadden by how little he thinks of himself and thinks he is the only one trying to maintain their friendship.

When Data Sora hears him talking to him in the Olympus Coliseum worlds, he is glad to hear Riku's voice. Even when his keyblade gets destroyed Riku comes in and Sora is just happy that he is there. It means everything to him and he doesn't care that he has no way to fight, Sora was determined to save data Riku

BBS

Even ten years prior when Terra gave Riku the ability to wield a keyblade, Sora immediately wants to know about Riku. He wants to know who that man was and if he knew him. In BBS it has them both care for each other. Riku admit how important Sora is to him and wishes to get stronger to protect him while Sora blatantly tells Aqua he likes Riku, he is his best friend. He seems to want to do everything with him and wouldn't hesitate to help him from darkness.

When Ven goes to Sora's heart, Riku notices something is wrong and knows how to help him. Without questioning it, he takes his advice even if it is strange.

DDD

He goes through the exam because Riku felt like he needed to be tested, Sora didn't think either of them needed to. Sora really wanted to take the exam by his side and is a bit sad that Riku isn't there. However through his heart he feels connected to Riku and when things happen Sora knows Riku will be there.

Joshua asks Sora if he wants to give Riku a message, he tells him there's no need because he knows they will see each other soon. On Riku's side he goes through a personal journey of accepting himself despite everything he has done. He doesn't know if he deserves everyone but knows he is lucky to have Sora.

KH3

Riku still doesn't see the full extent to how much Sora cares about him. Sora just wants to be with him through out the entire game. He is constantly worried about Riku especially going into the dark world. Sora wants to join him. And once they lose connection with Riku, Sora is sad and is like see this is why I should have gone.

And since discovering the Gummiphone being able to talk to Riku, Sora constantly thinks about calling Riku and just telling Riku about how cool this place is, when they went to Fransankyoto.

Riku is surprised when Sora comes in to save him the the dark realm. He's glad he is there but doesn't think much of it. At the pre battle Riku doesn't think he means that much to Sora, he's just like any of his other friends. He talks to Repliku and allows Sora to spent time with Kairi.

However Sora is questioning why Riku is alone there and seems to want to spend time with him. Then Riku and Sora are the only ones left. Sora breaks down. Riku wants Sora's happiness beyond anything else and reassures him with his words something only Riku can do. He feels better but still Riku doesn't think his life is that important and sacrifices himself. The expression Sora makes during this scene tells you everything. Sora is hurt that Riku is too doing this.

Riku is extremely important to Sora that when trying to recover him, he is floating in Olympus like he is the most important person ever to Sora.

Riku doesn't believe he means much to Sora. He doesn't see how he's the one that Sora just wants to spend time with and searching for. He rather put Sora's happiness before his own and believes in Sora. He let him save Kairi because he believes in him and his own happiness.

Mom

Riku thought it was Kairi who meant so much to Sora. He didn't believe it was him who was supposed to find Sora. That's why he was so shocked when the fairy godmother told him his dreams were the key and it was him who was supposed to dive to the Quadratum by following Sora's heart.

He didn't realize how important he was to Sora. He kept being selfishly selfless about this. Until he realizes it was him. He is the key. And Riku means so much to Sora, but he doesn't realize how much.

This could be a deep friendship or possibly something more, but he's very important to Sora and Riku just needs to realize it...

[eretzyisrael]

by Jake Wallis Simons

Therefore, the number of women and children killed was likely grossly exaggerated. If that is the case – if, as Prof Wyner suggests, “the casualties are not overwhelmingly women and children, and the majority may be Hamas fighters” – where does that leave western outrage? Has the West fallen victim to a monstrous con?

The true ratio of civilian casualties to combatants is likely to be exceptionally low, “at most 1.4 to 1 and perhaps as low as 1 to 1”. This, Prof Wyner says, is a “successful effort to prevent unnecessary loss of life while fighting an implacable enemy that protects itself with civilians”.

By rights, if the central pillar of the anti-Israel edifice has been discredited, the whole structure should come tumbling down. But don’t hold your breath. The reason why Hamas’s dodgy data is so easily believed is confirmation bias. The drip-drip of Israelophobic propaganda over the years has created a powerful tendency to view the Jewish state, Britain’s democratic ally, as a colonialist aggressor and the Palestinians – even as they butcher children – as the “freedom fighters”. Regardless of the evidence, to many people this has become second nature.

It speaks of millennia of inherited anti-Semitism. A 2012 study by economists Nico Voigtländer and Hans-Joachim Voth found that Germans from towns where Jews were blamed for the Black Death and burnt alive in the 14th century were significantly more likely to vote for the Nazis 600 years later. In his 1945 essay, Orwell recalls a “young intellectual, communist or near-communist” remarking: “No, I do not like Jews. I’ve never made any secret of that. I can’t stick them. Mind you, I’m not anti-Semitic, of course.” Depressingly little has changed.

That is the advantage enjoyed by the jihadis of Gaza. They didn’t even need to keep their strategy a secret. Everyone knows they try to get civilians killed for propaganda gains, aiming to curtail Israeli operations with international outrage. Everyone knows that their censors keep dead terrorists away from the cameras, giving the world the impression that Israel is only attacking civilians (look up former AP reporter Matti Friedman’s seminal 2014 essay, “What the media gets wrong about Israel”, for a sense of how long such games have been played). A gang that murdered and mutilated babies may also, on occasion, be tempted to lie. So much should be obvious. But all this is smoothly eclipsed when a greater narrative is at work.

[batchilla]

Fata Morgana Chapter Three - A Choice Made

Roman Sionis, being of a family as old as your own, is a marvellous dancer. You can’t help but grant him that, at least. “You dance well.” You say to break the silence. “Easily done, with a partner as skilled and beautiful as yourself, Princess. Though you seemed a good deal happier dancing with the Captain.” You raise an eyebrow and take a breath as you move your shoulders in anticipation of the game, and how aggressively the Earl wishes to play it. Part of you is almost happy. You often scheme, play the innocent doe eyed ninny. To be openly called on your behaviour is thrilling as it is off putting.

“Captain Todd-Wayne is a dear friend. I imagine you, more than most of the gentry must have been thrilled by his return. You served with him at the Battle of Arkham did you not?” Roman tilts his head “I did not serve, my place was in the advisory tent. But yes, we indeed were both present on that glorious day.” “A day that served you most … auspiciously then, as a man who never took up the sword.” As your partner waltzes you around the room in a twirling pattern with your fellow dancers, he laughs, deep and from the chest. “Indeed I did. Though I do try not to brag about it. Pride, they say, goes before the fall.” 

He can’t help but feel grateful. It would not do to break down so publicly. He only hoped no one had seen his brother escort him aside. That his princess had been too wrapped up in her new fiance to notice. “Jason?” his brother asks, pressing a stemmed glass into his hands, which he drinks without hesitation. “Don’t fall in love.” He says with a humourless laugh. “And not with someone above your station.” Tim just looked at him. Often Jason hated that look Tim fixed people with. As though he was a sheet of tax information for the local peasantry. As though all his problems and fears and ambitions and joys were simple data that while he could never make complete sense of where to his little brother completely obvious. Once, there was a time Jason would have thought he hated Tim. He’d never felt the Duke loved him as he had the others. Dick, the heir who had come to the Duke through great tragedy, and became a golden example of the Wayne name. Then him. He’d been robbing the stables. He’d expected to lose his hand. He’d been taken in by a man spiralling, in need of a project. He’d been given status, education, all the things that by birth he’d never ought to have. Then he’d given him a sword and sent him away. 

He’d taken in Tim. A boy of noble birth who he’d always seemed, in Jason’s eyes, one he’d always favoured. Then the bastard. Jason had no personal objections to young Damian - at least not by reason of his birth. He owed his mother … everything. But death - because he had died, surely, that day - had a way of giving perspective. 

Damn the Duke's favour - his brothers were his brothers. “Her Highness?” Tim says, that analysing look falling away to sympathy. “Her Highness.” He concurs. “If I may… While you may not be the heir… you are a war hero. Our father would surely grant funds in your name enough to persuade the King. You could be wed.” “She’s engaged.” Jason manages, the words poison in his throat. “Except … there’s been no such announcement. Not yet. Deals, maybe. But no formal engagement. There is—-” “Roman Sionis will not take well to a slight so great.” “Why do you care so deeply about the opinion of Sionis?” “In truth… I have no proof. But whatever happened to me, I fear he was its mastermind.” Tim’s expression darkens. “I’ll see what I can uncover. But you have to understand… It's been so long now. If no witness came forward then, it’s unlikely I’ll get far.” “I know. But if he does manage to wed her…” Jason shakes his head. “There’s not a damn thing I can do to save her from this.” He fights a laugh, not of humour but of despair. 

“And the worst thing is, I could have. True, I’m not worthy of her. She deserves someone better. Someone softer and kinder and untainted by atrocities. But at least if it were me I’d know she was safe. She was loved. Because… unworthy as I am, content as I ought be to be her shield and her sword… I love her. And she’s trapped with that fucking SCOUNDREL, and I can’t do a damn thing about it and maybe once I could have but it’s too late—-” His rant is cut short by Tim crushing his ribs into a hug. “It likely is.” he acknowledges “but give me a chance to see what I can do.”

As your partner waltzes you around the room in a twirling pattern with your fellow dancers, he laughs, deep and from the chest. “Indeed I did. Though I do try not to brag about it. Pride, they say, goes before the fall.” You smile in return, and it does not meet your eyes. From his smug tone, lack of respect for your station or for the Captain, ostentatious suit, and general air, this is the least humble man you have beheld with the lone exception of your father. But ego on its own is a failing you could live with in a future husband. What you could not live with was the cruelty in his eyes, in his toothed smile and too strong grip. What you can not live with is the fact that Captain Todd-Wayne had been dancing nearby until a mere few moments ago… until something had terrified him. He stands stone like, staring at the Earl. You trip, tearing the hem of your dress on your heel “oh. Oh my how silly of me. If you would kindly excuse me my lord… If you could accept such a clumsy partner at the next ball I would gladly make it up, but I ought to exit before anyone notices.” The Earl kisses your hand in parting. “But of course, but of course. How can I complain to have the choicest of partners on yet another occasion?”. You cannot afford to go to Jason’s side. The scandal would be unavoidable then. But still, you are glad to see a young man with the Wayne’s distinctly black hair. Even for one who adopted his heirs, the Duke Wayne had managed that many of his brood resembled him. One Mister Drake-Wayne, you believed. Either way, you had work to do. The two people you cared for and trusted most closely in all the world feared this man. You needed to discover the why. And more importantly then why was the how. Stephanie, her quarrel with him you never knew. Captain Todd-Wayne is not a man who fears easily, and he fears Sionis. You slip out of the ballroom with a whisper to a footman that you need to retire, and not to allow concern should your parents enquire. You can’t afford to panic. You need to think. Roman Sionis had been present at Arkham the day the Captain disappeared. He had directly benefited from that disappearance. That on its own was fortune. But add to the evidence the Captains fear? The earl had done something to your beloved. As you venture back into the corridors of the palace with each step your walk becomes ever closer to a run, until you are running indeed. You lift your skirts, the back of your skirt trailing behind you as you race deeper and deeper into the castle. Golden light from the torches lining the walls bathes your skin and casts dramatic shadows. You have to hurry. You figure you have ten minutes from when you left the ball before Sir Rayner, your guard on duty noticed you had fled. Or, if Sir Todd recovered before then, he’d alert the castle guards at once. Ten minutes till your absence was noted, maybe five more till you were caught if you can keep this pace.  Because you refuse. You refuse. You will not be petals in the wind a second more. You are a hurricane. And god himself can’t protect those who’d try to control your path. 

Fate be damned, illusions and hope could go… could … could go fuck themselves.

You were in charge. And you were getting married.

And you would choose your own goddamn groom. If you read this far, reblog. taglist:

@jasontoddproblems

@sunnie-angel

@stormz369

@love-theangel

@torchbearerkyle

@interwebseriesfan24

Honestly not entirely thrilled with this one, but I was at the point where if I couldn't post this chapter the series would rot and never be completed as I procrastinated and lost motivation. So. Here it is.

[aequorin-fr]

About Account Closures, Banxiety, etc

Good morning, Flight Rising Tumblr!

I posted a reblog not that long ago (this morning) responding to banxiety concerns. It appears to have been eaten by Tumblr, which happens; but I know a lot of you are concerned and there's a lot of misinformation and misunderstandings flying about. So I'm going to go ahead and repost this directly to the tags so anyone with concerns or anxiety can see this <3 (06:47 Flight Rising server time: Title edited to be clearer.)

—————

Oh dear, there's been quite a misunderstanding. What you've described here isn't true and likely to send our players into a banxiety panic. I'm sure that's not what you meant to do and I'm happy to clarify where I can!

We're fully aware people can change physical locations throughout the day which means their IPs will change. Some folks play or check in from home, school, work, a friend's house, etc. That means their account will log multiple IP addresses on any given day, sometimes within a thirty minute period.

Example: Player accesses on their school network —> School lets out —> They access via mobile data on transit —> Player then logs in on their home network

Closing accounts for having multiple IP addresses associated with them—especially in the mobile era!—would be wrong. And, frankly, absurd.

Account closures are based on activity data and reviewed by staff. Do we always get it 100% right? No, of course not. We're human. We make mistakes. Sometimes we do close an account in error and upon review, reopen the account. And sometimes it even means an account we're almost certain is cheating stays open a bit longer, because of that chance we're wrong.

Unless by "moving stuff over" you mean funneling to a new account, because our Terms of Use are clear that players agree to register only one account per individual. Multiple accounts provide a player not only with multiple opportunities for dailies and Roundsey, but access to various Flight Forums (including private Flight Dominance planning!) not just their original Flight, ways around our block feature, and the means to scam players during trades, giveaways, etc. The above ranges from cheating and gaining an advantage over others to outright harassment.

Now, there is also friend and family member funneling, where someone stops playing for themselves and just starts sending the earnings from their dailies or festivals to their friend or family member. That's still cheating and we've been clear about that for some time now.

Finally, we don't discuss account actions with third-parties and we don't discuss them publicly for privacy, security, and safety reasons. Even when the player who lost their account takes to the forums or social media with claims that are untrue, exaggerated, or minimize/downplay the violation that lead to the closure of their account. Unless they've taken the extra step to alter a screenshot as "proof" we said or did something we didn't do, we can't engage with their claims. This means the community will only see one side of the story, one version of events.

And as a note for anyone following along and concerned about their account, we do have an article in our Knowledge Base that explains account penalties: Account Penalties Explained.

I hope this helps clarify the confusion and concerns surrounding account closures! You don't have to worry about logging multiple IPs, moving, playing with your friends or family, etc. <3

[rerejunebug]

Warnings: Degrading, a bit of praise kink? (Not proof read and may not be in character you be the judge and tell me how to improve)

You got called to your captain's office sitting down in the chair in front of his desk the office smelling of cigars

He shifted in his own chair, the old leather creaking under his weight. He took a long drag of his cigar before exhaling, the grey smoke hanging in the air for a moment before disappearing.

After a minute of silence, Price finally spoke. “Care to explain this?”

He leaned forward and slammed a file down on the desk in front of you. The file you knew far too well. It was your own file, with your service history and personal data.

You lean forward to see the file up close "What about this captain?"

His voice was calm but stern, his eyes locked on your own. “Care to explain these results. Specifically the psych evaluations.”

He opened the file and pushed it towards you, a series of forms and reports were spread out across the desk. Tests and results, all of them stating the same thing.

"Insufficiencies"

"Disciplinary issues”

"Emotional outbursts”

Not to mention the several complaints about your attitude from peers and superiors.

Your eyes widen at his words completely shocked "wait what"?

He leaned back in his chair and took another puff of smoke, his gaze still trained on yours. "Your evals." He said plainly. “They’re...less than ideal. And don’t get me started on the reports.”

He picked up the file, tapping the edge of the document with his finger as he spoke. “You’ve been reported multiple times. For insubordination, for outbursts, for inappropriate behavior. The list goes on. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

You just scoff at him "inappropriate behavior? doesn't sound like me like at all captain".

He raised an eyebrow, a small amused smirk on his lips. "Oh, doesn’t it?” He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Perhaps you’d like to look at some of these reports then.”

One by one, Price began pulling documents from the file, laying them out in a row on the desk. Statements, witness accounts, each one more damning than the last. All of them describing your behavior on base quite a few of them about you being a barracks bunny.

You were looking over reading it from your seat getting pissed off at your files "what the hell? I'm not a fucking barracks bunny"

"Language, soldier." He reprimanded firmly, his voice sharp. “You’re in my office, show me the proper respect.”

He leaned back in his chair, taking a long, slow drag of his cigar as he regarded you silently, eyeing the shock on your face closely. After a moment, he continued.

“Now, you may not understand the meaning of that term, but it seems that is very much what your peers have been accusing you of.”

You start arguing towards him letting your anger get a hold of you "I never slept with anyone on the base it makes no sense no goddamn sense"

He chuckled dryly, the corner of his lips tilting upwards into a sardonic smile. “Not yet, at least.”

He took a moment to blow out a ring of cigar smoke before continuing. “You’re attractive, that much is true. And your behavior has not gone unnoticed.”

You were unresponsive at his words did he just say that?

He started to lean back in his chair, his eyes roaming over your body. He took another long drag of his cigar, the smoke swirling around his head as he exhaled. With the way he was looking at you, it was as though he was imagining you naked.

“You’re young. You’re naive. And you’re attractive. That’s a dangerous combination. You may not have done anything yet, but the potential is there.”

You crossed your legs staring at him you cant say you weren't turned on 'cause you clearly were.

Price’s eyes dipped down to your legs, lingering for a moment as he watched you shift in your seat. He took another drag from his cigar, the end of the it glowing red hot and casting a dim light in the office.

“You know, soldier…you’ve been quite the handful. “ he said finally, blowing out a cloud of gray smoke as he spoke. “I’ve dealt with many like you. And you know what happens to disobedient girls?”

You would guess he would say punished but you played coy "what does happen then"?

He leaned forward, an authoritative edge to his voice as he spoke. He set the cigar down on the edge of the desk, his eyes fixated on you.

“They get punished. “ He said simply. “And they learn their place.”

Your eyes widen cause the way he said that made your stomach churn and fill with butterflies.

Price smirked at the look on your face, enjoying your reaction to his words. “You see, soldier, I am used to being disobeyed. I’ve learned how to handle disobedient girls. You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last.”

He paused for a moment, letting the words sink in before he spoke again.

“But I’m tired. And I’m sick of disobedient behavior. So, I’ve decided to take a special interest in your case.”

Price pushed the chair out, standing and walking around the desk to stand in front of you. He loomed over you, his body radiating power.

He placed a hand on your chin, his fingers applying gentle pressure as he titled your head back, forcing you to look into his eyes.

“Do you understand, soldier?” he asked, his voice firm but quiet. “Do you know who’s in charge here?”

"Yes I do sir" you were staring at him in his blue eyes being polite

“Good.” Price said, the corner of his lip tilting up into a slight smile. He released your chin, taking a step back and studying you intently.

“Now, I have a question for you. Just one question, and I expect an honest answer in return. Understood?”

"What is it captain"?

He crossed his arms, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Are you…a brat?”

you give him a look how would I know?

Price chuckled dryly, shaking his head. “Don’t play coy with me, sweetheart. I need a simple yes or no answer.”

He took a step towards you, his eyes hard. “So, are you a brat?”

(I cant finish my mind is blank now and forever)

[adventuringblind]

Drive With You Forever

Chapter Seven: can’t keep a secret

Max Verstappen x Charles Leclerc x Lando Norris x Reader

Chapter summary: reader gets to finally race, Lando and Charles are terrible liars, Max crashes in silver stone then kisses all of them in public. Safety becomes an issue when a stranger appears at their door. Daniel has far to many questions

Warnings: Not much in this chapter aside from some stalker behavior, panic attacks, and some toxic media. Also, Daniel is mildly perverted and there is sexual innuendo.

Notes: I feel that this is more filler than anything. Also, we're ignoring the super license rules because this is fiction, and otherwise, things don't work.

Previous <-

Masterlist

It's the first race of the season. The crowd in Melbourne is cheering at intervals she didn't know were possible.

She's dressed the same as Max. The proud feeling overwhelmed him when he first layed eyes on her in the race suit.

They left the hotel room this morning as four. Arrived to the track as four. Argued about how she would look better in the other twos respective suits as four.

Her and Max waved the boys off as they headed further down the paddock.

It's race day. Her nerves are everywhere. Max's hand on the small of her back keeping her centered.

Everything seems to be going so fast. Conversations with her race engineer are a blur. She's analyzing every piece of data and information from the car.

Then their on the grid. Max is kissing her good luck before getting into his car. She's making eye contact with Charles and Lando, who are nodding her on with confidence.

Then the lights are out. She's driving and defending. Her qualifying had landed her eighth, and by lap twenty, she's fifth.

Every one of her instincts is in overdrive. Her mind worked with a sense of purpose. Dragging every last detail out of the race. Including the whereabouts of her three counterparts.

She doesn't even realize she ends the race in third. First race, first podium. She's crying, her engineer is screaming, Christian is absolutely ecstatic.

When she pulls into her spot, Max is all over her. He had finished first, but he honestly didn't care right now. Her team is surrounding her with love and excitement.

Seb is crying with her. Her boys are lifting her into the air.

She doesn't hold back her joy. It's too overwhelming anyway. And she lets herself think for a moment that she deserves to feel this kind of happiness.

~

Race weekends are tricky sometimes. The four of them always have to sneak around to have a moment with each other. Most have speculated that they are all really good friends. Which is true... in a way. They're also just a lot more than that.

They've turned it into a game of sorts. Whoever finishes the highest gets to decide how they celebrate.

The hardest thing is that Lando has a teammate who somehow just knows things.

It was this particular race that Lando managed to finish higher than the other three.

Is he excited about it? Yes.

Is he giggling at his phone like an idiot? Also, yes.

"Watcha laughing at?" Daniel's asks, sneaking up behind the Brit and making him jump out of his skin.

He turns his phone off faster then the speed of light and is throwing it across the room.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Don't lie to me. Is it a girl?"

He can feel the blush, and he ignores it. "No."

"Then a boy, possibly?" The blush grows ever so slightly. "Still no."

"Both?"

Lando chokes on air. Is he just probing him now?

Daniel is smiling like an idiot and laughing like a dork. "I saw you four leaving your room together."

"We're just - uh - friends. Really good friends." He stutters out. Why is he so bad at lying? He needs to divert Daniel's attention or something.

"You're lying again. You forget I've known Max for years." The Aussie sighs. Then he pulling out his own phone.

Lando is hyperventilating as he is shown picture proof of their relationship. Him kissing both boys and their female counterpart before the race. His stomach drops. They were right outside their hotel room. Around the corner even! How had they not noticed him?

"Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone. It's cute what you guys have going."

Lando releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. His body visibly relaxed.

Daniel moves to leave the Brit alone but not before leaving him with one last thought. "Have fun tonight!" Then Landos blush is the biggest it's been since the start of their conversation.

~

Charles is still angry with Ferrari at what they did to his lover. Kicking her out with no real argument as to why.

Seb was so angry that he signed a new contract with Aston Martin. Leaving Charles with his new teammate, Carlos.

They get along well. The friendship they've formed helping them to work together on and off the track. Though, Charles is still very cautious around the Ferrari garage now.

This race had Charles sneaking off to meet up with his three lovers before qualifying. Carlos, however, is waiting for him this time.

The Spaniard stops him right outside his outer diver room door. "Where are you off to again?" He chuckles.

Charles is startled and fumbling for an answer. He'd gotten good at coming up with excuses, but the fact he has been caught off guard doesn't help. "Somewhere." Is the best he can come up with, and he's mentally face palming.

"You are such a liar, Charles!" Carlos hits his shoulder playfully. "Tell me right now or I'm going to follow you and bother you until you tell me."

"Fine then"

Charles walks for what feels like ever. Carlos is a pain in the ass the entire time. Charles though that he might get bored at some point. He was mistaken.

He mumbles some angry French and ducks behind a corner, pulling Carlos with him. "I'm going to see my girlfriend."

"I know."

"You what?! If you already knew why are you doing this nonsense?"

"Because I know that's not the whole truth." Carlos pulls out his phone and shows him some pictures from a few weeks prior. "Daniel sent this to me when he was drunk."

So much for Daniel not saying anything. The Monegasque determines he will be stealing his phone and deleting the evidence himself.

"Swear to me you will delete those and never say a word about it."

Carlos holds his hands up in surrender. "I promise. I just wanted to hear it from you."

The pre-qualifying conversation between the four is actually just them hunting down Daniel.

~

It's now race week in Silverstone. Max had been fighting with Lewis for the championship title. Putting everything on the line. Finally getting an opportunity to make his father see that he is good enough.

It all ends on turn one. His entire race gone because Lewis sent him into the wall. His head is spinning, and he can't think straight. His muscles ache with every movement. He's lucky that it's not worse.

He gets to watch the race from his hospital room. The doctors want to get scans and all the neccecary tests to show that he's fine. Sore, but fine.

He can tell his crash definitely affected his lovers. Y/N was far more aggressive than normal. Even though it landed her a podium finish, she didn't celebrate.

Charles was fighting more with his race engineer. The end result being his strategy messed up.

Lando finished outside the points. His anxiety made it hard for him to drive. Daniel was quick to find him after the race and make sure he was breathing properly.

The three left as soon as possible. Most of their media duties left unfinished, but they didn't care. Max was in the hospital, and they needed to see him.

They piled into his room. All of them relieved to see he's awake and okay.

When they finally release him, they are right back into their hotel room. Cuddling the Dutch and making sure he has every need met.

"I could force Lewis off the track next race with other means if you want me to." There's a little smirk in her voice.

They all laugh. They know she can't and wouldn't do that, but it's the thought that counts.

~

The last grand Prix of the season. Abu Dhabi. Max and Lewis are tied for points.

It's stressful. It's exciting. And she's currently right sandwiched between them, trying to keep Lewis off of Max for as long as possible.

Her tires are going. She's been on the same set for far too long. It doesn't take much for Lewis to pass her a few laps later.

The rest of the race is a fight. At one point, she thought Max may not make it. Until her race engineer is telling her to unlap the safety car.

"Is Max going to be at the front then?"

"He'll be right up there with Hamilton."

One lap later, she's screaming. Her place is irrelevant. Points are there, but she dosen't care.

It feels like the entire team is crying in joy. Max has become a world champion. The one thing he's always wanted to achieve.

She runs into her arms as soon as her car is parked. Her lips on his without a care as to who sees.

The shocking part is when Charles and Lando join them, and Max does something particularly unexpected.

First, he's embracing the three of them. It looks more like a huddle than anything. "If you all want to, this may be the best time to show everyone. It's so special that you three have been here to support me through this. Let me show everyone."

It's the other twos turn now. Max has successfully landed kisses in all three pairs of lips.

All of them are happy. Everything is good.

~

The news didn't take long to spread. All four of you had to make statements about it. All of your teams are supportive. They just need to get the media under control and get them to stop asking invasive questions in interviews.

All four of them are happier now that they don't have to take separate cars to the same events and perfectly time their entries and exits.

They post about each other all the time. The fans' reactions to that are about what you'd expect.

Though the name calling is uncalled for.

All four of them have started limiting who can interact with posts. The boys don't particularly like their female lover being called a slut (that name is reserved only for them in the confines of their bedroom walls).

She doesn't mind, though. She's been called worse. Her father called her a murderer for fifteen years. In comparison, she preferred the insults of those who had to hide behind a keyboard.

The PR team has done a great job at masking it as an 'adrenaline rush' for Max. It's left views of them all over the place.

Some believe it. Others don't. Few are just oblivious.

Then Lewis is just glad he finally got an answer as to why he had the conversation with two clueless kids in Sebs hotel room.

~

The off-season brought many fun adventures. It was her favorite break they'd had yet.

Until she spotted a familiar face trying to get up to their apartment. The man who'd given her the letter from her father all those months ago is back.

She's not the first to get the door. Her voice caught in her throat as she tried to warn Charles not to let him up.

She's too late. The anxiety starts, and there is no way she's going to be able to stop it.

Lando, who currently has her head on his chest and his arm around her, picks up on her rapid breathing. "Vision?"

"he's- its the same guy - the one front the first time." It comes out broken and almost slurred. Yet Lando gets it and is heaving himself over the couch.

He slides around the corner just in time to see Charles open the door. A box clutched in the man's hands. "For her."

"Who are you?!" Lando shouts from behind Charles. Starling the Monegasque.

"A friend."

"Bullshit." Spits Lando.

Charles just takes the box and glances in between the two. Max is skidding into the room. The yelling alerting the Dutch to a Problem. Mainly because Lando doesn't yell in anger often.

"Just tell the nuisance that her father says hello." Then he walks off without a word.

Lando runs after him, only to be foiled by Charles standing in the way of him and the door. He's not thinking straight, and he knows it, but safety is a major concern right now, and Lando wants answers.

Max hugs him from behind and waits for Lando to breathe evenly again.

When they all are level-headed, they make their way back to the shivering girl on the couch. She hasn't moved an inch. Her eyes are teary, and she doesn't know if she can take another message from her father.

Lando is intent on trying to soothe her. He lifts her body back up to put her where she was before he left.

Charles places the small box on the coffee table and kneels by her knees. Max is ever watchful over them and is standing to where he can see the door.

"What did he say?"

Charles shakes his head. "No need to repeat, amour."

"No, I heard him say something. I need to know." Her voice is shaky but determined. Charles looks at Max for confirmation before reciting the message. The dutch nods his head. His eyes lost in thought.

"He said to tell the Nuisance that her father says hello."

Her body goes rigid, and Lando panics for a moment, thinking he did something wrong.

"I know him." She states. There was someone else who spent time at the warehouse. He brought back bodies sometimes for her father to do with as he pleases. Occasionally, he stayed with her when her father would have to leave for days. Though he would just lock her in her room. He was the only one who called her a nuisance and she never saw his face.

Charles and Lando can see the wheels moving in Max's brain. He knows where they are now. Safety has officially become his number one priority.

She sits up quickly and snatches the box off the table. Then she's tearing it open. The contents of it confuse three of them while one is becoming increasingly sick at the sight.

A note, some instructions, photographs of the four of them.

She stands with vigor and finds herself in the bathroom with the door locked.

They don't follow her. They know she's going to want to read it first. Something they let her do and then will read it themselves later.

The letter isn't even folded this time. Words pleading her to come back to him. Telling her that he's going to make her stronger. Then, at the bottom, a warning.

Come home or I'll bring you home.

She stays on the floor of the bathroom for hours. The room gradually gets darker.

Max is the first to come knocking. "Are you alright." She unlocks the door for him, an understanding had come that when they ask about her, she needs to show them she's okay. She can go back after that, but they've had far too many doors broken after her lack of response.

She collapses into him this time. Her mouth lets out wails that shake her core. She can't go back. Even then, he might take her back.

~

Max is on the phone that night trying to figure out a place for them to go. Charles is sitting at the table with him while Lando is trying to soothe the female to sleep. Or at the very least, a relaxed state.

"Monaco is a small place. It wouldn't take much for him to learn where we live." Sighs Charles.

"Maybe Seb? I feel that if we can get her away for a bit, it might help. Maybe if her and Lando go to Germany you and I can look for somewhere to stay here."

"Why here still?"

"Thinking ahead. It might be suspicious if we dip out of the country."

"Ah, good point."

The two spend the night trying to make preparations and get ahold of people.

~

The next day her and Lando are flying to Germany. Much against their will. It's a good plan, but it's still terrifying to split up.

Seb greets them at the airport. He's excited to see them but extremely concerned. Usually, the two are smiling. Today, their faces are solem, and their eyes downcast. Their hands are intertwined, clinging to each other like it's all they have left.

The two were quiet on the way to the house. Constantly checking their phones for updates from the Dutch and Monegasque they left behind.

Lando had been given the task of not letting their super human lover try to do anything stupid. whereas she had been told to keep Lando breathing.

They went straight to their room when they got their. A few greetings here and there, but nothing much.

"I'm worried he's going to try something before they get moved."

They lay sprawled out on the bed. Using each other as a means of staying present. Small touches and comforting words have become medicine for the two.

"I don't think that will happen." Lando tries to reason. "He's still under house arrest, right?"

"Supposedly." She turns to look at Lando completely. "If I don't do what he asks then he might try to get me by other means."

Lando grips her hand. "Then we fight him together."

~

Meanwhile, back in Monaco, the other two are staying with Daniel.

The Monegasque is looking for a new apartment, the Aussie is brainstorming ideas, and the Dutch is on the phone for the fifteenth time that day.

"So, new country is off the table, but what about continent?"

Charles shoots him a look between consideration and wondering how both of them lack braincells.

Max hangs up the phone and is absolutely beaming. "I found a spot! Away from the inner city and with good security, apparently."

"When can we move in?"

"A couple of weeks from now."

"I think the other two may die before then."

Daniel pipes up with a grin on his face. "You could just stay with me until then."

Max and Charles share a look. "Are you sure you want four other people staying with you for a week or two?"

"Honestly, I've been intrigued at how your whole situation works."

~

Turns out Daniel is an annoying host.

Lando and y/n had yet to fly back from Germany, but the entertainment was hilarious already.

Apparently, Daniel had decided that boundaries were optional. He likes asking invasive questions, and both Max and Charles had to explain to him that their relationship isn't just about sex and Daniel can not join them just because he wants to.

Their group chat has been lighting up for the last three days with complaints.

The ordeal, though uncomfortable, still brought the two in Germay some comfort. Something about knowing their lovers are okay and able to complain somewhat comforting.

Maxy: he's asking for more details. I think he's getting off on this.

Charlie: Oh, definitely. I refuse to let him anywhere near us in that regard.

Lando: Lol!! Maybe that's why he kept the pictures of us for so long?!

Y/N: Maybe he's just jealous 🤔 the poor guy has had both Lando and Max as teammates, and now he knows he's missing out.

~

Seb is glad to see the two younger of the quartet finally eating properly. Some of the anxiety has been shaken off. Hanna no longer having to force them to eat.

They are enjoying nice conversation. Seb finally getting to ask them how things are going.

"Charles still can't cook."

"Glad to see nothing has changed." Seb says, causing everyone to laugh.

It feels normal for a moment. Even as the two board the plane home, it feels nice. Finally, they are going to be okay.

Or so they thought.

~

Tags: @styles-sunflower @purplephantomwolf @boiohboii @reblog-princess-blog @jjsprobablywrong @jayda12 @faithm120601 @eugene-emt-roe @lpab @yaaadii @80sloverry @spongebeck3101 @eviethetheatrefreak @jjsprobablywrong @chanshintien

Next ->

7.5 ->

[v-albion]

Campfire Confrontation

((Rearranged and cleaned up Cabin 14's RP thread)) @tmnt-fandom-family-reunion

Marco walks to the middle of Cabin 14’s main hangout area. He pulled out a clipboard and began to flip through the first few pages. He sighed, irritated. Guess he has to do his camp counselor duties now. 

“So uh…We have an attendance sheet I need to fill out, so let’s see if everyone is here…uh, True Color kids check… Ghostly kids check…Uh-“ he squinted through his goggles. Yes, he’s supposed to have glasses, does he wear them? No. Reason being? He thinks they look stupid. “Uhh Mike-hail? Mikeehail? Mikhail? Covert Au?“

The rumble of a quiet hum was the only response provided at the utterance of the name. The source stood behind Marco, a thumb hooked through a belt loop, the other unoccupied hand tapping idly by his side, his tapetum lucidem shining through the shadows granted by his hood. After a brief assessment of the layout and present individuals, the figure tipped his head.

“It is Mikhail. The rest of my team is preoccupied at the moment.”

Spirit tilted his head at the turtle “This is camp, what’s there to be preoccupied with?” Mika silently shushed Spirit, the vibes he got from the older turtle were kinda spooking him.

”Hm, Fair enough. You can go ahead and pick a bed for yourself and your brothers.” It’s odd to see a Mikey that isn’t so “cheery”

ICE walked over to stand beside Mikhail, standing on his toes to peer over Marco's shoulder at the list. The newest cabin members were quite interesting, to say the least. A foot clan-themed Donnie? A military-grade Mikey? "you can put me on the list, I suppose. That way we have written proof that I exist."

Marco pulled a knife from his pocket and impaled the attendance sheet on the wall. “There. Write yourself in.”

ICE hesitantly approached the paper, and after glancing at Mikhail, wrote his name down "I want a knife too."

”Hm, fine. Just don’t stab yourself with it. I’m not responsible for any injuries you inflict.” Marco pulled out a small kunai and handed it over. ICE's eyes light up as he holds the knife. He smiled as he walked back and contentedly sat down on his bed, staring at his new weapon.

Spirit pouted and looked away, mumbling, “If I wasn’t dead and a ghost I’d want a knife too” A small bead of sweat rolled down Mika’s temple but he did his best to pay no heed to Spirit’s remark.

The commotion downstairs even drew the attention of the people on the second floor. A few heads peaked down from the railings, watching the proceedings below. 

The Foot Captain noticed the name of his AU mentioned and made his way to the railings. The curtains here provided shadows so he could keep an eye on the ground below while hiding from view. The older turtle talking to Lee before was holding a clipboard. It seemed that the activities were about to begin. He puts a finger to his lips and signals his brothers to quiet down. 

Flicking his screen on, he slowly scans each turtle to gather information. Their appearances, muscle mass, although that one can be deceiving, any weapons, and their gait and posture. Even if they’re in a ‘summer camp’ you can never be safe with so many people around.

He rested his chin on his palm, drawn on brows furrowing as he made note of individuals with threat potential. His lookalike and the child seemed fine but the older turtles seemed dangerous.

Marco squinted at another page, and he sighed "According to the schedule I was handed, we are supposed to have a. .uh. . ���fireplace bonding’” He didn’t sound too thrilled about the activity.

Spirit bounced on his toes hearing about the campfire activities. His brother Mika was equally excited to hear stories about his cabin mates.

"What are they talking about?" Angelo whispered as he approached his brother. He sits on the chair closest to the railing, looking down at the commotion below. 

"New activity. Fireplace bonding" Foot Captain saved the data and closed his screen. "Is it mandatory?"

Angelo squinted at him, knowing that he would skip if given the chance. "You're joining," he said with a smile.

Donnie clicked his tongue and averted his eyes. "Fine"

Scout looked down at all of the new people excitedly, then back at Hunter. "Can we go with them, please?"

Hunter sighed. "Fine. But we leave when I say so."

"YES!" Scout dragged Hunter behind him down the stairs, grinning like an idiot the whole way. "HI! Sorry I wasn't awake earlier, I'm Scout! Hunter already told me who you guys all are, it's nice to meet you!"

ICE set his knife down and reached out his hand to shake Scout's "So nice to meet you! I and Hunter are already well acquainted..."

"Really? That's perfect! I'm so glad he's making friends! I hope I can too." Scout grinned as he vigorously shook ICE’s hand up and down. 

Mika muffled a snicker by covering his mouth as Spirit floated up to the two to introduce himself. “Nice to meet you, Scout! I’m Spirit.” He pointed behind him. “That’s my brother, Mika. I hope we can get along!”

"Oooh, you're shiny..." Scout raised his hand as if to touch Spirit before stopping himself.

“Come on! They’re gathering downstairs!” Angelo looks back to his two remaining brothers. “They’re gonna leave without us if we don’t hurry!” He vaulted over the railings and slowly floated down to the first floor, his brothers choosing the more sane way of taking the stairs. “Hello everyone!” 

“Take a good look at this adorable face, you’re going to be seeing it more” Spirit teased before seeing Angelo and waving at him eagerly “Hi Angelo!”

“Hi, again Spirit! Sorry for taking off so suddenly before, but we finally got settled in. You should come see it later.”

“All’s good! Oh a tour, sounds fun!” Spirit squealed, floating towards Marco who’s started to open the door, muttering about making s’mores.

Grabbing his phone, ICE follows, slipping in behind Spirit and Mika. “Yay, marshmallow.” 

"I don't know what s’mores are, but sure!" Scout grabs Hunter's arm again, who has been scowling the whole time, and runs to the door.

“Hmm? What’s s’mores” Angelo asked the floating child beside him. 

Spirit dramatically gasped “Only the most, supposedly, delicious camping snack ever!” Mika nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “You guys have no childhood huh?” Spirit remarked, Mika flinched and shot a glare at his disrespectful brother. 

Scout skipped, not exactly knowing where he was going but following the general group. "Well, we've never been to a 'camp' before! And We used to never eat human food, only trash and stuff, and-"

"And that's enough outta you, pipsqueak." Hunter gently held his hand over Scout's mouth. 

“Huh.” Spirit pondered how different each universe turtle’s life was at those responses “Well in that case, you guys are going to enjoy s’mores, they’re basically crackers with a heated-up marshmallow in the middle along with a chocolate bar to make it more sweet, it kinda resembles a hamburger and it’s delicious!” Mika rambled, clearly passionate about food.

"Oooh! Cool!" Scout leaned over to his brother and whispered, "What's a marshmallow?" Hunter shrugged.

“Oh, its a kind of dessert then. I cant wait to try them!” Angelo grinned. “Human foods are really interesting. I don’t have many chances to try them so this will be fun.”

Spirit nodded. “Enjoy them for me! Sadly I lost my taste buds when I became a Divine being-” “Ghost,” Mika interrupted only to be shushed, “so I can’t eat anything.” Spirit said dramatically, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

Meanwhile towards the back of the group, Cerulean walked along the rest of his brothers, still keeping an eye on Angelo as he chatted his way to the center of the group. He scanned the surroundings. The tall walls of the caves stretched up so far that he couldn’t see the cave ceiling. He counted the number of people in the group, they’re missing a few it seems.

The group made their way to their assigned campfire area, Marco frowned as he saw no fire lit in the pit. “...uhm, Angelo? Could ya maybe light the pit?”

“Sure thing” A small flame lit up Angelo’s finger before crawling down his palm and wrist. He touched a wood and watched as it was quickly engulfed by flames. He put the wood down into the fire pit,carefully controlling the fire as it grew bigger.

”Thank you. Alright, so what do we need for this “s’mores”?” Marco tilted his head, what an odd word-

Spirit popped next to Marco holding a bunch of sticks “Sticks!” He chirped, holding them out a bit too excitedly, Mika had a bit of a concerned look on his face. Spirit shot a grin at him.

”...uh, we are eating sticks. .?” Marco took a step back from the pile of sticks shoved in front of his face.

“No! The sticks are for roasting the marshmallows! You stick a marshmallow on the tip of the stick and hold it over the fire so it can be roasted!” Spirit explained, handing the sticks to Marco, getting tired of the hesitation. “After the marshmallow is nice and toasty you grab a cracker and place a piece of chocolate on it, then you put the marshmallow and then place another cracker on top. That’s how you make a s’more!”

ICE snickered at Marco as he placed two marshmallows on a stick and proceeded to set them on fire. "Pro tip, make sure to get them so roasted you get heartburn afterward."

”Hm, I see. Well since most of us are here, how about we get to know each other? So I know what I’m dealing with.”

Having just arrived in time to overhear, Mike bounced over. Baby Dee and Baby Lee rested on each of his shoulders, curled up against the crook of his neck. He had Baby El pressed against his plastron, and Baby Angie resting in his hand. If any of these babies were any bigger, he probably would need to learn to juggle one-handed or something. That was a joke, for legal reasons.

He settled down close to the fire, stretching out his legs, slowly dropping all the children into his lap, where they huddled together and gazed out at the fire with rapt attention. This was probably their first time seeing an open flame. "Getting to know each other! Sounds like fun. Twenty questions? Never have I ever? Or, hey, we're by a campfire - why don't we tell some stories?" He rubbed the top of El's head affectionately. El blinked, leaning into the touch. "Just... if you've got anything real graphic coming up, can you let me know so I can cover this little guy's ears? I don't think anyone here wants to be dealing with a two-year-old with nightmares tonight."

“Oh that sounds like fun!” spirit squealed, doing a little loopy loop in the air.

Scout patted at his knees. "Oh, we have stories! Can I tell a story?"

"Don't think you'd be the best person for that, pipsqueak," Hunter said simply.

Scout pushed his face forward as if he was pouting, but his smile returned quickly enough. "I'm great at stories! Like, that one time you killed that raccoon-" Hunter lightly slapped his shoulder. "Kids. Right there."

"What do you meeean? What's wrong with that?" Hunter smacked his forehead in response.

ICE grinned at Hunter "Well why don't you tell a story then?"

Hunter squinted. "What do you want from me."

Scout flopped over his brother. "Maybe you should tell a story if you hate mine so much even though it totally happened when we were kids so it would be fiiine."

"It wouldn't be fine. You don't talk about death in front of kids. Especially when its about animals. I thought I knew less about society than you did." Hunter shook his head. "Spirit over there was right. We didn't have a 'childhood'. Not too many happy stories and the happy ones ain't interesting."

Scout crossed his arms. "The one about the raccoon was happy."

"It wasn't happy. I was a scared kid, hunting on my own for the first time. You're just glad you got food out of it." Hunter growled.

"You were proud of yourself, though!" Scout justified.

Hunter sighed. "Sure, yeah. But I don't think killing giant raccoons is a good story."

Spirit sweated nervously as Mika glared at him for the previous mention of his old comment, he sighed and twiddled his thumbs, begrudgingly opening his mouth to speak. “Um… when Mikey was little, like, 6 or 7, I would mess with the lights and make them flicker a lot and Mikey would blame me to Dad. He was right but no one believed him so he was sent on time out by Raph.” Mika glared harder at him as the memory resurfaced. “Can’t believe I was sent on time out for telling the truth.” he pouted. Spirit stuck his tongue out in a silly form of apology.

Scout leaned over. "Why wouldn't they blame you? You're bright blue, you're hard to miss!"

“Haha, that’s the thing. I’m not visible to anyone but Mika where I live.” Spirit said.  “I’m… gone,” he coughed nervously, “so anytime Mika blamed or even talked about me it would make everyone… uncomfortable.”

"Gone? But you're right-"

"He's dead, Scout," Hunter said bluntly. "I'm sorta jealous, though. It'd be a lot easier to pull pranks on our big brother like that."

ICE looked up in surprise "You're not the oldest? I could've sworn.."

Hunter settled back, looking much more relaxed now. "Nah, that honor goes to Protector. Or, whatever he wants to be called."

“Yeah not gonna lie I also thought you were the oldest,” Spirit nods in agreement. “Not gonna lie, spirit pulled plenty of pranks back in our world,” Mika said, nodding at all the resurfacing memories of his brother’s total confusion over his pranks. Spirit grinned at that. “Oh yeah! Like that one time, I kept moving that Miss’s cuddles plushy from its original spot so now Raph is absolutely terrified of that rabbit! He thought it was haunted and possessed to the point where he threw it away,” Spirit said, grinning ear to ear at the recollection of his brother’s terrified face.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Ugh, hate rabbits."

"Oh, you guys will LOVE Protector! He's HUGE, and he gives such good hugs, and he always listens when you want to talk and-"

"Uh huh, they get it." Hunter softly pushed Scout's head down into his shell as he continued to ramble.

ICE smiled "He sounds like my Raph. Say, who wants to hear about how I lost my arm?"

"Sure, why not." Hunter smiled.

Spirit sat in his seat giddily, patting his thighs in anticipation.

ICE sat forward eagerly, his grin nearing a crazed gleam "WELL. It happened two years ago. It was a cold morning when we headed out. One of the villains, I forget which, possibly the wrestler tho.. well, he was committing crimes. So, we arrived just in time, and boy did we show him... But then, my oldest brother got the bright idea to throw him into a building, one of which I was in direct line with. To cut a long story short, it crashed down on me, and I was trapped for at least 30 minutes or so before they could safely dig me out. by then, I was pretty frozen stiff, not to mention my arm was still trapped beneath frozen rubble. They were on a time crunch, and cutting my arm off was the safest choice available. ICE chuckles sadistically "should probably mention they also tried to ‘bring me back to life’ with CPR. None of them were trained by the way, and so I also ended up with this sick scar on my neck. Pretty cool, right?”

"Woah! That's so cool!" Scout leaned forward and grinned. "I've got scars too! Check it!" He showed the marks on his wrists and ankles where the skin looked nearly rubbed raw, and a hunk of scar tissue on his leg. "Hunter's got tons of sick scars too!"

"That I will not be sharing." Hunter huffed.

“Oh we sharing scars?! I have one too!” Spirit said, pulling up his shirt to show a large thin darker blue scar that ran straight down his plastron and reflected itself on his shell.

ICE chuckled nervously "Wow, spirit, that’s a really cool scar..." So that was the scar that showed how Spirit died…

“I know right!” Spirit said cheerfully, not paying any mind to their reaction.

Hunter hissed through his teeth at Spirit's scar. "I would ask for the story, but I don't think I want to know."

Spirit pulled his shirt down. “There’s no story, even I don’t know how I got it.” He grinned, but it turned sour before he brightened up. “Not that it matters anyways, what’s happened has happened, there’s no need to worry about it now.” He shrugged.

Marco didn’t pay much attention, he sometimes caught himself staring off into space. He didn’t want to talk about his scars, he had too many scars with too many stories.

Angelo smiled, remembering the many scars littering his body, each bullet wound and scrapes marking his effort in completing his missions. 

"That's a... nice thought." Hunter couldn't help but cringe as he glanced over everyone's scars, especially lingering on the ones on his brother's wrists.

Scout, completely oblivious to his brother's inner conflict, stayed cheery. "Well, I think all your scars are cool. It means you lived through something, right? Even if you don't know what that something is."

“Yeah! Exactly!” Spirit agreed, even though his situation can’t exactly comply with it.

"You know, you're real happy despite your... situation." Hunter said to Spirit awkwardly. "It's cool."

“Ah thanks!” Spirit said, though his demeanor fell for a split second. “Stay this way for 11 years you learn a few things.” He said, he straightened himself up though and whipped out a smile, “but it’s ok! At least I still get to be with my family!”

Raphael winced as he saw spirit, looking like he couldn't be more than 3, showing a gnarly scar running through his plastron. He can't help imagining that happening to his brother. What if Lee actually died before they met each other again? What if he lost his brother and he doesn't even know? He shook his head, getting rid of the thought. It's ok. It's fine. They're all here now, and he'll make sure they stay that way.

He can't help but glance at ICE, particularly his severed arm, imagining how painful it was to have it gone. He rubs his own arms in a self soothing gesture

Cerulean noticed how Raph had started to shrink back, rubbing his arm and staring at ICE in particular. He moved closer and leaned into Raphs arm, offering comfort without a word.

Mika noticed the growing discomfort within the group and decided there was a need to quickly change the subject “Ummmm who wants to play 20 questions? I’ll go first! What is everyone’s favorite show? Personally, Jupiter Jim is an all-time classic, don’t tell dad that though.” Mika said, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Ain't never watched shows," Hunter said bluntly. 

"Scav's still trying to get us proper TV!" Scout added.

Angelo shrugged, “I don't really watch shows. Not sure if we even have TVs in the labs honestly. I like to hang out at the Nexus though! Its good entertainment.”

Spirit let out a boo but Mika quickly shushed him with another question. “ favorite food? It’s definitely pizza for me.”

Scout's eyes brightened. "Bugs! Any bugs! Worms, shrimp are good, CJ brings me crickets all the time..."

“Oh! I love roast simurghs! Especially if you char it right, you get that salty-sweet flavor” Angelo added.

“What an interesting pallet everyone has,” Mika noted, making a mental note to remember that. “Anyone else got any questions?”

”. . Hm, how about what’s your universe like?” Marco shrugged, yes so far he himself had skipped questions. 

Scout turned over to Hunter for approval, who nodded reluctantly. "Well, we live in New York, which is like this BIG city with a lot if cool stuff. And we live in the sewers with our dad, who's a rat, not a turtle, and we've got tons of human friends! Like April, and CJ, and I've heard Cassie's voice before even though I've never seen her, but April likes her a lot so she must be nice! And Miss Irma, who fixed my leg, and Protector's shell when it got all ripped open and stuff- and Mister Murakami! He doesn't know we're turtles, but he gives us food! And, uh, Dad's teaching us how to do ninja stuff like his old owner did, because he says we need to defend ourselves from mean people. Like this REALLY mean guy, Dr. Ax-"

"Aaand shuttin' it down." Hunter put a hand over Scout's beak. "We live in the sewers, always have, and we have human friends."

” Hm, interesting…Haven’t seen my April for a while…” Marco mumbled. 

A figure excitedly skipped up to the fire pit “ HELLLLLOoooo! Wowie! Hello new friends! What an interesting bunch!” he had a wide manic smile spread across his face, his red and blue eyes flicking to each turtle at the pit. Marco jumped slightly at his brother’s sudden appearance “Jesus-“

Raph could feel Lee tense up against his arm, he glanced at his brother, face still serene as usual. He kept his eye on the newcomer.

Hunter squinted at the figure’s lab coat, wrapping a possessive arm around his brother.

ICE looked up from his burning marshmallow "AHA! A like-minded fellow! Here, there is a free seat beside me!!" 

“ICE, ICE, I think your marshmallow is burnt enough” He winces as another part of the marshmallow melted off. “Is that how you’re supposed to eat it?” He looked at his own speared marshmallow, shrugging before he held it towards the fire.

ICE looked down at his marshmallow, before shaking his head "Alas, it has not reached its full potential yet. But soon..."

The newcomer zips around to Foot Captain “Whoaaaaaa! Nice battleshell! Did you build it yourself?! Wait, you’re a Donnie of course you did! Marco! You got yourself awesome friends!!” He twirled around Captain. 

Foot Captain glanced the new turtle up and down. Is this…. His counterpart? He seems a bit… eccentric, to say the least. He nodded. “Of course, I built it myself. Top-of-the-line Genius Built brand. Patent pending” he muttered the last part to himself. “So… you’re future me?” His eyes move from the lab coat to the mismatched goggles, trying to catalog as much as possible.

” Mmmhm! And you’re younger me!! Wow! You’re in Foot clan gear!! My Draxum told me alllllllll about it!”He couldn’t stay still.

Hunter's arm wrapped tighter at Draxum's name, causing Scout to squeak.

“How does Baron Draxum factor into this?” He resisted the urge to look towards Angelo.

”Well my good ol pops, told me all about how foot clan is run! I had a brother who used to be in the Foot Clan! Pretty sure he was sold to him-“ He giggled, deciding to keep Marco’s name out of it. 

“Well, someone has to make ends meet i guess.” He busies himself by stabbing a new marshmallow on his stick, not quite sure how to continue the conversation and frankly getting more and more uncomfortable the longer FE!Donnie stares at him. “Do you need anything else, or….”

Scout leaned to Hunter and whispered, not very quietly, "Why does that name sorta sound like-"

"I dunno," Hunter replied, not whispering at all. "I still don't understand any of this universe bull, and egghead didn't explain it well enough when we got here. But if I see him here, somebody's getting their head bashed in."

Marco quickly walked over and proceeded to drag Donnie over to a seat next to him, ignoring his brother’s whines of protest about him ruining his fun. “Apologies.”

Hunter stuck his neck out at Donnie. "Yeah, real fun." He huffed, baring his teeth.

"Hey, be nice!" Scout whined. "I'm Scout, this is Hunter, it's nice to meet you!" With a bit of a struggle due to his entanglement with his brother, Scout got an arm out to wave.

Mika stared at this alternate older version of his brother, it slightly unnerved him how unhinged he was compared to his Donnie, although it was still Donnie. Spirit quickly hid behind Mika, the sudden appearance of another person spooked him.

” PSYSTT- Marco, Marco Marco-“ Donnie poked Marco’s cheek repeatedly as he loudly whispered. 

“What”

”You should totallyyy become friends with other me! He’s from the Foot too!!” He still whispered loudly, which was not hard to listen in.

Marco’s eyebrow twitched. “Donnie-“

”Oop- Sorrryyy- couldn’t help myself!!” Donnie giggled as he looked around the campfire. All of a sudden he stopped. A mystic gun materialized in his hand.

Marco shot an alarmed look at the gun. “Uh, Donnie? Hey buddy?”

He peers over to what Donnie is looking at, trying to figure out what got him spooked. 

Spirit peered over Mika’s shoulder and spotted the gun, his eyes widened and he quickly moved in front of Mika in a sad attempt to protect him.

Hunter hunched over Scout and full-on growled. "What is your deal, man?"

ICE finished eating his s'more, before complaining "I want a gun too."

FE!Donnie’s breathing was quick he stood up and lifted the gun right in Angelo’s direction. He kept a wide smile, his red and blue pupils shrank slightly with insanity.

Angelo's instinct flared as he felt a murderous intent directed at him. Years of being attacked randomly caused him to snap his head from his conversation with ICE, immediately seeing the barrel of a gun pointing at him. His eyes and hands glowed, ready to summon his chains the second the gun fired. He didn’t want to be the first to spill blood here without reason. His dad may call that a weakness, but he's here to make friends, not enemies.

However, before anyone could do anything, a figure emerges behind the gun-wielding turtle. Tall, hooded, *silent*. He quickly brought a gloved hand over the gunner's beak, muttering something too low for him to hear. A purple mist began to spread from his hand, and after a quick struggle, the gun dissolved into purple pixels and the gunner slumped to the ground unconscious.

A flurry of movements around the campfire. Marco, It's Marco, right? summoned a large mystic bow, an arrow pointed at the figure. "... What the hell did you do to my brother" he growled, the string of his bow tensing as it was pulled back. 

A snicker sounded from beside him as ICE called out, "NGL, your brother was about to shoot someone". 

Hunter, who's sitting on the other side of him holding his brother Scout like a plushie, glared over at ICE. " You're way too chill about this." 

ICE leans over and whispers, a slightly crazed grin on his face, "Coffee in the morning, coffee at lunch, and coffee for dinner makes the brain cells go away." 

Hunter's snout scrunched. He looked down at his brother. "Scout, I don't like it here, they're usin' too many human words."

"Oh come on, you remember what coffee is!"

"Not really."

The figure tilted his head agreeing with ICE's comment. He flexes his fingers, displaying purple reflexive nodes on the tips of his digits, trailing to the core at the center of his wrist. The purple mist from before retreated down the tubings as soon as he curled his fingers. 

"A sedative appropriate for this situation. He will remain stable and will awaken in approximately 12 hours after the relaxant works through his system". He eyed the weapon aimed at him, raising a brow. "I do hope for your sake that's not for me"

A quiet spread for a bit. Foot Captain gripped his currently collapsed tech scythe, ready to bring it out when a fight broke. He couldn’t believe someone pulled a gun on his brother again. He glared at the unconscious figure on the ground. He knew there was something weird about him. He would have to do some research before he can plan out a revenge. 

The silence broke as Marco releases the tension in his bow. "Hm, apologies. I was taught to always be vigilant and besides, unless you don't want to be on the ground having a nightmare I wouldn't threaten me." He shrugs, nonchalant. He gestured with his bow, "Interesting technology. I do favor combining technology with medical science." He opened his hands as the bow disappeared into pink mystic strings, he sighed as he rubbed his forehead, his goggles reflected the light of the campfire, hiding his eyes from view.

The silent newcomer, he really should find out his name, clicked his tongue and shrugged, taking a seat closer to the campfire, but still a ways away from everyone else. Foot Captain sees how the figure moving caused Angelo to clench his fist, eyes and hands glowing and expression closed off. No smile in sight for the first time since they arrived at camp. It appears that he's in mission mode now. Great. Now none of his family will sleep tonight. Well, perhaps Raph, but the rest of his brothers will keep watch so Raph can sleep if he'd like. 

The figure continued when he sat down. "It's not so much a threat as it is an invitation. Besides..." *The canisters of his respirator clocked inwards, a muffled inhale audible amongst the sidebar conversations and crackles from the fire. He rolled his shoulders before settling back into his former position, exhaling slowly as the next words rumbled from his mask.

“Nightmares aren’t such a dreadful thing...”

A rustling sounded as Hunter sniffed sharply and started to stand. 'Yeah, no, we ain't stickin' around for this." He grips his brother tighter.

"What? Why?" Scout, still smiling, asked, "He didn't even say his name yet!"

"Uh, excuse me? 'Nightmares aren't such a...' whatever he said?!"

Spirit slowly dropped his floating position and decided just to sit next to Mika, a nervous look on both of them but Spirit seemed more worried about the unconscious turtle on the ground.

Scout noticed Spirit's worried expression. "Don't worry, Spirit! If he's just like me, he should feel fine when he wakes up! All my brothers were alright when we got... uh... sedated?"

Hunter sighed. "Y'know, at this point, I just can't stop you."

The comment about all of Scout’s brothers being sedated probably made Spirit more concerned, but he didn’t let that show as he smiled, “Thanks, Scout.”

”You are bold to be quick to say that. Everyone is afraid of something, it can be themselves if I want to.“ Marco muttered that last part to himself as he rubbed the scars on the back of his neck, covering the weird Kraang symbols marking it.

Campfire. Dark. Avoidance. Hesitation. Fear. Based on his prior research, everything seemed in order. He watched as FE! Marco touches a place on the back of his neck. A remnant or ‘call’, sourced by this individual’s fears, perhaps. Nevertheless, he wasn’t here to prey on these individuals, despite his contradictory appearance. His canisters clocked inward once again and he took another breath.

“I can’t say that I have a habit of absconding from suffering, whether it manifests by the hand of fear or otherwise. No… I’m rather curious to see…” He paused to breathe again, only for his vocals to return with a rasp.

“…If you can show me something that hasn't already been revealed to me....But I digress for now. Everything has its place and order in due season.” He tips his head to the other campers. “...You may refer to me as ‘Donovan’.”

Marco raised his eyebrow, ”I would prefer to not use my power, but nice to meet you, Donovan. Unique name.”

Hunter cringed. "If there's this many Donnie's, I think I'm gonna hate it here." His answer was a loud snore from the Donnie currently face down on the ground

ICE walked over from his spot and held out his hand to shake Donovan's "All this excitement aside, I don't think we were properly introduced. My name is ICE." 

”Marco. your camp counselor. aka babysitter.” He rubbed his head and his mask, his goggles had been irritating to wear for a while. He knew it wouldn’t be wise to take them off.

Scout leaned forward cheerily again, only to be pulled back by Hunter. "I'm Scout, this is Hunter! He's being weird right now."

Maintaining 'goggle-to-goggle contact' with Marco, Donovan didn’t budge. Instead, another gloved hand claimed his place, gripping ICE firmly. Blue fabric dangled in front of their face, trailing up to the owner of the smug, close-lipped smile hovering above them. Crimson crescents illuminated slightly, complimenting his blood-red pupils. He held the hand at bay for a little longer than comfort would dictate before claiming his hand to his side, making his way over to his brother. Both of them simultaneously nodded at Scout and Hunter’s introduction thereafter.

Marco growled slightly underneath his breath, he had the stinging feeling that Donovan was onto him or knew about his eyes. He didn’t pay any attention to the new “Leo”.

He decided to look down at his holographic computer that appeared from his watch, swiping through it.

ICE chuckled nervously, before quietly retiring to his seat and eating a marshmallow like a normal person. He now understood Hunter's wish to leave and head back to the cabin, and would probably join him if he actually ended up doing so.

Hunter couldn't help but grin and stretch his neck in ICE's direction. "Not so chill now, huh, shrimp?"

ICE glared in his direction as he took another bite of his normal s'more. "Shut it" he muttered irritably

"You first." Hunter's grin widened. To his surprise, ICE did indeed 'shut it'

Foot Captain bristled as more and more people started to appear, he felt Raph put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a concerned look. he shook his head, telling his brother "I'm fine".

"Maybe we should go. I don't like how that guy pointed a gun at Angelo before." Raph frowned, preparing to stand up. 

Spirit wasn’t sure whether he should be terrified or amazed and these new turtles so he just sat still in his seat and fiddled with the end of one of his mask tails while shooting glances at them

The blue-clad newcomer maneuvered his mask tails between his fingers, shooting a glance at Spirit, the smile never leaving his face. He hadn’t blinked since he’d arrived. Not once.

Spirit shivered in his spot and quickly hid behind Mika who smiled warily at the scarier version of his blue brother

”Well tea time is over for me. I'll see you all later.” He got up, he seemed a bit panicked. He didn’t even really say anything about himself.

Hunter looked to be visibly worried at the departing Marco. Meanwhile, Scout kept smiling. "Aw, see you later Marco!"

The blue-clothed figure ticked his head up, his eyes briefly giving off an orange glint, a smile dissipating in tandem. Donovan didn’t have to look to get the hint. Getting up from his seat, he followed his brother into the dark. They wouldn’t be seen again for the rest of the night.

Angelo felt a tap on his shoulder. He tore his eye from FE!Donnie and the disappearing Donovan. He looked back to see his brothers standing behind him. Raph smiled and mouthed 'wanna go?' He nodded, adrenaline still high even if there was no fight occurring. he summoned his cloak and kusarigama as a precaution as they left. He doesn't feel safe anymore. He saw that Donnie already held his bo, knuckles white where it gripped the metal. 

Silence settles down on the campfire again. Distant sounds of the other campfire's conversation and laughter sounded. However, over here, it was tense, the crackling sounds of the fire the only thing filling the silence. 

ICE silently got up, and got himself some more marshmallows, before sitting back down to roast them.

Hunter watches the spot where Marco left. "Huh. So, uh, who's bringin' weirdo's brother's body back to the cabin? Or are we leavin it here?"

Said brother rises as if he was in a coffin. “Nah! I’m good!”, making a few people jump in surprise. 

Hunter grabs Scout defensively. "Shell, man. You don't just do that."

ICE stood up and looked at everyone else "Well! I think it would be a great idea for all of us to head back to the cabin, like right now!"

"Sounds great to me." Hunter swung his neck around to pop it as he stood up, grabbing Scout's arm to head back toward the cabin.

FE!Donnie kicks his feet around. “You guys go ahead!! I’m not even from this cabin!!” he giggled.

Masterpost

True Colors by me

Fear’s Embrace by @karonkar

Covert AU by@chessman-protocol

Hold Every Memory by @languajix

Ghost of the Past by @wandering-ghost

Starry Tmnt by @just-another-tired-gay-artist

It’s a Complicated Equation by @leilanising-vault-of-knowledge

Tmnt: Second Shot Crew by @twignotstick

[baremueran]

I hear you love Ghost and Roach together. Tell me some of your favourite headcanons about them? How do they show their love to one another? 🤍

I am not sure if they are all SFW, so please read cautiously! English is not my native language, please let me know if there is any mistake!

❤HEADCANON!!❤

1. Roach sometimes expose his nose between the mask and goggles, so anyone can boop boop the tip of his nose and get a puzzled look. Just like a puppy👉👈

2. Ghost often wears his balaclava and sunglasses and headphones and ignore anyone. He would say he was too focused on eavesdropping or listening to music, but there is usually nothing in the headphones except the sound of electricity. He just doesn't care. And the noise cancelling function of the headphones is very good.😎

3. I quite like mute!Roach, but the operators must have the ability to communicate in the mission, so selective mute is good enough.🤐

4. But Roach lost his speech because his tongue has been cut out is fine, too. It's also good that he's slurring his speech because of the pain and the inconvenience. But it means he has to leave the field. So NOOOO, it's just something in my head. SRY if this makes you uncomfortable.🤐

5. Ghost probably has the winter blues. Whether it has anything to do with his family and Christmas or not. He could be grumpy and often hide when it's getting cold.😢

6. But I don't think Ghost likes very hot weather either. Hmmm so whatever, he's just grumpy sometimes.😠

7. I don't know if anyone has thought about robot! TF141. I think Ghost could retain inorganic blue electronic eyes and keep the sunglasses he uses to analyze the data. Maybe there is just an LCD/LED screen under Roach's goggles. Soap can survive a fall because of the steel spine and wire guts. But think about it, when Shepherd (who doesn't realize they aren't humantries) shoot them both, they just struggle with Three Laws of Robotics in confusion and look Shepherd in the eye without emotion.👁👁❓The only downside is that they may be less fire and heat resistant.

8. I spent a few months in a hospital burn unit, and I think most writers understate the burns. But it's okay! It may be painful for me to see once again the process of a person recovering from a piece of coke that reeks of decay, although it's a possible miracle.💔

❤THE WAY THEY SHOW LOVE TO EACH OTHER?❤

First of all, I've never been in a romantic relationship. So I can only IMAGINE. But I wasn't in the military either, so I guess it doesn't matter.

It probably makes sense that the military doesn't allow relationships, so I don't think they're going to be too overt during service.

But they can sit down to eat together and throw the things they don't like onto each other's plates. They can also sit together in the plane or car on a mission and quietly hold hands without drawing attention. They are not that bad drinkers, but would pretend to be drunk in pubs just to lean on each other in public. When one of them is sent out on their own, they hug like the rest of the team, pretending it's their noses that's brushing their cheeks instead of their lips. One of them would bring his favorite snacks and kisses while the other was in the hospital/Medic bay. They might hold hands and kiss when change shifts or count the stars together during the night stakeout. And, yes, they can make out anywhere they like, so much so that almost everyone knows about it but there's no proof. Or nobody knows. It doesn't matter.😚😚💕

I rarely read fics about post-military life because many of them are a bit too good to be true. (But i do read them haha) War is war. As long as you have been involved in it, no matter where you go, you cannot escape the shadow of war. And the impact of PTSD on life is often underestimated too. It saddens me to describe these, so I'm not going to continue. They have to work very, very hard to have a happy ending. But that's okay, we can just enjoy some parts and details of their life in the fics. I've just been waiting for one to tell that part of the story!👋