#I love Tari so much she's so cool. I know I said that already but its ok

[its-a-me-mango]

Look I understand why Tari didn't get a cowgirl outfit for Western Spaghetti, but I still really think she should've gotten one.

So I made one for her, you go cowgirl yEEHAWWWW

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

SPOILERS AND ASSUMPTIONS FOR CAMPAIGN 1!

OKAY, let me start by categorising what spoilers I know as best I can, going (mostly) in chronological order AFAIK:

Clarota betrays them (VERY sad, when I first watched those first 10-ish episodes I was fully behind Keyleth’s ‘trust him’ train)

Vax loses a foot to lava and also his snake belt rip

Kima and Allura are the cool, trustworthy PCs, as is everyone’s favourite, Gilmore, a shopkeep with a black belt in karate

The dragonborn guy’s homeland gets dunked on and then later he dies offscreen

Percy’s sister is alive and betrays them but only kind of? I think? She was held captive by the Briarwoods for years and Percy thought she was dead, but she was blackmailed/brainwashed/tortured?

Vax gets cornered by the Briarwoods alone by accident (classic)

There’s a chick called Ripley who makes guns A Thing for the wider world

Something about a sun tree? It’s a creepy tree? They hallucinate their own corpses on it? Or something?

They probably kill one of the hottie vampires at the end of Percy’s arc, I think the male one? Because the lady vampire shows up later?

Percy dies in his arc and it’s the second res ritual they do, after Pike’s one pre-stream

“Take off the mask, darling.” I still don’t care about romance but I feel obligated to mention that I know that famous line

I also know the equally famous “I thought he’d never leave” bubble bath bit, ah Laura

There’s a CHROMA CONCLAVE attack right at the end of Percy’s arc, somewhere

Rashian is a dragon or something, everyone laughs at Liam for not knowing this. I know nothing else about who the Chroma conclave is (3-5 chromatic dragons??? One of each colour????) or what they want, except Vax levels up in the middle of fighting one and Keyleth yells at one

There are communication earrings. There is also a weird black powder man. Victor?

They actually have a permanent home/keep unlike the Mighty Nein?

Vex dies because Percy didn’t check for traps, this is the start of some deal of Vax’s with the Raven Queen which means he multiclasses into paladin?

Vax can fly, he can fly, he can fly!

Uhhhh there’s a couple cursed swords or something in there lol

Percy sells his soul briefly? Genius move Smart Guy lmao

Feywild??? Somehow????? They meet Artagan and make a deal with him for a doorway, and they spend an episode as cows somewhere in here?

Keyleth has Mom Trauma, I don’t know how much this will feature in the campaign

Vax and Vex’s dad suxxx or something, mother is dead

Scanlan hits on his surprise daughter and everyone screams

They have some kind of year long adventuring group break for some reason?

Keyleth makes a storm on an airship (???) and this is cool. Also she turns into a fire elemental a lot and this is also cool.

There’s a kraken fight? It goes really badly, like LEGENDARILY badly, and ngl I’m kind of looking forward to it

Scanlan #LOSESIT and has his legendary ‘what’s my mother’s name?’ rant, after which he leaves for an undetermined number of episodes and is replaced by Tary

This leads to Grog spelling C-A-T for some reason and this???? Makes people cry???????? Truly something you had to be there for

Pike tries to commission drawings of VM for Tary (who calls Vex “little elf girl” and braces for impact when Laura’s nostrils flare) and this goes Very Wrong in a funny way

Tary’s dad sucks

He writes a book

Some NPC reads said book in campaign 2, hence why I know about it

Grog has an arc to do with the other Goliaths who beat him up for defending Pike’s dad?

When Scanlan comes back he tries to sneak in, Vex chases him and he panics and casts modify memory on Vex, it fails several times, an angsty moment becomes comedic very fast

He is received with Mixed Emotions lmao

Keyleth turns into a goldfish and kills herself, this is both apparently extremely painful and extremely funny

Vax gets disintegrated and dies in a beholder fight (rip)

Gilmore is not a dragon but everyone was fully convinced he was. He also gets bodysnatched or something at some point to freak out VM, but they figure out very quickly it’s not him

Scanlan is Ioun’s chosen? Whatever that means, something to help fight Vecna I think

“It was an honour knowing you” sad! Sad! Sad line! Gilmore doesn’t understand, cheekily responds, and leaves!!!! Liam looks on the verge of tears!!!!!! SAD!!!!!

There are so many true love nat 20s. I don’t know what any of them are except that Pike has one and Ashley looks like she’s about to cry

They win the Vecna fight and Keyleth gets the HDYWDT, Scanlan wanted to save a Wish spell for Vax but couldn’t, so he stays dead

Everyone cries here but at least the rest of the party is okay

Keyleth is the last woman standing and everyone cries at this too

And then Grog uses the deck of many things, spawning two oneshots to clean up his mess

Also somewhere in here Vex steals a broom from a guest (lol)

Assumptions!!!!!

More tears than campaign 2 I think, since there are at least two resurrection rituals we see on screen that I know of

The fights might be more stressful since they’re higher level?

Scanlan is going to be the most sexual and lewd character because he is played by Sam

Vex is going to be the second most sexual and lewd character because she is played by Laura

Vax will still instigate most of the one-on-ones so Liam can have as many heavy conversations as his theatre kid’s heart desires

Keyleth will try and fail to make the group more moral

Pike will not try to be moral at all despite being four feet of blessed armour and adorable hair

I think other characters try to make Percy feel remorse for Murder Reasons, but I suspect he’s not going to feel that guilty (I will likely support him in murderous endeavours unless they are FAR more messed up than I currently believe)

From what I understand Grog is Loveable but not hugely layered or complex, and I know Travis was proud he didn’t cry this campaign. I suspect I may be surprised at the character depth Travis gives him, however.

Keyleth also thinks the gods are overrated and I AGREE

Percy is three feral and eldritch raccoons in a trench coat, held together only by sheer force of will and the fragile shell of a posh accent. No one notices because it’s a really cool accent.

There will be a lot more money/shopping/drinking elements than in campaign 2, since I know Vex is a haggler, Percy is a Lord, and Keyleth is a day-drinker? As are Grog and Scanlan

It will be funny for me to see Taliesin play a smart character and Travis a dumb one, though I know that the whiplash went the other way for most people lmao

Vox Machina will be less team-heavy than the Mighty Nein? I gather they’re more of an ‘individual hero’ makeup than an ‘everyone has support abilities’ makeup

It will be more fast-paced than campaign 2? It seems like a lot of the arcs lead directly into each other, with only the occasional shopping episode break

It feels like it might be less friendship heavy than the Mighty Nein? Like they seem more like ‘we’d die for each other’ pals who otherwise spend all their time trying to draw dicks on each other’s faces

They have a more clear “party leader” than the Mighty Nein, who might be Percy and/or Keyleth

I think most PCs and NPCs are more morally clear cut than in campaign 2, like most towns and people in positions of power are either “cool guy who can pitch in” or “get rid of this abomination immediately” territory

I think my favourite character will be Vex, Percy or Keyleth. I just feel it in my bones. 

I think I may also get an extreme soft spot for Grog and Pike, however

My main sources of surprise will be, I think, how things fit together? Like I have no idea WHY they’re in the Feywild, or most other places really, or what any villains’ motivations and backstories and personality traits are, and how they end up fighting any of them in any particular place for any particular reason. I don’t even really know characters’ abilities or literally anything done in any of the fights, aside from “they win/nearly die” and “Scanlan uses Wish and Bigby’s Hand against Vecna”

I assume most plot threads all lead into each other fairly solidly and that they don’t actually seek most of their stuff out?

This assumption will either be fairly right or hilariously wrong, but -- I assume that I already know almost everything important or shocking? I tried really hard to avoid it but being active in campaign 2 meant that over time I got exposed to more and more of campaign 1, and I genuinely believe that I have almost everything down, if not details or order. I don’t think I’ve missed any big moment or impactful arc

Let’s see if I’m right

[cadykeus-clay]

i would low key love to hear your tangent about the differences there are between how VM and TM9 react with the world

ah, the perfect excuse for me to put off my 30 page reading, thank you :3

(i’m also going to preface this by saying most of this is stuff i’ve picked from other people’s various metas and i absolutely do not remember who those authors might be so i apologize jsdlkfsd)

....

but uh ... basically i feel like vox machina and the nein have a completely opposite standard for how they interact with the people the consider to be their “inner circle” vs. everyone who doesn’t qualify as that. 

vm is a group of individuals who, overall, had one cruel person that slighted them but didn’t really destroy their faith in humanity. (their faith in themselves is a whole different horse. that ones .... woof. looking at you percy scanlan tary keyleth.) Percy had the briarwoods, Grog had Kevdak, the twins and tary had their father. so, the way that they interact with just random people that they meet is - with exceptions of course - amicable, or at the very least, respectably polite. 

they’re the saviours of emon, the freers of whitestone. they have festivals held in their honor. they have kid fans and random farmers knocking on their doorstep for aid because they’ve heard tales of the kindness. sure, vex can be a hassle when she’s haggling down a price, and keyleth tends to poke buttons in way that gets her arrested a fair amount of the time, but at the end of the day they’re the people’s heroes, and they’re happy to be that!

their inner circle, however, is much more closely guarded. they have a few chosen allies (gilmore, allura, kima, kash and zahra, cassandra) and that’s it. They’re hesitant with anyone else trying to creep into their personal fold. Hell, it took beating up tary and him breaking down sobbing for them to even consider liking him. they’ve been burned by raishan and clarota and hotis, by individuals they let in and who then stabbed them in the back. they’ll do almost any favor for a stranger who asks, but they’ll be damned if they trust anyone to actually join their midst. vox machina is vox machina is vox machina and that’s incredibly hard to change. 

the nein, on the other hand, are fundamentally a group of rejects. some of them have specific people they can point a finger at and say “i hate you”, but those problems stem from a greater societal rejection. beau has daddy issues, but she also felt rejected by the entire cobalt soul until dairon found her. caleb has trent’s fucked up shit, but he also has this constant pressure of having failed his entire country, not to mention the faceless hate piled up on him from living homeless for a year. jester’s whole deal is that she had to hide from LITERALLY ALL OF SOCIETY for her entire childhood because she wasn’t supposed to exist.

and so, the nein are shitheads to society right back. they’re mean to random barkeeps, they trash their inns and don’t say sorry, they mock most NPCs behind their back (or sometimes right to their face. @ marius).  Every favor asked of them comes with a ton of deliberation and arguing about whether its bait or not (ie bowlgate, the giants in the mine outside rosohna, essiks “favors”). 

but, on the flip side, they’re willing to tug just about anyone into their ranks. if society already hates them by default, what’s there to lose if they get close to someone? nothing, there’s only more love to be found! so it’s adopting random bird girls on the road, its sending cupcakes to a hag that cursed your friend, its sending messages to everyone you’ve ever met just to check in, it’s making someone sit in the hot tub with you and share trauma and then when you find out he started a war you say “we get it bro” and kiss him on the forehead. it’s “welcome to the mighty nein”. 

and it’s also very interesting, i think, to talk about the ways in which the party interacts with themselves. vox machina was a family, undoubtedly, as is the nein now. but vox machina ... had a lack of desperation to their attachment. i mean for one, they took a full year off from adventuring together and scattered cross continent. even if the nein gets down time like they did, i expect they’ll just trail each other around like lemmings. (its kind of what they’ve been doing from hiatus until now with the eiselcross arc starting). 

but vox machina just ... went. and scanlan walked away from the party and (after the heat of the moment), they agreed to just let him be. and pike would spend weeks on quests for sarenrae without much of a complaint. even at the end - and this will be a controversial take, i know - but they let vax go pretty easily. (sure, mechanically they were wiped from fighting, but besides tears the only attempt to defy trq was from percy, which even he gave up on with minimal struggle because vax said to stop it). that’s not to say they don’t miss each other when they’re gone! of course they do!!! but they trust each other to go off into the world, because the world as whole is a place they trust. 

(the one exception to this might be vex, who fought every one of these situations adamantly, but that’s a whole separate essay about her issues stemming from an innate sense of ‘failed family’ that she’s desperate to not repeat, and less about a mistrust of everyone until proven otherwise)

the nein on the other hand. hoo boy. they’ve been hot glued to each other’s hips since day one. So many quotes (many from beau, which could be worked into my previous vex essay, as they’re very much cross-campaign foils. getting sidetracked again) are about their inability to separate. “You don’t get to choose who cares about you”; “No one goes”; “If one of us is gone for more than 7 days assume we’re dead and have a funeral”; “Do we have co-dependecy issues?” Jester’s cool personal vacation to her god’s get together turned into a party with everyone because why would she go anywhere without the nein? Veth’s time with Luc and/or Yeza is constantly overrun with the rest of the nein dropping in for fun. Even small things like shopping trips are so much more “oh well if you’re going then i’ll go” snowballs than they ever were with vm. 

Also, ashley’s absences had to be much more forceful than in c1. Post episode 11, the only time yasha left the group (rather than someone else piloting her) of her own free will was when she ran in grief from molly’s grave. And yes, there’s something to be said about “oh they were on a boat for a long time she had nowhere to go” but if Matt can justify astral projection pike, i feel like he could justify ‘the stormlord teleports yasha away for a bit’ and he chose not to. 

Because!!!!!!!!! of the dynamic that the nein has!!!!!!!! Because of this idea that the world is bad and cold and full of hate and in here in our little hut (soon to be mansion??????) it’s safe and good and full of love and no one can leave because then you’d be going somewhere much more dangerous and we can’t have that, now can we? 

.....

well uh. that’s a lot of words. i hope they made some sense??? and were at all what you were expecting???? thank u for sending the ask tho this was very fun to write!!

tldr: vox machina is a group of people who were betrayed by one bad figure, so they trust the world and are wary of the individual; whereas the nein is a group of people who were failed by the world at large so they welcome the loner and fear the pack. 

[spoiler1001]

Percival loved each of his children. He took all of their interests seriously. He knew that they were all special. All of them had gifts. He cried when each of them was born. 

When Sophia was born he was just as happy. When her tail wrapped around his pinky, he was smiling wide. She had curious eyes, wanting to hold everything and purring when she watched people build things. 

Tary was her favorite babysitter. 

Sophia spoke infernal since she was a toddler. Percival picked up on it and decided to learn it. 

This led to wonderful moments where there would be a string of words In Infernal followed by a casual response commenting "it's just orange juice" or "I agree but he's a diplomat so we can't say anything".

Then the twins are born. And things changed.

Sophia lost an eye because he failed in protecting his children. Apparently the people in Whitestone saw her as someone like the Briarwoods. 

That's….Bullshit. New laws and higher security were implemented but Percy saw that tieflings born in town were not as hated as his daughter. 

Sophia was quiet after that. She did speak politely but only when spoken to. Percy wept at the thought of his child being hurt on his own property. 

Sophia wanted her prosthetic eye to be obviously not an eye. She liked the look. Percy couldn't argue with her about that. 

Then the fire. Percy knew that tieflings didn't burn, but he lost his third youngest in a house fire. She had vanished off the face of the earth. 

There was a funeral and then Sophia came back. As soon as that woman, the one that told them that their daughter was alive and what happened, Vex and Percy's priorities shifted. 

Then she came home. Then she died. Pike fixed things, stopped the curse, but every time Percy closed his eyes he could see her in his arms, still and cooling. 

-------

Percy was pulled out of his thoughts as Vex put down a cup of tea. 

"It's my turn to watch her." Her voice was soft and she grabbed his arm. "Get some sleep." Percy nodded. "I'll message Vesper and Vax. Let them know." 

Vex'ahlia nodded and took the chair Percival was sitting in, leaning over Sophia and brushing the hair out of her face. There was a small sigh released at the contact, but Sophia was deep asleep still. Coming back from death was nasty business. All Vex could do was count her daughter's breaths. It was hard to believe that all of this had happened in four months. Buried in the dark violet that was her hair, Vex found patches of white. Oh, dear. 

"Both you and your father have grown up too fast." Vex mused. There was no reply from the sleeping tiefling.

Vex frowned at the sight of her daughter's face, with how sunken in her cheeks were and how sharp her features were. She needed food and fluids given how pale she was. Vex could count the veins on her face. 

Vex turned to look out the window. A raven was sitting just outside, looking into the room. Vex clenched her jaw. The ravens already took her brother. She wasn't going to let them take back her daughter. 

A small slapping sound startled Vex. She looked around to see Sophia's tail twitching in deep sleep. 

"Trinket!" Vex called out. 

The bear huffed and pushed his nose against Sophia's cheek. Still not even a stir from the tiefling.

------

Vex was drinking tea when Vesper and Vax knocked on the doorway. They looked so much like their father, only the ears showing their elven heritage. 

"How is she?" Vesper asked. 

Trinket pressed his nose against Sophia's cheek. 

"Cold! Cold!" Sophia flinched, leaning away from the bear. "Trinket!" 

"She's awake." Vex stood up. She placed a hand onto Sophia's forehead. It was hot, boiling. "How are you feeling?" 

"Like I was vivisected." Sophia grumbled. 

"Don't let papa hear that." Vesper chuckled and sat down next to Sophia.

"But that's a fair description." Vex pulled Sophia into a hug. "Welcome home." 

Sophia just nodded. 

"What happened after the fire?" Sophia asked. 

"...we looked for your body. For anything." Vax looked away. 

Silence took over. "I'll let your father know you're awake."

A moment passed before she let Sophia go. Her eyes were wet. 

Another moment passed. Then she left the room. 

"You look like shit." Vex said after a moment. 

"I feel worse, so it all evens out." Sophia shrugged, causing her chest to tighten. Sophia gasped and clutched at her chest. 

"I'm ok. I'm ok." She whispered as the other two rested their hands on Sophia's shoulders.  "It's sore, but I'm ok." 

Trinket nuzzled Sophia's side. 

"They're never going to let you go anywhere now." Vesper laid back on the bed.

"I don't think I want to leave after this, not quite yet anyway." Sophia took a deep breath. 

"Speaking of- where did you go?" Vex sat down next to the bear. 

"I was on the outskirts of Whitestone and the next port over." Sophia whispered. 

Two distinct footsteps made their way towards the room. Sophia looked up and saw white hair.

"I'm so sorry." Percy whispered. 

Sophia just hugged him back. "You didn't do this." 

"I might have well." Percy disagreed. 

"But you didn't. I'm here." Sophia sighed. 

"You're burning up." Percival mused. "It's good to have you back but you need sleep. C'mon, you two, let her sleep." Percy pulled them out of the room. Vex turned to look at Sophia. 

"How bad is the pain?" Vex tied Sophia's hair back. 

"Chest is tight. Hurts when I breathe." 

"Like when you-" Vex's voice cracked. 

"No. It feels like overworked muscles." Sophia shook her head. Vex handed her a cup of a brown liquid. Broth. 

She took a sip. It felt comforting. Her stomach could handle that. Purrs rose from her chest. 

"You remind me of my brother." Vex sat next to Sophia.

"In a good way?" 

Vex laughed. "In the best ways. Be careful though. I remember when my brother died. It felt like a knife in my heart." 

"I'm sorry." 

"Don't be. Just stay alive." 

"It's all I can do." Sophia nodded. 

[howlingowl-wra]

Ask the Owls "I've been to a few events The Owls have hosted but always feel like a bit of a wall flower. Everyone seems so friendly, but also seem to be constantly engaged with other friends and I'd feel rude to interrupt. Am I being way too nervous?"

Tanner: "You are as nervous as any of us were, and likely still are. I am a security guard for a reason--it is not the most social of jobs at the Owl! Say hello, ask for weapons, step aside, repeat. Interaction over. The hardest part is always the first step into the pool, though, and there are myriad ways to get there. You merely need to find yours. I personally find it easiest to follow someone with whom I am already acquainted, or if that cannot happen, I will settle near an interesting-looking group and see if I cannot find a good opportunity to interrupt. That said, there is also nothing wrong with being a wallflower and simply attending for your own pleasure. If you wish to come alone, be alone, and leave alone, enjoy your solitude and let no one take it from you."

Yainah: "I was much the same way when I first started coming! It's quite daunting, but most folks are happy to wave back at you if you approach and who knows? Maybe they'll invite you to chat too! If you don't have any luck there, you could always try heading in line for drinks and start up conversation with another waiting patron or even one of the baristas, bartenders, or security guards around."

Kav Tari: "Heck I still feel like that!" Kav laughs and shakes her head. "Sometimes I just want to enjoy the vibes, which is cool, but other times you just gotta make the move. Find some outfit piece or accessory that draws your attention to someone, walk or dance on up, mention it, and hang out. Lots of these peeps are as friendly as they seem, sometimes more so, which means - unless they are getting intimate on the floor with a specific person without talking much to others - you'll get pulled into the group quickly."

Skeltyr:  "Lissen, as the resident cryptid, the only reason I started socializing is because Saeil badgered me into it, an' then I got adopted by a slightly more extroverted introver. Now we wallflower togevver. Talkin' to people ain' easy, especially if you're in anyway worried about lookin' foolish or uncool. The fing to remember is; not a single one of us is cool. We're all so much dorkier than we look. Look at Saeil!"

Skeltyr gestures over to the owner of the Howling Owl. "Tall, thin. Nice muscles, cool tattoos. Piercings. Ask 'im about 'is boy and you will swear you've never met a bigger sap. Ophene is addicted to makin' numbers get big, an' if you give 'er a chance, she'll be the first to start self-depracatin'. 'Er fiance, Othiriel, will talk your ear about romance novels, and you'll walk away wif at least five - NO I DON'T NEED MORE."

"Tanner is a walking Dad Joke." Skeltyr shrugs. "That's just the people I like. There's so- so many more, and they're all ridiculous people. All of 'em."

Ophene: "I'm still pretty sure that I'm rudely interrupting most social interactions that I find myself in just by virtue of being in them? Really, if you think about it, talking is just one interruption after another. I can't think of a time I've seen an Owl turn away a new face, and most of us don't bite! Except for Miss Ellaneous. She bit Tanner and, uh, it wasn't great. But she's not an official employee."

Kon: "I will mirror Yainah's reply and say that as one of the baristas there who is always happy to have a stranger approach, I encourage and welcome you to come speak with me or any of us really! If it is me you so choose, I will personally see to it that you are kept in good company and engaging conversation so you can feel more confident to approach those you meet along the way. There is beauty in wallflowers but most of us owls never feel interrupted by a patron or potential new friend who wishes to come to know us better and I for one encourage you to try it as we all like to see all flowers bloom even if they need the warmth and light of others to help make them grow."

Othiriel: "Miss Ellaneous is an outlier and should not be counted—the rest of us have a calming aroma of coffee and she is very sorry about The Incident. It's always hard to walk up to people you don't know very well, but I think the nice thing about Owl events is that there's always something to talk about! The coffee, the performances, the theme nights, even the silly conversations you overhear through the night. We love chatting with patrons, and I completely understand being nervous—taking the plunge is the scariest part, but it's so worth it!"

[critical-ramblings]

Things that Mean More on a second watch-through of C2

Episode 8-10

"He burned alive in front of me" "Yeah you did that though" this is why I love Beau

Caleb identifying all the things and then not telling them what it is makes a first appearance! It's so clear here how little he trusts them, even as he jokes with Beau 'you look like a nerd' and Fjord 'yeah those manacles just stop you from being gassy"

Fjord snaps Beau's goggles almost immediately upon her acquiring them. so what I'm saying is that they've always had that sibling energy

Caleb purposefully manipulates Jester by giving her the wand--to distract her from the glove of blasting...too bad Beau is on the case.

Beau says she's getting her own room, and Jester says they've always been roommates...this is also the night Beau tucks her in, so....THIS IS IN EPISODE 8 PEOPLE

Jester extorting the starosta for Fjord's letter is still Incredible, as is the first appearance of "Fjord Tough." I still lost it with the rest of the table.

Caleb didn't have to roll a wisdom save after he incinerated the bandit leader because he was immediately knocked unconscious, but Liam makes up for it with the nightmare he has afterward (take them out, take them out!) LOVE ME SOME ANGSTY WIZARD

I already made a post about this, but I feel compelled to remind everyone that the shady guide they meet when they first get to Zadash is the abandoned business partner of Lawrence, Tary's husband. 

First appearance of Pumat Sol! I love how much the cast love's Matt's voices

"Unpleasant one, let's go" "obnoxious one, I'm with ya" Molly and Beau are so good you guys

"There are those who believe [tieflings] are the result of the Curse of Ghor Dranas" cool world-building Matt!

"The Apple Tree Learning Center" is a soltryce-run 'public school' for children and adults...who wants to bet it was a similar school that discovered the blumentrio? Or at least encouraged them to apply

the first time Caleb transcribed a spell (unseen servant) he IMMEDIATELY invited Nott to help him. And Nott, though dismayed that it was going to take 2 hours, was willing to help out.

"What are you doing with my cat?" Molly won't be able to see through Frumpkin's eyes, but he's got the spirit

"When you compliment people it sounds like a fucking insult," Fjord and Beau are GREAT

Maye one reason we have a dim view of the Empire is because our first plot line in Zadash involved corrupt politicians...not to mention Caleb's whole Thing

First mention of the Cerberus Assembly: general complaints that they're grabbing for power and influence in Zadash and beyond.

Nott being afraid of the bath :( "a person could drown in that"

I legitimately forgot how much they treated Nott like a kid...from the swimming lesson, 'you'll get a sticker'

Caleb is SUPER paranoid, asking everyone how they feel about the Empire and sounding out these new party members. Funnily enough, it's Molly who is most on his wavelength as far as keeping a low profile goes

Yasha really didn't want to confess which god she followed to the rest of the Nein, but when pressed said, "he pulled me out of what felt like literally the depths of hell. I owe him my life." this is without even remembering Obann or what he did.

The contrast between early Beau/Yasha 'do I get a good view" 'roll for perv' and later Softness is...a lot

Caleb and Yasha bond over not doing the hugging thing

Nott LEANS AWAY after asking how dangerous the sewer job is going to be. She is Not On Board for risking her life the way the others are--not even for 700 gold.

'you kicked his cat into oblivion!' "I didn't!" Matt doesn't often distance himself from his NPCs, but when he does it's for animal cruelty and bad parenting.

Jester talking about her visit with the Traveler in the Pillow Trove is...Relevant. It's kind of crazy how early the line was drawn between Fjord and Beau not trusting him and Caleb being quick to prop up Jester's faith, "there are stories that tell of gods dabbling with mortals, not often but it does happen." whereas Beau says, "I'm interested in a god who kicks it with mortals. Never heard of that."

Caleb not wanting to get a new jacket because he knows this one is big autism feels (even if it is also his paranoia talking)

"she does see hamster unicorns. they're gods, right?" "No Beau they're just--they're just unicorns" I love them

"I've never been in a sewer" Molly says, excitedly, and also making me Feel Things

the evolution of Yasha's voice is really cute. we stan 1 Ashley Johnson

I think I was still listening to the podcast at this point so I totally missed all of the It jokes Liam did in the sewer job

Nott sees everyone getting ready to fight and takes a drink. It is interesting to keep track of her drinking, knowing everything we know now.

rat punching, the pasttime of lvl 3 adventurers.

Yasha, to Caleb: "are you very scared right now"

Caleb: "no because I am with all of you"

Nott: "I'm very scared right now"

Caleb advocating for looting the guards the spider killed is #vultureculture

It gets overlooked in later episodes, but 10 was when Nott's button collecting really took off.

They meet the Zadash Lawmaster Orentha and Nott immediately says, "she seems nice. I wonder why all those people wanted to rebel against her." if that doesn't sum up the themes of this campaign idk what does

Nott says, "and now we never have to do another adventure again" she's come so far

Caleb is VERY transactional after this fight, handing out loot for favors and goodwill with individual party members rather than splitting the loot.

This leads directly to Molly pinning him to the wall, which in retrospect was definitely a play for authority and dominance and not anything shippy.

Caleb straight up says to Fjord, "I don't trust you yet. I don't trust any of these people yet."

That whole conversation is actually Very Good: 

Fjord: "That's too bad"

Caleb: "yeah I have...I have made mistakes in my life. And, I'm, I have harmed people. Not in a long time. *clears throat* you know I thought I was going to be something, someday, a long time ago, and now I. Don't."

"We've all harmed people, and I hope you come to trust me in time" this is why I ship widofjord (emphasis mine)

 Nott going through Fjord's stuff is also this episode! Such shady motherfuckers

"If the money's right and it's not stupid" is a good philosophy for this group

"Your cat got kicked into another dimension?!" "Oh he had such a face, I will never forget this face"

They have fireflies in Kamordah and not Nicodranas. Canon.

[dark-flamin-new-light]

What if I saved the world from the "LOVE" Infection?

*Just so you know I am using a lot of characters and my own, so all characters go to their respectful owners.*

"I don't know who started to get infected by it, but I do know who started spreading it, and how I ended it. The first person was Crystal"

Crystal: Taria give me a hug!

Taria: Of course.

"10 hours later"

Taria, Sonia, Crystal: Hugs Tarius. Hugs!

Tarius: Alright.

"E Gadd busts through the door"

E Gadd: No Tarius don't!

Tarius: Why?

E Gadd: They have infected by some kind of love sickness.

Tarius: Are you serious?

E Gadd: Follow me!

Tarius: Ok.

"2 hours later about 15 more people got infected"

E Gadd: It appears your female counterpart was the first infected.

Tarius: Who else got infected?

E Gadd: The people I know.

Tarius: Mario and Luigi?

E Gadd: Yes.

Tarius: Peach and Daisy?

E Gadd: Mmm hmm. It's not just mine and your world that's getting infected. There are other worlds combining into one and they are getting infected as we speak.

Tarius: How can we stop it?

E Gadd: I have finished working on a project that should take away this "Love Infection".

Tarius: Where can I find it?

E Gadd: Near the ocean. Big antenna. Can't miss it. Need to pull the red switch. It will take an hour to charge and to fix this infection.

"Steven, Rose, Enid, Wilhamena, Tari, and Meggy bust through the door and tackles E Gadd."

Tarius: E Gadd!

E Gadd: Remember what I said!

"Then E Gadd gets infected. I get out of there. Attempt to get to the ocean. But a huge ice wall was blocking my path."

Mei: Don't you want a hug?

Tarius: Sorry I'm busy.

"I say as I slowly step back bumping into KO's mom Carol"

Tarius: Oh! I'm very sorry.

Carol: It's ok.

"I had to take a 4 HOUR DETOUR thanks to Mei. After 2 hours I had to rest for a bit but did I rest for too long?"

Emma: Are you still tired?

Jane: I can hug you while you sleep.

Lucy: I can put you to sleep.

Berecca: I can make something so you can sleep.

Tarius: Thank you but I'm fine now. *Quietly* What I wouldn't give for coffee.

Berecca: Here you go!

Tarius: Thank you.

"Since I was still recovering from my sleep I wasn't paying attention to make sure Berecca didn't do anything to it."

Tarius: I feel funny....

Berecca: It's working!

"As expected, Berecca put so kind of love effect in this coffee"

Tarius: (Got to get out of here!)

"I made a run for it before the effects really started to kick in. Only one more hour of detour to go. I rested one more time. My head was resting on something soft. It felt so comfortable, I didn't want to get up. But I did to see Mei."

Tarius: Ahh!

Mei: It's ok. Relax. One more hour of rest.

Tarius: But I'm fine...

Mei: Please?

"As much as I want to deny I couldn't say no. Not to Mei. 1 hour later."

Mei: Wake up Tarius.

"I woke up to seeing Mei again.

Tarius: Mei?

Mei: Time to go.

Tarius: Ok.

"Out of the ones who were infected, Mei was acting the strangest. 15 more minutes of detour remains. I saw the end of the ice wall Mei put up. Now it's another 4 hours to get to the antenna. 2 hours later..."

Enid: There you are!

Tarius: Uh oh.

Wilhamena: Time for your hugs!

Tarius: *Gulps*

"I booked it. 1.45 hours later..."

Tarius: Almost there...

"I collapsed after booking it from Wilhamena and Enid I wake up at night to a unknown figure. I couldn't make it out. It was obviously a female, who wore a hoodie similar to Red riding hood."

Tarius: Wait a minute... Ruby?

Ruby: Yep.

"I gave Ruby a kiss to thank her"

Tarius: Thank you. Now I got to save the world.

Ruby: *Lovestruck after the kiss*

"I made it. I locked the door behind me hopefully buying me time to hit the switch. I was proven wrong after they busted through the door."

Everyone: Give us a hug!

Meggy: Hugs?

Tari: May I have a hug please?

Rose: There's no need to be shy.

Wilhamena: Hugs!

Enid: Come here!

Finn: I... Need.... Hugs!

Marceline: Momma needs some loving!

Blake: It's ok, let me pounce you and make your worry's go away.

Ruby: I want to return the favor after you kissed me.... With a hug and a kiss!

Steven: We won't hurt you.

Mario: Come here and give me a hug.

Luigi: I could use a hug too.

Futaba: I could steal your heart, but I just want a quick hug.

Ann: So do I.

Yang: You kissed my sister? I want a hug and a kiss!

Berecca: May I have a hug?

Emma: Please?

Jane: *With heart shaped pupils* You're very cool. *Opens arms for a hug*

Lucy: You won't regret it.

Mei: *Blocks the door with ice wall* Now you can't get out.

Ren(Joker): Let me steal your heart, with a hug.

Valerie Harmon: We can learn so much together!

"I was scared..... I ran for the switch, they were faster than me. Eventually I made it to the switch and hit it. As soon as I turned around, Rose, Tari, Meggy, Valerie, Jane, and Ruby was right in front of me. As Rose Universe closed in for a hug and a kiss, my heart started pounding. Ruby and Tari came at me from the left, Meggy and Jane from the right, Valerie and Emma from the bottom left, Futaba, Ren, and Mei from the bottom right. Mario, Luigi, and Yang from behind."

Rose: Time for your worry's to go away.

Ruby: Time to return the kiss.

Tari: Time for my hug.

Meggy: Time to let go.

Yang: Time to get my kiss!

Futaba and Ren: Time to steal your heart.

Mei: Time to love me.

Valerie Harmon: Time to show me affection.

Jane: Time to show me your skills.

Emma: Time show you how much I love you.

Mario: Time to go!

Luigi: Time to get ready!

Tarius: "Why isn't it working? Wait...."

"Earlier"

E Gadd: It will take an hour to charge and fix this infection.

Tarius: "Oh man an hour!? I would be fine with that if they weren't already here!"

"As I thought that Rose grabs me and brings me to a comfortable couch. I sit nearby her. I looked up at her, She has the biggest lips I have seen!"

Tarius: "Oh my gosh"

"Rose has kissed me while hugging me. I tried to hang in there, but she was so soft. My eyes were closing. It was over I failed... Or so I thought. Everyone who I was caught in that building with was cured. I was in my room with Rose, Wilhamena, Ren, Futaba, Jane, Emma, Mario, Luigi, Valerie and Ruby."

Rose: Tarius? Tarius?

Tarius: Mother?

Rose: Not your mother. I'm Rose.

Tarius: Oh, what happened?

Rose: You saved all of us when we needed help.

Tarius: I'm glad you are all ok.

"Ruby gave me a kiss"

Ruby: *Giggles* I didn't forget about that kiss you gave me.

Tarius: Heh.

[utilitycaster]

Your fav character from each class in all the actual plays you’ve watched?

THE BEST QUESTION (if hard). I’m only counting regular PCs here; see the end for some guest/NPC/one-shot mentions. As you can see I love basically all characters but I do have my favorites.

Barbarian: there is a high potential, now that Ashley is back for good, that Yasha will win this next year but for now Gorgug and his sweet awkwardness and confused attempts to find his dad wins. (some other good barbarians: Grog, Beryl from Relics and Rarities who was a. kind of a stoner and b. an absolute delight and c. a cool depiction of path of the ancestral guardian, and Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, sweet crepe loving failure)

Bard: I love Fig, but I have to go Scanlan. You know that art piece of the Vecna battle that’s overlaid with the All Work No Play “what would the worst character be” line? Yeah. From “I’m snoring after having sex” to “I was saving it for Vax”. You just can’t beat that. (some other good bards: Annabella from Relics and Rarities, Misty from Dimension 20)

Cleric: this is probably the hardest category (shout out to a lot of clerics. Jester, Kingston, and Kristen are tied for second place) but I think I have to go with Caduceus. I love how much he sees of everyone else and how little we know of him. I love how not-so-secretly judgemental he is. I love his bone flute. I love that he’s quietly trying to save his dying home, and perhaps find family that might be dead. Someone hug him for me. (I would like to recognize Pike and Merle of course, as well as Efink Murderdeath here, and while I’m only 7 episodes in I think Zolf is already my favorite of RQG. )

Druid: Keyleth. I feel like TAZ is at a disadvantage because they’re so early on in Graduation, but also I love the Firbolg but I am not sure a druid will ever surpass Keyleth, with all her messy awkwardness and genuine desire to do good at any cost. (shout out to Ricky Huckster for being a really unique take on the druid, Lillith from Escape from the Bloodkeep for being a great wine mom, and to Kugrash who is currently ripping my heart out)

Fighter: I’m surprising myself here but the recent developments with Fabian Seacaster have put him in the forefront, I think because his story is still ongoing and because I’m a sucker for an arrogant jock suddenly confronting mortality and failure. I do still love Percival De Rolo a lot though. (shout out to Magnus Burnsides who is good at everything, and Veros the O.G. Himbo from Relics and Rarities)

Monk: Beau. This is another case of like, I love Sofia Bicicleta too, but Marisha Ray has some kind of genius for playing female characters that really tap into like, things that many women I think feel but don’t know how to express (at least, I, a woman, feel these things and don’t know how to express them). Beau is such a complicated abrasive character who feels things deeply, and who has genuinely tried and succeeded in changing. She’s so dynamic and wonderful and I love her to bits.

Paladin: Vax. I wrote a whole piece about my experience of listening to CR campaign 1 episode 57 that I never published or posted. I think there’s something deeply profound and beautiful about sticking to an oath that you didn’t ever think you’d choose, and to a promise you fell into. (also, spoilers but Fjord’s going to be my choice for Warlock so I cover that there even though one of my favorite things about him is his switch to Paladin). (shout out, of course, to Ricky Matsui)

Ranger: Vex. Due to some valid and some invalid complaints about the ranger class few people play it, which is a shame because the revised ranger options are pretty great (Horizon Walker is amazing, I say as an admitted fan of weird planar shit) and because like, Aragorn was my favorite LOTR character. But yeah, everything I’ve said about Keyleth and Beau applies to Vex, the D&D character I think I relate most to despite my irl stats not matching hers at all (I do not have 17 Charisma). The imposter syndrome, the need to appear that everything is under control, the sibling loyalty, the stubbornness, the quiet leadership - it’s all so perfect and so unique and I love her very much. (Sokhbarr was a fun take though)

Rogue: put Vax as Paladin so I could nominate Riz as my favorite rogue (and again, I love Nott and enjoy what I’ve seen of Argo, and to be fair, Sasha seems very good as well) but I think the inquisitive subclass is so cool and Riz has such a wonderful arc. Also, goblin with gun is great but goblin high schooler with gun is straight up genius.

Sorcerer: a very rare class, tbh, with Pete getting it by default. He is indeed a fascinating character though, and tying his sorcery into the mythology of the world is a pretty brilliant DM move. (I also am very into Hamid thus far, not in the least because I love halflings)

Warlock: Fjord. I liked Fjord from the start, and even when he was being an ass during the pirate arc found him relatable. I think it might be my background as a bard player that makes me love this disaster who survived for years on just a high constitution and being really good at talking and playing roles; I also love someone who isn’t the greatest leader but falls into it, and someone with control issues working through it (see also: Vex, Percy) And finally, I don’t know if Travis was telling the truth about him being lawful good but he genuinely does want to make things better for people and he takes responsibility very seriously. (obviously, I also really liked Leland, and while I think of both Fig and Sofia as primarily of their main classes of bard and monk, they are cool as warlocks. I get why Emily Axford keeps gunning for Hexblade).

Wizard: Caleb. Given all the other sources of magic it’s always fascinating to see why someone becomes a wizard specifically, and I also like how complex Caleb is - not just the trauma, though that’s part, but the humor and the versatility. (Adaine was a close runner-up though, and Taako was my favorite of THB but is a little too goofy to be a favorite).

Artificer: I mean, obviously Tary.

NPCs and guests, with less commentary:

Barbarian: gonna go with Lionel the True Polymorphed Duck here.

Bard: Hazel Copperpot, she of the 1930s radio accent

Cleric: again very difficult, but then again, not so difficult. Lieve’tel was great.

Druid: Nila, the sweet and calming presence in our hour of need.

Fighter: oh god I don’t know if I can choose between Keg, bisexual dwarven disaster, and Brian David Gilbert’s Hargis, awkward goliath theater kid.

Monk: Ferriwen Breeze, who I do hope shows up again because she was my favorite Darrington Brigade character and I really love Genasi; also Expositor Dairon, natch.

Paladin: few people play paladins as guests which is weird. I do like Kerrek, and I do like Arkhan, but like, Kima, clearly.

Ranger: Sandralynn Faeth, hands down. A wonderful NPC.

Rogue:  I do love Cathilda, and I do love Twiggy, but I laughed about the Owlbear for the entire Darrington Brigade one shot.

Sorcerer: I mean...it has to be Gilmore, right? Calianna is great but no one can beat Gilmore.

Warlock: Zahra, who also, incidentally, is the only non-Hexblade Warlock who’s shown up. I mean hexblade is objectively amazing but Zahra is too.

Wizard: there have been many wizard NPCs across games and it was a very difficult choice but who else is graceful, unendingly kind and patient, and reliable in all situations? Allura Vyesoren is the wizard you wish your wizard could be. Yussa and Essek and Lup and Arthur Aguefort and Barry and Lyra and Ranier and far more wizard NPCs and guests are all wonderful in their own ways but like, did you think you could come for Matt Mercer’s self insert? you could not.

.

[mxrcayong]

the avatar series: 01.01

masterlist.

previous | next 

The whole city was bustling with excitement. Vibrant colors streamed the streets as everyone prepared for the celebration that is Avatar Day. It’s funny, the old holiday used to defame the Avatar is now used to celebrate the end of the 100-year war. Every city celebrates differently, although most include a dance performance utilizing all four elements and parades. Sooman City is known for having the most eccentric festival of them all. SM city has the biggest parade that runs from 1 to 4 in the afternoon and dance performances with talent shows everywhere possible. There are dramatic retellings of the story of the Avatar, a special feast, a carnival, and occasionally the descendents of the previous Team Avatar come to speak at the main stage. Additionally, there’s a huge fair in the central park and numerous street bazaars selling Team Avatar themed foods and souvenirs. Children and adults alike run amuck, enjoying their day off from work and celebrating the anniversary of the day the world was saved from eternal darkness. 

Tari always had work on the day of the festival. It usually consisted of spending her shift drawing the faces of the previous Team Avatar with foam on the coffee of the customers. The most difficult face? Funnily enough, was Momo. It’s hard to capture the colors of his face in a distinguished manner. Tari is just glad that ‘Iroh and Me’ café is most known for their tea, cause all they have to do for tea orders is add a cookie with the special Avatar Day design of their choice. Most businesses are closed today, from the gyms to the schools, however customer service never stops for anybody – even the Avatar. People would come in, dressed up in traditional garbs compared to their usual outfits, laughing and feeling grateful for the existence of the Avatar. However, this year, the boss of ‘Iroh and Me’ designated Hendery to be the one in charge of the shop for the majority of today (much to his dismay). So, today was the first day in a while Tari was able to sleep in and will be the first Avatar Day she’ll be able to experience. However, her priority is a good twelve hours of sleep. Working in a café usually means being awake at unholy times - normally five in the morning so she could get to work by six and open up by seven. 

Stretching in bed, Tari was awakened with the sight of the bright sun shining into her bedroom, alarming her of the time. It felt unusual - she’s always so used to seeing the sun rise on the coast first thing in the morning when she walks towards the closest tram station. Consequently, she was momentarily panicked - fuck, I’m late to work - she thought to herself. A wave of relief hit her as soon as she remembered her plan for today: stay inside and relax. With a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, she fell back onto her pillows and nuzzled into the comfort.  

On any other work-free day, she’d be out with friends - usually annoying Johnny in his studio, following Doyoung to the gym, checking out local shops with Kilara, helping Roddie study, or assisting in Sonan’s store. But all those workplaces are closed – except for Johnny’s, but he loves the festival; always trying to get Tari to get an ‘off day’ on work to participate in the festival with Doyoung and him, and any of the friends he invites or bumps into later.  Not only has she been avoiding this day since she’s heard of it, but she just hates the fact that the streets will be absolutely flooded with people. Walking today will be like swimming in the ocean when the tide brings you the other way; difficult. 

Climbing out of bed, she quickly threw on a pair of sweatpants and brushed her teeth in her bathroom. She wanted to get ready to spend the day at home, planning to cook her favorite comfort food of seaweed noodles with traditional water tribe soup. It’s her favorite go-to meal, reminding her of the home she doesn’t have vivid memories of. She may potentially also put on a movie or read a book. She’s been meaning to read “To Rock and Flow With It”, a love story between an earthbender and a waterbender. 

Through her bedroom door, she could hear soft mumbles of a conversation from the living room. Hoping Doyoung hasn’t gone insane, Tari stood up to figure out where the other half of the conversation is coming from. As she opened the door, the brightness from the whole wall of windows blinded her temporarily. “So you don’t have work today.” A voice that certainly wasn’t Doyoung’s commented. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw Doyoung behind the kitchen counter, whisking a bowl and Johnny sitting across the counter on a stool. He looked mischievous, as if he was up to something. Both of them were dressed. The two of them always spends the holiday exploring the city and the different fair activities. Johnny was in a cream sweater and black jeans, a gray shirt poking out from the neckline while Doyoung wore a black hoodie and dark blue jeans.

“Nope,” Tari popped the ‘p’, walking towards Doyoung to see what he was cooking. “Eggs?” Doyoung nodded, “Can I steal some?” She pleaded, widening her eyes and pouting to convince him – despite knowing he wouldn’t need that look to comply to her request. She quickly turned to face Johnny, now sliding towards the fridge. “Johnny, I swear, your home is on the other side of town but you’re always here.” She’s not complaining - she loves his presence, but they just tease each other. It’s the nature of their relationship. 

“Yes, but, this place will be so lonely without me.” He fake cried, motioning to the small apartment. “Who else will sleep on your couch every once in a while?” Tari chuckled, before rolling her eyes. 

Doyoung smiled, staring at the eggs he was now pouring into the frying pan. “I mean, at this rate, you should just move in rather than pay for rent at a place you don’t even stay in.” 

“I’ll hold you to that offer,” Johnny winked, “But for now!” Johnny clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “You know what Tari’s freedom means, Do!” Tari looked at him questionably as she opened up the fridge, grabbing the ingredients for seawood noodles.

Ignoring her confusion momentarily, she turned to look up at Doyoung. She already knew if Johnny was here, he’d want to eat anything that he could. “Seaweed noodles?”

“Yes please.” Doyoung grinned, before Johnny took over the conversation once more.

He put his hands on the top of his head, “I’m just saying this will be your first time in two years to experience the novelty of a Sooman City Avatar Day. C’mon, where did you live before right? You said they hardly celebrated.”

The water bender shrugged, using her powers to speed up her cooking time by gently steaming up the water in the pot with the seaweed noodles and other ingredients in. “I hardly celebrated, I always had to work.”

“So, this will be your first time!” Johnny further contested, making Tari roll her eyes as Johnny now came up towards her, standing beside her in an attempt to convince her more. “I mean come on! Out of your 20 years of life, you’ve yet to experience a culturally important, iconic” He exaggerated his pronunciation of the long list of adjectives that he probably have used in his most recent articles, “... event.” Usually, he was more relaxed and open about her not being able to go - although usually, she also has a solid excuse. She looked to Doyoung. One thing they developed quite well over the last almost-two years of living together was a silent language, purely using their eyes and facial expressions.

Doyoung chuckled at her flustered face just begging him to answer why Johnny is so desperate for her presence, “He has to report on the festival this year.”

She chortled. “Ooh, that’s fun!” Tari teased, “Mixing work with pleasure. What angle are you taking? ‘Why the carousel should be your must-go activity’?”

The journalist leaned against the fridge as his two friends cooked for the three of them. “No, it’s actually about how this day is used to celebrate the previous Avatars and consequently, also bending and thus,” He grabbed a piece of the pile of dry seaweed Tari would sprinkle on the top of the soup and took a bite of it, “shows support against the anti-bending regime.” He obviously rehearsed that, and Tari can only assume that he signed up to report on the event. Surprising, she thought to herself, Johnny usually wants this day to relax. 

The air bender nodded, liking the idea. “You could get some really cool perspectives on that. From both like the police officers patrolling, influencers, stall owners, families, so on.” Doyoung imagined the article’s success already. Johnny was one of the best reporters in the local newspaper and it’s easy for him to gain a lot of attention on his articles. Him writing this article - as a non-bender - may bring awareness to the issues benders currently face, “I’m getting kind of sick of people pointing at the bending gyms and yelling that it’s ‘anti-equality” He sighed.  

“Okay first, Doyoung that sucks and you need to report to the police for harassment.” Tari started.

The airbending instructor was quick to interject, “It’s not to the air gyms, at least – not a majority of time. It’s usually at night and to the fire bending gym. I don’t have any place to report on behalf of anyone else”

“But that’s still society, so this anti-bending regime is just anti-pro bending.” Tari commented, furrowing her eyebrows. She hasn’t noticed any particular hatred for bending other than the pro-bending, which was why it was banned around 20 years ago – just before she was born. Yeah, as a result of this ban – there has been discrimination against benders, often seeing them as violent or leading them to be ostracised – but it’s been improving over the last few years due to the amount of protests and parades hosted to support benders. “Maybe just focus on the societal perspectives?”

Johnny tsked, “I heard from an inside source that there are rumors of something escalating.” He sighed.

“You must be glad you’re not a bender then.” Doyoung chuckled, trying to lighten the conversation from the news regarding perception of benders and trying to hint at Johnny to change the topic. He always notices that Tari gets quite awkward when talking about bending. She’s comfortable doing it – not much actually talking about it.

Johnny winked, “Always.” He turned back to Tari, following Doyoung’s lead and changing the topic, “can you please come? You can help interview people rather than do things.” That didn’t elicit a response, Tari just shrugging - not in the mood to be doing work she normally does when she has a day off anyway. “Okaaaaaayyyyy, how about while Doyoung and I check out the actual festivities and do interviews, you can look at the bazaar stalls?” Tari pouted her bottom lip, getting slightly intrigued. “I heard Sunmi will have a special stall full of exclusive stuff!” He practically sang.

“Hey, wait, when did I sign up to help?” Doyoung lifted his hands defensively as if he was caught in a crime. He’d help regardless, but it’s always nice to be asked. 

Johnny cheekily smiled, “You signed up when you became my friend.” Doyoung stared at the ceiling, laughing, before putting his hand back on the spatula to scramble the eggs. 

“Tempting.” Tari bit her lip. Out of all the local stores in Sooman City, Sunmi owned a shop called ‘wonder girls’ which sells some of the most beautiful re-worked thrifted items. It’s where Tari actually bought her favorite carpet reminiscent of air nation patterns that now adorns the living room and the tapestry in her bedroom which is reminiscent of the patterns reported to be in the Northern Water Tribe spirit oasis.  

“Fine.” She growled out reluctantly. “Let’s go, but after we eat. And we have to stop by Sonan’s shop.”

She wasn’t sure if Sunmi’s stall was worth it. Most of the things she sold were old items reminiscent of the different past Avatars. Yeah - they all fit Tari’s aesthetic and likes, but they just weren’t what she wanted hanging in her room everyday because of the specific designs. The only thing that caught her eye was an old-looking book on “the lessons we could learn from the previous Avatars”. The cover was decorated with minimalist sketches with a traditional edge to them. It called out to her because of the fact that on the front cover, they promoted the fact that the self-help book was apparently approved by Tenzin and Pema. So, she looked through it - and while her fingers flipped through the crisp pages, particular phrases in bold seemed to shout out to her: “No matter how strong you are, individuals cannot maintain harmony alone” and “do not doubt your greatness and do not run from your truths.” At the same time, the last phrase made her scoff and put the book down. Thanking Sunmi and wishing her goodbye, she slowly left the white tent - letting her eyes linger on a necklace similar to Katara’s (but bronze rather than blue), a boomerang with air nation carvings and Aang’s tattoo on it, a headband reminiscent on Toph’s but in different colors, and a silk robe which took inspiration from Zuko’s vest.

Leaving the white tent, she looked around the city that’s already vibrant on it’s own - nevertheless with the purposeful use of colors to heighten the celebrations on the street. She looked at all the children who were carrying around prop-gliders, grinning and smiling. All the booths and stalls sold cookies in the shapes of the Avatars and their teams or of the symbols of each element. Balloons in the shape of Momo and Appa marked the sky while Flying Bisons were used as an attraction, people paying a number of yuan to be able to board and ride the Flying Bison over the city for just thirty minutes. 

While walking down the bazaar, she saw Johnny and Doyoung interview people attending the festival and hosting the stalls. Johnny was equipped with his camera around his neck like a necklace and a notepad which he was intently scrawling notes from the interview. She chuckled at Doyoung’s bored expression; looking around the festival as he held Johnny’s microphone so that he could replay and get exact quotes later. Doyoung caught her eyes across the crowd and lifted one arm up as a wave, so Tari responded similarly - before chuckling at Johnny slapping Doyoung to pay attention. He immediately had to rrub the spot he was hit on and turned back to the interview. If there was one thing Tari learnt while joining Johnny for multiple interviews, it’s that Johnny hates it when there’s anything  that can negatively affect his rapport with an  interviewee. This means whoever he’s with has to look equally engrossed in the conversation. 

Despite how much she has been avoiding these celebrations, the bustling crowd didn’t prevent her from seeing the beauty she saw from the street’s vibrant colors and festivities. Everyone looked so happy and in bliss. This is what peace and harmony should look like; happiness. I’m not needed, she’d tell herself. She stood blankly in the middle of the street, ignoring the very minimal and light pushes from other people as she observed the world around her - mentally slowing down everything thats happening. Mental note, she told herself, ask Johnny to send me some photographs from today. 

Walking down the streets, everything was so lively. Animated story tellers, grinning parents, young adults exploring, children learning history - this felt amazing. Why do I avoid these? She questions herself, before her eyes caught sight of the reason she does. 

Her eyes fell upon the statues of the previous Avatars standing in order, taller than most buildings on the street but only half the size of the Aang statue that guards the coast. Some people were bowing down in front of the statues, some were just observing it. Most people stared at up in awe - afterall, these are the people who save the world and whose purpose is to protect mankind. These are the people who will forever live on through a different reincarnation, a different life. They are the people with immense and extraordinary power. Despite her trembling steps, she decided to approach it, allowing the large and otherworldly statues to stare down at her - eyeing her up and down, reminding her she’s not of similar status. 

She felt her breath get trapped in her throat as her memories flash back to the last time she lived with her parents. 

“We don’t normally tell them when they’re this young,” She overheard someone telling her parents; a voice she’d grow familiar with as she grew up, “But your daughter is showing incredible skill and we want to train her early.” The same voice’s smile was evident in their voice as they continued to speak in conviction, “If we do it right, she can be considered the greatest of them all.” 

She was only four years old when the person who raised her took her away from her family who resided in a traditional water nation village. Ever since then, despite being put into circumstances where it may seem impossible, she kept trying to run away. Not just physically, but mentally. Trying to leave everything behind. All she wanted was a new beginning, a new identity, a new face. She knew if she had the opportunity, she may ask the Mother of Faces to change her face - but at the same time, that doesn’t stop the fact that she’s Tari. That she was born like this. 

Trying to catch her breath, she looked around and saw a stage with a list of performances next to the entrance to the audience area. This should be calming, she falsely presumed. She approached; noticing how some of the famous local dancers like Jungwoo and Winwin are at the front of the audience, probably preparing for their act. She always loved seeing them dance - they were always enchanting. Whenever she hears they will be performing, she always drags someone - usually Sonan or Doyoung - to watch. Although intrigued due to her interest in watching the dancers, as she got closer she noticed that the current show was a play and the actors were standing in line as if they were about to bow. All of them dressed like the statues from earlier, except theres an addition. At the end, right next to Aang, there was two waterbenders holding a newborn child. She tried to focus on what’s being said by the narrator. 

“All we know now is that there is an Avatar in this world and they are from the water nation.” The narrator’s voice boomed, mumbled by the distance. He grinned as if reminiscing about the time he heard the news of the birth of the Avatar, “There’s no other information about him or her, but we know that whoever they are; the spirit of Aang, of Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, Bayu, Salai, and Wan lives on through them.”

It started to become overwhelming. She quickly turned back and started heading anywhere she can catch a breath - but that means she has to get away from the bustling crowd. Okay, time to go. Her thoughts were running a mile every minute, nothing focusing - everything in a fast-paced motion. She was planning on going to Sonan’s booth once Johnny and Doyoung started heading in the same direction, as it was set up on the opposite end of the street and she was not going to brace this festival alone. But, she just can’t be here anymore. She quickly texted Hendery telling him she’s on her way and she’ll take over his shift, no problem. His response? A series of celebratory gifs and a promise to a future favor. 

Quickly texting her, Johnny, and Doyoung’s group chat – she informed them of ‘an emergency at work’ where ‘Hendery got burnt’ and she has to step in It’s better to text them rather than approaching them because all they’ll do is convince her to stay. That, and Johnny may actually hold her to him throughout the event. She then texted Sonan she’ll see her later tonight for dinner, which Tari now promised she’ll be providing. She quickly sprinted to the closest tram station, but even there – despite how it’s not as crowded as usual due to people exploring the festivities, everyone who got off the train were in traditional garbs. Especially the orange outfit and red cape Aang was famous for. I just can’t escape, can I? Staring at her quickly shuffling feet as much as she can, she made her way to the cafe within thirty minutes. 

“You’re a savior.” Hendery praised, hugging his friend and passing over his apron. She chuckled.

“Go have fun, donkey.” She lovingly called him his nickname, making him chuckle. As soon as the door chimed, signalling that he has left - she watched him waddle towards the same direction she just came from. “Because I know I won’t.” She mumbled under her breath as she tied her apron behind her back and prepared herself to serve numerous patrons dressed like the very same statues who stared down at her like gods half an hour earlier.

request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here 

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Seven

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Wherein we... talk to the crew. I didn’t quite make it off the ship.

Still, a lot of words.

Aka the nearly All-Gif update.

Didn’t get a chance to play ME at all this week, so I’m going to spend a few hours this weekend (double-checking to make sure screenshotting works :p) and have some real updates later.

So making it back to the ship from Therum, it’s time to talk to the crew.  I maybe could have gone and talked to them after getting on the ship after the Citadel, but they don’t really have any unique lines then so, I usually wait til now to go chat.

First, let’s talk to Liara.

The thing that sucks about talking to Liara (or Kaidan, or Ashley, if you don’t want to romance them) is, you know, the accidental romance.  Making “picking the Paragon-place choices = romance by default with NO WARNING” design was very Not Good.  They fixed this in later games, well moreso in Dragon Age games than ME, (and Andromeda is done very well for this) but still.  In ME3, the BackOff mod does a great job of making romance dialog more obvious and intentional.  

Liara’s dialog choices I feel like are even LESS obviously flirting I feel like than Ash and Kaidan’s.  Honestly with Liara’s most of the lines can be read and even said aloud as friendship then BOOM, all of a sudden she wants a threesome.  I choose middle dialog options whenever possible with Liara just to avoid this.  I’m not interested, never have been, don’t want Kaidan to think he has any competition.  But seriously, it’s poor game design here that you literally have to be a jerk to a companion at some points to avoid having them think you want to bang.   God, half of the reason I’d love a remaster would be to hopefully fix shit like this to avoid some of the pitfalls.  

I hate that some people use this as a reason to dislike these characters more.  And I’ll admit, in my early days as a ME fan, I held it against Liara, too, until I realized how dumb that is.  I especially hate it when you get to the “confrontation scene” and people use Kaidan not wanting to be in a threesome as a reason to dislike him more?  It’s not a bad thing to want to be monogamous?  (And of course, it’s not a bad thing to NOT want to be, assuming everyone is open and OK about it.)

I just prefer to not get that scene at all now, and to avoid “leading anyone on” accidentally etc.  My Shepard knows early on what she wants, and sticks with him all the way through.

I was going to talk more here about my feelings about Liara in general but uh, I guess I’ll do that later.  This is already really long.

Here’s a great post about how to avoid romancing Kaidan while being rude as little as possible to him.  

Well since he’s right outside the medbay anyway, let’s go talk to the LT.  

Have I mentioned how much I hate the orange glow?  

So anyway, I thought maybe I’d talk here a little bit about Why Kaidan?

I will point out here that I am mostly a hetero woman, so my choices in video game romances lean towards men first, though I’m also very cool with doing non-m/f romances in games, and often do on subsequent playthroughs of games I love, but that’s almost never gonna be my primary romance.

I’d already mentioned my love for Carth Onasi, one of the most hated companions in video games, If You’re A Guy.

By today’s standards, even the Carth romance isn’t that great.  But at the time, it was the greatest romance I’d experienced in video games.  There were a few others that were really good -- Valen Shadowbreath in Neverwinter Nights: Horde of the Underdark was the other really great one, but we also got nightmare fuel like Anomen in Baldur’s Gate (though that gets better with mods + the final BG expansion) or just under-written characters or romances like Casavir in NWN2 (who was much better with mods) or hell, either of your choices in KotOR2 imho.  But I used to play KotOR over and over for many reasons, such as holy shit a Star Wars game(!!) and one where you can actually be a female main character AND has that great Bioware storytelling... but a big reason was Carth.  

A funny thing about Carth Onasi... if you play a male main character, you have a very different experience with Carth than if you play a woman.  And even I can agree that hoo boy Carth gets tiresome quick if you play a male, as a female you at least get to flirt and that calms him down and evens him out a lot. But the one time I tried playing as a male, I didn’t make it off Taris because.. yeouch I could actually see what the guys playing were so mad about.

But hey, that voice.  Raphael Sbarge, I love that voice.  So like I said early on in these posts, I immediately knew I was going to romance Kaidan the very second I confirmed he was romancable, before I even ran back into the ship and met anyone on the crew aside from Joker and Kaidan.

And... that only got confirmed more and more as I went through ME for the first time.  The character is smart, and capable, and respected you, and never questioned your command, but made his feelings pretty clear along the way.  He could be a little doofy but in an adorable way with some of the things he said, honestly there was almost never anything I didn’t love about this character.

I realized some time ago that I have a thing for the Paladin archetype personally. 

This is Casavir, from Neverwinter Nights 2, and in NWN2, there are two romance options for women.  An under-written Lawful Good Paladin in his late 30′s who is willing to buck his superiors to do what he thinks is right but also places you on a pedestal and holds back all his emotions.  He’s a romance option. Or....

Bishop, a chaotic evil ranger who insults you a lot, threatens to rape an NPC under your protection, and ultimately betrays you.  

Most people who played NWN2 seemed to prefer the CE Ranger.  I loved the paladin so much I wrote fix-it fic that I never have gotten around to publishing anywhere to retcon his terrible dumb ending.

There’s a fan-made romance mod that helps with the romances in this game, though I dislike a lot of what they did, ultimately I always use it.

In Dragon Age?

Ah yeah, the Templar-Warden.  Love him.  He does have that “Oh I’m so young and experienced tee-hee” thing going on that isn’t my favorite, (at this point mostly because I’m actually in my mid-40′s so uh, I’m just Old) but otherwise, yeah, love Alistair.

Dragon Age 2, I mean I usually romance Anders but... I’m not real excited about either him or Fenris, or even either of the ladies, though I have done Isabella’s romance (as well as Fenris’) and enjoyed it.  I’d probably romance Avaline (or Varric!), if she were an option.  But yeah, Anders mostly because he IS trying to do what’s right, even if he... well.  You know.  

But Dragon Age Inquisition?

Give me that Blackwall-angst.  That stoic guy trying to be a Warden who comes undone for you.  You’d think I’d go for Cullen, but hey this game gave us two paladin archetypes, though one is merely pretending, he still atones and becomes what he was trying to be, one way or another, if you let him.  I picked this paladin archtype first because I did not like Cullen based on interactions with him in DA1 & 2.  I like him well enough in DA:I but Blackwall is my guy here.

Out of all the many, many companions in SWTOR, who’s my fave?

If Aric Jorgan isn’t a Paladin-type I don’t know who is, especially since any romanceable Jedi are uh, all your female padawans (don’t get me started) until Lana (also female) comes along. 

Hell, in a very long-running 4e D&D game I played from around 2009 to 2014 where my character fell in love with our party leader’s son, married him and fought the final boss 4 months pregnant with our twins.  That character’s husband... was a paladin.  I mean look at this art my friend picked out for his character’s son:

I mean dang, who (of those who are attracted to men of this type) wouldn’t?

I always pick the Paladin.  The guy who is gonna Do What’s Right no matter what it costs him, the guy who’s gonna be loyal, the guy who may bottle up his emotions or keep them under control all the time but ultimately does what it takes to get the girl... that’s my fave.  And that’s Kaidan.

I will also say my second fave archetype is rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold, and that’s more of a Garrus or Varric (if only he were a choice!!! :( ) type.. aka my second choice in these games.

Well that was a lot more words on that subject than I meant to do, so I’m going to just say real quick here that what I love about this first conversation with Kaidan is that he’s already no dummy, he knows something is up, and warns you about it.

We’ll save talk about his backstory for another day.

Let’s head downstairs.

Yay for sped-up elevators!  What used to take like 20 seconds now takes like, four.

URDNOT WREX.

This another place where Shepard starts out just sticking their foot in their mouths completely.  I feel like this is something the game definitely has problems with here.  Shepard should know a lot more about the Genophage, like they should have about say, Spectres, even if the player doesn’t. So basically every response you can give to Wrex about the genophage and what his people are going through sounds really insensitive.  Comparing the relatively minor First Contact War with the entire galaxy more or less uniting to keep the Krogan from taking over after the Rachni war seems pretty dumb, and also like something Shepard should already know.

Loredumping on the Krogans a bunch with Wrex is necessary, but  I think it could have been done better.  Though I think there are a lot of questions about the Krogan and the Genophage that ultimately are important but go unanswered. I’m going to be honest, because generally I want my companions to be happy and ultimately I want the happiest ending I can get, I usually cure the genophage and leave Wrex in charge.  But also I don’t think that ends up with the happiest ending for the galaxy.  Everything about the genophage is terrible, how it works, how it was administered, what it’s done to the Krogan as a people, but let’s be honest, the galaxy will also be in huge trouble just from a resources perspective if each krogan woman can have hundreds (or even just dozens) of babies a year, who are gonna all live a thousand years.  There’s got to be a compromise that, eventually, hopefully Wrex works out if he’s alive at the end of ME3 or the council figures out with Wreav or whoever.  

It is kinda funny though that here, I basically met Wrex at C-Sec, told him I’d help him with Fist, sent him to my ship, and basically just kidnapped him to go help with the rest of the mission.  He wanted to be here, right?  I can only assume I’m paying him a lot.

Ashley!

I do love Ashley Williams.

I’m not going to turn this into a “Is Ashley Racist” thinkpiece.  I’ve read a lot of both sides of this argument and no, I don’t think she is.  Some pieces of her attitude do need to be kicked up a bit, for sure.  She’s got about the same issues with aliens as most of the species of the galaxy have with each other, which sometimes isn’t great, but she’s far from supporting Terra Firma.

She’s smart, she’s funny, a hell of a shot, she’s being held back due to her family name.  I would love for if someday a Wilshenko OT3 were possible.  I’d do that in an instant.  I despise the fact that you can only keep Kaidan forever if you lose Ashley forever, though I don’t see that changing even in a remaster.  Please Bioware, for the super ultra remaster?

I know I need to do another run through the game with Ashley alive. I don’t remember too much of what happens in ME3 when she’s there.

I also love that her story is so much one of family.  From her stories of her sisters, to the point that it’s her own grandfather’s legacy that’s holding her back.  She’s so grounded, she reminds us that there are civilians out there we’re keeping safe, a whole world we rarely see, up in space and in the middle of so much military conflict.

GARRUS.

First of all, whew Garrus looks amazing in the lighting and with the textures with ALOT/MEUITM.  Very handsome.

Interestingly, Garrus does not really loredump on the turians.  We absorb a lot of what we find out about the turians more naturally.  Garrus is more all about C-Sec and the general politics of the Council, of Spectres, of C-Sec.  Gonna be honest, I expected C-sec to play into the game as a whole a lot more than it did based on Garrus’ talks about it.  I mean it was always there, but Bailey ends up being the face of C-Sec 

Garrus’ Law vs. I Do What I Want attitude is a nice way to do a non-goody-two-shoes companion story without having to go evil.  I love that Garrus’ story kinda mirrors our own as players, how are we going to get things done?  Shove a blaster in people’s faces, accept collateral damage, and do whatever it takes to get it done?  OR play by the rules, compromise, and see if that fixes things.

The thing is though, Mass Effect actually is great at giving us the illusion of choice without making a huge difference in the end.  Like I mentioned before... not bringing Garrus to ME1 makes little difference in how he acts in ME2 outside of a few lines of dialog.  Lots of things are like that, like pick Ash or Kaidan on Virmire, and yes one is always gone, but 80% of the content is basically the same from there on out for either character.

There are games out now that do that choice better.  Pathfinder: Kingmaker is one I can think of.  Or Tyranny.  Things you choose can alter the endings of those games drastically, locking entire paths out of the game.  

I used to think that was what I wanted.  Until I played Kingmaker and locked myself out of things I really wanted without realizing it.  I stopped playing the game, sad that my LI dumped me and wouldn’t come back without reloading many, many hours worth of game.  Despite enjoying the game overall, I still haven’t gone back.  When I do play again, I’ll probably keep a lot of tabs open of walkthroughs and tips on how to keep things going how I want.  Kind of defeating the purpose of the game.

Anyway, I got super off track again.  The point is, Garrus is the companion that gives us the most Choice in who he is.  Which is cool.  He illustrates our Paragon vs Renegade dilemma.  And it’s neat that it does make changes in some of the things he says in the future, but overall, his story doesn’t change much no matter what you do (Unless you, ya know, get him killed in ME2).

And therein lies a problem with Mass Effect, and video games as a whole.  It’s neat to see the little changes, but it’s rare for anything to be an actual Big Change, because... that’s a loooot of work for a developer and how much more money is all that going to cost him.

At some point in the future I’ll point out how lucky we are for what we did get, though.

Heeeey it’s Chief Engineer Greg Adams!  I wonder how many people don’t even know he has a first name?  Anyway, thank you for your one short conversation in which you explain how the Normandy works (honestly, great job with explaining this, Bioware, even if the science is ???) and like three sentences on who you are.  Wasted opportunity to give you an actual character.  Glad you like Tali, though!  See you in ME3.

TALI!

Okay, I will totally accept that Shepard doesn’t know much past the basics of quarian society.  That makes a lot more sense than Shepards not knowing much about asari.  

The quarians are so much more of an original creation I feel like than a lot of what we’ve seen in the galaxy so far.  Krogan?  Basically Klingons.  Turians?  Space Romans. Asari?  Twilek/Space Elves but ALL Hot Ladies.  Qarians feel like something new though.

I mean, I guess before they had to live in suits they were pretty normal, but their entire culture doesn’t feel like something we’ve seen everyplace before.  I mean I’ve seen space (g-slur)  but, eh not really.  

And Tali herself is such a good character.  I mean, she does suffer a little from being Very Important with her father being one of five admirals in a population of six million people but, I’ll allow it.  Nobody else on the crew has Very Important Parents.  I mean Garrus’ father is a little high up in the ranks but that’s a non-factor, Ash’s grandfather was but he’s dead and never seen, Wrex’s father is a chieftan but none of those is central to their current story or as big as this one. I mean, Spacer Shep’s own mother is a captain of a ship.  Tali herself in-game isn’t that sexualized -- most of that was the fandom’s doing.  She’s young but also confident and has her shit together.  

She shoulda been a same-sex romance in ME2/3 though, damnit!

Joker. Is. Amazing. And uh, also shoulda been a romance option. 

Hey first of all, how great was it that they put in disabled representation in this game.  I have read a few posts on how it could have been better, and definitely agree, but it’s also been so important to have say, Geordi LaForge as chief engineer of the Enterprise and also Joker here, in space, being awesome on spaceships.  And he really earns his the right to his bravado in calling himself the best pilot in the galaxy.  

Also?  Casting Seth Green was such a great choice.  I couldn’t imagine Joker as anyone else.  I mean this is Bioware so we expect, and definitely got, great voice acting (except for... ugh you know, we’ll get there in ME3) but honestly Seth Green was a particularly good choice.  I don’t care that he’s covered with sixteen layers of plot armor, he deserves it.

He’s the companion that we don’t ever get to take in the squad.  (I mean, except for that brief amazing moment in ME2)

I only wish in ME1 he had as much to say as in ME2/3.  At least he gets cool snarky lines after all the major missions.

One last thing before we get off the ship for awhile, I love that the crew is actually comprised of both men AND women in ME1.  With different hairstyles and faces, and even skin tones.  It’s nice to see they didn’t just reuse the same guy over and over for the nameless NPCs.  

Well, I guess they get names in ME2. :v

Anyway, I would like to point out, that there are seventeen nameless NPCs on the Normandy.

Then there’s Adams, Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Ashley, Kaidan, Chakwas, Liara, Pressley, and Joker.

That’s twenty-seven people and eight sleep pods.  Let’s remove the aliens, who couldn’t fit in a sleep pod (Garrus and Wrex), twenty-five people.  Are there people sleeping in the sleep pods now?  There must be, right?  Everyone can’t be awake when we’re on the ship just because we’re there?  How does that math add up?  Who is sleeping where, HOW DOES IT WORK!?  

Well, that’s their problem. I got my own bed.  Kaidan can share.

Also just... don’t get me started on how stupid this is.  I mean it’s nice having a shop on the ship but... the justification is terrible.  We all know it.  He was counted as one of the 17 nameless, btw.

Okay well, I was going to get off the ship this update but this is already stupid long and honestly I don’t have too much more content to post so, I’m gonna go actually play this game!

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

Kira (8)

CHAPTER 8: Discoveries

Loki x fem!Reader (Kira)

Series: Will contain fluff, smut, bloodshed, violence, anxiety, tears and the cries of my wilted soul.

Chapter content: like the title says...

Warnings: old repressed memories

Word count: Finally! This is only up because of Tari so you all have her to thank for this.

I miss my old colleagues. Taught me so much. This new part of the company is...weird. But I have been taking my rage out in the gym so there’s that.

MASTERLIST & Taglist in bio, my love

The morning breeze saturated with the cold and smell of dewy grass and flowers tip-toes inside your room with the grace of a professional ballerina. Your bare back, with the loss of the duvet's hug, can feel the sweet kisses she leaves all over your susceptible skin. A turn over the bed and you can feel the shift in the warmth of the duvet surrounding your naked form. Your arms sense the disparate temperature over the other side of the bed, forcing you to open your eyes and find it empty.

Where did you go?

As if to answer your thoughts, the sound of the shower running in your bathroom comes as soothing waves, bringing with it the tiny fishes that tickle you while they eat away the muck on your feet you never thought you had.

It is a task to get up from this cocoon of warmth but the thought of what may be on the other side of the wall makes it easier to be up on your legs and strut towards the door.

The door clicks open and you can already feel the heat inside the bathroom the moment you step in. The shower is turned to cold but the vapours leaving the surface of the body that stands under it are visible from where you stand. The glass door to the shower temple is opened and you step in, too entranced by the muscles peaking from beneath the scars that mar the otherwise flawless perfection. The rivulets on that pale skin make it glow in its entirety save for the parts where the scars rest. The strong pressure of the water perfectly disguises the head with its white foam, letting you focus more on the liquid snakes slithering down that naked back.

And just like that, your fingers are tracing them; both the snakes and the scars- too enchanted for your own good. Your touch makes the muscles flinch and the body turn, bringing his face out of the white foam to watch you with his ocean eyes while his hands wrap themselves instinctively around yours and take them behind your back as he softly bares his teeth at you when he brings you close to him. The push from his chest is enough to drive you into the wet wall behind, the cold tiles rubbing against your surfaces, letting you know the depth of pressure and- somewhere deep down inside you- the height of pleasure.

The blue glows lustfully green in the soft yellow lights above and around the two of you. Your breaths are ragged while his chest rises and falls with graceful movements of a calm ocean wave gently rocking a pirate ship.

"Say it."

The words are soft but the ripple that they carry holds the strength to tear you to shreds on the inside. The vibrations from your soul's core are visible on your skin to the onlooker as he tries to test them for himself when he brings his face closer to yours.

"Say it," his lips move in a whisper right in front of yours and you have to focus all your strength in keeping yourself balanced on your two legs as they begin to shudder.

"Loki."

His name is a whisper of a prayer to call unto him from your lips while the stray drops from his hair, head and chest fall over your breasts.

His arms that now rest on either side of you seem to be holding him in place as he restrains himself from doing something he should not.

But oh! Even the Gods do not have the strength to keep away from the temptations that they secretly want to worship themselves.

His lips gently collide with yours, pushing you back into the wall as his hands let go of yours to grab your heated hips and pull them closer to his already primed length.

Your hands find their place around his neck and once the chains inside your mind let go, the force with which you pull him close is unknown even to you.

He loves it.

He craves it.

And so, his fingers tease your skin when they move down to grab your perfect thighs in their firm grasp and lift you up, your legs locking him in place while his body does the same with you by keeping you against the cold tiles.

Neither of you wants to let go of the lips when the tongues dance in harmony and moans are gulped down with pure contentment.

He stops.

You growl.

But he continues to look at you as you feel his hands snaking down your wet caverns, the dark greens nearly hitting the edge as they watch you gasp at his mere touch.

"Yes."

You cannot stop yourself. Your eyes are already closing, your walls threatening to give up, your fingers digging into his skin as he strokes your walls right where they are bound to light up and gyrate.

And he lets go.

Only to come back with his length pushing inside you this time.

.

The jolt that your body goes through when your eyes pop open hits hard when you find yourself lying in your bed. It reverberates harder when you sit up and feel the morning pleasantness chilling every little bead of sweat over your surface.

The bed is empty. The doors are closed. The birds are chirping. The sun is up.

Everything is as it's supposed to be.

Everything except your senses that are still trying to get used to the idea of you having woken up from a way too realistic sex dream with your boss.

"Good morning, Kira!"

Ygritte's voice from the living room makes you jump.

Holy shit!

"Morning, um... Ygritte."

The sounds of her picking up the remnants of last night while dusting off your space are both welcoming and a bit intrusive.

"What would you like to have for breakfast, Kira?"

"...I'm good with sandwiches."

You can hear her pick up your laptop from the floor to place it on the desk.

Picking up the bottle of water on your nightstand, your lips run for a quick gulp to moisten that dried up throat.

"Something refreshing and green or meaty and juicy?"

And all the water goes down the wrong way because of the scandalous imagery your brain comes up with. Again.

.

Fenrir lounges on the refreshing grass, judging you without shame as you eat a vegetable kebab sandwich with greens that are too crispy for someone who has survived on two-days worth of groceries for an entire week.

"I feel I might hurt my teeth eating this lettuce," you mutter to yourself while Fenrir tilts his head with a scoff and a whining growl before trying to push your feet away so he can do a full stretch.

"Shut up, you whiney wolf," you hiss softly at him- which he completely ignores - biting into the deliciously minty kebabs and tomatoes while trying to keep the lettuce in place with your teeth.

"Don't forget we have to leave tonight."

Now it is completely normal for you to find yourself in situations where you lock eyes with a complete stranger at a restaurant while trying to fit a burger in your mouth and failing to do so. What makes this situation worse is to watch your boss and his pet wolf look at you with sheer amusement in their glittery eyes as the lettuce hangs from your mouth before you try to find a seemingly graceful way to fit the entire thing in your mouth with your fingers.

"I've made the arrangements," you finally speak after the green chunk of cool crisp finally goes down your throat.

"Did you get Gustav to ready my suits in time?"

"All three of them are ready to fly off with the rest of your luggage."

"What about the arrangements for the stay?"

"I talked to Friday and she's assured us of our stay at the expo for the week. She's Mr Stark's assistant."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

You turn to face Loki for the first time during the day, catching the man dressed in the deepest hue of the blue t-shirt over his chest while the black trousers compliment his legs. And other parts.

"What about your dress up for the expo dinners, darling?"

Darling.

The shimmers of this unexplained pain carefully intertwined with a latent string of pleasure pulling through your subconscious do not go unnoticed by your existence when you feel your legs shudder.

"I uh...I don't..."

Your words do not come out as the sleeves are rolled up and the tie goes away to let the collar be unbuttoned.

"Call Gustav," Loki picks up an unmarked sack kept by the end of the porch and puts it over his back, "he'll fix something up for you."

Without another word, he walks off on a trail somewhere in the estate you do not want your mind to wander in this heated condition.

"Gustav."

Forcing yourself out of your own punishing trance, you call the man of every hour to help you out.

.

"You all right?" Robert asks you the moment you step out into the living room, dressed for the afternoon you'd planned.

"Yeah, why?"

"You said you'd be out in twenty minutes. Ygritte was worried about you."

"Oh," you breathe out, tucking a side of your hair behind your ears, "I had an issue...with my bathroom."

"..."

"Couldn't find myself to walk inside," you whisper to yourself, chugging down a glass of water without touching it with your lips.

"Something broke?" Robert's brows furrow in concern.

"Yeah," you mutter as you walk out towards the front door, "me. I'm broke."

“What?”

“What?”

.

"I have to say it is good to see you in not-formals!"

Sam's chirpiness is a drizzle of fresh waves as he makes you chuckle.

"Wait. Really?"

"Yeah," he nods, his eyes stealing a quick look at Robert walking five steps behind you, "I've only ever seen you leave your house to go to work."

"Huh," you pretend to wonder out loud, "so you've tried to see me every time I leave my place?"

The heat evidently reaches his ears as he fumbles through the words, making it harder for you to suppress your chuckles.

"Welcome to the Violet Springs, Madame, Sir."

The greeting by the hostess helps break out of the rush of embarrassment pooling up through Sam's skin that you can conveniently compliment in his summer blue shirt and sand trousers, playing well with your sky blue sundress.

"Yes, um," Sam tries to clear his throat, "we have a reservation under Sam Diaz."

The hostess barely takes a minute to look up the name before taking you and him to the seats by the edge of the restaurant with the view of the city below you.

Sam takes a moment to bask in the glory of the concrete world around him while you look for Robert and find him standing on the other edge with a wide view of the entire hall.

I still don't get why he has assigned himself to me. The only reason I'll be requiring his expertise is when I step on my own foot.

And like a note struck from the instrument of epiphany, you sit straight and take out your phone to send a quick text before giving all your attention to your neighbour.

If this little date goes bad, you're responsible for getting me out of here.

"Before we begin," you start, catching every bit of Sam's senses, "I’m letting you to know we are splitting the bill and that is final."

Words on your phone light up against the otherwise asleep screen- That *is* my job, Miss

"We haven't even started talking yet! Or had anything to drink!" Sam brings out of this shared internal joke from the man you can't see smiling from across the room.

"That's exactly why," you chuckle.

You can see his brown eyes take your features in. You can sense it even when you look away, appearing to smudge something off the wine glass kept in front of you.

Wait. This place has wine glasses. Oh, it's expensive, isn't it? For expensive people.

"You look amazing today, by the way."

Robert watches as you go blank and blink at Sam in return for something the boy said to you. He has seen that look on your face- like you are lost somewhere for a second, trying to find the weight of whatever you witness with your senses. You've done this before, in his boss' presence more times than he can count. Only this time, you don't try to busy your hands and tear away your gaze as if you're not supposed to be in the presence of the person in front of you.

.

The grub hoe hits the cooler layer of the soil hard before Loki finally gets up and drops the tool away from him.

Sweat beads are teased by the afternoon breeze which is comparatively cooler than what the city is witnessing at this moment, thanks to the generous amount of trees surrounding him.

Picking up his shirt lying on the chunk of stone two feet away from the shallow plot he has dug, he allows the cotton fabric to soak up the sweat from everywhere he is exposed.

"Lemonade, Master Loki," Ygritte's call comes right on time as she sets down the tray on the table made of stone under an old sacred fig. Fenrir is not far behind.

"Nice weather for a Saturday," she hums as she uses tongs to pick up the spherical ice cubes from the bucket and masterfully drop them in the tall glass before pouring the jug of lemonade blessed with mint leaves.

Fenrir walks over to the freshly dug up plot to smell the wet earth before putting his paw over the cool dirt.

"Get away from there, Fenrir," Loki commands without looking at the wolf, who growls in protest before coming to the table to demand his share of the treats.

Before he can bring his nose up the surface to sniff the contents of the jug, Loki shoves his face away.

"Only the wolves who work hard get to have a feast," he announces to the enormous body of fur staring at him with nothing but animosity right now.

"Go play with Kira."

Fenrir slumps down and lets the grass rub his wiggling back, making Loki's eyes reflect disgust as he downs his glass.

"Miss Kira isn't home, Master Loki," Ygritte responds as she pours him a refill.

She does not get a response back from Loki but can see his fingers twitch before he goes for the glass and empties it again.

"Thank you, Ygritte," he greets flatly before dragging the sack towards the pit and scattering its contents- which look like sesame seed-sized violet pellets- all over the freshly dug ground.

"Make sure everything is ready before nine tonight," he throws into the air for the woman to catch as she walks back while Fenrir lays in the grass and shade to watch his master work.

.

"I..."

"You don't like wine?"

The look Sam and the waiter give you is that of pure betrayal before one of them composes themselves.

"That's okay we can order something else," Sam chimes.

"I've tried to get used to the taste but..." The sentence hangs mid-air as you give a light shrug as a loose apology. "I'm good with Long Island, though."

Their brows quirk as Sam nods in approval while the waiter's lips stretch just a little at one corner.

"I'll have a Caipiroska," Sam declares as he closes the menu.

"You can order wine, if you want," you try to persuade him as his liquid honey eyes seem to get struck by something new whenever he looks at you- something you do not seem to get used to.

He is about to say something when a heavy voice filled with aged sophistication fills the air around you.

"Good afternoon, young lads. How are you liking the place?"

You reluctantly look up from the food menu to watch a middle-aged man with a well- groomed beard looking and soft honey eyes with flecks of deeper darker brown scattered in them. From the looks of his effortless blue suit that went with the theme of the restaurant, he seems like the manager here.

This is an expensive place.

"It's nice," you feel generous for the lack of experience in settings like this.

"It's brilliant," Sam beams.

The smile stretches from within the manager's beard as he clasps his hands together. For some reason, it even feels like a smile you'd seen somewhere before.

"Wonderful then," he continues, "if I may be so bold to suggest, try our Asian cuisine today and while your server gets back to you with your drinks, take a look at the new art installed in our Galleria for the New Foundations charity."

You turn towards Sam with a glimmer in your eye and a childlike smirk on your face. "This sounds fun."

.

All clothes are dumped on the observatory floor as the dirt-laden feet take the stairs towards a lone room and come back with a towel in one hand and swimming trunks cajoling the perfect shape of the rear that walk out of the place and towards the glass building that houses nothing but a pool and its required necessities.

Leaving the towel on the lounging seats, he dives into the cold water with the grace of a dolphin and intention of tiger, letting his body ride like a free wave till he has to come to the surface to breathe before going down again.

At first it's a blur. The shape. But the more time Loki spends inside the water, the more he can see a figure adroitly floating in the pool with enchanted shimmers all around it.

The hair takes the shape of whatever it wants to, going graciously wild as it lifts the veil from the face.

Your face.

Your glittering eyes that look through his soul.

He stops just to float towards you, stands in the deep waters to look at the wound he helped take care of while internally appreciating the view of watching you untethered.

Of imagining you untethered.

Just as his mind realises this- a second too sooner- he pushes to the surface to breathe. Hard.

He stills in the water around him, questioning himself, his sanity, wondering where you came from; out of the blue, curious as to why you, bewildered at the thoughts slowly scratching a surface he knows is not there.

Curse you, Kira.

And with that contemplation left in the air, he goes free on his back, back into the water.

.

"If it's alright with you, Mr-"

"Harrison."

"Mr Harrison," you continue, "I'd like to talk to my boss about this charitable event so that the company can do its bit to help out in any way."

The manager, Harrison, smiles with his teeth out.

Why is that smile so familiar?

"Brilliant idea!" Harrison laughs.

"Hold on, let me get your contact details." Opening your phone, you jot down his number from his visiting card that marks the hotel's sigil and his designation.

"May I get your full name?" You ask him, trying to open the save option quickly and get over with this to get back to your date, who seems to be shaking with restlessness now.

"Yes. It's Harrison Wardwell."

With one strike of a peaceful clink echoing inside your head, you have travelled back to a dimly lit room. The curtains are drawn over the windows because the sun is too bright. The edge of the desk is lined up right with the window, with books and notebooks scattered over the wooden structure. Plushies crowd the bed as someone lies under the sheet on the side of the bed that is nearer to the window.

There are no birds chirping outside. Why would there be? It's a hot afternoon. There is no creak of the door opening because it is never shut. The footsteps are quieter than a cat's. The fingers are rubbing against the sweaty palm before they touch the edge of the bed. The movement is slow but that does not stop the hand from disappearing under the sheets.

The phone drops from your hand over the tiled floor.

"Oh, sorry," escapes your trembling lips as you bend down to pick it up, using the bare seconds to compose yourself before getting up.

"It's Wardwell with a 'W'."

The voice pierces through your throbbing skull.

"Yeah," you nod without bringing your eyes to look back at him, "I got it. I'll go back now."

He wishes you a great time but your body and mind do not register anything.

You do not even realise when you've come back sat down on the table till Sam is fighting for your attention to ask you about your choice of entrées. The stickiness on your palm and the heat radiating from behind your eyes are warning you for what is about to come. And so, you do what you do best.

"I'm sorry, Sam," you blurt out as you get up, catching Sam's face fall, "I'm not feeling well. I'll have to go back. I'm really sorry."

Robert is already on his heels, walking towards you, sensing trouble from the way you stand.

"Yeah, no," Sam stammers, "it's okay. Is everything okay? Anything I can do? Want to get some air?"

"No, no. I'd rather go home," you mention, already picking up your purse and walking away, "thank you for understanding."

You're nearly at the door, your breaths shallow, your back marred with sweat, almost ready to collapse when Robert takes hold of you before getting into the elevator.

The doors close for the ground floor but Robert does not let you go.

"Water?" He simply puts.

You shake your head, your breathing growing rougher while your nails are beginning to dig into his jacket.

"Do you have medication?" He doesn't stop.

You nod your head furiously.

"It's back home."

The tears stinging your eyes are just sitting over the edge, waiting for one light push.

"Would you like to lie down somewhere?" The softness in his voice is soothing but the idea brings back the face of the man.

"I want to go home," you breathe out with all your strength.

Robert's concern takes another shape over his features. The shape of resolve. Carefully wrapping his arms over your back to help you stand straight he walked you to the entrance.

"Then let's get you home."

.

The crisp black shirt tries it's hardest to flutter on Loki's back but the buttons in front stop the wind from taking advantage of the breathing fabric and the body it has been wrapped around.

The walk back to the house is a languid one with Fenrir by his side- something both seem to be enjoying this suddenly breezy noon with a grey cloud approaching from the city side.

The French doors are still slid open when he reaches the back to watch the hazy sun reflect streaks of wetness from your eyes to your chin as you rush towards your part of the house in clothing he has never seen you in.

Loki's gait is composed, though the grip on the bag of his sweat-soaked clothes grows tight.

"Robert," he calls out to the man in charge of your security, who is refraining himself from following you to make sure you're okay, "a word."

.

The rumble of thunder outside is not welcomed by Fenrir, who howls at the black clouds and lightning streaks to drive them away.

The cold breeze travels inside to whirl around the lounge, swinging around every little furniture piece.

Loki turns off the light to his study and walks out, feeling the playful current over his neck even from here.

"Ygritte," he shouts, but never condescendingly, walking down the hallway, "you know Fenrir will soil his paws in the dirt outside and then you will have to cl-"

He turns the corner to have every authoritative atom in his voice die down when his eyes lock to your figure asleep in the living room just where the winds are blowing in.

With your laptop still on, your diary untraditionally left open, your phone continuously buzzing with messages, he figures you dozed off while working.

'She had a panic attack, sir. One moment she was talking to the manager and next when she came back at the table, she was pale.'

Peace.

'No, sir. That boy had nothing to do with it. He is a gentleman. I ran a background check on him just to be safe.'

You are at peace.

'I have never seen her go through something like this before either, sir. Something must have triggered it. She was fine five minutes earlier.'

Sleeping without any worries. Floating in some dream, he thinks. A beautiful one, he prays.

Your hair, usually tied up, strays loose, partially covering your cheeks while moving to the tunes of the pleasant air. Your lips are slightly apart, one sure sign of how deep the sleep is. Your glasses hang awkwardly over your nose, almost making the man smile at the unintentionally delicate, purely appealing picture you've painted.

The gust of wind coming from the open doors forces you to bring your body close to yourself to ward off the cold and without any forewarning, Loki's body is already moving to slide the glass close, giving one snap of his finger and pointing to the floor near his feet to bring Fenrir inside without so much as a squeak.

The lightning outside the glass lights up his face, illuminating this deep ocean of green in his eyes as he blinks with a tender thought before slowly making a one-eighty to stand right at the back of the sofa where you lay.

One step and he can see your arm and shoulders move with your gentle breathing. One more and he watches this side of your face already sinking in some dream.

Know your lines, Loki.

His fingers twitch at the thought. He looks around for a sign of help but gets none. So, one lungful of air later, his hands lightly brush away your hair from your face, making sure they never touch your skin.

The thumb and index place themselves securely around the edges of the frame of your glasses before they are pulled away with commendable patience. Even the lungs are allowed to breathe only when he has snapped the temples in.

It is hard for his eyes to break away from your face but he does so unwillingly to bend over the sofa from here he stands to place the glasses on the coffee table in front of you, his fingers accidentally brushing your exposed waist.

The second it takes his nerves to realise what kind of contact was made, you wake up with a gasp and a withered moan.

Loki cannot understand what he is watching for a moment there.

Red eyes looking around in unadulterated horror, lips trembling with the intensity of a cracking winter, fingers digging into the fabric of the sofa you lie on, breaths shallower than the pit he dug this morning.

But the worst of the thump in his heartbeat comes when you turn to look at him with the look of a victim of dreadful deception. A quick breath is taken in by the parted lips of Loki, the man of the multi-million empire who bows to no one, to bring himself to explain himself to you.

"Is he here?"

The words on the edge of his tongue stare at you with a tingling shock.

"...what?"

A single tear falls from your eye over the cheeks heated for all the wrong reasons.

"That man," your words come out broken and wounded, similar to the look in your eyes, "is he-is he here?"

Something inside his chest rips apart and comes off and he has no idea what it is or how to put it back up.

"I... it's just me," he finally speaks, the confusion along with this unknown searing pain piled up between his brows, almost regretting saying it the moment those words leave his mouth.

"Oh, thank God," you wheeze through the shiver in your throat, striking the man again with your words, "thank God."

He can see you struggling with your breathing while your eyes still go out to make out the shadows you don't trust.

"Kira," he finally speaks, bringing your attention to him with this soothing composure in his voice, "look at me."

So you do.

"Whoever he is, isn't here. He will never be."

Lightning lights up the green in his eyes, showing him in a brilliant light.

Like a natural reflex, you nod in response to the assurance.

"Go get some sleep," he speaks softly, "we have to leave in seven hours."

Your head turns towards the golden base clock before getting up and walking to the East wing.

Loki doesn't move from where he stands till he sees you walk down the corridor, turn on your lights for a few minutes and then turn them off.

Fenrir is shifting his weight between his paws before Loki finally tells him to go and he dashes to where you went.

The cellphone is already out and the phone is ringing on the other side.

"Yes, Sir?" The familiar Scottish accent drips through the earpiece.

"You said she talked to the manager. Who is he?"

A two-second pause. "A Harrison Wardwell, sir. Do you want me to-"

"I need everything on that man."

Thunder rumbles violently, rattling the strongest doors and windows of the house.

"Every. Single. Thing."

[its-a-me-mango]

MANGOOO!! hello, been shy to slide into asks but i got very curious looking at your SMG4 posts.. do you have any headcanons you think are cool ? Would be a blast to see them! :D

OH HAI!!!! Oh my god I love headcanons so much I promise, but I'm one of those people who immediately forgets them all when I'm asked about them. Also I forgot which ones are mine and which ones are someone elses, thought tbh if someone HC is good enough for me to think I made it then like, that would be a huge compliment to me haha! X3

I have a few that I can think of off the top of my head right now, there's a few that need a whole post to explain but I'll do that when I feel like it, gonna leave out any LGBT headcanons because I already agree with everyone else, they are all gay and trans except the ones that aren't and that's so awesome.

Again forgive me if I repeat someone else's HC, or if anything I say is proven to not be possible, I fucking forgorrrrr;

SMG3 has tattoos, I know I've shown that one already but listen. He has 3, one is a half sleeve on his left forearm that's got a skull and a bunch of bombs and explosions around it, another one is on his right mid thigh which is a memorial tattoo for Terence, and one very small one on his back right shoulder blade that's just a little skull (it's very blown out and old). He'd like to get more at some point, none of the others have any tattoos but he's trying to convince them to get one.

All the SMG's have the little arrow thing that was on their guardian pod as a marking somewhere on their body, SMG1 has his on his chest under his scarf, SMG2 has his under his hat, SMG3 has his on his lower back, and SMG4 has his on the back of his neck, they're all pretty hidden and not too visible, but anytime they use their meme guardian powers they glow.

Tari is just a bird fan in general, for someone who stays inside gaming she sure knows every single bird ever. She's not a bird watcher but she can identify any bird you show her easily, and she's always happy and excited to see bird when she does go out. Obviously though ducks are her favourite, but she like all waterfowl in general.

Karen is divorced, she just gives me divorced girl energy. She has full custody of her kids because her ex was a piece of shit and didn't want them anyway, her kids were all too young to know about him thankfully. She probably got married right out of highschool or something, those relationships never seem to work out. I keep thinking of those "day in the life of a divorced 23 year old" videos like, that's her lol.

Bob's secret hobby is fabric work, you will catch him dead before you catch him admitting or even showing anything he makes, but he makes garments and furniture for fun. Sometimes he'll throw them into the black market and lie about their value for a quick buck and to clear out space, he doesn't care much once they're completed he just likes making them.

I think this one's just semi canon, but SMG4 Mario is secretly really good at reading people, yeah he's kinda dumb but he can pick up what people are feeling in depth, he just doesn't always get why. He's also just a good guy to go to for comfort, not advised though don't listen to him, he's just really good to ramble/vent too (mainly because he won't remember what you said lol).

I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I post this, but come back and ask again at some point and I'll try and remember them lol

[todoiidoriya]

Anastasia at the Pantages (10/20/19)

Prepare yourselves because I’m about dump so much fucking information on you. 

Okay so first let me begin by saying the set design? Fucking incredible. Literally the second the lights went down I was absolutely stunned. I have no words. 

Alright, so to start off: Delilah Rose Pellow was so adorable as young Anastasia. Her dialogue was a little clearer as Alexei (she kind of ran her words together at the beginning) but her acting was amazing for both of them.

The change in lighting, the explosions, and the choreography were amazing at the end of the ballroom scene. The choreography when Anastasia went back for the music box was especially cool!!

Jake Levy plays Dima a lot differently than Derek did. His Dima is a little less scoundrel-y if you know what I mean. He seems younger, more like the kid he is. He’s jaded, but he’s still young. (He’s less asshole-with-a-heart-of-gold and more just sweet boy. I love him.)

When he pops up behind the podium in A Rumor in St. Petersburg? I literally cried. Precious.

Lila Coogan is so fucking incredible as Anya!! Literally from the first note she sang, I was damn enthralled. She sings higher than Christy, and it was so unexpected and so gorgeous. Her voice is so clear and strong and steady and GOD.

She does this kind of growling thing in her dialogue parts. I heard it especially on “r”s and in that scene when she and Dima fight those guys before My Petersburg. (It was highkey hot ngl, my gay ass was so shook. But I digress.)

Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) was so fucking funny. It’s usually not very easy to make me laugh but pretty much every line of his got me. Just,,, his delivery? HYSTERICAL.

Now Gleb. Gleb. My boy. The love of my life. I was a little thrown off at the beginning because Jason Michael Evans sings really differently than Ramin Karimloo, but he’s so talented. 

All the like really strong Gleb notes were a little higher, and the vibrato? Through the roof. It was insane how much vibrato he used. And damn they were stunning. 

He also did an incredible job portraying how conflicted Gleb is through all of it. And in the little dialogue before The Neva Flows he was so awkward. It was hilarious. 

Stay I Pray You was so lovely. Brad Greer was so amazing as Count Ipolitov, and all of their voices fit so well together. I was shook. 

The same goes for We’ll Go From There. At they end, when they’re all overlapping each other? Stunning.

Still really got me. I love Gleb. That’s all I can say. 

Journey to the Past beat me up and stole my wallet with how good it was. That’s all I can say. Lila Coogan is so fucking incredible. 

Lily (Tari Kelly) was so amazing. Her voice is really different from Caroline’s, but GOD is it amazing. The woman can BELT. 

The Countess and the Common Man. Was so fucking funny. I wheezed. I literally wheezed. Just all of it. God. The delivery? On point. The body language? Hysterical.

Anya’s nightmare gave me chills. Alexei’s dialogue especially was just so bone-chilling. It was astounding. 

In a Crowd of Thousands was so fucking sweet. Anya and Dmitry are so fucking soft for each other. I cried. They love each other so much. Fuck. 

Quartet at the Ballet was so fucking stunning too. Like again the way their voices blend was just EVERYTHING. If I could I would listen to that on repeat for the rest of my life. I want it played at my funeral. Oh my God. 

Everything to win was so sweet as usual but GOD when Dima says “woah! better knock on wood!” he knocked on his head! I wheezed. It was so fucking funny. Is this a thing that happened in the obcr? Did this happen in other shows? I need to know.

And now, the moment we’ve I’ve been waiting for: Still/The Neva Flows Reprise.

Just like, watching him slowly lock the doors during the Everything to Win Reprise was so chilling, especially since I already knew what was going to happen. 

When he said “stop playing this game, Anya” HIS VOICE BROKE. I cried. I love him so much. He’s so conflicted. GOD.

And then on “hear their screams, imagine their terror, see their blood” Anya was actually screaming at him. And she did the growly thing! I was so stunned.

I feel like Christy’s Anya is more like,,, almost trying to convince him? But Lila’s Anya was just so angry. I loved it. 

At one point, she kind of collapsed to the floor for a few moments and he was standing on the other side of the stage, looking down at her. It was a really cool parallel to the Romanov ghosts in the background, looking their killers steadily in the eyes. 

After his last line, when Gleb is just standing there, holding the gun to her chest, he was shaking so hard that I could see it from the literal back row. He made this kind of gasping/choking/sobbing noise before he collapsed on his knees. 

He really seemed like he was having a panic attack. It was so well done and impactful. I adore Gleb and Jason Michael Evans does such a wonderful job portraying him. 

When Anya found Dima at the end, when he said “I’m not your prince, Anya”, he sounded so young and like,,, wounded. Jesus Christ, it hurt me so bad. I love Dmitry with every ounce of my being. 

When they’re singing the finale and Anya and Dima, Lily and Vlad, the Dowager Empress, Gleb, Anya’s family, and young Anastasia are all standing together? It was so gorgeous. I was absolutely blown away. Not just by how wonderful it sounded, but by how powerful that image was. It was amazing.

[pinkevilbobdoesthings]

So I was talking to @sieccha and she was telling me all about this dragon au she had for Caleb and I got really excited and I had to write something for it. I've got ideas and most of the second chapter written, but we'll see what happens. I hope you enjoy this.

Anyways, here’s Chapter 1 of ‘Pages and Scales’.

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Jester had thought that she knew a lot about dragons. They breathed fire, were very big, and ate cows. She figured that was all there was to know and all that she needed to know. When Jester snuck into the old abandoned castle the rumors said dragon made his lair, she thought she wouldn't get caught.

It turned out she was wrong on all three counts.

The old castle wasn't as bad as Jester thought it would be. True, it was very, very old and a little smelly, but there wasn't as much dust as she expected or dragon droppings. Really, it was boring how plain it was. She was kind of hoping to see a corpse or something interesting like that. Well, maybe not a corpse, but like a champion that had been captured that Jester would have to set free and fall madly in love with. That's how all the stories went. Instead, the closest thing to even slightly interesting she found was a room full of books.

Jester picked up a book when the castle shook beneath her. It felt like she was on a bed and somebody suddenly jumped on it. A loud voice rumbled through the halls, but it echoed so much Jester couldn't understand it. Footsteps thumped loudly at first, but slowly faded softer and softer until Jester could just barely hear them. Releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding, She closed the book, taking it with her, and left the room only to walk into someone.

"I'm sorry, I jus-" but that was all Jester was able to say before she noticed the man she ran into him. He was not an impressive height, but his thinness made him seem taller than he really was. There was a smell of mustiness to his shabby, brown coat, but behind his old scarf a shining collar like necklace with all sorts of jewels. His pale complexion made his red hair stand out, but not as much as the scales that peppered his faces like freckles. But the scales were nothing compared to the sharp talon like claws that grew out of his fingers. The man just stared at her with bright blue eyes looking just as surprised as Jester was.

"You're not Nott," he finally said in a thick Zemmnian accent. His teeth were long and pointed. "What are you doing here?"

Jester tried to think something clever something that could trick a dragon(and he was the dragon. Something in her knew that without a doubt that this was the dragon before her) into letting her go without getting hurt. Instead what came out of her mouth was, "I'm Jester. What's your name?"

The dragon paused. "Caleb Widogast. Why are you in my castle?"

"Oh, this is your castle? I was just going on my way and saw it and was all 'oh look at that architecture I just must see it up close'. But if it's your castle, I'll just be on my way," Jester said.

Caleb glared at her. "Stop lying."

Jester sighed. "Fine. So, everyone in town is all 'oh, there's a castle that's all cool and stuff, but there's a dragon that will kill you' and I was all 'I'm not afraid of dragons. I'm going to check it out'. So now I'm here."

"So now you're here." He frowned down at her. "And now what am I supposed to do with you?" Caleb rubbed the bridge of his nose avoiding the spots with scales.

"I don't know. Let me go?"

Caleb sighed a small puff of fire. "If it were only that simple. If I let you go and word gets out that yes I am a dragon, then I will never know a moment's peace again. Everyone will think that they can just come and go from here to their heart's desire."

"But if you keep me here, then people will come looking for me," JEster said. "My mom will notice if I'm missing and she can raise armies."

"Can she now? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised" Caleb paced the floor. "There needs to be a punishment."

Jester stared at him. "What?"

"A punishment for intruding. There's all sorts of stories of dragons torturing and eating people, but I don't see the point in that," Caleb said.

Jester rolled her eyes. "Well, that's a relief."

"It needs to be suited for the crime," Caleb mumbled to himself. He looked down at the book she was holding. "Stealing in addition breaking in. Tell me, can you read?"

"Yes? My mom taught me," Jester said. Caleb was seeming less and less like a fearsome dragon and more like a fussy shopkeeper.

He pointed at the book she was holding with a sharp talon. "Open it. Any page and read it out loud."

Jester slowly opened the book and turned to a random page. "'...thus eliminating the need for planting winter wheat in the late autumn. The further implications of this discovery were-' Did I grab the most boring book here?"

"Sadly, I have some that are worse, but no, that is a dry one. Come, we'll find a better one." Jester followed Caleb into the library. There were more books there than she had seen her whole life. It wasn't a very large room, but the walls were full of books. "Here, you may enjoy this one better." Caleb tapped on the spine of one of the books gently.

Jester pulled out the book. "'The Daring Trials and Tribulations of Tary Darington'." She flipped to a random page. "'The pit fiend fell to the ground with a resounding THUMP. 'Oh,' the handsome young gunslinger swooned, 'if only I could find a man half as manly as you are, Tary.'"

Jester kept reading until she got to the end of the page and look up Caleb. His eyes were closed and he had an expression that was close to bliss. It was almost peaceful. He cracked an eye open."Are you going to continue?" The dragon almost sounded hungry to continue the story.

"Oh right." She went back to reading until they finished the chapter.

"That's it. I've decided on your punishment," Caleb said. "You are going to read to me every book in my collection."

Jester's jaw dropped. "What? There's at least a hundred books here. That will take me forever." She knew it was a light punishment compared to the many things he could do to her and that she shouldn't argue with him, but it still felt unfair.

"Then you will be here forever," Caleb said.

"Can't you just read them yourself?"

Caleb looked down at his hands. "These are meant for tearing things apart. Not holding fine literature. And even if I could my eyesight's not meant for books either, unfortunately." He stared wistfully at his books. And for the first time Jester felt sorry for a dragon.

She let out a long sigh. "Fine. But the second I'm done, I'm leaving."

"I wouldn't want you to stay a second longer."

They shook on it with Caleb careful not to scratch Jester with his claws. He let go as soon as the deal was sealed. "Now, start from the beginning. You have to read how he meets the unlikely heroes."

Jester could already see herself getting sick of reading, but she put on a smile and began at the beginning. It was going to be long and hard, she knew, and this imprisonment was going to be heartbreaking, but Jester was not going to let this dragon see her cry.

[poedameronstories]

Motivation

Summary: General Organa has sent out a distress signal. Reader is stuck in the Outer Rim, but she is desperate to answer the call and willing to go alone.

Word Count: 5,527

Pairing: Poe Dameron x reader

Warnings: Canon-divergent!!!, light cursing, TLJ SPOILERS, fluff, poe dameron’s super attractiveness, uh...I think that’s it?

A/N: I don’t know why I wrote this. I’m not really sure why I wanted to see this play out. I don’t really think there was a point other than gratuitous need for Poe. This is my second SW story ever posted. Thanks to everyone who helped me by answering my questions. PS - Spoilers.

“Commander, we’ve received a distress signal from an old rebel base on Crait.”

You glanced up from your datapad as your superior officer moved around you to the opposite side of the makeshift command center, where a junior controller was gesturing wildly.

There wasn’t much to most of the signals your outpost had received lately. The last confirmed transmission from home base came from Lieutenant Connix as the final transport left D’Qar. After that, intelligence was at a loss. It was like someone flipped a switch and the Resistance had gone quiet.

You were an X-wing pilot, still green behind the controls but talented and not ashamed to say so. Though you weren’t on any of the flashy squadrons, your commander had promised that someday you’d be good enough to lead your own.

She was gone now, though, lost in a dogfight just outside D’Qar.

Now you were at the outpost working as a tech instead of flying. Your ship was practically collecting dust.

Anyway, grey. Grey was a nice color. It was neutral. You always hoped you’d be Grey Leader or something cool like that, if you ever managed to be promoted.  

Commander Tari stared the screen, holding the receiver to his ear as you and everyone else in the small room stared at his face.

After a moment, the panic in his eyes gave him away.

It was a real distress signal. Had to be.

The others were in trouble.

Tari looked over at the only other X-wing pilot besides you that had been assigned to your group. “Pava, would you know General Organa’s personal code well enough to confirm this?”

Jessika Pava made her way over to them, listening just as intently as the signal looped again. Her eyes narrowed, then she gave a sharp nod. “It’s most definitely the general’s personal code.”

It didn’t take a genius to see that she was reeling. Those were her people, too. Unlike you, she had been on the flashy Blue Squadron during the run at Starkiller Base. That’s not just something you get through and forget, and the bonds she made that day would last forever.

It was hard not to envy her, though it sounded stupid in your head. Who envies someone who had to risk their life like that? You didn’t long for battle, you just longed to be useful.

Commander Tari cringed as the loop started for a third time. “What should we do?” He straightened his back as he stared at the rest of the faces in the room. To him, there were too few around to make a difference.

You knew better.

The room might have been dimly lit, but you could still gauge reactions. From the looks on the faces around you, General Organa wouldn’t be hearing from any of you anytime soon.

“We don’t have the resources,” one mechanic spoke up. “Not enough fuel, not enough munitions. We just…we’re not equipped to help right now.”

“I agree with the mech,” a transport pilot named Guari added. She wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t look anyone in the eye as she said it, though. “Without fuel, we’re just as trapped as them. We’d be picked off in no time. It’s safer here.”

Your blood was starting to boil where you sat, and the second Jessika made eye contact with you, she gave a slight shake of her head.

She wasn’t telling you to keep quiet. She was telling you to calm down.

Jessika was a nice person like that.

Too bad you rarely listened.

“When will we be equipped then, in the middle of war, to finally help the cause?” 

All eyes turned to you, though most looked thoroughly unconcerned with your question.

“It’s not that simple,” Guari insisted, lacing her claw-like fingers together. “You heard him. If we went out now with what little we have, we’d be more of a hindrance. We have to live to fight another day.”

“Of course we do,” you agreed, standing up in front of the console where you’d been watching passing debris for hours. That’s all you ever saw these days.  “I understand that, as long as by ‘we’ you mean the Resistance and not just yourselves, right?”

Guari’s black eyes blinked at you. “What if it’s a trap? Y/N, think rationally.”

By now, you were shaking. Think rationally? What’s rational about letting the spark of fight die out in the shadows on a salt planet in the middle of nowhere?

“Keep to your post, Captain,” Commander Tari warned, his face grim. “We all need to be on board with whatever actions we do or do not take. There are plenty other groups like ours in the Outer Rim.”

“So surely one of them will answer instead, right?” You took a few steps forward, ignoring the warning look in Jessika’s eyes. “What if every outpost feels the same as this one and no one goes?”

“I said stand down!” Tari’s face was red now, but you didn’t care. What good did it do to have a Resistance post when the Resistance was snuffed out? You felt kind of bad about going against your superior, but you had to be heard.

“So you’re all resigning then, right?” you asked, glancing from face to face for emphasis. Your eyes met Tari’s again. “All due respect, Commander, but the general wouldn’t put out her own code if it wasn’t a desperate situation.”

“They’re all desperate situations!” he roared, his anger bubbling over. “You are to return to your post immediately, and there will be no further discussion on the matter.”

Before you could come up with any retort, he fixed his uniform and stalked out of the room, leaving everyone to stare at you or roll their eyes or whatever else.

Jessika made her way over to you, regret in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Y/N. You know I don’t like it either.”

The receiver was silent now. No more distress signal, and certainly no replies.

Ah, hell. So much for that promotion you were thinking about earlier.

You shook your head once, then again, fists clenching at your sides. The thought of General Organa reaching such a low point as to request an SOS…you couldn’t live with it. “I’m going.”

Her eyes widened. “You’ll be formally reprimanded, maybe even dismissed.”

“Who cares? If someone doesn’t go, then there’s a chance the Resistance won’t even exist by morning. I’m going.”

Jessika nudged you. “This isn’t about the general at all, is it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The Resistance is-“

“Poe is there,” she interrupted. “At least as far as we know, right? And he might be in trouble.”

Ah…Commander Poe Dameron. He was the most handsome man you’d ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. He was talented, funny, smart, charming, a little cocky, and fiercely loyal, too.

You’d loved him since the moment you first heard him shoot off that big mouth of his.

Luckily, you’d caught his eye, too. In an effort to get your attention, Poe had approached you about your X-wing. There was nothing remarkable about the ship, no upgrades to brag about like he had on his Black One. There was only one reason he’d be over by you. You could hardly believe the best pilot in the Resistance was hitting on you that day.

Your mouth opened and closed a few times as nostalgia hit you. “So?”

She rolled her eyes as if you were oblivious. “The two of you dated for a while, too, right?”

“Three times,” you clarified. “It was only three dates, and the third was interrupted. His comm went off halfway through and he had to leave for a classified…why am I telling you this? You already know.”

That had been a terrible night. Those first two dates had gone so well, and it was really hard to find time for someone else in the middle of a war…especially when that someone was a Commander and the best pilot in the Resistance.

He told you right from the start that the Resistance would always be top priority, but the way he’d said it left you feeling hopeful for some reason, like there was a part of him that was working hard now to have peace later.

You wondered then if you would fit into the picture somehow.

There was no way to be sure now, but you were pretty sure that right before his comm went off on that ill-fated third date, he’d been about to kiss you. The two of you had been sitting close on the grass above the landing strip. The sun was setting and stars were starting to dot the sky above, but you only had eyes for each other.

Poe had leaned over, his eyes glancing down to your lips…

Then the damn comm went off.

The General paged him, and with a quick apology and a peck on your cheek, he was gone. He never did get around to kissing you.

Not yet, at least.

So much had happened since then. You had heard about everything he’d been through, everything he’d accomplished. What if he was a totally different person now?

No, you didn’t dare to hope. What right did you have to expect anything?

The base on D’Qar was long gone, and so were your chances. There was so much at stake right now, no time to lose, no time to focus on anything else but the cause. You knew it, and Poe definitely knew it.

It was a nice dream for a few days, though, and something you still dreamed about from time to time. 

Jess cleared her throat, breaking you out of your reverie. “Poe really likes you.”

You scoffed, checking the holoclock behind her. If you were going to go, it had to be soon.

“How would you know? We haven’t seen him, Jess. We haven’t been in the same room in a long time. He probably forgot all about me, and rightfully so. You’ve heard the reports.”

“I don’t think so,” she shook her head. “Poe doesn’t give up on people he cares about. And frankly, it’s obvious you haven’t given up on him either.”

The idea was absurd. “A little crush isn’t going to send me across the galaxy, Pava.”

She had the indecency to smirk at you. “A little crush? Come on, Y/N. I’m your best friend, whether by default or not. You can tell me the truth.”

“No, I already told you it’s for Leia,” you insisted, turning from your post and your best friend. “We’re wasting time. Ten minutes and I’m gone, with or without you.”

It wasn’t that you felt the need to prove anything. You certainly didn’t want to be known as a deserter or a troublemaker, least of all a traitor. But when General Organa puts out a distress signal, you move. That’s all you really knew.

It didn’t hurt that...other people you cared about were there, too.

Before you could turn away, Jessika grabbed your elbow with a sigh.

“Let me just get Guari to give us clearance.”

You arched a brow. “Why the hell would she do that? She just made her opinion pretty clear.”

Her eyes twinkled. “Because I think she has a crush on me, and she doesn’t need to know that we aren’t out on routine training exercises.”

You stared back at your friend, eternally grateful for her company. “I don’t know what I did to get stuck out on this mud ball, but I’m glad I’m here with you at least.”

“No time for this sentimental stuff, Y/N. Let’s get going.”

“We got lucky,” Jessika lamented, staring at the red soil below the white salty surface. “Everyone’s gone.”

You knew she meant lucky that the First Order was gone.

Whatever had happened here before you arrived, well…it was so far from good you couldn’t think of a scary enough word for it. The pristine white landscape was marred with red, smeared like blood from a fresh wound. Smoke poured from every direction as pieces of TIE fighters and ski speeders lay in ruin.

The old blast door on the base now had a huge gap in the center, just big enough for the likes of the First Order to get in and decimate what was left of the Resistance.

The good news was there was no sign of anyone now. There were no bodies, no signs of fight inside the base.

“Do you think the majority got out alive?” you asked, eyeing the abandoned command center. The equipment was still up and running like they had left in a hurry. “The tech is outdated but it’s functioning. I’m stunned that they didn’t light this place up.”

“The Resistance won’t ever come back to Crait,” Jessika reasoned, glancing around. “Unfortunately, we got here too late to see where they were headed.”

“They probably think everyone ignored the distress signal.” Your fingers swept gently along the communication console. You could almost see Lieutenant Connix at the controls, listening intently, desperate for word from any allies. Your heart ached in your chest at the very idea that they felt abandoned by their allies.

“Most everyone did ignore it,” Jess reminded you, turning with a sigh. “We should leave, just in case the First Order is monitoring this planet. It isn’t safe to stay here with marked X-wings.”

You gave a nod, though your eyes were still roaming the ground. No trace was left behind besides a few footprints. Where the hell had they gone?

“Look, Jess. They escaped that way,” you whispered, eyes following a trail leading to the back of the cavern. “Someone had to have helped them.”

“And for that we can be grateful, but for now…”

You relented, turning toward the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

Just then, a slight shimmer caught your eye. There on the ground in the last bit of Crait’s sunlight sat an inconspicuous chain with a steel washer on it.

You leaned down to grab it, inspecting it closely. It wasn’t something you had ever seen before, though you were sure it had to mean something to someone. It was too polished, too well-kept to be discarded like that. Someone lost it during the quick exit.

“Hey Jess?” you called out, causing her to stop in her tracks up ahead of you. You jogged a little to meet her, carefully holding the chain out. “Does this look familiar to you?”

The smile that curled her lips was one of the biggest you’d ever seen from her.

“That’s Poe’s. Figures you’d find it.”

Almost immediately, your face heated up. “Poe’s?” you echoed.

You didn’t remember him having this on D’Qar. What would he be doing with a ring on a chain? Was he engaged since the last time you saw him? Did he already promise someone that he’d come back to them (well, besides BB-8)? Did he tell them he was theirs forever?

The thought made your stomach lurch, and you felt guilty for worrying about that when there were bigger things at hand to focus on.

Force, what a stupid time to be thinking about all that.

“It’s his mother’s wedding ring,” Jessika explained, her eyes watching you carefully. She didn’t seem to mind talking about it for a minute. “Poe must have started wearing it around his neck to keep her close. I knew he had it, but it wasn’t on a chain before.”

You glanced back down at the ring, not sure what to say. He never mentioned it to you.

“Shara was the one that taught him how to fly, you know. It’s a shame she died so young.”

“Yeah.” That was all you could manage as the emotional weight of what you’d found hit you. Your fingers closed around the metal with a silent promise to Poe that you’d protect the precious item with your life.

You turned away from Jessika, not wanting her to see what you were about to do. Putting the ring in your pocket was too risky, so you tied the broken chain around your neck as best you could and tucked it under your flight suit. The metal was cold against your skin.

You’d heard about Shara Bey, not only from rumors around base but from stories your family and friends used to tell. Even Poe had mentioned her on occasion, mostly when he talked about flying.

She was a hero, a leader, someone you looked up to before you even knew the Resistance existed. Force, if you could be half the pilot, half the person she was…you’d be proud of yourself for once in your life.

Not that you needed Jessika to know that…she already thought you were crazy for Poe, you didn’t want to give her any more reasons to call you out on it.

Without another word you walked out to your X-wing, with Jessika rushing to keep up with you this time. It wasn’t until your helmet was back on and engines ignited that she added the rest of what she wanted to tell you.

“So…the ring? He was keeping it to give to his future spouse, you know. It’s what his mom wanted.”

What could you say to that? That you were relieved he hadn’t given it to anyone just yet? That you were sad it would never be intended for you?

No, you cared too much about him to think like that. He deserved a great love, even if it wasn’t you.

Your focus was sharp, your motivation reinvigorated. You lifted your X-wing off the ground, adjusting the ship’s altitude for a smoother exit from this old abandoned base.

“I’ll make sure it gets back to him.”

Somewhere along the path between Crait and your current trajectory, a ping sounded in your ear over the comm.

“OI, what is that?” you asked the droid positioned behind you.

OI-107 was your trusty astromech, nestled snuggly in the droid socket as it decrypted the mysterious ping. A series of enthusiastic beeps piqued your interest.

“Are you sure? Check again, please.”

More beeps, as the droid tried to confirm the ping’s origin.

You pulled your comm unit closer. “Jess, are you reading this signal?”

“It has to be Resistance,” you heard over the line. Her voice crackled a little but her message was clear. “It’s a code from command, though I’m not sure whose code exactly. They probably spotted us on radar. What should we do?”

“Sweep for trackers,” you instructed. “And try to pinpoint a source, Jess, they wouldn’t be signaling if they didn’t know we were friendlies.”

“Copy that,” she replied.

You watched as she pulled her X-wing in line with yours, as if trying to align herself with the rest of the universe to make sure neither of you were hearing things.

A different sound filled your ears. This time, the more you heard it the more it sounded like a specialized signal, one that wasn’t meant to reveal their true location.

“I think it’s a meeting request,” you said finally, after listening for another minute. “I don’t think they’d…“

“…Reveal themselves so soon,” Jess finished your thought. “That would make more sense. Should we signal back? It’s too dangerous for us to be cruising around like this. If we aren’t careful, we’ll run out of fuel, too.”

“Not to mention we didn’t listen to the commanding officer at our post, so there’s no way we can go back to that post now.” You bit your lip, trying to reason with your conflicting emotions. “We could always play dumb if it’s not who we think. There are merchants out this way, and they don’t tend to pick sides when there’s money to be made.”

“Worth a shot.”

“OI, send a signal back requesting a meeting location, please.”

Your droid beeped happily, and within seconds you heard both the outgoing signal and an incoming reply.

“Boy, whoever it is must be eager,” Jess commented.

“Yeah,” you muttered, checking out the translation from OI on your screen. “Or desperate.”

“I’ve never even heard of this place,” you grumbled, pulling off your flight suit and tucking it into your X-wing’s cockpit.  Both of you had stashed your ships behind some thick brown foliage. It was a big risk, but you had no choice but to take it.

Lucky for you, the black pants and tan linen shirt you were wearing blended in pretty well with the rest of the life on this planet.

Bland and boring would be overlooked, meaning you would be safer, but you had your blaster on you just in case things went sour.

You glanced up at your droid. “Hey pal, if anything happens contact me, all right? I’ve got my comm.”

OI beeped an affirmative, and with a final nod, you turned to Jess.  “So who do you think we’re looking for?”

Jessika shrugged. “Hard to tell. They weren’t about to give up a description over the line. They said we’d know when we saw them.”

After walking away from your ships a little, the two of you came across a dirt path that led to what appeared to be a marketplace. Little pop-up shops lined both sides of the path, selling everything from consumables and clothing to ship parts and droids.

It’s not like you weren’t used to acting inconspicuous, since the dumbest thing someone could do is identify as Resistance out in the open, but it was incredibly different this time.

For one, this whole place was over-stimulating. Though the planet itself wasn’t much too look at, there was a lot going on with big crowds everywhere. Second, you were anxious to find the contact, anxious to reach the remainder of the Resistance that you’d been trying so hard to get back to.

Unconsciously you reached up to make sure Poe’s necklace was still in place, feeling a little bit of tension leave you as your fingers touched the cool metal. It felt strangely reassuring, as if a piece of him was there with you. There was no way you were gonna flash it around here, though. Too many creatures would be after it to trade or steal.  

Jessika was having a much easier time. She was used to coming to places like this on supply runs, something you hadn’t had the chance to be a part of just yet. Maybe you never would.

“Do you see him? Just there?” she murmured, looking away toward a row of new boots and acting interested. “Up ahead, on your right?”

“Who?” Your eyes did a quick scan before you turned as well. You didn’t notice anyone out of the ordinary, much to your dismay.

The nearest thing to you was a barrel of koyo melons, ranging between freshly picked and half-ripe. That little ache in your chest came back…you knew Poe liked these, that he and his parents had farmed them. Now was not the time to be reminiscing about your silly crush, though.

A small creature you’d never seen the likes of before meandered over to you. “Two-for-one deal for the pretty lady?”

You shook your head. “I’m sorry, I don’t have enough credits on me.”

The creature narrowed its eyes. “How much you got?”

With another shake of your head, you were about to apologize again when a hand reached past you, dropping credits in the creature’s palm.

“Two,” the hooded figure said, their voice so low you barely heard anything. “Half-ripe. Thank you.”

As soon as they had the koyo fruits in their grasp, they turned and offered you one.

Your polite refusal caught in your throat as the figure turned.

Poe Dameron was standing beside you, chomping down on a koyo melon like it was nothing!

He gave a slight shake of his head, silently telling you not to visibly react, then dropped the second fruit in your hand before turning away. You stared after him in shock until the shopkeeper shooed you away, disinterested in a credit-less human.

You glanced over your shoulder.

Blast!

Jessika was no longer wandering behind you. The nervous tension you always felt on missions made yet another appearance, with your heart racing and your palms growing sweaty.  

Stay calm, stay calm!

There was nothing to do now but keep walking as you bit into the koyo. Anything else would look out of place, and who knew the types in this marketplace? Some of these creatures looked like they would sell you for a single bolt.

Poe knew where you were, surely he wouldn’t have turned and walked away without keeping some sort of-

You worried thoughts were interrupted as a hand reached out and tugged you into a side alley. Your wild eyes met Jessika’s, and she held a finger to her lips, gesturing for you to follow her into a small stone building.

Poe was there.

His eyes were dark, his hair wild and curly as he stood in front of you, hands spread. “Hey, nice of you to join me.”

It took all your willpower not to move to him and throw your arms around him in relief. Force, if he only knew how worried you had been...

Then again, you didn’t want him to think you were weak. No, you wanted to be brave for Poe, for Leia, and all the others that needed your help.

So instead, you stood there and gave a noncommittal nod in his direction.

Jessika moved closer, taking the lead. “What’s the plan, Commander?”

“Man it’s good to hear that again,” he muttered, running a hand down his face. “The plan is that we don’t have a plan right now, Jess. We’re looking for a new base, trying to find anywhere to hunker down for a while and regroup. We took some heavy losses, probably three-fourths or more of our…well, I can’t get into it right now, there’s not much time. I just saw you on radar during my recon and I wanted to make sure you guys knew what was going on.”

You watched as his brows furrowed and he glanced between you both.

“Normally Snap would go on recon, but…hey, how are you out here anyhow? Weren’t you stationed in the Outer Rim?”

“We sort of…well, we heard Leia’s distress call,” Jess said, her tone careful. If you told Poe about your sort-of desertion it probably wouldn’t go over well.

“But we didn’t get any replies from that.” He looked over at you, shaking his head. “Connix said it was received in multiple points but no one answered.”

“Our commanding officer told us not to answer,” you confessed, unable to stop yourself. “But…”

“But you did anyway?” Poe nodded. “You’re gonna be in deep. I know all about going against superiors, and now is not the time-“

“Are you serious?” you asked, stepping forward and feeling months’ worth of inactive frustrations come to the surface. Your fists clenched; there was no holding back now. “Poe, we had to answer the call! We were just sitting around waiting to be discovered and blown up instead of being useful, and now we’re here trying to help!”

“There’s not much we can do until we find a safe base,” he replied, shaking his head. He looked down at the ground for a second. “That’s top priority.”

There was a brief pause, some silence as the thought sunk in. The Resistance was probably a handful of people now, plus the Outer Rim posts. So much had to be rebuilt, so many new recruits were needed.

“Though,” he continued softly, “it is good to see you two.”

You blinked, wondering if you’d heard right after his little reprimand. A quick glance at Jessika confirmed that she was just as surprised by his words.

“Oh come on, I’m not that bad, am I?” Poe glanced back up with the barest hint of a smile on his face, his eyes sparkling.

When neither of you reacted, Poe made the first move and pulled Jessika into a big hug. You stood there with your eyes averted, not wanting to interrupt a private moment between two old friends and squadron-mates.

But when he reached for you next, Force, your heart rate spiked again. His arms wound around you and he held on tight, for a little longer than he did with Jessika.

You figured you weren’t going to get a chance like this again, so you responded by wrapping your own arms around his neck and burying your face in his shoulder.

“Hey,” Poe murmured, reaching up to stroke the back of your head. “It’s okay. We’ll live to fight another day, I promise.”

He was mistaking your clinginess with fear.

You were far from afraid while in his arms.

After another beat, you pulled yourself away and a few steps back, not wanting to seem like you were having a total meltdown. Poe offered you a warm smile, and you only saw understanding in his eyes, and…

…and there was something else there, something you couldn’t put your finger on.

“Oh, wait.” You reached for the chain around your neck, delicately removing it and holding it out to him. “I found this on Crait, in the old control room. You must have dropped it.”

Poe’s hand immediately went to his neck in surprise. “I- I didn’t even notice, to be honest with you.” He stared at it, not making a move to reach for it.

You held it a little higher, a gesture for him to take the necklace back since you knew how much it meant to him, what he was saving it for.

“You know what?” he mused, rubbing his chin tiredly as his eyes flickered back up to yours. “You hang on to it for me.”

“I…what?”

The smile Poe Dameron gave you this time was tinged with unmistakable affection, feelings you didn’t know he still had toward you. It’d been so long since you last saw him…

“Hang on to it,” he repeated. “You’ve kept it safe, you know? I appreciate that.”

You glanced wide-eyed at Jessika, who offered you a sly grin before glancing away at the wall, the doorway, at anything that wasn’t you.

What did she know that you didn’t?

“Poe, this is your mother’s ring, I can’t possibly…I can’t…” You shook your head, eyes flitting back to his. “What if I lose it?”

“You won’t,” Poe replied confidently, placing a hand on your shoulder. “I trust you.”

This wasn’t right. None of this was right. You were running out of daylight on a strange market planet, and you were supposed to be getting instructions on helping the Resistance, and Poe was here, being him, doing this…

“But what if you meet someone?” you blurted out. “It’s better to have it at the ready, wouldn’t you say?”

Poe gave a short chuckle, looking over at Jess. “I’m really out of practice, aren’t I, Pava?”

“So bad,” she confirmed, still blatantly grinning at you both. “Just kriffing say it, Dameron.”

If there was ever a time you felt like you were having an out-of-body experience that was it.

He looked back to you, his hand on your shoulder moving up to caress your cheek gently. “Y/N…I meant what I said. I think you should hang on to it.”

“Why?” The question came out in a soft, pitiful voice, but you had to ask…you had to know if you were reading the signs right.

That’s when Poe Dameron gave you that famous, charming smile, and his eyes crinkled just a bit at the corners. You could stare at his brown eyes all day and never get bored.

“I want you to keep it because I was going to give it to you anyway,” Poe informed you, his dark eyes searching yours. “Eventually, I mean. I know this isn’t the time or place, though, so hang on to it for me, okay? Keep it safe, sweetheart, until we find our moment.”

“Our…moment?” You stared at him, trying to process what he was saying. “You mean…?”

He chuckled again, then moved forward and pressed his warm lips to your cheek, letting them linger for a moment longer than someone offering a polite kiss would. When it was over, your cheek felt cold.

Before he could get too far, you reached up and grasped him by his collar, pulling him back and planting your lips firmly on his. There was no promise of another moment, no promise that both of you would make it out of this war alive. Just like the hug earlier, you were seizing the moment while you still could.

Jessika cleared her throat and reminded you that you couldn’t linger on this planet. It was time to go.

Poe pulled away slowly, his breath warm as it fanned across your face. His thumb traced the curve of your cheek, and in his eyes there was a new look of longing.

“We’ll have our moment,” you promised, brushing an errant curl off his forehead with a small smile of your own. “I know it.”

The corner of his mouth lifted, his eyes bright. “And I thought I had motivation before...”

merry christmas, if you celebrate. if not, have a nice day :)

[tarisilmarwen]

So Tari, has you been there to help write Legend of Korra or some other sequel series to Avatar, what would you do?

Oh boy, you’re in for a rant.

*cracks knuckles*

For starters, I would have loved a Post-War sequel series that covered the rebuilding of the world with our original gaang. Think the post-series comics but… without the bullshit and character derailment.  Nothing from “The Promise”, “The Search”, or “Smoke And Shadow” except the bare bones plot ideas.

Now as for Korra, we really needed to either A) be longer than twelve episodes, or B) write a tighter story.  So step one is axing nearly all of the stupid love triangle drama.  Cut “The Spirit of Competition” out completely and fold all the relevant plot points into “The Voice In The Night”, also dropping the Masami date plotline.  Just have her be a cute nice girl whom Mako runs into who decides to sponsor the Fire Ferrets, no romance needed.  Emphasis Hiroshi Sato’s role and apparent kindness much more.

Cutting Episode Five also shortens the pro-bending mini-arc, which was already overstaying its welcome quite frankly.  We’ll get just enough of it that we have a sense of normalcy, and then the Equalists can crash in and obliterate that normalcy just like they did in “And The Winner Is…”

This gives us at least one more episode to breathe and adjust to these new circumstances before dropping the next big twist–that Hiroshi is working with the Equalists.  We could use this time to more clearly define the Benders vs. Equalists vs. Non-benders conflict, and make it more clear that it’s a messy complicated situation with no easy answers except that the Equalists and Tarrlok are clearly batshit crazy and going about it the exact wrong way.

Miscellaneous subplots could be advanced during this time.

Ax the Korra kidnapped plotline.  Change that into instead her and the Krew doing detective work to uncover the mystery of Amon’s identity, possibly triggered by Amon’s abduction of Tarrlok.  Have Korra have niggling sensations that her past lives need to talk to her and powering through her spiritual block to access her memories and speak to Aang, who shows her the story of the mysterious daytime bloodbender, and she has to connect the pieces to Amon’s identity, leading her to Tarrlok and the whole tragic terrible flashback episode, which in this version can happen like an episode or two early.  This will also allow for more team interaction and bonding.

AND NOW we have the Equalist vs. Krew battle.  During the investigation they could have come across hints of the big city takeover being planned and take preventative countermeasures which could partially succeed or completely fail depending on how hopeless you want the situation to be towards the end.  The extra breathing room for the finale means that we don’t have to rely on Diobulous Ex Machina (in the form of Amon SOMEHOW despite Lin’s sacrifice getting his hands on the airbabies) OR Deus Ex Machina (Korra suddenly learning airbending despite Amon taking away her bending).  Korra and Krew can just battle Amon and his lackeys in a nice knuckle-down tense fight that ultimately exposes him as the fraud he is.

They capture him and bring him in to justice in this version.  Rather than relying on Aang to show up and gift Korra with the solution to the no bending problem, they have Tarrlok convincing his brother to tell them how to undo it.  Korra completes a character arc she’s been working on the whole season and unlocks the Avatar State without being specially gifted it by Aang.

From there… eh… it’s tricky.  I never watched past Season Two so I can’t really speak as to how to correct whatever failings the latter two seasons had.  (Though from what little I do know I know I’d want way more focus on the Krew and way less Beifong family drama.)  I maintain that facing anarchist assholes and a megalomaniac continent conqueror are too much of a step down from the Dark Avatar and the literal end of the world, so perhaps some seasonal shuffling would be in order. 

With much of her character development from the Change and Balance seasons in place, Korra would be much more level-headed and less insufferable for the preliminary pretend invasion.  Obviously the spirit world subplots of the previous two seasons would have to be reworked so that they would fit better with a finale Dark Avatar arc.  Perhaps something in the spirit world was unbalanced by whatever it was that Kuvira was doing, leading to the dark spirits beginning to terrorize and menace places, as in the beginning of our original Season Two.

Less tangents into Asami’s tech being stolen and Bolin’s adventures in Hollywood.  Blend their subplots more seamlessly into the overall plot.  Also, Korra’s vacation into the first Avatar flashback is done deliberately (because, again, niggles from her past lives) as part of her trying to figure out what’s going on and how to fix it, instead of yanking us hard left to redefine the entire arc of the season.  Some slight reworking of Wan’s story to delete the Lion Turtles bending retcon.

Also, explain what the hell Korra and Jinora actually DID to save everyone and fix things.  (Like yes, it was very cool but also it made no sense and I had no idea what it even was???)

New era begins, Korra establishes her legacy as Avatar firmly, some sacrifices are made along the way (losing access to all her previous past lives), and show over, we saved the world, yay!

Sorry the last bits got really sketchy, as I said, did not watch past Season Two so I don’t really know how I would have reworked it for certain.