#I love that even when he knew Sonic was probably actually in danger he was still like

[kinetic-chaos]

Post tmosth Espio when they least expect it

(I fucking love this game)

[project-sonadow]

My [15M] rival [15/50M] has been weirdly aggressive towards me ever since he lost his memories for the second(?) time. Should I be worried about him trying to kill me again?

Summary

A post on r/relationship_advice by u/Chili_Dog1991

EDIT 1: Stop saying I'm Sonic I'm not.

EDIT 2: Okay I am Sonic. I don't see how that matters.

EDIT 3: Stop trying to figure out which of my rivals this is.

EDIT 4: Stop telling me to contact the police about his attempts to murder me or his age. It's complicated in regards to his age but he's essentially 15 and I can already defend myself way better than the police can in regards to his murder attempts. Also the police would probably try to arrest me too because they're either useless or make things actively worse.

EDIT 5: Stop DMing me to ask how murder attempts can be fun. I shouldn't have to explain this.

EDIT 6: Stop implying I'm a masochist.

EDIT 7: Stop implying I'm an adrenaline junkie. If I just wanted adrenaline I've got tons of other people who could give me that.

EDIT 8: To everyone who actually responded with advice, thank you. I attempted to talk to him about it, we fought again, and it turns out he's been acting aggressive because he doesn't know how to show affection so he just defaults to violence. We ended up holding hands after we physically couldn't fight anymore. It was a great night and I think we're together now.

EDIT 9: Which of you motherfuckers sent this to Tails.

ORIGINAL POST

Hi everyone, using a throwaway account to make this post because my little brother knows my main and the embarrassment would kill me if he ever saw this. 

So for context, I've known this guy for a while now, at least in the context of my life. I've got a pretty hectic life and I'm a traveler, so I've met a lot of people and he's one of the few that's been able to keep up with me. Our first meeting was during a bit of a stressful time because he kind of inadvertently framed me for thievery (we look kinda alike and the police are stupid, it's not his fault but I was pretty pissed at the time) and got me arrested, so we ended up fighting about it in the middle of the street. I'm used to fighting and pretty good at it, so it was a surprise when he turned out to be basically my equal at it, which is pretty rare even among my other rivals. He got the upper hand on me for long enough that the police were able to arrest me again. I was pretty mad but also impressed. Our second meeting was even more stressful because I had just got out of jail after being arrested for the second time, and I was still angry about it so we fought again. I was about to win but then it turned out we were both in danger along with some friends of mine so we both left as fast as we could. Both of these times I could tell he was taking the fight seriously, but I could also tell he wasn't trying to KILL ME kill me. Y'know?

Anyway, in our next meeting he was definitely trying to kill me. Outright said it to my face. I won that fight thankfully, and I'm not even angry about it because a lot of people have tried to kill me over the years and also he has some kind of goal I was getting in the way of, and he didn't even succeed. He ended up changing his mind about that goal though, and when we next saw each other we were on the same side trying to deal with a mutual threat. 

And it was at that point I kind of realized I was in love. I've never really wanted a relationship because I thought it would get in the way of my lifestyle, but with this guy specifically it wouldn't be a problem. I would have told him about it, but then I thought he died and I didn't see him for a while. I wasn't too broken up about it because we only knew each other for a couple days, but I was still sadder than I thought I would have been.

He ended up coming back to life though, and he had lost his memories for the second time in his life (long story I'm not gonna get into) and he didn't really remember me anymore. I know from a mutual friend of ours that he remembered me well enough to be annoyed by my name, which made me irrationally happy, and I think he did end up getting his memories back, but when we first saw each other he definitely didn't know who I was. We fought again, it was a tie, and then we ended up teaming up to take down a mutual enemy again. 

Things have been a bit less chaotic since then. We've fought a couple more times but nothing serious, he's saved my life, I've saved his, you know how it goes. We haven't really talked about anything that happened, but that's fine because neither of us have ever been much for verbal communication and we understand each other just fine. I've tried getting over my crush on him, but that's never really worked because we see each other a lot due to our lifestyles and we have some mutual friends in common, and I like spending time with him anyways, even if we're just beating each other up most of the time.

Personality wise, he's basically my polar opposite, but we get on pretty well despite that. I think aside from my general attraction to danger and his ability to match me in a fight and a race that might be the main thing that draws me to him. I've got a lot of friends, but never one so different from me and yet so similar. He's just always been special to me.

But the main reason I'm making this post is because despite all we've been through, he still acts like we're enemies at worst and temporary allies at best. We fight almost every time we meet unless something less serious is going on, and he's pretty grumpy and mean to me all the time. I like this about him, but it does make me question if he even sees me as anything more than a rival, and I don't know how to ask him because we don't talk about weird emotional stuff. I also think that asking him directly could maybe lead to another murder attempt, which would be fun, but it's not what I'm looking for anymore. I don't mind all the fighting, but just once I'd like to kiss him on the mouth instead of punching his teeth in, y'know?

[reindeer-writer]

Keep a gavone like you in check.

“Just so you know, we’re absolutely getting insurance on whatever new device you get.” Generally speaking, when it came to Hakir and Skipper, paying for insurance could only end one of two ways: 1- Whatever they pay for gets destroyed in a way that wasn’t covered and there’d be no payout or..... 2- They end up running some kind of job that upsets the insurance company and they aren’t willing to help them afterward (that one’s happened twice now, which was strange)

Because of this, whenever it came up Skipper and Hakir had learned to refuse insurance when possible.

But for once, the problem of insurance actually seemed fairly pressing, Skipper’s preferred brand of PDA was pretty expensive and when they just..... dropped it..... for the third time. Hakir had pretty understandably gotten adamant that they preempt the fourth.

They had come to the same guy as always, shut in robot with a tiny store on his ship that only dealt with people he knew. Sounded pretty sketchy on paper but the sales were all somehow above board, he just gave better deals and helped remove stuff like spyware. 

He also sold a bunch of not so above board things though, things that the danger duo were almost never interested in. 

Not that that ever stopped Skipper from going through all of them though.

“What’s a ‘sonic screwdriver’ anyway? That thing looks like a toy, how does it even work?” 

Come to think of it, while they were in the system they should grab some more supplies. Maybe even go shopping, they needed more milk..... or so Skipper had said, he didn’t drink any, nor did he want to after his lovely darling had made a “sprite & milk smoothie” that made them vomit. A shudder rolled down Hakir’s spine, the memory of the cleanup still haunted him. He swore whatever that stuff was made of would melt his carapace off.

Human foods are almost as weird as they are.

“This one? Ok let’s go pay. This time you’re paying though.” Hopefully that should be extra incentive for them to not drop it again.

Though knowing Skipper it won’t matter at all. “This all that the both of youse want?” Renthonus asked, words dripping with an infectious joy. “Yeah, that’s everything.” Hakir sang, watching Skipper dejectedly reach for their wallet.

“Alright, you two goombahs had better stay outta trouble. Your patronage is valuable or somethin’, yeah?”

“We’ll try not to get ourselves killed, see you next time, Renthonus!”

“Hey, I’m Renthonus to the cops. But to you? It’s Tony.”

Something about that sentence seemed to lift Skipper’s spirits again, but Hakir hadn’t the faintest idea why.

“I appreciate the gesture. Actually, before we leave, do you know where we can get some earth milk in this system? I know it’s something of an economic hotspot.” Tony nodded, “Yeah, third planet from the star, the country called ‘New Qatar’ has a big human population, autopilot can probably help you after that.” “Alright, thanks Tony!” again, Skipper giggled at what Hakir was saying, he’d have to ask them later.

With a renewed skip in their step, Skipper began..... skipping to the exit, which left Hakir alone with his thoughts.

.....Skipper was a pretty weird person at times they’d find the most random things funny, they were prone to saying weird things at any given moment, hell the sprite & milk smoothie was kinda a prime example of this. He had kinda assumed most humans were like that, but come to think of it Maya wasn’t. “.....am I dating a crazy person?” Hakir thought aloud.

“Skips? They ain’t crazy, just crazy weird. You’re lucky to have them, helps keep a gavone like you in check.” 

“.....that was a rhetorical question, but you’re right Tony,” Hakir’s mandibles chittered together with appreciation for his partner. “but thanks for reminding me why I love them.” “Any time, pal! Just be sure to keep bringing the dough to me, and papa Tony’ll be glad to lay some wisdom on ya!” “.....please never call yourself ‘papa Tony’ ever again.”

“No promises.”

[egg-emperor]

Thoughts on the idea of eggman doing horribly vile shit but still wanting to be seen as in the right for it, like “oh I’m not making them slaves it’s protective robot skin haha”

Feel like it could be an interesting twist on his char, kinda got some of those vibes from the park in colors, the full corporate speak and like, trying to make this obviously evil plan look not evil, feel like there’s a lot to be done there

I love love looove it, that's what I was expressing a desire to share more concepts of just the other day. I have some I've been meaning to share but my favorite part is when he finally drops the act and shows his true colors and mocks them for it like a cold hearted bastard so I focus on that most lol. I do wanna delve into the build up more though.

He has indeed done it in various official media already like X, Archie, games, and promo material and I absolutely loved every instance of it. But since I'm a game canon guy primarily I'm just gonna focus on that for this reply, though in the future I'm probably going to share what I liked about the cases even outside them because I appreciate it in many places.

I love how one of the things about how he likes to take things that are generally considered childish like toys, theme parks, carnivals, circuses, etc and has his own twisted fucked up spin on it is how it can also be used to lure people in with the bright colors and usually perceived innocence of it. The times Eggman has played into it is interesting.

With Eggmanland in Unleashed, he was upfront about the hell on earth that it was to Sonic because he knew he wouldn't have believed his trickery, plus he takes pride in the fact. He enjoyed teasing him with the "If you have any complaints, come deliver them to me in person. If you can, that is!" to emphasize that it was the theme park of horror >:)

Plus the atmosphere was a lot darker so despite the neon colors, it probably wouldn't have fooled anyone Sonic or not. But he still had the Eggshop be a thing where horrible sawdust and motor oil tasting food was sold to make it horrible and unpleasant for his sadistic amusement, so maybe he would've hoped to trick people regardless?

We don't get to know for sure there but in Colors he wants lots of visitors and he really had to do some immense trickery make sure it seemed innocent and appealing enough to get them to use a space elevator to travel all the way up there lol. It's a lot more colorful and fun looking than the more dark and polluted looking Eggmanland from afar.

So for the Interstellar Park, the trickery is both in its design and his words with how he pretended it was a happy wonderland of fun with nothing to do with any evil plot or premeditated misdeeds. What I love is how once you've gotten all the way up there in space, you're fucked. You'll get messed up and killed one way or another.

In his PAs when you're actually inside, the act is dropped quick. He lies about some of it being safer than it looks but for the most part? All his lines are brutally honest about how messed up it really is, with the Wisps he harmed, blatantly acknowledges the dangers of the rides and planets, and how they can cause death, horror, and fear.

I love how sadistic he is in the PAs and his morbid humor that reveals how truly sick he is and that this park was created for anything but pure innocent reasons. He intended for the rides to be deadly and food to be bad and finds it very amusing. He probably loves the idea of these tricked people coming in and quickly becoming horrified and afraid.

But it still looks so colorful and fun from afar! It's so beautiful and with the joys he promises, how could you not want to go? So while it works to lure people in, it can also give its true horrors even more impact when visitors expect something nice but the dangerous disturbing and terrifying reality is revealed and I'm sure that's very appealing to him too.

So you get this funny combination of him both trying to deceive you but then quickly becoming brutally honest as soon as you're successfully trapped in it. This is exactly what happened in the SPINGEAR ride too, where he was immediately like "haha sike you're actually in for a terrible time!" as soon as the ride began and was loving it.

But I think the idea of him playing the long game with his trickery and deceit is interesting too. We've mostly only seen cases where it's a lot quicker like that but he's set up well for him to do an elaborate scheme of dragging it out for longer and the impact would hit extra hard after all that time too, which he'd definitely enjoy and mock after.

The Eggman Empire propaganda Sonic Forces promo video was cool because Eggman was trying to convince people the world being a dark polluted hellscape is actually a good thing, which reflects his twisted idea of a "perfect" world shaped his image, where he has the power of the control and the sadistic enjoyment of the harsh conditions.

Then because people obviously need the clean air to live, he tries to trick them into thinking robotomy is a wonderful helpful treatment for it. That never needing to eat, sleep, or think again is a good thing and that they'll love it. When really it's a trick to get them to submit to him, have control over them and strip them of their freedom and free will.

But there's an eerie glimpse at how he really knows none of this right with how he says love is mandatory. Once he's tricked them and they've submitted and given up their freedom and will, he can use them as he pleases and keep them controlled and brainwashed but if they do realize how fucked up it is there's no going back, they're trapped in it now.

I'd really like to see more of that, where he tries to tell people the vile things he does are genuinely great, for their own good, are nice and selfless of him and genuinely beneficial for them. Where he manages to manipulate so well to the point of mass delusion and brainwashing with people that follow him believing he's doing something the right thing.

It's good to be a mindless slave under his control, never having to think for yourself again! Trapping living beings in robots improves upon nature and is better and more beneficial than natural! The deadly attractions are what real fun and excitement really is! The brutal sadistic punishments if they fall out of line is for their own good! There's no meaning to life if it isn't to serve him and the world is better under his control!

And the idea of people actually believing that in the Sonic universe and following him is interesting to think about. Even though it bothers me when people do it in real life and believe his lies and think he actually has good intentions but I mean hey, they give me an example of what it'd be like at least. Eggman really is a good actor, props to him! XD

I have a few ideas I'd like to share in the future. Showing love, care, and false acts of kindness to trick and manipulate, or not even hiding his vile actions but managing to convince people it's good or that the end justifies the means, and have them falling for it and he sees how far he can take it makes it especially impactful and devastating.

Delusion, deceit, manipulation, and gaslighting in general is very fascinating to me after years of experiencing it and I've always wanted to understand it from the perpetrator's perspective and portray it as dark and disturbing as it really is. It's always been interesting for me to explore in Eggman too, from when he's manipulating specific characters to the masses. I've actually been researching big cases of mass delusion in history again lately so this is timely.

Pulling people into the empire with the lie that it's something great that will benefit everyone but their leader has much darker intentions and the true final outcome will benefit only himself, but he strings them along on a lie, brainwashes them, and has control though mind games and trickery is fascinating and thrillingly devious.

Then slowly or abruptly realizing it's a lie and the impact when it all comes crashing down and Eggman spits and laughs in their face and mocks them for having a heart and wanting to see good in him/believing and having hope in good coming from it. It emphasizes his coldness and cruelty and how much of a threat he is even to the mind.

And if that happens he'll try to shut down their doubts and lie more to keep them deluded because he knows just what they want to hear and promises them they'll get it. So if they don't believe it's right, the ends justify the means. And if that doesn't work, he'll threaten them to keep them in so they can't leave, or have them dealt with.

But he's so good at taking advantage of people's vulnerabilities, saying what they want to hear, and embedding lies so deeply into their minds to warp reality into what he wants them to believe that sometimes they may be too far gone and never see the truth. And he takes it to the darkest places, using them all up and harming them and they die in vain.

Every outcome has the potential to be very fascinating, entertaining, and impactful!

[chaosnightmare]

i was talking abt amv stuff but pls make a full list, am curious now

okay. favorite shadow moments. be warned that on top of being a kinnie in general i just really really like shadow so. this list is a little on the obnoxiously long side. this probably isn't everything ever but it's everything i could think of

Sonic Adventure 2

when eggman released him and he somehow just knew (likely due to being raised by his grandfather) that his best bet was to go fantastical and promise to grant him a wish for releasing him like some sort of fucked up little genie

in the story recaps shadow recounts the hot shot battle as him destroying it "like a toy" in one of the best line deliveries any VA for shadow has ever given. kirk thornton wishes he could sound that malicous

when he's standing on the bridge and the sirens trigger him in the first time we see his PTSD in action and it's genuinely really good. i've mentioned this before but shadow is written shockingly well as a character with post traumatic stress disorder. i especially like that his most common trigger (outside of the general presence of children) is related to the environment of the event rather than something like screaming or gunshots, they could have done that and it would have been fine but he's so much more realistic due to them avoiding that cliche. anyways

when shadow and sonic meet, shadow says "there's no time for games", essentially confirming that the minute or so beforehand was entirely shadow fucking around and having fun messing with sonic. that was playing, he was playing just then

i like when amy mistakes him for sonic and he just stands there like he has no idea how to respond to nonagressive physical contact. because he probably doesn't

i love how he's always standing ABOVE sonic when they interact. little cunt

david humphrey's delivery of "so let's get this show on the ROAD!!"

more recap stuff, when he's going after tails he sounds genuinely unsettled by pumpkin hill. which makes sense because this is likely his first time seeing much of the outside world but it's funny

"IIII DON'T THINK SO."

when he says that fulfilling marias wish is the "only thing that matters to me now" in a resigned tone that makes him sound almost like he wished he had something else to feel or live for but ultimately felt as if everything he could have ever thought of as a reason to keep existing was left behind on the ARK 50 years ago. this is one of the reasons i think shadow benefited from losing his memories

his he cries. his crying. let it out

this is going to sound convoluted but hear me out: supporting me has some lyrics that i think are really important to shadow as a character and many of them illustrate the idea that shadow was planning on dying in the fight to save earth the entire time. why do i like that? i do not know. i like tragedy

the lyrics in shadows music are ALL really wonderful and indicative of his mental state throughout the game. i think my personal favorite is "I'm shivering with cold, I struggle against despair" there's just something about that that feels so tangible and sad for him

Sonic Heroes

opening cutscene where rouge finds him and he awakens and we just get this shot of his eyes as they open and we hear this low electronic groan and shiro maekawa just knows how to compose a scene so that it's as cool as possible

also we learn so much about shadows nature (vs the nurture of gerald we saw in sa2) from this scene alone wherein less than a second after waking with no memory of anything at all about anything he saw someone in danger and instantly sprung into action to help

NOBODY but me seems to have noticed this but when rouge confronts the chaotix for no reason shadow nods his head (and shakes it) in agreement with her even though he has no idea why these people need to be fought or who they even are. again we learn so much more about who shadow is at the actual core of his personality in heroes

"is that so? well then, it'll be a date to DIEEEE for"

i LOVE how solid shadows sense of identity is like people mistake his anxiety over not having his memories for having no idea who he is at his core but at every turn he reaffirms that he IS shadow the hedgehog no matter WHAT the truth about him is and that will always be an absolute. and we see that in heroes too

when you get a bad rank he shouts "what's WRONG with me????"

Sonic Battle

chaos nightmare attack. named my blog after it. very pretty sprite and the "HAH!!" sound i love also

"there's no need to repeat past tragedies! nobody else ever needs to go through the things that i have!"

right after this fight rouge smacks him upside the head and drags him off for getting into a fight with tails and before he's rested no less

"DIDN'T EVEN BREAK A SWEAT!"

i love that he just passes the hell out clean out from exhaustion after very little exertion he is just like me fr

he thanks rouge and calls her his ally. i miss when he was allowed to have his best friends

i like when he begs to know why he was given a soul

Shadow the Hedgehog

the ENTIRE i am all of me opening

the part of that one promotional "interview" where he says he likes to skateboard and hang out with his friends

i'm sorry i know its cheesy but calling something nearly impossible and then saying "i'll take those odds" is so cool to me. YEAAAA

he winces as he's having a trauma flashback in the opening cutscene...

it's very minor but when black doom is trying to get shadows attention after disobeying him and he mentions the professor it takes shadow like 4 whole seconds to process it and react

i do also like that he describes his own name as haunting him

USES IT/ITS PRONOUNS IN SELF-REFERENCE

shadow has a lot of parallels with metal sonic in this game, as if the events of heroes really had an impact on him. the lyrical parallels between i am all of me and what i'm made of are the most obvious, but my attention is also drawn to shadow in some routes choosing to begin an android uprising, almost as if he's following metal's example.

i love when the professor is giving his speech to shadow and shadow looks on in amazement and the shot is so wonderful and it really shows off just how gorgeous the shth/heroes models were

shadow really really cares about maria even when he genuinely cannot remember anything about her. he knows he's glad that she's safe when he helps her. he knows he would have traded his life for hers even when he can't remember who she was to him. the feelings he has still remain etched into his mind even when their subjects have faded and been erased, it's part of why he was so stressed about his memory loss in the first place, it's part of what made it so easy for black doom to manipulate him

i like griffiths evil laughter it's very nice

i LOVEEE the cutscene where he destroys the comet. love it love it love it fr

Sonic 06:

we so rarely see chaos control used to stop time (we usually only see it used for teleportation, the other way you can utilize the ability) and its so delightful to see him use it like this just to step behind silver and kick him clean in the back of the head. he didnt even need to do that he was just showing off

duude when mephiles is trying to get shadow on his side and starts telling him that he has every right to want justice and punishment for humanity and shadow refuses because he's heard it all and felt it all before and is now completely over it....

i like how shadow's attachment to omega is explored a bit here what with how deeply hurt he is to realize that omega is the one who captures him and how hesitant he is to leave him behind when he sees him in the future deactivated

he's actually really helpful in this game all around but i think it's nice that he jumps in to save sonic from silver literally just to do him a solid. we don't really get to see sonic and shadow help eachother out very often anymore

also he saves rouge instead of pursuing the scepter

Sonic Chronicles

his whole character motivation at first is just that he thinks his friend omega might be hurt and missing somewhere and he's scared for him and when they find omega broken down and damaged eggman insults him and shadow acts like he's going to rip the doctors limbs off for it

also when they reactivate omega and he tells the story of what happened to him shadow is soooooo fucking angry he loves his friend so much. i love shadow in this game sorry we never get to see him so nice and cool anymore god. losing my mind sorry

if you argue with shadow and assume he's evil and out to betray you he literally gets offended like "of COURSE we're on the same team, why would i want to see the world destroyed??"

Sonic Colors

i just think its a little cute that he was worried about sonic and tails

Archie

the entire shadow fall arc but specifically the scene where eclipse is trying to convert him. like the entire thing is just a great shadow moment

watching him cry as he has to leave maria again god god god god god

also when he comes out of that issue and defines himself as being born in the name of love

still the entire shadow fall arc

Sonic X

i love the entire scene of him chasing down cosmo and tails its like a horror movie. shadow loves to be in horror movie put him in the scary hallway

his reaction to molly's death is so real and devastating again i just like tragedy

really all of sonic x is better in its original japanese than the 4kidz english dub but the english script line "don't talk to ME about what's fair! not after what happened here!" is one of my favorite shadow lines ever

Sonic Prime

THEY'RE AIR SHOES.

i like how you can see shadow progressively becoming less patient with sonic as he tries to communicate with him across realities. we went from "its all broken! i'm lost in the void, you have to keep moving!" to "KEEP GOING!!!!! DO NOT STOP." its so funny he's so right for how pissed he is in this show

Misc

i like how he rarely ever sits down. i just think thats a fascinating character detail. even in boom he outright says he'd rather stand. what is his problem

i love it when he fixes his quills like hair. gayass

there aren't a whole lot of parts of the twitter takeovers that i really really like for any of the characters but especially not shadow. however when he lists all of the things he thinks are wrong about sonic but follows up by saying that he DOESN'T hate him it really helps illustrate how shadow thinks

there's a part in the books i think is really funny where shadow loses a device he needs to rescue sonic so badly that he couldn't find it anywhere and he's just like. Great

i loveeee that he's raising a chao that's so wonderful. and he loves it so much

he actually kicks people in the head very consistently it's one of his most common attacks

[tanzaniiite]

Hiiii May I request Asahi, Kurro, Oikawa and Tobio reacting to their gf shouting at them “the faster you get to me the more kisses you get!” And they’re all the way in the other room, while their so is laying in bed?! I saw this tik tok and it was soooo cute!!

“THE FASTER YOU GET TO ME, THE MORE KISSES YOU GET” TREND

w/ asahi, kuroo, oikawa & kagyema

requests: OPEN

warnings: none!

so sadly i couldn’t find this trend :( but i get the general gist of it and it is cute! i’m just gonna put it in the trend category anyways. also for the sake of variety, i switched up the places. thank you for the request!

you’ve lowkey wanted to do this for a while but just never found the time to do so

and what better time to do it when picking up your boyfriend from practice?

in front of his whole team :D

you knew there was a 120% chance that asahi would be flustered if you did this with the boys™️ around

but tbh when is he not flustered?

n e ways you head over to the gym and get your phone ready

when you enter the gym, kiyoko tells you they’re just cleaning up and they should be done soon

asahi spots you immediately and waves at you from the other side of the room

“hey hun! i’m almost done here okay?”

you smile and nod, ignoring noya and tanaka mimicking your boyfriend (“hey hunny~”) and gagging

welp it’s now or never

“okay! but remember: the faster you get to me, the more kisses you get!”

the gym is silent for a second before noya and tanaka’s howls of laughter fill it

you giggle at their antics but when you turn to asahi you stop

no shit, this dude looks like he’s abt to vomit

his face is on fire

he cannot stand being teased in public

suga just pats him on the back and takes the mop from his hands

“you should go to y/n, i wouldn’t want to miss those kisses”

you laugh as your giant bf shuffles towards you all embarrassed

“y/nnn, why would you that?”

“do what?”

“don’t play innocent with me”

you laugh some more as you hold his hand and walk out the gym

“so where are my kisses that i was promised?”

you smile and pull him down by his collar and plant a sweet kiss on his lips

my mans looks distraught when you pull away

“that’s it?”

“you didn’t move fast enough”

omg don’t get me started w/ this horny ass rooster

y’all probably hanging out at his house and he went to the kitchen to get snacks

his dad isn’t home so this is perfect for you to execute your plan

“yo, princess what kind of chips do you want?”

you whip out your handy dandy phone and hit record

“barbecue is fine! also the faster you get to me, the more kisses you can get”

istg it’s the “cam and collin, run in here and come get y’all juice” vine but w/ kuroo and you’re the juice

my guy rly ran to you at top speed 👌🏽

you’re dying with laugher as he throws the chips on his desk and makes his way to you

“you called?”

you nod, “yeah, just so you can bring me my chips faster slow poke”

as you move to get up from the bed, kuroo tightly wraps his arms around your waist and presses kisses to your neck

“y’know it dangerous to promise a man kisses and not deliver”

“you mean a horn dog?” you snort

you hear him groan behind you

“c’mon princess i was trying to be sexy!”

ngl he’s been waiting for you to do this trend

he’s even been sending you various videos of it for ideas!

he just wants to tiktok famous 😔

you’re clearly not getting it so

UNO REVERSE CARD

he decides to do it at your house with your family there bc he’s a lil shit

y’all are on the couch watching a movie

and similar to kuroo, you went to the kitchen to get water or something

oikawa pulls out his phone and starts recording

“baby?”

there’s a short pause, “yeah?”

“the faster you get to me, the more kisses you get!”

he’s readying himself to tackle you with love and affection.. but you never come

now he feels like boo boo the fool 🤡

your sibling sees him sulking on the couch and calls out to you

“y/n, i think your boyfriend wants your attention!”

you come from the kitchen with snacks and place them on the end table only to see your bf pouting

“hey.. what’s–”

“why didn’t you come running?”

???

oikawa explains the trend and how you never came to him

you just had to laugh, your boyfriend is so dramatic all the time sometimes

“i’m sorry tooru, i didn’t hear you but you can kiss me now if you want” you say, as you pucker your lips

he just crosses his arms and shuffles away from you

this dude…

“fine i’ll just kiss you myself”

you shower him with kisses and eventually he stops pouting and gives in

“next time, open your ears so i can love you”

you don’t have the heart to tell him that’s not how ears work

ugh my precious tobio 🥺

today’s practice has been canceled bc coach ukai is sick

so you decide to do this when he’s walking you home from school

for the first half of the day you guys have classes together but after lunch you don’t see him much :/

so he’s like on the other side of the building while your waiting for him by the entrance

you’re rly excited to hang out with him while there’s still light outside but he’s taking sooo long

most likely arguing with hinata tbh

so you send him a lil text for motivation :D

‘y’know.. the faster you get to me, the more kisses you get’

i shit you not, this dude is running like sonic

gotta go fast headass

y’know the Road Runner from looney tunes?

that’s him, his is the road runner

one minute you’re standing waiting for your bf, the next you’re being tackled by him

he almost knocks you to the ground ngl

you’re holding him by the shoulders while he catches his breath

“what the hell tobio?”

*pants* “i came as fast as i could” *pants*

you’re shocked that he actually ran but not really bc we been knew this dude was touch starved

you smile widely and kiss him deeply

i see tobio not being too keen on PDA but he earned this so he’s gonna enjoy it goddamn it 😠

suddenly you see a orange fuzzy in your peripheral vision but don’t pay too much attention to it

“HEY! YOU LEFT ME MID CONVERSATION TO MAKE OUT WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!”

you pull away giggling as tobio groans, face red with embarrassment

tanzaniiite © 2020 — all rights reserved. do not repost, modify, or copy. do not plagiarize. thank you.

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 12: the hen ichaer

i realize i've been mentioning the hen ichaer without really explaining it, and for that i apologize. but without further ado, let's go

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

general

the hen ichaer is basically a magical gene that originated with the elven sorceress, scholar, and princess, lara dorren aep shiadhal

it can lie dormant or inactive for generations, but when someone is an activated carrier of the gene, they are called a source

sources have an insane capability for magic, it's so intense that without instruction they are a huge danger to themselves and/or others. remember pavetta's betrothal feast? hurricanes should not happen indoors

same thing with ciri's sonic scream.

obviously, the hen ichaer is highly weaponize-able, but it's difficult to put this into theory since the magic is so strong that it can easily kill the person who carries it

most important is that the hen ichaer can open ard gaeth, the gates between worlds. you may remember that the witcher is a multiverse, and the continent is just one of countless worlds

aen elle

the aen elle, elves who live in another world called tir ná lia, controlled at least one gate that they used to get slaves from other worlds

however, this was before the hen ichaer was seriously studied. unicorns are also capable of opening ard gaeth, and were present in tir ná lia, so the aen elle would kidnap them to be used as their world-hopping-genocide key. yeah, the aen elle are seriously fucked

the king of the aen elle was named auberon muircetach, and he was very well known for his wars with the unicorns, who weren't too keen on being enslaved for the purpose of conquering other worlds

the hen ichaer came into play when auberon noticed that his daughter, lara dorren, had pretty intense magical abilities. like, ard gaeth opening abilities.

auberon, lara, and a few other elves began studying the gene and trying to figure out how it works and how to use it.

through this study is how we got the title aen saevherne, which is used to distinguish an elven mage with extensive knowledge of history, science, magic, and, most importantly, the elder blood.

both lara and auberon were aen saevherne, as was lara's husband-to-be, avallac'h, and avallac'h's foster son, caranthir ar-feiniel

ithlinne's prophecy

ithlinne aegli aep aevenien was an elven prophet known for her incredibly dark prophecies that she delivered at totally random times. how dark were they? ithlinne's prophecies were almost exclusively about the death of all humanity and/or the end of the world. she was fun at parties.

anyway, when we talk about ithlinne we really only mean one specific prophecy, aen ithlinnespeath. to be confusing it's usually referred to as ithlinne's prophecy

here's the prophecy itself:

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame. Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves...

what does that mean? well, the white chill (aka the white frost) is a massive ice age that has been approaching the continent for years. don't believe me? the white frost has destroyed countless worlds in the past, and it literally cannot be stopped. the only way to save the world is by the power of the hen ichaer.

here's a perfectly frightening visual of the white frost

ithlinne didn't elaborate on the how, but we now know that the only to survive the white frost is by finding a new world and massively evacuating the continent through ard gaeth, which can only be opened by the power of the hen ichaer.

genetics

clearly, the hen ichaer is important enough to literally save, or end, the world, but the aen elle did a famously terrible job of studying it. like, you'd think they'd be good at that, but no. to their credit, it is a bit complicated

first, there are multiple types of elder blood genes, the main gene, the latent gene, and the activator gene. to actually show the powers of the hen ichaer, someone would need to either have one latent and one activator, or the main gene.

let's go back to secondary school biology for a second, remember punnet squares? these fuckers

the letters in a punnet square represent a genotype, or the two alleles that are inherited from the parents. phenotypes, on the other hand, are what you see on the outside. for example, a genotype would be Aa but a phenotype would be brown eyes.

while the main gene is a simple dominant allele (shown by a capital letter on a punnet square), both the latent and activator genes are semi-dominant, meaning that when they meet they create a new phenotype: the innate magical ability that makes you a source.

it gets a little less scientific here so bear with me; this new phenotype is so powerful that it sometimes creates a whole new genotype. so instead of having one activator gene and one latent gene, the two would merge and you'd be left with only one (very powerful) main gene. this is the only single gene that actually has magic and it's a dominant gene, so you only need to have one to have the power.

but, the latent and activator genes don't always combine. you still have the full powers when they stay separate, but it is then less likely to pass the hen ichaer your children.

complicated? very much so. but in practice it's a lot easier.

for simplicity's sake i'll call the activator gene g/a, latent gene g/L, main gene g/m and a regular nonmutated gene g/r. to be a source, the genes you inherit would be g/a g/L, but they may combine to be just g/m. your average person would be g/r g/r and a carrier would be either g/a g/r or g/L g/r.

clearly, this makes tracking it pretty messy, since generations of people can be carriers without having a single source

tracking the hen ichaer

for now, let's do what those elven sages couldn't and track then hen ichaer, starting with lara dorren

eventually, lara met an exceptionally talented human mage, cregennan of lod, and they were lab partners (oh my god they were lab partners) in the study of the hen ichaer.

eventually, lara met an exceptionally talented human mage, cregennan of lod, and they were lab partners (oh my god they were lab partners) in the study of the hen ichaer.

for all the studying, lara and cregennan's own genes have always been something of a mystery. elven mages don't tend to have any issues with using themselves as lab rats, so it's entirely possible that lara and cregennan, knowingly or not, mutated their own genes in their research.

ultimately, it doesn't matter what lara and cregennan's genes originally were. by some happy little accident, the two eventually ended up with at least one activator gene and at least one latent gene between them.

later, when lara and cregennan made their own happy little accident, riannon, she inherited one of each gene (g/a g/L), making her a source. however, riannon's genes did not combine as the elves expected, which made her a little harder to study.

riannon eventually met king goidemar of temeria (g/r g/r), and they had two children named fiona and amavet. i'll start with fiona, who the aen elle managed to figure out had the latent gene, making her g/L r

fiona ended up having a baby with king coram II of cintra (g/r g/r), they named him corbett, and he inherited fiona's g/L and one of coram's g/r.

the aen elle lost track of the hen ichaer when they studied riannon's other kid amavet. see, amavet was kind of a whore. he had twins, muriel and crispin, with the married countess anna kameny. obviously, these children weren't legitimate, and when the angry count kameny murdered amavet a few months later, he was officially childless

the elves did, however, manage to figure out that amavet had riannon's g/a gene and goidemar's g/r gene. anna kameny was just g/r g/r, and crispin ended up being g/r g/r as well. destiny does favour the hen ichaer, but sometimes it's just not meant to be. muriel, on the other hand, did inherit her father's activator gene and was g/a g/r.

let's hop back to corbett, fiona and coram's g/L g/r son. he and princess elen of kaedwen (g/r g/r) had a son, dagorad, who got corbett's latent gene and one of elen's regular ones, meaning he was g/L g/r

muriel married robert of garramore (g/r g/r), and their daughter adalia, the dramatically posed lady right there, had the same genetic combination as her mother, g/a g/r

this is where it gets even weirder

the lovely adalia married dagorad. her second cousin. they shared riannon as their great grandmother. feel better in the fact that it was not intentional, adalia's mother, muriel, was not officially riannon's granddaughter. no one would have even known, but adalia's g/a met up with dagorad's g/L in their daughter, calanthe

for the first time since riannon, the hen ichaer was back, and calanthe's parents genes combined to give her g/m g/r

while it took generations of destiny and accidental incest to make the hen ichaer happen again, now that calanthe had the main gene there was a 50% chance she would pass it to her child, which, of course, she did

calanthe and her husband roegner (g/r g/r) had pavetta, who inherited the g/m from her mother. no one knew about this until pavetta literally created a source hurricane, and was already pregnant

pavetta and duny's (g/r g/r) daughter, ciri, inherited the main gene from her mother and was a source.

sources

it's important to note that a source is not necessarily an incredibly powerful sorcerer, merely a person who has the genetic predisposition required to channel very intense magic

sources, like anyone else, can be bad students, allergic to potions, or just generally averse to magic on all levels except heredity. there is also no way to guarantee that even the most willing source will be good at using magic, in fact it's far more common that they will be really really bad at it. sources are extra susceptible to the chaotic state of magic in the world, and many end up pretty seriously harmed by it.

magical talent tends to make itself known in very emotional situations, like the death of a parent or a war. the same applies for sources, but they have an extra rule: their full powers are off limits until they lose their virginities

now, netflix has not mentioned that rule to be true or false, but i'm going to think of it as strictly book/game/etc canon, because ciri is 10 years old when netflix shows her using her source powers for the first time

the virginity rule makes things even more complicated, as customs about premarital sex are pretty strict in the witcher world (well, among nobility), and the dudes didn't seem to have fast reflexes. what i'm saying is that getting pregnant the first time you had sex was not uncommon. sources couldn't even use, and likely weren't aware of, their powers until they were already passing them on to another generation.

and even still, there is no guarantee that someone who is a source will ever actually show their powers. calanthe had the genetics, but she wasn't a mage. what happened? we don't really know. after calanthe married, cintra was pretty peaceful; there were no invasions or massive upheavals that could put enough stress on her to show her powers. plus, her parents didn't know she had any magical powers, so they didn't give her the training that would develop them, and she was a very level headed person who would likely be unaffected by many of the things that would make another source lose their shit.

[wdwmarveldisney]

🥺👉👈 Could I maybe request a doctor who x reader with a younger, more innocent teenage reader? And the doctor gets protective over them, especially when they could be in danger. Any doctor could fit. (sorry if this is not enough information I'm new to making requests)

Let them go

Eleventh Doctor x platonic!teen!reader

Summary: When the Doctor takes you to your favourite musical, things once again don’t end well.

Masterlist

A/N: Ok so I loved this request and thank you so much. You are so sweet. Don’t worry about how information there is, I just hope that you like it. I may have mixed a little Newsies in here because, well I love it and I honestly think about how I would a hundred percent ask to go there if I was travelling with the Doctor.

Not my GIF

Shaking violently when travelling seemed to be the only flaw of the TARDIS and even then, it was only because the Doctor was a terrible pilot. He had tried to convince you otherwise but you'd met River on more than one occasion and she had actual evidence for her argument so excuse you if you sided with her. But that didn't mean that you hated it; every time it happened, you'd grin real big because it was just yet another reminder of the chaos that came with the Doctor. You had a usual place by the controls, one where you were often moved from during flight to avoid you being in the way. Most of the time you ended up in one of the seats, watching his every move in hopes of learning what any of it meant. River had promised to teach you when you were older, said you could leave the Doctor in the 1920s where he apparently thrived and she'd teach you how to the drive the TARDIS.

Right now however, you were here in 2017 New York, at your request. You had asked to see the recording of Newsies after a small (ok so maybe the exact opposite of small) obsession with the musical over the years. You were surprised when all the Doctor had to do was make a call and suddenly you were right at the front with the opportunity to go backstage afterwards too. The inner fangirl was hard to control as the two of you headed to the doors and you managed to stumble slightly but he had caught you before you could fall into the wooden doors. Pouting as he laughed, you tugged his bow tie hard making him stop with a frown and a hand going to readjust it. He scanned your attire with an amused smile which resulted in a flick to the head from you. "Ow, I didn't say anything!"

You walked out the TARDIS, breathing in the smell of hotdogs and petrol before facing him with a small frown, "You were thinking it. I can wear a Newsies shirt if I want to wear a Newsies shirt," he put his hands up in surrender as he walked out too and then quickly turned to lock the doors. You tugged at the shirt in question as you glanced round the empty alley, waiting for him. It was a few seconds before you felt an arm fall into your shoulders and quickly you began to walk to the streets with big smiles on your faces. In the small time you had come to know the Doctor, he had become like family. You had been quite sheltered growing up, never seen much trouble but that's kinda expected from a small town family. When you started travelling with the TimeLord, you saw a lot of bad stuff, things you had never even thought possible and so naturally, he was protective. He was like an older brother, maybe a dad ish vibe.

Your steps were in time with his as you approached the theatre, huffing at how long the queue to get in was. Finally in line, you tapped your foot patiently and suddenly, the question had slipped from your lips without much thought, "How did you get good tickets?" He paused, reaching up to fiddle with his bow tie nervously before straightening out his tweed jacket. He avoided eye contact and instead stared at the bright lights surrounding you guys, "Well, um, I helped write it. Historical facts and stuff," you watched him shrug with terribly faked nonchalance. Jaw dropping, your eyes went comically wide as you stuttered out, "You- They- What?" Unbelievable. Of course he knew about your obsession with the musical and failed to mention his involvement with writing it.

It was a couple hours later and you were waiting by the Doctor's side as the theatre cleared out. He had spent the whole musical jittery and chatty, clearly not good with just sitting there and watching. Several times someone had complained and you had had to talk with him about it. He was a literal child at times. But despite the fact he had muttered about his hate for Twitter after the girl next to you guys tweeted a picture of herself and her friend there, you enjoyed yourself. The musical was just as great as the first time you watched the recording, if not better. And now, you couldn't stop bouncing in excitement. You were actually going backstage, and you were going to meet the cast of a musical you have obsessed over for years.

But of course, with the Doctor, things never happened that easily.

The TimeLord had pulled out his sonic screwdriver to fiddle with while you waited and frowned at the noise it made. You caught his muttering and huffed, already knowing that look on his face. Concern, anger and a touch of excitement. "Don't say it," his eyes slowly left the device in his hands as he raised an eyebrow at your words. Someone was just leaving the backstage area but neither of you noticed as you sighed, "Why does something always have to happen? One good, non-alien day is all I ask. Is that even possible with you?" He grinned goofily at you with a breathy chuckle before raising the screwdriver in the air and scanning your surroundings. You jumped at the tap on your shoulder, facing the crew member with fists raised like that would do something. "Oh,"

"I was sent to get you. What's he doing?" You glanced to the Doctor, who now stood on one of the seats and you shrugged, arms crossing over his chest. Looking between both men, eventually you answered, "I find it best not to ask until he gets that look on his face," the guy frowned as he watched the Doctor jump from the seat and run up an aisle and look through one of the doors. As the two of you watched him lock the door with the screwdriver, the crew guy asked, "What look?" Going to respond, you stopped yourself once seeing the dark look of his face. The one that ensured mortal danger and most likely ended with the two of you saving the world. Again.

"That look," the guy watched you point to the alien as he made his way over to you by jumping over one of the seats. His arm landed on your shoulders as he huffed slightly from all the running round, "Right okay then, possible shapeshifter, very dangerous and kills for the hell of it. Also, amazing dancers and have a tendency to be really funny. Ready?" As he spoke, he looked the guy up and down in a calculating way as if he was possible suspect. You ignored the shock and fear on the guy's face in front of you and instead tilted your head in debate, "I mean, yeah sure," with a laugh, he clapped his hands together and approached the crew member. He too ignored the expression or he just didn't notice with how quickly his mind was now working. He smiled, hands clasped in front of him as he did another look over the guy before speaking, "Ok, we're ready to go. Should probably check out backstage first," he looked to you and you nodded in agreement. "Well," he paused as he placed his hands on the guy's shoulder, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Panicky look still clearly painted on his features, his voice shook as he managed, "Carl,"

"Well Carl, lead the way," gripping the clipboard in his hands tighter, Carl turned around and began to walk up the stairs and backstage with the two of you following. You stared at your feet as you walked, pout on your lips as you thought, "So, when you say very dangerous...?" The Doctor paused before backtrack king to you and placing his hands on your shoulders whilst ducking his head down to meet your eyes. He had such certainty and determination that you knew he wasn't lying when he said, "Nothing bad will happen to you, I promise," a chuckle left your lips as you punched his shoulder, smile lighting up your face as he remained unbelievably serious, "Well duh. I've got my own hero. And you know I'd haunt the hell out of you," he shook his head, smile fighting it's way to his face as the two of you began to walk behind the curtain.

-

So apparently the Doctor isn't great with promises or at least, that's what you gather when the two of you were walking down a deserted corridor and something had grabbed you from behind. The last hour had been the two of you searching in the dark, trusting no one since this alien shapeshifted. Two crew members were found dead and another missing so the Doctor insisted on going to find her and well, naturally you followed without question. And now you had a claw to your throat as you whimpered at how hard the alien was pulling your hair. This made the Doctor turn, eyes darkening when he saw you struggling and crying quietly to yourself. "Let them go," it was practically a whisper but it echoed in the hall, making the creature laugh. "Why would I do that?" The voice was deep and distorted and almost robotic, "They'll be so much fun," the last word was spat, venom in the voice making whimper again. You shook violently and the Doctor met your terrified eyes with his remorseless ones. "Why are you here? Order the Shadow Proclamation states Earth is a Level five planet. Do you know what they'd do to you?" He took a few taunting steps forward, head almost bowed in anger.

A small scream left your lips as the claw made a small cut in your throat and the Doctor seemed to tense. Rolling out his shoulders, the TimeLord uncharacteristically smirked as his fingers toyed with the screwdriver in his hands and he laughed almost hollowly, "I know about your people. I have fought your people time again and again and again. And do you want to know what I remember?" There was a pause in his words, only audible thing being your small cries, "You really don't like high frequencies," he raised an eyebrow as he pressed a button and the alien began to freak. His hands slammed over his ears and he stumbled back, essentially freeing you. You managed to make your way to a worried and panicking Doctor before the two of you rushed down the hall and inside a changing room. You fell back against the door as the whir of the screwdriver and the click of the lock and the huffs of your breaths filled the room.

Suddenly the small device was stuck in your face, scanning you up and down before you smacked it away. He gave you a pointed look before carrying on, no doubt scanning for any other type of harm. He was in protective mode which wasn't uncommon but could get annoying when he wouldn't stop checking up on you. With a frustrated expression, you snatched the screwdriver from his hands and shook your head when your eyes met, “I’m fine,” you made sure to emphasise the last word and the Doctor mimicked you under his breath like a three year old. Scoffing, you pointed the screwdriver at him in warning but he just simply took it back with a small huff.

And then there was a bang at the door and the two of you were reminded of the danger you were facing this time round.

[morganaspendragonss]

i saw you were accepting prompts - could you possibly do one with thirteen and the fam where one of them gets kidnapped and the rest have to get whoever it is back?

holly's august extravaganza day 15: find you here inside the dark

thank you for the prompt!

@badthingshappenbingo prompt: blindfolded

ao3 | 1.5k | kidnapping, psychological torture, angst with a happy ending, hurt/comfort, set vaguely during s12

Yaz has been thinking.

There’s not much else to do, really, wherever she is; the room she’s being kept in is windowless and featureless, and the only interesting parts of her day are when the visor she’s being forced to wear darkens, effectively blindfolding her. She’s not really sure what happens during those times, except that someone—presumably one of her captors—joins her, stays in silence, then, after an unidentified amount of time, leaves.

Though, to be honest, all her time here is unidentified. Yaz has no idea how she’s supposed to track the days; she’s pretty sure she’s not on Earth, so there’s no guarantee that days are days anyway. She tracks the passage of time through the periodic meals she receives, but as those are pretty much all the same, there’s no way to tell what equates to morning, noon, and evening.

She tried, at first, but it became too confusing too quickly. So, instead, she thinks.

First it was about ways of getting out of here. Yaz is nothing if not proactive and, while she trusts the Doctor to save her, she’s always liked figuring things out for herself. Especially when said things are Doctor-related, because it feels like she’s proving herself, or something. Like she’s showing the Doctor that she’s worth it, that she can handle all the running and fighting and general chaos that follows them wherever they go.

Like she is capable of staying by her side forever.

But Yaz has walked this room too many times to count now; she’s traced her fingertips over the walls, searching for any cracks or crevices to indicate where there might be a door. There is none, apparently, and Yaz has to concede that their technology is beyond her.

If the Doctor were here, she’d have her sonic out by now, spitting out words, only half of which Yaz could understand. She’d find a way out in no time.

Or, if not, at least she’d be here. Talking a mile a minute, probably annoying the hell out of their captors. Yaz can almost hear her now—

Wait.

She can hear her now.

It’s faint and distorted, but unmistakably the Doctor, and Yaz feels hope flash through her. If the Doctor is here, then maybe… Maybe she’s going to get out of here.

It’s not that it’s been bad here, per se, but Yaz hasn’t spoken to another person in so long that she’s starting to go a little out of her mind. Whatever thing has her, it’s not chatty; the only reason Yaz knows there’s actually someone else around somewhere is that she’s heard its heavy breathing whenever it comes into the room.

The Doctor’s voice gets louder and Yaz jumps to her feet, spinning in a circle to try and pinpoint where it’s coming from.

“Doctor!” she cries. “Doctor, it’s me, I’m here!”

The sounds pause for a moment, then suddenly resume at Yaz’s back. She turns and runs to the wall, pressing her ear against it to try and hear something—anything—but just like that, it’s gone.

For the first time since she’s been here, Yaz feels tears building in her eyes. She’s been so certain, for so long, that the Doctor is coming for her, and now she knows; the Doctor was here, feet away, and now she’s—

“Yaz?”

She’s behind her; she has to be. Yaz spins, grinning, arms out to drag the Doctor into a hug—but she’s not there. She frowns, but she doesn’t have time to process it before her name is called from another corner of the room, so clear that it feels like it’s right in the room with her.

But Yaz is alone, still, except for the voice that bounces from wall to wall, surrounding her and sending her dizzy from trying to follow it. She can’t see for tears as she realises—it’s all a trick. For what purpose, Yaz doesn’t know, but she doesn’t care to figure it out either.

The Doctor isn’t here. She never was.

And then, as if to torture her further, the visor darkens, and Yaz is blind.

*

She lives in darkness from then on. Unlike every other time, it doesn’t clear, not even when she’s brought meals, so Yaz just sits pressed into a corner, entirely alone.

And she thinks.

She knew, back when they started travelling with the Doctor, that there would be danger. That she’d probably fear for her life, maybe even get hurt along the way. They’d all accepted the risk, but Yaz—Yaz hadn’t even had to think about it. Maybe it’s because of her job, but the thought of danger hadn’t phased her for even a second; it had exhilarated her.

All her life, Yaz has wanted to do something. She’s always needed that adrenaline rush, that thrill, and she hadn’t found it sitting in her police car breaking up minor disputes. Then the Doctor appeared and handed it to her on a platter, and who was Yaz to turn that down? Travelling with the Doctor has been everything; there’s nowhere Yaz would rather be than with her.

But Ryan has been saying, lately, that he doesn’t know how much longer he can do this. He wants to leave, Yaz can tell, even if he hasn’t said it directly.

“Where does it end, Yaz?” he’d said to her once. “How many times have we almost died already? We can’t get lucky forever.”

“I trust the Doctor,” Yaz had replied. “She’s always kept us safe, and she always will.”

She doesn’t think Ryan believed her, but Yaz has never been more certain of anything in her life. Except… Except, now, she’s starting to wonder. Yaz doesn’t know how long ago she was taken, but she’s fairly certain it’s been too long. Hours, days, weeks spent holding onto the knowledge that the Doctor would come for her; most people probably would have given up by now, but the thought never even entered Yaz’s head.

The Doctor would come; it was never a question.

Except she hasn’t, and Yaz is alone in the dark, and she’s losing faith.

*

Yaz loves the Doctor’s voice. She loves to listen to her talk, loves the way her eyes light up at anything new, loves the sheer emotion she pours into every single word.

Now, though, she’d give anything to get her to stop.

It’s been like this since the first time; Yaz will hear the Doctor’s voice calling for her, promising her that she’s coming, that she’ll be free soon, and it will be so clear that Yaz could swear she’s right in front of her. But she’ll reach out and feel nothing, and no-one, and disappointment will flood her all over again.

She should be used to it by now; she should expect it, even. But every time, there’s hope. And every time, it’s crushed.

So, the next time it starts, Yaz assumes it will be no different.

“Yaz,” the Doctor, or whatever’s mimicking her says. “Yaz, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here; we all are, just hang on.”

It’s the same as always. Yaz presses herself further into her corner and buries her head in her arms—not that it makes any difference. “No,” she whispers. “Stop it.”

“Yaz, it’s me!”

“Yaz!” Ryan—that’s a new one. Yaz doesn’t let it get to her though; this just means they’re getting more creative now. She doesn’t budge, not even at the slight shuffle off feet along the floor. Everything they’ve done to her has felt realistic, so why shouldn’t the same go for this now?

Something steps close to her, fabric rustling gently, and Yaz could swear she feels hot breath on the top of her head. She tenses to keep herself from moving; this means nothing.

Don’t hope don’t hope don’t hope.

“Oh,” she hears, then there’s a high pitched whirring in her ear—a sound so familiar she could cry, but she won’t, she refuses.

“Yaz, you can look now,” the Doctor says gently. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”

The hands on her face tell Yaz she has no choice in the matter, and she puts up little resistance as her head is slowly raised. She doesn’t know what’s going on, and she has no time to work it out before she realises she can see, and—

“Oh my god,” Yaz sobs, all but collapsing into the Doctor’s arms. She grips the back of her coat tightly and presses her face into her chest, relishing in her warmth, in the heartbeats echoing rhythmically in Yaz’s ears. “You’re here, you’re actually here.”

The Doctor hugs her tightly, running her hands through Yaz’s hair. “I’m sorry I took so long.”

Yaz pulls back, though only slightly, only enough so she can look the Doctor full in the face. She brings her hands up to her face and strokes her thumbs over her cheekbones, taking her in like she hasn’t been able to do in so long. She’s vaguely aware of Graham and Ryan standing behind the Doctor, but she barely pays them any notice, too focused on the Doctor. “I thought—”

“I know,” the Doctor shushes, smiling sadly. “I know. I swear to you though, Yaz, I’ll always come back for you. I’ll never leave you. I promise.”

And Yaz believes her.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #32 - Nobody’s Ever Actually Dead in Comic Books

Our band of merry guys-who-weren’t-on-the-Lost-Light-in-issue-#1 approach the shattered husk of the Lost Light, in a gruesome scene that is only slightly marred by the graphic design.

Font doesn’t really suggest danger, does it? Here, for comparison, is something I slapped together in fifteen minutes (including recreation of background) using a font I got off a free font site.

Now, one could say that my version is rather derivative, flat, and arguably cliche, but you know what else it is? Appropriate for the fucking mood of having found a destroyed, hemorrhaging ship after everyone you knew disappeared.

I’m available, IDW! Hit me up.

Theorizing that this is the ship that the Coffin Rodimus came from- remember that? It was a few issues ago- the gang flies in for a closer look. The ship blood is actually something called quantum foam, which allows for quantum space travel to happen. It’s not supposed to be outside of the quantum quills, but the ship’s pretty junked up, so it is.

Because the ship is so very full of holes, the gang can set down for repairs pretty easy. They land in Swerve’s, finding it in less-than-pristine condition. They also find evidence of Crosscut having gotten creative, as a poster for the play he was working on is hung up in the room. Considering he was still writing it when he disappeared, this might seem a bit odd. But then you remember that this is a ship from the future, and it stops being so odd.

Because this is a future ship, with evidence that Crosscut did some stuff, it stands to reason that, at some point, everyone is going to come back from being disappeared.

Just to die.

Which is a bummer, but one crisis at a time.

Megatron disembarks the Rod Pod, with Ravage following, and everyone is just a touch put off by the duo. Everyone but Nautica, who proceeds to commit a microaggression.

Nautica, that’s Soundwave’s father you’re petting like a common animal.

Ravage, angered by this over-familiarity, swats at her. Skids questions letting an active Decepticon roam around, but Megatron brushes off these concerns, saying that finding any still-living crew members is more important. With that, the search begins.

The gang splits up to look for clues, despite Riptide thinking this is a horrible idea. They’re on the clock for this one- the quantum foam is liable to explode if it touches anything, and there’s an awful lot of the stuff floating around right now.

Nightbeat and Nautica leave the rest of the group to their own work, seeing as Nautica has the most appropriate alt-mode for traversing the gaps in the ship.

Man, that’s pretty cool. Wish Nautica hadn’t been regulated to being “girl best friend” for her character arcs, I would have loved to see her do some neat stuff for her own development. Guess that’s what happens when you get introduced as main cast late, and have to compete with all the faves who had dozens of issues to be established and who also don’t have to deal with the whole “token girl character” thing.

The rest of the gang- Megatron, Ravage, Riptide, Skids, and Getaway- start looking in the area they’re already in. Seems a little lopsided, but whatever.

Ravage finds someone almost immediately, identifying Ultra Magnus through smell alone. Only, it isn’t just Ultra Magnus.

The Magnus armor lays not terribly far away, having had its hands cut off to prevent the recall signal from being activated before being gut-murdered.

Gut-murdered wiTH A FUSION CANNON, MEGATRON

Of course, Megatron was forced to destroy his fusion canon after it was decided he would be joining the Lost Light, but you can buy these things off the black market like it’s nothing. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Brainstorm had a few stashed in his lab.

As it currently stands, nobody can trust the guy who has a storied past of killing Autobots, on a future ship where the only folks who could stop him are dead. Megatron, at least, has the good sense to not argue this fact, and suggests that the boys lock both Ravage and himself up until they suss out exactly what happened.

Meanwhile, over with Nautica and Nightbeat, we run through all the weird shit that’s happened in the last day or so.

Nautica, you’ve been on this ship for months now. How did you miss the fact that the only couple within 800 miles got annihilated by way of Phase Sixer? I feel like that attack might have come up at some point.

Since they’re on the subject of spouses, Nightbeat asks Nautica if she’s married, or if she has friends. Though noting that such a direct line of questioning might get him slapped with someone else, Nautica reveals that she is single, though she does have a best friend. Nightbeat is also single, probably because he pulls shit like this.

While this conversation is going on, Nautica uses her Sonic Screwdriver wrench to open a door with the literal push of a button. Brainstorm tricked out her wrench so hard it turned into a magic wand, which is good, because they’re going to need all the help they can get now that space is literally warping around them thanks to the quantum foam.

Nautica kicks something on the elevator, and that something turns out to be Brainstorm’s mysterious briefcase. Too bad Swerve is gone, he was so invested in what it contained. Luckily, Nightbeat is just as interested.

Back over on the other side of the ship, it seems as though Megatron kept his word about not resisting, as both he and Ravage have been locked in a cabinet. Wonder how that’s going for them.

Oh, better than I expected.

Ravage is fucking pissed that Megatron joined the Autobots, thereby turning his back on everyone who supported his cause during the last four million years. Despite this grievous betrayal though, the Decepticons haven’t stopped moving. Turns out, Galvatron’s in charge now.

But only if Autobot Megatron isn’t some sort of ploy.

It’s at this point that we learn just why Ravage is here to begin with- to see if Megatron’s truly given up the Decepticons, and if he has, to murder him. But first he’d like to know why this is happening.

Megatron views himself as a monster, having perpetuated a war that ended the lives of billions, destroyed the Cybertronian way of life, ostracized his race from the rest of the universe, and killing just to have something to do. He doesn’t like feeling this way about himself, so he decided to walk away from that life by joining the other team.

Don’t think it’s quite that easy to do, but okay.

Ravage isn’t so sure that this change of heart is going to stick, still convinced that Megatron will snap back to his old self with just a bit more time. Problem is, Megatron may not have a ton of that resource left.

Didn’t they build that body in like an hour so you wouldn’t die? Yeah, no wonder it feels as ill-fitting as a twenty-dollar suit. Thing’s probably made out of pig iron and duct tape.

The lights come on before further self-reflection can be done, and the duo realize that they’ve had guests this whole time.

Someone put the kettle on.

Obviously some fucked up shit happened on this ship. Megatron isn’t so sure that it’s him who did these dirty deeds, however, as he reaches into Ratchet’s mouth and pulls out his brain. Which feels like something that doesn’t really absolve one of guilt, but okay.

Also, ew.

Back with Nautica and Nightbeat, things are getting weird.

Now, this sequence might seem confusing at first blush, but this is because the laws of reality are collapsing around them. Going by clues in the background, we can find the proper, linear progression of time, and thus is conversation. This is what is actually happening:

With the mystery of Brainstorm’s briefcase eluding us once again, we move on to see more graphic aftermaths of violence. Poor Tailgate has been nailed to the wall with a chunk of a metal beam that’s almost as big as he is. The mood lighting for this scene is gorgeous, but I’ve hit my limit for exposing y’all to gore for this issue, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one. Then they find something even more interesting.

Who’s ready for Under Cold Blue Stars… 2!

Back over on the opposite side of the ship, Riptide’s found something nasty. It’s a bunch of dead bodies!

Including, uh, Pipes.

Who already died a while ago.

Hm.

All the bodies in this room are in their alts, and it looks like they’ve all been shot and drilled into, for some reason. Skids brings up that he had a friend who could identify the placement of any robot’s brain module just by knowing what they turned into. Then he reaches into a corpse to see what the drill-hole’s all about. It makes him sick, though maybe not for the reason you might think. He gets on the phone with Nightbeat, who’s called to tell them that they’ve found Overlord.

Still locked in his weird body harness.

And decapitated.

Megatron is on the other line, calling because he’s figured out the same thing Skids has. Someone paid a visit to this ship. Someone nasty.

The gang regroups, and Nautica gets the basics on the DJD, because I guess nobody’s mentioned them even in passing in the last six months, either.

God, what do they even talk about on this ship? Certainly not their feelings.

The reason that one room was filled with alt-modes was because of Tarn’s addiction to transforming; t-cogs are easier to remove when they’ve been used recently.

We get a quick 4/5ths-page gore-fest, then it’s back to making it all about Megatron.

Maybe you should have thought about that before you FUCKING DEFECTED, YOU POOL NOODLE.

Nightbeat’s beginning to put two and two together. There’s an Overlord in the basement. That shouldn’t be, because Overlord got exploded by Chromedome when he mercy-killed Rewind. Something is off about the past of this ship.

Before he can establish his MTMTE everybody-lives-but-then-dies AU though, the quantum foam fucks with the ship. These sons of guns need to get the hell out of here, pronto.

Oh god, what now?

Ravage smells someone inside the Magnus armor, someone who isn’t a part of the usual nesting doll lineup. Megatron reaches into the Crackerjack box and pulls out one hell of a prize.

HE LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES

Chromedome would be so thrilled, if he still existed.

[joel-millerr]

Kijimi

Chapter One of We Are One When Together  (formerly A Mandalorian and a Smuggler)

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 8.5K

Warnings: Reader cauterizes a wound, so read with caution if that makes you uncomfortable

Summary: You've become quite a good spice smuggler. You always managed to evade capture, and now the New Republic is getting desperate. After meeting a friend on Kijimi, you planned to get the hell off that planet quietly, but you've never had to deal with someone like The Mandalorian. // This chapter establishes the reader and is more of an introduction than plot driven tbh 

A/N: I’ve never written a second person POV before so pls be gentle. Also, this story takes place after Chapter 12. 

You're sitting in a booth at the back of the cantina. Periodically, you take the time to scan your surroundings. There’s a steady flow of individuals coming in and out, therefore it’s hard to keep track of everyone, but you try to monitor their movements anyway. Being in such a crowded area is risky right now, but when Tye asked you to meet him on Kijimi, you couldn’t pass up the opportunity to catch up. Besides, you’re currently on a work hiatus, and now seemed like the perfect time to get back into the spice smuggling game.

It’s not that you wouldn’t have been able to do anything else. You’re quite skillful with your hands because you used to help your father fix ships back on Tatooine. Theoretically, you could have kept doing that for the rest of your days, but there was always a part of you deep down that made you believe you were meant for more important things. Granted, this isn’t exactly what you had in mind, but it is considerably more exhilarating than just cleaning and fixing ships.

It was Tye who first mentioned this “job”. You were busy fixing a T-14 hyperdrive generator that had been destroyed during a dumb gambling game of chicken. Why people would purposely charge at each other in space, you’ll never understand.

Anyway, he knew you were starting to get tired of the same routine every day. He could see it in the way your shoulders slumped while you were working, and how your voice grew tired of talking about re-wiring, and the maintenance of spaceships.

Ever since you were a child, your father had taken you with him to work and you loved it. You loved being able to spend time with your father and also learn the ins and outs of any spaceship. You could probably take a whole ship apart and put it back together in less than a week, but ever since your parents died, the work became mundane and repetitive. You no longer enjoyed doing the work. You did it just to get by.

“It’s a fairly easy job,” He started to say. You were sitting with your legs crossed, hyperdrive in your lap, rewiring the chunk of metal. “We meet the manufacturer on Kijmi and then come back to Tatooine and bring it to the client.”

“I don’t know, Tye,” You craved adventure, but your friend had a bad habit of getting into trouble. Unlike you, he didn’t have a steady job. Instead, he took whatever was offered to him, no matter how legit it was. You were usually the voice of reason and tried your best to get him on a straight path, but his spirit always craved danger, and while you fantasized about going on epic adventures, you tried to keep it on the legal sides of things.

Tye laid a hand on your shoulder, and in turn you looked up at him. His eyes were gentle, inviting and trusting. More often than not, you attempted your best to avoid his gaze whenever he tried to reel you into something because you knew as soon as you’d look at him, your walls would come crumbling down and whatever he asked you to do would get done. You crossed your left arm over your torso, placed your hand over his, and let a deep breath escape your lips.

“What are we transporting?” You asked, rising to your feet to look at him properly.

He hesitated to answer. Biting down on his bottom lip, his eyes broke contact and shifted down to his feet.

“Tye?” You inquired, leaning down to try to catch his eyes again.

“Uh…” His hand began rubbing the nape of his neck. You came to the conclusion by his behavior that this job wasn’t going to be something along the lines of transporting pieces of scrap metal and he knew you very rarely took on an illegal job. You had done maybe one or two over the years but if you could avoid it, you tried to keep your employment on the side that wouldn’t get your ass thrown in a cell.

“What’s the transport, Tye?” Your voice was more stern this time. This seemed to snap his mind back into reality and he finally met your eyes.

“Spice,” His voice was barely above a whisper and if you weren’t entirely focusing on his tone, you wouldn’t have heard him at all. Your muscles went rigid and you swallowed the lump in your throat you didn’t know was there. Once the empire fell, the New Republic had the impossible task of trying to keep the peace as well as police the entire galaxy, and wherever they were unable to properly govern, spice runners thrived. You had heard stories about spice runners. How every single one was a highly wanted criminal but were almost impossible to find. They worked quietly and discreetly and were able to smuggle spice on pretty much every corner of the galaxy.

“It’s foolproof. They supply the ship and give the location. All we have to do is meet the supplier on Kijimi and then bring the product back here. It’s simple enough,”

You began shaking your head immediately. The risk of getting caught was too high, and spice running was a hard limit for you.

“No, I can’t. What you’re asking is insane, Tye. Spice running?” You emphasized the last two words to make sure you heard him clearly.

“I wouldn’t have offered it to you unless I was absolutely sure nothing bad would happen.” Tye reached out and gently pressed his palm to your elbow, begging you to hear him out. “I can see you don’t love doing this anymore. Ever since your parents passed, I could see the passion disappear. It’s completely drained out of you. We do this one job and then you can go back to fixing hyperdrives in this kriffing hangar.” He waved his arms around the store. “Don’t you want to see what else is out there?”

You opened your mouth to protest but the words never came. He was right. Since you were a child, you dreamed of leaving Tatooine. You were tired of the sand, of the heat, of the kriffing dryness that was always eating at your skin. You dreamed of worlds where lush green ran rampant. Trees that grew so high you couldn’t make out the top. Grass that would tickle your hips as you travelled through it. Clean, fresh oxygen instead of the dry, dirty air you had grown accustomed to here. You had heard stories from travelers whose ships you’d fix about waterfalls, lakes, beaches. A large body of water? All these things you couldn’t even fathom. How beautiful must it be to live on a planet where water wasn’t fucking scarce. What did an actual shower feel like? Not some sonic shower that merely got you sterile enough to do about your daily business, but an actual shower, with water.

So yeah, you wanted to get the fuck off of Tatooine, but was this really the only option you had?

Tye could sense your apprehensiveness, but he knew the idea was tempting. Closing the gap between you, he wrapped his arms around your body. He was much larger than you, and you almost disappeared in his embrace. Taking a deep breath in his chest, you let yourself imagine a better life.

A life where you got to visit new worlds, encounter people from different walks of life, an existence where you truly got to experience the greatest things the galaxy had to offer. As a child, you’d lie in your cot and wish for an extraordinary life. One you could recount to your kids with awe, not wasting your years away on a desert planet that no longer had anything to give you. When your family passed away, you worked yourself to the bone, trying to lose yourself in repairing ships. You wished someone; anyone, would help you escape off this godforsaken wasteland one day.

You’d regret not taking the risk, you thought to yourself.

Before you knew the words had slipped from your lips, you were agreeing to the job.

You’ve been a spice runner ever since, and you were pretty damn good at your job too. Since your frame was relatively small, it was easy for you to slip in and out of towns without ever being seen, and because you had been working on crafts your whole life, you had become pretty good at flying them too. You had made an impressive name for yourself. Even if you had someone on your tail, you were always able to lose them once you left the port. Your movements were sharp as a tack and was always thinking one step ahead. It enabled you to outrun any hunter or whatever sad, inexperienced New Republic officer that tried to snag you. When you first joined, all your runs were with Tye, but soon after getting accustomed to how runs operated, you were able to go solo. After realizing how much quicker the job went by without having to rely on another person, you became a strict lone wolf. On your own, you could take higher risks, and that made the thrill of the job even more exhilarating. You had become quite the adrenaline junkie, taking some chances even your fellow smugglers would find questionable.

On one job, you were purposely sloppy and let some officers tail you right up to the moment you fought them off in your ship just because of the way the blood in your veins fired through your body. The threat of being caught ignited every nerve-ending in your body, and you constantly chased that feeling.

You were staying on a quiet, uneventful planet when you had gotten a hologram from Tye asking to meet you on Kijimi. “For old time’s sake” he said. Since you had no other run lined up, you figured it was a good time to meet him. It had been a couple months since you last saw him, and now seemed like the perfect time to catch up. Maybe he had a job in mind, too.

The life of a spice runner typically wasn’t very long. It was a physically exhausting profession, and often times a spice runner would get captured by either a bounty hunter or an officer of the New Republic, or die at the hands of a rival smuggler. You knew your days as a runner was limited, so you made sure to have the time of your life while you had the opportunity.

Lately though, a lot of your peers were getting caught by some highly skilled hunter. Whoever it was had managed to trap four of your closest counterparts and you were on high alert. No one had ever been able to snatch that many smugglers in such a short period of time, and your particular crew was starting to get anxious. The runs were beginning to get more sporadic, and spending more time underground, only going out when absolutely necessary, hence the reason you were camping out on lightly populated planet. Technically, you shouldn’t even be in this cantina right now. You should be laying low, waiting for the right moment to jump back into action, but because you now have a taste for the wilder things in life, you take the chance anyway. Plus, if Tye is still walking around then it couldn’t be that bad. He had become a lot more cautious than you, so you’re not all that worried.

You continue to keep your head down, only peering up whenever you hear the door opening. From the corner of your eye, you catch the glimpse of a dark maroon shape coming through the door. Tye. He preferred to wear dark colors, as not to draw any attention to himself. Tonight, he’s wearing a dark maroon jumpsuit, a long-ranged rifle strapped around his back. You—on the other hand, believed hiding in plain sight. You tended to wear neutral, earthy colors. It permitted you to blend in with your surroundings. Every run, you’d switch your uniform according to the conditions of the planet. White for cold environments, dark clothes for desolate, bleak planets, and so on.

He stands in the doorway of the cantina, taking a scan of the bar. He knows you usually like to sit in the back so that you have eyes on everyone that comes and goes, and it doesn’t take long for him to spot you. He walks over to your booth with a kind of swagger you’ve grown to love about him. He’s a pretty confident man, without being cocky. The way he carries himself has always fascinated you. His shoulders are always back, arms swaying at his sides, never looking down. He takes long strides as he saunters over to where you’re sitting. As you both have grown, he also has become a pretty well-respected member of your crew and he exudes that in his every step.

You scoot out of your booth to meet him as he gets closer to your table. Big toothy smiles are exchanged between the two of you and he just about runs to close the space between you. His large arms quickly pull you to his chest and all the air nearly punches right out of your lungs. He actually lifts you a couple inches off the ground in your embrace.

“Tye! I have a reputation over here. You can’t just pick me up like that,” However, you’re unable to hide the joy in your tone. You’ve missed him more than you realized. Yeah, you prefer doing jobs alone, but sometimes the solitude can get the best of you. Having someone to banter with, play sabacc with—you miss it, but you both have very different ways of transporting the product, so you know the days of you working together are long gone.

Tye finally lets you down and you both slide into the booth, sitting opposite of each other. You still have a clear view of the door.

“You couldn’t have picked a better shithole to meet?” You remark.

It’s not that Kijimi was a total shithole, it’s just that it was the biggest shithole of a planet you could ever set foot on. The weather was brutal, the people even more so. The New Republic wasn’t able to control the crime here, so criminal activity ran rampant here. Luckily, the main interest in the city was spice smuggling so you had the respect of most of the local spice lords, but there was always the threat of some travelers who couldn’t care less who you were or how important you were to come after you; to kill without mercy and take your corpse to the New Republic. Therefore, you tried to limit your visits unless they were absolutely necessary.

“I figured since we haven’t been together on Kijimi in a while, it might be worth the visit,” Tye answers honestly. Lifting a hand to the bartender behind the bar, they rushed over holding an empty cup in one hand a jug of bright blue liquid in the other. They place the jug between the both of you. Tye reaches into his pockets and places come credits on the table, giving the tender a small nod before they excuse themselves, grabbing the credits and stuffing them in a small bag that was tied to their waist.

“How nostalgic of you,” You mock, lighthearted enough for it to make him chuckle.

Despite trying to keep your mind focused on Tye, part of you is still observing the door behind him. In the short time you’ve been smuggling, not only had your reputation amongst other smugglers grown, but so had the price on your head. The last few jobs had been particularly difficult. Not only were you trying to fight off New Republic officers, but several bounty hunters had been tracking you. Apparently, you had become a huge pain in the ass. Unfortunately for them, that just made the game way more interesting, and honestly it really fueled your ego.

“Any news on the next run?” You inquire. It had been a few weeks since you last had a contract, and the itch for adventure was starting to get under your skin.

Tye’s eyebrows furrow. He looks at you quizzically. “I didn’t ask you to meet you to tell you about another run. I just wanted to see my best friend.”

“Oh come on. There’s always another job. Always someone who needs spice and someone who wants to get rid of it.”

He looks at you like he doesn’t know you. Leaning back in his seat, he begins shaking his head in disbelief.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” You can feel beads of anger building deep inside you. He was the one that got you into this, and now he has the audacity to look at you like he doesn’t know you?

“You’ve changed.”

You scoff and let out a laugh, a laugh that drips with irritation. “Of course I’ve changed, Tye. Did you really think I was going to stay the doe-eyed girl you met on Tatooine?”

Tye reaches over and pours spotchka in both cups before taking his and throwing his head back to swallow every bit of it. “No,” He begins to say, using the back of his tunic to wipe his mouth clean. “I think those two young kids who grew up on Tatooine are long gone.”

Your lips form into a firm line, not entirely sure how to respond without sounding too cynical.

“I’ve heard stories, you know.”

“Oh have you, now?” Your eyebrow raises, and elbows firmly plant on the tabletop. The joy seems to drain from his face. Smile disappearing, and his eyes begin wandering, looking everywhere but into yours. Curiosity is starting to get the best of you, your eyes squinting and burning into him. Testing to see how he reacts; you push him again. “And what have you heard, Tye?”

Green eyes still refusing to meet yours, he’s busy eyeing his fingers that are fidgeting on the piece of wood that separates you. “That you’re becoming too reckless,” His voice is steady, but much lower than his usual tone. “You’re taking too many risks and causing problems where there doesn’t have to be.”

Your hard expression scorches into him. He starts squirming in his seat. Back on Tatooine, it would have been the other way around: you succumbing to his will, but now you’re the one with authority.

“Look,” He says, leaning in towards you. “I’m not gonna sit here and tell you how to do the job. I know you’re good at it.” There’s regret in his voice. It hasn’t gone unnoticed how he looks at you occasionally, almost like he’s ashamed of what he’s done to you. If it wasn’t for that day, you wouldn’t have turned out the way you have. You think he wants to take it all back. Wishing that you stayed some nobody who lived their life fixing and repairing shit.

“But I’m told you have a high bounty on your head. Maybe it’s best if you continue to lay low for a while. Just until the heat cools down.”

You chew on your bottom lip, and your body relaxes into the booth behind you. Deep down you know he’s right. He just wants for you to be safe and admittedly, the way you’ve been acting lately is as if you think you’re invincible. You chase the thrill and the danger but it’s just making everyday life so much harder. Some merchants are too scared to sell to you, locals steer clear of you, and those who aren’t scared get too confident and try to pick fights with you. Despite your size, you’re able to carry your own surprisingly well during a fight. You don’t quite understand it yourself. Each time you’ve had to defend yourself, there was an energy you conjured that came from deep inside you that helped you manipulate your opponent. This energy allowed you to levitate objects or people in mid-air, assisted you to kill them without ever touching them, or even influence them to say and do what you wanted them to.

It was after a late night of sabacc. You were on your way back to your ship when three male figures blocked your path in a nearby alley. Three blasters pointed directly at you.

“Can’t let you pass, sweetheart.” One of them sneered.

Bounty hunters.

One hand slowly glided to the blaster strapped to your upper thigh, the other extending in front of you. “Okay, fellas. I’m sure we can make a deal here.”

“Don’t try that shit with us. You couldn’t possibly come close to the price the Republic is offering.” The man in the middle—a Twi’ you realize, warned.

“The bounty asks to bring you in alive, so let’s not compromise that, okay sweetheart?”

Adrenaline and wrath were starting to seep into your muscles. If there’s one thing you hated, it was chauvinistic men calling you ‘sweetheart’.

“Call me sweetheart again, and it’ll be the last thing you ever say.”

All three men’s cackle echoed through the stone walls.

“I’d hate to ruin a pretty hair on that head, but if you’re going to act like a little bitch then maybe—”

Cutting him off, one of their blasters wiggled out of their reach and smacked the first hunter right in the face before he could finish his threat, blood spraying from his mouth. Your blaster found its way into your hand, raising it to strike him straight in the chest. Simultaneously, your left hand targeted the second assailant’s throat, your hands violently gripping around the pressure of his neck. The hunter attempted to scream, his hands wrapping around his throat as your grip tightened. Fire consumed you, and as your grip on the man’s throat intensified, his body started to lift off the ground. The Twi’ eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets; horror plastered on his face.

“What the fuck are you?!” The Twi’s voice bellowed, spitting as he charged at you, a vibroblade in each hand. Your eyes shifted to him coming right at you with pure fury in his eyes.

“Come here, you little bitch!” He roared.

You let your hold of his partner relax slightly, then your arm swung to the right, forcing the hunter to lift completely off the ground. Once he became jelly in your grasp, you launch him towards the Twi. Both men slammed into the concrete wall next to them. You heard the sound of skull making contact with the cement, then watched them fall to the ground hard. The Twi cried out, “Please don’t!” but you blasted him right between the eyes before he could say anything else.

You stood there, chest heaving. Your eyes examined the men in front of you, not fully understanding how you were able to fight them off. You were outnumbered and they were much larger than you were. Holding out your hands, you stared down at your palms. Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried to focus on the power that expelled from your fingertips. Where did it come from? How do you control it? What was happening to you?

You had never felt such power before. For a moment, you were no longer in control of your movements. In that split second where you gave into that rage, it bended you to its will, driving you to do cause more harm than necessary. This voice inside of you wanted them to hurt, for them to suffer, and you couldn’t resist it.

Tye repeatedly calling you brings you back to the present. “You okay?”

Shaking your head, the corner of your mouth curls into a smile. “Fine.”

The rest of the evening is much more lighthearted. After the initial awkward tension between the two of you, you’re able to enjoy a couple drinks of spotchka and reminisce about old times. You’ve definitely missed his company. Tye is the closest thing you have to family and you cherish him deeply. Your energies mesh together so well, and you have to admit, sometimes you daydream about settling down together, living on a quiet planet and drinking spotchka for the rest of your days until you’re finally arrested. Those are quickly replaced by reality, because the reality is, it’s just not attainable anymore.

The cantina never empties, no matter what time of day it is, and given that there aren’t any windows, you have no clue as to what time it is anymore. You came in just as the sun was setting—what little sun is even offered on Kijimi. It’s easily been a couple hours since then, and you begin to feel the fatigue creeping up on you.

“Where are you staying?” You ask, stretching your arms and your back as much as you can in the booth.

“I have a place not too far from here. It’s tiny, but it’s not like I spend enough time on this planet to need anything bigger. You can stay with me for the night, if you want?”

“That’s okay,” You start to say, shaking your head. “I’m probably going to leave first thing in the morning anyway. I don’t like to linger.”

Tye’s head bobs a few times. “Sure. I have a couple things I need to take care of here before I can leave.”

You cock your head to the left. What could he possibly have to do? You don’t ask though. It’s a common thing for smugglers not to ask questions. Staying in the dark about your crew’s whereabouts and jobs make it easy not to catch too many folks in the same squad. It’s how smugglers have been able to evade capture. If one person is snatched in a team, it’s almost impossible to catch another because chances are, they have no idea what anyone else is up to.

“I should probably head back to my ship then,”

After announcing your leave, you both shimmy out of the booth and rise to your feet. Tye is the first to move into your body and wrap his biceps around your entire torso. Quickly, your arms find their way around his back and you allow yourself to sink into his body. You’ve missed the warmth of another person. For a second, you allow yourself to be vulnerable and really appreciate the physical intimacy. Tye’s the one who finally breaks the embrace, but he keeps you at arm’s length, both hands squeezing your shoulders. Yours drop at your sides and you can’t stop the grin that forms on your lips.

“Sometimes I can hardly believe we used to be a bunch of nobodies on Tatooine,” He says. Before you can come up with a snarky remark, he leans in and presses a gentle kiss to your forehead.

“Bye, kiddo.” Slapping some credits on the table, he turns on his heel and heads to the door. “You’re not even a year older!” You shout, and you’re not entirely sure he hears you given the amount of noise in the cantina, but you see his shoulders bounce, so you assume he heard you. You linger for a couple minutes, finishing off the remaining spotchka on the table. Once you’ve downed the final drop, you thank the bartender for their kind service, toss them some coins and head out the door.

It’s in the late hours when the cold Kijimi winds hit your face. The freezing air is a drastic change from the heat of the cantina and the cold immediately sends chills down your spine. Pulling your hood over your head, you cross your arms across your chest, trying to conserve a little bit of heat. The streets are dimly lit and dirty with mud and snow. It’s a long, dangerous trek back to your ship, so you keep your head down but still keeping an eye out for any potential mercenary or hunter who might want that pretty bounty on your head. Keeping your hand close to the blaster strapped to your thigh, you dart through stone made arches, and small huts. Instead of taking the straight route, you opt to zig-zag through the city, knowing it would be more difficult to track your footsteps this way. It takes more time, but you know this is the safer way to go.

The cold is starting to really get to you, now. Despite wearing gloves, the tips of your fingers are starting to go numb and you thank the Maker once you catch a glimpse of your ship not too far into the distance. You fight the urge to walk straight towards it, instead listening to your gut. You come to an alley, lit only by a small streetlight that’s flickering slowly.

“I can’t wait to get off this shithole of a planet,” You whisper to yourself.

Just as you turn the corner of the alley, you suddenly feel a presence behind you. The adrenaline pumps through your veins, causing your heart to pulse quicker than you’ve felt in a long time. Any sound person would be afraid, knowing they were in for a bout, but not you. No, you chase this feeling on your runs. This is when you thrive.

You stand tall, straightening your shoulders and slowly turn to where you assume the figure is behind you. At the end of the alley, you see the shape of a man—what you think is a man, anyway. The light bounces off the blob in front of you, and realize they’re covered almost head-to-toe in shiny armor. A droid?

“Can I help you?” You question. Your hand rests directly over your blaster, slowly flicking the safety off.

The mystery man/droid doesn’t say anything. He stands completely still, and for the first time in a long time, panic prods at you. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you take a deep breath, hoping it’ll calm the nerves in your stomach.

“Can I help you?” You say through gritted teeth.

Again, you hear nothing.

You stand your ground, refusing to run from the figure. You’ve never been one to run from a fight, and you’re not about to start now. “I’m going to give you one more chance to tell me who the hell you are before I blast you on your ass.” Your voice is stern, now becoming more annoyed with the fact that they haven’t said anything. What the hell is this thing’s problem?

The figured dressed in armor takes a small step forward and finally speaks. “I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold,” His voice comes out low, but is nothing short of terrifying.

You suddenly realize who stands fifteen feet in front of you. It’s him. The hunter who’s created quite the name for himself. The bounty hunter who almost every smuggler has grown to fear. The one who never lets a bounty get away.

The Mandalorian.

As much as you are terrified right now, you can’t help but let a little bit of pride consume you. For the New Republic to have him come after you, it means they’ve gotten desperate. It also means they see you as a threat, and that makes you feel good. So good in fact, that you accidentally let a chuckle escape you.

“How much are they paying you?”

No answer.

You know he’s going to blast you any moment, and you’re trying to buy yourself some time.

“Oh come on. If I’m gonna go down, I should at least know how much I’m worth, don’t you think?”

Your ship is a quick sprint away (if you go straight ahead) but you’re not stupid enough to do that. He’s probably none the wiser and thinks you would, so you have that advantage. Instead, you know running to your left is the safer option. Even though there’s no actual street to your left, you did notice a split in the foundation just big enough for your body to slide through and make it to the next adjacent path, but you’ll need to do it quick. You gauge your assailant’s body language. He’s standing with his legs shoulder-width apart and you think you see his hand resting on his blaster, but you can’t be sure. You do catch the shadow of a rifle strapped to his back, and you know that that armor looks expensive which means it’s probably beskar, which unfortunately for you is basically indestructible. No amount of blasts will penetrate that armor.

Thinking impulsively, you grab the blaster out of your holster and shoot the light, hoping he’ll struggle to find your shape in the dark and praying to the Maker that it’ll give you enough time to wiggle through the stone walls. You sprint for the wall and see blaster fire shoot passed your head. Fuck, he must have night-vision with that helmet.

You manage to squeeze through the crack and end up on the other side. Most likely he’d come by the right, so you avoid that side entirely. Breaking into a sprint, you run down the cobblestoned road. It’s horribly uneven and you trip a few times, but always manage to recover without actually falling.  The air cuts at your face and makes it harder to breathe but you persevere. If you were to stop, even for a moment, you risk getting caught. Your mind is running a million miles a minute, trying not to look back but also trying to imagine the more tactical way to capture you. Before you can think of your next move, the door to a hut opens and someone seizes your left arm and pulls you into the house with such force, it almost feels like your arm was ripped right out of its socket. The door shuts behind you immediately but before you can make a sound, Tye’s hand comes to cover your mind.

“Shh,” he warns, pressing a finger from his free hand to his lips.

You nod and he releases the grip he had over your mouth.

Tye crouches near the window by the door, checking to see if the hunter is out there.

“I can’t see him,” He says, turning his gaze towards you. You move from the doorway and crouch next to him by the window. Both of you continue to scan the street, looking for any sign of the attacker.

After a few minutes of looking with no luck, you conclude that he’s lost you. You retreat from the window to examine the room. It’s tiny, the bed almost immediately to your left and you wonder how anyone could possibly sleep there. The door is just a few feet away and you can assume the cold penetrates the door easily enough. Sleeping there must be miserable. The only source of light emanates from a few candles scattered throughout the room.

“This is my place,” Tye explains before you can ask. “It’s not much but it’s better than sleeping in one of the taverns.” He passes you and lowers himself in an armchair, rubbing the palms of his hands against his face.

“How did you know?”

“Call it intuition.”

The adrenaline is slowly wearing off and now you feel an ache in your bicep. You look down and notice a section of your coat has been ripped right off. Then you notice blood, a lot of it.

“Maker!” Tye all but jumps right out of his seat and rushes to your side. Gently grabbing your elbow, he inspects your wound. It’s pretty deep and will need to be cauterized.

Realizing it at the same time, your eyes meet. “Just do it.” You whisper to break the silence.

“I can use bacta spray instead. It’ll hurt less,” He says, before turning towards the cupboards, rummaging through the shelves and tossing whatever he can find, on the ground. You carefully remove your coat without touching the gash on your arm.

“Bacta spray will hard to find at this hour,” Your voice is barely above a whisper. The pain is starting to disorient you, and you manage to sit down on the bed before collapsing. “Just do it, Tye.”

Your friend stops searching for the spray, and he’s quickly by your side again with a clean cloth. He begins wiping the blood away. It stings and you swear under your breath.

“If you think this hurts…” His voice trails off. Yeah, you both know cauterizing it will hurt even more.

Trying to lighten the tension, you force a laugh. “Don’t worry. I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”

It’s true. You’ve broken bones and you’ve been hit a lot worse. If you ever manage to successfully make a run without injuring yourself, it’s a miracle. This is nothing new.

Tye leaves your side to warm up his vibroblade on one of the candles nearby. Once the blade is steaming, he returns to you. He holds out the blade, and you take it from his hand. Releasing a deep breath, you hold the blade to your arm and press it into your flesh. It sizzles and smells awful. Tye squeezes his eyes shut, like he thinks it’ll stop the whole ordeal. You stifle down the scream that desperately tries to come to the surface, and groan instead. Pressing the blade to your skin in short bursts, the blood slowly stops spewing and the pain from the actual blast begins to subside. Once the sting begins to slow, you drop the blade on the ground. Tye’s eyebrows relax as he inspects your skin.

“You should still put some bacta spray on that, to avoid getting it infected.”

Nodding slowly, you let out another deep breath through your lips. “I have some on my ship. I’ll head out in the morning and hopefully get to it before metal man out there can get me.” You try to be lighthearted with a joke. Tye either doesn’t catch it or think it’s funny because he’s shaking his head at you. He meets your eyes and whispers your name. “Having a Mandalorian after you is serious business. Those guys don’t fuck around.”

You sit up straight and look at his defensively. “Yeah, I know Tye.”

“Do you? Because you’re still making jokes. Do you know that Mandalorians are like the best killers in the galaxy?”

That sends daggers through your entire body. You rise to your feet, slowly until you’re almost towering over him. “I’m well aware of their abilities, Tye.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this is just a giant ego boost for you?”

That you actually scoff at. “Kriff…” Taking a step away from him, your hands rest on your hips. “Am I a little proud that they had to get a Mandalorian to arrest me? Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to act reckless and change my tacti-“

“But you are reckless!” Tye pushes against his knees to stand eye level with you. “You always do this. This is why no one wants to work with you!”

Your eyes widen, mouth dropping. “I don’t want to work with anyone because they slow me down!”

Immediately, your friend’s shaking his head. “No, that’s not why. Everyone’s deemed you too dangerous to actually work with. It’s a miracle you haven’t been caught yet.”

You try to interject but Tye holds a hand up to stop you. “I’m not done. Yeah, you’re good at smuggling, probably one of the best, but at what cost? Where’s the girl that was gentle, kind? Where’s that girl who would fix ships with her dad and play in the sand dunes with me? That girl who nursed an injured womp rat back to health because you saw some stupid kids shoot at it? Where did my best friend go?”

The laugh that erupts in the room is anything but joyful. It’s resentful, it’s anger. Your best friend stands inches away from your face, insulting who you are. Who he essentially created.

“She grew up, Tye! My parents died and left me all alone on a planet that shouldn’t even exist. I had no choice. You think a ‘gentle, kind’ girl can survive in this galaxy?”

Tye’s fists ball up at his sides. “I miss that girl. Who you are now, it’s not who I remember. This job has tainted you.”

“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you dragged me into this world five years ago!”

“Don’t do that…” His shoulders drop, his head hanging in defeat.

“I love you Tye, but I can take care of myself. I’m not scared of some Mandalorian. I’m not afraid of anything.” A lie, but you refuse to look weak.

“I know…” He admits, his head still looking at the ground. “That’s the problem.”

A few moments pass in silence. Neither of you try to break the apprehension in the air. You can sense that Tye’s been waiting a long time to admit that. That he doesn’t like what you’ve become, and maybe he’s right. Maybe you do act impulsively, maybe you do put yourself at risk unnecessarily just to fill this void inside of you. A void that’s been eating at you since you were a child, but it’s not something you want to hear right now, or maybe ever.

“I’m heading to my ship.” Grabbing your coat off the cot, you slip into it, groaning as the material slides against your sensitive flesh.

That appears to snap Tye out of his thoughts because he looks right into your eyes.

“Please don’t. He’s probably still out there.”

“Well it’s like you said,” Usually, your voice is soft. You’ve never spoken to Tye with such anger before, but something inside of you now sees him in a different light. You resent him. “I’m too reckless.” You growl.

Tye mouth is agape and it almost looks like tears are forming in the corners of his eyes. He takes a step back like he’s been stabbed, which I guess is true. Your tone said it all.

You both realize at the same time that this is probably the last time you’ll see each other.

Turning on your heel, you head towards the door. “Take care, Tye.” You say over your shoulder before pressing the button to open the entrance. It lifts off the ground and you step out, not even looking at your surroundings before throwing the hood back over your head and heading straight for your ship.

If you want me, come get me, Mandalorian.

You’re not careful about the walk to the ship. You’re not careful passing corners or getting to the port. You’re behaving stupidly on purpose. You want to fight him; you want to prove to everyone and yourself that not even a Mandalorian can catch you. It’s extremely naïve but your blood’s boiling and its currently clouding your judgement. You spot your ship and march towards it, without a damn care in the world. Clicking the button on your bracelet, the ramp opens, and you begin to walk towards the slope. Once your foot touches the metal, you catch a glimpse of something shiny at the very top of the ramp. A sly smile creeps on your lips.

“You know, it’s rude to hijack someone’s ship.” You peer up at him.

The Mandalorian’s tense, with his hand hovering over the blaster strapped to his right thigh. Legs once again spread shoulder width apart, he oozes authority. The metal—beskar, glistening against the moonlight. You fight the submissiveness that begins to creep up on you. You refuse to show him weakness. If you’re gonna get caught, you’re gonna make sure you put up a fight.

Your strides up the ramp get smaller and smaller. Adrenaline fully pumping now through your entire body. You wonder how close he’ll let you get to him before blasting you right off your feet.

“I do have to admit, getting caught by a mandalorian is pretty admirable.” You taunt.

His hand gets closer to the blaster and you think this is your moment. Just as he rips the blaster from its holster and fires at you, your right hand comes up, catching the blast mid-air and deflecting it. It hits one of the cargo boxes and explodes. Before he can fire another shot, the blaster is ripped right out of his hand and goes flying into your palm. As soon as you get both blasters in your hands, a grappling line exits his vambrace and wraps tightly around your ankles, causing you to slightly lose your balance. He pulls hard on the rope and it sends you flying backwards. Your head hits the metal hard, and for a second your vision begins to fog. You blink repeatedly, trying to get your damn vision to clear, but before you can even begin to push yourself to the ground, the Mandalorian is hovering over your body. One leg on each side of your thighs, he leans down and grasps both your wrists with one hand and straps some binds around them. You give it one last ditch effort and try to kick up at him, but his reflexes are surprisingly quick and catches your calf with his free hand.

“Maybe if you stayed with your friend, you might’ve gotten away without me catching you.” He says through the helmet. The baritone of his voice immediately causes your breathing to hitch. Your heart is pounding in your chest and heat begins to form in your stomach.

“Then again,” He begins to say, pulling you to your feet. “because you’re so careless, I’d find you again.”

In any other circumstance, you’d have a sly comment, but right now you can’t even remember how to speak. Once on your feet, you notice just how big he actually is. Sure, the armor might add to his demeanor, but you can’t help but be intimidated now. He towers over you, and you have to strain your neck just to look at him. You try to see his eyes through the ‘T’ of his visor, but it’s too tinted. He loops his forearm around your bound arms and guides you down the ramp.

“I can walk on my own, you know?”

The Mandalorian doesn’t answer. He simply continues to drag you whichever way he wants. As you make your way to his ship, your heart is still hammering in your chest. The way he carries himself, you’ve never seen anything like it. He’s definitely intense, but nothing short of fucking mesmerizing. Most of the hunters you’ve encountered were cruel and mouthy. But the Mandalorian? He barely spoke to you; he didn’t let his any emotion come through. You can outtalk any hunter, but you couldn’t do that with him. He was one step ahead of you, which you have to admit has never happened before.

Once you reach what you assume is his ship, you can’t help but be taken aback by it.

“Whoa, is that a pre-Empire ship? I didn’t think those things still existed.”

He says nothing, as per usual. In the very short time you’ve known the Mandalorian, you noticed he’s a man of few words.

You’ve spent your whole life around ships, but you’ve never seen one quite like this. It’s pretty dated and looks in pretty shit condition, honestly. Several panels are completely dented, and whatever isn’t dented is scratched up badly. You can tell it’s been in a good number of shootouts. It’s a miracle this ship is still operational.

He presses a button on his vambrace, and the ramp opens up, creaking as it lowers to the ground. The Mandalorian lets go of the grip he had on you, and gently pushes you in front of him, instructing you to walk ahead of him. You head up the ship, turning back to look over your shoulder one more time. In that moment, reality hits you. You’ve been caught. You’re going to live the rest of your days in a cell. Actually, with your reputation, you’d be lucky if you get a cell. The New Republic will probably have you sentenced to death. While you didn’t expect to live to an old age, you didn’t think you’d die this young, but it comes with the job description. Everyone’s gonna get it sooner or later, and unfortunately for you, it seems like the former.

You take notice of the three other quarries in carbonite to your right. Heating beating so fast, you’re sure it’ll burst out of your chest, you start babbling.

“Please don’t put me in carbonite,” You plead, turning around to face your captor. He’s already closed the ramp and is busy removing the rifle off his back, placing it back on the wall of the ship. “You already have me in binds, I can’t go anywhere. I won’t cause any more trouble. Just please, no carbonite.”

At first, he doesn’t bother to look at you. He lingers there for a few seconds, probably arguing with himself on the best way to handle you. Your eyes burn into his helmet, praying to the Maker that he’ll give into you. You’re chewing down on your bottom lip so hard, you’re sure you’ll break skin. Eventually, he turns to face you and begins a slow, tantalizing walk towards you. Panic overwhelms you, and you begin to shake your head frantically. Since when did you become such a submissive? Under any other circumstance, you’d be throwing insults, trying to get under his skin, manipulating words in an effort to aggravate them. You might even try to manipulate him into doing what you ask but your brain is shut off. You can barely form a coherent thought. Therefore, you resort to begging and pleading with the Mandalorian.

You can’t stop your body from trembling, and as he reaches to grab your wrist, you shudder at his touch. You swear his glove is on fire because how the hell is it possible that his touch burns into your skin? You keep your head down, not having the strength to meet his visor. You’re crumbling under him, letting him take absolute control of you.

“Up,” is all he says, as he gestures you to the ladder that goes up to the cockpit. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you nod and let him guide you to the ladder. It’s hard to climb with your hands bound but you do your best.

Once you reach the top, you wait for him to catch up. Putting a hand on your lower back, your breathing hitches when he touches you. His hand nearly cover your entire waist and you can’t help but imagine that thick hand wrapped around your throat.

Maker this shouldn’t be turning you on. He captured you.

He guides you into the seat that’s to the right of the pilot, and then sits himself in the pilot’s seat. He begins the take-off sequence, and the ship’s thrusters roar to life. As the ship lifts off the ground, it creaks and makes you shift in your seat. You take one last look at Kijimi as his ship climbs higher and higher into the air, realizing that for the first time ever, you lost.

[riversofmars]

The Doctor and her friends try to escape a deadly trap as Dorium’s bar and the planet burn up. Meanwhile, River is continuing her research into the Timeless Child...

Chapter 5: The Pieces Are Moving

The Maldovarium, 52nd Century

The sun was blazing down and Dorium’s bar, built mostly from metal, was heating up even faster than the surface of the planet. The sun was growing bigger in the sky, it was getting closer.

“The Master must have found so much more in the Matrix than he led on.“ The Doctor pressed through gritted teeth as she considered how this was possible. “This is like the Time Lords of old, able to wheeled so much power… what they became in the Time War… he wasn’t there in the final days to know the horror…“ She mumbled, trying her best to prioritise her thoughts. Time was changing around them. They were in grave danger. There was no time to wonder how the Master had accomplished this, there was any number of ways he could have done it and finding out which it was would not help save them. She looked around back to her friends who awaited an explanation.

“You shouldn’t have come. This is far too dangerous for you.“ The Doctor realised, slowly shaking her head. “He knew I’d come here. Perhaps a Matrix prediction… it’s a game and he’s one step ahead of us at every turn.“ Her mind was reeling but they had more immediate concerns. The sun above the planet was growing closer, they appeared to be heading towards it and the temperature kept rising. “Dorium, do you have a way off this planet?“ She asked and stepped into his line of vision.

“I’m nothing if not well prepared, Doctor, there is a shuttle for emergencies outside, but we can’t just abandon my bar, this is my life’s work!“ Dorium protested. “What is happening out there?“

“If you don’t get out of here right now, you won’t have a life.“ The Doctor interrupted him. “One of you will have to carry him. Get to his ship.“ The Doctor gestured towards the box and Yaz complied while Jenny rushed to support her wife who looked as though she was about to faint. Vastra’s body couldn’t regulate its temperature at all. Yaz and Jenny seemed to have trouble breathing the hot air and even Strax was beginning to show signs of struggling as beads of sweat formed on his head.

“But Doctor…“ Yaz wanted to protest, trying her best to hold Dorium’s head level.

“This planet is being dragged into that sun, get off world and quickly.“ The Doctor shut down any protest and glanced out of the window again. The sun continued to grow bigger and the temperature inside the bar was becoming unbearable. They didn’t have time to argue. She could sense that this was only the beginning.

“But we have the TARDIS, can’t we just…“ Jenny jumped in but the Doctor interrupted her:

“No you don’t. I need to find the Master and I’m doing it by myself, it’s far too dangerous.“ She looked around, assessing what she had to work with. “Get off this planet, I’ll be in touch and pick you up to take you home but right now, I need to find him. He is messing with the fabric of time itself and while you’re close to me, you will be in danger!“ She explained hastily and rushed to a computer terminal in the corner.

“Doctor, you can’t.“ Vastra protested weakly.

“A Sontaran does not run away!“ Strax exclaimed, outraged.

“Whatever we’re doing, can we do it now? It is really very stuffy in this box!“ Dorium called from his box.

“We’re coming with you.“ Yaz insisted but the Doctor shook her head.

“No, you’re not.“ She stated and sonic-ed the computer terminal. A teleport beam engulfed her friends.

——

Shuttle outside the Madovarium, 52nd Century

“Ugh! That insufferable man! Woman!“ Vastra collapsed onto the floor as they found themselves in a shuttle. The temperature was bearable, the insulation for space travel was far superior to the bar, but temperatures were rising even in here.

“I hate to be the bringer of bad news but unless we leave this planet right now, we will be fried, and I’m lacking hands to operate the controls.“ Dorium realised the Doctor had managed to engaged his emergency evacuation teleport. He was glad to have spent the money. It wasn’t like he could have walked anywhere in the event of a disaster and it had proven a sound investment already. “So if you wouldn’t mind.“ He glanced to controls, having no better means of pointing.

“How do we fly it?“ Yaz sat his box down by the controls hoping for instructions. She pushed her anger at the Doctor’s actions aside in favour of getting off the planet in one piece first.

“Step aside. A Sontaran can operate any kind of combat vehicle. Strap in. Someone secure the head.“ Strax instructed pushing her aside.

“We can’t just go without her.“ Jenny launched a weak protest as Strax started the engines. He engaged the shields and the temperature dropped significantly, allowing them all to breath more easily.

“It seems we have very little choice, my dear.“ Vastra replied weakly, as her wife helped her to her to a seat. “She will come to her senses.“ She had been the Doctor’s friend long enough to know that they couldn’t change their mind by force.

“Unless she gets herself killed first.“ Yaz huffed as they launched and shot off into the atmosphere, away from the planet that was hurling towards its doom. Below, the Maldovarium caught fire.

——

The Maldovarium, 52nd Century

The Doctor checked the computer console. Her friends had reached the shuttle and set off. Good. Step one. She looked around herself, the building had just caught fire. The temperature was still rising. Judging by its speed, she calculated she probably had about seven minutes: three minutes until the air would be too hot to breath and she would have to use her respiratory bypass, five until her skin would start to blister and seven until her core temperature would rise so high that the proteins in her body would break up and she would die. She’d have to work quickly.

Her fingers flew over the keyboard on the computer terminal as she pulled up the security camera footage of the last five minutes. Good old Dorium, of course he wanted his establishment well protected. She fast forwarded through it and there it was: one moment, everyone was having a lovely time, the next blazing sunlight streamed into the bar and the customers disappeared into thin air. Some screamed, some just looked confused, but they all vanished. Time was being rewritten. They had never come here because the planet was not where it had been. So the planet had moved, not the star.

She wondered how far back the footage would go. Would it go back far enough to show who brought Dorium back here? Unlikely. He’d probably had to rebuild and set up everything anew upon his return. She had about a minute of breathable air left and she was struggling already. She looked around, the TARDIS was in the other room, she would need a minute to get there at least and above her, thick smoke started gathering. She would have to feel her way forward at this stage. Her mind was racing. Any clues she would find here, she’d have to find now or they would be lost forever. She couldn’t think. The moment had passed and the air had become too hot to breathe.

“Think, Doctor, think!“ She snapped with her last proper breath, she ground her teeth. When I arrange for your death, I expect you to stay dead. The Master’s words echoed through her head. Nothing was gained if she she risked her life chasing after clues that probably weren’t there. The Master was too clever to leave traces; which begged several questions: why would he reveal himself to Dorium; why allow him to see his face, knowing a description would point her straight towards him? Arrogance? Was he trying to taunt her? Or did he just not care? Did he think he was so far ahead of her, that it wouldn’t matter? Something about this didn’t feel right. She had to get back to her TARDIS before the fire bared her way. The skin in her hands was starting to go red and raw.

——

Space, 52nd Century

“That was a close call…“ Jenny breathed a sigh of relief when they cleared the gravitational pull of the planetoid and the sun alike. It wasn’t a moment too soon, the planet was beginning to burn as it hurdled closer and closer to the sun.

“How was that even possible? You can’t just move a planet…“ Yaz shook her head in disbelief as she watched the destruction on the monitors.

“You and I might not be able to… but anything is possible, given time…“ Dorium mused.

“The Master is a dangerous foe but this does appear beyond the capabilities they have displayed so far.“ Vastra sat in the copilot’s seat as she recovered, her body temperature normalising.

“Maybe he’s not working by himself…“ Yaz mused. “Last time we saw him, he’d allied himself with the Cybermen… maybe he realises he can’t do it by himself… Maybe he’s found new friends.“

“A sound stratagem.“ Strax commented.

“What do we do now?“ Jenny asked. They had retreated to a safe distance nearing the outskirts the solar system but they had yet to determine a new destination.

“Wait for her to come and pick us up?“ Yaz suggested half-heartedly, she didn’t believe the Doctor actually would be back so soon but she decided to try and be optimistic.

“We have no way of knowing when that would be. Besides, we don’t know if she will even be successful in her endeavour.“ Vastra retorted matter-of-factly.

“Then what do we do?“ Jenny asked, feeling at a loss. They all so desperately wanted to help but the Doctor had cut them off.

“We have hyper speed travel, yes?“ Vastra turned to Dorium who was watching the screens, looking melancholy at the loss of his life’s work.

“State of the art systems, I only purchased it last week, what a shame, the hull is all blackened…“ He sighed, pulled out of his thoughts.

“We made a promise to the Professor to look after her child and so far, we’ve failed. We will carry on, even without the Doctor.“ Vastra decided, pulling herself up. “Perhaps we will find whoever is responsible faster than the Doctor weighed down by her hunger for revenge…“

“Excellent. It would be most disappointing if we were to miss out on the fight and the opportunity for a glorious death.“ Strax announced with glee.

“Where do we start?“ Yaz asked, nonplussed. She couldn’t help but feel abandoned by the Doctor, and so soon after her previous disappearance. She was, however, glad for the company she found herself in. If she was going to be stranded in the far future without means of time travel, an ancient lizard woman, a potato-headed warrior, a Victorian maid and a blue head in a box seemed like appropriate company. “Where could the Master possibly be? Would he have taken the child with him or maybe he’s got a base and people who work for him? Or maybe, this is the Master earlier in his time stream? Maybe to him, the destruction of Gallifrey hasn’t happened yet…“ All the questions were becoming overwhelming. It seemed like an insurmountable task, particularly without the Doctor at hand.

“We can’t discount any possibilities.“ Vastra agreed. “We are rather more limited with our means of travel but there is one point of interest in this time period. Somewhere where the Doctor is stubbornly refusing to look.“ She had given it some thought and a plan was forming in her head.

“Where?“ Jenny asked and her wife smiled:

“The Library, of course. Professor Song might be able to tell us where to start looking.“ She nodded decisively and turned to Strax to provide coordinates for their destination. “And if nothing else, she deserves to know the truth.“

——

The TARDIS

The Doctor slammed shut the doors to her TARDIS. She took a deep breath, fresh oxygen reawakening her senses. She rushed to the console. As sturdy as the TARDIS was protected by it’s shields, she didn’t want to tests its limits by staying on this doomed planetoid any longer than she needed to. She ran a final scan, searching for the shuttle her friends had escaped in, and noticed with relief that it was just clearing the solar system. They were safe. Safer than they would be had they stayed with her. Content - if not happy - with her decision, as she launched the TARDIS into the time vortex.

The Doctor gave a sigh of relief once she had left the Maldovarium behind. She stepped away from the console but didn’t get very far. As her adrenaline levels normalised, she felt weak and became aware of how close she had come to reaching her physical limits. She struggled out of her coat that was singed in places and sank to the floor, trying to catch her breath. Her hearts hammered in her chest, her hair was sticking to her head with sweat, her hands and face were red and raw. She had to pause for a moment, gather herself, before she could carry on. The TARDIS circled around the vortex waiting for coordinates, buying her time by staying where time didn't pass.

“Perhaps I just need a moment… maybe some after-sun…“ The Doctor mumbled to the TARDIS that hummed and wheezed in response, almost scolding her for having been reckless.

The Doctor didn’t like stopping, even for a moment. Those where the times when she had time to think and those things that she had been trying to avoid, those feelings she had been pushing down, had an opportunity to catch up with her. She was in no way closer to finding her son. In the absence of her friends she allowed herself a moment of weakness. The tears stung on her burnt skin of her cheeks. What would the Master want with her son, apart from torture and hurt her? He was being used as a pawn against her. She would make the Master pay for this.

Slowly, she got to her feat. Unsteadily, she staggered back to the console, deciding on her course of action. She wouldn’t be able to properly rest until she had found her child so she had to keep going. For now, the Master was her best lead. It was time to see the destruction she had left behind as she had fled Gallifrey. If the Master had found a way to escape death, she would find answers there.

——

The Library, 52nd Century

“Someone is having you on. Whatever it’s meant to be, the Timeless Child, it doesn’t exist.“ Anita closed the book she’d been reading and pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t focus anymore. “There is no reference to it. Anywhere. Are you sure that’s the phrase we’re looking for?“

“I’m certain of it.“ River confirmed but couldn’t deny she was getting frustrated as well. They had been at it for days now. Or was it weeks? River was starting to lose track of time. And they had nothing to show for it. Initially, River had enjoyed finding stories about the Doctor’s past; adventures she didn’t know about that she hadn’t been part of. It had been entertaining for a while, as were the essays written about her and the Doctor. Who would have thought they would become such a popular subject matter for students at River’s alma mater?

“Well, it’s not mentioned anywhere.“ Anita sighed, leaning back into the cushions of the sofa. “How did you learn about al this anyway?“ She hadn’t pressed River for information so far but it seemed about time.

“Those words, those exact words, the Timeless Child… Dorium was so sure that’s what it was.“ River closed the book she was reading as well. It was time to stop.

“Well, maybe he got it wrong.“ Anita shrugged.

“Maybe…“ River couldn’t deny that it was possible. In her head she recounted the message Dorium had sent her. He had mentioned a Time Lord giving him the information, as if it would give weight to it. Since he hadn’t given a name, part of River had believed that it might have been the Doctor himself. Perhaps he was keeping his identity hidden for any number of reasons; most likely not to interfere with his own timeline… But now she wasn’t so sure.

There were other Time Lords out there. The Master. The Corsair… From what the Doctor had told her in their time on Darillium, Gallifrey was still out there. Not just the Gallifrey of the past, before the Time War that River had visited not so long ago. Gallifrey had never been destroyed in the final days of the War, just hidden away in a bubble universe at the end of time. Maybe they were starting to emerge again, taking a few tentative steps back into the universe but why now? Why this? Were they maybe just trying to mess with her? Or the Doctor? Had all this just been a pointless goose chase and she had walked right to her death on a fool’s errand? She shook her head to herself. No. There was something else, something she couldn’t quite remember. It was right there at the edge of her mind.

“How long have you been at this?“ Anita asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know, you tell me, I’m starting to lose track.“ River chuckled half heartedly. She had always had a very special relationship with time, being the child of the TARDIS, but inside the Library computer, cut off from reality and actual time, it didn’t seem to matter anymore.

“No, I mean before this, before you came to the Library. You said you’d been researching this before and couldn't find anything and you hoped there would be answers here…“ Anita prompted.

“There clearly aren’t…“ River stated in frustration.

“How long, River?“ Anita frowned, noticing her deliberately evading the question.

“Well, let’s just say it wasn’t obvious I was… expecting when I left the Doctor and started researching.“ River answered at last, her bitterness evident in her voice. Anita remained quiet for a moment. They had hardly spoken about River’s pregnancy and son, bringing it up seemed to make it all the more painful.

“Did you find anything at all? What were you doing?“ Anita tried to steer the conversation back to the subject matter.

“All sorts… I knew it had something to do with the Time Lords so… that’s where I went looking first and of course I got myself involved in yet another of the Doctor’s adventures… younger Doctor that time, very young, couldn’t tell him who I was of course… I went to Gallifrey but I had no time to look around really, not with a fight for the very fate of the universe going on…“ She gave a half smile. When wasn’t the Doctor fighting to save the universe? As much fun as it had been, it had distracted her rather… As she recounted her adventures in her head something occurred to her. She blinked, confused. How had she forgotten about it? How had she failed to make the connection? “But there was something…“ Maybe the trip hadn't been entirely wasted.

“What?“ Anita frowned, confused by her sudden wistfulness.

“As I… things went a bit pear shaped. I was pulled inside the Matrix.“ River revealed which suddenly seemed a whole lot more significant than it had at the time. She considered how furious the Doctor would be if he ever found out what she had put herself through whilst being pregnant. She couldn’t deny that she herself had been incredibly relieved to find her son completely healthy at birth. She hadn’t exactly been taking it easy. There had been a few close calls in the early stages which was why she settled for desk research when she’d become less agile on her feet.

“What’s that?“ Anita asked. “The Matrix?“ She’d felt like she should know what she was talking about but she didn’t.

“The Matrix… it’s like a super computer, not unlike this one. Time Lord minds get uploaded as they die so it’s the sum knowledge of their race, so to speak… Algorithms generate prophecies, predictions, extrapolations, possible futures. In the golden days of the Gallifreyan Empire, they would base their interference around time on them and heed their warnings.“ River tried to explain the best she could. “I used my… affinity for all things Time to help the Doctor: bring him back to where he needed to be. Only barely got out of there myself in the end… but while I was in there… I can’t quite remember but there were flashes of something… I was very preoccupied, mind, but I think subconsciously they did register… maybe the Matrix sensed that I was looking for answers…“ She hadn’t thought it significant at the time, she had had bigger things to worry about but the more she thought it about, the more she believed it couldn’t have been coincidence. The images were beginning to take shape in her mind, as if she was only now able to remember.

“And you saw the Timeless Child?“ Anita asked perplexed, wondering why she hadn’t mentioned it before.

“I don’t know… maybe…“ River tried to focus, struggling to reproduce the images in her mind. “It was a little girl, standing in front of a gateway…“ River closed her eyes as the image became more clear. Why hadn’t thought about it until now?

“A girl though? Didn’t you say you had a son? Then it’s probably not related to you?“ Anita mused disheartened as it seemed like just another dead end.

“Time Lords don’t take the whole gender thing very seriously…“ River couldn’t help but chuckle as she continued watching in her mind’s eye. Someone was approaching the girl.

“River…“ Anita reached out for River’s arm, trying to get her attention.

“Just hang on…“ River was doing her best to remember. She didn’t recall seeing any of this before. Apparently her subconscious had picked up much more in the Matrix than she had realised.

“River!“ Anita insisted, her voice urgent and River opened her eyes, ripped from the otherworldly portal she had been watching but she didn’t find herself in the cosy living room the Library computer had generated for her. Instead she found herself in a laboratory. She jumps to her feet in shock and not a moment too soon, as the sofa also disappeared from under her. Anita looked around utterly confused. Was this a computer glitch? There were other people too: the woman who River had seen approaching the child and the child herself, sitting in a chair being examined.

A/N: You may have picked up on my using the events of Doom Coalition here which canonically are set between Darillium and the Library, if you happen to have been following those Big finish audios. I thought it could work really well with the whole being pulled into the Matrix thing. I know a lot of people don't know the audios though so I'm trying to write it in a way that you don't have to know them and anything significant will be explained. I hope that works for everyone. Please let me know if you find things confusing at any point <3

[waystobuild-blog]

Spare Room?

Hey everybody. Last year, I had worked on the Sonic Zine @stayhomesonic which was a fanzine that would be sold to fans each with pieces of art and writing about the pandemic, with the proceeds going towards Doctor’s Without Borders in the end. $612 was raised and it was great to take part in such a nice cause.

Now that the zine has been finished, I am able to post my piece to social medias which I am doing so now. Rather than something soft or emotional, I decided to go a little more comical with these characters while also going into the importance of staying home and social distancing.

Spare Room?

 With a global pandemic going on, everybody was asked to stay inside their homes. This was a good thing, it kept people safe. But if you were a guy that didn’t really have a house and just kinda camped out wherever you stopped running, then you were in for a problem. Unfortunately for Sonic the Hedgehog, that was his predicament.

He now stood in the Mystic Ruins outside of Tails’ lab where he hoped that he could crash until this whole thing blew over.

Tails arrived at the door decked out in a hazmat suit that even covered his namesakes.

“Hey, bud!” Sonic smiled and waved at him.

“Sonic, it’s good to see you!” The fox grinned.

Sonic was quick to go in for a hug, but Tails was quick to duck away. “Sorry, Sonic. No touching. You know how it is right now.”

The hedgehog sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry, Sorry. Forgot.”

“It’s all good. So what brings you by these parts?”

“Well, everybody’s been told to go inside for this whole virus thing, and I don’t really have a house so I’m like ‘Why not bunk with the best little bro in the whole world?’ y’know?”

“Sonic that’s great and I’d love to have you.”

“Perfect!” He beamed as he began to make his way towards the door.

But for the first time in a long time, Tails was faster than him as he quickly produced a remote control with a single red button on it and stepped back into the house.

Suddenly, metal bars appeared in front of him as warning sirens went off all around. Sonic was quick to cover his ears as he watched his friend’s shack basically become Fort Knox in a matter of seconds.

“Sorry, Sonic. I’d love to have you but I just can’t. I’m busy trying to find a cure so it’s not safe here.”

“They’re trusting an 8 year old to find a cure for a worldwide pandemic?”

“Yes and they pay me handsomely. Good luck trying to find a place to stay, I gotta get back to work.”

Sonic waved him off before leaving.

If Tails wasn’t gonna let him stay then who would? He wondered as he ran off.

However, quickly he found himself in Station Square and that’s when he realized that he knew someone that would have to let him in.

It wasn’t long before Sonic stood outside of an apartment and rang the doorbell, giving off his best winning smile.

When the door opened, Amy Rose stood before him, wearing her usual outfit but a facemask as well.

“Sonic!” She cried. “It’s good to see you!”

“Hey, Ames. Good to see you too.”

Sonic reached out for a hug, but Amy was quick to back away. “No, no mister, you know the rules. Keep a safe distance.”

“Aw, come on, it’s just one hug.”

“Sure first it’s one hug and then it’s one kiss and then it’s one virus.” Amy shook her head. “We’re not in good times right now.”

Sonic chuckled. “Who are you and what have you done with Amy Rose?”

Amy swiped her hand around and laughed with him. “Oh, stop. But seriously, what brings you by?’

“Well, with this whole virus thing going around I’ve been looking for a place to stay, so I thought Amy will definitely let me-”

“No.”

“Stay and so I’m just gonna go in and- wait, did you say no?”

Amy gave a placate smile and shook her head “Same thing, Sonic. Any other day, I’d love to have you over, but right now it’s just not a good idea.”

Sonic sighed at this but nodded in understanding.

Amy quickly closed her door and Sonic was left to find someone else to bunk with.

First Tails and now Amy. This was proving to be a lot harder than he thought. He thought he was a shoe in to get inside Amy’s apartment but the girl was far more serious than he initially thought she would be. Part of him was proud of her for sticking to her guns and staying safe, but another part of him just wanted a bed to sleep in for once.

Who else did he know that actually had some sort of roof over their head could he go to?

And then it clicked. While definitely not ideal, he supposed he could give them a try.

Sonic raced off from Station Square and shortly arrived in Westopolis where he went to a specific high rise apartment complex to find Team Dark.

Team Dark, having more government funds than they knew what to do with lived incredibly comfy in what was more or less a penthouse and they were 100% fine with that. It was a bit too stuffy and fancy for Sonic’s tastes, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Sonic’s eyes widened in shock when he went to the top floor of the building and found steel plating surrounding the entrance to their apartment.

Sonic looked confused at this as he walked over to ring the doorbell.

But as soon as he placed a finger on it, alarms began to blare causing the hedgehog to instinctively jump into a battle pose.

But no danger came.

Instead, a massive screen flared to life and there stood the face of E123 Omega. “Who dares violate the safety of Rouge?!”

“Omega?” Sonic looked confusedly.

“Sonic the Hedgehog how dare you try to infiltrate our place of dwelling during the infection?! Please vacate the premises immediately or lethal force will be taken!”

Suddenly a comically large laser gun appeared from next to the panel and pointed dangerously at the hedgehog.

“Woah, woah, woah!” A sharp voice came from offscreen. “Omega, put those away right now!”

“But Rouge, he-”

“We do not vaporize our friends, Omega!” Rouge shouted.

If Sonic wasn’t mistaken he thought he had heard the robot groan but the laser was in fact put away.

In a few short moments the camera was turned in a new direction and he could see Rouge the bat lying lazily on the couch wearing a bathrobe and slippers, a magazine discarded at her side.

“Hey, Big Blue.” She waved. “Sorry about Omega, he’s gotten a little extreme when it comes to the virus.”

“A little? Dude tried to blast me!”

“And I would do it again.”

Rouge rolled her eyes at this. “Omega put the place on lockdown as soon as news broke out and won’t allow me to leave the house. I don’t really care though so I’ve just made myself comfortable.”

“Okay… what about Shads?”

“Shadow?” She snickered. “As soon as he heard, he didn’t even bother with me or Omega, he just used his Chaos Control and left. Who knows where he is?”

“Knowing him, he probably thinks he can’t be infected or something and is off trying to figure out how he can punch the virus.”

Rouge simply shrugged.

“Anyway, you gonna let me stay?”

Rouge shrugged. “I’d love to… But I am 100% sure Omega will vaporize you…”

“I will!”

“And I just can’t stop him.”

Sonic sighed. “Alright, thanks.”

Sonic ran off yet again, trying to find where exactly he could go but to no avail. He had friends all over the world and yet, none of them were taking him. He tried the Chaotix, he tried Professor Pickle, he even considered Omochao but then realized nothing was worth that hell.

But soon, he ran into someone that actually wanted him.

If only he could say the same about them.

“Hello, Sonic!”

Sonic stopped his running nearly tripping over his own feet with how sudden the gravelly voice had come out at him.

He looked up to the source of the voice and saw a floating screen before him and on that screen was none other than Doctor Eggman himself, giving him a big cheeky smile. The doctor wasn’t looking to good, he was covered in a blanket, his face redder than usual, his usually bushy moustache drooped down low.

“Sonic!” He announced. “I hear you are looking for a place to stay!”

“Pass.” Sonic tried to run away but the same floating screen was quick to have two robot arms extend from it and grab the hedgehog.

“Now hold on there, Sonic. I would like to extend an olive branch to you. With these trying times, we all need to stick together and I happen to know that you need a roof over your head. So, stay with me and we’ll make great company!”

Sonic let himself go from where the arms were holding him. “You’re sick, Eggman.”

Eggman violently coughed at that. “N-n-no, of course not. I am of perfect health.”

“I meant you’re messed up but yeah, that too.”

Eggman frowned at that. “Wait, I promise that no harm will come to you.”

“Is that right?”

“But of course.”

“In that case…”

“Chaos Control!”

Sonic and Eggman both looked up in shock to see none other than Shadow the Hedgehog drop down and dropkick Eggman’s screen, causing it to break.

“I- okay, I wasn’t expecting that, Shadow.”

Shadow rose from where he was crouched down on the ground and glared at the hedgehog.

“So… since you’re here, I was wondering if I could bunk it in wherever you were hiding out an-”

“Absolutely not!” Shadow roared. “After Rouge called me on my communicator, she informed me of your little crusade to find a roommate. So I’m telling you here and now, stay away from space. If I hear you so much as step one foot off the planet, then I will not hesitate to-”

“Woha, wait, space? I didn’t even know that…” And then it clicked. “You’re hiding out on the Ark aren’t you?”

Shadow’s eyes widened in shock and he quickly tried to cover himself. “I- I- I- cannot confirm or deny that… I- I have to go. Uh… Chaos Control!”

Sonic sighed at this, being left all alone with flaming pile of machinery.

After trying all his friends he was left in complete isolation. What was he to do now that he had nowhere to stay, nowhere to run to… He was all alone.

But it was those thoughts of loneliness, isolation that made him realize that he had one friend that he had completely forgotten to ask and zoomed off.

It wasn’t long before he arrived at his destination. Lush greenery surrounded him, birds were singing, nature was alive and well, standing amongst it all was a great big altar where a massive green gem of power could be seen radiating a comforting energy that rolled over him in waves.

Leaning against the same gem was none other than the Emerald Guardian himself, Knuckles the Echidna and as soon as Sonic stepped foot on the Altar, he cracked open an eye and looked over at his visitor.

“Sonic.”

“Hey, buddy. It’s good to see ya!” He sheepishly waved.

“What are you doing on my island?”

“Well… ya see, there’s this whole virus thing going on and…”

“Virus? What virus?”

Sonic stood there in stunned disbelief for a moment, staring at the echidna in complete befuddlement as Knuckles looked at him expectantly.

He just shrugged. “Forget about it. Anyway, you mind if I crash on Angel Island for a while?”

Knuckles put a hand to his chin in thought for a moment. “Eh, sure. Just stay away from the Master Emerald and me for that matter.”

“Works for me.” Sonic shrugged as he left to jog a few laps around the island, finally having a place to stay during this pandemic.

[soft-glitch]

Through Thick And Thin

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog

Type: hurt/comfort, platonic fluff

Word count: about 2700 words

Author’s notes: this year was a mess. But I’m grateful for a few things that happened to me in 2020. One of these things is getting into the Sonic fandom, which helped me find joy in being creative again. Another is a budding friendship with someone really cool, that I can only hope will last for a long time.

This fic is kind of a gift to that person for New Year’s Day. To everyone, but especially to you O, I wish a happy new year and many good things to come.

- - - - -

It was not an easy morning.

Shadow had always been an early bird. He never needed much sleep compared to other mobians, thanks to his bio-engineered origins. This was both a blessing and a curse, depending on the days.

Being able to stay up most of the night during missions proved useful more than once. On the other hand, when ugly thoughts would assail him and sleeping them away was not an option, well… It was suddenly much less interesting.

On this last day of December, the hedgehog could not shake uneasy feelings. Between Eggman’s plotting and his own personal issues Shadow always had rough times, but this year had been… a lot.

Walking silently in the empty corridor, careful not to wake up anyone in the household, the dark mobian reached the kitchen and started preparing hot chocolate. Since most of his friends knew about his sweet tooth he didn’t bother hiding it anymore, and Rouge always made sure they were stocked up on cocoa.

While waiting for the milk to warm, he glanced at the clock on the wall. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The eerie calm of early hours often made Shadow slightly uncomfortable. Despite his introvert side enjoying the peaceful solitude, it was also a moment where his thoughts would simmer in his mind, either awoken by confuse dreams or simply emerging as the day started. He would often put some music or read a book to avoid thinking too hard about it.

Didn’t always work, though.

Taking a deep breath the hedgehog felt some relief at the sweet scent of chocolate. He took a small sip before moving to roll himself in blankets on the large couch. With a long and noisy yawn he reached for the remote and pointed it at the large TV screen in front of him. Maybe there was something nice to watch while waiting for his roommates to get up.

- - - - -

When Shadow opened his eyes again, sunlight was gently glowing through the translucent curtains of the living room. Which meant it was probably kind of late already. It seemed he fell back asleep at some point.

With a frown, he rubbed his dishevelled quills and took a look at his phone. Almost 11am, and no sign of Rouge or Omega... This was odd, especially since they planned on spending the New Year’s Eve together.

That’s when he noticed an envelope lying on the small coffee table, next to his now empty mug. It was plain kraft, with a small card inside that only offered an address and the words “At noon, don’t be late hun”.

Obviously from Rouge. She loved putting mystery and drama in everything she did. Shadow huffed and shook his head.

Irredeemable.

Did that mean his friends got up without waking him and prepared some kind of surprise? However silly it was, this simple envelope brought some warmth to the hedgehog’s heart. He got up to take a quick shower and prepare for the day, a small smile peeking at the corner of his lips.

- - - - -

The location was one Shadow didn’t particularly recognise, a small intersection in a popular part of the town. Since Team Dark lived in a suburban area and their job at G.U.N was usually all over the world, his knowledge of the city was lacklustre. Right as his phone displayed 12pm a text popped up on the screen.

Rouge Right behind the shoes store, a cafe.

The striped mobian rolled his eyes with a hint of amusement. Even for something as simple as a New Year between friends, the bat couldn’t help making some kind of fun game to play. Shadow would gladly proclaim it futile and childish, but he actually enjoyed these quirky adventures his best friend always peppered in his life.

What he saw next filled him with pure joy. Of course Rouge wouldn’t choose a random cafe to meet. She had to make it extra one way or another, and she just knew how to please him.

The Gentle Garden Chao Café & Flower Shop

Almost giddy at the idea of having some sweets surrounded by chao, the ultimate lifeform stepped into the small establishment. A quick glance around made him happy beyond words: soft muted lights and warm colours complemented vintage furniture, large potted plants adorned all sides of the place, and —most importantly— chao of every kind were all over the place, either walking, being cuddled by clients or sleeping on small pillows.

In the back of the room was a large counter, behind which a massive chalkboard displayed both the cafe menu and prices of various flower arrangements.

Before Shadow could go and talk to the barista, a familiar face caught his attention. Rouge was there, sitting nonchalantly and sipping some drink in the most ostentatious way possible.

The hedgehog smirked and sat in front of her.

“So...?” he started with a raised brow. “So what? Did you think I’d let you stay home for this special day?” Rouge huffed between two exaggerated sips. “It’s just New Year’s Eve, not an anniversary or something...” Shadow said, glancing at the table.

He realised an order of white chocolate cappuccino —his very favourite drink— and forêt noire —one of his favourite sweets— were set in front of him. For a second he felt something rise in his chest. A mix of gratitude and that odd yet pleasing vulnerability he could only feel with his closest friends.

“I know it’s just the new year.” the bat leaned on the table, her eyes both tender and serious. “I also know you haven’t been doing great lately. It’s been a difficult time, and of course it won’t magically be over as midnight comes, but...”

She looked in the distance, her eyes piercing through the windows and their cold winter lighting. Shadow could very clearly feel the bittersweet essence of her expression. This year had also been hard on her.

“We’re in this together, y’know.” she resumed, turning a gentle smile towards him. “And while I can’t resolve every problem we have, I can at least invite my emo bestie to enjoy some chao and indulge in sugary treats!”

The hedgehog chuckled at this, then raised his cappuccino mug. “Let’s have a good time, then. To us bitches.” he said with a knowing grin. “To us bitches!” she exclaimed happily. ”Now drink that ‘ccino, we have chao to cuddle.”

Some laughs and friendly banter later, two chao had found their way on Shadow. One was sleepily nested on his legs while the other was playing on his head, brushing his quills curiously.

“You really have your way with them, just like Omega...” Rouge remarked. She loved the little creatures very much, but she never seemed to attract them as easily as her two partners. No one really knew why and she honestly didn’t mind. It was fun enough to observe them from a distance: no risks of ruined haircut or having one mess with her wings.

“This is the best.” the hedgehog whispered, his voice full of emotion. His friend chuckled. Shadow was endearing in many ways, but his love for plants and creatures was unparalleled in an extremely wholesome way.

“Did you ever consider adopting one?” she asked before biting into her remaining pastry. Shadow’s expression became slightly somber as he looked at her. “I…” he sighed and scratched the sleeping one’s head. “I always wanted to, I guess. Even on the Ark, once we learned about them with Maria, we used to pretend having one. There was a plush, I don’t remember its name. We would play parents, bring it along for walks across the Ark, this kind of things.”

Rouge nodded sympathetically. Maria was less and less a sensitive subject as years went by, but Shadow was still defensive about these memories. Sharing them was one of the most intimate things he would do, and she felt honoured every time it happened.

“Maybe one day.” the hedgehog shrugged with a tired smile. ”Right now our lives are too dangerous. I can’t raise one properly as long as we keep fighting and going on missions Chaos knows where. – Let’s hope we get Eggman and his clique once and for all, then!” Rouge said with a grin. “Can’t wait to have you pester us with photos of your ugly little baby.”

The genuine laugh that followed made the bat beam with happiness.

- - - - -

The very specific atmosphere of New Year’s Eve was not lost to the two mobians as they strolled in the city. Streets were bustling with activity, but in a way that felt distinct from other winter holidays. The ambient anticipation was less frantic, almost… solemn. Instead of rushing for gifts and food, people seemed determined to enjoy the final hours of this year.

Shadow found it interesting, not without its charm. He was more used to strolls in mountains, lonely forests and small paths undulating through fields. The buzzing activity of the city was something else —very nice, though. Plus Rouge knew every neighbourhood surprisingly well, and offered him little fun facts and stories about all sorts of buildings and places.

“It’s a real shame we don’t get more free time between G.U.N and Eggman.” the bat lamented. “There are so many nice spots I’d love to visit with Omega and you. – We do have vacations once in a while.” Shadow replied. “Yeah, but they’re either ruined by some apocalyptic event or by an intense need for rest.” she sighed. “We can’t enjoy the Museum of Arts if we’re falling asleep every two paintings.”

The dark mobian nodded. Technically Omega and him didn’t need a lot of sleep, but being world-saving heroes brought its own kind of mental fatigue. Moments of calm and respite were too few and far between.

“Well. Next time we have some days off we’ll organise a Team Dark afternoon.” Shadow offered. “An exhibit or two, some games at the arcade. Maybe a small concert at a cafe. – Oh my. Hun, I’m impressed to see you take this kind of initiatives.” the bat replied.

The hedgehog gave her a friendly nudge. “Shut up, can’t let you make all the decisions. – I don’t see why not.” Rouge shrugged with a knowing smile.

They suddenly stopped. Without really realising it, the duo had reached the large avenue leading back to their house. As they exchanged a glance, Rouge winked. “Omega must be waiting for us. Let’s move!” she said cheerfully.

- - - - -

An immediate wave of relief filled Shadow as soon as they passed the front door. “Finally some warmth.” he sighed, removing his large coat and thick scarf. “I was expecting your lowered body temperatures.” Omega’s robotic voice answered from the kitchen. “Hot tea and biscuits are ready for immediate consumption. Made with love.”

Rouge snickered and Shadow repressed a chuckle.  Both knew Omega was absolutely unable to cook anything without setting fire to it, so the biscuits were probably store-bought. They still appreciated the gesture greatly.

Everyone gathered around the table, remembering stories about the now-ending year and its numerous developments. Adrenaline-filled fights, obscure investigations and exhausting assignments went alongside hilarious mistakes, glorious teamwork… and even celebratory moments with all the other heroes of Mobius.

“Okay, but the award for the best party of the year still goes to Knuckles’ surprise birthday.” Rouge said confidently while helping Omega put on a colourful crochet beanie. “Ughh please. Let’s not talk about it.” Shadow groaned, knowing exactly where this was going. “It was extremely fun. The fireworks accident made it over 200% better than any other celebration.” the robot insisted. “Oh right, I almost forgot about that!” the bat laughed. “Poor Knuckie, having to deal with a fire hazard on his cherished island…”

Memories of the furious echidna shouting frantically brought a grin to Shadow’s face. “But!” Rouge added, ”I mostly remember someone having a few drinks too much and— – NOPE!” the hedgehog exclaimed as he brandished his hands. “No talk of this specific event shall happen in this house. Ever.”

Omega tapped his fingers on the table as he eyed his smaller friend. “It is a shame I did not record it for ulterior viewing.” Shadow’s glare was so intense the former badnik recoiled slightly.

“Oh well, it’s all in the past now.” Rouge mused teasingly. ”Good times, good times...”

- - - - -

The closet was absurdly full of useless trinkets and Shadow was very, very close to “fix” it with a Chaos blast.

Of course he wouldn’t, knowing how preciously Rouge kept all those odd items from her past. Jewels, foreign souvenirs, postcards, old plushies, photographs… All her memorabilia was kept there, in a mismatched mess mixed up with cleaning supplies, spare beddings and various tools.

“They should be somewhere near the bottom!” the bat shouted from across the flat. The hedgehog growled, his eyes desperately scanning the clutter in front of him. Finally he found what he came for.

Fairy lights. The essential accessory to any LRCS —Living Room Camping Session.

Shadow walked back to the main room, where a drying rack and several chairs formed a structure covered by sheets and blankets. Omega was evaluating whether the improvised tent was big enough for him. “It is perfect, Rouge. We will be able to fit within the designated comfy area.” he said before crawling underneath the colourful construction.

The hedgehog carefully hung the string of lights around and inside the tent before plugging it. Rouge grabbed some snacks and scuttled against the large robot, who fiddled with the remote until a title screen showed on the TV.

“Are we really watching this?” Shadow asked hesitantly. “Shadow. We all know your inclination for romance between organic beings. Please come cuddle so we can start the movie.” Omega said. “Don’t tell me you suddenly decided to hate cheesy fiction, sweetie.” Rouge added. “I would rather perish than lose your snarky remarks and teary-eyed spee— – Alright, I get it, I’m coming.” the hedgehog replied with a frown. “This better be good, though.”

It was everything but good. Outbursts of laughter and incredulous stares followed one another as the movie —a romantic parody of the famous blockbuster Attack On Mobius— kept getting more and more absurd. Omega threatened to turn himself off as he struggled to find any reasoning behind what was happening, and Rouge almost choked on her pop-corn near the end of the second part.

When the credits started rolling, the three buddies snuggled together. The winter night cold was no match for a group hug and thick quilts. Shadow eyed his phone and hummed.

“It’s almost midnight. – Does that mean we have to prepare a wish?” Rouge asked in a sleepy voice. “We don’t have to.” the hedgehog replied, glancing at his two friends.

Has to be an odd sight, he thought. A haphazard team with so many differences, united by pure luck in a challenging world. Chilling together in a makeshift tent in the middle of a flat like nothing else mattered. He closed his eyes and took a moment to appreciate the warm feelings. Being surrounded by such amazing souls for whom he really mattered. Knowing all the affection and dedication hidden behind that seemingly cold name, “Team Dark”.

“I wished for a pony.” Both Omega and Shadow looked at their bat friend with tilted heads. “What? They’re cute, I dunno.” she shrugged with a shit-eating grin. “What would you guys wish for? – Dual plasma swords.” the robot replied. “Maybe I should ask Miles when we cross paths again.”

Rouge rolled her eyes, then shouted curse words as she realised midnight was mere seconds away. Omega startled, making the whole tent fall on the team. The striped hedgehog quickly covered his muzzle with his hands, trying to suppress an irresistible laugh. No matter how hard life was, no matter the obstacles in his way, one thing was certain as the year came to an end.

Friendship was all he could wish for.

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck Reviews: Darkly Dawns the Duck Pts 1 and 2

It’s a Darkwing Double Feature! Just in time for his ducktales special, I take a look at the introduction of everyone’s favorite Daring Duck of Mystery. In his daring debut we meet Darkwing Duck, an egositical and attention hungry superhero who soon finds himself having to look after a feisty orphan to keep her from getting nabbed by local kingpin of crime Taurus Bulba with the help of his biggest fan. Darkwing owns the night under the cut with decades old spoilers. 

Let’s Get Dangerous.. is tommorow so with that in mind i’m doing a darkwing double feature to refresh myself before the big special. So i’ll be covering both the original series pilot “Darkly Dawns the Duck” and the ducktales reboot episode “The Duck Knight Returns”.  Let’s Get Dangerous Itself because I was so wiped yesterday I didn’t get the other review done and unexpectly got acess to the new episode way earlier than usual so i’d rather focus on that. Got it? Good. Let’s continue past me. 

As usual with a new show a breif bit about my history with it: I watched it years ago, as a friend of mine lent me the first two discs of the season 1 dvd and never found the third one nor asked for them back, nor cared I had them. I thoughtly enjoyed it, had a great time and then it took me a decade or so to actually watch the series again due to a combination of being too stubborn to just buy the season 1 dvd again, a very darkwing move of me in hindsight, and then when disney plus meant I had all episodes at my finger tips I.. sat on them till now.. though to be fair i’ve sat on a LOT of great shows on there including the mandalorian, gargoyles and boy meets world. I have a bad tendency to procastinate, the fact this is coming out so late in the day should be a giveaway. I did read about half of volume 1 of the comic and all of volume 2, so there’s that at least.  Point is this new episode finally made me decide to get off my ass and watch darkwing once again, starting with the pilot and the episodes related to the fearsome four to be ready for tomorrow to see what the differences are (Thoguh I did remember bushroot vividly, so I had that at least).  Something to note before I get started talking about the pilot itself though, is the episode order for Darkwing Duck is a Darkwing Clusterfuck. Now I do understand WHY they aired this way: While some episodes do logically take place after other episodes, you can reasonably pop on just about any darkwing and watch it and enjoy it with minimal need to know what happened in previous episodes, kinda like batman the animated series oddly enough. It was also aired between two networks so on some level I get disney’s confusion here.. but on the other hand it’d take ten minutes, they clearly can call up the creator easily as Tad Stones made a cameo in ducktales 2017 we’ll get to so they could easily get a better order from the creator himself, so they really don’t have an excuse for this, or for slapping the pilot in the middle of season 1. Then again both ducktales 2017 and x-men the animated series were sort of a mess order wise when first put up, so not giving a shit about where episodes are placed for re-watching clearly is a pastime of theirs. 

Now i’ve got that out of my system we can dive into the episode itself and a breif plot synopsis. Darkwing Duck is the superhero protector of St. Canard, a masked vigiliante who takes out crime but wishes he actually got fame and credit for his work. Kind of like Booster Gold but without taking endorsments or as far as we know coming from the future. He also has nothing else as shown by the fact he fights crime, does a training regimine to prepare his breakfast that’s a delight to watch then prepares to sleep. It’s an intresting concept, a hero who HAD a civlian identity once, as the rest of the series would play out, he just no longer needs it. And it’s also ahead of it’s time as batman would explore this idea both seriously with bruce wayne murderer and comedically and seriously with the lego batman movie LONG after this series aired, meaning the writers here figured out what many probably knew about batman and put it into their parody version: Batman is the real identity and Bruce is the mask. Batman only keeps his old self because the bruce id is useful to him: It keeps people away from his company, puts up a playboy facade that draws attention away from him being batman, and allows him to do various charities and what not and help honor his parents in a way that dosen’t involve swooping in and kicking people in the throat. And as seen with bruce wayne murderer when the option to throw bruce away for good came up Batman gladly took it.  This is the same idea: Drake Mallard ONLY cares about crime fighting, has no friends no family, we never do find out jack about his family hopefully if there’s a full reboot series Frank and Matt fix it for their version. He has nothing, and is fine with that. He hasn’t really had a reason to care about anything else than his own glory and works alone not because it’s less efficent but because his oversized ego means he dosen’t want to share credit. IT’s an intresting start and his ego would be a defining bit of who he is and used intrestingly int he reboot but we’ll get to that there. 

His life changes forever though when local crime boss Taurus Bulba unleashes his latest scheme: To steal the Ramrod, a gravity manipulating device created by the late Dr. Quackmeyer.. late because Bulba’s men killed him and were dumb enough not to get the arming code for the ramrod first a year ago. Bulba is also behind bars but in one of my faviorite gags of the episode despite the warden’s constnat gloating, Bulba has taken the “Supervillian makes jail into a base” Or “Jail is nothing to a supervillian who can easily get out trope” to ludcrious machines. He has whole meetings with his minions, keeps the ramrod once he gets his hands on it in the laundry and has a ship SHAPED LIKE HIS FACE built into his cellblock. I’ts just so over the top it’s glorious. But yeah since Bulba can’t go after it at first he sends his three goofy minons, one played by eddie “Mandark” deezen in.. love that guy. 

THey do end up stealing the ramrod thanks to the help of bulba’s cool, non-anthromporhic condor who he uses as his right hand man and as his link to his minons via a small tv aroudn it’s neck. That.. is awesome. Darkwing spots the condor but fails to stop the three stooges or the condor and gets unknowingly blamed for the robbery..and stopped to get glamor shots not realizing the guy thought he was a criminla which.. fair enough. It is a shadowy disguise after all. 

Darkwing ends up grabbing onto the vulture sonic 3 style, but ends up falling off him into a hangar where we meet the original version of Launchpad McQuack, whose apparently quit working for scrooge and has his own hangar now though it wouldn’t be a stretch that scrooge bought it for him.. he does , stingy as he is, appricate hard work and launchpad wanting to start his own buisness and while hte planes were probably all on launchpad, Scrooge would gladly buy a run down buliding for a loyal friend who wants to put in some hard honest work. Plus it’s a free place to store any vehicles he has in the st canard area.. I mean it’s still scrooge. And yes I know the whole “Tad stones said they aren’t the same universe” non sense. I do have the utmost respect for the guy and he seems really, nice but I don’ tlike that, no one likes that and both the comics and the current duckverse with the ducktales reboot entirely ignore that for good reason.While the two shows are diffrent in tone they stil lfit and it’s not a stretch for launchpad to want to spread his wings or failing that scrooge to help push him out of the nest and give him his own buisness or one of scrooge’s to run. 

But while Launchpad does help DW with a propeller plane they fail and while launchpad offers to be his sidekick, DW gives him the old I work alone bit.  However him being alone won’t last for long as Bulba still needs that arming code and since his only lead is Waddlemeyer’s grandaughter who grew up in his lab, he sends his buffonish minons to go get him. Why he never sends his lone female minon with them is because it’s funnier if she dosen’t I guess. Which it is so fair enough.  So thus we enter Goslyn, who the head of the orphanage is fed up with due to her antics. Goslyn is played as most of you knwo by christine cavanagh.. I honestly forgot and it still throws me off a bit she’s using what would later be her chucky finster voice for a character so completely diffrent. Granted it’s not unusual in voice acting, just weird here and only for me personally having grown up with rugrats but not darkwing. The orphanage head is a bit less jarring as she’s played by Marcia Wallace, aka Edna Krabable from the simpsons but A) that show was already running at this point and B), the character is basically a nicer version of edna versus chuckies voice coming out of a tiny if immensly fun to watch hellion. I do like goslyn, sh’es a fun character even in her shadier moments, it’s just something i’d forgotten about i’ll need to get used to is all. 

Bulba’s hired goons come in claming ot be friends of her grandpas and we actually get some really heartwrenching context for Gos’ behavior: While she does act out she actually LIKES THE orphanage.. ti’s just her friends keep getting adopted while no one wants someone “full of spirit”. It’s heartwrecnhing to hear.. and only gets worse when the goons try and kidnap her.  Thankfully Darkwing.. also kidnaps her, but he kindaps her from kidnappers and while Goslyn naturally takes a second to realize he’s the good guy them shooting at him clues her in. Darkwing, in a rare for the series as a whole moment of reason and not wanting to just power though something himself TRIES to do the responsible thing and leave gos with the police where she’ll be protected.. but given they think he’s a wanted criminal they shoot at him.. and the small child in his motorcycle. Yup that’s the police alright. 

So with no other options Darkwing takes gos home, hyjinks insue including her activintg the breakfast thing. But the two genuinely start to bond. While Darkwing dosen’t WANT to keep her around, the whole not wanting connections thing, it’s clear he’s growing fond of the little snot as she holds her own with his trianing course, they have a tickle fight and in the sweetest moment of the episode the two sing little girl blue, a song her grandfather used to sing her to sleep that she teaches darkwing. It’s an utterly heartmelting bit and Cummings and Cavanagh really sell the hell out of it. It also however turns out ot be plot relevant: Turns out just in case Dr. Waddlemeyer hid the code for the ramrod in the song, and when Darkwing sees a photo Goslyn got from bulba’s goons, he realizes this and realizes that depsite thinking she didn’t know it Goslyn had it all along.. and that as long as h’es around she won’t know.  Bulba is naturally livid at his minons failure and decides now’s the time to take this into his own hands and while he actually liked the prison hq setup, as it did make sense as it was the perfect cover and the warden was too full of himself to realize Bulba was still active and too convinced the bull was beaten down when he clearly wasn’t, but instead as mentioned above awesomely converts his cellblock into a flying ship in the shape of his own head.  Bulba.. is a great villian and I only think the show didn’t use him more because he’s a dead serious, deadly dangerous villian in an otherwise goofy but fun superhero parody show. The show later gained Negaduck, so they had a more dangerous threat for darkwing that fit the show’s tone better while still being utterly terrifying, and likely simply didn’t need him till the idea for the steerminator came up. But I love the guy: he reminds me a lot of the kingpin, a threatning villian who uses his sheer size to beat our hero down, is cool and suave and is an utter mastermind at planning. He also wears a nice suit.  And naturlaly he has a plan to take out darkwing since despite the two never having met, as Darkwing disparages when Goslyn assumes their lifelong mortal enmies like in the comics, they know of each other.. and thus bulba knows exactly what trap to spring to get him out of the way and goslyn into his ship: He flashes a message in morris code that he wants to surrender to Darkwing while stroking his ego a LOT. And it works... while i’ts an obvious trap Darkwing’s so full of himself he goes despite Goslyn telling him it’s very obviously a trap.  Naturally everything goes pear shaped as a result: Bulba shows up, revealing gos not only to be right but easily pummling Darkwing. Which makes sense: While Darkwing is a vetran crime fighter and secret agent, Bulba’s been at being a villian longer clearly as he’s built up enough of a rep both for Darkwing to know him out of hand and for the warden to be proud capturing him. Given what univese this is, it probably isn’t Bulba’s first round with a superhero and given at this stage St Canard only has one.. yeah Darkwing is outclasssed and the police grab him while Bulba scarpers. And while Gos puts up a good fight using the trianing course, Bulba’s vulture gets her. Bulba has everything he needs.  Darkwing meanwhile actually bemoans what a dick he’s been, that the first person he’s cared about besides himself in possibly ever is now in the hands of a murderous mastermind, and that he’s stuck in jail with no one to call on for help. Thankfully.. help arrives.. and by help I mean launchpad backing the ratcatcher, Darkwing’s bike, into the prisoin. He DID come just to bail DW out despite his earlier jerkishness, but backed in and Darkwing not beliving superheroes have time for paperwork, decides to just bust out. And to be ifair int his case he’s probably right as you know, a ten year old might die if they don’t get there in time. So off they go.. but with Bulba in the air they need something with wings to catch him. ANd luckily as Launchpad mentioned earlier he’s been working on something special for darkwing.  It’s with this we enter the thunderquack, which is DW”S awesome headshaped plane. It’s just cool it’s got a nice design, goofy enough tof it the universe but cool enoguh to still be fun to watch. Darkwing has really damn cool vehicles, as the ratcatcher is also awesomely iconic. But yeah the thunderquack impresses darkwing and rightfully so and he decides to make LP his sidekick afterall.  So now our heroes fly into the danger zone and attack bulba’s airship with Darkwing landing on the bow and a scuffle insues with darkwing and hte minons.. who use actual guns which for a 90′s kids show is  a suprise, especially one this intentioanlly goofy, but boy is it nice. However Bulba, being awesomely evil, isn’t dumb and instead of fighting darkwing, which he could win but would win him nothing and having gotten nothing out of goslyn, figures the hero might know the code.. and while Darkwing lies and says he dosen’t, Bulba points out .. he’s right.. but he’s always been a gambling man and has his condor drop goslyn to lure drake into telling him , with DW putting in the code and bulba testing it with a bank robbery.. before predictably having his condor drop the girl because he no longer needs her. Thankfully launchpad catches her in time and then they get revenge on the condor with the thunderquack BITING IT.. which is awesome. Hopefully the reboot version does that. 

Darkwing meanwhile saves the day, his new daughter and the city by simply sneaking over to the ramrod and mashign the keys till it overloads, silly, but undeniably awesome and effective. Bulba TRIES to finish off darkwing this time for foiling his plan.. btu the ramrod explodes and while bulba’s minons and goslyn and launchpad are safe... bulba and darkwing are apparently dead and it’s effective.  A few weeks later Goslyn’s back at the orphanage utterly distraught and broken at being basically orphaned again. Naturally though Darkwing’s alive, having taken his old identnity back since now he has something worth using it for and adopts her, hinting at who he is so she goes with him. And Drake has changed.. sure he’ll still be as egostical and impuslive as he was here.. but he’s no longer just darkwing.. he’s drake again as he has someone worth fighting for.. two someones in fact. He has a friend, a loyal partner to help him fight cime. And more importantly.. he has a loving daughter. And both needed each other: Goslyn needed someone who understood her despite her manic energy, and Drake needed someone who needed him and not darkwing, a reason to be a person outside the cape and cowl and outside the attention again. He needed a reason to live again... and he’s got it. And it’s going to be great. 

Final Thoughts: This pilot is excellent. Well paced, plenty of laughs, tense action and great introductions for everyone involved as well as a hell of a vilian> This is how you do a first episode: it introduces the main themes of the show, both comedically and dramatically, introduces the cast and gives us a one off , or rather two off it’d turn out, villian whose compelling and intresting. IT’s really damn good stuff and I can’t wait ot see what frank does with a simlar story tommorow. Until then, stay safe, and happy hallowen. We’ll be back shortly for The Duck Knight returns and then Let’s Get Dangerous tommorow. 

[another-sonic-blog]

heey! Could we have some sonamy forces? Maybe Amy being a badass and making Sonic like ‘O_O’??? Thank you!

A strong Rose

SonAmy

2k

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It was one of those easy days for Sonic. After the long run, he softly made his way through the Resistance HQ's. The automatic doors opened and as he took some steps forward, he was bombarded with the liveliness of the place. The Resistance was a rusty place, it definitely needed remodeling but to the blue hedgehog, it gave a comfy atmosphere. It smelled like wet soil, one of Sonic's favorite smell, he even ran to places that were raining just to smell it and have the pleasure of it. He expected to be greeted by the other agents but it seemed like they were too busy to care that he was here. They ran to what it seemed to the Resistance's main room. As Sonic made his way through the halls, the agents bumped into him. They always apologized to him but they made sure to keep their eyes on the location.

Sonic had finally reached the Main Room where it got complicated to get in. The agents all pushed each other, standing on their tippy-toes to try and get a look at the immense computer that was placed right in the middle of the room.

"What is all of this fuzz about?"

Sonic looked at the Mobian next to him, a green wolf boy with glasses who seemed way too excited to be here.

"Captain has gone to a mission for the first time!" the green wolf's stayed stuck on the computer's screen, not noticing that the one next to him was no other than Sonic the Hedgehog. "I've only heard stories about how great of a fighter Ms.Rose was! I can't wait to see her in action-"

The green boy finally turned to look at the blue hedgehog and he gasps at the realization. One of his idols was standing right in front of him, the blue hedgehog was one of the reasons why he joined the Resistance, in the hope that he would see him one day.

And that day was today.

"Amy for sure is a skilled fighter but," Sonic said, he smiled at the green wolf. Although he didn't care for fame, it was fun to see other's reactions to him and it lowkey raised his ego. "What is she doing out there in the field? I thought she was always too busy to take on missions."

"Captain Rose said that this mission was too dangerous for any of us to take," the wolf boy said, looking around the room nervously. "And she couldn't contact anyone from Team Dark nor Silver and Blaze and you weren't here nor Knuckles so she decided to go by herself."

Sonic knew that Amy was strong and she could perfectly take care of herself. Nonetheless, there was always this feeling of uncertainty, he cares too much for her to give a blind eye on the situation. His eyes were now glued to the enormous computer screen. For now, it was only blue and the screen had the words 'connecting...' as if it was waiting for a transmission to start. The agents still pushed each other to try and get as many people inside as possible. However, all chatter and movement were stopped the moment they saw that the computer screen no longer showed the previous words. Now it was showing live footage.

"How are we seeing this?" Sonic asked again as he could perfectly see the pink hedgehog he missed so much showing up on the screen.

"Mr.Miles sent a small android to accompany Ms.Rose, it's recording live," the wolf, although he was very excited to see his idol, he also wanted to see the heroine in peace. Mentally he wished Sonic stopped asking questions and instead just enjoy the show along with him.

The blue hedgehog didn't know what was going on and actually, he didn't need it. The flying android allowed everyone to see live the adventure of Amy Rose through the gigantic computer screen displayed in the middle of the room.

With no further actions, Sonic just lay back and relaxed, waiting for Amy to display her abilities.

The screen showed the pink hedgehog walk towards an army of egg bots. Probably around 50 of them or so Sonic thought, maybe even more.

"I don't want to hurt any of you but ..." Amy's voice had deepened and her stance was strong. To Sonic this was unknown, he had never seen Amy look so ... strong. "But if you don't give me my friend back in three minutes ... I won't have an option."

The Eggbots didn't think about it for a second and they were fast to throw a metallic spear at Amy.

Sonic flinched instinctively, and he shook aa little. However, he was relieved and surprised to see that Amy very calmly only moved her head to the side to dodge the spear.

"Is that all you got?" Amy said. Instantly the agents in the Main Room all stare at the computer screen in awe.

"Come on! Shadow's Chaos Spears are better than that!"

Sonic didn't know what to be more surprised at. That there was a possibility that Shadow had thrown a Chaos Spear at Amy or that Amy thought that Shadow's Chaos Spears were weak.

As if to answer her question, all 50 robots threw metallic spears at the pink hedgehog at the same time. Amy was quick to pull out her hammer and with it, she ricocheted the spears back at the Eggbots one by one.

The Main Room of the Resistance was filled with excited screaming, cheers and applause as they watched their captain being a total badass. Sonic meanwhile, was remembering the day Amy let him carry her hammer. The famous Piko-Pink hammer wasn't heavy ... it was impossible to pick up. Sonic could only lift it a few centimeters of the ground once and that was it. Watching Amy move it so easily and with such a fast technique made Sonic ... sightly impressed, he had to admit that much.

He continued to watch the screen as saw Amy ran at full speed towards the Eggbots. She was fierce and fast, using the strength of her hammer she would destroy each robot that dared to stand in her way.

Amy threw her hammer and it landed directly in the Eggbot that was guarding Eggman's entrance to his base. She did a backflip as to dodge the spear attack of one the Eggbots and finished, she landed a kick that went right through the Eggbot's metallic inside.

Amy snapped her fingers and quick her hammer appeared in her hand again. The pink hedgehog destroyed everything in her way. She had such a unique technique and stance that he had only seen been accomplished by a very well trained black hedgehog.

The green wolf looked at with excitement at the computer screen in front of him and he controls the need to fanboy his platonic crush. He looked next to him and found something rather amusing. Sonic the Hedgehog was utterly impressed and he could tell by the way his green eyes opened more as each second passed by.

Sonic had always known that Amy was an extremely gifted fighter ... But holy Chaos she was utterly strong. He knew for sure that the pink hedgehog had done some training in the six months that he was gone running around the world. Her fighting style reminded him of Shadow and Sonic wonder if they had spent some time training together while he was gone.

He would be lying if he said that the thought alone didn't bother him. Sonic trusted the love Amy had for him but he also knew that the pink hedgehog could bring the best out of people ... and a certain black hedgehog may have liked that about her.

However, a certain sense of proudness filled the blue hedgehog's soul. Watching the Resistance's agents fanboy and fangirl about his favorite pink hedgehog, made his heart smile. He wanted to face them, point at the computer screen and tell everyone, 'Look at her! Isn't she so cool! That's my Amy Rose!"

Although he was too shy to ever say something like that out loud.

The android that Tails made to follow Amy had suddenly stopped as the pink hedgehog entered Eggman's base. As if they were watching a movie, the agents and Sonic were waiting for their Captain to come out victorious of her mission. However, panic began to overtake them as the computer screen showed Eggman's base lit up on fire, bombs after bombs were detonated. Sonic held his breath in as to stop himself from running and finding her.

"Come on Amy ... Get out."

A few more seconds passed until finally, the pink hedgehog came out of Eggman's base victorious. Carrying in her back, a very well known red echidna.

The Resistance exploded in cheering and screaming, clapping. Sonic couldn't stop feeling a great sense of peace and especially, happiness. He began to cheer as well, even if Amy wasn't able to hear him. Sonic went as far as to give the green wolf next to him a small hug, which took him by surprise.

That was Amy ... his Amy.

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When Amy came back to the Resistance, she was greeted by cheers and applause from the other agents. Although she wasn't badly hurt, there were some cuts and wounds that she needed to take off. She was in the infirmary, where Knuckles was sleeping in his bed peacefully. He had gone to Eggman's base to retrieve one of the Chaos Emerald but he had run into trouble and Eggman captured him.

So, of course, she had to go and save his butt again.

Not like she minds.

She was putting a bandage around her right arm when suddenly, someone entered the infirmary.

It was her favorite blue hedgehog.

"Sonic! I wasn't expecting you to come here today," Amy said, still seating on the edge of her bed.

Sonic smiled as she walked towards her and took a seat next to her. "Yeah, I was passing by ... So, how are you?"

"I am good, I definitely had worse," Amy was still trying to tie a bandage around her arm and seeing her struggle, Sonic took over her task. She blushed a little seeing act so kindly towards her.

"I saw you on your mission today," Sonic said concentrating his sight into treating Amy's bandages.

The pink one looked at him, her blush getting redder by the second.

Sonic looked at Amy as he finished tying her bandage. "It was dangerous."

Amy felt a sense of guilt wash over her and disappointment came with it too. The last thing she wanted was to make Sonic worry about her-

"But it was really cool, too!"

As Sonic smiled, Amy's heart skipped a bit. "The way you use your hammer was so cool! The punches and kicks! The way you moved your way towards the entrance of Eggman's base was out of this world-"

For a second, Amy thought that she had died in that mission and she was now in heaven. The love of her life was not only taking care of her, but he was praising her as well. Like an excited child in a candy store, Sonic was listing all the thing he loved about Amy without realizing.

"You were so cool, amazing, fantastic and-"

"For Chaos ..."

Their moment was interrupted as they turned their attention to the red hurt echidna in front of them.

"Would you two just kiss already?"

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A/N: Here it is, this week's request! Sorry for the wait, I hope you like this!

I am working on the next prompt request already!