#Line Filter Manufacturers

[filterselementsstrainers]

Basket Strainers Manufacturers - Filterselementstrainers

Basket Strainers Manufacturers are an important part of many industrial and municipal water systems. They are used to remove solid particles from fluids, and come in a variety of sizes and configurations. There are two main types of basket strainers: open and closed. A basket strainer is a type of strainer that uses a perforated basket to hold and filter solids from liquids. The basket is mounted in a frame that allows it to be lowered into or raised out of a vessel. The frame can also be rotated to allow the basket to be angled in any direction. Basket strainers are used in many applications, including the processing of food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals.

Basket strainers are a type of strainer that use a woven wire mesh to strain solids from a liquid or gas. The mesh is held in a metal or plastic basket-shaped frame. The solids are trapped in the mesh while the liquid or gas flows through the openings in the mesh. Basket strainers are commonly used in industrial applications to strain solids from liquids or gases and Air Filter Elements Manufacturers.

There are many benefits to using basket strainers. Some of the benefits include:

ﾷ Easier to clean and maintain than other types of strainers

ﾷ Can be used for a variety of applications

ﾷ Variety of sizes and shapes to choose from

Basket strainers are a great choice for many applications because they are easy to clean and maintain. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so you can find the perfect one for your needs. Additionally, they offer many benefits over other types of strainers. There are many different types of basket strainers available on the market. Some of the most popular types include the perforated basket strainer, the slotted basket strainer, and the wire mesh basket strainer. Each of these types of strainers has its own unique benefits and disadvantages. The perforated basket strainer is the most basic type of basket strainer. It is made up of a wire mesh basket with small holes punched in it. This type of strainer is ideal for straining small particles out of a liquid. The slotted basket strainer is similar to the perforated basket strainer, but it has larger slotted holes in it. This type of strainer is ideal for straining larger particles out of a liquid. The wire mesh basket strainer is the most versatile type of basket strainer. It is made up of a wire mesh basket with a wire mesh screen. This type of strainer is ideal for straining both small and large particles out of a liquid.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a basket strainer for your application. The first thing to consider is the type of fluid you will be straining. If you will be straining a thick fluid, you will need a basket strainer with a large opening. If you will be straining a thin fluid, you will need a basket strainer with a small opening. The next thing to consider is the size of the container you will be straining the fluid into. If the container is too small, the basket strainer will not fit. If the container is too large, the basket strainer will be too big for the container and the fluid will not be strained properly.

The last thing to consider is the material the basket strainer is made of. If the fluid is corrosive, you will need a basket strainer made of corrosion-resistant material. If the fluid is hot, you will need a basket strainer made of heat-resistant material. Basket strainers are available at most hardware stores. They are usually made of metal and have a mesh basket that can be easily removed for cleaning. Basket strainers are great for straining sauces, soups, and other liquids.

Installing a basket strainer is a relatively easy task that can be completed in a few simple steps. First, remove the old strainer from the sink and discard it. Next, measure the opening of the sink to determine the size of the new strainer. Then, purchase a basket strainer that is the correct size. Finally, follow the manufacturer's instructions for installation. A basket strainer is a great way to strain your pasta or vegetables. It is easy to clean and is dishwasher safe. To clean your strainer, just rinse it with hot water and a little soap. You can also put it in the dishwasher. There are a few potential problems that can occur with basket strainers. First, if the mesh size is too big, it can let pieces of debris through. Second, if the basket strainer is not emptied frequently enough, it can fill up with debris and block the flow of water. Third, the basket strainer can rust if it is not made from a rust-resistant material.

Closed basket strainers are the most common type, and are typically used in industrial settings. They are made up of a metal frame and a woven mesh screen, and the screen can be easily replaced when it becomes clogged. Open basket strainers are typically used in municipal water systems, and are made up of a metal frame and a perforated screen. They are not as common as closed basket strainers, but are becoming more popular due to their low cost and ease of maintenance.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #13

April 5-12 2024

President Biden announced the cancellation of a student loan debt for a further 277,000 Americans. This brings the number of a Americans who had their debt canceled by the Biden administration through different means since the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first place in 2023 to 4.3 million and a total of $153 billion of debt canceled so far. Most of these borrowers were a part of the President's SAVE Plan, a debt repayment program with 8 million enrollees, over 4 million of whom don't have to make monthly repayments and are still on the path to debt forgiveness.

President Biden announced a plan that would cancel student loan debt for 4 million borrowers and bring debt relief to 30 million Americans The plan takes steps like making automatic debt forgiveness through the public service forgiveness so qualified borrowers who don't know to apply will have their debts forgiven. The plan will wipe out the interest on the debt of 23 million Americans. President Biden touted how the plan will help black and Latino borrowers the most who carry the heavily debt burdens. The plan is expected to go into effect this fall ahead of the election.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris announced the closing of the so-called gun show loophole. For years people selling guns outside of traditional stores, such as at gun shows and in the 21st century over the internet have not been required to preform a background check to see if buyers are legally allowed to own a fire arm. Now all sellers of guns, even over the internet, are required to be licensed and preform a background check. This is the largest single expansion of the background check system since its creation.

The EPA published the first ever regulations on PFAS, known as forever chemicals, in drinking water. The new rules would reduce PFAS exposure for 100 million people according to the EPA. The Biden Administration announced along side the EPA regulations it would make available $1 billion dollars for state and local water treatment to help test for and filter out PFAS in line with the new rule. This marks the first time since 1996 that the EPA has passed a drinking water rule for new contaminants.

The Department of Commerce announced a deal with microchip giant TSMC to bring billions in investment and manufacturing to Arizona. The US makes only about 10% of the world's microchips and none of the most advanced chips. Under the CHIPS and Science Act the Biden Administration hopes to expand America's high-tech manufacturing so that 20% of advanced chips are made in America. TSMC makes about 90% of the world's advanced chips. The deal which sees a $6.6 billion dollar grant from the US government in exchange for $65 billion worth of investment by TSMC in 3 high tech manufacturing facilities in Arizona, the first of which will open next year. This represents the single largest foreign investment in Arizona's history and will bring thousands of new jobs to the state and boost America's microchip manufacturing.

The EPA finalized rules strengthening clean air standards around chemical plants. The new rule will lower the risk of cancer in communities near chemical plants by 96% and eliminate 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year. The rules target two dangerous cancer causing chemicals, ethylene oxide and chloroprene, the rule will reduce emissions of these chemicals by 80%.

the Department of the Interior announced it had beaten the Biden Administration goals when it comes to new clean energy projects. The Department has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands, surpass the Administrations goal for 2025 already. These solar, wind, and hydro projects will power 12 million American homes with totally green power. Currently 10 gigawatts of clean energy are currently being generated on public lands, powering more than 5 million homes across the West. 

The Department of Transportation announced $830 million to support local communities in becoming more climate resilient. The money will go to 80 projects across 37 states, DC, and the US Virgin Islands The projects will help local Infrastructure better stand up to extreme weather causes by climate change.

The Senate confirmed Susan Bazis, Robert White, and Ann Marie McIff Allen to lifetime federal judgeships in Nebraska, Michigan, and Utah respectively. This brings the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 193

[guanshentai]

Disposable Syringe Filter-GST Syringe Filter Automatic Production Line

　　GSTsyringe filter automatic production line equipment manufacturersbelieve that the small partners who do experiments have used disposable syringe filters. Any type of sample (food, soil, water sample, etc.) must be used once after pretreatment and before the sample is put on the machine. Filtered with a syringe filter to remove impurities and particles from the sample solution, so as not to block the instrument for long-term accumulation.

　　The shell of the needle filter is made of polycarbonate, polypropylene and polyethylene plastics. The upper and lower parts are welded together by ultrasonic waves. It is resistant to high pressure and there is no problem of product leakage.

　　The needle filter is widely used in the laboratory. It does not need to change the membrane and clean the filter, which saves the complicated and time-consuming preparation work. It is mainly used for sample pre-filtration, clarification and particle removal, and sterilization filtration of liquids and gases. It is the preferred method for filtering small samples by HPLC and GC.

　　Needle filter classification: liquid property classification: water phase filtration; organic phase filtration; filtration phase classification: gas phase filtration; liquid phase filtration; filtration purpose or process classification: sterile filtration; clarification filtration; pre-filtration; particle removal filtration; interface Form: female bayonet; formula socket; external dimensions: 4mm\13mm\17mm\25mm\30mm\33mm\50mm, etc.; filter layer structure: single-layer membrane structure; multi-layer membrane structure; capillary structure; hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene Vinyl Fluoride Membrane (PTFE): Used for filtration of air, gases and hydrophobic chemicals.

[angiplastltd]

Gas Line Filter Manufacturers in India

Angiplast Pvt. Ltd. is one of the best Gas Line Filter Manufacturers, Exporters And Suppliers in India at reliable rate.

The Gas Line Filter for removal of bacteria, scale, and other contaminants from oxygen and other medical gases.

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Individually packed in poly pack.

[billpottsismygf]

Space Babies! Weird episode, but it had a charm. I had already prepared myself for the fact that RTD's era was notoriously camp and weird, and that I would for the first time be experiencing new episodes by him as an adult rather than as a 9-13 year-old, so it's not news to me that there would be some campy nonsense with a deeper message, and that this might be more jarring than I'm used to. The deeper themes were really thrown out (refugees, anti-abortion hypocrisy, genocide, capitalism) without being dwelt on, but that's not necessarily a problem.

The babies themselves were... a little unnerving? The mouth movements were quite uncanny, along with their voices and the general "I love you, Ruby!" of it all. I've just now made the connection that the latter puts me in mind of adverts for baby dolls.

The gunky snot monster felt very early 2000s British children's TV. If you weren't there for that, just know there was so much slime; think Slitheen exploding. I am very glad it got rescued. Nice message with the Doctor not usually running from things just because they look scary and, even though this is a creature specifically manufactured to be scary, it still deserves a shot at life.

It feels like a strange story to start with because I suspect it'll have mixed reviews. I would think you'd want a slightly more solid episode to draw people in with. Anyway, there was still a lot of thought put into making this a proper jumping off point with all its Doctor Who 101 stuff. Funny for a long-time viewer hearing it all rattled off in record time, but important to establish for new people, and I do think it's important for the show to remain accessible to people who haven't been obsessing over it for twenty years or more.

As a jumping off point, it very specifically reminded me of The End of the World. There's the big observation deck on a space station where the new companion, in her second episode and first off-world adventure, gets her phone updated so she can call her mum, in particular. The parallels to Rose are interesting, especially with the lecture the Doctor gives Ruby about how they can't travel back to meet her missing parent(s).

Speaking of that, there's some intrigue there with the snow appearing and the memory changing. I didn't like the Doctor doing a DNA scan of Ruby without her knowledge. It feels very 11th Doctor, especially when he literally scanned Amy and withheld medical information, but also the way he treated all his female companions as mystery boxes to solve without telling them. I guess we'll see what that's all about at a later point.

I'm still not completely sold on Millie Gibson, but Ncuti Gatwa is wonderful, and I do really appreciate their chemistry.

Small things:

Jocelyn was a good character, and the Nan-E filter made me laugh several times.

That place name before the Doctor turned the translation circuits off was absolutely not in English. Slightly weird way to phrase that line if it's going to be called Pacifico del Rio.

This is a very early point in the series for Ruby to get a TARDIS key! We're really speedrunning the usual steps here.

[eatyoursparkout]

hello! this ask is prompted by a recent reblog of yours about rubber preservation. I'd love to hear your thoughts relating to TFs and preservation and plastics. what should folks know? any best practices for storage? do you think there's another way manufacturers could produce them to make them more hardy? etc etc. thanks :)

Sure! I'm not a conservator by trade (and even within conservation plastics are still somewhat of a new and niche thing), but I can offer some general advice.

The tl;dr is that like 90% of other materials your best bet is to keep them clean, out of strong light, in an environment that isn't too hot or too cold, and to avoid temperature/relative humidity (RH) fluctuations as much as possible. And above all, make sure that they're well-ventilated.

The tl;dr tl;dr is that plastics just suck.

More detail under the cut! (...Lots of detail. Sorry.)

There's 2 main problems with plastics.

The first is that a lot of them are just kind of inherently unstable. Unlike a nice chemically stable material like glass, they want to deteriorate when exposed to things like....oxygen. Rip. And once damage has set in, it's basically impossible to reverse/treat.

The second is that there's really no regulations or standards when it comes to the manufacture of plastics. There's a bazillion different types, and even if you're able to identify the specific kind via chemical test (and this often damages the object in question) it's almost impossible to know what other kinds of additives went into the plastic soup that created the thing in front of you. This also makes it really hard to develop a standardized approach to caring for and treating plastics, because two things can react wildly differently even if they appear virtually the same.

That means that when it comes to plastics, preventative conservation is the name of the game. You want to mitigate the effects of the agents of deterioration on the object as much as possible. And in the meantime, make peace with the fact that nothing can be preserved indefinitely :')

TFwiki has an article talking about the common types of plastic used in TF figures, which is neat and useful. Gonna hazard a guess that most figures are predominantly ABS, which is great because it's a fairly sturdy hard plastic that probably won't show effects for a while. I'd be statistically more concerned about figures with squishy, rubbery bits (looking with apprehension at my Kingdom line BW figures).

So! While the ideal environment for plastics is cold, dark, dry and oxygen-free (lol), when it comes to personal collections you can obviously only take reasonable measures. They're in our homes, not a vault. The main things you want to keep in mind:

Light fades and discolours plastic over time, and can eventually cause certain kinds to become brittle. The more lux that your figures are exposed to, the faster that's going to happen. So while it's not reasonable for your house to maintain museum-level lighting or shell out for fancy UV filtered cases, I'd keep your displays out of direct sunlight at minimum.

High temperatures can increase the rate of oxidation, and low ones can encourage shrinkage and brittleness. Either one can do damage over time, but what's worse is fluctuations in temp that force the material to weather one extreme to the other. If you've got your figures in a storage unit or something, a climate controlled one would be ideal, or at least insulating the box so that they're kept at a more stable temp. In the home, I'd keep them away from any vents/heaters.

As far as humidity goes, it's less damaging to plastics than a lot of other materials, but you still want to avoid any large fluctuations that will cause the material to expand and shrink (and eventually crack). Wherever you're storing your figures, try to make sure it's somewhere <65% RH (this is a high cutoff compared to most materials, so your home is probably fine unless you live somewhere humid without A/C).

Pollutants are a big one for plastics. Dust can cause microabrasions and damage over time, so keeping your figures clean is a good idea. I'd use a soft brush to avoid scratching your figures, or a lightly moist swab of some kind. Don't risk any kind of chemical cleaners, bleach, vinegar, etc. and I'd even avoid compressed air to be safe. If you want to be really careful about it, wash your hands before handling your figures. Humans carry all kinds of oil and dirt on their fingers- that's why museum professionals are often wearing gloves.

And then there's the problem of off-gassing...

Plastics can unfortunately give off vapours that can negatively affect other plastics in their vicinity. The especially bad ones are called malignant plastics (evil, scary), but it's hard to ID them until they start falling apart or damaging the things around them. Best course of action is to reduce contact between different figures (pose them together, but maybe don't leave someone's hand on someone else's shoulder for five years), and make sure that there's good ventilation.

If you're going to box up figures, don't be like me and store them in your parents' basement for years in an airtight container :') Go for a more pourous material like archival grade corrugated board, and use something as a buffer between figures like polyethylene bags/sheeting so that they're not touching (there's pros and cons to sealing each individual figure in a polyethylene bag- it'll be trapped with its own gases which could speed up deterioration, but the microclimate will keep it from affecting other figures around it).

And if you have boxed figures.... either commit to leaving them boxed forever or crack those bad boys open. My partner opened up their Pacific Rim figures after several years of them stewing in their own vapours and sadly they ended up falling apart in their hands. Thanks NECA.

As for manufacturing, you'd have to ask a chemist! I'm not sure exactly what it is that turns certain plastics to gunk and causes others to shatter, but I'm sure standardizing the way we make them would go a long way. Unfortunately, the stuff that's going to better for the planet in the long run (biodegradable) is also going to deteriorate quicker by design, so that's a whole other issue.

Anyway! That's a lot of info, but I hope it was an interesting and/or helpful introduction to plastic care lol. If you're interested in more thorough reading, I'll direct you to the CCI's handy dandy free online resource. They're an invaluable resource for all kinds of materials care.

[lynmars79]

Found this in my drafts, and I maybe meant to do more with it, but:

Talking to my friend who's caught up to Midst now, and thinking about Lark's story of how and why she killed Maximilian Loxlee.

In S1 E13 "Loose Ends", when she kills Fuze:

Narrator 1: (Fuze) “Well…” he says to her, his voice going quieter, “I suppose… it’s nice of you, at least… not to bludgeon ME to death…” Narrator 2: (Lark) “I would never do that… to YOU.” Narrator 1: (Fuze) “You know, I always did used to think… you seemed like such a nice young kid…”

And then in S3 E4 "Foundation" when she's talking of the factory they worked at (trimmed):

..."[Loxlee] was a regular visitor to the manufacturing islet. He liked to strut around and watch the assembly lines, the fuse braiding stations, the glass blowers. He really liked to visit testing, though. My mom and I worked in testing" .... "Whenever Mr. Loxlee showed up, he’d send everyone else away except my mom. Sometimes I’d sneak up on the catwalk above the testing vats and watch them, but most of the time I was happy to get out of there. Mr. Loxlee… scared me. He scared most of us there. He loved talking to my mom though. That’s the real reason he came to visit testing so much: just to talk to her."

Then:

"At some point I realized there were people, a few people watching from the doorway. I don’t know exactly when they showed up, but… I knew they saw what I did. They were kind of frozen and seemed just as scared of me as I was of them. I knew who some of them were, there was this nice guy from the… fuse assembly department."

And:

"We just kind of stared at each other for a moment, and then they all ran off, and I knew I had to go. I ran out the back way to shipping, I grabbed some of my mom’s things, and I got inside one of the lightbulb crates that was about to ship out."

Everyone in the factory knew Maximilian. Everyone knew his temper. Everyone was scared of him. Everyone knew he spent time alone with Clara's mother.

Why did no one stop her from escaping? There was plenty of time and opportunity, if she went to get her mother's belongings first.

And when it was over, where was Mom during and after all this? What would make nice little Clara do such a thing? Oh no...

They absolutely knew Loxlee had done something terrible--and that none of them would be believed. Clara was probably terrifying in her rage and grief, sure--but still also a 13 year old girl who'd gotten the jump on Loxlee. Also: that's Lark's assumption of their reactions, filtered through 50 years of memory.

And those others perhaps feared what would happen to her, even if her reaction was justified. What would the Trust to do them, for not stopping her from killing the Most Valorous Mr. Loxlee, from standing there watching this kid kill the man they feared?

So what do you do? Let the terrifying child who just killed your terrifying boss escape. Play dumb. Pin it on the missing woman and/or her daughter, and pray they don't drown everyone in more Caenum--or worse.

50 years later, Fuze knew if it came down to it, Lark would kill him to survive--and he always understood why. In the end, his fear of the Trust was stronger, as it had been that day in their youths in the factory.

[malacandrax]

Had the enlightening thought that I could use my blog for blogging. I don't love splitting myself into separate marketable entities, so I'll probably post more craft stuff here. (I have a passing knowledge of So many hobbies it's a bit ridiculous- my most developed are probably doll customisation (wigs, faceups etc), sewing tiny clothes and maybe crochet.) I thought I would share some patch process from...2021? (ugh)

I don't know how many of you will have seen on twitter, but I've started making patches for my jacket after being deeply dissatisfied with what I could find online (I find that I need to know & search for a creator specifically or I just get mainstream patches... 'bee happy' etc)

The Billie patch (of the painting) was actually me going 'I wonder if posca works on fabric' and I tested it on the smallest scrap, which bit me in the ass, because I did that face with no planning or sketch and it came out perfect, no way I was going to do it that good again. SO i stitched it onto a bigger bit of black fabric, which is surprisingly unnoticeable in the end!

The rainbow strip was made because I didn't like how clean and manufactured store bought flag patches are, I wanted something undeniably gay, but a little more subtle and personal. I chose the colours to be a bit softer (I'm aware the dark brown should be black, I had no grey to pastel-ify it with, like I did the others) and I've seen little rainbow strip lapel pins before, so I sort of copied that in fabric form.

The next is Brian Molko in the 'Pure Morning' video, which I watched so much when I was younger. I put a screenshot through a binarization filter, and tried my best to copy it down. It was going really well, and then I foolishly placed it over my photo to see how it lined up (badly) and I went back in and completely ruined the likeness. While it wasn't a good copy, I still think it looked good before I went over it. SO I made another :'). I also sort of fixed up the first, because seeing it on the desk was embarrassing me.

I also added the embroidery in the colours I think of when I try and remember the video (his lips particularly were sort of coral coloured and the androgyny struck me hard as a teen)  The Eve Elloree was from an old gay magazine- the art director asking for assistance, I just thought it was really fucking cute haha Way more info on my long ass twitter thread.

The extremely badass black and white one is from superpose! And the fruits wizard is here (because im a fruit, har har)

Hopefully I can make more this year, I have too many hobbies and not enough wrist stamina!

[nayeonline]

Ari's K-Pop Roundup: June 2024 (LISA, Red Velvet, NAYEON, NewJeans, KATSEYE, CHUU + MORE)

Hope everyone had a nice pride month - I unfortunately was chained to my textbooks for the brunt of it and didn't do anything pride related, but I did see Taylor Swift, so I guess it wasn't all bad. This is the 5th installment of this series - genuinely didn't think I would make it this far - you can check out last month's roundup here, or see my full masterlist here. Enjoy :)

ROCKSTAR - LISA (BLACKPINK)

It's very rare that we see a kpop idol's pure, unadulterated vision for the music they release due to the manufactured, consumerist nature of the industry, but here we have Lisa, arguably the most popular female kpop idol of all time (at least internationally) free from the company that is widely known for formulaic, repetitive music. Will she stick with the brand YG has created for her and reinforce the box Teddy has placed her in sonically, or will she forge her own way?

Right from the teasers, I knew we were in for something a little different. Although conceptually the chrome, futuristic vibe is nothing new in kpop, seeing Lisa without those god forsaken white washing filters was very exciting. And the fact that k-netizens are taking to it very well?? Lisa is here to rock the boat. 'Rockstar' is only a single with no mini album, but hey, it's Lisa, meaning she doesn't need to boost the length of her releases to snatch those extra sales, she do well commercially regardless. Usually a single album would annoy me, but BLACKPINK are back to releasing music, so today I will let it slide.

With a Kendrick Lamar 'Humble' visual reference in the music video, a Tame Impala sample, and a sneaky little writing credit, Lisa clearly wants to reshape her framing in the industry - with 'Rockstar' she's rejecting the somewhat diminishing 'idol rapper' status, and seeking that 'rapper rapper' reputation. She wants to sit at the table with Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, and 'Rockstar', in my opinion, does a decent job at securing her seat.

You can't reference Kendrick and not put in a double entendre in your lyrics, and Lisa (and her fellow writers) delivered in that category with quite a lot of success actually. In the line 'been MIA, BKK so pretty, Every city I go to is my city' 'MIA' is used to mean either 'missing in action', referencing how absent Blackpink has been from the music industry thanks to YG's interesting management choices, or as a reference to the Miami IATA airport code just as BKK means Bangkok, Thailand - in this context its an allusion to Lisa's multilingualism and her international influence as a member of Blackpink. It's a really good line, is what I'm trying to say.

Most of the issues I have with 'Rockstar' stem from the songs length. With the base track clocking in at 2 minutes 18 seconds (oh my god what have we come to), the song feels like it's just begun when it's all over. Excluding the choruses, hooks, and pre-choruses, and pasting what remains together, we are left with one singular, honestly quite short verse. Yeah it's a pretty good verse, both in flow and lyrical content, but one verse in what is clearly trying to be a rap song is unacceptable.

'Rockstar' is frustrating to me because while it has its genuinely great moments, like when 'lala' is used in reference to singing and to Lisa's real name when bounced onto the next line, a lot of that greatness gets eclipsed by the track's shortcomings (pun somewhat intended). However, although she's done solo work before in YG this is undoubtedly something of a debut, and through that lens, while it is flawed, the track shows potential. 'Rockstar' knows exactly what kind of song it wants to be, and even though it doesn't quite measure up, it's still a step in the right direction. I'm very excited to see what Lisa does next with her career. At the very least, 'Rockstar' was fun, for sure.

Cosmic - Red Velvet (Cosmic)

When I write these reviews, I try to describe the feelings and emotions and energies the song in question evokes, and I have found that when I struggle, the song is good - and I mean exceptionally good. 'Cosmic' is one such track - I fucking love every part of it - it's so addictive to the ninth degree, from that gorgeous music video to the low and slow verses to that utterly euphoric chorus. From Joy's slightly psychotic edge to her lines that she perfected in the 'Peekaboo' era, to Seulgi's vocals in the hook, and Wendy's high note pulling us into that final chorus; everything about 'Cosmic' WORKS. Lines like 'I'm riding on your rhythm through the solar system' and 'love is cosmic' work both in their catchiness and emotiveness. This era is obviously inspired heavily by the 2019's 'Midsommar', a visual feast of a horror film about a disturbing Scandinavian cult, and let me tell you, if 'Cosmic' is a cult, consider me initiated. Not to spoil my end of 2024 ranking or anything, but as for right now, 'Cosmic' is taking the cake for the best kpop song of the year, no questions asked.

Red Velvet b-sides always hit, and the 'Cosmic' mini album delivers as expected. 'Sunflower' furthers that 'i just took an edible and i found my way onto Spotify' energy, and that hook of 'OOH WOW FEELING SO FUN FUN FEELING SO FUNNY' is hilariously good, this is a standout for sure. The other b-side I want to highlight is 'Night Drive', the album closer. With elements of citypop and 80s synthpop, 'Night Drive' feels like exactly that - a 3am drive around a city you hardly know with people you know better than yourself. It's a celebration of music, and that's putting it lightly.

SM might be working up to shunting Red Velvet into their peripheral vision, what with the new 12 member girl group debuting soon, but 'Cosmic' proves their legend status once and for all. We freaking love you RV, never change. (And I would in fact join a cult if Seulgi was my fearless leader xx)

ABCD - NAYEON (NA)

Look, JYP may be my op until the day I die, but I'm not going to sit here and lie - he knows how to write hits when he wants to, and 'ABCD' is a HIT.

2022's 'POP!' was just that - pure, unadulterated pop music, exactly what was trending in Korea at the time - the image of modern kpop. And don't get me wrong, I loved it, but when it came for Nayeon's first comeback, I was worried she was again going to pull from the current trend cycle, and right now that means airy, Pinkpantheress type beats with a UK garage adjacent vibe - and that's not Nayeon. Her voice is full and powerful and rich in colour and flavour, a song like that just wouldn't work for her. I was nervous, for sure, but when the teaser dropped, I knew it was going to be good. In 'ABCD' Nayeon is rejecting the trend cycle almost entirely - it still flaunts that 00s vibe unabashedly, but here we are pulling from a trumpet fueled 'Crazy In Love' Beyoncé energy, and oh boy does it work. The lyricism in this song goes crazy, that chorus is masterfully written and unbelievably catchy, and that post chorus build up is INSANE. Nayeon's range is on full display here, and she sounds incredible.

The rest of the mini album is pretty amazing too. 'Butterflies' has some super interesting vocal layering, and many great moments like 'a little mental picture, every time I'm with ya' - and although it's pretty clear this was supposed to be a TWICE track once upon a time, with Nayeon even appearing to imitate the members' styles of delivery (it's like I can hear Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and Chaeyoung on this track clear as day) it's still an easy hit that I can't help but love. 'Heaven' doesn't quite work for me, it's not unlistenable, but the feeling that it has simultaneously too much and not enough energy perserveres, unfortunately. 'Magic', the song that my girl Julie features on is pop perfection, and these girls work so well together - Julie's interjections are so catchy and her parts steal the show entirely. 'Magic' is a bonafide hit. 'HalliGalli' is very AKMU (as to be expected), but I can't help but feel like it's a little immature, both for Nayeon and this album. It has some fun elements, but the complete track just isn't it for me. 'Something' is a fun pop song, if a little dull at moments, but that post chorus is a stunner. 'Count It' brings down the tempo of the album a little, in a groovy track with some beautiful vocal production - it's exactly the punch up the tracklist needed after the weaker couple of tracks that precede it.

Nayeon is my blog namesake, and she has done me proud on this album. Yes, some tracks were on the weaker side, but the overall product is strong, with Nayeon's oustanding performance on every track, and a killer title song in 'ABCD'. In terms of other TWICE members getting solos, I would love to see how Sana approached a song on her own, or even Tzuyu, who despite being the maknae and visual, tends to get lost in the sauce of a lot of TWICE releases. We will have to see, I suppose.

Right Now + Supernatural - NewJeans

God, I sound like a stuck record every time NewJeans drops some new music, but holy hell is it always good. Following their 2nd single album 'How Sweet' earlier this year, the girls are dipping their toes into the Japanese market for the first time with two tracks - 'Supernatural' and 'Right Now'. NewJeans have captured the attention of all of South Korea pretty much, it's now time to look further afield.

'Right Now', drenched in sassy lilting vocal runs, is bedroom pop at it's finest. The up-and-down choral melodies evoke the energy of a 2am gossip debrief at a sleepover with your best friends. The dichotomy of Minji's languid repetition of 'I don't care' with a chorus that speedy and spirited is humorous and perfectly captures what it is to be a teenage girl with a crush. NewJeans know who their audience is, and are making music directly for that.

'Supernatural' came next, embracing that New Jack Swing sound wholeheartedly - its very 'early 00s street dance movie'. It's quite a bit more mature than 'Right Now', the girls decorating those gorgeous synths and groovy instrumentation with a genuine collected confidence. As always, it pushes the boundaries of the y2k trend and thematically pulls from the era itself, not other people's recent interpretations of the era. It's experimental for NewJeans I think, which works for a debut, and while it takes a lot of the right risks, and makes a lot of the right choices, the chorus leaves a little something to be desired. The melody and hooks are perfect, I have no issues with them, but the vocal direction needs tweaking. A song like this demands a chant style chorus with all the members in my opinion, and while the vocal layering of the individual members singing attempts that anthemic feel, it comes off as slightly limp-fisted. I'm kind of dramatizing this issue because to be frank, it is rare I find something in a NewJeans track that I can pinpoint as a problem. The song is still of a supremely high caliber, and to be honest, any thinness in the chorus vocals just inspires the listener to fill in the gaps themselves with an impromptu karaoke session.

Lyrically, both 'Right Now' and 'Supernatural' break the kpop-takes-on-the-Japanese-market formula by including not only a blend of Japanese and English lyrics, but some Korean lines too. I find it quite clever, like saying 'this is NewJeans' debut in Japan, but they will always be a korean pop group first and foremost'. While some groups like Girls' Generation and Twice find their discographies split into 2 - kpop and jpop, NewJeans are clearly making an effort to unite both markets under 1 discography.

As a debut, this works. Two tracks united by classic NewJeans production and differentiated by themes and tone. It's really been a rough year for these girls, what with the whole Min Heejin vs HYBE drama and with Hyein's injury leaving her out of promotions for both single albums altogether, but there's a light at the end of this tunnel, and as long as the music stays consistently high quality as it has been, I will have no complaints.

(sidenote: the fact that I wasn't at Bunnies Camp in the Tokyo Dome is a little sick and twisted.)

Debut - KATSEYE

I mean, maybe expectations were unrealistically high since KATSEYE is HYBE's first real stab at the western market, but come on, we all deserved better than this. A half-hearted pop song that fails to innovate in every sense of the word, and they have the audacity to not even make it three minutes. IT'S BARELY EVEN TWO MINUTES. Kpop companies pulling from PinkPantheress constantly is truly a double edged sword, on one hand we get fucking incredible songs like 'LOOP' and 'Super Shy', and then on the other we get every kpop company waking up and deciding that actually it's totally okay to release 2 minute songs and act like it's a completed product. As a British girl, seeing the effects of the recession and the cost of living crisis on the people around me in real time is one thing, but seeing fucking SHRINKFLATION weed its way into pop music as well is like the burning cherry on top of my cesspit sundae.

I genuinely don't know what happened in the production of this song, like they got Ryan Tedder, who has contributed so much great music to this world, and then somehow the end product was so dull and uninspired.

The worst part is these girls are absurdly talented and they are getting served dirt. HYBE - that mini album coming later this year better be good istg. Ok, I'm done ranting.

BUT OH MY GOD TWO MINUTES AND THREE FUCKING SE-

Strawberry Rush - CHUU (Strawberry Rush)

(obligatory note: if you want to stream Chuu's old solo tracks, or any other old loona songs, please stream via the loona podcast or the twelveM account on spotify in accordance with the boycott)

Having the LOONA girls free from that cesspit of a company is one thing, but getting new LOONA music this often is certainly an unprecedented win for me.

Following her re-debut under ATRP in late 2023 with 'Howl', Chuu is back for her first comeback with 'Strawberry Rush'; a mini album drenched in electric pink and cherry red and sunny yellow. Chuu has an innately magnetic quality and Strawberry Rush as a title track takes full advantage of that. It's an utterly adorable song that I genuinely can't imagine anyone not loving. That disco synth thrumming the song's heartbeat is reinforced with a killer baseline, and Chuu's gorgeous vocal colour gives the track even more energy than it already has. The intro and opening are perfect at punching up the mood and setting the scene for the chorus, but it's when Chuu comes in with 'packing that heat, packing that heat, packing that PEW PEW PEW' that the song truly swings into motion and you know that this is going to be a fun one.

The mini album doesn't quite match the energy of it's title track, with it maintaining a more relaxed vibe, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. 'Honeybee' is an acoustic track decorated in summer daisy chains and buttercup bouquets, and it works wonderfully with Chuu's more airy vocals. 'Daydreamer' follows a similar sonic theme to 'Honeybee' but with a more late night nap with the cicadas vibe - Chuu's ability to switch between powerful, call-to-action vocals in 'Strawberry Rush' and featherweight tones in the b-sides is truly commendable. 'Lucid Dream' comes next, a perfect midpoint between 'Strawberry Rush' and 'Daydreamer', heartfelt and addictive. It's a real stand out on the album for sure. 'Chocolate' was released as a single a while back, and I enjoyed it then absolutely, but it makes so much more sense on this album - somehow it just got even more catchy.

Effortlessly adorable, effortlessly catchy, effortlessly perfect - Chuu, you have done it again.

MINI REVIEWS:

Boom Boom Bass - RIIZE: absolutely no notes, im obsessed. I've literally never loved a boy groups music like this before. wow.

Inner Dance - tripleS Glow: tripleS' ability to establish their own sound and musical motifs so early on in their career has served them very well, and 'Inner Dance' shows that clearly. Light and casual and airy, it's the perfect backtrack to your summer break.

Summer Festa - IVE: I usually don't dignify these type of advertisement songs with a review, but this one is actually kind of a bop. A little bit 'Espresso' coded; it's something fun for the summer that inadvertently encourages getting blackout drunk at the hotel bar in Bali. I'm still not drinking Pepsi though. Or Coca Cola for that matter, NewJeans pipe down.

BADVILLAIN - BADVILLAIN: (requested by @a-moth-to-the-light) Although apparently capturing the eyes and ears of seemingly the entire kpop community, this one wasn't hugely to my liking. This might be controversial but my first impression was in fact 'wow this sounds like something babymonster would release' - I can see the appeal but unfortunately these songs just aren't meant for me. I do enjoy the classical influenced production and for the most part the vocal performances were fun too, but with the hook I wish they had bumped up the high note at the end of 'villain' another octave - that's such a nitpick I know but the thought struck me immediately when I heard it. '+82' on the other hand impressed me immensely, such a powerful, call-to-action type song. That background production is a killer, and perhaps I just have Kendrick on the brain from my Lisa review, but the beat feels somewhat along those lines. And holy fuck can these girls dance - wow.

Sabotage - Kwon Eunbi: Can Eunbi release a flop title track? Turns out, once again, no she can't. I love 'Sabotage', it's so hilarious and catchy, and singing along feels like accusing an imaginary boyfriend of gaslighting lol. Woollim giving this song to Eunbi feels a little ironic, considering since she left IZ*ONE, it seems all they've done to her career is sabotage her with poor promotions. The song is fun, and Eunbi sounds excellent as always, with 'Sabotage' boasting many a vocal riff, especially following the bridge. Give this one a listen, and whilst you're there, go check out the rest of my girl's discography, she's truly a hidden gem.

[andmaybegayer]

Michael scope

Zeiss Jena Laboval ?3? I think, documentation for the Laboval series online starts and ends with the Laboval 4. By all accounts this is their upper mid range lab scope, with Amplival being the top of the line before you get to big scopes that have to be installed by a technician.

There's a large variety of Zeiss scopes that were manufacturered on this side of the iron curtain, as you can see this is an East German piece. Pretty good condition, scratchy condenser optics but the objectives and eyepiece seem to be in great nick, from a quick inspection, and that's what matters. Eyepieces are 10×'s, Objectives are a 3.2 semiplanar, a 10, a 40 planar (which I think will get a lot of use), and a 100 oil immersion. Pretty normal setup.

I don't have slides and slips yet so I can't do a proper mount, but this is pretty promising for just sliding a sheet of paper into the slide holder. Proper mounting will improve the focus plane immensely. 32× and 100× so far.

The illumination is off-centre and uneven but that's resolvable and anyway it might be fun to move to LED. I also want to build some top illumination brackets for opaque subjects.

I had like. A kiddies toy microscope growing up and I got as far as trying to make it do darkfield with pieces of cardboard, but never something this professional, binocular optics is such a big step up on its own.

The only real issue I've seen so far is that the stage Z axis is very sloppy, huge backlash. Everything has been stuffed with new grease recently so at least it moves smoothly, old scopes and old typewriters both have a tendency to seize if they're forgotten for more than a few months at a time.

I'll swing by the lake and pick up some algae and protist samples later, and I need to order slides and slips. Also I can print some darkfield and oblique illumination filters.

Probably not going to fuck too much with oil immersion, but who knows, also I'll keep an eye out for water immersion objectives.

I think that with an appropriate head replacement and some filter hacking I could get phase contrast microscopy up and running, probably scavenging some Amplival parts. I'd need to see. I can definitely get fluorescence microscopy working with an illumination upgrade. It would also be nice to gut the electronics and put in a simple battery powered illumination system I can charge over USB so I don't have to rely on wall power. Even the stock tungsten lighting is only 5W at 6V so that's easy to swing.

Objectives are DIN 45mm I think, and it sounds like many Eastern Bloc microscopes use standardized head mounts. I'll also be able to print a lot of parts for this, but I'll probably want to get some black filament for optical reasons.

First I want to do some protist sketches, I picked up a protists book at a used bookstore a while ago and it got me really hyped to do protist watching. This is definitely at some level me trying to replace macroscopic wildlife spotting in my life.

[coltgroup]

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Air-cooled compressors are quieter than water-cooled compressors but still make some noise when operating. Although this is a potential issue, it can be fixed. There are several air cooler varieties that, until recently, were little known and infrequently utilised but which will reduce noise considerably. Coolers that use water or oil as their medium are the market leaders. Both types transfer heat from the refrigerant and its surroundings to the liquid phase of your cooling system using a sealed heat exchanger.

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[andy-wm]

AI couple photos are crossing the line.

PLEASE STOP!!

What's with all the AI edits suddenly??

The elves, vampires, pirates... fine. Those are fun and cute, although im a bit over them now. Fantasy characters I am okay with, but I am not comfortable with the family portraits. They are just... wrong.

And now this... Even worse!

I unfortunately happened to stumble on intimate (not explicit but very personal) AI edits of JK & T on inst@

I can't imagine how compromising it must feel for them to have all this real-looking manufactured intimacy floating around the web. It's bad enough that AI songs are using their voices but this is another level.

(I've pixilated/filtered these because i don't want to contribute to the problem)

Edits of intimately close couple shots . This is crossing a line.

I'm not specifying who the members are. I'm sure these exist for many pairs that delulu shippers want to see together. I did NOT go looking for jikook photos - i dont want to see them.

I'm sure Hybe knows already - is also their job after all, to protect their artists - but i have reported it on the protect@ email address.

How far will it go?

I'm incredibly frustrated that people who call themselves ARMY are creating and sharing these. If you are doing it, please stop. Put yourself in their shoes. I dont know in what universe it's ok to create photorealistic images of real people doing things they would never do (certainly not in public) and think its all a bit of fun.

YUCK. JUST... NO

It should be illegal imo.

Just as bad are the comments insinuating they are 'real enough'.

Remember the hysteria over the Taennie Paris photos? Especially the ridiculous the cosplay accusations?

It worries me where this will go,

When people are so desperate to prove their ship that they manufacture evidence, where will they draw the line?

If you are tempted to go looking for these, please report them when you find them.

Protect@bighitmusic.co.kr

💜

[omegaremix]

Rioux, 1999.

Post-Brentwood was a turning point in my life. The minute I heard Sick Of It All played at Drew’s (♀) graduation party was the very minute my music tastes would change forever. As an Eighties’ kid, I grew up on Duran Duran, Run DMC, Alisha, Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam, Poison, and other chart-toppers. Anything could be ‘pop’ if it becomes popular enough. That’s how it got its name. Pop set me up to be diverse person I am now with stations like New York City’s Z100 where there’s a new market trend manufactured and released every five years to be fed on by the majority.

“Maladjusted” blasted through her backyard boombox for all of fifty of her closest friends and classmates to hear; the same friends and classmates who laughed at me or ignored me for being a poser. They weren’t laughing or shit-talking behind my back now that they saw me at Drew’s get-together. “How did he get in?” they wondered. That didn’t matter. They didn’t say shit to me. I never saw most of them again after that, nor did I keep tabs, either. I asked Drew who they were and she told me. Boy, did it go down angry and aggressive. I didn’t hear anything like it. So I went to the South Shore Mall’s record store and copped Scratched The Surface on cassette to quickly become my go-to record during senior-year summer. That was my introduction to hardcore and the start of something more personal and relatable than what I listened to before.

Shortly thereafter, Wipeout XL came out for Playstation and my trajectory in taste had changed for a second time. It was one of the first games released that had a major soundtrack thanks to disc capacity. A line-up of Underworld, Fluke, Photek, Future Sound Of London, The Prodigy, and Chemical Brothers gave me a three-month head start before - you guessed it - pop and alternative rock stations jumped on that wagon as the next great profit maker. Even stations changed their formats for a night or two to keep up with the hottest trend of the year, such as when Atari Teenage Riot slipped through the airwaves and literally changed my attitude of music. Another hand would be dealt, and one which was the most fascinating: industrial. Mortal Kombat motion picture soundtracks were the gateway to it after establishing Nine Inch Nails, Filter, and Ministry as my Big Three. I snatched up on three Meat Beat Manifesto tapes, four Skinny Puppy discs, The Wax Trax box set and label mail order, and some Cleopatra label compilations. (Yeah, I know. No need to tell me.) It all goes to show how a lot can happen in one year before heading to community college.

Whether or not I had employment, I still managed to purchase tons of music. It became a beast I constantly had to feed. I had record store visits, radio, magazines, and now the internet (‘world wide web’ they once called it) to keep me updated. Every week I found something new to check out. Oh, look. Alec Empire is on the cover of another magazine! The December 1997 issue of Wire, #166. Have to buy it as his stock was riding high with (once again) Atari Teenage Riot and his DHR label. On the way to Empire’s glow-up were two other artists I came across in their pages: Autechre (who they proclaimed as noise gods) and Merzbow.

When you keep hearing the same names over and over, eventually they’ll get you to check them out. That’s what happened with those two and with expectations - what you shouldn’t have when diving into an artist or album. Autechre’s Tri Repetae++ caught me off guard. They said it was an electronic record and I foolishly thought it was techno instead. I hear the album opener “Dael” expecting a build-up leading to an explosion of sound. Wrong. The minimal structure and complex melodic rhythms of a cold, mechanical, emotionless being started as-is and moved its way to the end. This wasn’t anything to a traditional dance record I was accustomed to. No. These were experiments that Sean Booth and Rob Brown created which were so innovative that they’ve gotten endless praise for them since. A few listens later and I had Tri Repetae++ on constant repeat.

Merzbow? That’s another story. Like Tri Repetae++, I bought Pulse Demon at the Port Jefferson Music Den, once a bastion of everything obscure which hasn’t existed in 20 years. That was my introduction to noise. Fucking Lady Godiva riding on a Sybian did I not know what was in store for me that day. It was the shiniest and sharpest-sounding thing I now had in my collection. I load the disc in, pressed play and - what?! It was one giant maelstrom of harsh white noise, produced and output louder than usual, complete with Bridget Riley-esque op-art and its silvery prismatic sheen. Pulse Demon was devoid of any rhythm, melody, beats, measurements, sound structure, tonality, vocals, or even a sense of time whatsoever. It was a giant endurance test that felt like there was no end in sight. Again, expectations are a foolish thing to ask for.

I didn’t know what to think. I immediately dismissed it and never played it again. I couldn’t say I was actively disappointed or put-off but rather dissuaded. It was nothing what I experienced. Back then, I was a feature writer for the student paperduring my disastrous time at community college’s middle campus. The campus majority consisted mostly of shallow club-goers and superficial people who stood in their safe comfort zone of basic dance music, fashion, and friends who judged and dismissed anyone who were weird or different from them. I always went against the grain and reached for something different and challenging; things that loudmouth belligerent chauvinist Opie & Anthony fans were too stupid to learn from. I had no other albums to review on the backburner, so Pulse Demon was it for the following issue. I was honest about my take on it: it was an unlistenable mess of a joke. I handed in my 1,000 words to our features editor, a long-haired burnout held over from the hippie generation, and it finally saw print in one of our Spring issues.

The day after my review came out, I was called in to the office by my editor-in-chief Phil. Somehow we got word from a professor who read my article and took issue with it. “Really?” I said. But it didn’t stop there. Phil also told me that Professor Rioux wanted me to visit his office to discuss the article with him.

I failed an article for a professor I didn’t even know I had?

Phil had him for English. But not to fear. The overall consensus was that he was friendly, calm, and reasonable with his students. And here was an odd moment he shared with me: Pfr. Rioux played some of his favorite weird music during an end-of-the-semester holiday party for his students to hear. Seriously, not to fear. He sounded like someone I would connect with. Phil assured me that all would be fine and ended up arranging a time and day to meet up with him. That would be next week Wednesday after the publisher’s meeting.

I arrive at Prf. Rioux’ office where he welcomed me in and introduced himself, dressed up in the usual teacher’s attire of blazer and dress pants. So far, so good. I sat down in his office and looked around to notice two rows of tapes sitting on a desk next to his bookshelf. There was a Temple Ov Psychick Youth cross hung up on the wall and also noticed the black shirt he was hearing under his blazer which featured Aube’s Quadrotation on it.

We sat down for a good 45 minutes discussing my article. Not once was Prf. Rioux mean, belittling, or off-handed - unlike others who called themselves ‘professors’. Rather, he gave me constructive criticism. Judging by my article, he told me that I missed the mark on Merzbow and didn’t come into the album open-minded. Clearly I didn’t understand noise music enough for me to write what I did and there was way more to it than I thought. The most important takeaway was that I shouldn’t have compared noise to anything else in a traditional sense. Sure, it was an entirely different animal that can still have value, substance, a structure, a methodology, and a meaning to it all like everything else.

So he kindly offered to make me three cassettes of whatever rang familiar and whom I was curious about to widen my horizons and get a better understanding. All early industrial and / or noise. Wonderful. I obliged. One week later, I returned to his office where he had them all ready for me. I thanked him for the tapes and said goodbye to him.

What was on those tapes? First, Merzbow. Not surprisingly. Three unknown tracks from the Lord of Harsh Noise. On the other side was Masonna, another Japanese noise artist whose Inner Mind Mystique finished up tape #1. Tape #2 was more varied. I heard very little of Coil other than “The Snow” off the Wax Trax compilation. Right after that was Jim G. Thirwell / Foetus whom followed up with three tracks. (Coincidentally, both aforementioned artists remixed Nine Inch Nails). Rioux threw on three tracks from Einsturzende Neubauten’s Kollaps with a small sampling of Clock DVA tracks from Black Souls In White Suits. Our final tape had a good ten tracks of Death In June whom I never heard of, and several versions of Throbbing Gristle’s “Discipline” rounded out all that Prf. Rioux gave me. Never had I received anything like it from any professor.

I was forever grateful. I played those tapes to good use, enough to go back into my usual grind of music and artist reviews with a better understanding and reasoning. I didn’t review any of the artists after that Merzbow debacle, but my stance of him changed for the better and went back to Pulse Demon several more times. I happened to purchase several more of his albums where I could, dove back into Inner Mind Mystique and picked up on Nic Endo’s White Heat when that was released. I pushed more heavily into Einsturzende Neubauten’s chaotic phase, Clock DVA’s experimental era, and the world of Throbbing Gristle. I would be only toes deep with the other artists; checking in from time to time.

What were the chances that anyone (who appreciated the genesis of industrial and a knowledgeable noise fan) would notice a specific artist printed in a campus newspaper no less? It was bad enough that I dealt with one disappointment after another interacting with people and trying to find my place on campus; which I eventually did with neutral results. Where reaching out to people with similar tastes in music were few and far between (only one or two people on campus wore Dead Voices On Air, Ant-Zen, and Ras DVA shirts), someone reached out to me instead. Of all the professors I ever had, no one and I mean no one had that kind of knowledge that Prf. Rioux did, with mixtapes to boot, too.

As his tapes played in my Walkman while trekking around campus, everything else around me was happening as usual. Cover bands and boring flavorless local bar acts peppered the Long Island music scene. WBLI continued to pump out more puerile paint-by-number club mixes as usual with Fatboy Slim and Robbie Williams up next. Ska fans hopped out of the woodwork to defend their precious circus music and became overnight know-it-all elitists ready to play the scene-politics card. And free pink PVC cowboy hats came included with Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Spice Girls, and Limp Bizkit worship. Forget it. The late Nineties was clearly a bad era in music and pop culture - and it still had time to get even worse. The only places of solace I had were the few record stores I frequented. Commack’s Cheapo’s, West Babylon’s Looney Tunes, Central Islip’s Mother’s Music, Port Jefferson’s Music Den, and Centereach’s None Of The Above. At least they catered everything to my choosing.

But I never forgot where I came from or lost track of where I headed. By the time I attended Stony Brook, I fell victim to the Mothers Of Noise ‘scandal’ and discovered Prurient from it. I’d be one of the few on campus familiar with Whitehouse, Boyd Rice / NON, and even Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music on top of everything else.Each and every one of these artists were mentioned in my new wave of reviews and I even featured on my radio show. I also never forgot those tapes. I still have them, and they became one of the few shining reminders of an era that was mostly ill to me.

Cassette #1, side A:

Merzbow: “???”, “???”, “???”

Cassette #1, side B:

Masonna: Inner Mind Mystique

Cassette #2, side A:

Coil: ”Panic”, “Tenderness Of Wolves”, “Clay”, The Anal Staircase”

Foetus: “What Have You Been Doing?”, “Today I Started Slogging Again”, “Gums Bleed”

Cassette #2, side B:

Einsturzende Neubauten: “Tanz Debil”, “Steh Auf Berlin”, “Kollaps”

Clock DVA: “Consent”, “Anti-Chance”, “Uncertain”

Cassette #3, side A:

Death In June: “Hello Angel”, “Heaven Street”, “She Said Destroy”, “Fall Apart”, “Leper Lord”, “C’est Un Reve”, “Touch Defiles”, “The Torture Garden”, “Come Before Christ…”

Cassette #3, side B:

Throbbing Gristle: three live “Discipline” performances.

[hypervoxel]

Referencing one of the fics I talked about here, the "this was supposed to be about Redemption. it isn't." Vox-centric rape aftermath one, which will now be going behind a readmore with that description as your warning

I need to talk about this forever but I am not close to publishing anything yet. But I do have a lot of it plotted out (with no ending in sight though, unfortunately).

Vox, at his core, wants to be liked. Where other Overlords lean into the fear their power inspires, Vox softens himself and puts on a friendly smile. He needs public approval. He yearns for their affection, their eyes, their obsession. He made an AI assistant modeled and named after himself on all of their phones/watches/devices.

But Vox still is an Overlord, and you don't get power in Hell without making people hate you.

The Vees have a hold not just on media, but on drugs, real estate, construction, data centers, manufacturing, the entire electrical grid and fiber optic lines, the list goes on and on. Vox's empire touches every corner of their city; no one is free from his influence unless they shun modernity entirely.

It's the drugs that cause an issue this time.

Valentino has been beefing with The Alchemist since that mutt first made a name for himself. His aesthetic was ancient to match the name, but the Alchemist is a new sinner, some lowlife who thought that because he knew how to make lean in life, he could make a name for himself here and branch out into all sorts of new, hellish drugs. Thing is, addicts are the easiest soul contract you'll ever make. Promise to supply their addiction, and as long as you can, you'll collect souls as quickly as you can make Deals. The Alchemist getting to new Sinners before the Vees get a chance to becomes a problem.

Valentino has plenty of enforcers to take care of uppity wannabe Overlords encroaching on their turf though. The problem should be short-lived.

It isn't.

Vox hasn't been paying much attention to it. These things come and go, as gangsters die and Valentino forces them into submission. Val may focus more on his Porn Studio now, but he got his Overlord status through taking out the old families and cartels, the mobs and mafias running Pentagram City, taking over their drug trafficking and brothels. So Vox didn't worry about it. Val might need direction when dealing with his public persona, didn't know when to tone himself down for polite company, but when the situation called for Val's brand of violence? Vox let him handle it.

He realized, after the drinks at his investor meeting led to him collapsing dizzily to the floor, reaching out blindly for the now non-existent electrical grid and realizing that the building's power had been cut off, that he should have paid more attention to who might have it out for The Vees right now, and which investors weren't in Valentino's pocket.

... He escapes eventually. They may have been smart enough to keep him away from electrical wires, but one finally made the mistake of not putting his phone on airplane mode while recording their captive Overlord, and Vox used it as a jump point.

The damage had already been done.

Val is still ranting about his typical inane drama, and Vox wants nothing more than to look at his phone. He can't do that. Not until his algorithm cleans up any mention of. Himself. In compromising situations. It's being posted faster than the bots can take it down, but at least Vox has turned off any direct messages, blocked the usual pings alerting him every time he's mentioned, and filtered emails to only show what is absolutely and immediately necessary for the continued running of VoxTek. Even that decision has also been posted about online, people making fun of him for not being able to handle the backlash. He used to have a language model AI answering comments and DMs, a personal touch for his fans. It had responded to far too many messages about how good he looked in his latest broadcast with the standard thanks and appreciation for their support, before he disabled it. Vox was sure screenshots of those responses were also still going around.

The Vee's retribution on the other Overlord is to torture him and his inner circle on live video. The Alchemist posted several recordings of Vox's rape online to further humiliate him, so the Vees will pay back like with like, making use of Val's stash of angelic bullets to slowly kill off everyone who touched Vox. Until the Alchemist begs for mercy, tells them he'll give them anything, everything, offering up everything to them, his soul, his territory, all of his Contracts...

Velvette takes the deal. "I'll give you anything," was the phrase they agreed on, "my Contracts, yours. Money, apothecaries, everything, please." They shook on those terms, the Alchemist too out of it at this point to realize that he didn't ask for anything in return for all that he just handed over. Vox shoots him.

His death, his defeat, it doesn't fix anything.

It was supposed to. It was supposed to make everyone stop talking about Vox like he's the new most popular porn star - or at least focus on him when he's in control of the situation. Wasn't that hotter? Filmed professionally by Valentino's best director instead of on a handheld shaking cell phone and. It was supposed to show everyone that you can't mess with The Vees. Wins against them are only temporary. They'll come out on top in the end. But everyone was still talking about old news.

Anyway. Many more thoughts but this is long enough lmao. A huge focus of this multi series wip is how other characters react to it, not just Vox. Like: Valentino has so many issues of his own and he is projecting them onto Vox. Valentino escaped victimhood long ago, and he is no longer the kind of person who can be targeted by abusers or bigots. Vox was his equal. Vox was his.

"Hey! Vox!" There's hands on him and he reels back, but there's nowhere to go. His shoulders are wrenched out of place, arms bound by his own bowtie, nowhere to run. This isn't happening. There's something in his mouth— no there's not?— Bite me and I'll knock out your teeth,* a gruff voice is saying. Vox, they mock, Vox, they ask if he likes hearing his name chanted during. No, Vox! He puts his name on everything, should they brand him with his own logo? Would he like that? He screams when they grab his antenna and wrench his head to the side. "Vox! "You're not listening to me!" Val's expression clears as Vox blinks to awareness. His glare melts into a on of concern. "Are you seriously still thinking about that gangbanger?" Val scoffs. Frowns. Thinks of something with a smile growing across his face. One hand is on Vox's chest, another two on his hips, he guides Vox back, gently. Vox stumbles when he hits the arm of the couch, falling, flailing, landing on his back with an oomf Val crawls over top of him. "Stop thinking about them, Voxxy. You know I can show you a much better time." Vox flinches when Val's hand trails lower onto his thigh, trying to wiggle away for the first time, and Val's brows furrow. "I didn't think you were hurt there," he mutters. "Skin graft," Vox squeaks, breathless. He hated feeling breathless. He didn't even need to breathe.

Velvette, well. She was the person Vox teleported to. He manifested out of her phone and knocked them both to the ground, passing out on top of her. She got the first look at him before any of his technicians were called in to fix things. He came to her. And she can't help but feel responsible for him.

In the video, they fucked him like he was a toy. No, not even that. They treated him with less regard than anyone fucked even a FizzBot. It wasn't a good video. These weren't porn directors. They weren't sex workers who had trained to make this art. It was brutal and it was vulgar and it didn't even look good. Bad angles and shaky camera, but shared tens of thousands of times and the number was still growing. The original had been removed. She made sure of that. But that hadn't stopped its spread, couldn't do anything when people downloaded the video as quickly as they could to reupload it, far too many reposts to track down, especially with Vox still. Offline. She couldn't exactly plug herself into his supercomputer. Velvette was the Social Media Queen. She was the Online Overlord. She was meant to be in charge of The Vees' images online, currating how they presented themselves to that hungry audience. This wasn't supposed to get out of her control. —— But she had posted about Vox in the afteraffects of Val's venom, doped to his gills on the thing she had recreated into Love Potion. She had tagged it for a free promo of her own products. Vox was funny when his tongue was loose and his affection and attention freely given. And Vox thought humanizing himself was important, some twisted idea leftover from life about being "robotic" that dictated his body in the afterlife and left him desperate to be understood as a living, albeit no longer breathing human being. He softened himself to be less of a monster to anyone looking, dressed himself like he wasn't a threat, smiled and laughed and and. It was her idea to capitalize on Val and Vox's relationship. Well, Val was the one who first callously posted about breaking Vox's screen, but it was her idea to turn it into a running joke. It was funny when Val punched Vox and threw things at him and broke his fucking face. It was funny, because unlike bruises and bloody noses, Vox's screen was easily replaceable glass. It broke so easily, anyone who managed to get a lucky hit on him while fighting could no longer feel satisfied by that when Vox's boyfriend did more damage than a rival Overlord could ever manage to. Glass was easy to break. Vox didn't like fighting back, but it was funny, was barely even violence. It meant nothing more than rolled eyes and a swiftly scheduled appointment with a technician to switch out screens. No one was supposed to look at the image she created and come to the conclusion that Vox was easy to subdue. It wasn't supposed to make Vox look weak. It was supposed to make him impossible to hurt, because any damage done was so easy to fix that it was no big deal at all. But. His face was so easy to break. He was so loose limbed and pliant on Love Potion. He might have claws, but he preferred not to use them, hiding behind cameras and screens all day. What the fuck were people supposed to take from that?

Other characters have thoughts too. Alastor isn't online, doesn't know the backstory, but Vox makes his picture shows impossible to miss with displays all over the city. Vox has become unrecognizable. Alastor is disgusted that they used to be acquaintances.

Cherri gleefully sends Angel every vindictive meme about Vox she sees. She wishes it had happened to Valentino instead, but Vox is also profiting off of her bestie's abuse, so he absolutely deserves everything that happened to him and more.

Angel laughed about it at first, but... It doesn't feel right to celebrate anyone's rape. And some of Cherri's comments... Angel has been used to sell this lifestyle to the new talent Valentino wants to make Deals with. He's responsible for ruining so many lives, hanging off Val's arm and telling people how great it is to work for him. And long before that, Angel was involved in the Mafia and, well, like Val himself, they didn't just make money on drugs, did they? Angel wonders if his best friend would be so supportive of him if she knew all this. He wonders of she'd think he deserves his fate too.

Carmilla, like Alastor, is not very online. She hears from her daughters that there's a reason The Vees are doing this, but the girls aren't sharing any details, and don't stay to watch the broadcast Vox has forced onto their TV. She watches The Vees make a Deal with a Sinner and immediately turn around and kill him with one of her weapons. Overlords are meant to protect the Souls that have been entrusted to them. Souls are valuable, the most valuable thing you have to offer anyone. What message is Vox spreading, making mockery of Deals this way, acting like Souls are worthless and can be thrown away. The Vees are just making Sinners less likely to sell themselves to anyone.

Carmilla had scheduled a meeting for fellow Overlords to talk about saving as many Sinners as possible in the upcoming Exterminations. The Vees were meant to attend, but obviously, they are uninterested in keeping the Sinners entrusted to their care alive. She uninvites them. (Vox is still filtering out his emails. He doesn't get this one. The Vees show up anyway.)

Charlie thinks about violence a lot. It's inescapable. She doesn't use her phone much, but she learns what happened to Vox and nearly cries. She makes a post about how violence shouldn't be celebrated and wishes Vox well in his recovery. Days later, she watches Vox take over the television and the three Vees torture the people who tortured him, and she thinks about what will happen when she has the opportunity to reach out to two Sinners who hurt each other. She wants to think they can all be redeemed, that her hotel should be open to anyone. She watches the screen through her fingers, unable to look away as Vox kills the Sinner on his knees before him, cackling. She watches The Vees kiss each other over the dead body, tender and loving, the broadcast ending as Vox rests his screen against Velvette's hair and Valentino wraps all of his arms around the two. And she thinks about forgiveness, and she wonders what she would do if someone hurt Vaggie.

[rexxdjarin]

Unwritten

The Captain's Log Prequel

A Captain Rex x OC: Mari Vontas Origin Story

Chapter 1: Someone New

Series Summary: Mari Vontas has spent nearly twenty years of her life rising to the surface of the bustling ecumenopolis of the Republic Capital planet of Coruscant. Now, about a year into the conflict known galaxy-wide as the Clone Wars, Mari finds herself on a Civilian Rights Committee serving closely under none other than Senator Padmé Amidala. Though her passion for justice fuels her professionally, her personal life has yet to catch up. That is, until a night at the clone bar 79s changes her passion for her job, her historically rocky love life and the trajectory of her destiny forever.

Series Tags/Warnings: Rated E (18+ Only MINORS DNI), canon compliant, canon typical violence, political themes, war references, battle trauma and loss, human rights discussions and most importantly lots and lots of smut and heartstopping relationship drama and fluff.

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Pairing: Captain Rex x OC Mari Vontas Word Count: 8.8k Series Rating: Explicit (18+ only, Minors DO NOT INTERACT) Chapter Summary: The Captain's Log prequel has arrived :) Your favorite couple had to start somewhere… Chapter Warnings: 18+ as usual but SFW, No Smut this time, Mature Themes, Suggestive Situations, Language, Political References, References to Canon Plot, References to Canon, Mutual Pining

21 BBY - One Year into the Clone War

A great outfit and a steaming cup of caf in hand were all Mari ever needed to start her mornings. Before she moved up to the planet's surface where the sun could actually reach her at the break of dawn, caf was the only thing strong enough to wake her and trick her body into realizing it was the start of a new day. Coruscant’s lower levels never got sun, and those who called it home had to rely on stimulants and artificial sunlight to feel even a fraction of the climate the surface did.

No matter how long she lived above the cityscape horizon line, she could never get used to it. Tepid air breezed through her long dark hair as she stood on the platform for the airtram, carrying the cool tang of fresh rain with it that was never present in the stale atmosphere of recycled air in the underground world. The warmth that came from this system’s sun, instead of a manufactured heat source, tinged her exposed shoulders as it rose to start the day.

The platform continued to crowd with lifeforms of more species than she could count. The place seemed more crowded than usual as beings of every kind tried to make their way to work on time. No surprise there, as the galaxy’s capital flooded with more and more refugees from planets consumed by the Clone War.

The war tore entire worlds apart, contributed to mass organized crime and terrorism, and displaced millions every day. The Republic Senate had already spent an entire year funding the conflict, and discussing interplanetary negotiations and organizing relief efforts had become part of Mari’s daily life. Every conflict prompted relief bills, investigative committees, and political lobbying. It was a lot more than she had initially signed up for–an entirely different world than the spying and whistleblowing she had done in the Coruscanti underworld as a young girl.

Still, she could help people–people lost and alone like she once was–without any family to turn to or a place to live. She could make a difference. Luckily, she was placed under the best senator in the galaxy, Senator Padmé Amidala, Representative of Naboo. Padmé headed the special interest Civilian Rights Committee to which Mari had been assigned close to a year ago. It was little more than admin work at times, but it was less dangerous than being a double agent and far better than being a thief.

The airtram approached with a slow, steely screech, doors opening and allowing passengers in and out. Mari filtered in with the crowd, taking the lone seat at the end like she always did. She had a perfect view of the surface this way and, even on her worst days, it made her realize how far she’d come after nearly 20 years on her own. Now, she spent the majority of the short ride to the Senate Rotunda mentally preparing herself for the day ahead. 

General Kenobi had recently reported back to the Jedi Council and Republic Senate after freeing a small handful of Ryloth’s population from a Separatist hostage situation, and the details so far were extremely grim. With the Republic quickly working to provide support to the Twi’leks, Mari and Padmé had spent the last few weeks exploring every humanitarian avenue they could to find covert ways to provide emergency relief supplies to those suffering in the midst of their battle for liberation. 

As Mari watched the airtram approach the Senate Building stop, she sincerely hoped either Padmé or Bail had come up with some ingenious way to transport the starving people some food and medical supplies. Maker knew Padmé’s close ties with her Jedi friends often helped the committee break barriers that other Senators or special interest groups would have trouble circumventing.

The crimson halls of the Senate Building always energized Mari, even when the work got hard. Every one of her colleagues was highly regarded throughout the galaxy and it was an honor to have even a tangential association with any of them. 

She made her way through the bustling lifeforms to the lifts that led to her office. The quick rides were always the same. Most senate staffers like her were too busy to have a real conversation, and senators themselves didn’t concern themselves with the staff of colleagues they weren’t directly involved with.

That left Mari with only one option for socializing outside of her direct coworkers: The hard-working and friendly clone troopers of the Coruscant Guard. The elite troopers were assigned to deal with issues on Coruscant, guard the Republic Senate staff, and even directly assist the chancellor himself.

Mari exited the lift and made a beeline for her favorite trooper’s office. Coincidentally, the senate had given Amidala’s special interest committee an office that was only a few doors down from his, and Mari was overjoyed at the opportunity to annoy him with her presence even more than usual.

She approached the doors to his office, knocking a few quick times and hoping he was there already. Before she could knock again, the doors hissed open and she was greeted by a set of dark-circle-rimmed brown eyes and an exhausted scowl.

“Mari… please. It’s too early to be banging on shit,” he grumbled, motioning for her to come in and rubbing his temples with his fingertips. His office was an orderly mess, flimsis stacked on every corner of his desk and datapads taking up the rest of the space behind them. Mari had tried to help him organize it on more than one occasion but he liked it this way. He seemed to thrive on chaos. That was all he knew as Commander of the Coruscant Guard.

“Well then, Fox, good thing I brought you this,” she smiled, extending him the cup of caf she had carried all the way from her place. He leaned on the front of his desk, looking up at her as his scowl broke with the tiniest hint of a smile.

“Nah, c'mon. I can’t take that. That’s yours.” He waved her off, trying his best to refuse the one thing he obviously craved. Mari knew better than any civilian just how much Fox went through on a day-to-day basis. She could see it in the exhaustion behind his hooded eyes and through the graying hair at his temples that he was far, far too young to have. He never outright admitted that he struggled with a lot of his overwhelming duties as Marshal Commander of an entire planet’s armed forces. But Mari knew, so she did her best to look out for his well-being as much as she could.

“Fox…” she narrowed her eyes, scolding him gently, “take it. I’ll make more in our office.” She stepped toward him, offering it insistently and smiling at him, taking full advantage of the effect her big, pleading, brown eyes had on most men.

He rolled his eyes, sighing as he took the cup from her and shook his head. “Probably gonna be too sweet for me,” he grumbled, friendly irritation creeping into his deep voice. She arched her brow at him, folding her arms as she waited for him to take a sip. He did and his body language immediately changed to one of soothing relaxation, at least as much as Commander Fox ever could relax. “This is black caf…y-you know my caf order?”

“I’m observant. The Senator and I keep extra stocked in our office if you ever need it. That goes for all of you, actually,” Mari pointed out, patting Fox on the bicep and turning to head out of his office.

“Thanks, Sunshine. But the boys and I try our best to avoid being anywhere near Amidala. That’s the Torrent boys’ problem,” he chuckled, referring to the men in General Skywalker’s battalion who always seemed to be around and available if the senator ever needed extra help or security. Fox and the Corries had enough to worry about without getting sucked into anything General Skywalker was doing.

“Well then if I ever see them, they’ll get the good caf before you,” she laughed, turning on her heels and walking out his door. “See ya later, Fox.” He waved back, taking a few more hearty sips of caf as a final response. 

Her office door was already open, filled with more and more of her colleagues starting their long day. She took a deep breath and followed inside, fully prepared for a day of emotionally taxing humanitarian work.

“Good morning, Mari,” a pleasant and gorgeous Senator Amidala called from her private office on the other side of the room. “Your plan to send hydration boosters to Ryloth was a huge success. They were extremely grateful. Look at you, making a difference,” she giggled approvingly, making her way toward Mari’s desk.

“Thank you, Senator. Just tried my best to think of what I wanted when I was in their position. Helps to recall your own experience at times,” Mari explained, drawing upon times she wished she could forget now that she was in a better place. Padmé stopped at her desk and sat gingerly on the edge, adjusting a few of the lights and decorations that came with it.

“Of course. That makes perfect sense. You’re very empathetic and helpful. It’s one of the main reasons I wanted you on this committee. You care,” she sighed, looking out her massive office window at the sun now fully risen on a new Coruscant day. “It’s not always easy finding those who do these days. Compassion is a choice that not everyone is strong enough to make. I’m glad you’re one of those people, Mari.” Padmé smoothed out the wrinkles on her elegant purple robe and stood up, pointing at something on my desk just out of sight. “By the way, I left you a cup of caf. I saw you came in without one. Enjoy and good luck today.”

Mari turned over her shoulder to a massive cup of caf sitting just beside her holopad, already pinging with tasks assigned to her for the day. She smiled gratefully, sitting down to take a sip. Milk and two sugars. Exactly how she liked it. Padmé was truly one of the most thoughtful and giving people she knew.

As she settled in at her desk for the day, she scrolled through her holopad notifications to sort out which tasks warranted action first. Most of them were the usual report write-ups being due or news from Jedi Generals on different battlefronts across the galaxy. That meant a long, long day of typing on a screen. 

Hours ticked by before she could look up from her desk again. The senator was stuck in closed-door holocalls, likely for the rest of the day, and her coworkers had seemingly already taken their breaks. Mari gathered her things and followed suit, heading out of her office and toward the dining hall on the outside patio. Her personal comm that she’d left on silent during her working hours was flooded with messages.

Three of her girlfriends had been concocting a plan for tonight. They’d been trying to coordinate schedules to plan an outing for weeks now, especially to distract Mari from the disastrous end of her last relationship with an ambitious banking clan advisor named Kiro Jorr. Kiro, annoyingly, was the sender of another string of messages.

She perused through his thread first, rolling her eyes at the shallow excuse for an apology he’d been trying to communicate to her since the beginning of the week. There wasn’t anything he could say that would change her mind. He’d done nothing but treated her like a trophy, an object to be marveled at and never heard or listened to. He liked how she looked, voluptuous and curvy in all the right ways, but didn’t ever care about her thoughts or feelings. 

Mari had finally had enough of being seen as only good for one thing and broke it off with the person she thought she’d grow to love someday. She wasn’t exceedingly heartbroken by it. It was a necessary change and she dealt with the loss the way she always did– a few casual hookups and many drunken nights with her friends at 79s. It also helped that her best friend was one of the most well-liked bartenders there.

Siviee Vilhar was the peppiest, daintiest Mikkian in the history of forever. Her pale green skin was tipped with deep purple on all her appendages, and her tinted lips always wore a pleasant smile. She and Mari had grown up on the streets together, supporting themselves by secretly filtering underworld crime dealings and intel to the political committees dedicated to ending such corrupt behavior on Triple Zero. While Mari had her sights set on joining the Galactic Senate, Siviee was more than happy to take the credits as a reward for her work and live a comfortable life being everyone’s favorite vivacious bartender. 

Naturally, having all her girlfriends at the bar dominated by Republic clones was a great way for her to get tips and for the girls to have a guaranteed great time. Nearly all the messages were Siviee encouraging both their friends, Dara and Jamelle, to convince her to join them all out tonight. Mari quickly grabbed salad that had just enough in it to interest her and made her way out to the courtyard to find a quiet place to sort this all out.

It was good timing because Mari had been toying around with finally moving on. Not to her next sexual conquest, but to something real. Someone special and different who cared about the galaxy and her place in it. Sleeping around wasn’t fun anymore and taking the long break she had from serious dating after Kiro was allowing too much of her loneliness to factor into her decision-making. She did not want to go back on her promise to herself because she couldn’t stand being alone for long enough to wait for the right guy.

No. Tonight could serve as her last hoorah, saying goodbye to the reckless party girl who took home anyone she needed to satisfy her. Maker knew she’d never been interested in adding her personal baggage onto the already impossibly full plate of any clone, so 79s would be as good a place as any to dance and have fun for once. Since most clones weren’t interested in long-term relationships, she could go out without any expectations, and no one would get hurt or attached. If she ended up wanting to have a final one-night stand with a clone, then so be it. She could start fresh in the morning with no one holding her back either way.

She erased the meaningless, pleading apology thread from Kiro once and for all and blocked his channel from her comms. That way she’d never be tempted to go back there. She was a different person now. A better one who put herself and the good of the galaxy first– just like her wonderful mentor, Senator Amidala. 

She pinged the thread with her girlfriends immediately after that, solidifying her plans for the night with just two little words:

I’m in. :) 

—

Every goddamn clone in 79s had their eyes on her. The bolder or more experienced ones tried buying her drinks or asking her to dance. They were all handsome in their own ways, but their approach was wrong. Most of the time, the legions of clones who hung out in the bars were there to blow off a certain kind of steam, and Mari was still deciding whether or not she was up for that this evening.

More than a few times, Mari had indulged in heavy flirtation and banter with clones from lots of different regiments. They were all nice enough, but the days of taking men home to have her way with them were far behind her. She wanted something new, something more stable if she could find it. Stepping foot in a bar filled with conscripted clones--destined for, at best, a very unstable long-term relationship and, at worst, tragic death--was not a great start.

Tonight, the bar was filled with an especially raucous and celebratory group of blue-and-white-marked clones. The notorious and renowned 501st. Mari always heard stories from her other senate-adjacent friends about this particular group’s antics, and the second she saw them milling about the club tonight, she knew she was going to be hounded by all the wrong types.

These boys were definitely fun, rowdy, loud, and entertaining, but Mari’s long days of diplomatic strategy meetings and seminars made her incredibly wary of men like this. This did not stop them from trying their hardest to get her to come home with them. Mari and her friends, Dara and Jamelle, were encircled by a particularly boisterous group of men at the present moment. 

One was tattooed across the face almost entirely with the Republic cog, cementing a permanent and intense loyalty to the Republic. He was the first to ask her to dance, politely offering his hand and nodding coolly when she stepped all over his pride by declining him. He turned to Dara, who looked at her like she was crazy, before accepting the hand he’d just offered her and leading him onto the dance floor herself.

The next smirked at Mari devilishly. With a small 5 tattoo on the upper right of his forehead and dark facial hair covering his strong jaw, he was definitely making her second guess her no more sleeping around rule. This group of clones was already strikingly more individual than the guys from the Corrie Guard she saw at work nearly every day. Reading her body language enough to know she wasn’t repulsed by the sight of him, he chuckled, “What do you drink? Would buy a girl as stunning as you whatever she wanted…” He nodded at Siviee, who started fixing what she could only assume was his usual.

“No– no that’s alright.” Mari smiled gently trying to decline him before she made a decision she knew she’d regret. Mischief twinkled in this clone's eyes like he knew he could probably charm her into accepting it. He’d definitely played this little game before.

“Well at least let me introduce myself then. Fives. The name’s Fives,” he confessed, accepting a drink that looked like purple poison from Siviee, who shot her a holy shit he’s into you glance.

“Yes, I gathered that. It’s tattooed on your forehead,” Mari chuckled, motioning casually to it and rolling her eyes. He laughed and shook his head, amused at her ability to keep him on his toes. She gripped her glass, the few final drips of Corellian Whiskey in it begging to be finished. She tipped it toward herself and sipped slowly.

“Whiskey huh? That’s a big drink for such a pretty little thing,” he flirted, elbowing a third brother who was chatting respectfully and kindly to Jamelle, his chest plate covered in a blue handprint. This man smiled at Jamelle to excuse himself before turning toward them.

“That’s our captain’s drink,” he spoke, much softer than his very brazen, flirtatious brother. “Which…you still owe him, Fives,” he reminded, clinking their glasses together and gesturing over their shoulder at another yet unseen clone. The crowd was buzzing with similar blue and white men, bobbing up and down to music or laughing amongst friends.

Fives sighed out loud, “Oh yeah. Better grab that or he won’t let me forget it.” He waved Siviee over again and motioned for her to grab another glass of whiskey for Mari. 

Siviee glared at Mari as she handed her another drink, motioning obnoxiously to make a move, encouraging her to maybe entertain herself with the exceedingly handsome clone for one last time. 

“Hey, don’t be so hard on him. He never comes out with us,” the quieter one said, turning back to Jamelle and shrugging in annoyance at his brother’s constant interruptions.

“That’s because he doesn’t know how to have fun, Echo,” Fives replied, rolling his eyes while accepting the drinks from Siviee’s bright smiling face.

“That’s not fair. He just doesn’t have the time. As much as he could use it. He works too hard.” Echo shrugged, patting Jamelle on the hand before motioning for her to head out to the dance floor while he waited for their drinks. 

That piqued Mari’s interest slightly. Yeah. A guy like that. Focused on his job, doing what needs to be done. She admired that kind of drive and focus so much in a partner; That same kind of drive she was trying to embody as she grew out of her wild child partying days.

Mari tapped her new glass back onto the counter and tossed her hair behind her shoulders, straightening her body up against the bar top. Fives’ brows raised as he side-eyed her very full set of breasts outlined by her tight black dress. She spun her chair around to look out into the crowd for this hard-working, focused captain of theirs. A guy like that wouldn’t be hard to spot. “Now helping a guy who needs to have a little fun… that’s something I’m interested in,” she mused, leaning back on the bar top on both of her elbows. Fives gaze traveled down her body and she let him stare, silently flexing the power she knew she currently held over him.

He shook his head. “Good luck. Captain’s never so much as talked to any of the girls in here. Usually comes back late to sweep us all up off the floor,” Fives laughed, holding two drinks in his hand and sipping the purple concoction from his own.

“Hmmm… hard-working, responsible, a leader… that’s checking a ton of boxes,” Mari smirked, bringing her new cup to her lips and starting to scan the room to guess which one he was. He couldn’t be any of the ones dancing carelessly in a crowd of equally drunk party-goers. He also wasn’t likely to be one of the very sloppy and reckless ones engaging in something salacious around the back hallways by the refreshers. That left the tables and booths. Each was dotted with men wearing lots of colors, talking to women and men of many different species. Most clones were generally pretty open when it came to the company they kept.

Squinting through the pulsing neon lights, a lone circular table in the corner caught Mari’s eye–just a few clone brothers gathered around talking. Some wore shades of yellow, but most wore the same blue as Fives. I definitely found the right table, but which is the captain?

A group of fair-skinned Twi’lek women walked past them, turning the heads of nearly every man at the table from their decidedly unimportant conversation. All except one, who’d barely even looked up from a datapad he’d been perusing through, and who didn’t have a drink in front of him.

His armor was a scratched-up mess, only certain parts of the white plastoid polished up. His helmet sat on the table in front of him and proudly sported an emblem Mari recognized. Jaig eyes. A symbol of undeniable valor awarded for particular acts of bravery. Not a common signet to wear. If this wasn’t a sign of something different and special about him, then the buzzed and definitively blonde hair was. Mari had never seen a blonde clone before, and she’d seen and met dozens of them.

“Any chance that’s him over there?” she asked Fives, pointing at where he sat with his eyes buried in the datapad at the table. “Captain Jaig Eyes?” Mari smiled fondly, batting her lashes flirtatiously at such a pretty, stoic, and enticing man.

Fives rolled his eyes and nodded. “You’re good. How’d you pick ‘em out so easy?” he laughed, still eyeing her like something he’d love to devour for his last meal. 

Mari took the whiskey from his hand, looking down at her lap before flicking her alluring eyes up to meet his gaze. “He’s the only one at that entire table that didn’t look at those Twi’girls like he wanted to pounce.” Mari smiled up at Fives, well aware of how good she must look to him right now while thinking only of his superior. “Mind if I take this over?” she asked, easing herself down onto her heels.

Fives shook his head, stunned by her temptatious flirting. She’d knocked him off his feet in a way he absolutely wasn’t prepared for. “Uh yeah sure I guess. But when he inevitably and stupidly says no, promise you’ll let me dance with you?” he bartered, gently grabbing her shoulder. While he certainly was nice enough, he was definitely the heartbreaker of the bunch. He was too smooth not to be. 

Sleeping with him would either end in Mari hating herself for going against what she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do or hopelessly falling for someone who didn’t want to commit to her. Stars, if meeting such a unique clone captain tonight didn’t work, then what was sleeping with one more dashingly handsome clone gonna hurt? No, I can’t. She thought. This captain was who she was meant to meet tonight. She had to tell herself that until she believed it.

Mari turned to Fives and patted his cheek softly, “Maybe, but I don’t make promises I can’t keep, Fives.” She looked up into his deep brown eyes through her own hooded lids and blinked away the sultry stare she was using on their captain from afar. She sauntered away from him, feeling his dark, brooding stare on her bouncing behind. “That lucky bastard,” she heard him curse under his breath as she crossed the crowded floor.

The men at the table were happily chattering away about battle plans-this and mission-that. Two sporting yellow armor were arm wrestling loudly to the right, taking turns sipping their drinks, but never giving up their death grip on each other. Next to them was a medical trooper, a red health signet on one of his blue and white pauldrons, casually sipping on sparkling blue liquid and conversing with the others. Directly across from the medic and the yellow boys was another 501st man, his right eye marked with a bright blue geometric tattoo that mimicked the piping he’d painted down the right side of this chest plate. This crew and their tattoos were certainly very unorthodox for having such a supposedly responsible captain. Their captain was tucked into the booth side of the table, propping his head up on a palm in tired frustration, eyes still on his datapad. Mari knew she could break that frustration easily with just a few touches.

As she approached the table, the eyes of every single man seated turned to stare at her with very serious intrigue, even halting the arm wrestling. She held her ground, her tight black dress highlighting her every curve and only serving to boost her outrageous confidence. 

The medic spoke first, “How can we help you, pretty lady?” His brown eyes crinkled into a very kind smile, not a hint of the suggestive nature that twinkled in Fives’ dark pupils before.

“Actually, I’ve got a gift for Captain Jaig Eyes, here,” Mari said rather seductively, twisting the very full whiskey glass in her wrist and biting her bottom lip into an alluring smile. The captain looked up with a jolt, the medic’s elbow to his bicep pulling him from his concentration on the datapad.

“Huh? Did Fives ever get my dri…?” He froze, as his beautifully warm amber eyes traveled from the glass in her hand up the curves of her side to meet her gaze. His mouth dropped open in surprise and his eyes went wide, in shock at the sight of Mari before him.

It was actually quite cute to get such an innocent response from the most highly regarded man at the table. The two yellow clones across from them whistled an amazed approval of her and suddenly the captain was very aware of every set of eyes around him waiting to gauge his response. But he didn’t move. He sat dumbfounded before her, his mouth unable to form the rest of his sentence.

Mari stepped forward, completely unfazed by the tension of the situation, and sat in the empty chair beside him. He reached forward to take the whiskey from her hand, but she jerked it away. 

“No, the drink is for me.” She brought the glass to her lips and sipped, maintaining direct eye contact with him as her tongue slipped past her lips. He raised a confused brow and cocked his head slightly before she set down the glass and slid forward in her chair. She leaned into him, staring deeply into his brown eyes, and ran a few gentle fingertips along his durasteel jaw. “I’m your gift,” she whispered, running a thumb across his bottom lip and smirking at him. 

He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, setting his datapad on the table. He ran his gloved hand awkwardly down his buzzed blonde hair at the nape of his neck and met her gaze again. He looked nervous, but the excited sparkle in his eyes was all she needed to see to know that he was more than interested.

“Boys… give me a minute,” he finally huffed out, glaring at the rest of the table and silently ordering them to get lost. Mari smiled at the gesture, grateful that he wanted to talk–just the two of them alone. Already a good sign of how respectable he was, even when she was being so bold.

The hastily dismissed soldiers muttered excitedly to themselves, giggling like schoolboys at their captain actually trying something for once. They all filed away from the table toward where Fives stood with his jaw dropped at the bar. 

“So, do you have a name or am I going to have to keep calling you Captain Jaig Eyes?” Mari joked, pointing to his helmet in front of him. 

He smiled, impressed that she recognized the symbol so easily. “The name’s Rex. Don’t think it’d be polite to have you call me any of the other names I usually prefer,” he said, shrugging casually as if he hadn’t just commanded at least four men to do exactly as he asked without question.

“Rex. Nice to meet you,” she complimented, the name rolling off her tongue delightfully. It was fitting for him. Intense and rough, but something still so perfectly familiar and safe about it. 

“And who might you be?” Rex asked, settling back in his seat.

“I’m Mari,” she responded, watching his eyes crinkle joyfully like his medic brother’s had before. 

He had such a handsome face–a strong rounded jaw, a broad nose, and plush lips quirked into a sideways smirk that fit him so well. His clean-cut blonde hair and long, dark eyelashes highlighted the pools of his honey-brown eyes that reflected almost golden in the right light. He was expressive, too, with any emotion he felt written all over his face.

Yet, he did seem tense. Lines and scars etched on his face showed an incredible sense of wisdom and reflected the struggles of every battle he’d lived through. The war was brutal to those fighting it, and he certainly seemed like he’d seen a lot more than most. The worry on his face was evident, but he was still so pretty, and he needed someone to remind him of it.

“Fives sent you over here, huh?” he asked, looking over her shoulder at his brother, glaring at him in annoyance. Fives was clearly bothered by the fact that somehow his brother had beaten him to the most beautiful woman in the bar without even trying.

“Well, technically I sent myself, but he talked you up. I wanted to help ‘the man who works too hard’ loosen up a little. Have some fun,” Mari said, placing a hand gently on his knee. He looked down at her hand and gulped, evidently not used to getting this much attention.

“Y-you? Want to help me?” he asked in disbelief, letting out a scoff. “The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen wants to sit here with me?” he asked again, leaning forward to grab the drink in her hand. She handed it to him, sliding her other hand further up his thigh.

“Yep. The prettiest girl in the bar wants to spend time with the only man here who I find interesting,” she reaffirmed, placing her now free hand on top of his gloved one. His breathing quickened, his hand turning to grip her delicate fingers. He looked down at her hand on his thigh and his expression changed from one of surprise to determination. 

Shooting another glare at Fives, he pulled her forward, patting his upper thigh and boldly inviting her to sit in his lap, exciting her even more. He was definitely tense and preoccupied, but he wasn’t innocent. Mari obliged, sliding over to position herself on his lap and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He eased his strong biceps around her sides, a large splayed hand supporting the small of her back.

“Well then, what do you want to know, pretty girl?” he asked, looking up into her eyes with an emboldened and hopeful gaze. He certainly didn’t come to 79s tonight thinking he’d have any girls in his lap, much less someone he was this attracted to. He drew her possessively into his torso, exploring all the features on her face with his expressive eyes. He had passion, that much was evident from the desperate and sultry way he looked at her.

She tipped his chin up with a few gentle fingertips before trailing those touches down the front of his chest plate. “Tell me how you got those jaig eyes, Rex. From what I understand, they don’t give those out to just anyone.”

He hummed in response, impressed by her knowledge and happy that someone was taking an interest in what he had to talk about. “Well that’s a long story…” he muttered, brushing a few strands of hair off her face and tucking them behind her ears. Mari bit her bottom lip and smiled, the gruffness in his voice was somewhat different than his brothers’ and sent butterflies to the lowest part of her stomach.

“I’ve got time, Captain,” Mari replied, “plenty of time.”

__

The bar was absolutely buzzing with life, more so than it had in a long time. This 501st crowd really did know how to party. They’d just come back from a long tour of duty. For as hard as they always fought, Rex let them party twice that whenever they came home. It was the best way to reward his men for all their good work and distract them from whatever horror or atrocity they had to witness or commit.

Rex talked a long while and Mari listened, slowly brushing flirtatious circles along the top of his chest. He was highly intelligent, more so than most diplomats and senators she was forced to work alongside. He was funny, too, with a penchant for sarcastic and slightly dark humor.

In all the time he spoke, he barely even touched his drink. It seemed like he preferred keeping all his senses at attention to focus on her. He could get alcohol anywhere, but he couldn’t easily find a distraction like her. He looked at her like she was the only person there, completely uninterested in the party atmosphere. Every time Mari spoke up to comment on some part of his story, his eyes lit up and his cute little half-smirk broke up his serious, hardened face.

His grip on her lower back kept her tight to his side as if anything looser would result in her slipping away, never to be seen again. It was the almost subconsciously desperate hold of a man who hadn’t been touched like this in a long while, if at all. He was showing an inexperienced hand–unusual for a man who was so well-versed in nearly every other area of his life. He knew where to hold her to pique Mari’s interest in that way, which proved he wasn’t inexperienced in that department. No, it was deeper than that. It was like he couldn’t believe his luck at having someone he’d barely even let himself dream about sitting in his lap.

The tiredness and frustration that was written all over his face when she first sat down had been erased almost instantly. He looked refreshed and like he was genuinely enjoying himself for once. His heavy brows weren’t scowled in concentration anymore, the tension in his shoulders completely fading away just from having a conversation. Fives wasn’t kidding. Rex didn’t know how to have fun and he really did need this. He looked so much more content than he had just a few hours ago. 

Mari wondered just how much happier she could make him tonight. Her mind wandered to what his bronzed skin might look like under his armor, how incredibly built he must be, and how each little muscle would contract under her touch. She’d never wanted to sleep with someone so badly just after talking to them. She shook the thoughts from her mind. No. He is far too respectful to do all the kinds of debauched things I’m thinking about. He wasn’t the type to take a girl home after one night. Fives said it himself, he never talked to girls here.

Before she could realize she’d been staring, his thumb and forefinger cupped underneath her chin. He tilted her face toward him and she couldn’t help the unintentionally tantalizing look she gave him. 

“You’re not used to this,” Mari giggled, running a hand down his chest further and feeling him lean into her touch.

“I’m not. Especially not from someone as gorgeous as you,” he grumbled, his voice dropping and matching her energy. He pulled her impossibly closer to him, his eyes trailing down to where her breasts were now pressed up against him. He shifted underneath her, his body starting to betray the restraint he’d been holding onto all night.

“Maybe you need to get out more. It’s a shame I hadn’t met you sooner,” Mari pouted, ever so slightly rolling her hips against him.

“Definitely won’t need to go out anymore. Think I might’ve already found what I’m looking for. Or she found me,” he smirked, his face inches from hers, his breathing slow and focused. He was sweet when he was tempting her, cleverly baiting her to go after him. He’d already fallen hard for her but was dragging the moment out. The longer they played this game, the longer they could sit here like this together.

“Hmm… you catch on quick.” She smiled, biting her lower lip to tease him right back. She’d noticed that he couldn’t keep his eyes off her lips every time she did that, and she was sure her lipstick was probably faded from it by now. 

There were more than a few intrigued eyes on them at this point, nearly all of them his men watching from the bar–both impressed that she’d had the guts to go after him and astounded that their captain had actually accepted. How far was he willing to go? 

Mari had promised herself she wanted someone nice, someone respectable. She didn’t want to regress back to the girl who took home whoever she wanted, but who no one ever seemed to need. But those big, desperate, golden eyes of his. Maker how could I resist? She thought desperately. He needed this. He needed to go home with someone who understood him, who had a real connection with him, and who could take his stress away and remind him how fucking good it would feel to be cared for. This wasn’t even about her. She wanted it for him. And she didn’t trust that anyone would take better care of him than she could.

Mari wanted to be the one who tore that armor off him and kissed down the perfectly toned chest she knew he had–to draw away the pain and bruises and brutality of all the battles he fought. She wanted to give him his own personal reward for fighting so hard to protect everyone around him. She could only imagine how good he’d look with his head thrown back, that strong jaw clenching as she swallowed him down the way he needed. He talked for hours about missions he’d been on. Now she had one of her own.

She turned in his grasp, rotating her hips and hiking her dress up slightly to straddle his lap. With her entire center pressed against his, he sat back, letting out a strained breath. He could resist almost anything. But this? This he couldn’t fight. She was everything he dreamed about at night, sprawled across his lap and fawning all over him. His rough, gloved hands ran down her sides, feeling the way her body curved beneath his nimble fingers.

“Stars-- look what you do to me…” he sighed, rutting his hips up into the space between her thighs to make her feel him. The black fabric tented beneath his codpiece, the length of him even harder than his armor.

“I can do that without touching you? What’s gonna happen when I get my hands on you?” Mari whispered in his ear, letting her lips brush against his neck. He growled softly in response, his hands coming down to grip her hips powerfully. Maker, he was strong.

“Kinda want you to find out.” He nibbled at the space beneath her jaw gently. “Do you wanna get outta here?” He asked politely, freeing her hips from his death grip on them and pulling back to blink at her hopefully. 

Mari told herself so many times that this wasn’t who she was anymore. Casual sex wasn’t something she wanted to do anymore. She was looking for something better, someone better. A commitment, a partner. She searched his face for any sign that she shouldn’t do this. Anything suspicious or disrespectful, but she didn’t find it. Everything about him felt safe, understanding, and even protective of her–like there was nothing he would ever do to let anything or anyone hurt her.

He was overwhelmed, too, his pounding heart making his chest heave with anticipation. Every second that went by as he waited for her answer felt like another bit of time she was wasting by thinking too much.

Before she could open her mouth to speak, his hands found the sides of her neck and his lips crashed into hers, as if to convince her in action instead of with all the words he couldn’t find. His lips surrounded hers, tenderly separating them with his tongue. It was heavy and desperate, and a jolt of what felt like a thousand volts of electricity shot down Mari's spine. The subtle tang of surprisingly good whiskey hit her tongue as she remembered the brown liquid they had both left nearly untouched on the table while they talked.

Tension stronger than a tow cable wire suddenly snapped and she relaxed into the mind-numbing kiss. As he pulled away, he rested his forehead on hers and huffed out shaky, lust-laden breaths over her face. 

“Woah,” Rex muttered, blinking up at her in shock over how that felt. 

She smiled and leaned forward to place another few featherlight kisses on his lips. This was something. Whatever this feeling was between them, they both knew it was there, and that was enough of a good sign for her to take the leap.

“Let’s go, Rex,” Mari tipped her head toward the door, suddenly hyper-aware of the entire crowd of people around who probably just watched them pounce on each other.

“Yes ma’am,” he chuckled darkly, his lust-blown eyes now a much deeper and almost threatening shade. She swung herself off his lap quickly, tangling her fingers in his very large armored ones as he stood up. He scooped up his helmet in his other arm and followed her like a lost tooka.

His brothers from across the bar were stunningly quiet, watching in disbelief at the scene unfolding before them. Mari could feel Fives’ eyes especially, wide in shock as he pieced together what was happening. She didn’t just talk about successfully capturing their immovable captain’s attention, she had done it.

The sea of blue and white armor began to hurriedly part for them as they made their way to the door, taking note of the girl who had enraptured Captain Rex. It was like the whole battalion was watching in shock as one of the most notoriously by-the-book captains of the entire Grand Army threw the regulation manual out the window. Although, she was sure it was probably just her imagination.

What was it about her that struck him? Sure, she wanted him and went after him because she never denied herself what she wanted. But why this time around did he accept?

His large hand crept up her forearm, holding tight as he shouldered through the crowd. The room parted for him, barely having to say two words to anyone to get them to follow his lead. It was incredible to watch him so easily demand respect from hundreds of people without batting an eye or getting cocky. 

She’d never seen such humility in a clone leader before. Mari had met dozens of clones, but most were pretty much the same as any nat-born. They were all handsome, built, and smart. They had plenty going for them and they knew it, especially the ones that held high ranks. Fox certainly had an air of untouchable authority about him around his troops, but not Rex.

The men they passed gave him various acknowledgments: friendly cheers, formal salutes, and even what felt like celebrity fanfare. But his reaction to them all was the same: a slow, short nod of appreciation and that cute little sideways smirk, as if the glory and attention meant nothing to him and he was just another ordinary man. 

But he wasn’t. 

No man, and especially none of the other clones Mari had ever spoken to before, had made Mari’s insides tremble and her heart ache like this. Not the ones she saw at work. Not Fox with his sarcastic quips and blunt honesty. Not even Fives’ insanely handsome face. As much as she wanted to be a new person, to not drag herself through another night of meaningless sex with some guy, she wanted Rex badly. The need to have him overwhelm her was too great. Yet, being in his atmosphere felt like a promise of something more.

Her arms erupted in goosebumps as they approached the sliding blast doors, the cool air of the night washing over her overheated body. She pulled herself into his side, clinging to him like he had been to her in the booth. His hand slid down the small of her back, politely guiding her outside first. He looked left and then right, scanning the area slowly for something unknown before turning to her.

“My apartment is on the uppermost levels by the Senate Building. It’s… kinda far.” Mari sighed, doubting that either of them could make it much longer.

“Our barracks isn’t that far, but I didn’t think you’d want to go there. It’s not exactly romantic,” he scoffed, using the hand on her back to guide her closer to him. 

“My place is fine then. It’ll be a little more… private,” Mari muttered suggestively, her pulse thrumming as he held her into his body. “We’ll probably be needing that, won’t we, Captain?”

He let out a deep exhale, clearly trying to contain himself as his title falling from her lips did something obscene to him. “Definitely… especially if you call me that again.” The way he looked at her felt like he could see so much more than just her desirable physical presence before him. His interest was beyond skin-deep; he saw all of her and wanted to keep digging, to explore more of the person he’d clicked with so perfectly. 

Just as he stepped forward to hail a hover cab for the both of them, his comm blinked twice and he froze in place. He shook his head and dropped his eyes to the ground, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “This cannot be fucking happening right now.” He shrugged and let her go, the few steps he walked away to answer the call felt like lightyears all of a sudden.

Mari felt her heart sink to the ground at her feet. She knew this was too good to be true. There had to be a catch. There always seemed to be for her. “Is everything ok?” she mouthed and he shook his head, his expression fading to one of deep regret and apology, unable to hide his disappointment.

“Yes, General?” He paused, looking over at her nervously like he too felt the cloud of the dream they’d just lived in drifting higher and higher out of their reach. His entire demeanor seemed to sink as his eyelids dropped shut and his shoulders sagged. “N-no, sir. I’m not busy.”

Mari clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, trying her damndest not to get misty-eyed over something that probably would never work out anyways. The way he made her feel could only ever happen in her dreams. She was sure they both knew it. The hovercab they were hailing had finally approached and was starting to get antsy.

“Right away, sir. See you in ten.” Rex hung up his call and walked back over, completely deflated and as stressed as he’d been when she first laid eyes on him.

“Well?” Mari sighed, asking a stupid question she already knew the answer to.

Rex motioned to his comm and then to a building not far from where he’d mentioned the barracks would be. “I’m… I’m sorry,” he offered, stepping forward to rest an apologetic hand on her arm. Mari backed away, not wanting him to come any closer if this is how it was always going to end.

“I get it,” she said bitterly, crossing her arms to her chest to reassure herself since he couldn’t. “Duty calls.” She turned on her heels to enter the cab, but he caught her arm and yanked her back. “What?”

“I…” he stuttered over his words, exposing just how much this was uncharted territory for him. He stopped himself and flashed her that endearing half-smirk that made her heart jump through her chest in a way she didn’t want to admit meant something to her. “I can give you my comm frequency. If you give me a way to reach you, too… ” he laughed, nervously trying to downplay his disappointment.

For the first time, Mari couldn’t read the expression on his handsome face. Somewhere between desperate for this to work and doubting it ever would. He was trying his hardest to do anything he could think of to prevent her from slipping away. 

“Okay. Fine,” she relented. She uncrossed her arms and took out her personal comm, sighing to prevent herself from letting her anger at her plans being shattered ruin the moment. She shared her frequency with him and received his in exchange, raising her finger in wait to hold the cab just a few seconds longer. “But you better contact me.”

“I will, Mari. Promise,” Rex nodded, awkwardly trying to think of anything else to add and sorely wishing he could feel any of the obvious spark they had only a few minutes ago.

“That general of yours better be dying or something,” she joked darkly, turning to finally sit in the hovercab.

“Sometimes I’m surprised he hasn’t by now,” Rex quipped, folding his arms and rolling his eyes playfully. He let his laughter die down and his brows furrowed again, “I won’t forget how you made me feel anytime soon. I promise, Mari.”

Mari sat with her hands in her lap, blinking up at this handsome, noble captain professing something more to her than she could understand right now. She swallowed thickly and blinked up at him, wanting to reach out the cab window and kiss his face all over again. “I know. Take care of yourself, Captain.” That was all she could manage to say as the cab revved up and took off back to her apartment, leaving a crestfallen blonde clone captain standing alone on the platform with his helmet tucked under his arm.

When a day or two went by without even so much as a message from him, Mari sulked in her apartment pathetically and mourned something that never even existed with someone she wished she didn’t have to see the face of everywhere she went.

--

notes: AHHHHHH ok hi bbys. this series has been a long time coming. Mari's official by name debut has me SO excited. these two are truly everything to me and I hope you love learning about their journey as much as I love telling it.

taglist coming soon! comment on this post or message me if you'd like to be added :)