#Then just. '..........What did Rex say he was interested in again.'

[anyoldfandom]

Sometimes I remember that line in S3 meant to show how BK keeps up appearances of running Providence more humanely than WK where Rex says WK was so cheap that he didn't even buy individual stalls for the bathroom and then I remember that Rex got his own basketball court and locker room and Providence was constantly canonically paying for repairs for damages caused by Rex fighting EVOs and fighting EVOs rather than just immediately collaring them and paying for food and cages and such for incurables and EVOs waiting for Rex to cure them and paying to keep Paradise/Purgatory base afloat and then I think maybe. Maybe there is another reason WK was cheap.

[dark-frosted-heart]

Get Drunk, Get Me Drunk, Drown - William Rex

And now for a somewhat proper translation after my brief summary. As usual, can’t guarantee 100% accuracy on this

NSFW, Minors DNI

One day—

Liam: And then, Harry got drunk and started reading a book upside down. Keep it a secret, okay? He’ll get mad if he finds out.

While browsing the liquor on the shelves, he was telling me some of Crown’s drunken tales.

Liam: That reminds me, I’ve never seen Will drunk.

Kate: Apparently the only time he’s ever gotten absolutely drunk was when he was with Victor. I’d love to see it for myself.

Roger: Why not have him drink then?

Kate: Roger!

Roger: Some lil’ lady you are if you wanna see your lover get plastered.

Kate: …I just can’t miss out on how he’d look!

Roger: I got something for ya.

Roger grabbed a bottle off the shelf.

Liam: Wow, that’s a lot of alcohol! Are you sure that’s alright?

Roger: It’s drinkable, so it’s fine. This will definitely get William drunk. After that…well, you know.

Liam’s eyes gleamed with curiosity at Roger’s smirk.

Liam: I can’t wait for your reaction, Kate.

--

William: Ah, you’re here. You took your time.

Kate: Sorry, I got caught up in a conversation.

William: I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m glad you had fun. …And? What are you hiding?

Kate: Ah!

Will grabbed the bottle hidden behind my back and looked at it with interest.

William: This is…

Kate: Roger thinks it’ll get you drunk. Victor’s seen you get absolutely drunk before, but I haven’t. I was jealous.

I sneaked a glance at Will and saw a pleased smile…

William: So, what do you want to do, my little robin?

Kate: I want to see you drunk, but I also don’t want to burden you.

William: Hmmm? Is that how you really feel?

I couldn’t help but gulp at his words.

Kate: I think it’s “bad”.

William: Really?

(Those eyes are cunning)

Kate: …I want you to drink. I want to see a look I haven’t seen before

William: If you take responsibility for whatever happens when I get drunk, then I’ll meet your request.

Kate: Yes! Of course!

William: Haha…then, For the sake of my sweet lover, I’ll drink to my limit.

--

(This…)

Before my eyes was a somewhat disheveled Will sipping on his glass, cheeks stained red.

The overflowing seductiveness of it made me feel as if I was doing something “bad” despite not doing anything at all.

(I never thought I’d see Will in this state…)

William: Kate.

Will’s hand caressed my cheek—

William: “Kiss me on the lips”

Kate: Wi- Mnn!

My body moved on its own and I kissed Will on the lips, slipping my tongue in to taste the alcohol.

Kate: Why…ah…

He pushed my shoulder and I fell back onto the bed.

William: …I said you’d take responsibility for whatever I did. With your permission, I’d like to do whatever I want to you.

His blood-red eyes were filled with heat and pierced straight through me.

That alone made my body react.

William: Haha…It’s like you’re the one that’s drunk.

Kate: …Yes. I’m absolutely drunk on you.

William: Not a bad thing to say.

Kate: Mnnn

The way I squirmed and rubbed my legs together as he dropped kisses along my body didn’t escape Will’s notice.

William: …How about I punish the bad girl who’s being impatient.

The hand stroking my thigh removed my underwear before placing my hand between my legs.

Kate: Will…?

When I nervously called out his name, he kissed my cheek and gave a command that was the complete opposite of that calm look on his face.

William: “Don’t move your hand away until you’ve finished 3 times by your own hand.”

Kate: Ahh, no way

My fingers began moving, making a mess of the area between my legs.

Kate: Mmm…ah…ahhh!

Wet sounds echoed in the room and my body arched up, but my fingers wouldn’t stop.

Kate: I came! Let me stop.

William: I said 3 times.

Kate: Will! Ahhhh

I bit my lip as my fingers brushed against a sensitive spot, but Will’s fingers violated my mouth, taking control—

Kate: Mmph!

William: Ah, you came again. Come on, one more time, Kate.

Kate: I can’t anymore! Mnnn

The moment I pressed down on my bud, my body was overcome with pleasure and my fingers finally left the spot.

Kate: Haaaa…haaa…

William: You’re still here, Kate.

A sadistic gaze pierced through me and I felt heat shoot straight to my core.

William: “You’re not allowed to pass out until I’m satisfied.”

I forgot to breathe as I was filled with pleasure, Will looking down at me in a trance.

--

William: Good morning, Kate.

Kate: Good morning…

(Will had me do a lot of things yesterday…)

I felt my body heat up again at the thought of how Will turned my body to mush with his power.

(I’m too embarrassed to even look at him)

I buried my face in Will’s chest and he gently patted my head.

William: How was I when I was drunk?

Kate: I’ve decided that I’m never letting you drink like that ever again.

William: Ahaha! But you didn’t hate it though?

Kate: Well…

Will’s eyes had the same heat as yesterday.

William: I’ll keep that in mind.

[hastalavistabyebye]

I've been thinking about it for quite some time (and it's a good thing my blog is so smol because a lotta people ain't going to like this) but we need to be honest for two seconds. Fox wouldn't be hated for killing Fives.

It's not the simple usual take on how Fox didn't fired right away and tried to calm Fives down first, how he was just doing his job. This is true but it goes deeper even.

The clones were taught how to deal with traitors.

We saw it with Rex when he met Cut Lawquane. He was faced with a deserter and his first reaction wasn't one of peaceful understanding at all, quite the contrary. Of course he let him go and live with his family in the end. (Interesting to note that there were no officer present too) But what's interesting is not the conclusion he made, but his instinctual, learned behavior : deserters = traitors = bad.

And during the Umbara arc, we saw that the clones also learned how to form a firing squad. They knew how to do that. Yes, in the end, again, they ended up letting their siblings live but there also was the aspect that they already doubt Krell's orders AND that this situation was clearly, stupidly unfair and wrong. And they didn't like nor trust the general himself already. So it was an easy order to go against. But then again what is interesting is that they knew how to do that.

The idea of the Vode not knowing or even being able to conceive shooting a brother, even less killing one, is very sweet but sadly not true. They are soldiers first, born and trained. They would not look kindly to traitors and deserters. They would also know how to court martial the formers, even (or maybe especially) if it's other clones.

All of this to say that Fox killing Fives after he tried to kill the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic ? The highest ranking person in the entire Republic ? And he was also armed, dangerous and out of control AND didn't listen to attempts at calming him. In all of those conditions, very little people would bat an eye to Fox taking those actions.

The only people that would hate Fox are the people close to Fives -Rex and Torrent, Cody and some of the 212th too maybe, by proxy, and Anakin. The Jedi would frown at this, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka maybe more than the rest and would be more affected, because they were close to Fives too.

But the rest of the GAR ? Well of course some won't see it with a kind eye because there's always people to tell you they would have done better, but globally they wouldn't mind so much. Because what Fox did was something they had been, in fact, trained for.

And even if there was a GAR/Guard divide, it wouldn't be this event that make everything goes from bad to worse. It might be one more critic on Fox, it might not be taken kindly. But in the end it would be more because it's Fox and they don't-like-Fox, more than the killing a brother part.

Okay this is longer than I thought it would be 😅 but my point still is : the Vode are soldiers first and foremost. They don't act under the same values and morals as us at all. They were trained to kill enemies of the Republic. If those enemies were among the Republic didn't change a thing. If those enemies were fellow clones didn't change a thing, they were trained to kill them too. So Fox only doing his job in that instant also means that a lot of other Clone Commanders would have done the very same as him. Maybe not all of them, sure (it can depend from their generals) (which Fox don't have from what we know). But maybe some of them wouldn't even have tried to resonate with Fives at all.

The point is : the GAR wouldn't have hate Fox for this. If they hated him, killing Fives wasn't the reason, nor even the starting point most likely.

[monsterlets]

conversation tip for autistic people, from an autistic linguist

if you've ever run into this dilemma:

you are telling someone a story or informing them about something. there is a piece of information that you are not sure if they already know or not, but they need to know it in order for the rest of what you're saying to make sense. you are now trying to guess based on nothing. if you tell them and they already knew, they might think you're insulting their intelligence (or just that it was weird that you thought they wouldn't know). if you don't tell them and they didn't already know, then they'll feel lost

you can get around this with presuppositions

a presupposition is a piece of information in a sentence that is not the main point of the sentence, but that must be true in order for the sentence as a whole to be true. this is very dependent on where in the sentence the information is

for example:

you're telling someone a story about a mutual friend. the only way this story makes sense is if the listener knows that the friend's dad used to be a doctor. you don't know if they know that

this is a direct statement: "her dad used to be a doctor"

the main point of this sentence is "her dad used to be a doctor", but more importantly it's obviously the main point of the sentence. if they think you should assume they already knew that, that is now at the front of their mind. and they might think you're implying that they're not close to your mutual friend

here is a sentence with a presupposition: "when her dad was a doctor, he saw this really weird thing"

the main point of this sentence is "he saw this really weird thing". "her dad was a doctor" is just background information. not only that, but including information as a presupposition implies that you thought they already knew it

if they did in fact already know, they might not even register the fact that you mentioned it again, or if they do it wouldn't seem out of place. they just breeze right past it and on to the rest of the sentence

if they didn't know, they likely won't think that much about it since you didn't call much attention to it, and even if they take note of it they'll at least think you assumed the best of them. at this point one of three things is likely to happen (from most to least likely):

they just quickly assimilate the information into their worldview and move on to interpreting the rest of the sentence

it blows their mind so much that they ask you to explain. which is a great outcome imo

it threatens their worldview so strongly that they cannot move past it. at this point they may get mad at you, but it's not because of what you implied they knew or didn't know - it's because they just strongly disagree with you, and they were gonna get mad regardless of how you said it. this will rarely come up unless you're talking about a particularly polarizing/emotionally charged topic

note: as I said, where you put the information in the sentence matters a lot. coordinating conjunctions connect two main ideas. the sentence "her dad used to be a doctor, and he saw this really weird thing" has two main ideas. and one of them is the one that you wanted to not be a main idea

if you want more examples of the forms presuppositions can take with more technical descriptions, wikipedia has a pretty good list

also note, this is a guideline, not a rule. it's hard to go wrong with it, but if you know what you're doing you can break it

for instance, if I am not talking about anything personal, just telling someone about a special interest, I'll do different things depending on how niche the information is

if I know something is common knowledge (ex: t rex was a predator) then I'll either not mention it, or if I think it's something they need to not only know but be actively thinking about for the rest of it to make sense, then I will remind them with a presupposition

if I know something is not entirely common knowledge, but I have at some point seen people who are not deep into the topic talking about it ("dimetrodon was more closely related to mammals than dinosaurs") then I might just straight up ask them if they know that, since it doesn't say anything about them as a person other than what random information they happened to come across

if it's something you almost certainly wouldn't know about without being deep into the topic, I just say it. if they do happen to know about it it's because they randomly heard it and they probably wouldn't think it's weird that I assumed they didn't know (note: in this situation do not say anything along the lines of "you probably wouldn't know this" "this is so niche". just say the information)

you might have noticed that I haven't been following the guideline in this post either. this is for a couple reasons

I'm not talking to specific people, I'm writing for a broad audience. generally when you say things people already knew in that context they're like "well I didn't need that spelled out for me, but I guess somebody does"

I am not aiming this at neurotypicals, and I assume that you'll appreciate me being as explicit as I can regardless of how much you already knew

[wondersinwaynemanor]

(not sure but i think the animatronic dinosaur in the cave has moved in some comic panels but let's just say here that it never did before)

Dick, coming down the cave: Is Dami still staring at the animatronic dinosaur?

Duke: Yuppp, he is.

Jason, standing beside Duke: How many times have you let the baby bat watch the Jurassic Park films, Dick?

Dick, sighs and stands in between his brothers: I've lost count. He loves them too much.

Jason: They're not even accurate to the books.

Duke: Will you lend me the books, Jay? I'm interested.

Damian, not looking behind him where his brothers are studying him: Will you all not talk right now? I'm in a middle of an examination.

Dick, raises brows: On what exactly?

Damian: If there's any sign of movement.

Duke: Dami, that's not ever gonna happen.

Damian, looks back at his brothers: How can you be so certain? What if Father is secretly studying about dinosaurs? What if it's a real dinosaur and it's just unable to move because of a natural cause or perhaps even magic?

Jason: That's overanalyzing it, Dami-- DID IT JUST BLINK???

the rest of the boys look back at the animatronic and it does blink.

Dick, keeps his voice low with his arms stretched to protect his brothers: Nobody move a muscle....

Jason, groans: That's not even a fact about the T-Rex!!!

Duke, running first to the stairs: Then this is part where we run!!!!

Damian, follows the rest: I knew it, I knew it!!!

Tim, hiding behind the batcomputer with his phone on his hand, finishes the record of his brothers running back to the Manor. he presses a button that turns off the fake eyes that he has installed on the animatronic.

Tim, snickers: Got 'em! Now I have footage-- NO WAY, IT JUST BLINKED!!!

Tim presses the button again to turn it off, but when he looks up, it blinks.

Tim, shakes his head: Either it's the energy drink I drank a while ago that's making me see illusions, when I hit my head from last night's patrol, or I'm just completely losing my mind.

it blinks again.

Tim: Damn it, it's all of the above.

it's all of the above.

[iloveoldermen-posts]

Pen-pals

Warnings: only the hapter to start things going and to set the vibe, part one of at least 10, i have not proof read ୨୧

Chapter 1 – Greetings.

He was forced into it, no way in hell would he ever do it on his own. But his also forced councillor thought it would help him to have connections to the outside world and ensured him that if it didn’t work out within two months, he could stop trying and never do it again. But he couldn’t tell her that or it would be ‘cheating.’

Which would probably deter people but as a chronic people-pleaser, I just couldn’t let that run. So, I tried my absolute hardest to fill my letters with copious amounts of joy so that there’s no way he couldn’t write back.

January 13th

--

Dear ‘Ghost’,

I was only told your call-sign to ensure maximum confidentiality – rules right. They told me that you were the only one who could tell me your real name so if you ever feel comfortable enough, I will happily learn all about you!

Here is some information about me; my name is Y/N, I am always helping people out for work (quite interesting if I do say so myself), I love to bake in my free time and my favourite time of the year is autumn (I just LOVE the mix of weather).

I always add some questions to these letters.

Why is your call-sign Ghost?

What’s your favourite thing to do when you aren’t deployed?

And finally, a simple one – what’s your favourite colour?

From,

       Y/N.

P.S I was told you would probably take around a week – two to respond so don’t feel rushed to write back, I know how taxing your job tends to be :)

January 29th

--

Dear Ghost,     

I hope you are doing well, I’m not sure if you received the letter I sent as you haven’t replied so I’m trying again just to make sure. My name is Y/N and I have a black Labrador that I love so much. 

I have a hectic work schedule and I am always flying all over the world to help people. So I won’t always be able to write to you consistently. I hope that’s okay!

Instead of questions, I thought I would tell a little joke;

What do you call a shipment full of military-issued T-Rexes?  SMALL ARMS. 

:) hope you enjoyed that one because there are way more to come.

From

 Y/N.

February 13th

--

Dear ‘Ghost’,

This will be the last letter I am writing to you as I believe someone could get through to you, it just won’t be me. So, I have requested to be swapped buddies. 

I think it might be someone who’s in your unit, I think his name is John or Johnny – something like that. And I’m told I will be a better suit to them and their personalities.

So I hope you stay safe and are able to speak with someone who you can let your guard down too; even though they will never be as funny as me. Teehee :)

From

Y/N.

I’m quite sad that it didn’t work out as I thought we could have both benefited from it, but you know what they say – it is what it is. And at the end of the day, he needs someone he can truly feel comfortable talking to and I never did get to know him so it doesn’t affect me much in those terms. Even if a month was wasted by waiting for a never-to-arrive letter. Well the true term would be never-to-be-write-or-sent but we digress.

The birds hum a beautiful harmony as I post the final letter through the poorly painted post-box on the end of my road. As I turn to leave, the clouds above me start weeping uncontrollably at my departure.

I’ve never been one for signs but that can’t have been a coincidence.

My asks are currently open so get the requests in, and check out my masterlist.

They first two chapters will be mostly letters and then will move to texts and irl interactions - at least I plan...

[heyclickadee]

So, here’s the thing. The finale is weird. Yes, I’m hurt by the fact that Tech didn’t come back and that a character that’s very near and dear to my heart was badly handled, and that will never sit right with me. But even apart from that, the finale fundamentally does not function as a piece of storytelling or as the end to this story. I’m glad that people are enjoying it, and I will never tell anyone not to. But I don’t think it works. (I get very negative about the TBB finale under the cut.)

It’s not just the Tech stuff or the CX-2 stuff (which may very well have been the same stuff) that got dropped. It’s *everything*. Every theme, Every narrative thread besides retrieving Omega, every character arc except marginally Omega’s, Echo’s (also marginal), and Emerie’s, which was the shortest and gets wrapped up by her deciding to help Echo rescue the kids. It all stops. It makes everything that came before seem cheap and pointless if you take it into account. And this is so, so frustrating for me, because the entire show was driving towards this incredibly rich payoff, it could have been immaculate, and then it whiffed the ball so bad in the last episode that it didn’t just miss, it managed to knock over the bleachers and set the entire court on fire.

Some examples:

1. This season had a really interesting exploration of Crosshair’s PTSD via his hand tremor and how it was something he can learn to manage, but not something that would ever fully go away. Aaaaand then his hand gets chopped off. One, that was stupid. I’ve seen some excellent posts (here’s one by @the-bi-space-ace) detailing why that was a terrible way to handle Crosshair’s lingering trauma, and others talking about how the idea there was that Crosshair needed to move on and it was severing his last ties with the empire. The former, I agree with; the latter, I don’t, because not only—not only!—does this episode stop dealing with Crosshair’s trauma, it doesn’t even deal with having cut off his hand! It just sort of occurs. No one reacts to it, no one says anything about it, there’s no follow up or commentary, nothing happens as a result—it’s an event which occurs with no results coming after it. It may as well be an animation error. You can say it was about Crosshair needing to let go and move on, but that’s something you have to project on to the text, not something that’s actually offered by it. It’s empty.

2. Crosshair again: We also have the lingering issue of Crosshair’s guilt and the fact that he never seems to get to a point where it’s resolved. There’s set up for a resolution. We have that, “Sure you have,” like about Crosshair from Rampart. We also have Crosshair saying he deserves whatever happens to him in Tantiss. And then…no pushback. No resolution. No moment of Crosshair realizing that he doesn’t need to carry that burden. Nothing that says he didn’t deserve what happened to him. He had all this character development this season, but he needed - last little push to forgive himself—and we never get any indication that he does. It, like his trauma, gets dropped like a rock.

3. Hey! More Crosshair! A good chunk of Crosshair’s arc this season was about learning that anyone can change, first, and that no one is beyond saving. Eeexcept that goes no where.

4. Which brings me to my next point: There is set up for the CXs to be saved. Even if we’re laboring under the conclusion that CX-2 was never intended to be Tech at any point in the writing process (I have. Doubts. Yes, I’m calling the creative team liars, here, but with the understanding that they have contracts that may require them to lie), we do have the set up where we learn the electrocyanide zappers can be removed, and with Rex offering forgiveness to CX-1. “Whatever they did to you, whatever you’ve done, you’re still one of us.” CX-Tech or no, Crosshair’s arc was tied up with the CX plot, and because he’s the one the CXs tend to react to—or, at least, understands what was done to them—the set up was there for him to help save and maybe rehab the CXs. At the least, there was an indication that they could be saved. Eeexcept nope! That gets dropped like a rock, too, and they’re not going to deal with it. Time for maximum carnage.

5. Hunter’s arc actually takes a step backwards. Sure, he gets a technically happy ending, but because the squad is basically in the same place they were in “Pabu” back in season two (down a member but successfully hiding from the Empire in a safe place), it negates Hunter’s development towards actually taking action—and actually hurts Echo’s arc, too.

There’s been this tension all through the show between just sitting things out on the one hand (Hunter’s way) and taking direct action despite the futility on the other (Echo’s way), but instead of finding some kind of middle ground or third road, it sort of comes back around to saying that, actually, Hunter was right, they should have just gone to Idaflor back in episode three and never left even though the Pabu invasion said that no, you can’t just hide, and even Hunter’s development was moving in the opposite direction. And this also means that Echo never reaches a point where he feels like he can walk away and that he doesn’t have to get himself killed doing this. Despite development otherwise they both end up back at that conversation in “Tipping Point” without any move in either direction or resolution of that tension.

6. Omega. Okay, Omega probably comes out the best after the finale, and, conceptually, I actually love the idea of Omega becoming a pilot even if the epilogue falls a little flat for me. But stuff with Omega still got dropped, including:

- The force stuff. We have two episodes dealing with m-count (after learning in episode three what Omega was created to do). We also have Ventress telling Omega that she doesn’t have a high m-count as far as she can see, Crosshair immediately calling Ventress out for lying, and then Ventress basically saying, “Yeah, no shit, but if she has force potential she’d have to leave you behind, and it doesn’t matter what your opinion on that is, so I’m not dealing with that.” Aaaand then,m. That. Goes nowhere. Despite a bit of set up for Omega connecting to the force as early as episode one, and some more set up in Tribe, and that whole subplot of her learning how to meditate, and so on.

Now, I don’t think that it was ever going to turn out that Omega did actually have a high m-count or that she had a particularly powerful natural connection to the force. I think she’s probably got a low or baseline m-count. What I do think, however, is that we were going to see Omega connect anyway as a refutation of Palpatine’s and Hemlock’s entire scheme. Their goal (based off of the ST) was to create extremely force sensitive clones as a way for Palpatine to jump bodies without having to waste time re-learning how to connect to the force. You know—dark side, quick and easy path, focus on eugenics and raw power, etc. Had Omega connected anyway because of her big heart and desire to protect, it would have not only paid off that set up, it would have also refuted Palpatine’s and Hemlock’s entire goal. It would have worked so well thematically and the set up was THERE.

- branching off of that, I think the Omega force stuff was probably tied to the Zillo beast. We also had a through-line of Omega being good with animals and taking the time to calm them instead of responding with violence. The first time we see this is in “Replacements,” where she realizes that the ordo moon dragon (also an electrophage—I don’t know what to call these things—like the zillo beast) is just scared and hungry. This is all conjectural, but it still fits with what was set up.

- Moving on from the force stuff, we also had a through-line that started way back in episode two of the series, but which was really emphasized this season, about Omega feeling like she’s the cause of the bad things that happen to the people she loves. This is why she gives herself up during the Pabu invasion in the first place. This is never resolved! We get Omega’s confidence boost when she realizes she has the force kids to take care of, but we never get a moment where Omega realizes that she has no reason to feel guilty. She’s the glue that holds the family together! But nope! Also dropped!

- But wait! There’s more! The first two season finales have Omega watching someone she loves fall away while she’s helpless to do anything to save them. That’s perfect set up to put Omega in the same situation, but be able to save them, because she’s finally come into her own. Instead we just end up with her needing to be rescued again.

- Omega has this big speech in Shadows of Tantiss about spending her life stuck in one place or another against her will, and how she refuses to be confined like that. I don’t think Omega would have been happy just staying on Pabu for the entire rest of her childhood and young adult life, even if I think she’d want to use it on a home base. But! Dropped!

7. I still can’t get over the fact that the zillo beast is on screen for about two minutes and then just. Walks away. It’s a large beastie that’s been locked in confinement for a while and is probably hungry. And somehow it didn’t go straight to the reactors for some delicious energy smoothies. Like. It. Did. The. Last. Time. Someone. Let. It. Out. But no, that would have required it sticking around for something that was probably dropped sooooo ZILLO BEAST EXIT STAGE RIGHT I GUESS. (Edit: I have been reminded that Hemlock does say to turn off the generators once the zillo beast is out, so that at least makes sense. I still think the zillo beast should have stuck around to do something.)

8. You notice how there are a ton of commandos around Tantiss, even up through “Flash Strike?” And how they kind of largely cease to exist? And how Echo says that there are far more clones imprisoned in Tantiss than anyone thought? And then how they rescue, like, a dozen guys? Because we never find our way back to those cells Crosshair was held in during season two? And how Tarkin does mention not wanting to allow clone dissidence to turn into an uprising back in “The Summit?” Because I did. This show was never going to be about a clone rebellion, that wasn’t the point, buuut I do think the set up was there for an uprising at Tantiss itself. Begin the series with clones losing their agency en masse, end the series with some of the most subdued clones taking it back. Except nope, dropped, soooo we gotta pretend the commandos don’t exist and murder the hell out of poor Scorch.

9. SPEAKING OF. The batch does kill clones sometimes, that does happen, but they do at least usually make some kind of effort to be non-lethal even when they’re not using stun, and times when they do resort to lethal tactics are usually born out of extreme circumstances. Not here, though!! NO HESITATION MAXIMUM CARNAGE. For. Reasons I guess.

10. There’s one point IN THE FINALE where Echo mentions signaling for Rex. This never comes up again. Rex does not show up. In fact, despite being called, “The Cavalry Has Arrived,” the cavalry does not in fact arrive. There is no cavalry. Yes, I know it’s a reference to Wrecker’s first line. But I’m sorry if you call an episode that YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A CAVALRY SHOW UP. Especially when you have a one about calling them in! But that also!! Got dropped like a rock!!

11. One positive: the moment Crosshair and Hunter leaning on each other to make that shot was nice.

12. Sorry, but Hemlock’s death was deeply unsatisfying. Let’s do something more than just shoot him multiple times, okay?

13. Rampart’s death, on the other hand, was incredibly satisfying. That said, the conversation about project necromancer? I’m dying. It’s actually hilarious, because it basically goes like:

“Tell me about project necromancer.”

“Wow! How interesting!”

I’m.

Are you serious?

I’m going to become the Joker.

Yes, I know we know what project necromancer is because of a different show. That’s not the point, the POINT. Is that any pay off for project necromancer in this show got dropped. And that’s deeply frustrating from a narrative perspective.

14. Speaking of, we never find out anything more regarding that partially successful m-count transfer from episode three.

15. We also never do anything with those medical records!

16. And Omega has a whole crossbow she never actually shoots despite the fact that her role on the team was as a sharpshooter after Crosshair left, and despite her getting advice from Crosshair on how to be a sniper. The literal chekov’s gun never goes off. I’m going to go eat gravel.

17. AZI, likewise, got toted around for three seasons for no reason. Probably could have helped with the medical records. Given that he was a Kaminoan medical droid. Oh, and that Omega was Nala Se’s medical assistant. So. Hmm.

18. You can cut everything in the season past episode five and skip straight to the epilogue and end up in the same place. This is not because the other episodes are filler. Far from it! The other episodes are great and deliver some amazing set up. But, because the finale does nothing with that set up, it doesn’t go anywhere.

19. And you know what else? From a narrative perspective, there’s no reason for Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair to be in these episodes at all. They don’t accomplish anything and make everyone else’s job harder. Omega was doing fine, she would have gotten out with the kids with just Echo and Emerie, and Tarkin was coming to cut off Hemlock’s funding and shut everything down once Hemlock lost control of the facility anyway. I can only suppose that the whole reason they were in this episode ended up getting dropped, too.

20. CX-2. Listen, the answer we get about CX-2 isn’t that he’s not Tech. It’s, “Maybe, maybe not—you don’t get to know.” Because. He’s the only CX whose mask never comes off. After a season and a half worth of buildup of unmasking CXs and people pressing them to learn their names. It’s not a no, it’s a non-answer, which is far less satisfying.

And finally:

21: CX-Tech. I’ve seen some people speculating that there was a planned CX-Tech reveal that got scrapped at the last minute—dropped, along with the other points I’ve already laid out. And, honestly? I have to agree. Despite what the creative team says, because even their denials kind of come out weird (like the Kiners saying that the large brass chord in “Battle of the Snipers” was just a nice sounding brass chord and not a reference to “Plan 99.” They also basically say that the sacrifice theme from “Plan 99” is Tech’s leitmotif. Which. Is all over “Battle of the Snipers.” That theme. Not Crosshair’s. In a scene. Where he’s supposed to be fighting a shadow of himself who Totally Isn’t Tech but we put Tech’s leitmotif here and layered it in Techno music but nooo that was never supposed to be him. Nope. I mean, come on. I’m not stupid).This post is already long enough, so here are some posts by @apocalyp-tech-a pointing out the reasons why I think this was the case, and one by @eriexplosion pointing out why CX-2 as Crosshair’s shadow and only that doesn’t quite work. I don’t need to go over the trail that was laid out again. Up to the finale this was a character that had more screen time—and far more solo screen time—than Echo. Some people will not stop yelling that there was no evidence, and. No. I’m sorry, there was. I can’t agree.

And some people might say, well, okay, the show misdirected you guys and pulled off a twist by having CX-2 be no one, and well, I can’t agree with that either. Twists only function if the twist is more satisfying than the conclusion to which the story seems to be leading. And I’m sorry, you can’t tell me that a season and a half of CX building and three seasons (because I can find set up all the way back in episode one of the show) for Tech survival culminating in what amounts to a boss fight is more satisfying than getting to see Omega have her big brother back. You can’t.

The reason I bring this up last is because, yes, I think CX-Tech was a plot dropped at the last minute, but because I also think that it’s the dropped plot that ripped everything else apart. CX-Tech was an incredibly efficient way to tie up most of the lingering plot threads and dropped character development.

-Crosshair’s guilt? Okay, he faces down the end result of his decision to stay with the empire and possibly something he knew about (Tech would be in this situation because of Crosshair, and were given hints that Crosshair knew) and is finally able to forgive himself because they’re able to save him.

- Hunter’s decision to finally take action and be proactive rather than reactive is validated, because it’s the thing that finally gets him his entire family back.

- Echo saves someone the same way he was saved, and maybe he realizes that it is enough and that he doesn’t have to be a soldier forever.

- Wrecker’s efforts to keep the family together and keep Hunter sane finally pay off.

- Omega is able to protect the people she charges about and finally, finally has all of her brothers.

- Thematically, it rounds off each member of the batch (Omega included) traumatically losing and then taking back their agency in a way that correlates directly to who and how they are as people.

- It also rounds out the OG batchers each being haunted by a failure that has to do with the thing that makes them special.

- You get pushback against “Clone Force 99 died with Tech! We’re not that squad anymore!” because no, it didn’t, and they’re more than a squad, they’re a family.

- It comes around and closes the wound opened in Aftermath and ripped back open by Return to Kamino: they go in for Omega and lose someone, but here, they go in for Omega and get someone back.

- Would allow Tech to close off his lingering threads and finish his character development BECAUSE THOSE REMAINED UNFINISHED.

- Completely subverts the “bury your disabled” trope by making sure we know the character whose disability was explored the most’s life is more important than his death. Seems like an important thing to do in a show that is kind of about disability. Just saying.

- Makes the lack of closure and little mentions of Tech make sense from a storytelling POV because the necessarily catharsis would come from his return.

- And it would actually add some triumph to the ending. Yes, this little family survived. They outlived the war. They’re together, despite every effort to rip them apart. They made it, despite the dark times, despite the Empire, despite what they were made to do and be. They defied all of that. That would have been so, so satisfying.

As is, without Tech, without that CX-Tech reveal, we sort of end up in this weird place where all the themes are half-baked. They are more than soldiers…except Tech, who had to fall out of the story as a soldier (despite us getting the clearest glimpse of what his life outside of soldiering could have been). They get to live how they want…except Tech. They don’t leave their own behind, except Tech that one time. They should value their own lives a little…except Tech. They’re more than a squad, they’re a family…except Tech, the only one besides Omega to say that’s what they are, doesn’t get to see it, and they don’t get to have him around. We begin the series with a broken family and end it with a family broken differently. That’s not dynamic.

So there’s no really punch to the ending. It’s sort of…well, okay, we tortured a family for three seasons I guess. Relieved that the survivors are doing okay, but that’s kind of it.

22. The finale in general is just sort of a bunch of events which happen, but which don’t lead into one other. It’s weird. It’s not that too much happens, it’s that almost nothing happens. Nothing of substance, in a way. The finale is, in a word, the only true filler episode in the entire show.

TL;DR: I think a lot of stuff got dropped from the finale. I don’t know why. I suspect that it might have to do with the strikes—basically, the script was done, most everything was recorded and boarded, and then when the finale was in production they got sudden drastic budget cuts (this was during a time when the studios were disappearing entire completed shows and movies as tax write-offs), had to gut what they had planned, and couldn’t bring the writers or even showrunners in to smooth over what was gutted or to even pick what got taken out. They wouldn’t have gotten to choose or compress things. They were on strike (because the studios wouldn’t negotiate), and whoever did choose ended up just ripping out the stuff that would actually take any time or budget to deal with (so, basically everything I laid out), killing it (literally), and using the remains of what they already had recorded. And who knows how they had to fill in gaps.

But I don’t know for sure. Maybe it was that. Maybe it was a last minute decision to take certain plot points and put them in a different show. Maybe it was executive mandate. Maybe the creative team just sucked the whole time (that’s one I have a hard time buying—we have four other shows and most of this one that tell me that they’re better at their jobs than this). Maybe everyone said screw it, who even cares anymore at the same time.

Maybe nothing happened. Who knows? I strongly suspect something bad did happen behind the scenes that was out of the creative team’s hands—I really do, because that’s the only way I can make sense of this—but until we can get someone talking without six layers of PR and NDAs, we won’t know for sure. All I know is that The Bad Batch is an amazing show with 46 episodes that range from “fine-but-clunky” to “IMMACULATE,” with more leaning towards immaculate than not, and some incredible set up, and one episode so nonsensically bad it makes me want to eat drywall.

It’s just that the one terrible episode comes right at the end.

I love The Bad Batch. I love every single episode and all the things that were set up, but…eh, I think I’ll be ignoring the finale until further notice.

[xxsycamore]

OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!

╰┈➤ Four times William uses his curse on you to control your orgasms.

William Rex/f!Reader • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Established Relationship; Orgasm Control; Forced Orgasm; Orgasm Denial; Mind Control; Multiple Orgasms; Aftercare; Gentle Sex; Kink Negotiation; Dirty Talk; Overstimulation; Coming Untouched Enthusiastic Consent Public Sex; Masturbation; Lingerie Strip Tease; Begging Light Dom/sub Dominance; Vaginal Fingering Praise Kink Discipline • wordcount: 2,458 • masterlist

Visions of Temptation 2024/KINKTOBER DAY 4: Orgasm Control

The first time it's brought up, you are both in bed.

Lying on William's naked chest, you bask in the afterglow of hours spent making love to him. He did you so well; the slight soreness of your limbs only serving to emphasize how well he loved you tonight. Getting lost in the endless blood-red pools of his eyes, you draw little patterns around his collarbones, making him chuckle as his own restless hands roam your sides.

"William… I want more…"

Your voice is tiny, despite his countless attempts to make you greedy, to bring out a side of you that would take from him as much as you want to. He gives you a little "Oh?", dripping with that sultry but elegant tone that you simply cannot resist.

"What am I gonna do with you, my little Robin?"

You lower your head, breaking the eye contact for a second as you bury your face into the crook of his neck instead.

"You don't have to do much… I'm still so sensitive all over that I feel I'd come undone if you as much as lay a finger on me…"

William produces another small laughing noise, the sound vibrating close to where your lips linger - the next time you lift your upper body to look at William again, your lips graze his beautiful neck in a chaste kiss. He simply looks at you with interest, probably wondering what else goes on in that head of yours.

"Let's see, then."

Without wasting any time, one of his hands snakes its way down your backside and between your legs. He collects some of your slick, a sweet combination of his and your juices, and reaches further down to play with your clit.

"Mmnh…"

Little sparks of overstimulation run through you, but they do nothing to distract you from the rapidly growing pleasure that William gives to you. Bracing yourself with arms propped up on both sides of his head, you slowly lift your face to look at him - to kiss him, or to tell him you're coming, anything - but as soon as your gaze meets his piercing scarlet one, you simply tip over the edge and come undone on the spot.

William lets you ride out your orgasm, your hips basically humping his fingers as you thrash around; his other hand wrapping around your back to hold you in place, gently. Once your body relaxes and he hears your tired pants, head buried in his neck again, he whispers close to your ear:

"My, did I accidentally use my curse on you? I said nothing, yet it's like you came just from looking into my eyes, little Robin. How sweet."

For a moment both of you remain quiet. William's complex feelings surrounding his ability are a topic you've already had the chance to communicate with him, and you'd assured him you're not afraid of looking into his eyes. Still, it's a sensitive thing to talk about - even if he's the one mentioning it in the first place - you're not sure how to respond, but you don't want to delay your response for too long either.

"It's true that if you were to use it on me like this, it wouldn't be much different, haha… I love your eyes, William."

Oh no, what have you done? Bitting on your bottom lip, you almost jump as his breathy chuckle blows an emission of cool air close to your temples.

"What are you imagining, exactly? Me ordering you to come undone whenever I wish to?"

"T-That's not-!"

"I need to say I'm not opposed to the idea. As long as you are feeling comfortable with me doing this."

There's something akin to butterflies, a fluttering sensation in the pit of your belly, as the fantasy he created for you becomes more and more vivid.

"I… I want you to try…"

William silently caresses your spent body some more, kissing the crown of your head, and then at last he speaks again.

"We can do that tomorrow then, if you still want to. Now get some sleep, my dear."

As if you can sleep after knowing what's to come…

The first time it actually happens, you immediately want it to happen again.

Sprawled across the bed on your back, your fingers dig into the bedsheets on both sides of your body as William rains kisses across your sensitive chest. You both know what's to come, but he's far more collected than you are. He always is. If it weren't for the fact that you know him inside and out, you wouldn't notice the little hints of hesitation in his otherwise precise actions. The way he stops his ministrations the second you start to moan too much, his fingers dipping ever so shallowly inside you. You know well the source of his hesitation, however, and it keeps you relaxed. Rather than questioning the trust you put in him, he's probably wondering… if you're stimulated enough.

"My darling Robin, are you ready to follow my order?"

You find his eyes before he can even finish his question. It says more than your response would say, but you still nod, wet your lips, and answer properly.

"Yes. Please."

It's like diving into the unknown; both for you and for him, almost in a manner that is special to you, to have another first together, to share the feeling of this discovery. You like seeing him like this, a new light behind his eyes, a curiosity that paints his gaze somewhat more playful, youthful.

"Come for me."

A strong current of pleasure zaps through you, like a lightning bolt, a force you cannot stop. Your muscles contract, your walls squeeze around nothing as you ride out an orgasm that is like nothing you've ever felt before.

The concern surrounding his usage of the curse was simple. It's well known that he can control people's minds with it - and while the mind is connected with the body, neither of you can know for sure if the little experiment would be successful. Without an external source of stimulation, it would be very tormenting if your mind was set on to achieve something that is not within its powers. William would have been there for you, should that be the case, fast to assist you in finding your peak so you can execute his curse's order and find peace.

But none of this is needed, because the only thing you're granted with is pure bliss. Like being able to see the sparks of energy passing through your neurons in an absolute spectacle of the senses, you experience great pleasure beyond any other. The reason? Receiving so much direct stimulation without the distraction of being physically touched leaves you with the ability to feel nothing but pleasure. It's mind-blowing.

When you come down from your high, William gazes over you with so much lust in his eyes that you almost get scared. He must have enjoyed the sight.

"My dear… you are…"

"William, please do that to me again! I want to experience it again!"

Surprise blooms on William's face as he stares at you in disbelief. Here he was ready to tend to you should the whole ordeal tire you, overstimulate you in a way, or completely turn you off, or else-

"Come."

In a flash, your torso lifts off the bed, body as tight as a string, almost as if possessed. You don't understand any of how this works, and you don't want to. Without needing to recharge, to build up a new wave of arousal, your body simply obeys and fills itself with nothing but pleasure.

You descend from your peak, but not into the softness of the mattress - rather, it's William who pulls you into his embrace, starved to feel you against him. You can only imagine how much he longs to put his hands on you now, to love you how he knows best.

The first time it catches you off-guard, you're in public.

Exploring this new method of playing with you has become a fixation of William's. He'd tease you in so many ways; commanding you to come even while he's inside you, just to watch how much your pleasure heighens when he completely domineers over your senses like that. The spike in his libido and in his dominance comes as a surprise but you don't want him stopping anytime soon. It's not long before you give him your consent to take this game out of the bedroom, whenever he sees fit. He did it once in the carriage when the two of you were in a hurry, even if it only made the urgency to entangle your limbs that much greater in the end.

With a pause of a day or two since the last time he used his curse on you, it's the ideal period of time to lower your guard for this.

You and William are out on a date today, already seated at the theater and waiting for the play to begin. The seats William reserved are located in the opera box, with no more than a handful of people sharing the space with you, and even those are situated far enough to your right to cease noticing their presence at all, especially once the lights are dimmed. You're more than happy with this luxurious arrangement, looking forward to seeing the play while in the company of your lover.

It hasn't been long into it when William suddenly takes off his coat.

"Are you cold, my dear? Please, allow me."

You watch William in confusion as he proceeds to put his coat on you, like a blanket draped over your front.

"Thanks, William." You reply with a smile, not minding his gesture at all, but when you direct your gaze back to the stage below, you see him from your peripheral vision with his gaze still latched on you.

A devious thought creeps into your head, and you feel like you know exactly what is going to happen if you meet William's gaze right now. And you do exactly that.

William's voice is but a whisper, enough just for you to hear.

"Come."

Your fingernails bite into the velvety armrests of your seat, a tremor going through your body, and now you see the purpose of his coat. William is too sly for his own good, you manage to think through the euphoria, as the need to moan his name almost overpowers your self-control. The cacophony of noises produced by the actors down below drowns the small whine you let out as the last of the waves of pleasure wash over you, and only the pleasant buzz remains.

William places his hand over yours, entwining his slender digits with yours. You spend the remainder of the play just like this.

The first time you're the one wanting it, he has you begging for it.

He's in his chair, lightly swinging a glass of wine, savoring his drink without a hurry in the world. Why would he? You waltzed in here clad in a brand new set of lingerie underneath your robe, and you agreed when he requested for you to put on a little show for him first. It's been a while now since the silky red undergarments have been discarded on the floor and you'd begin touching yourself all for him to watch. But no matter what you do, with the anticipation that you're going to receive a much bigger treat than those sorry fingers of yours, you simply can't reach your peak on your own.

"William, please…"

"Please what, my Robin?"

"Please make me cum! Command me to cum! I can't do it without you, William, please!"

William's smile grows. You'd think he's satisfied with your pleas if it weren't for the casual way he takes a sip of his wine, not looking like someone soon to take action.

"Keep playing with yourself, it's a pleasure for my eyes."

You whine at his words, fingers rubbing harder in hopes that you can somehow put an early end to this and then move on to what you really are after. With your current position kneeling on the carpeted floor, you can easily put your other hand to work as well, parting your knees just a little more apart so you can freely finger yourself all for William's eyes to see. He's not that harsh. He's never been. You're sure he'll let you come anytime now.

Just when the added simulation begins to take an effect on you, there's movement from your lover. The wine glass is set down as he slowly shortens the distance, and to your surprise, sinks one knee to the floor so he can be close enough to touch you.

His manicured hand reaches out until it's directly on your clit, your own falling to the side as your mind screams a thousand times 'yes' with anticipation to finally get some real stimulation.

As expected, it takes no time for William's familiar touch to send you to the edge. Your body language does little to hide the telltale signs of your quickly approaching climax as William's free hand suddenly captures your chin, making you lock eyes with him.

"Don't come."

As if an invisible barrier prevents William's touch from actually reaching you, all stimulation is cut out. No, you still feel it, undoubtedly - yet your brain is confused, the signals not getting through, as you whimper and cry out in frustration.

"No—Please, William, Please! I need it, please let me cum!"

William removes his hand and you practically bend forward, trying to chase after his touch, on your hands and knees before him.

"Please, William!"

He needn't tilt your chin this time - you've been eagerly waiting for it, your eyes trained on him the entire time - and when he rises to his feet you feel devastated, afraid he's getting further away from you. When your face is this close to the floor and he's risen to his full height, he looks almost intimidating.

"Come, my Robin."

You feel a powerful full-body shudder that washes over you, something like pure ecstasy as your head falls between your arms, spine arching and hips trembling.

"William…William…ahhh…"

You feel a gentle touch on your cheek and you can do little other than nuzzle into it, thankful for the mercy he showed.

"Let's get you to bed now, my lovely Robin. You did so well. I want to spoil you thoroughly now."

Basking in his praise, all that you can think about is making him even prouder of how disciplined you can be… You wonder if next time he would even need to use his curse on you at all.

Taglist: @arsnovacadenza @kimi00twin @g-kleran @thesirenwashere @devonares @galaxyprison   @starshards26 @thewitchofbooks @acethephoenix256 @ikevamp-shrine-2 @nad-zeta @crystal13unny @lordsister @ikemen-banshou   @themysticalbeing @otome-scribbles @rhodolitesrose @kpop-and-otome @queen-dahlia @kisara-16 @chaosangel767 @ikemenlibrary @queengiuliettafirstlady @aurora-morning @ikemenlover24 @mcofthemansion @joy-the-reader @katriniac @ikemen-writer @tele86 @lovely-bubb1es @aria-chikage @babyblue0t7 @rhodoliteschaos @shrimpy-kitsune @nightghoul381 @xbalayage @lucyw260 @kittygrimm88 @lokis-laugh @natimiles @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf @groovylita Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged!

[partycatty]

dilf!johnny cage > to heal

how it goes when reader dates older johnny following the loss of sonya

warnings: grief, age gap, mentions of sex but no smut written

notes: i want to gnaw on dilf johnny until he is nothing but bones. it is for that reason that this post is LONG. yappasaurus rex over here.

masterlist <3

•first of all mk11 was so bad at covering the grief of a man losing the mother of his child

•then again that also implicates that johnny is really, really good at hiding his emotions, especially around the people he's meant to be stoic around. i wouldn't necessarily cry in front of a thunder god or cryomancer either. and i'd try to keep it together for my kid.

•regardless, johnny falls into a deep, DEEP depression that eats away at him. he should have been there on that mission. he should've canceled that ninja mime shooting and spent one more day with his family before it was completely wrecked. and he'll tell himself this every time he looks at cassie's empty eyes. he stays sober, for her, but god does he wish he could just feel nothing sometimes.

•johnny stays smiles and jokes, but as soon as he closes the door to his sleeping quarters, all he can do is blankly stare ahead. damn him and his acting skills. he wants people to check up on him, but it's just so... hard to express his pain.

•some time passes and he considers himself recovered, but every time he sees his daughter excel in training or lips smile in the way sonya's did... god.

•imagine his surprise when his own daughter asks him to get back into the dating scene. cassie says something along the lines of "you're a sad old fart that needs a woman to get him off of the couch."

•cassie's right, unfortunately. johnny let his stubble grow in and hair grow increasingly wild. he didn't carry himself as well as he once did, which was especially worrying to those who saw him as the confident, sharp, charismatic character.

•johnny declines to his daughter, finding the conversation kind of off-putting. but, on a late tuesday, he decides "fuck it" and sets up a bumble profile while sitting on the classic leather dad recliner in the living room. the one thing he forgot to do? set an age range.

•so he's a little taken aback when a 29 year old you is the third person he swiped to. instinctively, he thought to swipe left on you, but curiosity got the better of him. he read your profile and realized you sounded incredibly mature and had the same interests as him. covering his mouth and holding his phone with the other, he swipes... right, feeling an immediate intense guilt.

•he doubted you'd match with him, but as soon as he swipes, a big "IT'S A MATCH!" covers his phone screen and he lets out an audible gasp, tightening his grip on his face. he then gets a twinge of embarrassment for himself. was he seriously flipping his shit over his first match on a mobile dating app? yes.

•johnny spends a good long while staring at the screen, wondering if you'd even message him. after all, men couldn't message first on the app. what if she thinks he's too old? what if it was an accidental swipe? what if...

•NEW MESSAGE! "hiii :)" johnny swallows, afraid to open the message. what would he say? what should he say? does bumble have read receipts? would you notice he opened your message and stared for several minutes?

•he settles on "hello, how are you?" it's been a while since he's had to genuinely flirt with interest, so he opens cordially. johnny was a charmer for sure, but this time he was playing for keeps, not just for fun. he also, unlike his younger version he met some time ago, wants to take his time.

•you two chat back and forth, and while you acknowledge to him that he is indeed a celebrity (and how hilariously stupid it was that he was on a public dating site), you express no real concern over it. you mention to him that you want to see him as a man and not a character. the deeper conversation of dealing with the spotlight could come another time, as johnny didn't want to scare you away.

•you two text for a lot longer than most matches on bumble. johnny's honestly terrified of meeting up in person. he wants to be so incredibly sure that it's you he wants to meet up with. he forgot to keep swiping, even. he was so fixated on getting to know you. he felt weird talking to multiple women on the app, since he was so used to married life.

•he can't bring himself to ask you on a real date, so you two settle on a friendly coffee chat. he shaves, gets a trim, and for the first time in a long time, stresses about wearing the right things. he even calls cassie and asks if he should wear shirt A or shirt B, but was very keen on redacting your age from the conversation. that was something he was afraid to disclose to her.

•what was this man so afraid of?? you are a SWEETHEART. you're so incredibly mature, have more "vintage" interests and asked so many questions, leaning in to listen. johnny didn't feel the need to perform, in fact, he found himself... with butterflies. he death-gripped his coffee to hide the fact that his fingers were trembling.

•one coffee chat turns into two, and then three, four, and eventually, he feels okay enough to plan a real date. his heart was swelling with excitement, a new warmth in his chest. you were so effortlessly patient and kind with him, never asking for anything of him besides his time.

•he plans a dinner date, squeezing you two into a lavish restaurant that he wouldn't have been able to get into if he wasn't a celebrity. he didn't want to overwhelm you with his money and fame, but god did he want to do this right. even though the topic of money was something you never thought to consider with him, he still wanted to show off at least a little bit. it's just in his character!

•there, he starts to come out of his shell a bit more. he starts flirting back, and you two hold hands across the table, intense eye contact as you converse freely.

•johnny takes a sip of his drink, looking down. but when he looks back up, he notices you admiring him with your sweet young eyes. and it's here that he realizes just how much you've revitalized him. he springs out of bed with a smile. you're the last thought in his mind before he falls asleep. when he is with cassie, he can't stop thinking about how much you two would get along.

•which, by the way, johnny is so incredibly sure to remind you that he has a daughter that's your age. you pause and think, trying to articulate your thoughts on the awkward circumstance.

•"i understand that it may be a little uncomfortable for her and the last thing i want is to drive a wedge between you and your daughter. you speak highly of her and i deeply admire that. i perfectly understand that she comes before me."

•johnny stops himself from tearing up. you're... just so kind. you're perfect.

•after the ninth date, he decides that he's ready to go back to your place. it's a quaint apartment, and it's there that you both make the conscious decision to have sex.

•it's slow and sweet, he's murmuring praises into your bare skin as he takes his time exploring a new body. older johnny takes his time with sex unlike his younger days. he needs to appreciate your beauty, complimenting every feature on your body. you're so divine.

•"such a pretty girl..." he whisper-groans above you, strong hands holding your hips in place with a passionate firmness.

•over the next couple months, he's still working toward officially calling you his girlfriend. a new partner in his life scares him, even if you make all of that tension disappear when you're around. it's just a lot to ask of a man to take that new step again.

•biting the bullet, he asks you at your doorstep holding a cheesily large bouquet, having to glance over it to get a proper look at you. you smile sweetly, nodding and immediately accepting in that gentle voice. you knew how much this meant to him to make things official.

•cassie eventually gets the chance to meet you, as her father brings you along to a holiday party with the family. it's... it's a little weird, she won't lie. i mean, it's just weird in general to see your dad with someone that isn't your mom. that's something that naturally needs time to adjust to. and your age isn't something she can avoid discussing.

•she doesn't hate you. she actually finds you quite enjoyable to be around! she's just a little uneasy that you're her age. but, after a long, long talk full of tears and reassuring words, cassie realizes she can learn to accept you being with her dad. i mean, she sees what you do to him.

•that sparkle in his puppy-dog brown eyes is back, and he just can't stop being engulfed by your presence. a hand is always on the small of your back, a grin always plastered on his face, and eyes are always locked onto you when you're doing the most mundane of tasks. he's chirpier, and people even joke that he seems as active as he was in his younger years. you got the old man's rusty gears turnin'!

•he loves you. he didn't realize he could do that again.

[moonie-moon-o7]

Whitebeard Pirates Incorrect Quotes

Ace: Hi, I'm Ace, and only you can prevent forest fires... seriously, it has to be you. I'm sure as hell not gonna do it.

You: I need a long word. Ace: T-rex but the long one.

Marco: Where are your parents? You: What are parents? Tatch: That’s just about the saddest thing I've ever heard.

Tatch: It’s Pride Month, you know what that means! Ace: I get to eat as many Skittles as I want? Tatch: What? No! What has the rookie been telling you? You, walking in, pouring Skittles into your mouth: Taste the rainbow, bitch.

Ace: How long do you reckon it’ll be until the rookie finally snaps and commits murder? Marco: I’ve been going through life assuming it’s already happened at some point and it’s just that no one was ever able to trace it back to them.

Tatch: WHO ATE MY BREAD?! Tatch: I'M GOING TO FUCKING K- You: I did? Tatch: Kiss you and buy some more, you haven't been eating anything today Kid. Tatch: *walks away* You: You: He's gone Ace. Ace, coming out the closet with bread stuffed in his mouth: Twankh uh!

You: If you aren't someone the church wanted dead 300 years ago, are you really living?

Marco: I think you're still suffering the effects of your party last night. You: All I drank were Redbulls! Marco: How many? You: Eighteen.

You: I wanna sleep for 40 hours. Marco: You know that's called a coma, right? You: You: That sounds so refreshing, I could totally go for a light coma right now.

Tatch: What do we say when life disappoints us? You: Called it! Izou: No.

Tatch: Hey, You? I need advice. You: I’m pretty useless at giving advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment instead?

Teach: Go to hell! You: Where do you think I come from?

You: If I die, you can have what little I own. Izou: Wait. What do you mean "if" you die? You: My unending existence is fuelled by pure spite, that of which the painful experiences of life have rendered me full. Marco: Marco: *Sighs* Let me call your therapist again.

[zoeykallus]

The Bad Batch/ Mayday/Rex x Reader Prompts – Confessions

Part 5/7 - Wrecker

Warnings: Hurt/Angst/Comfort/Fluff/Love Confessions

Masterlist

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

This is a continuation of this request :

The Bad Batch/ Mayday/Rex x Reader Prompts – Confessions

Wrecker

Wrecker is actually very open and easy to talk to. He is neither particularly reserved nor aloof. Nevertheless, you haven't yet dared to tell him openly how much you like him. You feel that he might like you as much as you like him, but you're not sure. The thought that you could open up to him and be wrong keeps you from confessing your deep affection for him. You are startled out of your thoughts when you hear a familiar, beloved sound; Wrecker's rumbling laughter. Apparently he's been playing a trick on Crosshair again, because the Sniper runs past you, jaws grinding, curses coming from between clenched teeth. Wrecker appears on the ramp, laughing and calling after his brother, “Come on, it was just a harmless joke” Crosshair keeps walking and growls, “Go to hell” You giggle and ask, “Oh Wrecker, what have you done again?” Your heart skips a beat as his attention turns to you, and you see his mischievous smile. “Can't you smell that?”

You blink in confusion and draw your brows together critically, but then you smell it, a very intense floral scent suddenly seems to be in the air, a scent that Crosshair seems to be dragging behind him. You laugh softly, “You've replaced his aftershave with what seems to me to be a very intense, rather feminine scent” Wrecker grins from ear to ear. You sigh softly and say gently reprovingly, “Wrecker, Cross has a date today, as far as I know he really likes the person he's going out with and if he doesn't want to be late, he won't have time to get rid of the wrong scent” “Oh,” says Wrecker a little sheepishly, “that's why he's so angry” You think this could be a brilliant segue, and with your heart suddenly racing, you ask, “Speaking of dates, how about the two of us?” The moment you say the words, you want to sink into the ground. That was far too blunt, too direct, and you actually wanted to say something completely different. But it just slipped out of you. Wrecker's reaction doesn't really help. At first, he just stares at you, perplexed; it's a long, uncomfortably silent moment, and you feel like you're frozen in motion, unable to even change your expression, which is terrible, because you feel like there's a stupid, nervous grin on your lips.

Suddenly, Wrecker bursts out laughing, pats you on the back and continues on his way. “That was a good one!” he says with a rumbling laugh. A humorless little laugh escapes your lips: “Hahaha, yeah, hilarious” You watch Wrecker disappear around the corner. You let your shoulders slump with a sigh. This is not at all what you had in mind. Discouraged, you hang your head. It's not a nice feeling that's spreading through your chest right now. Tech's voice suddenly snaps you out of your gloomy thoughts. “Judging by your body language, you're either very tired or very unhappy” You turn to him, startled, and pull your shoulders back up. With raised eyebrows, Tech comments, “Now you're trying to pretend. You were probably about to tell me you were just a bit tired. Am I right?” Tech had started to learn more about posture some time ago, to read between the lines. However, he still did this in his very direct way every time. When you don't answer him, he asks, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

You shrug your shoulders. You would actually like to talk to someone about it, but you're not sure if Tech is the right person to talk to. Nevertheless, you put him in the picture, explaining that Wrecker has either misunderstood you or is not interested in you or a date with you. “It's easy to find out,” says Tech almost cheerfully with a small, satisfied smile, because he's sure he has the solution to your problem. “Oh yeah?” you ask cautiously. The next moment your heart almost stops, because Wrecker is back outside on the landing platform and Tech calls him over to you, “Wrecker, why don't you come and join us for a moment?” You don't have time to object or to make a hasty escape without making a fuss, so you stand rooted to the spot. “What's up?” Wrecker asks happily, glancing from one to the other. Tech says before you can think of anything appropriate to say, “There's been a misunderstanding between you two that needs to be resolved” Wrecker looks at you, puzzled. “Oh yeah?”

You clear your throat and want to say something, but Tech beats you to it again. “When you were asked for a date earlier, it was a serious question” You feel like your heart is going to stop at any moment. Wrecker looks so surprised and confused that you can't even guess where this is going. “Really?” he asks, looking at you. You're so nervous that you don't trust your own voice and just nod. Tech, pleased with himself, pushes his goggles up the bridge of his nose with his index finger and says, “I think my work here is done. You're welcome.” Wrecker and you watch Tech for a moment as he goes his way. It takes you a while to look nervously at each other. He grins cautiously at you, scratches the back of his head nervously and stammers, “The night's supposed to be starry tonight, we could have a picnic on the mountain, look at the stars.” “Is that an invitation to a date?” you ask with a slowly widening smile. Wrecker shrugs his shoulders a little helplessly, “Yeah, sure. Do you like that sort of thing?”

“I like everything I can do with you,” you say, beaming. Wrecker beams back and says enthusiastically, “Then we'll do the picnic tonight, take candles and stuff. And on the weekend we could go to the fair!”

@rintheemolion

@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99

@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310

@misogirl828 @tech-deck

@meshla-madalene

@chxpsi

@thebahdbitch

@nahoney22 @ladykatakuri

@darkangel4121

@ttzamara

@arctrooper69

@padawancat97

@agenteliix

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@andy-solo1

@hunterssecretrecipe

@heyitsaloy

@greaser-wolf

@extrahotpixels

@hated-by-me

@hunterxcrosshair

@malicemercy

@bebopsworld

@echos-girlfriend

@cpnt616

@dangraccoon

@jediknightjana

@pb-jellybeans

@antishadow2021

@sleepycreativewriter

@projectdreamwalker

@1vlouds

@clonelovr

@ivyyyyy

[hiraya-rawr]

"in another life, i would've really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you"

synopsis !! all the opportunities he didn't take! forbidden love, status differences, different life goals, missed chances

characters !! zhongli, thoma

note !! please please read thoma's part I really like it for some reason- also everything everywhere all at once was amazing, i loved every second of it and it was just so beautiful! i also love all the cultural references aaaah

+ + +

Z H O N G L I

"Live a human life with me," You had once suggested to Rex Lapis, lounging on a floating island and watching the construction of what would eventually be known as Liyue Harbor.

He turns to you, confused look on his face, "A human life? Honestly, your ideas only develop in oddity over time."

You laugh, shrugging as the wind chimes along with you. Did Barbatos find it amusing as well?

"I'm being serious, Morax! The war is over, peace is settling, any issues can be handled by the humans and we can always guide them from a distance." You smile, "Live a human life with me. We can open a teahouse by the outskirts, we can visit the harbor on weekends, we can age ourselves and spend a human's lifetime together!"

He sighs, turning away, "I'll amuse you and visit you in my human form, but I have responsibilities I wish to take as their archon. You can play human without me."

"Aww, Morax-"

He rolls his eyes, amused, "Human lives are so fickle and short. Should you ever get tired of living their ways, you're welcome to join me in the skies again."

"Hmp. You might just regret not trying with me." You tease, and you—

Were right. He did regret it, because there was no time left for him to try with you. You were gone, eroded like the old immortals, withered in a grave like a human. The immortality of gods like you and him was never physical after all, and your body decayed too soon.

"So, finally decided to join the bandwagon, huh?" Venti grins at the geo archon, sipping from his drink of what's presumably wine. The teahouse is half full, a known heritage site for anyone who knows the history of good Liyuen tea.

"It's an interesting idea." Zhongli simply replies.

"And how are you finding the human life, my dear friend?"

"Strangely. . . I had expected it to be a sociable endeavor," He smiles, strained, "but it could also feel quite lonely."

T H O M A

Doing laundry and taxes with Thoma was impossible in the first place. Not when you were destined to marry someone of the same status; a political engagement which tied you down since the day you turned of age.

For you, this was an unbearable tragedy. The denial of being with someone you love.

For Thoma, this was as simple as nature's course. Of course you would marry a noble! He's simply a commoner, a mere house worker with the favor of his boss. It wouldn't make sense for you to marry him.

And perhaps that's why it infuriated you; how dare he think so little of himself?

"I just don't understand why you're not mad about this! I'm about to be married and you— you won't say anything about that?" You once yelled, frustration built to its peak at his nonchalance.

"(Name)," Thoma says softly, concerned.

"No, don't you start!" You cut off swiftly, "You'll only talk about how you're a commoner and I'm a noble and I'm sick of that! I'm sick of all of it!"

"I just don't know what you want me to say–"

"Say you love me! Ask me to run away!" The words are desperate on your tongue. "Archons, Thoma, I wish you could be more selfish. I'd give it all up for you." You sob, collapsing onto the wooden floor as your legs give out. He immediately kneels in front of you, ready to embrace.

In quiet whispers, he cups your face, brushing tears away with his thumb, "You know I can't ask that of you."

You sniffle, "I know, I know." and "I just wanted you to try."

[wantonlywindswept]

10/10 fox day: forgotten fox bit

to celebrate fox day you get more of the next section of the forgotten fox au, which contains...zero fox actually present x_X

i am trying okay

---

Bucket, for the crimes of having an excellent sabacc face and a hip that seized up when moving any faster than a light jog, was often stuck manning the Guard HQ front desk.

They didn't get too many natborns coming through these days, at least, now that the CSF were forced to do their own jobs and had taken over guarding the prison. The Guard was back to being a protective, high-level military force instead of doing all the domestic policing and drudgework they'd been relegated to. They were still beholden to the Senate, but things had gotten better since Palpatine died and Organa took office, even if some of the Dome's denizens still saw them as little better than droids.

So Bucket didn't have to deal with that at least--he could, he got his name from being able to fit his demeanor to whatever the situation needed it, swapping faces like you could swap a helmet--but he did still have to deal with the regular comers and goers. Thankfully, that was mostly clones, plus the new addition of the pack of Jedi healers that descended on medbay once a week.

Interesting bunch, the Jedi. A lot more personable than Bucket had thought they would be. Surprisingly calm up until you admitted to using a soldering torch to close an acute laceration. 

(It wasn't even a recent injury--it happened so long ago that it was already healed. But now Master Nema gave Bucket the stink eye whenever she saw him, like she was trying to determine how medically stupid he'd been in her absence.)

"--figure what they were going on about?"

Bucket snapped to attention as the exterior doors slid open, a placid expression settling across his features. He turned toward the voice--only to relax when he caught sight of the visitors.

"Just something about another shift in the Force," Marshal Commander Cody said, offering Captain Rex a shrug. "It's not as bad as when Palpatine died; nobody passed out this time, at least."

"Small mercies," Commander Gree observed, bringing up the rear behind them. He had four takeout containers cradled in one arm, and by the smell they were from the offensively good noodle cart that parked near the base of the Rotunda. Bucket took a deep, envious breath and decided he was definitely going there for latemeal.

This particular group of GAR troopers--along with Commanders Bly and Wolffe--were a familiar enough sight at Guard HQ. They didn't visit often, almost eternally deployed to the front lines, but whenever their leaves lined up they usually made an appearance. Bucket had never seen all five together at once, but maybe that would change now that the war was over and battalions were being called back to Coruscant.

"Commanders, Captain," he greeted, standing up behind the counter to salute. His second for the day, Kelari, hastily copied the action. 

Cody waved the formality away with the sign for 'at ease', nodding at the two of them in turn.

"Sergeant Bucket," he greeted. "And I don't think I know..?"

"Private Kelari, sir!" Kelari chirped. She was still painfully shiny, wide-eyed and awestruck as she stared up at the Marshal Commander, and Bucket allowed the gaping with fond indulgence. 

She was one of their most recent acquisitions, part of a squadron that arrived after the death of the Chancellor. The group didn't have any direct experience with the war or the suffering that came with it, and the entire Guard were doing their damndest to make sure they never would.

"Private Kelari," Cody acknowledged, one side of his mouth ticking up. "Good to meet you."

Kelari beamed; Bucket shooed her away so he could get back in front of the security screens. 

"The Jedi up to shenanigans again?" he asked as he pulled up the admittance forms. 

Rex sighed, heavily, and Cody shot him an amused look.

"Let's just say," Gree said, "That it will be nice to avoid more half-coherent explanations on how the Force works in the future."

Bucket snorted, starting to fill out the usual info. The Guard never got a Jedi--and with the reveal of Palpatine being a Sith, they now knew why--but he had to admit he was glad they never needed to deal with the often-inexplicable Jedi tendency to rely so much on some invisible cosmic power.

"Captain CT-7567," he recited idly as his fingers flicked across the keys, "Commander CC-2224, and Commander CC-1004, here to see Commander--"

Bucket blinked at the 'reason for visit' box. 

This batch of clones had been visiting the entire war, either by themselves or together, whenever their rare leave allowed. They came often enough that if Bucket wasn't the one that would suffer the datawork hassle later, he would have just waved them on through. 

He was familiar enough with them to know that Cody's infamous scar came from a sparring accident, that Gree had three half-finished xenobiology research papers that he hoped to someday publish, and that Rex had been forcibly adopted by the CC clones without being allowed any input in the matter. He knew that Wolffe had three implanted teeth from multiple attempts at biting trainers through their armor as a cadet, and that Bly sometimes mixed up his letters and numbers and had almost been decommissioned as a result.

And Bucket had no idea what to put in the box.

He slowly lifted his gaze from the half-finished form to meet Cody's eyes. 

Missing memories weren't that uncommon, in the Guard, but as Bucket watched confusion steal across Cody's face--as that confusion shifted into rising unease and panicked alarm--he didn't think it was just a Guard problem, anymore.

[imabeautifulbutterfly]

Congratulations on 450 followers! (You just got another)

2 and 37 with Rex?

Thank you for the congratulations and for the following, love.

@coffeeandbatboys I hope you love this little fic. I love Captain Rex, so I hope you enjoy my portrayal of him.

Love oo.

Kayilyr’ika

Main Master List   |  Star Wars Fic Roulette

You ran from one end of the hangar to the other, looking like a mad woman screaming for people to move out of your way, but you didn’t care, time was of the essence. 

After all, you’d been given the privilege of doing an upgrade on the General’s droid, his beloved R2D2, and somehow a drop of oil landed on his memory circuit. 

The minute you saw it happen, instant panic hit you. You ran to grab the degreaser, stealing it right out of the hands of your coworker, you didn’t care if it was rude, or that the shouts and curses followed after you as you ran with full force back to your workbench, all that mattered was saving the General’s droid. 

You dabbed a little degreaser on the soft cloth you had, all the time, praying to the force and anyone else, “Please be okay. Please be okay, please be okay—” it was the only thing that you could say. Especially as you gently placed the memory chip back into the little R2 unit. 

“Beep boop beep”

“Oh thank the force, R2, are you okay?”

“Beeeepp.”

“What do you mean, you’re not R2. Of course you are?”

R2’s blue dome shook back and forth, as it led out a long string of beeps and bleeps. You let out a sigh, shaking your head, “You are not the Supreme Leader of all that you survey.”

“Beep Boooop”

“Oh yeah, well I’d like to see how you would attempt to behead me.” You didn’t even let him finish, as you turned him off, taking a deep breath, how were you going to explain to the General that you turned his beloved droid into a killer robot.

“You okay?”

Came the voice of the one man you knew you could count on, “No. Not really.”

“Oh-oh, what happened?”

“I was trying to do an upgrade on some key components when a tiny, miniscule, almost insignificant speck of oil dropped on his memory card…”

“Okay …” Rex leaned against the workbench narrowing his eyes, as he tried to understand your worry, “So what’s the problem?

“Somehow he turned into the Supreme Leader of all that he surveys” you motioned as you hang your head.

“Who did?”

“He did.” You point towards R2.

“He did?” Rex pointed towards R2 to clarify.

You nodded as you stood upright again, “Don’t even ask me how that happened, but now, I have to try and salvage what I can of his memory …”

Rex started to laugh, “Wait, did he say anything about beheadings?”

“Yeah, he did,” you answered, albeit confused at his reaction.

“Don’t worry, kayilyr’ika. You didn’t screw him up that badly. There was a story Senator Amidala was reading to a group of children at the last diplomatic mission we accompanied her on, and it had to do with a Supreme Leader of all that he surveyed. Maybe you just need to give the memory chip a further cleaning.”

“I hope so, otherwise I might need you to protect me from the General.”

He let out a belly laugh, “Don’t worry, kayilyr’ika. I will always be there for you.”

You tried to fight the warmth creeping up your face, hoping he wouldn’t notice, after all your crush on the Captain was only one-sided. You can still remember, when he started referring to you as kayilyr’ika, when you finally built up the courage to ask him what that meant, he simply shrugged and said ‘little mechanic’. Because you were little to him, he simply patted your head as he said that, as though he were talking to a child. 

From that moment you knew he wasn’t interested, it broke your heart when you realized, but you resolved within your heart, you’d rather have him as a friend than nothing. 

So here you were, doing your best to calm your racing heart, as you gently pulled out the memory chip, and grabbed your magnifying goggles, pulling them over your head, and gently cleaned the chip. 

Rex watched as you worked, always amazed at your attention to detail. No matter what damage a gun ship, droid, or even datapad sustained, you always somehow managed to get them working again. And if it was too damaged to repair, you saved all the parts you could use before discarding the shell. Thanks to your frugality, there was less of a wait time when it came to finding parts and repairs being completed on time. 

It astonished him how bright you always were, not just in mind, but in spirit too. There was always a glow of happiness that surrounded you. He enjoyed that about you, it made him feel comforted and at peace; whenever he was having a particularly bad day, he just had to find you, see your smiling face and suddenly nothing seemed that bad anymore. 

It even got to the point where he would dream of you, that smiling face, those bright eyes, that hair that somehow always fell in your face like it was doing right now, was all he needed to chase the bad dreams away. He moved beside you and gently pulled your hair back, clipping it with the hair clip on the table. You mumbled a thanks as you continued to focus on your work, and even that he found endearing. 

When you had asked him what kayilyr’ika meant, he told you the truth, it meant little mechanic. What he didn’t tell you was that ‘ika was usually used only for those you held dear. He realized, as he watched you put the memory chip back in R2, he needed to tell you how he felt. Even if you didn’t reciprocate, he wanted you to know. Maybe closer to when your shift was done, he’d come by and see if you’d join him for dinner. He took in a deep breath and resolved within himself, he wasn’t going to let another day pass without telling you how he felt. 

Not especially, after you got R2 working again, and was the droid you all knew and loved.

Main Master List   |  Star Wars Fic Roulette

Tag list:

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[paimonial-rage]

spark - xiao

[random writing event] | requested by anonymous

“Do you want to try it?” You asked with a smile. “A day like this is a cause for celebration, don’t you think?”

He kept quiet as his gaze trailed to the thin stick within your hand. Though he never used one before, they weren’t unfamiliar to him. In times past, the more studious of the adepti found interest in those Inazuman delights. The lights would often draw his eyes from across a crowd, but he never bothered to investigate up close. While bright and beautiful, they died quickly as transient things often did.

“I’m alright. There’s no need to waste such human trivialities on me.”

As usual, his refusal didn’t color your expression with hurt. Instead, you shrugged and turned your attention back to the Mingxiao Lanterns floating in the sky.

“It wouldn’t be a waste to me. Not for you.”

He held back his urge to sigh. There you went again saying such things. Though you were assigned to his care, you didn’t need to visit him so often. You didn’t need to shower him with gifts. You didn’t need to stay by his side. He knew he wasn’t easy to be around. He knew he often made people feel nervous. But you didn’t mind. You weren’t scared away.

In the back of his mind, he wondered why Rex Lapis gave you to him. Xiao had been a loyal servant for years. Never once had he failed his duty. So he didn’t understand. What was he supposed to do with you? What was the purpose of keeping you by his side?

He broke away from his thoughts when a soft humming filled the air. Turning his attention to you, there you stood by the torchlight with that stick from earlier in hand. After lighting the tip, you held your arm out as the stick began to erupt in a burst of lights and stars. You laughed, waving it around, enjoying the streaks it made across the evening sky.

The sight was captivating.

But just as quickly as it began, it soon came to an end. With a sigh, you placed the sparkler to the side. Almost as if reading his mind, you turned to him with a bashful smile.

“They don’t last long, but they are beautiful, aren’t they? It may be a bit frivolous, but what’s the point in being alive if we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy it?”

Perhaps it was due to it being Lantern Rite that he suddenly found himself caught in a bout of honesty.

“I’m… not sure I understand.”

It was the most truthful answer he could give. And how shocking it was you did not judge him for it. Instead, you walked over to the box of sparklers and picked out a stick. With a smile, you then held it out to him.

“Why not try?”

[leoruby-draws]

Decided to post some more random, mostly minor characters from the DC universe, mostly ones that seemed they would be fun to draw. I guess technically these drawings are all based in my TrWh au, as always. Here they are:

Wanted to draw heroes with wings, I draw Vanessa quite a bit so I had to learn wings and feathers. Still working on it, but its fun. You can see Vanessa there at the bottom middle, looking a little menacing.

The girl with red wings is called...Redwing aka Carrie Levine. I thought she was a sweet kid, so her ultimate fate was pretty sad. Wonder if she'll come back to continuity at some point.

The guy with the mohawk is Northwind aka Norda Cantrell, part of Infinity Inc the earth 2 version of a Teen Titans group. He honestly didn't get a whole lot of focus in Infinity Inc, like the writer didn't know what to do with him. Maybe they should've made him into the magic fighter of the group, almost felt like thats what they were going for him before they wrote him off.

The girl in yellow is Dawnstar, part of the Legion of Superheroes. I haven't read much of LoSH, mostly some 90's issues. But her design is soooo pretty I had to draw her, her costume here is a mix of her various outfits.

Lastly, here's Bluejay aka Jay Abrams again, part of Justice League Europe. Kinda thought JLE was a bit of a letdown, I mean the team's made up of mostly americans not europeans! I think Crimson Fox was the only european, I thought her set-up of being two people was cool.

Little extra Infinity doodle, here's Hector Hall (Silver Scarab) hating on poor Norda, with Lyta Trevor (Fury) looking on with confusion. Hector's just a hater (tho there's reasons for it ig), an archetype you see sometimes in some superhero groups, like Roy Harper or Guy Gardner. The plot-line of Hector's resentment of Norda was kinda interesting, but like with most things in Infinity it didn't get the focus it should've gotten. Speaking of Infinity, here's some more doodles:

There's Rex Tyler (Hourman 1) with little Rick Tyler (Hourman 2), enjoying some father-son time. Apparently Rick's first costume isn't well liked (so says reddit). I thought it seemed cute but maybe it works better as a kid's or sidekick's kinda costume?

In the middle is Jack Knight (Starman) suffering as he interacts with Sylvester Pemberton (Skyman, formerly the Star-Spangled Kid) and Courtney Whitmore (Stargirl, actually she should still be S-SK but whatever). In my au he actually joins Infinity Inc, since everyone becomes heroes earlier he's actually around when the team's still running. I suspect his dad (Ted Knight) forced him into it. Also Courtney doesn't respect Jack at all, he's so annoyed at this. Look at her mini-staff, I presume Ted made it for her.

Also there's Beth Chapel (Dr. Mid-Nite) and Jesse Chambers (Jesse Quick) looking cool. Jesse also joins Infinity Inc in my au, will there be a love triangle going on between Beth, Rick and Jesse? Don't think Rick's gonna survive that, aw well.

Look at baby Jade and Obsidian, Alan is overwhelmed by their antics.

In another post someone asked if I could draw more of the Relative Heroes, a super obscure hero group. So @draculaura1660, this one's for you. Here they are:

I kinda had a hard time drawing this group, cuz their costumes are so complicated! I wished there was a reference/concept art for them cuz it was a struggle trying to figure out the details, the comic art did not help matters at all. You might have noticed I changed details anyways, I tend to simplify costumes for my au both to make it easier to draw and also to signify their younger ages. It's just fun to play around with costume design ig.

Some more characters!

Jinx, who looks very different between her comic and cartoon self. I did like her pink hair, so decide to see how it would look on her comic self. There's Kole, who also has different designs in comic/cartoons. I think her comic costume is so cool, esp that color pallet! But I love her pink hair in the cartoon, so she's got pink hair here! Just like pink hair a lot lol.

The other pink haired girl is Laethwen, love interest of Ray Palmer in Sword of the Atom. I think I made her hair more pink to better differentiate her from Starfire, also, again I just like pink hair. I wished she and her little kingdom didn't die, in my au Ray saves them! Maybe he relocates them to his backyard or something?

Little Donna and Vanessa doodle, did you know they never once interacted on panel? The closest is when Donna brings her stepsister Cindy to talk to Vanessa instead. I wonder how they would even interact, I know Vanessa wanted to be wonder girl (and resented Cassie for 'taking' it from her). Did she look up to Donna, or wanted her out of the way? Funnily enough Donna wasn't even Diana's sidekick when post-crisis started, due to both their origins being reworked and contradicting each other's timelines. It's all very confusing.

Anyways, some bonus doodles:

Had fun making a new outfit for Laethwen, I imagine she took some inspiration from indigenous groups from the Amazon, seeing as that's where her people crashed into.

Kole's costume is just so beautiful but so complicated, maybe that's why she got killed off so soon in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Lastly, here's Bette bugging Dick with Barbara being super amused about it. I said in my post about her that I didn't really care about her crush on Robin, which is true, but I still wanted to doodle something making fun of it. Poor Dick is doesn't know how to get outta of this social situation.

Well that was a lot, hope you liked all that.