#WHAT ABOUT THE LAWQUANES

[chewbaccawithouthan]

Hemlock: who knew clones were so paternal?

Clone Simps, fans, and general all around clone lovers:

We did. We knew. This entire time.

[reluctant-mandalore]

If you don't see your favourite dilf please feel free to vote for someone else and let us know in the reblogs!

[eobe]

Clones. Brothers. Dads 🫶🏼 Hunter, Cut Lawquane and for me in personal the feeling of one of the most strong and impressive qualities of parenthood: The ability to assume responsibility – not only to play some role, but with everything you have to offer 🌱 Children don‘t need perfection, they need love and caring.

I like that Cut and his familiy show up again and Hunter learned the first steps how to dad ☺️ There are several stonemelting, heartwarming and soulsoothing scenes in this episode, so I needed to draw an appreciation artwork ✨

So that is the result of my previous WIP of Hunter 😁 What do you think about it? 🫶🏼

Taglist: @eclec-tech @lonewolflupe

[gaeasun]

Cut Lawquane was absolutely a Commando

Ok, crazy theory time.

I think Cut Lawquane was a Commando, or least a Commander. But going with Commando for now. But I don't think he was a rank and file clone trooper.

All of the clone troopers i think should be shown as exceptionally trained, but Cut Lawquane showed incredible skill, even though we saw him compared to Rex the entire episode. Evidences are below:

A) Rex is both a Captain and one of the oldest of the CT's, but the entire time Cut acts as his equal and perhaps even elder. He doesn't talk quite down to Rex, but it reminds me of how people act when they're just a grade apart. Not like they know everything and the other knows nothing, but there is a definite difference between them. Also he instinctively recognizes Rex as a Captain, but is not phased by that at all.

B) He disables Rex, the Captain Rex, with a farming tool in zero seconds flat, and does it without hurting him.

C) He recognizes Commando droids, which are typically only used in special assignments. And he also knows that it takes a headshot to pierce their armor. On Rishi it was Captain Rex who recognized them and said they were brand new. So for Cut to already know exactly what they are, especially when he's been out of the war for months, at least implies he could have been on high stakes missions before right in the beginning of the war. Which is also why I'm leaning Commando instead of Commander, because it's more Commandos who go on missions while Commanders are still often with general forces.

D) He has a highly developed sense of individuality and creative thinking, which was encouraged more in the special forces than general troopers.

E) Cut also says, specifically, "everyone I cared about, my team, was gone." Commandos are specifically trained to work in groups of four as a cohesive team. additionally, with these commando units being so tightly knit, the feelings of complete loss could have played a large role in Cut's desertion.

F) Cut and Rex play a game of dejarik, and while the winner is not shown, by the end they're both down to the last piece, which shows that Cut is around Rex's level when it comes to strategy. And Rex is so good at strategy that Marshall Commander Cody, who the commanding officer of around 36,000 men, considered Rex to be one of the best they had in that regard. Not to mention that Cut is impressed with Rex too.

G) Cut has 3 blaster type weapons that are probably the weapons he had on him when he deserted: an older rifle, a blaster carbine, and a DC-17. Now, it makes sense for a farmer to own a rifle, and the blaster carbine is a general GAR blaster. but the DC-17 is the same blaster pistol that Rex uses, that we have only seen used by ARC Troopers, Captains, and Commanders.

H) This is probably the most obvious one of all, but Cut is an incredibly good fighter. Even our beloved ARC troopers Fives and Echo struggle to take on a few. Cut takes on 20 and lives (granted the droids are not top form but its still impressive). He makes three headshots in a row with his rifle in less than three seconds, and the next three kill shots are all headshots as well. he also throws a wooden rafter-beam off him (that might be dad-strength tho) and hits a metal droid with a wooden chair hard enough to break both of them. he also punched one of them in the face hard enough the droids eyes flashed red (and then slightly regretted it, but it didn't look like he broke his hand either).

I) Cut hadn't been fighting for at least several months, since he deserted almost right after Geonosis. so as incredible as his skills are, he had probably been even better before, so just think about that for a moment.

Edit: i forgot to put this in because it wasnt in The Deserter, but by bad batch he already has gray streaks and a receding hairline. guys an old teenager for sure

So, Cut is a highly trained and skilled fighter in both hand to hand combat and blaster combat, he's at least as old as Rex and is not intimidated by his rank at all, he was in a specific team and felt like everything had no meaning after they all died, he has the weapons of an officer, had seen enough of commando droids to recognize them and their weaknesses, is Rex's match in strategy and combat while being more independent.

All of this points to Cut being anything but a regular CT, and as far as I'm concerned he was absolutely a Commando.

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

I've come across the sentiment before - sometimes joking, sometimes not - that if Hunter were actually a good parent he would have made Omega get on that shuttle with Cut and Suu.

I feel the need to put out there that, while the squad might not have realized it at the time, they literally saved Omega's life when they let her make the choice to stay with them instead of insisting that she remain with the Lawquanes.

Of course, Hunter was still learning how to be a parent, and I'm sure that if it wasn't only his second day on the job, he very well might have put his foot down. (Though I will also say, I think it's poignant that in a show about an entire group of millions of people who have never been given a choice of where they want to go, what they want to do, and who they want to be, the adolescent clone who is old enough to make decisions for herself is granted the chance to do so.)

Anyway, let's say Hunter did force Omega to leave. Lama Su would still be after her. For all their skill, I highly doubt the Lawquanes would have been able to fight off Fennec Shand, definitely not Cad Bane. So Omega would have ended up back on Kamino with an increasingly desperate Lama Su. Even if Nala Se had managed to keep Omega alive at that point, the facility would still have been decommissioned, the clones would have been sent off-world to Hemlock's first lab and Omega likely would have been killed there when it was decommissioned, or she would have been immediately sent to Tantiss with Nala Se and been imprisoned there, with no training on fighting tactics or how to escape.

And while this is one of those situations where the rightness of the choice is made clear only in hindsight, it was still the right choice to let Omega stay with the squad.

(That's not even getting into the sheer lengths Hunter went to just to try to keep Omega away from the missions while simultaneously trying to protect her... But that's a topic for another time that deserves its own post!)

[warsamongthestars]

One of the most interesting things about TCWs Rex's character arc struggles is that, he's constantly put into contrasts.

Rex, as we know him, stands to be the main representation of a Clone Trooper. He's the first major named CT Character, that isn't Commander Cody, who doesn't have any ties to the films (Unlike Commander Cody), and thus can act and be written with far more freedom to explore.

[ You can't write Commander Cody too much by the end of the day, because one, years of expectations weigh, and two, he still has to shoot Kenobi at the end of everything. ]

Rex has two major conflicts in his arc, that represent the three defining points of clone troopers:

Loyalty to their Brothers

Loyalty to the System

Loyalty to themselves

Let's have some examples.

Our first major touch up with this, is the exact Opposite of all three: Sergeant Slick.

He is not loyal to his brothers (And gets a lot of them killed, whilst blaming the Jedi), he is not loyal to the system (He's a traitor), and he's not loyal to himself (He will make a lot of claims... which are unsubstantiated, because he gets a lot of people killed for purposes of greed and perceived slights).

This one is your easy Villain. Its easy to see, via Slick, that Loyalty to Brothers, Systems and Self is very simple.

But TCWs takes it a step further into complication.

Cut Lawquane, a deserter, is not loyal to the system (because it certainly isn't loyal to him), is loyal to himself, but is neutral when comes to brotherly loyalty.

( I say neutral, because he was willing to slay Rex if it meant staying free and his family safe. He did stop, because he's true to himself, and the self he wants to be isn't someone who kills people... Its just that sometimes, what is wanted, and what it is needed, isn't always the same thing. )

This is the first major bang up to Rex's Character Arc, because now we have a decent enough brother who is absolutely Not Loyal To the System that Rex is. And eventually, Rex lets him go, showing that while Rex is Lawful Good--he leans more towards good, whilst still retaining lawful plausibility.

This step slapped Rex, but it was a surprise he could easily, just simply, file away and not think about too hard. Deserting is going to happen when you're in an army of millions, and if they're off to be farmers instead of soldiers, well that's okay and a very nice thought.

The real kicker was Umbara.

One could argue that the Lola Sayu Mission should've hit Rex, but instead of Rex, it hit Fives the hardest (And with good reason). It's probably why there was an implication of a fallout between Lola Sayu and Umbara ("Just like Old times, Rex.")

And Fives becomes a contrasting challenge:

Loyal to Self

Loyal To Brothers

Neutral to Disloyal to System

Fives would bend the system until it breaks if it meant saving his brothers and more. He's the Chaotic Good to Rex's Lawful Good.

Rex is painfully upright and loyal to the system, so when one of his best and closest brothers decides "fuck this", it shakes him up.

Especially when Rex is finally confronted with how rotten the System gets: by General Pong Krell.

To contrast the contrast, on other side of Rex is Dogma, who is Fives' opposite. The Lawful Neutral.

Loyal to the System above all Else.

Neutral to Disloyal to Brothers.

( It does not help that Anakin Skywalker only recognizes Lawful as being Obedient rather than "adherence and or comfort to a code or set of rules" and thus draws more parallels between Rex and Dogma, than Rex and Fives. )

The Umbara Arc throws Rex through the whole loop, with all its conflicts. Especially the challenges it would make to Rex's whole character and showing him how far things can go.

Until finally, Rex finding what lines to draw in the dirt when it comes to "Loyalty to the End".

... But not enough to save anyone.

Then comes the Conspiracy arc, and while we don't know Rex's side, we do have implication of the aftermath.

The coverup of Fives' death (Because it would've had to been), by brother no less (Another big thing), and with the chip arc, which Rex did look into--would've put Rex up against someone he could not and would not possibly be capable of working through or against: Anakin Skywalker.

( Obviously for narrative purposes, Skywalker can't be stopped less TCWs became an AU instead )

Rex finds that his closest and brightest was labeled traitor and terrorist for his attack on the chancellor, via the very same bulletin points that Rex's character lives by, and it would immediately put him up against Skywalker.

The reason being, is that Skywalker is close to the Chancellor, and likely told Rex to drop any investigation.

And through speculation based on aftermath episodes... and What we know by this point...

I bet that Rex did not want to lump Anakin with Krell as a "System Problem". Because Rex worked with Anakin, and Rex's character falls in line with Anakin, and to consider Anakin to be part of the problem would go against Rex's character--thus, it is "unthinkable" and much easier to simply... Believe that Anakin has the best intentions.

( Even if that came at the cost of Fives. )

( Even though it would come at the cost of the 501st in the future--Rex only did enough that it would save his Life, and Ahsoka's, but nobody else's. He pays dearly for that comfort in Anakin at the cost of Fives, and the cost of Everyone. )

Moving to S7... and the Bad Batch.

Rex comes up against his absolute Opposite once more--in Sergeant Hunter, and the various Bad Batchers.

We've hit full circle.

Hunter commands a small squad that he pretty much lets do whatever, whilst Rex hangs on commands and commanding. Hunter is Evasive, Rex is Honest; Hunter gets stressed by Command, Rex does not.

Hunter is endlessly snarky, whilst Rex is straightforward. Hunter loses his faith midway through Mission, and Rex does not. Hunter's appearance is against all regulations, whilst Rex is clean shaven.

Hunter wasn't made for command, he just wasn't the stronger personality in the Batch to cause problems, whilst Rex is trained and made to command.

The one thing they do have in common, is loyalty to brothers, and the difference is--Rex doesn't hang on to anyone in lieu of the bigger picture, but Hunter does, existing in the smaller pictures.

( That's the TCWs implication-- If I went into the TBBshow, Hunter would not be coming out nearly as good. )

With the other batchers, Rex comes up against each one being individually against an aspect of his character.

Tech is disloyal to the system, he's as far from any sort of clone soldier you can get, and he's not even dressed for it. Tech comes in as a research first.

Wrecker is disloyal to self, bolstering about his skills and making light of the situation before it crashes on him. His disloyalty isn't a case of selling out--its a case of simply not considering himself in any measure. He puts others above him.

Crosshair is disloyal to brothers. He makes it a point to start shit in the middle of a mission, question authority, making disparaging remarks, and attacking a sense of self. The difference here is that, instead of accumulating falsehoods (like Slick), or physically attacking--he attacks the comforting falsehoods that a clone trooper would take on out of loyalty to brothers, system and self. If you're a brother, why don't you act it. If you cared so much for this one guy, why did you leave him behind. If you were that good in your little system, why did the specialists get called in. ( Crosshair is also a dick, but one can understand why he does things. )

Each Bad Batcher serves as a challenge to Rex's character. They are as far from Lawful as possible--but they are Good.

And then there was Echo.

But Echo doesn't serve as a challenge to Rex's character. If anything, Echo might serve as the "reward" for Rex's character arc. He saved at least one Brother, and one of his closest.

...

Unfortunately, Rex's full character arc wasn't ever really fully realized, because he is, fundamentally, a satellite character for other characters to bounce off of, even if those characters are other Clone Troopers.

( hell, Rex serves to contrast Cody, and neither of those too really had full Arcs )

Its why Fives took more attention in Umbara than Rex. Its why Ahsoka gets off scott free at the end of the day but Rex doesn't.

Its why when certain points of Jedi pop up, particularly that even our main character Jedi aren't really all that Lawful Good and do fuck up and waste a lot of brothers' lives for it, that Rex does not intervene.

Because, his character was never given that development to step in and tell someone to "Hey, stop, you are going to get people Killed."

A full Arc would've allowed that, and he wasn't afforded one.

A post TCWs Arc for Rex to get that Development, to fully understand all he went through and implement it into a new character arc, was implied with Rebel's Rex... but is currently unfulfilled.

( Don't be shocked that I don't consider TBBshow to count. )

But there ya go, a nice sum Analysis on Rex.

[miss-musings]

TBB Fic Rec: "The Bad Batch Chooses A Family Name"

RATING: G (General Audiences) | No Archive Warnings Apply

SUMMARY: Set about four months after "The Bad Batch" series finale, Omega and her brothers finally move into their new house in Lower Pabu, and we get a brief account of their new routine.

Phee gives them a housewarming gift that sparks a discussion on whether the four clones should adopt a family name, and if so, what it should be. Eventually, Omega comes up with an idea...

Will the Bad Batch pick a name we know like Hazard, Genoa or Lawquane? Or will they choose one that reflects their own paths and their own legacies?

All five chapters combined is ~30 min read

Lots of family fluff with some heavier moments too. And a cameo from another "Star Wars" TV show character!

[welcometo79s]

[repost because I got shadow-banned and I'm back now]

@clonemmunism got me thinking with their post about the war ending and the clones just making very bad fashion choices so here's my thought on what everyone would wear and my rating:

Hunter [4/10]:

Hunter doesn't really care about being fashionable. We got a glimpse of what he would wear in The Bad Batch and I don't think it's very good. He owns a couple of cute scarves but usually he just dresses like a less fashionable Cut Lawquane. And Cut is already pushing it. It's nothing too bad, he just looks like some farmer on Dantooine. No, the bad thing about Hunter is that he literally does not differentiate between clothes he wears going out and clothes he wears practicing knife throwing and juggling with. So most of his stuff has little cuts and tears in it. He also sticks to the type of clothes that Cut gave him, which is the only thing saving him from being a fashion nightmare. He did however try to pick absolutely atrocious clothes for Omega until Echo stepped in. Like he'd attempt to get her a pink shirt with a porg vomiting a rainbow on it and military khakis.

Echo [10/10]:

His outfits are top-notch, he just doesn't dress properly for the seasons. But hey, that's not what we're ranking here. Echo is a crop top guy. Crop tops in summer. Crop tops in winter. And he looks good in them. He wears regular black pants and a variety of casual jackets on top of the crop tops. Sometimes leather jackets, sometimes bomber jackets, sometimes parkas, sometimes open shirts loosely hanging over the tops. Gets matching accessories and high quality boots for his outfits too. Ends up getting himself a belly button piercing. Fashion icon.

Tech [6/10]:

He only has one outfit and it's beige suit pants and a white shirt that's stuffed into the pants. He owns multiple duplicates of the pants and the shirt. Leather shoes. The only thing he switches out about the outfit is that he wears a variety of funky bow ties.

Wrecker [4/10]:

I'm sure there's people on here who found Wrecker's beekeeper outfit from the Saleucami episode cute but it's not very fashionable, nor are the rest of his clothes. Fisherman hats. Crocs. The "my 50 year old dad on the balcony" shoes (those cork sandals). Ponchos and pants that don't fit together color-wise. Sooo many tie dye shirts. Those jeans fabric shorts with lots of cuts in them. The very short ones. Very rarely an elegant evening gown he looks really good in. That gets him an extra point.

Crosshair [5/10]:

He's the Hot Topic Brigade. He has a style and he sticks to it. Some people like it and some don't. Almost always wears a leather jacket. Buys all his clothes at the Star Wars equivalent of Hot Topic.

Fives [7/10]:

Usually wears black jeans and some black t-shirt with printed words on it. Sneakers. Jeans jackets, sometimes with fur. His outfits are good but he wears some of the most atrocious shirts known to mankind. On a good day you get "Viva la Clonevolution", "I'm a Republic War Crime" or "Enemy of the State". On worse days he might wear something that says "Sparkle on you crazy doggo!", "I eat cement", "I can't fucking do be do be do it anymore" (all real shirts by the way) or "Call me the Uwunator". The otherwise completely normal, nice looking outfit adds to the insanity. Sometimes Echo pretends he doesn't know him. It's the fact that Fives does this on purpose that really gets Echo.

Rex [1/10]:

Listen. The Bad Batch and Fives have the privilege of having Echo to be the damage control for their fashion choices. Now we're getting into the bad territory. Rex has so many of these white tank tops that you can see his nipples through. Sometimes there's hot sauce stains on them. He also has a fuzzy jacket that Fives got him as a joke. Rex does not know it was supposed to be a joke. At this point Fives is too intimidated to correct him. He wears light shorts that some rich kid would wear to the golf course under the tank tops. And cowboy boots. Also huge elegant statement necklaces on top of this. And that one stupid fisher hat that says "rexcellent" on it.

Hardcase [2/10]:

Listen the only reason Hardcase has more points than Rex is that Hardcase doesn't want to look fashionable, Hardcase wants to look fun and that he does. He joins Fives in the cringe t-shirt extravaganza. Would wear the ugly pink porg shirt that Hunter wanted to get for Omega. See-through jackets. Glittery heart sunglasses. Glittery silver disco pants that get wider at the bottom. Rainbow bracelets that work like rattles. He annoys everyone around him by shaking his hands to his "improv gospel". Red leather boots that go up to his thighs. Sometimes he wears them under the disco pants, sometimes over them. Fives loves his outfits. He's the only one. Sometimes Hardcase tries out a variety of colorful wigs.

Tup [9/10]:

He looks so cute. So many people hit on him. Lets his hair grow a little longer and starts wearing half-buns. Also a crop top guy, just a little shy about it at first. Wears earrings and looks really nice with them. Has delicate wrist tattoos, maybe some branches with flowers wrapping around his arms. Otherwise simple, normal pants and sneakers.

Jesse [3/10]:

Tup and Fives are carrying the 501st in terms of fashion. The rest are all fashion don'ts. Jesse is no exception. He also wears crop tops but his don't have sleeves or straps. It's just a strapless bandeau top hanging over his pecs. On top of that? Baggy oversized jacket with a comical amount of pockets that he always stuffs full of things. He's been stopped multiple times by the Coruscant Guard and searched as a suspect for being a spice dealer. He just has his pockets stuffed full of candy though. Baggy pants with equally as many pockets fading from blue into purple into red. The jacket is a dark green. Sparkly golden dance slippers.

Dogma [1/10]:

Big sun hats. Very tight leather pants that end just below his crotch area and then restart at the knee. The pants have two parts basically. The two parts are not connected. See-through sneakers. Frilly white shirts that some 18th century vampire would wear. Tie with little loth cats on it. All of this in combination btw.

Fox [10/10]:

I can do this in one sentence, look up "dark academia outfit men" on Pinterest and you get Fox's style.

Mayday [0/10]:

His isn't even an outfit, it's just a bunch of fabrics he bought just like that in the market and somehow wrapped himself in them. There's no shirt, pants, jacket or anything like that, they're just pieces of fabric wrapped around his body like towels. One of them he wears as a scarf. On a good day he looks like some type of monk. On a bad day he just looks like a mess.

Howzer [3/10]:

You know that outfit Sportacus wears in LazyTown? That's his style. He wears things looking similar to that.

[snotbuggle]

The Lawquane family (before moving to Saleucami). Idk I just love them all so much and I have been thinking about how the family came to add Cut in.

In my own version of their story, the family lives somewhere other than Saleucami when they meet Cut. After the crash, he’s suffered minor internal damage and a severe fracture to his patella. While he heals he helps prepare the family for eventual evacuation which results in choosing Saleucami to further themselves from the war.

I tried to get Suu’s facial features to be more unique, but it’s hard to follow the guide you made yourself earlier when the entire face is less than an inch tall on your sketchbook. In my reference for her, I gave her hooded eyes and a more unique nose that didn’t show well here. I also tried to give Shaeeah (shortened to Shea on paper) hooded eyes as well but ended up changing them because I couldn’t get it to look right.

Since the kiddos changed a ton between tcw and tbb, I wasn’t too worried about what they looked like. Nonetheless trying to combine the designs is difficult considering how drastically different they are. I hc that the skin patterns change frequently. Also I was too lazy to design their clothes :,)

[leapingbadger]

What Might Have Been

Summary: The Batch meet up with some old friends. Hunter and Omega contemplate their choices after leaving Kamino and what it means for their shared destiny. Takes place a couple of years after Tantis.

Read on AO3

Word count: 2759

***

Omega felt a little nervous as she brought the ship in to land. It wasn’t the flight or the landing that was the problem. Their new ship, The Havoc, had flown like a dream. It was the destination.

Bright sunlight filled the cockpit, large trees surrounded the makeshift landing pad. Omega stood up and looked through the wide window in search of their hosts but came up short. There didn’t seem to be anything out there.

“They’re here,” Hunter said casually, coming up behind her and resting a hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

“I don’t see them. Are you sure the coordinates are right?” she said, again craning her neck.

“Trust me,” he said with a smile.

He was the first down the ramp into the humid, cloying air. Wrecker and Crosshair followed behind, leaving her to close up the ship. Her stomach fluttered again as they walked in a single line through a patch of strange, wavy trees.

Hunter put his arm up to stop them from proceeding.

“Booby trap?” Wrecker asked.

“Uhuh” Hunter said with a laugh.

“He really thinks that’ll keep us out?” Crosshair said, amused.

“It’s done pretty well for the last few years,” came a familiar voice from the other side of the tree line, “nice to see you boys,” Cut Lawquane said, smiling from ear to ear, “it’s been a while.”

Omega felt her stomach clench a little. Cut was showing his age. His brown hair was streaked with grey, the lines on his forehead were deeper and he moved slower than before. Omega’s eyes darted to her brothers, knowing she was looking at their not too distant future.

“Omega,” Cut said kindly as he disabled the perimeter fence to let them pass, “so nice to see you, too,” He scooped her into a hug, just as he had done when she was a child. She hadn’t been used to such kindness or displays of comfort and affection then, but now she leaned into it. It wasn’t any different than getting a hug from Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair or Echo.

“The family has been looking forward to your visit. Come on,” he said, clapping Hunter on the shoulder and leading them all up a narrow, tree lined path to a ramshackle house.

The main body of the house was made out of some kind of metal container, a circular hole had been punched in the front and a wooden door roughly secured to it. On top of the metal structure was wooden planking. It was twice the size of their home on Saleucami and Omega imagined it suited the family of four well.

“You made it,” Suu said as they walked through the door into a bright, but cluttered kitchen.

Unlike Cut, Suu hadn’t aged a day, her pink lekku hung longer over her shoulders but otherwise she was unchanged. Her kind, blue eyes flicked to each of the batch before landing on Omega. She smiled deeply and crossed the room, scooping her into a deep hug that only a mother could give.

“I’m so glad to see you are safe,” she said before standing and moving to Hunter. She pulled him into the same kind of deep hug, “fatherhood suits you,” she whispered, barely audibly to Omega and playful tapped her hand on his bearded cheek. She wasn’t sure, but Omega could have sworn Hunter blushed at Suu’s words.

“Have you managed to stay out of trouble,” Suu asked, conversationally.

“That depends on your definition of trouble,” Hunter replied taking a sip of the drink Cut handed him, “but we’re doing okay now,”

Cut and Suu exchanged greetings with Wrecker and Crosshair in turn. They didn’t ask about Tech and Omega was thankful for it. Hunter had given them an update once he had finally managed to track them down.

The afternoon passed quickly, the amber sun bursting into every corner of the house as Shaeeah and Jek returned from school. Soon the family table was heaving under a feast of strange food Omega had never seen before. Wrecker, Hunter and Crosshair sat on crates, pulled from various parts of the house. Omega was given a chair next to the kids and listened intently as they told her about their studies.

“Shaeeah is going to become a medic,” Suu said proudly, “she’s training in the next village over on the weekends. She’s excellent at dressing wounds.” Shaeeah blushed, her blue cheeks turning scarlet. “And Jek is an excellent mechanic. He’s worked on some of our most stubborn equipment.”

Both children looked thrilled at their mother’s praise and Omega felt a pang in her chest that she couldn’t explain. Was it…jealousy?

After dinner Omega followed Shaeeah and Jek to their room upstairs. Two bunks had been pushed to opposite sides of the room. Shaeeah’s side was bright orange, books neatly stacked on her bedside table, handmade dolls scattered along her bed. Jek’s side was a fierce red color. He had parts of machinery, wires, and other detritus scattered on the bed and floor. It reminded Omega of her brothers’ room back on Kaminio, specifically Tech’s bunk. She hastily turned away from it and focused on the other side of the room.

“You have to tell us everything,” Shaeeah said, shaking her head excitedly, her lekku swinging from side to side.  

“What do you mean?” Omega asked, confused.

“Did you really get kidnapped?”

“And chased by bounty hunters?” Jek added

“Mum and Dad won’t tell us much, but we overheard Hunter’s comm a few months ago. Did you really escape the empire?” Shaeeah all but whispered as she crossed to the door and closed it quietly.

“And can you really fire a laser bow? Do you have it with you” Jek asked, looking around her as though it were strapped to her back.

Omega sat on the bed, feeling slightly awkward.

“I mean, yes, I did. But it wasn’t fun or anything. It was terrifying most of the time and I had my brothers to train me and with me…most of the time.”

“No wonder you didn’t want to stay with us,” Jek said, “Dad won’t even let us fire a rifle,”

Omega felt like she had been slapped. Did they really think that was the reason she’d left? Why she’d run as fast as she could through a strange, unfamiliar space port as though her life depended on it? Why didn’t she say goodbye?

“It wasn’t like that,” she said in a small, quiet voice, reminiscent of the young girl first taken off of Kamino all those years ago. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go with you.”

Both kids looked more serious now, sitting on their respective beds, heads down and struggling to make eye contact with her.

“I spent most of my life looking for my brothers. Hoping they’d take me away. I just…I couldn’t give up on it when it was so close to coming true.”

Silence filled the room. Omega could hear the murmur of conversation coming from downstairs and the scaping of chairs and crates as Cut, Suu and her brother’s vacated the table.

Shaeeah was the first to speak, “did you ever…ever wish maybe you’d come with us instead?”

Omega loved the life she had with her brothers. Their small home on Pabu, finally being together despite all the pain and fear and loss, it’s all she ever dreamed of when she was stuck in the Kamino lab, monitoring their vitals from a distance. She couldn’t imagine her life without them. But there was a tiny sliver that had always wondered. When she was running from bounty hunters, when the marauder was about the crash, when she was meters away from a blaster bolt or being hunted by the empire…what if she had chosen differently?

Who would she have become if she had stayed with Cut and Suu all those years ago? She wouldn’t know how to fire an energy bow, but she would know a mother’s hug if she woke up from a nightmare. She’d understand the peace of going outside and not looking over her shoulder. Her future would be open to her, she could be whatever she wanted in a way that seemed impossible as one of the empires most wanted.

And what about her brothers? would they have retrieved Crosshair from the empire sooner if they didn’t have to spend so much time protecting her? Would they have been able to hide and stay safe? Would Tech still be alive?  Omega choked on the lump in her throat as her fallen brother’s goggles flashed in front of her eyes. She took a deep breath.

“I think I would have really loved growing up with you. Being your sister,” she said to Shaeeah and Jek, deliberately making eye contact with them both. “But I was already their sister, and I needed them. And I think they needed me too.”

Omega sighed and realized that she had finally put the wondering to rest after all this time. She was a bad batcher like her brothers before her. It was the life she was meant to have. And yes, it wasn’t always easy, but it was home for her.

***

The amber sun was setting over the tree lined horizon. The party had moved outside into the warm and far more pleasant evening air. Wrecker had helped Cut arrange wood for a firepit at the far east of their property. The flames rose alarmingly high over the crops and Hunter noticed Cut sitting lingering in case he needed to leap into action. Hunter chucked to himself. Don’t let an explosive expert near a campfire, he had learned that the hard way when they were new in the field.

Suu busied herself at the edge of the tree line and kept her rifle strapped over her shoulder in case there was any trouble with the local wildlife. She had told Hunter there wasn’t anything truly dangerous like there had been on Saleucami, but old habits die hard.

“Hunter? We were going to go for a walk, is that okay?” Omega asked, Jek and Shaeeah waiting anxiously behind her,

“Of course, comm us if you need anything,” he replied casually.

Omega did her usual happy dance when she got her way. Hunter smiled as Shaeeah took her arm in hers and led her away.  

“So, how’s fatherhood treating you,” Cut said with a grunt as he sat down next to him

“I’m not…” Hunter started.

Cut waved off his response, “I know, I know” he said dismissively, “but she didn’t ask their permission,” he said, jerking his finger at Crosshair and Wrecker who were standing by Suu, deep in conversation.

Hunter shrugged, “We’ve all done our part. You were right though, it’s way harder than dealing with battle droids,”

Cut laughed, “And then some. But you seem to have got the hang on it.”

Hunter shrugged again but didn’t commit. They both stared silently at the fire. Sparkling red and yellow embers rose to meet the gold and scarlet of the fading sun.

“Do you regret it?” Cut asked at last.

“What?” Hunter responded, turning to the older clone, confused.

“Trying to leave her… with us,”

Hunter sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “Of course. I couldn’t imagine our lives without her. Unfortunately, I know what it’s like to be without her and…” he paused, a cloud falling over his eyes. He shook it off as best he could and sighed again, “she belonged with us. I’m glad she realized it, even if we didn’t at the time,”

Cut nodded as though Hunter had given the correct answer to a test he didn’t know he was taking.

“I’m sorry. For asking that of you and Suu. I… I shouldn’t have put that on you.”

Now it was Cut’s turn to shrug, “We would have gladly taken her. She was a sweet kid, and still is.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty amazing,” Hunter said wistfully.

“I imagine a lot of that is due to you three… and Tech,” Cut said, adding Tech’s name reverently.

“And Echo,” Hunter said with a nod, “but I don’t know how much credit we can take. That kid is just different…special.”

“Aren’t all of you?” Cut asked with a chuckle, tossing a small piece of wood on the fire, causing it to crackle and snap as the flames feasted on it.

“Not like her,” Hunter said, staring off into the fire.

Cut leaned forward to catch Hunter’s eye, “I think you’re downplaying how much of an impact you’ve had on her. Stepping in to the role of a father…” he held up his hand as Hunter made moves to protest the use of the word, “when one wasn’t there before is an act of courage greater than facing down a thousand droids. You didn’t have to take her, you didn’t have to keep her, and you didn’t have to raise her to be brave, smart, self-sufficient, and strong. You did all of those things while making sure she was healthy and safe. I mean, as safe as you can be as fugitives, and you did it all with no experience or knowledge of what that relationship should be. You should give yourself credit for that.”

“Didn’t you do that with Shaeeah and Jek?” Hunter asked pointedly.

Cut nodded and took a sip of his drink, “I did. Jek was a baby when I met Suu. And that was courageous too… if I do say so myself.”

Hunter smiled at him and looked back into the fire. He’s never thought of taking Omega as an act of bravery, although constantly thought trying to leave her was an act of cowardice, even if it likely would have been for her own good. She would have been safe from the Kaminoans, the bounty hunters and maybe hemlock too. But whenever he let his mind wander down that hollow, empty road he always thought that perhaps they would have still found her, but this time, without her brothers to try and save her.

It didn’t matter anyway; Omega had belonged with them as soon as they came out of the tube. She’d known it from an early age, tracked them, spied on them and finally got the courage to speak to them. One of his few regrets was that they hadn’t met her sooner and that he wouldn’t ever be able to get those years with her back.

Time wasn’t something Hunter took for granted. With every year of Omega’s life, it was two if his, Crosshair’s and Wrecker’s. He’d already noticed, just a couple of short years after Tantis that he was moving slower, his workouts took more effort, and he felt stabs of discomfort in places they had never been before. He looked at the older clone beside him, first off of the line, just like Rex. Cut’s lines were much deeper than his own, he’d put on weight around the middle and walked with a slight limp on his left leg.

“How’s time treating you, Cut,” he said at last. Hoping for some insight into his future.

“Ah, you know. I’m moving slower these days. Everything’s a little harder but I’m still ready for action.”

Hunter chuckled. He’d probably be giving the same answer in a few years, he thought. Crosshair, Wrecker and Suu came over to join the party. The kids returned after an hour or so. Omega had made a new animal friend, a rat-like creature that sat on her shoulder the rest of the evening until a loud crack of the fire scared it away.

They stayed around the fire, late into the night, watching the embers slowly dwindle until they snuffed themselves out. Omega fell asleep, slumped in her chair. Hunter picked her up with ease and took her to the makeshift cot the Lawquane’s had provided. Everyone else filtered off to their various corners, Wrecker on the couch, Crosshair on some cloth on the floor.

Hunter sat in a soft chair and watched Omega’s breathing rise and fall. He blinked and suddenly saw the small child from Kamino, charm on her forehead, short, brushed back hair, medical tunic, in front of his eyes. He smiled to himself, as soft snores and quiet breathing filled the room. He may not get those missing years back with Omega, but he had never been more confident in his decision. She was meant to be his kid, their kid. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

[heyclickadee]

A couple things:

1. The thing is, I actually don’t really think we’re done with the bad batch, for a variety of reasons. There’s too much unresolved, for one thing, and “end of this chapter with these characters” is not how anyone says, “We’re never touching this again.” I really do think we’re getting an immediate follow up with more of a focus on Rex and Echo, but that the rest of the bad batch will still pop in from time to time, giving all of them a chance to round out the last little bit of their stories and character arcs—because they are all just a little bit undercooked. (For example: Crosshair doesn’t even get lines after Tantiss, and the last thing he says about himself takes him from implicitly to explicitly suicidal. The hug is beautiful and cements his place as part of the family, but we never get a moment where he forgives himself or no longer believes that he deserves to die. His redemption arc is magnificent, but it needs that last little push to feel fully resolved).

And, for another variety of reasons, I actually do still think we’ll be getting Tech back in one way or another. So much of what is left unresolved in TBB forms a chalk outline around a Tech-shaped void, for one. The writers aren’t committed enough to have come up with a decent reason for why he had to go in the first place—stakes does not cut it and is actively undermined by never treating it like a character death—for another. They were, at the very least, not committed enough to actually kill him. Tech is the only character in a show that loves making us watch who doesn’t die on screen, and the only one who’s “death” moves nothing forward and is never treated like an actual death. And we have no definitive proof he actually died, for another. (Even if he was CX-2—CX-2 got “killed” two other times on screen and popped up five minutes later each time like a daisy. If you do that you’re going to have to burn the body and scatter the ashes for me to think he’s dead, impalement or no. Besides, you can’t definitively kill a main character via subtext. You still have to be clear and direct.) And Tech has too many callback lines and potential survival foreshadowing for someone to never tug on them at some point, for another. You’d have to kill me to keep me from doing something with, “Better late than dead.” Basically, tl:dr, I think Tech will come back someday, whether they have plans or not.

Because I can’t really get on board with the idea that The Bad Batch was just always badly written. I can’t agree with that. It was never perfect, of course, but it was always remarkably well written and thematically consistent for 46 straight episodes and then tripped on the chalk of the finish line. Besides, I’ve never seen bad writing that was perfectly set up amazing writing if all they did was one simple thing—ie, follow through with what they set up. It’s not that the ending is bad, it’s that it’s bad in this particularly insane way. If it was just normal bad, I’d have dropped The Bad Batch like a rock by now and done my best to forget I’d ever watched it. But because it’s bad like this—basically, a non-ending that resolves nothing but Hunter’s Cut Lawquane arc, Rampart (which was good, actually), and the problem of Hemlock continuing to draw breath (which was just the last major obstacle in Hunter’s Cut Lawquane arc, so it’s not even a separate thing) and answers NO questions—I’m obsessed.

And I can’t get behind the idea that The Bad Batch ending is like this and that we got shorted a Tech return because they got shorted a season. I’ve seen many serialized animated shows that got shorted a season or more, and what every one of them did was cut out everything they could in the middle so that they could get to the resolution they wanted, squash the originally planned last season’s arcs into the actual last season—not leave those arcs undone and the resolution out. The only way them being shorter a season works as an explanation for all of this is if the creative team found out season three was the last at the same time we did. And even then, the solution there would have been to take out five minutes of fight scene and replace it with five minutes of resolving everything in the short and stupid but still THERE way.

For example: Give Wrecker and Crosshair one line each after Tantiss that tells us what they’re going to do. Unmask CX-2 as Tech after spearing him (or don’t spear him) and add one line where Hunter says he’s recovering and that it’ll be a long road, but they won’t give up on him. Or! If you don’t want to bring Tech back in the short and stupid but there way, add a line to the epilogue where Hunter tells Omega, “I see Tech when I look at you sometimes. I don’t want to lose you the way we lost him,” which seems like a no brainer, or, “Tech would have been so proud of you,” which is absolutely a no-brainer if you actually want to close things out for Tech. Tech would still be gone, but at least it’d be resolved, and that’s all short, simple stuff you could add to the very last episode to make it feel finished. If you’re shorted a season or even a few episodes, you cut everything that doesn’t matter, you do whatever you can to get your story resolved—unless you have somewhere else to put it. Which, given how open Star Wars canon is and how heavily it relies on recontextualization, is a very real possibility here.

What I think may have happened here is that The Bad Batch ended up being the first part of a longer story that had to be artificially cut in half. Whether it was always planned that way, whether it was something that unexpectedly happened partway through the production of season three, or a secret third option (the creative team set things up to to be resolved in three seasons but always wanted to do a longer version, but the longer version (in the form of another show) didn’t get greenlit until they’d already written most of season three, so all the payoff got schlorped over to that follow up show while the payoff stayed in this one, leaving us, the audience, with this incredibly unsatisfying mess of a finale in the meantime while whoever is in charge of announcing shit at Lucasfilm doesn’t see the problem). Put a pin in CX-2, slap something that looks like a happy ending on the rest, resolve nothing, do it all in the next thing.

(Slight sidebar: If it turns out that the reason we didn’t get Tech back is because something went horrifically wrong during the writer’s strike—basically, the finale got hit with extreme budget cuts and the script patched by AI—I think we’d still get Tech back. Tech in the first two seasons was something of a writer blorbo, and no one is leaving their blorbo dead over that. That’s a good way for them to bring back their blorbo and have that blorbo murder the hell out of a thinly disguised CEO insert.)

And if that’s what we’re looking at—well, okay. I can see wanting to give certain things (especially a Tech return) more time. If this is what’s happening I actually think it will be more satisfying in the long run, from a story perspective, anyway. I’ll be able to live with that.

That said….

2. If that’s the case—if what we’re looking at is a story artificially split in half one way or another and we are getting a Tech return and the rest of the resolution eventually in an immediate follow up, something that will ultimately work really well in the long run—that doesn’t mean I think it works now. Right now, it’s awful, from every angle. We don’t know for sure that anything else is coming, it makes for a deeply unsatisfying story right now because the “ending” we have is all we have to go on, and it’s unnecessarily stressful for most everyone but especially the autistic fans who relate to Tech.

And the thing is, if Tech were neurotypical? I don’t think we’d really be question the idea that he could still come back eventually. He’s a clear writer favorite to the point that they basically gave him the entirety of season two, except the two Crosshair episodes, great lines and moments in other character’s episodes, and they apparently liked using him so much that either CX-2 was Tech or they physically couldn’t stop themselves from writing and animating Tech in a season he wasn’t in. Killing off one of the writer faves and the fan favorite in order to bring them back later is something that happens. But it’s something that hits differently when that writer and fan favorite is also the only canonically autistic character in the franchise.

Which. Is I think where we run into a problem. You see, I never really got the impression that the creative team ever thought of Tech as The Autistic One. Does that mean I think the didn’t write him as autistic? Of course not—they absolutely did, and did so intentionally. What I mean is that that wasn’t the sum total or even the primary way in which they thought of him, otherwise I think we would have ended up with a terrible Sheldon-Cooper-esque. Instead, the Tech they wrote, and the Tech we got, is just a guy. A really amazing guy who’s noticeably different and autistic AF, but treated like any other character. And on the one hand, great! I know people have a lot of different ideas about this, but I personally want writers to deal with autistic characters that way—to just write us like we’re people. And if what they’re doing is bringing Tech back later and on a longer timeframe than what we expected—also great. It means that all the ambiguity, hinting, and complete and total lack of processing or closure makes sense, because that’s how you write a fakeout death. That’s textbook how you write a fakeout death. But—but—

The flip-side of just treating Tech like any other character and, perhaps, playing a long game with “killing” him off and bringing him back later like someone would do with a fan favorite, if that’s what they’re doing, is that you end up in the situation that we’re in right now. The interim situation where it feels like Tech’s sacrifice was never given the weight it needed to feel final or meaningful, where we’re given no closure and no opportunity to let go, where we DON’T know if anything is coming next even if we do get hints, where Tech got dropped, where nothing makes sense, and where the autistic fans in the audience who relate to Tech feel like Star Wars kicked them in the face and told them that they don’t belong here.

So.

I want this to be a long game, and I do think this could, one, be a situation where they team is having to work around some kind of corporate shenanigans to play that long game, and; two, could end up being a fantastic story that I love even more than the version I wanted.

But even if I’m right and that is the case, I also hate that this is where we’re at in the here and now, that it’s hurt people as badly as it has, and think that they should never do anything like this again, because the game stopped being fun a long time ago.

tl;dr: I don’t think we’re done yet, I think this is part of a longer story, I think we’ll get Tech back at some point whether it was planned or not, but I also hhhaaaaaatte the current situation and think it’s been mishandled.

[talesfrommedinastation]

Redneck Doug on ALL the other Clones in Star Wars!

As promised, for reaching a new number of followers, here's Doug's list when I asked him to name off all the clones in 'The Clone Wars' and 'The Bad Batch'!

Some are obviously repeats of other posts, and some are brand spanking new.

I'm using my autoethnography skills to their fullest extent, here, people.

This is LONG but hey! 7 seasons of The Clone Wars and 3 seasons of The Bad Batch means animated Star Wars in the Days of our Lives of animation.

If I'm missing someone, let me know! I'll reach out to Doug!

Enjoy, everyone!

CW: Redneck Doug just rambles needlessly about people.

And Clermont Lounge is one of the scariest and yet, most fun places in the ATL and I could 100% see one of the 501st working there.

-----------------------

Bly: That’s a boy, his name’s Miguel. Got his friends, they drink Pabst, shoot the empty cans behind the garage when they done, and hit on every woman that walks by. But Miguel’s got his eyes on Babe-the-Blue-Jedi and steals flowers from people’s yard and gives them to her. Babe-the-Blue-Jedi knows the man’s not that bright but his heart’s in the right place and that’s all that matters, right? 

Rex: That's Rex. He's a king. Respect him. 

Cody: That’s Obi-Wan’s Boyfriend, he’s sad all the time. We know why. (Confirmed that Doug is a Codywan shipper and I don’t know what to do about that)

Howzer: That’s my niece’s boyfriend, Jorge. We all love Jorge, nice guy, owns an auto repair shop and always remembers plates and napkins for the cookouts after church.

Gregor: Jorge’s cousin, Manny. Met him once at Christmas in Miami, nice guy, only drinks brown liquor and insists everyone arm wrestle him. But he’s got a good job as a PE teacher, we respect education, come on now. 

Hardcase: Wiggles. He laughs at everything and never wears a helmet both on his big head and his lil head and that explains everything about the man.

Kix: Nurse Mark. He's tired and sick of your shit, sick of the creeps trying to get the Fentanyl, that's a crime now, ain't it.

Echo: "Eh, Toaster Strudel. Homeboy looks like his daddy had an affair with a convection oven on shore leave and forgot to pay child support."

Mayday: Aw, I liked this guy so much! That’s Sassy Park Ranger, he’s the type that gives you your camping permits, warns you about the bears, and then is all disappointed when you don’t properly stow your food and the bears destroy the campsite. I need to go back to Little River Canyon, that place was pretty. 

Scorch: The Son of Robocop. His daddy told him to get off his lazy Robo-son ass and go get a job, so he works for the Empire now, because no one can get a job in Detroit. That’s why he’s a bad person. (Because he works for the Empire? “No, because he’s a Lions fan and that ain’t a good look for anyone.”)  

Fives: Alex-from-Manitoba. He reminds me so much of this awesome guy I knew, Alex, was from Winnipeg, we worked in oil together. Smart, knew his shit, loved guns and getting his hair did. No one listens to him, management hates him, and he gets fired. Man I was so pissed off when that happened with that damn alien that ran the ocean on the mall! He deserved better, damn it!

(Fives or Alex-from-Manitoba?

“BOTH!!!”)

99: 99!  

(You actually remember his name?  

“Hell yeah! He’s one of the most important characters! Why would I not?” 

::cue me, quietly staring at all the weird-ass names over texts and saying NOTHING in response::) 

Wolffe: Bernando. I dunno, man, he got that Bernardo energy. I’ve met three and they all looked like they wanna run off into the woods and come out when they got a deer they need to process and take a shower and find a lady before running back into the woods. Also Bernardo never has a girlfriend that lasts more than 6 months with him. Don’t know why. Just trust me. 

Gree: Carnie Joe. Man, he looks like the type of guy who drives an ice cream truck but there ain’t no Bomb Pops inside if you know what I mean. 

Cut Lawquane: Not-Wolverine. He ran away from the Empire, grew out his muttonchops, wanted to join the X-Men, Charles Xavier said ‘Nah son you need super powers for that’, and then Not-Wolverine stomped off into Tremors-land and started a pot-and-chicken farm like every other hillbilly in Kentucky. But he got a hot wife out of the deal and some nice kids and lots of guns, and ya know, that ain’t a bad ending for the man. 

Commander Fox: Red-Chief-of-Police. He’s absolutely on them Ticky-Tack videos my nieces and nephews watch where the cops are doing bad things but they ain’t gonna get fired over it. Man. It ain’t right. 

Tup: Alex’s-Friend-Matt. Aw, Matt, good guy, but too much brain damage after that time he fell off the roof while laying down tar. He grew out his ponytail to hide the dent in his head and talked funny afterwards, but he real good at roughneck work and I can’t fault the man, nope. 

Hevy: That’s Ross. He’s always mad because he’s insecure. He’s got a lot of Nerf guns and only eats stuff you can find at 7-11. 

Jesse: That’s Jesse, he’s a trucker, was a bouncer at Clermont Lounge in Atlanta, and has three ex-wives who all hate him. He shaves his head because his hair hates him too. 

Crosshair: So that there's Daddy Warcrimes. All you need to know is he lives on beer and Slim Jims, has more guns then Jesus got faith, and that he does your mom on the weekends, and then you thank him for his service.

Hunter: Aw man, we got Rambo up in this place. Daddy Rambo. He looks like he's got some hot wife with a huge butt who makes amazing biscuits, but he only showers on the weekends for reasons he won't tell you.

Wrecker: I know, I KNOW, he's got some cool Star Wars name, but in my head, he's Julio. He looks like a Julio, ya know? Every Julio's been the nicest guy with a truck and a million friends. I swear. I bet he's a contractor and lays pipe like you wouldn't believe. ::winks::

Tech: Hm, yeah, I know him. That's Ryan-from-Accounting, somebody's hipster dad. You know, everyone knows a Ryan who works in accounting, he's quiet, only drinks IPAs, and has a bitch wife named Laura who drives a Kia and is always yelling at him. Poor man. I hope Julio saves him from his bitch wife Laura.*

Omega: Little Orphan Blondie. I hope she gets real parents or something besides those freaky alien things running the mall on the ocean.

Emerie Karr: Stepsister-Beth. She’s got a stick up her rear, was in a sorority known for bitchy Daddy’s Girls who wouldn’t touch below the belt but are all about using other places for their date’s hoses to put out the fire, and only drinks almond milk lattes. She’s a bitch to waiters and drives a Prius. 

(“Doug I drive a Prius.”

“Yeah, but you ain’t a southern sorority girl so y’all forgiven.”)

Nemec and Fireball: Trigger and Nutsy. They’ve been in a survival militia in the Florida Everglades and that’s all you need to know. 

CX-2: The Guy from Tron. He’s a guy, and he was in the movie Tron. That’s it. 

[moonlight-sonata99]

What Comes After?

Hunter x Reader

Drabble

Not having definitive answer for breaking ties with Cid, You have a talk with Hunter.

Warnings: Light arguments and disagreements. Dreams of the future. Established Relationship, Marriage talk..(Hunter just ask reader to marry you already smh)

A/n: ngl...I like this one- I'm trying to get back into my writing schedule, so I'll be working on fics the best I can, but I'll also be working on my original story:]

“Hunter.” Your walk after the sargent as he walks to the barracks. turning his head towards you , You begin, 

“It really would be a good idea to seperate from cid,” you say sitting down and shifting your gaze to ensure no one else was there

.” We cant go on like this...” hunterlooks down in thought,

“I know, But...”

“But what? Cid could sell us out in any moment! At any moment she could change her mind..!” you exclaim waving hand on the air. “I know-” he said looking at you. 

“I know its...” he trails off. All of his life,all he had ever known was the life of a soldier. Hunter thought thought of the choices before him. He could choose that life once again, Choose to go with rec and echo who sought to fight the empire, or, Leave and make new life for everyone somewhere else.

“Im sorry” you whisper out, “I've just been...so worried.” you admit looking to him. “i-i just...what comes after this you know...?” you say and hunter chuckles, of course you thinking the same. He liked that about you. you begin once again,

“What are you thinking?” you ask and he sits next to you on the cot as he thinks,

“I was thinking, if we went to help echo and Rex,” he admitted hesitantly as you listened next to him. Hunter sighed and looked up at you. 

You seemed to sense it, as you looked at him with a knowing gaze as you turned your head to the cockpit where omega and the group stayed talking.

Hunter followed suit,

“and the other option?” you asked softly 

“The other option is...We leave everything. And start somewhere new” he stated thinking about the options this path contained.

“Leave everything behind..?” you repeat in thought as hunter turns his gaze back to you, 

“Yes” he simply said as you sat deep in thought.

Starting somewhere new you thought, away from everything. Hunter had mentioned this to you once before,just once. You two had been talking when everyone was asleep on the way to get Dookus treasure, how he he wanted omega to live a life away from war.

"Where would we go?" You whisper out, shifting your gaze to his, now it's his turn to think.

"We could ask Cut if he knows anywhere..or could find somewhere nice, build a home." He bluntly says and your eyes widen.

"Build a home?" You ask, setting your hands on your thighs "build a home??hunter do you even know how to do construction work?" You inquire with a small smile.

He averts his gaze away, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "no but..I can learn." He says shifting closer to you.

You nod slowly "uh-huh. And then what? What comes after?" You ask with a smile as he chuckles and looks away,

"I'm not sure..." he says, crossing his arms in thought.

Though...it's obvious what he thinks, what you both think.

This idea hadn't shocked you completely, you would never admit it. But ever since hunter introduced you to Cut and Suu lawquane, you always thought

'Could that be us...?'

And hunter too.

The two of you sat in silence thinking about this, to shy to bring it up.

With warm cheeks you fiddle with your fingers and look down at them.

"S..so like..." you trail off and hunter looks at you, "just a thought-but maybe we could uh make a farm. Buy animals and that stuff.." you said,gaze lingering on your fingers as hunter waited for you to continue.

"And uhm..maybe get married?" You hadn't intended for it to come out as question, but your heart was beating fast and your eyes widened out of fear, even though you knew hunter would never reject it. You two had spoken about it, but decided this life was to busy for it. You both were content just having eachother, you didn't need a ring and a ceremony to prove that. But still, it was still a nice thought.

Hunter stood still besides you and you didn't dare looking up as your heart raced.

You only felt of his hand sliding into yours and intertwined your fingers with his, his hands were warm. He had his gloves on so they were soft, He said nothing still but slowly placed his head against yours and you set your attention on every breath he took.

"Yeah," he mumbled closing his eyes enjoying your warmth next to him as he imagined a life with no worries with you,on that little farm in head. Where he would wake up every morning in a soft bed, sometimes you would be there sometimes not. Even sometimes omega would sneak into the middle of the two of you when she would have nightmares.

In the mornings when he woke, he would go into the kitchen and you would be their drinking your morning brew talking to omega who was to energetic for the morning.

It would be nice he thought,

Just a thought..

[clonebrainrot]

You know I wonder if anyone has done the math to see what the chances are of a named clone dying or not.

If you think about it let’s go down the list and I am going to do some quick math

TLDR with the bad batch included clones have a probability to survive at 68% without them included they have a probability of just 54%

This is done by using characters who appeared in multiple episodes or appeared once in TCW and then in ROTS Math below.

Warning this includes spoilers up to episode 7 of the bad batch season 3

If you can think of enough clones who appeared in multiple episodes or projects I will include them in another revised version.

Kix (alive)1

Jessie (dead)1

Hardcase (dead) 2

Rex (Alive) 2

Wolffe (alive) 3

Fives (dead) 3

Waxer (dead) 4

Boil (alive) 4

Fox (dead) 5

Nemec (dead) 6

Fireball (Dead) 7

Sinker (alive) 7

Boost (alive) 8

Ridge (dead) 8

Vaughn (dead) 9

Cut Lawquane (alive) 9

Hawk (alive) 10

Bly (alive) 11

Gree (Dead) 10

Cody (alive) 12

Howzer (alive) 13

Tech (Dead/alive he’s schrodinger’s clone)

Crosshair (alive) 14

Echo (alive) 15

Hunter (alive) 16

Wrecker (alive) 17

CX1 (dead) 11

Dogma (alive) 18

Tup (Dead) 12

Oddball (alive) 19

99 (Dead) 13

Havoc (dead) 14

Colt (dead) 15

Blitz (alive) 20

Hammer (alive) 21

Boba (alive) 22

Not counting CX 2 just in case it’s someone on this list

Not including the clone cadets or Omega as there is a 0% chance any of them die so they screw with results (children aren’t going to die in a Star Wars TV-PG show)

Okay I have gone through as many clones as I can think of that appeared in more than one episode of TCW and revenge of the Sith and the bad batch

A clone has a 68% chance of survival as of episode 7 of TBB

However if you remove the bad batch itself a clones survival chances drop to just 54%

Also I just realized I forgot to calculate Scorch being alive (weirdly enough now with the bad batch he has appeared more than almost any clone lol)

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

A few random disconnected thoughts about "Cut and Run," particularly the nexu attack scene:

We have a squad of elite battle hardened soldiers - literally the best of the best - who have recently gone right back into the lion's den to save their little sister and taken her with them despite not having the faintest idea how to take care of a kid who has next to no soldier training herself, and they just... roll with it ❤️🥹

Wrecker is "Uncle Wrecker," because of course he is and of course he naturally gets along great with kids ❤️ It's fascinating to see him in future episodes ("Common Ground" is the first that comes to mind) occasionally nudging Hunter in the right direction when it comes to resolving issues with Omega.

Hunter. Oh, Hunter. I love you so much, because you genuinely try so hard to be a good dad/bro 🥹 When the nexu attacks Hunter jumps right into "protect" mode, but as soon as the danger is over he chastises Omega.

What were you doing out there? Do you realize you could have been killed?

And then we have Cut's response:

Easy. She's not a soldier.

Now, we don't get much canon backstory on the Batch as cadets, but based on context it's safe to say Hunter's only experience with taking care of kids is keeping his crazy brothers in line long enough to pass cadet training - all while being a kid himself, I'll add. So it's understandable that his initial response to Omega is to reprimand her as he would his brothers - brothers who are currently adults, have always been the same age as him, and have been through similar life experiences - and subsequently Hunter decides it would be best for Omega to remain with guardians who have experience being parents. But when Omega makes her own choice, we see through the rest of the show that Hunter has taken the Lawquanes' advice and example to heart, and he just continues to love and protect Omega to the best of his ability.

Just look at Tech and Echo's reactions when they see how scared and shaken Omega is:

Oh my sweet boys!

Interesting to note that after the nexu attack, Echo in particular starts keeping a closer eye on Omega.

We know Wrecker wasn't aware of the plan for Omega to stay with the Lawquanes, given that Wrecker asks where she is when they are about to take off before she rejoins them. Makes me wonder if Hunter didn't tell Tech or Echo about the plan either.

That being said, I wonder if Tech figured out Hunter's plan when he was asked to make 5 chain codes instead of just 4.

Tech says "That would be dirt" and leaves it at that. I headcanon that the reason why he didn't info dump further was because he was already starting to mentally compose a detailed curriculum for Omega covering everything from engineering principles and astronomy to wilderness survival skills.

[half-truths-and-hyperbole-louk]

Louk's Bad Batch rewatch part 6 !!!

Y'all it's getting super close omg we're in feb now 🙃 lets goooo

Bad Batch 1x02

Tech piloting +10 points

I'll never get tired of Wrecker and Omega napping together 🥺

Echo and Hunter mom and dad 💕

our lil bby Omega stepping into the sun !!! soaking up the fresh air and playing in the dirt !!! I am going to sob 😭😭😭

"That would be dirt" ~ Tech 🤣

Tech: "we're all deserters now" Echo: 😮

Hunter stopping Omega from walking into the booby trap

vs Wrecker 2 seconds later...

SUU MY QUEEN 👑💕

Wrecker is eating a meiloorun 👀 watch out buddy Hera's coming for u

Hello yes who do I talk to about getting a Cut Suu & the batch history/flashback/how they met story time anything pretty please

Rex mention 👀

Tech 🤝 Omega casually dropping the biggest plot points like it's nbd

Omega meeting other kids that don't share her dna 🥲

"Uncle Wrecker!" I am totally normal about this

HER CHECKING BACK WITH HUNTER FOR PERMISSION 😭

ok but are we just gonna ignore the fact that Shaeeah looks completely different to tcw ??

Cut knows what's up with the Kaminoans 👀

Cut also knows what's up putting Hunter in his civvie clothes don't come @ me

Rampart 🤢

"Omega went out past the fence!" *bad batch enters dad batch mode* 🏃‍♂️💨

Cut is the daddest of the batch tho 🥺 he's parenting all of them

THEIR FACES WATCHING CUT WITH OMEGA I CANT 😭

For some reason Hunter is the same height as Wrecker in this scene ??? lmao

Omega taking her lil charm out of her hair 🥲

"Almost forgot how good of a shot you are" ~ Hunter @ Suu !! okay backstory PLEASE

Echo complaing about the imperial chaincode database vs Tech "it's ingenious" lmaooo

Hunter has the braincell rn

bro Hunter is literally growling at Tech for putting Omega in danger 👀 are we ready for his completely unhinged s3 arc??

Tech, Echo: 😳😬 Omega: 👋😁

Echo peeking from the roof !!

Tech's flip !!!

Tech catching Omega !!!!!!!

Echo mom put Omega in time out 😞

Echo's scomp skills have grown sm 🥲

the way he balances the chain codes on his scomp hand 🥺

Y'ALL I FORGOT! I'm also doing a 'Wrecker hits his head count' for the first part of s1 and a different count for s2 later 👀 but we'll get to that hehe I hate it! anyway!!

Wrecker hits his head count: 2

(he bonked it on a pole this ep go watch)

Cut and Hunter wearing the same clothes is giving when ur mum dresses you and your siblings in matching outfits

Tech: "we can't get caught with these chain codes" 🤔 Echo: "we can't get caught at all" 💀 being mom is hard

HUNTER GIVING ORDERS WITHOUT WORDS AGAIN bfkwbxhabckw my fav

Tech to the rescueeee

If I had a dollar for every time Omega was in danger bc of a random imperial droid but is saved at the last second by Wrecker smashing it, I'd have 2 dollars... which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

Omega's hand is so tiny in Wrecker's 😭🤲

Cut and Wrecker are wearing matching hats 💕

"but I want to stay with you" thanks I didn't need my heart anyway 💔

Suu owns my heart fr

"It responded to that" ~ Wrecker 💀

OMEGA SWEETHEART 😭😭😭 someone needs to hug her so bad she's just a baby can ppl stop upsetting her!! This is ep 2 plssss

Where is the Lawquane family? Are they safe? Are they alright?

Thanks y'all for joining again <3 I'm gonna have to keep it up bc feb is already going so fast?

Anywayyy ilysm 💕