#and how far she's willing to go to help the clones

[therisingdarkness]

For the ship game, Fox and Riyo?

[cosmic-dust-poltergeist]

Pt 2 of Danny being sort of reincarnated in the DC universe. Tim's pov of Danny and his weirdness. Ft Damian and setting up a play date [pt 1 here] [pt3 here]

Tim can honestly say he's enjoyed the last few months. His newest little brother is a delight and managed to get everyone wrapped around his little finger. The funniest, and saddest if Tim was honest, part of it all is that Danny has no idea. He hasn't seemed to realize how devastatingly cute he is while exploring the world. Add in the fact Tim found a speech therapist for him, so sometimes he will actually say something instead of just writing, and you can actively hear/see the scary Gotham vigilantes crumble every single time.

Danny follows whoever he deems "safe" like a weird glowing duckling. The kid had no idea how the world works and knows it, attaching to family in fear and googling anything and everything to understand. Tim really wants to get the kid help for his anxiety, but Danny is refusing currently. Tim can't really blame him, Danny has so much medical trauma.

The downside of being deemed as "safe" and non judgemental early on is Tim knows the most of the horrible details. It'd not much, but between what Danny has let slip and what he's searched on different mental health and trauma, Tim has a very ugly picture of what happened during his time in the lab. On the plus side, if he's asking questions and trying to work on/understand his mental health, then Tim is sure he'll be willing to see a specialist eventually. Tim is willing to go at Danny's pace and protect the kid as much as possible. He debriefs the rest of the family whenever he discovers a new trauma so no one accidentally triggers Danny into another panic attack. He has far too many of them daily already, and Cass is the best at calming him down, but she's not always available.

A less sad, and more interesting development is Danny's features have been changing from Damian's. Whoever made Danny really fucked up. Genetically he's still a clone of Damian, but visually, he looks like someone tried to draw Damian from memory and decided to make him part fae or something. Danny's eyes faded to a pale celadon blue, his ears are slightly pointed, his teeth are sharper than the should be, he gained freckles that glow Lazarus Pit green when he gets emotional, his hair curled and turned the darkest black Tim has ever seen while also gaining glittering white tuffs throughout, and his constant soft glowing are just a few things that shifted and changed over time. Tim has a theory that Danny has a higher concentration of Lazarus waters in his body than any of his predecessors and that caused him to mutate. Unfortunately, it's just a theory because Danny had a massive panic attack and dissociation episode the one time they tried to draw some of his blood. No one was willing to push it after that. So until Danny is healed enough mentally for it, there will be no tests.

Danny also freaked out and hid in his closet for 3 days straight when he realized how uncanny he's looking. He was terrified they'd hurt him for it or the flickers of developing powers when he's emotionally, which is often, and it took an insane amount of reassurances and bribes to get the kid to come out. Duke was actually the one who got Danny to calm down enough to talk about what he's developed so far. Duke talked about his own powers and how they developed; he's also taken to using them around the manor more to help the baby realize it's okay. It's now fairly common to see both use their powers, even if Danny's usage is still unintentional. Tim wonders if he should ask one of the Martians to help Danny control his, so far Danny has shown invisibility, floating, and phasing through things, he was startled into using them every single time they've manifested. Tim is holding off on contacting anyone yet because Duke and Tim have been double teaming to get Danny comfortable with his powers and making progress.

Plus, Danny regresses every time back into the mute, anxious wreck hiding behind his "safe" person like the first night any time someone new is introduced. So Tim makes sure both Cass and him are present for any introductions. Though, he does think introducing Danny to aliens would go smoother than most others. The kid is absolutely obsessed with everything space related. He lives in space themed clothes and has his own section in the family library because of all the space, physics, and alien culture books he's collected/been gifted. He's read every single one at least twice and is actively trying to learn Martian and Kryptonian, mostly their written language currently since talking is still an ongoing battle. Tim can hardly wait to introduce Danny to Kon.

Speaking of ongoing battles.

"Please, anki, you need a proper name." Damian sounds desperate, "I made a list of names that you can keep your nickname with. Please just pick one."

"Don't wanna." Danny whines quietly. Despite the kid technically being the same physical age as Damian, Danny never acts it, ping-pongs between behaving like literal 4 year old and young teen. Have you tried to tell a 4 year old they need to pick a different name for themselves or stuffed animal or pet or something? It's a battle of patience.

"Please.." Tim blinks as Damian pulls out his saddest puppy eyes. Tim has literally never seen Damian do that. It's not very good, but Danny is the definition of a people pleaser.

"...okay..." Danny reluctantly takes the list from Damian.

"Thank you." Damian gives a small satisfied smile.

"Danny, do you mind if I borrow Damian?" Tim asks in amusement. "Oh, shit!" is clear in Damian's body language, but the lack of real panic in Damian and the teasing vibes Tim is sure he's putting off keeps Danny from panicking. Kid can give Cass a run for her money in reading body language.

"Okay... I'll look at the names while you're gone.." Danny's voice starts fading out by the end of his sentence. Tim expects Danny is going to be mute for the rest of the day. He's come a long way since arriving, but speaking is still hard on him. Tim is positive it's a trauma thing. Another reason to try to convince him to see a therapist.

"We'll be right back." Tim smiles and pulls Damian out of the room and a little ways down the hall. "You taking lessons from the baby?"

"Don't know what you're talking about." Damian grumps.

So Tim puts on his best approximation of the face Damian pulled and in his most pathetic voice goes, "Please..."

Damian turns an interesting shade of red. "Shut up."

"I think it's cute." Tim's face hurts a little from his grinning. He has to shove down the anxiety at that realization, remembering what his own therapist has told him in relation to grinning reminding him of JJ.

"I'll stab you again."

"And upset the baby? Heartless." Tim teases before switching topics. "Do you think you could have Jon visit?"

"Probably, why?"

"I think it's time to introduce Danny to people outside of the family. Jon is a ball of sunshine and an alien, I think he'd be a good start." Tim explains.

"Why not Kon? I'm sure Anki would love to meet a clone like him. Especially one who is an alien and is as different from his template as Danny is to me." Damian points out. "As well as being connected to one of his "security people"."

"I thought about that, but I was also thinking about Jon being closer to his physical age." They discovered Danny has an intense distrust of adults, and while Kon is chronologically closer in age to Danny, he's mentally and physically a 19 year old. He knows Danny will love Kon and vice-versa, but he feels it's worth starting with someone younger.

"... I shall call Jon tonight. I assume Friday after school is acceptable?"

"Yeah, Cass should be hanging out with him all day and I can get off early. Tam knows we got a traumatized baby with separation anxiety." Tim chuckles, "I think she's happy I've been taking care of myself more because of Danny."

"Why have you been doing that?" Damian tilts his head. "It's not a bad thing, but it's out of character."

"I realized I can't be Bruce."

"Wha-?"

"I can't let my worst habits affect a kid that is dependent on my ability to help him figure out his place in the world." Tim feels tired. "How can I help him if I won't help myself?"

"... I see. When you put it that way, I understand." Damian looks thoughtful. "Perhaps I should look into getting a therapist as well."

"I'll send you a list of people I've vetted." Tim says and starts heading back to the room they left Danny in. "Now, let's check on the baby."

Danny is frowning at the list Damian gave him. It's an interesting sight, several names are blacked out with extreme prejudice, and his iPad is opened to the search engine. He seems to be looking up the remaining names' meanings and hating most of them. Any he doesn't hate, he writes the meaning next to with a frown. Tim and Damian occupy themselves while he does this, Danny hates being stared at, especially while working on something.

The silence is broken when Danny crushes the paper. A glance shows he copied 5 of the names and their meanings down in a note app. Danny opens the drawing app he prefers to communicate with while nonverbal.

[I want to think on these. I'll make a decision by dinner tomorrow.]

"Decide on what lastname or names you want and I'll set up a paper trail to prove your identity during the weekend. Damian wouldn't let me or Barb set one up til you picked a "proper" name."

[Ugh! Fine!]

"What do you mean? Anki will have the Wayne last name!"

"Yeah, but he might want mine or Cass's name too. Or maybe he'll decide to take the Al Gul name out of spite." Tim shrugs. "Names have power. Cass and mine would be an extra layer of protection, but he's technically an Al Gul. Kon took the El name to spite Clark and Clark couldn't do shit about it since Kon is technically blood."

"I suppose..." Damian does not look happy about this.

[Your friend's name meanings hope's abomination or false hope?] Danny looks so concerned.

"Yeah. He picked it out himself. He's a clone of Kal-El, better known as Superman or Clark Kent." Tim tries to keep his anger at Clark under wraps, but Danny's weary look tells him he didn't succeed. "Clark and Kon have a better relationship now, but Clark was awful to him for simply existing at first. It's fine for him to feel violated and angry, but it wasn't acceptable that he took it out on a kid who didn't ask to be made."

[Is cloning common?] Danny is intrigued.

"Only in the hero communities. Villains seem to like trying their hand at it. It's hit or miss on how the clone ends up. Some are mindless puppets, some are actually programmed to be an evil version, some literally are just the hero with some "fun" new trauma, and some might be completely unaware their clone statuses. Then there's the clones who know they're clones and are completely different than their DNA donor, but still want to do what's right." Tim explains. "The categories can overlap or a clone can start in one and end up in another."

"Would you be willing to meet Kon-El?"

[Maybe? Is he nice?]

"He's one of Drake's paramours."

"Damian!"

[What's a paramour?]

"He means he's one of my boyfriends." Tim can feel how red his face is.

[Pural???] Danny looks like a whole new realm of possibilities just opened up. It's adorable.

"Yeah, I have 2 boyfriends." Tim smiles, "Having multiple partners is completely fine so long as everyone is in the know and consenting, otherwise that's cheating."

"Stop corrupting my Anki" Damian complains with no heat. And Tim can't let that "challenge" slide.

"Look up the polyamory and being polyamorous, if you want to know more. Also, gender is a lie and sexuality is a mess. Do whatever makes you happy so long as it doesn't hurt you or anyone else." Tim says with the tone of someone commenting on pleasant weather. It makes Danny giggle before he opens the search bar to Google what he can on those three topics, wanting to fill his gap in knowledge. Damian and Tim share a fond look. This isn't nearly the first time Danny went on a research binge after a conversation. He has some vast gaps in his knowledge, and he takes it as a personal challenge every time he finds a new hole. It's admirable and adorable to see him so enthusiastic about learning. He has an air of child-like wonder, even if he dislikes the topic.

"Before we lose you to the allure of learning, anki, I'd like to ask if you'd be alright if I brought my best friend over after school on Friday?" Danny looks at Damian in surprise. Tim jumps in.

"His name is Jon, he's kryptonian and Kon's sort of brother and/or nephew. He's Clark's son, but he's always been accepting of Kon, so he'll be nice to you. Especially since Damian cares about you." Danny cautiously studies them before nodding. "Awesome. I plan to be home before them and Cass will definitely be here all day, so if something happens, we will be here."

Danny looks relieved.

"Now, enjoy your research."

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Marina behind the cut; “but it’s weird that it happened twice”. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“Obviously not, I’d have been laughing my ass off about that,” Tucker snorts. “I would not have even made it in the door without cracking up, much less this far through the conversation.” 

“Good, then they aren’t going to find anything and they’ll be gone for hours,” Jazz says in satisfaction, looking pleased, which is true because seriously, the Fentons are insanely committed to, like . . . everything about ghosts. All the things about ghosts. Well, all the things about them except for, like, recognizing their sapience and basic sapient rights. Not so much that. 

Yeah, well, there’s a reason that Tucker made up a Tesla-eating shark ghost and accidentally gave himself a fake girlfriend instead of leading with “hi, Mrs. Fenton, I brought a superhero over to help us fix Danny’s sister-daughter-cousin-clone before she destabilizes, they home right now?” Like. Very much so is there a reason.

“So where do we start?” he asks. 

“Samples, like I said. We’ll do it in the basement lab,” Jazz says as she snaps her gloves on. Superboy half-eyes her over his sunglasses, then shrugs, tucking his hands into his pockets. 

“Yeah, sure,” he says. “Whatcha need, bone marrow? Spinal fluid?” 

“. . . saliva,” Jazz says, giving him a weird look. “Maybe a finger prick for a couple drops of blood. More invasive options are for if the minimally invasive ones fail.” 

Superboy laughs like he thinks she’s joking or something. Tucker, like . . . wonders if maybe he should find that concerning? Like, possibly? Because that seems like maybe the kind of thing he should find concerning. 

Though he’s not gonna lie, it’s a little reassuring that Superboy’s cool with the invasive options from the get-go. Like, that’s helpful, just in case they do need to get a little invasive here. Though that’s probably coming from the part of him that was willing to go full “acts of supervillainy” and kidnap a superhero, considering. 

. . . also, a little not reassuring, considering how easy Superboy is actually willing to give up his DNA? His, like–Kryptonian-ish DNA? That is part Kryptonian? 

In retrospect, maybe Tucker should be a little bit alarmed about that. Like, possibly. Maybe possibly. Like, it’s working out for him, obviously, but like, maybe he should be worrying about Superboy’s nonexistent vetting process? Maybe Superboy should be worrying about his nonexistent vetting process. 

. . . . . . yeah, they’ll revisit that conversation after they help Dani, Tucker decides privately, as the guy who was in fact willing to kidnap a superhero to fix this situation. Just–after they get her DNA sorted, yeah. 

“Going for the spinal fluid sounds badass, though,” Dani says. “How do you get that?” 

“Needle, usually,” Superboy replies with a shrug. “They just stick it in your spine. Though sometimes they gotta drill a hole in your skull or whatever, depending.” 

“Whaaaaat, that’s sick,” Dani says, looking delighted, and Superboy smirks at her. They are definitely, definitely gonna have the “vetting process” conversation, Tucker thinks, pulling out his PDA to pop a note about that on his to-do list and attaching a reminder or seven. He’d put it in his calendar, but since he has no idea how long this whole thing might take, the list seems more fitting right now. Like, this could be several days. Or weeks, even. 

Not months, though, since Dani almost definitely doesn’t have that long. 

Tucker bites the inside of his cheek hard and adds an eighth reminder, mostly just to keep his hands busy.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

~all creatures great and small~ (amazing illustration by the awesome @david-talks-sw)

“And just what exactly is it that you’ve been doing?”

Obi-Wan had to stop himself from giving his fellow Councillor—and friend—a rather pronounced eyeroll. 

“You tell me,” he said without taking his eyes off his clamoring little herd, feeling rather proud of himself. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

Mace came up to his side and crossed his arms, looking decidedly unimpressed. He looked at Obi-Wan, then at his rambunctious little friends and their merrymaking, then back at Obi-Wan again. 

“It looks like you have been avoiding meetings all morning.” 

Obi-Wan couldn’t help the small smirk that tugged at his mouth. He carefully put his hands in his large sleeves.

“Have I?” He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop laughing if he saw Mace’s no doubt exasperated face, so he kept carefully looking onward. “You should have called me.”

“You know I did,” Mace griped, valiantly ignoring the racket and still boring holes in the side of Obi-Wan’s face.

If it came to a contest of wills, Obi-Wan knew he’d be hard pressed to match Mace’s stubbornness. He turned to face him, and inevitably let out a huffed chuckle. Mace looked annoyed alright, but he could do nothing about the twinkle in his deep eyes. 

“You,” Mace insisted, no doubt trying to maintain what he probably hoped to be a convincingly stern demeanor, “have spent all day corrupting our next generation instead of going over mission reports.”

“Really, Mace—”

A yellow blur careening between the two of them nearly knocked them off their feet. A beige, more bipedal one rushed right after it, bumping into them both with equal speed if not equal force. 

“Sorry Masters!” the youngling yelled over her shoulder without stopping. 

Obi-Wan had to cough into his fist to keep from cackling.

“Obi-Wan.” Mace said.

“She apologized,” Obi-Wan pointed out with a brilliant smile.

“You still haven’t.”

“What for?”

Mace’s control finally cracked, and he thrust an accusing finger at Obi-Wan’s innocent face, ready to give into a rare display of unrestrained aggravation. Obi-Wan quickly batted it away and beat him to the punch.

“It’s a perfectly good way of teaching the younglings patience and control!”

Mace blinked at him, his mouth left hanging open, his finger still up and now pointing somewhere over to the right. He turned slowly, and surveyed the bustling courtyard in bemusement. The half-dozen or so pufferpigs that Obi-Wan had let loose there were being corralled by three times as many eager younglings, clone cadets and Padawans, and the animals all felt entitled to express the full range of their feelings on the matter in a loud and enthusiastic fashion. Little Mari Amithest was still running after the particularly rowdy creature that had mistaken Obi-Wan and Mace for Rodian bowling pins. 

Mace’s eyebrows climbed to previously undiscovered heights. 

“What part of this,” he gestured incredulously, “is controlled?”

“None of the pigs have puffed yet,” Obi-Wan explained seriously. 

Mace’s eyebrows were now on their way into orbit. A moment passed. Then, his expression of astonishment seamlessly melted into curiosity.

“They haven’t?” he asked, considering the whole bunch with renewed interest. 

“I told you, it’s a proven method,” Obi-Wan insisted, vindicated. He pointed to the far corner of the courtyard, where Katooni was showing some of the younger children how to feed a happy looking unpuffed puffer. “My Padawan has taught that one to do tricks.”

The squealing puffer was hopping from one foot to the other before avidly sweeping treats from the children’s outstretched hands. 

Mace was now looking suitably impressed. More careful study of Mari’s chase was making it apparent that the animal she was after was not distressed in any way, but was—rather mischievously—trying to run off with her sash clutched in its stout trunk. 

“You shouldn’t let emotions cloud your perception,” Obi-Wan reminded him in a serious voice.

“Hm,” Mace conceded magnanimously, impervious to the teasing.

The twinkle of carefully contained amusement that had been present in his eyes from the start had won over all other sentiments. A wet snort had the two Masters look down at the adventurous pufferpig that had made its way over to them. The amicable beast was fixing them with soulful blue eyes, candidly inoffensive. Its stubby tail was wagging quite politely. Mace distractedly bent down to pet the expectant critter on its broad, squishy face.

“It wants to smell your lightsaber,” Obi-Wan warned. “They like crystals.”

Mace straightened and put a hand on his hilt.

“The Mining Guild didn’t pick them up yesterday?” he inquired. “That was on the agenda.”

Obi-Wan shrugged.

“They tried, but for some reason all the identity chips turned out to be unreadable. There’s no way to prove who these fellows belong to.”

Mace gave him a flat look. 

“Hondo stole them from a Republic transport.”

“There’s all sorts of things on Republic transports,” Obi-Wan reasonably pointed out.

“The transport was chartered by the Mining Guild.”

“Hondo wiped the manifest during his hijacking. There’s just no way to know.”

“Your Padawan was there to escort the Mining Guild representatives.”

“Some mysteries can never hope to be solved.”

The pufferpig had taken to bonking its head against their legs affectionately. Mace, bowing to the undeniable strength of Obi-Wan’s ironclad argumentation, very seriously gave the tenacious quadruped another pat.

“They’re not staying,” he reminded Obi-Wan firmly. 

“Obviously not,” Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “The Temple would be a terrible environment for them.”

His friend narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

“And you’re not making me spend my time finding them a place.”

“Honestly, Mace.” Obi-Wan gave the affable puffer a gentle shove, and it obediently trotted away to a nearby group of younglings and clone cadets who were already entertaining one of its siblings. Obi-Wan wiped his hands on his pants. “Naboo has very responsible educational farms.”

“Does it,” Mace said mildly. 

“Including a recently opened one in the Lake District.” 

Unashamedly petty enjoyment rang in the Force.

“Don’t come to me when Skywalker tries to send them back.”

“Who says I’ll pick up when he does?”

Obi-Wan loved Anakin, dearly. Still, he hadn’t yet quite forgiven his old Padawan for retiring—running away—before they could make him shoulder his share of the sacred responsibility of wrangling the Temple’s significantly increased youngling population. It was Luke and Leia’s birthday soon anyway. 

“You’re stooping to deviousness,” Mace said, carefully neutral.

Obi-Wan gave him a wry look. 

“Never. Revenge is not the Jedi way,” he said just as calmly. 

“It’s them you’re supposed to be teaching,” Mace said with a short nod towards the unruly bunch. “He’s had his turn.”

Speaking of teaching…

“Oh my,” Obi-Wan said smugly, pointing to a boy who had taken to carefully levitating a surprisingly compliant—if a little alarmed—pufferpig, “that wouldn’t happen to be Caleb, would it?”

His fellow Council member was now pinching the bridge of his nose, his other hand planted on his hip. 

“I must say, that young man is certainly very skilled at forming connections with animals. Depa must be very proud.”

“Just don’t,” Mace groaned. He whipped out his communicator. “He’s supposed to be meditating with Yoda right now.”

“That explains it,” Obi-Wan said. 

Master Yoda was slowly ambling into the courtyard, looking quite pleased with what he was seeing. He poked misbehaving younglings with his cane as he walked, chuckling to himself when they yelped and hastily reached with the Force to make sure the pufferpigs stayed relaxed. The pufferpigs themselves were only curious, and in a sufficiently playful mood that the younglings’ offended squeaking was not enough to agitate them. Caleb had set down his floating puffer with all possible speed—and great care—at the sight of the venerable elder, and made ample and readily accepted apologies to the perplexed animal in the form of scritches. 

Mace slowly put away his communicator. He pursed his lips. 

“Obi-Wan,” he said slowly, “next time, just have them practice making friends with the stray tookas.”

That’s how his master had done it, and Mace had never had any problems with connecting with animals, large and small. 

“Pufferpigs are much more even-tempered.”

It was all Mace could do not to facepalm. Giving up, he shot Obi-Wan one last dry look.

“Just do your damn paperwork.”

Obi-Wan watched him stride away, dignified and imposing. Of course, since he wasn’t exactly paying attention to his surroundings, with how focused he was on pretending he was above this whole situation, he didn’t notice Mari’s wayward puffer on a direct collision course with his legs. The poor creature, who hadn’t noticed Mace either, let out a terrified screech and promptly puffed. 

The entire courtyard froze, watching with fascination as the inflated pufferpig bounced twice and slowly rolled to a halt. It made a sorry little squeak.

Resignedly, Mace closed his eyes and set to work on gently calming down the pufferpig with the Force.

The children loudly cheered. 

[is-it-cute-gf-au-edition]

Hey, thanks for calling my blog "otherwise good content" when most of my stuff is focused on Ford Pines. Seems kinda like a backhanded compliment, but maybe you're just rude IRL. I'm an understanding person.

Anyway, who are you to decide what is and isn't cute? I, personally, think Ford Pines is ADORABLE! I mean, look at him!!! Someone sent me this picture of him with his head stuck in a trash can! TELL ME that isn't some America's Funniest Home Videos (pet category) shit.

Also, apparently, the other guy in the picture punched the person who took the photo? IDK who he is, but he looks like Ford, so maybe Cipher made a clone? Clone's less cute, though. Explain that with your fucking rating system

Hi,

Okay, I'm going to clear a few things up for my followers.

First of all: I really don't want to come off as passive aggressive. That's not what I'm about, and as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't help anyone to be anything but completely up front when you're on the internet.

I'm sorry if my comment seemed backhanded. I started following Jellyskink back when she mostly posted OC character designs, when I was in a hardcore comics and graphic design phase. I haven't kept up with the blog regularly since. I am truly sorry for misrepresenting you here. (I really, truly am a fan of your work.)

With that said, I am not going to be passive aggressive about this. I'm being explicit: THE FORD PINES REPOSTS ARE NOT OKAY. How do I even begin to explain that you're reposting videos of a grown human man being treated as a pet, and not even well?

I rate content based on whether the pets in them are actually displaying "cute" behavior (playful, friendly, well-trained, healthy) or if they're showing signs of distress and mistreatment. That's my rating system. The fact that people want me to "rate" an adult human man when it is, again, against interdimensional law to treat sophonts as pets/livestock and humans are a sophont species, is already kind of weird.

But, hey. I'm willing to play along. I'm a good sport. If they're pet videos, I'll check to make sure that the pet isn't showing signs of distress or abuse!

Except he definitely is.

Jellyskink, let's just give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're just really bad at reading the room. I'm telling you now: Ford Pines is in obvious distress in practically all of these video clips. I don't think you care. I think you're a Cipher Loyalist and thinks the dorito can just treat Ford however he wants because he's a god. But if you're not, prove it: stop posting exploitative Ford Pines videos. They aren't even your flapping videos, you're reposting them. Go back to making cheesy OC Do Not Steal art. That contributed to the world.

Now, about the picture, since you asked:

RATING: NOT CUTE.

This is a guy who got assaulted with a trash can!! Even if this wasn't a human I'd be rating this not cute! It's horrible! And you know what else makes it not cute? You know how I always give things a bad rating when the handler or the person taking the video isn't being safe with it? Well, the guy taking the picture is 100% about to get assaulted. You know why?

THAT IS STANLEY PINES. Is he Ford's clone? I don't know - how do you count identical twins? Cipher didn't make him, they're brothers. You can literally look it up. How are you a so-called Ford Pines fan and you don't even know who Stanley Pines is? He's the sole proprietor of the anomaly distributor Pines Profundities. It's public record. He's in the New York business registry.

So, yeah. The guy taking the picture of a grown man stuck in a garbage can was being pretty stupid and is about to get punched by the man's brother, because that's what happens when you're a jerk to random strangers in New York.

[breakandbuildfiction]

My rant about Danny Phantom and DPxDC tropes

This is just going to be a listing and rant about some of the Danny Phantom and DPxDC story and prompt trends I tend to see around Tumblr. I want to make it clear that I don’t care if you like the things I don’t like or dislike the things I do. Everyone is entitled to their own tastes so long as they don’t harm others and that includes headcannons and fanfics. So don’t be a dick.

______________

______________

Danny is the Ghost King: I admit I really like this one, but I also admit it doesn’t make a ton of sense.

I like OP Danny, I think it’s fun and it fits how several of his enemies can easily be called gods or have global-level powers— Vortex with his storms and Ember with her mind control/power siphoning being key examples— and having him basically be the leader of an entire infinite dimension filled with several godlike beings makes him come off as super badass.

On the other hand, this headcanon typically leans into Danny getting the job via Right Of Conquest against Pariah Dark. The thing is, Pariah wasn’t a recognized ruler. He was a tyrant and conqueror that few if any actually wanted to follow. He didn’t have ‘divine right’ or the willing submission of his subjects. He was the Ghost King because he had the power and desire to force his will against the rest of the Realms. Hell, he was so hated that a cabal of super-powerful/ancient spirits deposed him and locked him away for hundreds/thousands/millions of years and NO ONE other than Vlad tried to free him! So Danny beating him shouldn’t suddenly make him a legitimate ruler.

That all said if you go with the less used reasoning that the Ghost Zone NEEDS to have a single ruler for whatever reason and Danny beating the previous singular ruler/being one of the few ghosts/spirits who have the power and fame required for the position I have no problem with the idea.

Danny is Dani’s dad: Another thing I like, but also another thing that gets messy when you think about it.

Cloning as I understand it basically gives you a genetic twin, not a genetic child. So even with Dani’s genes being modified somehow she’d read more like Danny’s sister than his daughter. So unless you want to throw in that Vlad used some third party’s genes to help stabilize her, Dani is not genetically Danny’s kid.

Ignoring genetics and sticking to emotions and such, emotionally and mentally Danny is a teenager and Dani is somewhere between 8 and 12, way too close of an age difference for Danny to really take on a paternal role for Dani. And even if you say that Dani is mentally younger due to her being force grown it would still leave Danny as a very young teenage parent of a preteen and Dani in a very weird state as her physical and mental development would be at gross odds with how she can filter information.

If you deage Dani to a toddler however and have Danny be AT LEAST 16, things could make more sense as far as them seeing each other as parent and child go.

Danny gives off Uncanny Valley vibes: This has no basis in canon, be it for full ghosts or Halfas or anything else. That said, I love this idea and have no further notes.

Danny is an engineering genius: This is one that comes up pretty sporadically, and I guess it MIGHT have some basis in canon if you stretch some things, but it’s not something that was ever explicitly stated or even heavily implied. I still like it though and think it’s really fun when used for things other than just saying Danny is smart.

Tucker is a master hacker: I get where this is coming from and I understand the vibes, plus it has more of a basis than Danny being an engineering genius, but this also doesn’t really have any real basis in canon. The only ‘hacking’ that he really does is against Skulker and that involves the ghost first assimilating Tucker’s PDA, giving him a back door into Skulker’s systems to do one specific thing. So while fun in some cases, I don’t like it when it gets blown out of proportion and having Tucker being on par with the likes of Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, or Cyborg as a computer genius. He is smart and he is a programmer, but he’s not a super genius.

Everyone is Liminal: I don’t know who popularized this idea, but I don’t like it. The idea that just being around ectoplasm makes someone liminal sounds like something that the Fenton parents would have been at least vaguely aware of if they were already smart enough to wear hazmat suits for protection when working with ectoplasm, so if they knew it would make people basically proto ghosts/ensure they would become ghosts, they sure as hell wouldn’t have set up shop in a city.

Not only that but we already know that the GIW is willing to use heavy artillery and lethal force on people they think MIGHT be under the influence of a ghost or could be ghostly themselves. So if a whole town was showing up as being so ‘ecto-contaminated’ that they are not even registering as fully human anymore you KNOW they’d start coming in to commit genocide.

The GIW isn’t a legal government body/their actions have violated their purview: Admittedly this one isn’t very common, but I HAVE seen it used a few times, so I’m going to talk about it.

First, I really like this because it avoids the trap of just saying ‘Oh the government is inherently evil and wants nothing more than to commit war crimes and genocide’, so big points there. Beyond that though I also just think it makes sense. I mean the US Government has a LOT of departments and I can see them having a small agency dedicated to keeping track of ‘supposedly’ paranormal shit for one reason or another, but I can’t see them getting a lot of funding— like the amount of discretionary funds needed to buy out all of Fentonworks— without them having to bring up the evidence before Congress and the Senate. From there there would definitely be ethical concerns regarding their actions, legislation would be introduced en-mass, and it would cause a national if not international uproar.

So for the GIW to work they’d either need to be a whole sale corrupt and rouge agency taking money from third parties— like Vlad— and going way beyond whatever authority they might have been legitimately granted to do most of the shit they end up doing, or they were never a government body to begin with but a special interest group funded and staffed by fanatics from around the world and are committing several additional crimes in addition to war crimes by impersinating a government agency.

The Anti-Ecto Acts: I honestly can’t remember if these are canon in some form or not, but I see them brought up a lot so I’m talking about them either way.

These make NO SENSE.

Getting something like this through Congress and the Senate would be INSANELY difficult even if you had evidence of an immediate threat. You can say ‘they hid it in another bill’ all you like but that kind of thing is way harder than you think. Even minor bills about laws and regulations that are just being put through for renewal get read over to make sure things aren’t slipped into them. And bigger, more complex laws take months if not YEARS to get passed and end up getting combed over with a fine comb. There would be no way these Acts could be passed without it being a major event that would be dragged out and debated for ages seeing as it’s literally about declaring a complex species non-sentient and opening them for no-holds-barred scientific experimentation and termination. Religious concerns would be brought up, ethical bodies would be formed and disbanded every day, calls would be made for third-party research, and more than a few people would demand that diplomacy be tried.

And if you tie this into DPxDC it makes even LESS sense as it would be against several laws, acts, and clauses that are meant to protect metahumans– please note that metahuman does not just mean having the metagene in DC, it means having extra-human abilities and powers including magic or alien blood.

Sam and Tucker have powers: I mean, there were entire episodes dedicated to Tucker being jealous about Danny having power and Sam pushing Danny to use his powers for social and/or political causes, but I can get behind the idea of the trio all having powers. So long as Sam and Tucker’s powers aren’t based around ghosts at least.

A big point of Danny Phantom’s story is that ghosts were super rare and believed to not exist before the start of the show and that Danny and Vlad’s powers are unheard-of anomalies caused by the Doctors Fentons’ experiments and creations so having other people get ghost powers in more ‘natural’ ways really undermines that and isn’t supported by canon at all. Yes Tucker was being used to resurrect a Pharaoh or something and Sam was the favored puppet of Undergrowth, but that doesn’t mean they would KEEP their powers after the ghosts giving them to them were removed from play. We see this in the episode where a bunch of Casper students get infected by ghost bugs, they got powers while infected and they lost them when the ghosts were removed. Beyond that we also have the time Jazz was almost sacrificed by Johnny to get Kitty back into the living world, she never got any powers from that despite being infused with Kitty’s power and essence and when said essence was removed she returned to a fully mortal human teenager with no powers.

Make Sam a witch or give Tucker nanite implants or something and I have no problem with this idea.

Danny becomes the Ancient of Space: I’ve already said that I like OP Danny, but I don’t think this title makes sense.

Yes I like giving Danny space powers and/or an eldritch space form, but I don’t like calling Danny the Ancient of Space because we don’t know how a ghost gets that title. Giving him this title seems to stem heavily from Space being the equal of Time which is Clockwork’s domain, but the thing is Clockwork isn’t called the Ancient of Time, he’s called the Master of Time. So I just generally feel like calling Danny the Master of Space fits better even if Ancient of Space sounds cooler.

Now onto more DPxDC exclusive stuff–

Jason is a Halfa/a developing Halfa: This is another one of those things where I just think goes too hard against the lore of Danny Phantom to make sense. Just dying and coming back to life does not make someone a Halfa, even if they don’t come back as fully alive. Not only that but it takes a LOT of ectoplasm and power to make a Halfa with Vlad and Danny being blasted with an opening portal and Dani being specifically grown from the DNA and ectoplasm of an existing Halfa. It just feels like its cheapening the existence of Hafas if they could have been created at any point in history using natural resources or general necromancy magic.

The Lazarus Pits are just rancid Ectoplasm: This just doesn’t work in my mind. Yes they are both green and are connected to death, but they don’t function or act anything like each other. Ectoplasm has shown no indication that it can be used to heal wounds or that it can be used to resurrect the dead outside of the creation of Hafas. The Lazarus pits have showcased no ability to be used as an energy source or for the waters to be in any state other than liquid, though it is a highly flammable substance in some interpretations while Ectoplasm can apparently be volatile enough to explode if not properly treated and filtered.

This idea also just cheapens both the Pits and Ectoplasm in different ways, with the Pits making it so Ectoplasm isn’t nearly as rare or tied to ghostly phenomena in the mortal world as we were lead to believe and Ectoplasm being readily available post-Fenton Portal activation making the constant search and hoarding of the Pits kind of useless. That and the Fentons apparently have Ectoplasm filters that I’m guessing could at least partially purify the Pits.

Backtracking a bit to the Jason is a Hafa/developing Halfa thing, a common way for that to be implemented is by saying the Pits are rancid Ectoplasm and he’s got a stunted Core. Well if that was the case than Ra’s Al Ghul would be just as far along as a Halfa as Jason if not being a fully fledged one himself at this point because while he might not have stayed dead as long as Jason in a single stretch– depending on how you look at the timeline of Jason’s revival– he did definitely spend more communicative time being dead over the centuries he’s been alive.

And finally, we know what rancid/corrupted Ectoplasm does to a person. It gives them Ecto-Acne. Which at best puts you in the hospital for years before giving you superpowers and usually would just slowly and painfully kill you.

Danny goes to Gotham: This one really just depends on WHY he goes to Gotham. Like, there’s nothing wrong with having a character go to a new city as the basis for a crossover, but I feel like it should make sense at least you know? And to be fair, most of the posts I’ve seen that talk about Danny going to Gotham do in fact make sense. So yeah, solid trope.

Danny and Damien are Twins: I have no problem with this in a vacuum, but I think people take it too far and ignore things like basic logic. Namely, the fact that for them to be secret twins then you have to acknowledge their looks. If they are fraternal twins then there is no real issue here, but if they are supposed to look super alike or even be capable of being mistaken for each other then there is the minor issue of their ethnicities.

No one ever suspects that Danny isn’t Jack Fenton’s son, and since both Jack and Maddie Fenton are caucasian, that means that Danny looks fully caucasian. Meanwhile, Damien is at very least one-quarter Arabic through his mother– I can’t recall if Talia is one hundred percent Arabic or not but I know Ra’s is– and is often depicted as having at least a dusky skin tone. So if you want them to be identical twins you’d have to say that both Damien and Danny appear to be completely white ethnically.

Maddie Fenton is a former member of the League of Assassins: Two issues with this: One, the League isn’t exactly big on letting people walk away from it, and Maddie isn’t exactly trying to hide from them. And two, we have seen Maddie’s canonical biological sister so unless both of them got away– which is even less likely than one person being allowed to leave– and only Alicia is smart enough to stay low-key, this one doesn’t make much sense.

Danny is dating Jason Todd: I get it, Jason is the second hottest Batfam member and he has some surface level similarities with their temporary white streaks and dead guy themes. But outside of that this one just doesn’t make sense. At least not to me.

For hobbies/civilian life, Jason is semi-canonically and very heavily fan-canonly a literature nerd. Danny hates his English class. Danny is often depicted as liking rock music and video games in his downtime, Jason… I don’t know his music taste is, but he is a neat and tidy book nerd.

For vigilante/hero life, Jason is extremely violent and open to using lethal options to the point where he has attempted to kill at least one of his brothers in nearly every timeline and is a mass murderer/serial killer with a higher body count than some of Batman’s rogues. Danny won’t even keep his worst enemies like Skulker trapped in the Fenton Thermos long-term and never even tries to injure potentially dangerous humans like the Guys In White.

These two personalities aren’t a case of being mix and matched, they are very strongly opposed to each other on a philosophical level and a moral level.

Danny is dating Tim Drake: Again, I get where this comes from, and to be fair it makes a bit more sense than Danny X Jason in so far as Tim not being a violent bipolar and him actually seeming to share some hobbies with Danny, but it still doesn’t work in my mind. That stuff that Vlad did to cause Danny to call him a fruitloop? Tim has done almost all of it. He’s a stalker, he clones people when he can’t have the real version, he has used his resources to fuck with people– though Tim’s actions in that sense aren’t nearly as bad as Vlad’s–, he has gone batshit crazy in grief before… need I go on?

So yeah, as much as I like the idea of neurotic sleep-deprived heroes falling into each other’s arms, this doesn’t work. Tim is too fucked up for Danny to want to get involved with. It would be too much like Maddie deciding to give Vlad a shot.

Danny is dating Cassandra Cain: Not as popular as Danny X Jason or Danny X Tim, but I’ve seen a couple of these.

This has some of the same problems as Danny X Jason in that they don’t seem to have any real hobbies in common, but it has the advantage in that their temperaments and personalities are at least somewhat more in line with each other. They both really like and really don’t like fighting, they both have issues with their parents who want them to follow in their footsteps while also being open to killing them, they latch onto friend groups as family, are both anti-killing despite being super lethal living weapons, they tend to be pretty chill out of combat situations to the point where they can even be blase about pretty crazy shit, et cetera. But they don’t have many if any overlapping interests… then again, most people tend to say that Cass and Stephanie are pretty close friends, and I think that is canon in some timelines, and as I will be talking about soon Danny and Steph have a fair bit in common so… yeah.

This one has some really good fanfics running for it though, such as ‘lex luthor's ascent from supervillainy to fatherhood’ by Halfgone over on AO3. A fic that I highly recommend.

Danny is dating Stephanie Brown: Even rarer than Danny X Cass as far as I have been able to see, but it’s also the one that makes the most sense in my eyes. The same snarky attitude, love of puns and messing with the people they are fight, they both have issues with their parents, they fight for things that their fathers’ are completely opposed to, and depending on the DC timeline and your stance on Danny being Dani’s father both are teenaged parents.

They also don’t, as far as I can tell, have anything that makes them opposed to each other. So while this one doesn’t have a ton of civilian weight behind it, it also doesn’t have anything against it. A solid choice despite not being very popular.

I still prefer Danny X Cass or Danny X Raven though.

Danny is gay/bi: I have no problem with this. Let me say that again, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS. I think that as a fictional character being used in fanfiction things like sexuality can be altered in whatever way the writer desires– it’s different when it’s a canon continuation of an existing work, but fanfiction is anything goes– but dear gods people PLEASE pick better dating options for Danny. I know that people think Jason Todd and Tim Drake are hot and fun characters, and they are, but as I already ranted about they are NOT good dating options for Danny.

Personally, I think Cyborg works better, or some incarnations of Conner Kent.

Danny has been to Krypton: For most timelines used this requires some time travel along with the intergalactic travel, but I find this one to be very fun. Be it just Danny having visited Krypton and having some stories about the place, maybe some souvenirs, or Danny accidentally/on purpose being revered as a god of the planet. It’s a fun addition or starting point to a story.

Kryptonite is Ecto-Candy: This makes no sense and I don’t like it enough to ignore that. Krypton blew up in the mortal universe within the last fifty years according to most canon timelines and even if the ENTIRE planet became Kryptonite– which it might have to be honest, I’m not sure about that– and 50% of it fell into the Infinite Realms– which makes no sense statistically even with natural portals being a thing– that still isn’t a lot of mass for an INFINITE dimension, plus the timeline would make it a relatively very recent thing to ghosts. And that’s ignoring the fact that Kryptonite is not in any way, shape, or form the same thing as Ectoplasm no matter how you split it outside of that one issue that says Kryptonite is the crystalized screams of horror and pain of everyone who died on Krypton.

Danny is a Martian Manhunter Fanboy: No real notes here. It fits, makes sense, and is often used in a fun way. 

Danny hates rich people: This one is funny sure, but it doesn’t make sense. Sam is rich. Danny was rich for a bit. Ghost King Danny is beyond rich. Danny is often written in fanfics to be friends with the likes of Pandora and Dorthea who are both rich. Really he just doesn’t like Vlad because of who he is, it has nothing to do with him being rich.

The Justice League abandoned Amity Park: I don’t like this one. It just doesn’t seem like something the Justice League would do. They have too many heroes that specialize in the paranormal and Batman sure as hell wouldn’t let something like an interdimensional portal remain open without being super on top of it and studying it in case of a worst-case scenario like what happened in Reign Storm.

I’ve seen variants of this where the reasoning is that John Constantine labeled it a no go zone to avoid the possibility of a superhero getting possessed and used as a meat suit to cause mass destruction and chaos, which does make more sense, but if that were the case then the JLD would be aware of the situation and would at the very least check in on some of the bigger events like when Undergrowth attacked, Vortex’s whole deal– particularly when his storm covered the entire world except for Amity park– Pariah Dark’s invasion/abduction, when Fright Knight attacked, and when Clockwork showed up and Dark Danny followed suit.

So really this idea just seems like a way to include shallow drama where Danny hates the Justice League or other heroes in general and feels upset that he, as an untrained teenager, was left to defend his town all by himself… just like Static Shock tends to do.

The Justice League thinks Danny is Immortal and hundreds/thousands of years old: No real notes here either. Danny has time traveled in canon, there are a lot of fanon things involving him doing it even more, and I can definitely see him playing into the bit to avoid being treated like a kid who needs to listen to his elders ala Billy Batson as Shazam.

Clockwork is Chronos: This requires a LOT of hoops being jumped through and a lot of ignoring of the mythology of Chronos himself, but they are both super powerful time deities so… I see where it comes from at least. And it allows for stuff like saying Danny and Wonder Woman are family.

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There are a lot more tropes and such that I’ve seen here and on dedicated fanfic sites in the Danny Phantom and DPxDC fandoms, but this is already an incredibly long post so I’m going to end things here. If anyone has anything they want to add or comments they want to give, feel free to leave them! Just don’t be a dick and don’t PM me anonymously with insults and threats. I’ll just report and block you.

[badbatchdalorian]

Missing Piece - Part 1: Are You Mandalorians?

MEDIA: The Bad Batch (2021-2024), The Mandalorian (2019-2023) CHARACTERS: The Bad Batch & Din Djarin (Young) RATING: T (14+) TAGS: not canon compliant, PTSD, trauma, childhood trauma, canon-typical violence, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, family fluff, Tech lives, protective siblings (more here) SUMMARY: In this galaxy far, far away, it's experimental unit Clone Force 99 that saves Din Djarin instead of the Mandalorians, forever altering not only his fate, but also their own. How they manage to survive with not one, but two young soldiers-in-training under their wings proves just how far they're willing to go to keep their family's missing piece as close as possible. cross-posted from ao3, where updates are more frequent

PART 1: Are You Mandalorians?

Hunter flipped his knife into the air just as the emergency comm channel began to blare. He jumped in his seat and narrowly avoided missing—and being cut by—the blade as it fell back into his grasp. Every head turned towards the cockpit, though some snapped more quickly than others. Wrecker was noticeably groggy as he groaned in dismay.

“C’mon!” Wrecker exclaimed, heaving a breath as he did so. “I was havin’ the best sleep I’ve gotten in weeks! ”

Hunter had already started towards the cockpit, and he knew Tech wouldn’t be far behind.

“Complaining about new action?” Crosshair huffed. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“I can’t face new action without any sleep ,” Wrecker insisted.

Hunter tuned them out as he reached the Marauder ’s controls. He sat down in the co-pilot’s chair and pressed the button, watching as a blue image flickered to life. Hunter’s brow shot up as a Togrutan silhouette formed more fully.

“General?” Hunter managed the title even amidst his own surprise. He didn’t need Tech to tell him that General Shaak Ti being on the other end of the emergency comm was highly unusual, though he could practically feel the thought simmering in Tech’s brain from the pilot’s chair beside him.

“ Sergeant .” General Ti was as calm as ever, bowing her head in greeting before going on. “ I understand your squad is currently en route back to Kamino? ”

“That is correct,” Tech answered for his brother. He adjusted his goggles before letting his fingers fly over the controls. “We are approximately a single rotation and three additional standard hours away, given how distant our point of origin was.”

“ Is there any chance your squad is near the Relgim sector? ” General Ti’s expression morphed into something Hunter had never seen in the general before: desperation. “ We’ve just received a dire call for help, but the settlement is too remote for anyone else to get there in time. I saw your squad’s current route and hoped it wasn’t too late .”

Tech had already begun to analyze where in hyperspace they were the moment General Ti had requested it. Hunter fought back the exhaustion creeping into the corners of his mind as he pressed for more information. “Where would we be headed, General?”

General Ti still looked troubled as she responded. “ Aq Vetina .”

“In that case…” Tech paused, reaching for the hyperspace lever and pulling it back.

Hunter gripped the nearest support he could find as the Marauder shuddered out of hyperspace. Something fell behind them, and Wrecker grunted as Crosshair cursed loudly. Hunter chuckled, shaking his head—and knowing full well any other squad leader would have been mortified to have such a thing happen in front of a Jedi general.

“Your timing could not have been more optimal, General.” Tech spoke to General Ti while he focused on piloting the Marauder towards a distant world. “We are currently in the Relgim sector, and we are now on approach to Aq Vetina.”

General Ti let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders visibly lightening as she did so. “ Thank the Force. ” She focused on Hunter as she went on. “ Your orders are to engage only if the Separatist forces can be handled by your squad alone. If not… then we must consider this a loss .” Hunter didn’t need to be a Force-sensitive Jedi to sense her devastation at the mere thought of such an outcome. “ But I know that if any squad can take on such forces without backup, it’s yours, Sergeant. ”

“That’s right!” Wrecker was suddenly behind Hunter, his voice much brighter than before. He grinned at the Togruta Jedi and waved. “Hey, General!”

General Ti returned his smile. “ Wrecker, it’s good to see you .” Each word was genuine, spreading a comforting warmth through Hunter’s chest. Of everyone on Kamino, she had no doubt been the kindest to Hunter and his squad growing up, and for that he was forever indebted to her. “ I’m afraid I don’t have much time to catch up, though, and neither do you. Sergeant, if you wouldn’t mind contacting me on this frequency when you have an update on the situation? ”

Hunter nodded. “Of course, General.”

General Ti returned his nod. “ Thank you, Sergeant. Your squad is this settlement’s only hope. Do not engage in a battle you know you cannot win, but keep this in mind as you prepare for what’s ahead. ”

Those were the words she left them with. Her blue image faded, and for a few moments, all Hunter could hear—even with his enhanced senses—was the soft hum of space around them.

Hunter nearly winced when Wrecker raised his voice again from just behind them. “A surprise mission? Oh, yeah!” He punched the air. “I take back what I said before. This was totally worth missin’ out on some sleep.”

“What’s going on?” Hunter spun in his chair as Echo approached. He’d been surprised that Echo hadn’t joined him and Tech inside the cockpit for the comm, but given the way the ARC trooper was stretching his neck and suppressing a yawn, he had been in the middle of a deep, and clearly much-needed, sleep. “Was that General Ti?”

Hunter nodded. “It was.” He rose from his chair and clapped his hand on Echo’s shoulder. “Gear up. We have another mission.”

Echo’s eyes doubled in size. “ What? ” He shook his head. “That can’t be right. I thought we were headed back—?”

“There’s a remote settlement we’re passing by that needs help.” Hunter set his jaw, conveying an uncharacteristic amount of severity. “The general said we’re their only chance.”

Echo immediately straightened. Hunter began to smile in satisfaction. “What are we up against?”

Hunter kept his smile even as he gently brushed past Echo to head further into the ship. “Don’t know. We have to get a closer look.” He turned his head just enough to raise his voice over his shoulder. “Tech, let me know as soon as you have a visual. As for the rest of you…” Hunter looked pointedly at Crosshair, who had been watching everything unfold from the chair he was lounging in. “Get ready for a fight.”

Wrecker cheered in the background as Crosshair raised the corner of his mouth in a much more subtle form of celebration. Hunter could see the exhaustion looming within the depths of his brother’s eyes, and the darkening of the circles that hung underneath them, but that exhaustion was overpowered by their genuine love for what they did best: battle.

Hunter himself felt all of it—the exhaustion, the excitement, the addicting rush of adrenaline that shot through every single vein and nerve in his body. This time, however, he also felt something that he didn’t always experience, at least not to this degree. It was the same thing that had been written all over General Ti’s face.

He wanted to help these people, and he felt responsible for their safety.

But Hunter also felt responsible for his own squad, just as he always had. The weight of their flawless success rate got heavier with each new mission, though the success rate paled in comparison to the safety of his brothers. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice any one of them for a mission, not even one like this.

As hard as that truth would always be to swallow.

Hunter shoved these thoughts to the back of his mind just like always and focused on gearing up, paying extra attention to the way his armor snapped into place. He spared a look around and saw that Wrecker, Crosshair, and Echo had made just as much progress as himself, with Tech well on his way after he had put the ship on autopilot for the time being.

Hunter wasn’t looking forward to a reality where this rush and preparation for battle wasn’t necessary. Based on what General Ti had told them, it was very likely that they could be forced to bail after seeing what they were up against.

The last thing Hunter reached for was his helmet before he strided back towards the cockpit. He could see Aq Vetina on approach through the viewport, a small world that didn’t get much bigger even as the ship got closer.

“ Force .” Echo’s voice was a mere breath behind Hunter, but the sergeant wasn’t surprised by his close presence. He had sensed Echo’s whereabouts long before he had spoken. “That’s a small planet.” He exhaled, his voice dropping lower. “No wonder why they need help so badly.”

“Let’s just hope we can provide it.” Hunter turned towards Tech as he joined them. Tech returned to the pilot’s chair and Hunter stood behind him, letting Echo take the co-pilot’s seat. “Tech, how’s it looking from here?”

“I’ll have a better idea once I’ve navigated us closer.” Tech gently pushed the Marauder ’s steering wheel ahead, allowing the Omicron-class shuttle to move forward through the stars. 

Hunter could sense the shadows of Wrecker and Crosshair behind him, no doubt just as curious about what awaited them. Despite the fact they were all—at least, almost all—just sleeping peacefully a few minutes ago, they were itching for a fight, especially one that sounded so critical.

For once, the squad remained silent as Tech continued to steer the ship forward. The tension was so thick that the sound of the proximity sensor going off made everyone jump.

“I’m clocking… one Separatist ship.” Tech sounded unimpressed as he continued to analyze the incoming data.

They all waited a beat before Wrecker spoke up. “That’s it?”

Hunter narrowed his eyes. “Is it a command ship?”

“Negative. I assume they have already left the system.” Tech’s voice lowered only slightly as he went on. “The battle may very well be over.”

Echo shook his head. “Not if they’ve left a ship here. They could’ve realized a planet this small only needed one ship’s worth of forces and sent the others to their other targets.” He glanced up at Hunter, his gaze hopeful.

Hunter returned Echo’s look and considered their next steps. Tech and Echo could both be right, and there was only one way to find out.

“It’s worth checking out.” Hunter nodded towards the viewport. “Bring us in, Tech.”

Tech returned Hunter’s nod and obeyed the sergeant’s order. Wrecker chuckled victoriously and must’ve nudged Crosshair’s shoulder, based on the way their brother grunted in dissatisfaction soon after. Echo flashed Hunter an appreciative smile before he focused on assisting Tech with the landing sequence.

Hunter lowered himself into one of the chairs off to Echo’s right side and exhaled a gentle breath through his nose. While spontaneous planning was their usual style, this mission was too delicate to abide by their typical tactics.

Hunter thought through each step carefully and brainstormed every possibility he could come up with in the time it took the Marauder to exchange the view of the stars for the grayish-blue of Aq Vetina’s atmosphere. His heart tightened uncomfortably when he caught plumes of smoke on the horizon.

Tech started his warning. “Hunter…”

“Don’t bring us too close.” Hunter was back on his feet, setting a hand on the backs of both Tech’s and Echo’s chairs as he surveyed the situation for himself. “Keep us a few klicks away. We’ll do a loose recon before we decide if we’re engaging.”

Wrecker groaned in disappointment. “So we still don’t know if we’re gonna fight?”

Crosshair hummed. “No use in trying to save their skins if there aren’t any skins left to save.”

Echo spun around in his chair to fix Crosshair with a pointed look, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Hunter didn’t have to look back at Crosshair to know he was unaffected. Echo still hadn’t gotten used to Crosshair’s severe nature, but he would have to understand that Crosshair meant no harm by it. He was just a realist, one who still cared deeply—even if he refused to show it.

Hunter tightened his grasp on the chairs as Tech brought the Marauder down. Its descent was even smoother than usual, no doubt a result of Tech’s abundance of caution, and it wasn’t long after that Tech powered it down completely. Hunter stepped back to give him and Echo room to stand.

Hunter was already setting his helmet over his head. “Let’s get moving.” He turned and pushed himself through the small gap between Wrecker and Crosshair at the cockpit’s threshold. “The longer we wait, the more lives we put at risk.”

The lack of Hunter’s usual enthusiasm heading into a mission caused the others to follow his order without complaint or hesitation. Hunter led the way off the Marauder before he sped up into a fast jog that helped them disappear quickly into the surrounding wood.

Hunter wove through the trees easily, gently touching the bark as his senses created a reliable trail to the city that had gone up in flames. The crunching of his brothers’ footsteps behind him was reassuring, grounding him to the present even as the leadership part of his mind tried to think far ahead.

It wasn’t long before the first sandstone building came into sight. Its blue, domed roof was charred with black grime, and the sounds of blasterfire and explosions were unmistakable to Hunter’s sensitive ears.

Hunter raised his fist, signaling for the squad to stop as he pressed his palm against the sandstone. He listened more closely for another few heartbeats, letting the sounds of the firefight rattle against his eardrums.

Super battle droids. Not enough to overwhelm his squad, not at all, but certainly enough to level a settlement of this size. They had to act fast to minimize whatever damage they could.

Hunter turned to face his brothers and nodded. “We’re going in.”

Wrecker cheered.

“We’ve got SBDs.” Hunter glanced at both Wrecker and Crosshair. “Crosshair, head up. Wrecker, give him a boost.”

The pair nodded at the sergeant before bounding forward. Wrecker knelt down just enough for Crosshair to lift his foot into his brother’s cupped hands. Crosshair pushed off just as Wrecker threw his arms up, and Crosshair had more than enough air to get onto the roof. Hunter continued as they did so.

“As for the rest of us, Plan 70.” Hunter nodded at Tech. “You’re with me. We’ll head to the east,” he waved two fingers at Wrecker and Echo, “you take the west.”

Echo tightened his grasp on his blaster. “We’re on it.” With that, both he and Wrecker disappeared into the settlement, the ARC trooper guiding the way.

Hunter looked over at Tech and watched his brother tighten his grasp on his blasters. One nod was all it took for them to communicate their next move. Hunter passed Tech to lead the way to the east. They stuck close to the walls of the structures they passed, checking around each corner before moving ahead. The fight was getting closer and closer.

A new wave of adrenaline shot through Hunter’s veins like a rocket. If the stakes weren’t so high for the people they were rescuing, he would even smile at the sensation, but it felt disrespectful. He couldn’t enjoy it when there were civilians caught in the crossfire.

Hunter flinched when the helmet comm suddenly opened up. “ You four might want to speed things up ,” Crosshair warned. Hunter shared a concerned look with Tech, noting the way Tech’s gaze flashed with cautious curiosity. “ Looks like the clankers are about to have this battle won. ”

Wrecker snarled over the comms. “ Not if we can help it! ”

Crosshair sighed. “ That’s exactly what I’m saying, Wrecker .”

Hunter fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Focus. Remember what General Ti said. We’re their only chance at survival.”

Like his brothers, he didn’t mind the rush of battle, but this was different. This wasn’t blasting droids on the battlefield. This was rescuing civilians from the destruction of their home.

Hunter held his arm out in front of Tech when he caught sight of a horde of SBDs. He holstered his blaster and drew his blade from his gauntlet instead, keeping it at the ready as his other hand rose back to his helmet.

“Echo, Wrecker, status report.”

Echo answered for them. “ In position. ”

Hunter steadied himself with a breath before nodding to himself. “Move in.”

He didn’t waste another second. Hunter sprinted out from behind the protection of the nearby building and launched himself at the first droid in his path. He flung one arm around the droid’s neck from behind as the other jabbed his knife into the droid’s chest, frying its circuitry. Hunter pushed himself off the droid as it collapsed, leaping into the air and dodging blasterfire as he made a beeline for the next one.

Hunter was so lost in the familiar yet thrilling routine of battle that he paid little attention to the rest of their surroundings. It was only after he tripped over something unexpected that he was forced to stop and glance down at the unpredictable obstacle.

It was a body, clothed in red robes that tragically matched the color of their spilled blood. One quick look around the courtyard they were in proved that it was far from the only one of their people who had fallen.

Hunter blanched, but only for a moment. He couldn’t afford to take any more time. Hunter snapped his helmet up and watched as a droid threw open the doors to a bunker in the ground, taking aim with their weapon soon after.

Someone had to be alive down there. Someone they could save .

Hunter threw his knife before he had even gotten to his feet. The blade sunk into the side of the SBD’s head, causing it to stiffen before it collapsed to the side. Hunter was already running over, not bothering to retrieve his knife just yet as he awaited helping the person, or the people, who had taken refuge in the bunker.

When Hunter skidded to a stop in front of it, he nearly lost the ration that he had eaten just a few standard hours ago. He blinked in disbelief and attempted to catch his mind up with what his eyes were seeing.

It was a child, a boy no older than nine cycles, who was slowly reopening his eyes to look up at Hunter with fear, shock, and hope .

Hunter felt as if the wind had been knocked from him, the same way he always did whenever Wrecker sacked him during their sparring sessions. Still, he couldn’t afford to freeze up like this in the heat of battle, especially not when there was a helpless child staring back at him.

“It’s okay,” Hunter finally said, lifting his gloved hands up for the scared boy to see. “I’m not gonna hurt you. We’re here to help.”

The child blinked, his trembling lips parting as he tried to speak. “W-We?”

Hunter pasted on a small smile. “My squad.” He nodded in further reassurance. “We’ll keep you safe.”

The boy’s shoulders sagged in relief. He looked as if he was about to ask a question, but then thought better of it. Hunter fought to ignore the sudden ache in his chest as he glanced over his shoulder and narrowly dodged a blaster bolt.

“Stay down here for now.” Hunter was gentle with the order. “I’ll protect you from up here, and once the droids are dealt with, we’ll get out of here. Sound good?”

The boy nodded, his small fists clutching the dirt on the bottom of the bunker as he did so. Hunter let out a quiet exhale and spun back to face the battle.

Hunter lifted his fingers to his helmet as he tore the blade from the SBD’s head. “Has anyone else come across survivors? I’m protecting one right now.”

It took some time for the others to answer as they focused on blasting the last few droids. “ Negative ,” Tech answered for himself.

Echo was next. “ Same here .”

Wrecker maintained optimism. “ Not yet! ”

It was Crosshair who had to deliver the news that dropped like a stone into Hunter’s stomach. “ I’m not seeing any survivors from up here .”

Hunter’s jaw tightened as he held his position, using the SBD’s body as cover to fire off shots. They had been too late, after all. Hunter couldn’t help wondering how this boy had gotten so lucky.

That’s when he dared a look to the side of the bunker he was closest too. His breath caught in his throat when he saw a charred red slump that was half-hidden by the bunker’s damaged door.

Someone had purposefully protected the boy, and Hunter was willing to bet he knew exactly who they were. Suddenly, the boy’s hesitant attempt at a question made sense. He wanted to know if his parents were still alive.

Hunter closed his eyes behind his visor and gave his helmet a small shake. This was the part of the war he could never truly come to terms with, the part that was so easy to ignore when it was just him, his brothers, and a crowd of clankers. It was the reason why they were fighting this war in the first place.

Hunter reopened his eyes and watched as Wrecker took down the last droid. The settlement went eerily silent, and the blaster smoke made the atmosphere feel even heavier. Hunter sighed and turned back to the boy in the bunker.

There were fresh tear trails on the boy’s dirty cheeks, running from a pair of dark brown eyes that were open so wide Hunter half-feared they would pop right out of the boy’s head. Hunter put all his weapons away and lifted his helmet to show the child his face.

“Alright, we got the last of ‘em.” Hunter knelt down and rested an arm upon his propped-up knee. “Not too bad of a wait, huh?”

The boy sniffled, but Hunter caught the corners of his lips rising in a small smile. Hunter nodded at him in encouragement.

“You did great down here, following my orders.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “You listen better than my squad does.”

The child chuckled. Hunter grinned, even as his heart squeezed tighter.

“My name’s Hunter.” Hunter pressed both hands against his chestplate before he gestured towards the child. “What about you?”

The boy lifted his arm and rubbed his face with the sleeve of his red hooded robe. He hiccuped on a breath as he fought to answer Hunter’s question. “Din, s-sir.” His voice was so quiet that Hunter wouldn’t have been able to hear it if it weren’t for his enhanced senses.

“Nice to meet you, Din. I’m… sorry we couldn’t get here sooner.” And Hunter meant that. His regret was already leaving a resounding ache deep within his bones.

Hunter looked over his shoulder and saw his brothers standing close by. They all had their helmets tucked underneath their arms, their expressions giving away their curiosity. Crosshair had already joined them again.

Hunter’s gaze fell back to the ground that was littered with the bodies of both the droids and the civilians. He circled his jaw and turned back to Din.

“Okay, kid, I have one more order for you.” Hunter tightened his gloved hand into a fist and maintained the best duty voice he could manage. “Think you’re brave enough to handle it?”

Din nodded earnestly, taking one more wipe at his tears. Hunter beamed.

“That’s what I thought.” Hunter tapped the edge of the bunker. “I’m gonna help you up, and we’re gonna take you on our ship to somewhere safe. I need you to keep your eyes closed until I say so. Got it?”

Din nodded again. “That sounds easy, sir.”

Hunter let out a genuine chuckle as he raised his brow. “I knew you’d be up for the challenge.” 

Hunter leaned down into the bunker and extended a hand towards Din. The boy stood to his feet and shuffled his way over. After the two of them interlocked hands, Hunter paused, his stare meeting Din’s.

“Ready to close your eyes?”

Din gave Hunter’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Yes, sir.”

Hunter nodded. “Alright. Close ‘em.”

Din obeyed. Hunter tugged the boy up with ease, gently setting him onto the terrain at his side. Hunter tucked his helmet under his arm and stood to his feet, keeping his grasp on Din’s hand. He looked down at the boy who had his eyes shut tight enough to make the skin on his lids wrinkle.

“The rest of my squad is here, too,” Hunter told him. He spared a look at his brothers, whose expressions had all fallen at the sight of the young child. “I’ll introduce you when it’s time to open your eyes. Okay?”

Din nodded. He hesitated before he decided to say something. “T-Thank you, sirs.”

Wrecker said “Anytime, kid!” right when Crosshair said “Don’t thank us yet.” Crosshair shrugged when he was leveled with a warning glare from all four of them.

Echo’s gaze met Hunter’s before he signed the best he could with his hand. A kid?

Hunter cut his gaze over to the bunker door. Everyone’s eyes followed his. Echo’s jaw tightened as Wrecker’s brow furrowed in devastation. Tech adjusted his goggles uncomfortably, and even Crosshair shifted his weight and looked away from the sight.

Hunter addressed his squad when he spoke again. “We have to get going before they send more down.” He set his helmet over his head and gave Din’s hand a gentle squeeze to get his attention. “I’m gonna carry you so you don’t have to worry about where you’re going. Is that okay?”

Din’s voice was only growing stronger. “Yes, sir.”

Hunter let go of the boy’s hand and reached over his back. He removed his pack and tossed it to Wrecker, who caught it and nodded at the sergeant. Hunter picked Din up and guided him onto his back, helping the boy to wrap his arms around Hunter’s neck.

Only once the boy was settled did Hunter nod at his squad. “Time to go.”

Hunter wasted no more time standing around. He began to jog back the way they had first come, using his senses to recall their path. The crunching of the terrain behind him told him that the squad was matching his pace, barely exhausted by the quick battle.

They were about halfway back to the Marauder when Din broke their silence. “Hunter, sir?”

Hunter flashed him a quick look over his shoulder as he continued ahead. He huffed out a fond breath. “You don’t have to call me ‘sir,’ kid.”

“Okay.” Din’s voice was wobbling a bit. An uneasy knot tied up in Hunter’s stomach. “I was just wondering… when are we gonna go back and help everyone else?”

Hunter nearly stopped dead in his tracks. Only his desire to keep Din from panicking kept him moving. The knot in his stomach rose into his chest, making it difficult to breathe—and suddenly mindful of Din’s extra weight upon his back.

It was like a blaster wound straight to the chest.

“Kid…”

Hunter inhaled a soft breath. Din was no doubt old enough to tell whether Hunter was lying or not. Hunter had already done what he could for Din by keeping him from having to remember the sight of their bodies. He deserved to know the truth; it was better for him to hear it now than later.

“There was no one else for us to save.”

The silence that followed was louder than any other Hunter had ever heard. He wasn’t used to silence, not with senses that picked up on just about everything, but focusing on this one now was utterly painful.

Hunter’s jaw tensed and refused to relax until Din spoke again. “Oh.” Din’s arms tightened around Hunter’s neck. “Okay.”

Din’s tone was one of distant acceptance. It shattered Hunter even more that a child like him had to come to terms with something like this.

Suddenly, he was angry. Angry at the Separatists, at the war, at the galaxy . This was a kind of loss that Hunter, thankfully, never had to experience, but if he was given the choice to face it in this child’s place, he would have.

But then he glanced back at his squadmates, his brothers , and Hunter selfishly thanked the Force that he never had to know what this kind of loss was like.

The sight of the Marauder was relieving, but not relieving enough to dispel all the darkness and tension from Hunter. He could sense the same weight upon the shoulders of his brothers behind him as they reentered the ship. It was obvious in the way Tech quietly dismissed himself to the cockpit for takeoff while the rest of them began to set down their gear, each one careful to make less noise than necessary.

Hunter helped Din’s feet get back to the floor. He lifted his helmet and set it aside, kneeling in front of the boy whose eyes were still closed diligently. Hunter softened.

“Okay, kid. You can open your eyes now.”

Din obeyed. He blinked a few times as he glanced around the space, his jaw falling open in wonder. Hunter chuckled to himself as Din’s hands clutched into small fists at his sides. “A spaceship ?”

“Technically, this is a shuttle,” Tech corrected him from the cockpit. Hunter fought the urge to roll his eyes fondly. “An Omicron-class attack shuttle, to be precise.”

Din just let out an impressed, exaggerated exhale. “ Whoa .”

The boy’s attention then fell on the squadmates who were huddled behind Hunter. The sergeant spun around to take a look at them himself.

Echo’s arms were at his sides, his brow pinched in distress. Wrecker had a warm smile on his face. Crosshair’s arms were crossed, his expression thoughtful and considering. Tech was still in the cockpit.

Hunter looked back at Din, whose chin tucked closer to his chest as the boy shyly addressed the room. “Are you Mandalorians?”

Immediately, Wrecker burst out into fond laughter. Echo gave him a light shove, despite the smile that started to tug at his own lips. Even Crosshair was wearing an amused smirk. Hunter chuckled to himself.

That hearty rumbling quickly disappeared from Hunter’s chest the moment he heard Din’s heartbeat quicken. He turned to see the boy’s gaze cast downward, his face reddened underneath the grime that coated his tan skin. Din started to shrink in on himself, clearly embarrassed by whatever error he had made.

Wrecker stepped forward before Hunter himself could act to remedy the situation. He knelt down to Din’s level and offered him a smile. “You’re right about us bein’ soldiers, kiddo, but not Mandalorians. We’re clones.”

Hunter heard Din’s racing heartbeat slow back down at Wrecker’s warmth as the boy’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Then why don’t you look like each other?”

Wrecker looked over at Hunter, who shrugged at his brother in amusement. “Fair point,” Hunter murmured. Wrecker turned back to Din.

“We’re clones, but…we’re different.” Wrecker jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “Wanna meet us all?”

Din nodded earnestly. Hunter smiled again. He was trying to assess Din for any signs of shock, but clearly, Wrecker’s distractions were working for the time being. Tech could make a proper assessment once he was done piloting them into hyperspace.

Wrecker pointed to himself. “I’m Wrecker, and I like to blow things up!”

The delivery of the fun fact was enough to make Din laugh. Hunter’s chest warmed for the first time since he had rescued the boy.

Wrecker turned to face Echo and Crosshair. Echo took the glance as an invitation to step forward, kneeling down at Wrecker’s side. “I’m Echo.” He rested his left arm against his knee and managed a smile, though Hunter could clearly see the sadness set deep within his gaze. “It’s an honor to meet someone as brave as you.”

Din smiled at Echo’s praise. The warmth in Hunter’s chest blazed into a steady flame.

The boy’s smile faded when he looked down and caught sight of Echo’s scomp link and cybernetic legs. His expression was marred by worry. “Echo, sir, can I ask you a question?”

Getting rid of formalities was no doubt an adjustment for Din, one Hunter was more than willing to excuse. Echo held Din’s gaze and nodded confidently, allowing the boy to go on.

“What happened to your arm and legs?” Din cradled his own hands close to his chest. “Are you okay?”

Echo chuckled, the sound full of genuine warmth as he nodded again. “Yeah, kid, I’m alright.” Echo set his hand on Din’s shoulder. The boy relaxed underneath the soldier’s touch. “Something bad happened to me, but…” Echo paused, his gaze searching before he focused on Din again, “these guys found me and helped me learn how to make the most of it.”

Din brightened at that. His shoulders lifted, and his chest puffed up in hope. “Does that mean they’ll do the same for me, too?”

Hunter was about to answer in the affirmative from the boy’s side, but Echo beat him to the punch. “No doubt about it.” Echo gave Din’s shoulder a soft squeeze. “And so will I.”

Din’s smile remained, though his gaze shifted from Echo to something beyond him. The light of curiosity flickered in his gaze again, something to match the quicker rush of air Hunter heard in the boy’s lungs. Din’s voice was almost a whisper as he spoke.

“What’s his name?”

Wrecker and Echo both turned their heads to look at Crosshair, who was standing just behind them. Wrecker huffed and faced Din, gesturing with his head back towards their youngest brother. “That’s Crosshair.”

Din blinked a few times at the sniper, who had already tasked himself with balancing a new toothpick between his lips. Hunter watched as the boy studied his brother before he spoke up again.

“Do you like to shoot things, Crosshair?”

Crosshair’s arms stayed crossed over his chest even as his armored shoulders lifted with his amused exhale. “I do.” His brow shot up. “Looking to be a new target?”

Hunter narrowed his eyes and prepared a proper disciplinary speech for Crosshair, but Din’s laugh split right through his thoughts. “You’re funny!”

The corner of Crosshair’s mouth rose at that. Hunter’s tightened jaw relaxed. The kid could not only understand, but also appreciate Crosshair’s crude humor. He was already fitting in around here.

Not that he would be staying for long. The weight of reporting back to General Ti sat heavy upon Hunter’s shoulders, as he already knew what would result from telling her about their sole survivor. They would be redirected to Coruscant, where they would drop off Din at one of the refugee organizations—likely one created just for orphans.

What Hunter couldn’t fully understand was why that was an order he had no desire to comply with. Though, it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t want to comply with an order. He and his squad had been that way ever since he could remember.

Still, this was different, and one look at the brothers around him confirmed it. Everyone was glowing at this child, who had just been through the unimaginable, but was still displaying an admirable amount of strength and curiosity.

Finally, Tech stepped out of the cockpit, his voice breaking through the squad’s brief silence in the hold. “We are en route to Kamino once again,” Tech informed them, though he looked pointedly at Hunter. “Although I do expect to be rerouted to Coruscant once you have briefed General Ti on our… findings.” Tech adjusted his goggles as he stared at Din.

The boy pointed at Tech’s eyes. “I like your goggles, sir.”

Tech lit up and knelt down eagerly in the space between Echo and Hunter. “These goggles were designed to enhance my less-than-average eyesight,” he explained to Din. “As something had to give in order for the Kaminoans to enhance my genetics and carefully craft my exceptional mind.”

Din’s brow scrunched up. “Enhance your genetics?”

“That is correct.” Tech gestured with his head to the squad around him. “It is why our physical appearances vary, despite the fact we are all made from the same genetic template.”

Din looked at Hunter for guidance, and the sergeant nodded at him. “We’re named for our enhancements.” Hunter tapped his own chestplate. “I’m good at tracking and sensing things. Wrecker’s good at… well, wrecking things. Crosshair’s the best sharpshooter you’ll ever meet. And like Tech here said, he’s got an incredible mind.”

Din looked almost worriedly at Echo. “What about Echo?”

Echo offered the boy a reassuring smile. “I wasn’t originally a part of this squad. I got my name a long time ago, when I was still with my batchmates.”

Din tilted his head. “Batchmates?”

Hunter read Echo carefully as the ARC trooper cleared his throat and went on. “My brothers. The clones I was born with and trained with until I started to fight for the Republic.” Echo’s gaze lightened as he went on. “My brothers called me ‘Echo’ because I used to repeat all our orders.”

Din nodded in understanding. He looked around the group as a smile spread across his lips. “I like all your names.”

Tech lifted a finger. “Technically, they are nicknames. We were not given names when we were created, only numerical designations.”

“Oh.” Din began to deflate again. “I was only given a name, but… I wish I had a nickname like you guys.”

Wrecker set a hand on Din’s shoulder. “Well, you gotta’ know a lot about Mandalorians to think that’s what we were, right?”

Din looked up at him and nodded. “Yes, sir.” He blinked in succession and rushed to correct himself. “I mean, Wrecker.” He hesitated before going on. “I learned a lot about them in galactic history. And my pare…”

Din came to an abrupt stop. Grief powerful enough to knock Hunter off his feet washed over the young boy’s face, though he still pushed on to finish his thought—even if his voice was considerably smaller.

“They used to tell me a lot of Mandalorian stories.”

Wrecker shared a concerned look with Hunter. Still, he maintained his usual cheery disposition as he focused on Din. “That makes you an honorary Mandalorian in my book, kid. How about Mando for a nickname?”

That at least got Din to brighten again. “Mando…” Din even began to smile again. Hunter was overwhelmed by a wave of relief. “I like that.”

“Good.” Wrecker mirrored Din’s smile. “That means you gotta’ catch us up on all the stories, though!”

As Wrecker continued to keep Din busy, Hunter nudged Tech with his armored shoulder to get his attention. His brother gave him an inquisitive glance, which Hunter responded to by gesturing with his head back towards the cockpit. Hunter stood and Tech followed him over to the open threshold.

“I’m gonna contact General Ti,” Hunter nodded towards Din. “Give the kid an assessment to see what symptoms of shock he might be presenting. He’s a strong kid, I’ll give him that, but I’m not convinced that he’s just forgotten about everything that happened.”

Tech returned Hunter’s nod. “That would be a wise conclusion.”

Hunter set his hand on Tech’s shoulder before he turned away to walk into the cockpit. He paused just in front of the communicator, heaving a breath through his nostrils as he closed his eyes in consideration.

There was something tugging at his gut, squeezing his lungs hard enough to make breathing feel like a chore. Reporting to a higher ranking officer, even a general, wasn’t anything new for Hunter, so he knew that wasn’t the problem. It was something else.

Hunter reopened his eyes and spared a glance over his shoulder. Wrecker and Echo were distracting Din with more conversation as Tech tended to him, causing their soft voices and Din’s gentle laughter to fill the space. Even Crosshair looked fondly amused from where he was still standing behind his brothers.

Hunter smiled. The Marauder was… warmer. Lighter. Happier . He hadn’t seen it like this ever since the war had started, since before his brothers sourced their joy from things much more innocent than warfare.

Then Hunter faced the communicator again, and his stomach clenched hard enough that he thought he might be sick right there.

Something wasn’t right. Hunter wasn’t sure what to make of it. Maybe he just needed better sleep than he’d been getting these days, but deep down, he knew exactly what it was, because he knew exactly what order was awaiting him on the other end of the call.

Was he really about to drop this freshly orphaned child off like some kind of cargo shipment?

Hunter shook his head. There was no other choice; they were soldiers, and there was no business exposing a kid to a life like theirs. Hunter had never thought twice about keeping survivors around before. He wasn’t sure why it should be any different this time.

The sergeant forced himself to press the button on the communicator before he could hesitate again. After a few heavy heartbeats, General Ti’s holographic image appeared in front of him.

“ Sergeant Hunter. You’re reporting sooner than expected .” There was no missing the caution in General Ti’s tone as she undoubtedly prepared herself for the worst. “ How did your mission go? ”

Hunter steadied himself with a breath and looked apologetically at the general. “I’m afraid we were too late, General. The settlement’s been destroyed.”

The general blanched, though she otherwise maintained her usual composure. “ Any survivors? ”

Hunter circled his jaw, once again considering his words. As disobedient as he and his brothers could be, this wasn’t something he should lie about. “Just one. A child.”

General Ti’s head lowered. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke in a softer voice than usual. “ May the Force be with him, and with those he knew who have faded into it. ”

Hunter didn’t respond. He was waiting to receive his order, one that he should have had no problem following. They had disobeyed much more complex orders before.

“ Bring the child to Coruscant. I will call ahead and let them know you’re coming. ”

Hunter nodded. “Yes, General.” He cleared his throat, but kept the sound quiet enough for only him to hear. “We’ll see you back on Kamino after our… detour.”

General Ti returned his nod, and she even managed a genuine smile for him. “ I’ll be looking forward to it, Sergeant .”

Thankfully, General Ti ended the call there. Hunter released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and closed his eyes.

The sergeant didn’t know what to make of the Force, and like many other clones, he had his own suspicions about it, but whatever was suddenly tugging on his heartstrings certainly felt like a mysterious force. It screamed at him to disobey in a way he hadn’t experienced before, not even in their riskiest endeavors.

Hunter reopened his eyes and turned his head over his shoulder. The dynamic between everyone had already changed, with Wrecker, Echo, and Tech huddled on the ground around Din as the boy spoke with wide, excited eyes. Even Crosshair was lingering closer, his chair spun in their direction as he smiled around the toothpick between his lips.

The sergeant reached out with his senses to listen more closely.

“... and zzsskk! ”

Din raised his arm as if he was pretending to pull a weapon from a sheath. Wrecker let out an eager gasp, his gaze glittering almost as much as the child’s. Tech looked pensive, while Echo beamed at Din the best he could.

“The warrior had a glowing sword!”

“Glowing sword?” Wrecker chuckled and nudged Tech. “Now that’s wizard.”

“Technically, if this ‘sword’ did have a luminescent glow, it would classify as a lightsaber,” Tech spoke up. He paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Though I suppose vibroswords and blades can, at times, produce luminescence of their own accord…”

Din blinked at Tech in innocent confusion. “Huh?”

“Uh, that’s alright,” Echo waved his hand at Din in reassurance. “What happened next, Mando?”

Din’s shoulders lifted at the nickname, and he gave Echo an enthusiastic nod before going on.

Hunter gave his sensitive hearing a rest as he smiled to himself. Every heartbeat on that ship was at ease for the first time in much too long. He knew his brothers enjoyed battle, but that didn’t mean they didn’t still feel the stress of it. This was the calmest they all had been since the earliest days of their deployment.

Surely, that couldn’t be a coincidence. Hunter just didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it.

════════════════════

Echo was more than happy to volunteer for the first watch shift, and he had no intentions of rotating out anytime soon. He had offered his bunk to their young passenger, and the last thing he wanted to do was interrupt the child’s slumber. If anyone knew how important that first bout of rest after such trauma and loss was, it was Echo.

In fact, he’d been remembering a lot of those moments ever since they left Aq Vetina.

Such as Echo’s own eternal slumber after the Citadel. He shivered just thinking about the confusing stretch of darkness and flickering light that seemed as if it would never end. Sequences had run over his eyes constantly, letting light in each time they did, but they were never enough to bring him back completely.

Echo blinked his weightless eyelids to relieve the burning ache within them.

It had taken a long time for him to get comfortable with sleeping again, and clearly, he was still adjusting. He had been good about it for a while, but there was something about Din’s tragedy that had felt so personal to him.

Echo had understood it, that feeling of losing everybody, especially those held closest to the heart. He hadn’t even been given proper time to grieve Fives after he woke from his stasis. Somehow, that hurt more than the idea of having to witness his brother’s fate with his own eyes. He couldn’t even be there to protect his brother from the relentless force of death.

And then there was the explosion causing the fate of Din’s parents, and Echo was brought right back to Rishi Moon, to the graveyard of his three other brothers.

Echo tapped his scomp against his thigh and closed his eyes. No, he wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Facing these horrors in his conscious mind was bad enough.

Plus, if it wasn’t him out here, it would be Hunter, and Echo couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his brother get more than an hour of sleep—if that. Hunter had been teetering on a migraine purely from his senses getting little to no rest before Echo had assured him for a third time that he would be just fine having a solo watch shift.

Echo’s eyes only reopened when he heard gentle footsteps behind him. Knowing better than to actually expect a threat, Echo let out a sigh and prepared to lecture Hunter for not staying asleep.

But when Echo turned his chair around, his gaze was forced to lower to meet his visitor’s. Lost brown eyes met his own, the grief within them three times larger than the boy’s own stature.

“Hey, kid.” Echo kept his voice low to keep the others from waking. “What’s up? Can’t sleep?”

Din shook his head, his stare falling to his arms as he pulled the sleeves of his red tunic over his fists. His words were barely a whisper as he spoke. “I keep seeing them.”

Echo’s heart splintered within his chest, but he kept a steady expression for the boy. “Your people?”

Din’s shoulders rose and fell with a heavy breath before he lifted his head again. His lower lip quivered as his gaze sparkled with unshed tears. “My parents.”

Echo deflated, his eyes cutting away from the child for just a fraction of a moment. The swell of grief that rose within him was strong enough to make him lose his breath, though he found his voice and recovered quickly for Din’s sake. “I’m sorry, kid. I really am. I…”

Echo paused, pressing his lips together as he considered his next words carefully.

“I know how hard it can be to sleep after things like this.”

Din’s brow wrinkled at him, the light of curiosity—and a sense of hope—sparkling in the dark depths of his devastation. “You do?”

Echo let out a gentler breath this time. The memories had already been on his mind, anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to coax them out just a bit further to ease this young boy’s fresh wound. “I do.” Echo managed a smile. “Want to hear a story?”

Din nodded eagerly, no doubt grateful for the distraction. Echo let out a soft chuckle and tapped the co-pilot’s seat next to him. Din hopped right up, spinning in the chair to face Echo as he tucked his hands underneath his legs and swung them back and forth in anticipation.

Now, if only Echo could find a way to keep this story from making things worse.

“These guys here,” Echo gestured with his head back towards the bunks, “they’re my brothers. We’re a squad. But… it wasn’t always that way, like I told you before. They're batchmates, and I used to have my own, too.”

Din’s expression began to fall as he realization dawned over him. “What happened to your batchmates, Echo?”

Hearing his own name from the boy’s lips made it even harder to say the truth out loud for some reason. Echo swallowed hard and pushed on. “They’re gone.”

Din frowned. “I’m sorry.” He adjusted the way he was sitting on his hands before he continued. “How many brothers did you have?”

Echo brought himself back to the past for a moment, when he and the rest of Domino Squad were just eager cadets who had finally managed to get along and pass the test. Back when they had their whole lives ahead of them.

Back when he was naive enough to really believe that.

“Four.”

Echo smiled, and it was genuine. He kept a careful eye on Din and saw the boy lightening up the more he spoke. Sharing his pain was making Din’s more manageable, and Echo would bleed himself out if it meant this boy would get closer to healing.

“Their names were Droidbait, Cutup, Hevy, and Fives.” Echo’s voice wavered on the last one.

Din’s eyes were bright with enthusiasm, even in the midst of the heavy topic. “How did they all get their names? Was it like yours?”

Echo bobbed his head. “In a way. Droidbait… well, he kept acting like bait for the training droids, and he’d get hit by ‘em all the time.”

Din’s brow pinched together. “Did it hurt?”

“Not too bad, but he definitely had a lot of bruises.” Echo waited until Din had relaxed to keep going. “Cutup got his name from one of our trainers. This trainer… he was real tough on us, but Cutup wasn’t afraid to talk back to him. So, the guy called him a cutup, and he used that as his name.”

Din giggled. “That’s wizard.”

Echo grinned, recognizing Wrecker’s vernacular on Din’s tongue already. “Isn’t it?” He took a deep breath as Hevy’s image entered his mind. “We named my brother Hevy, because not only was he the strongest of us, but he also loved heavy machinery. He used the biggest blaster the clones are allowed to carry, a Z-6 blaster cannon.”

Din’s eyes doubled in wonder. “ Whoa .”

Echo chuckled. Hevy would’ve loved this kid, no doubt.

That left him with one more name to review. Echo fought the glassiness that had already started to overtake his vision.

“Fives got his name from his CT number. Do you remember Tech telling you about those?” Din nodded. “Fives’ was CT-5555, so he shortened it to Fives. Fives and I… we were really close, because we lost our other brothers early on in the war.”

Din deflated. He searched Echo’s gaze before he asked a question in a quiet and cautious voice. “Can I ask what happened to them?”

The corners of Echo’s mouth lifted as he nodded. “They’d want their stories to be told.” Echo exhaled a breath and went on. “We were stationed at an outpost on a moon. It was our first mission, and we had been there for a long time. Nothing had ever happened, but one night, we were suddenly attacked by droids.”

Din inhaled a sharp breath. Echo softened; it would be all too familiar for the boy, based on what Echo had seen once they had arrived on Aq Vetina.

“Droidbait was one of the first to try to hold them off, but there were too many of them. The rest of us got out of the station, but Cutup got taken by local wildlife. We had some reinforcements arrive, two of our finest commanding officers, but even they weren’t enough to overrun the droids.”

Echo’s mouth was getting dry. It was never quite easier to tell this story, but it did heal little fractals in his soul each time. The pain would turn into mending eventually.

“That’s when Hevy gave his life for ours by blowing up the whole base. His actions not only saved both our commanding officers, Fives, and I, but it also told the Republic that we were in trouble, and prevented a major attack on our homeworld of Kamino.”

Din’s lip was starting to quiver again, but his voice was still fairly strong when he managed a response to Echo’s story. “He was a hero.”

Echo closed his eyes and blew out a heavy breath. “He was. Because of what he did, giving his life for Fives and I, we were able to fight in the war for a long time, side-by-side. His loss, and my other brothers’, never got easier to deal with, but… I know that they did what they did for a reason, and I wanted to honor that the best I could by moving forward and continuing their fight.”

Din was silent after that. Echo reopened his eyes to see the boy staring at his lap, fresh tear tracks visible on his cheeks. Echo’s heart leapt into his throat at the mere thought of accomplishing the opposite of what he had wanted by upsetting Din further, but before he could do anything, Din began to move.

The boy slid off the chair and practically fell into Echo’s side, wrapping his arms around the ARC trooper the best he could. Echo froze for a few heartbeats, too shocked to do anything just yet, but he eventually came to his senses and gently held Din closer to his side.

Din sniffled back his tears and spoke, his voice muffled from where he was practically buried in Echo’s side. “I’m sorry about your brothers, Echo.”

Echo was selfishly grateful that Din didn’t ask about Fives. That was a story he wasn’t ready to tell.

“It’s okay.” Echo gave the boy’s back a soft tap. “I’ve moved on now, but it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten them.” Echo dared to lower his voice and go on. “One day, you’ll be able to do the same, too, because their sacrifice was the same as Hevy’s.”

Din lifted his face from Echo’s side. It was still wet with tears, but there was a newfound strength there that the ARC trooper could clearly see within his dark eyes. “They’re heroes, just like your brother.”

Echo smiled and nodded. “They are.”

Din returned his smile. His expression morphed into something more pensive before he spoke again. “If your brothers all give each other nicknames, and you all gave me a nickname… does that mean I’m your brother now, too?”

Din’s expression was something so breathlessly hopeful that Echo found himself speechless at first. After so many years spent witnessing the galaxy’s outward opposition to clones, it was hard to imagine that someone on the outside, even a child like Din, would ever want to be counted amongst their ranks. But here he was, practically pleading with his eyes full of wonder to be considered one of them.

And who was Echo to refuse him?

“Yeah, Mando.” Echo set his hands on Din’s shoulders and nodded. “It does.”

Din grinned, the last traces of sadness fleeing from his gaze as he bounced on his heels. He then retreated back to his seat and all but jumped into it. Echo blinked a few times at the quick and unexpected change in pace, but then he laughed.

It was all too similar to both Fives and Hevy.

“Well, I better make good on my namesake then, right?”

Din clapped his hands together excitedly, then tensed as his head whipped towards the bunks. When no one grumbled or swore about getting woken up, Din relaxed and continued. This time, his voice was a whisper.

“Can I tell you another story?”

Echo smiled and leaned back in his own chair, suddenly grateful he wasn’t alone anymore. “I’d be honored.”

Din straightened in severity and nodded, letting his smile linger as he got right into it.

“This one starts ten thousand years ago, with a man named Mandalore the Great.”

════════════════════

next part

[425599167]

would you be willing to share more of your thoughts about barriss's relationship with luminara? i feel like they interact very little in both canon and--for obvious reasons--your series, even if the shape of the relationship is clear. i'm most interested in how much of barriss's whole deal you envision luminara being aware of; is she being distant on purpose or is she just clueless? but i'd be interested in any tangentially related ideas you have as well. it seems like you always have something insightful to say that i've never thought of before

I think Luminara was actually aware of how Barriss felt, but underestimated the seriousness, didn't know what to do about it, and couldn't imagine Barriss becoming so volatile. Like almost all of the Jedi, Luminara considered it the order's duty to do their part in the war, and Barriss is her apprentice, so she doesn't get to sit this out no matter how much trauma and brain damage she gets.

An idea I had for Luminara is that despite the elegant style, she's kinda average. For a Jedi Master, "average" is still a highly trained, educated, psychic superhuman, but she is average. From what little we see of her she isn't a particularly skilled fighter or strategist compared to other Jedi. That's not meant to criticize her, as I don't consider combat to be a good measure of a Jedi, but she's not great or particularly smart. Luminara took on little Barriss as a padawan, found her to be intellectually gifted on top of the knack for healing, and wasn't quite sure what to do with the girl.

The bombing plot is often criticized by saying it makes no sense for Barriss to protest war with violence. Part of Barriss's message is that violence is what she's been taught to do. She is directing lethal force against people she believes are a threat to peace. It's not the first time she's set off a bomb in someone's home. Not the first time she's killed clones. Not the first time she's killed civilians. That's what Jedi do, apparently. This is her apprenticeship.

In my work, Barriss goes from idealizing Luminara to accepting she was far from perfect. Though Barriss shifted blame for the bombing primarily onto Palpatine and herself, a hundred horrible things happened to her while going along with Luminara's instructions. Barriss still loves Luminara, but she's also a little mad at her and gets burned out just thinking about it all.

Funny you should ask about this now, since I've been working on related stories. A few excerpts are below the cut.

"My master chose me early on as an initiate, as Mirialans training each other is a tradition, and I was one of the few in my generation. She liked to keep poised, but snuck in cutting remarks often. She wanted me to have a life beyond the war, to become a Jedi Knight. She believed I would save countless lives through my skill as a healer, and encouraged me to study under the woman who helped kill her. She had high expectations for me, and she believed I met them, even when I knew she was wrong. She wanted the best for me. We loved each other. We failed each other."

That anger came back, anger at the Republic, the Empire, and herself. All those reasons to be angry twisted up inside her, unresolved and undying. Twisted emotions towards Luminara, too, always a confusing mixture. Admiration and disappointment. Nostalgia and bitterness. Deference and rebellion. After years of reflection Barriss found one source of certainty in her feelings about Luminara: she considered herself more intelligent than her master. That may seem prideful, but Luminara herself expressed the same belief more than once to encourage Barriss. The encouragement had failed. Now, far too late, it began working.

“Bombing operations-” Falling rocks crushed fleeing Geonosians into bloody smears in the dirt. “-turbolaser barrages-” Fields of the agriworld Ukio burned, a prelude to mass starvation. “-starfighter combat.” Explosive decompression launched Umbarans into space as their warships crumpled. “Do you have ANY idea how many people I killed because General Unduli commanded me to?”

“Is this how Luminara would want you to fight? With underhanded, dishonorable tactics?” “Luminara is no longer with us.” “Then I suppose you think whatever you do is all my fault.” “My actions are mine alone.” Fourth Sister was pulled into what she thought was a wall, passed through the hologram and into Barriss’s territory. The rebel’s boot impacted the inquisitor’s stomach.

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Crosshair's Character in TBB: A Study

“Loyalty means everything to the clones,”- Anakin Skywalker

I wanted to start my study with this quote because it basically personifies who Crosshair is as a person. Over the course of three seasons (plus CW), there is no doubt that Crosshair is arguably the most well-written and developed member of the Bad Batch. His journey and inner conflict isn’t neatly wrapped up in a little box and tied with a cute bow in only one season. No, his journey spans the entire show. It is very compelling, filled with a deep inner conflict, broken relationships, and the struggle to find one’s self again. In this study, I wanted to look at the major themes of his character and how his relationship to them has changed. 

Loyalty

Crosshair’s strongest and best quality is loyalty. It is everything to him and it’s why he reacts so strongly when the Batch leaves him in “Aftermath.” However, misplaced loyalty is dangerous, especially when it’s blinding. The core struggle of his character, specifically in season 1 and 2, is discovering who is worth his loyalty. Crosshair isn’t the type of person to just save his own skin when things get bad; S3 disputes that multiple times. As rude and off-putting as he can be, Crosshair cares deeply for others. Unfortunately, it’s the choices he makes and where he invests his loyalty that conflict arises. 

The Worth of Loyalty

A part of understanding Crosshair is understanding how far he will go for those he’s loyal to. 

“Do you know why they put me in charge? It’s because I’m willing to do what needs to be done.”

This line is stone-cold, but remove the context and apply it to Crosshair in general. It speaks volumes. Crosshair isn’t driven by some moral compass like Echo or Omega are. He’s not loyal to some grand cause. He’s loyal to people who’ve earned his respect. He’s loyal to those who value his skills as a sniper. Crosshair will not hesitate to go to extreme lengths for others. He killed Tawi Ames because he is a soldier of the Empire. He dragged a half-dead Mayday back to base because Mayday saved his life and showed him compassion. He went back to Tantiss for Omega because she saved him and he loves her. Crosshair’s journey is about him discovering who is worth that kind of loyalty. Who is worth dragging someone through sheer hell even though the optimal solution would be to just leave them? As Crosshair learns, it’s not the Empire.

The question remains, who is worth his loyalty? The answer is simple: Omega, his brothers, and other kind people such as Mayday and Cody. But Crosshair’s loyalty is severely misguided at first. There are a multitude of reasons as to why. One of the most obvious reasons is due to his fractured relationship with his brothers. By the time the entire Batch reunites in “Return to Kamino,” Crosshair can’t help but voice his pain and anger.

“They don’t leave their own behind… most of the time.” “You weren’t loyal to me.”

Due to the chip, Crosshair doesn’t understand why they left him. Did years of loyalty from Crosshair mean nothing to them? Did their relationship as brothers mean nothing? At that point in the story, he hasn’t realized how damaging the Empire is to him. So, he turns his anger to the group of people who meant more to him than anything else in the entire galaxy. And his anger isn’t completely unjustified. He was deeply hurt and he didn’t know why. Unfortunately, his beliefs about the Empire and struggle with identity push the Batch away. But as Crosshair’s feelings were continually challenged by others and his environment, he started realizing just how deep of a hole he’d gotten himself into. Crosshair’s brand of loyalty is something the chip absolutely would take advantage of. It’s fixating and fierce, hard to break. Only something severe such as removal or damage can break it. 

In S3, we get an exchange between Rampart and Crosshair. Rampart comments that Crosshair used to believe good soldiers followed orders. Crosshair responds that it depends on who’s giving them. This statement is absolutely true. Rampart doubts that Crosshair has changed, but it is Rampart who hasn’t changed. Both were betrayed by the Empire, but only one recognized where he went wrong. Crosshair now understands that his deep and fierce loyalty belongs to those who won’t hurt him or others he cares about. Loyalty is reciprocal and not to be taken for granted. This is a sentiment he shares with Howzer.

“Loyalty meant something to me. But with the Empire it didn’t go both ways.”

But Rampart can’t understand that because he’s only loyal to himself. And when you’re only loyal to yourself, you don’t care who around you falls. 

The Empire: An Environment of Shame

Why doesn’t Crosshair see just how bad the Empire is? That’s an argument I see often, but I think it’s important to understand just how manipulative and demonizing the Empire really is. Crosshair deeply internalizes his identity as a soldier. His value comes from his skills and if he can’t do his job properly, he will be discarded. The Empire is an echo chamber of that insecurity. 

“There are other ways of producing loyal soldiers”- Rampart

Rampart, Tarkin, Nolan… the faces of many imperials who remind Crosshair of what happens if his loyalty falters. He will be discarded. All around him, Crosshair hears the imperials speak about replacing the clones. They speak about the value of loyalty. It pushes him to keep proving his loyalty to the Empire. Crosshair is a sensitive soul despite appearances and he internalizes what others say around him. 

“Not the ones that matter.”- Cross to Hunter about the Empire phasing out clones

If Crosshair can continue fulfilling his purpose, then he will be spared, or at least that’s what he tells himself. We see this in real life too. Social media can influence others by feeding into their egos, only to rip them apart should they step out of line. It’s the same scenario with Crosshair. Rampart mocks Cody’s absence and talks about clone loyalty not being what it was advertised. Crosshair tenses up at his words, clearly bothered, until Rampart asks if he has a problem and then dismisses the issue without a care. The Empire makes Crosshair feel so alone. But he’s a soldier, right? This is where he belongs, right?

Compare that environment to the one put forth by Omega and Mayday. Omega is warm and compassionate. She cares deeply for others, even when that person probably doesn’t deserve it. As Crosshair struggles, Omega remains nothing but encouraging. She believed in him from the very beginning. 

“You’re still more capable than most.”- Omega

Omega’s constant display of loyalty and affection towards him eventually wins Crosshair over. He finds himself in an environment where his fierce devotion is not only reciprocated but goes above and beyond. Mayday shows compassion to Crosshair even though he barely knows him. He also shares Crosshair’s unspoken frustration. The Empire didn’t care about the clones despite them being good soldiers who followed orders. When danger strikes, Mayday doesn’t hesitate to protect Crosshair. Once again, it’s this reciprocated loyalty that shows Crosshair the truth behind the curtain. The Empire is all take and no give. Omega and Mayday display the opposite; they give Crosshair their all and don’t expect him to grovel on his knees for their praise or friendship.

Identity

But loyalty is only one major aspect of his character. Crosshair’s willingness to stay with the Empire also stems from his struggle with his identity. Clones are taught to be loyal and the behavioral modification chip only reinforces that notion. For Crosshair, it’s not so easy to just throw away something he grew up his entire life hearing. Thus, he finds himself in conflict between his loyalty to his brothers, loyalty as a clone, and identity as a loyal soldier. It’s so heartbreaking to see him when the chip partially activates. The chip makes him so fixated on Order 66 and yet, he can’t help but still stay by his brothers’ side. It is only when the chip is enhanced that he attacks his brothers. 

The Soldier and the Clone

The moment they are born, the clones are raised to be soldiers. They have no say in their fates, only that they have one purpose in life. Crosshair is no ordinary clone though; he’s labeled as defective for looking and sounding different. However, he has exceptionally sharp vision. One of the first things established about the Bad Batch is that they use unorthodox methods and they’re very showy. They also have a 100% success rate. As a result, Crosshair views himself and his squad as “superior.” As a soldier in the Empire, he expects to get the same recognition. The Empire is fueled by individuals who love feeling powerful. For Crosshair, to get special treatment because he’s a “superior” clone definitely would feed his ego. Unfortunately, the Empire also will pull the plug on anyone at any time. On Kamino, being defective is a death sentence. But Crosshair’s enhancement makes him useful; it’s why he was kept around. Interestingly, the more isolated Crosshair became in his time with the Empire, the more he began to seek companionship with the regs. S2 sees Crosshair shed his views that he’s a “superior” clone. He slowly begins to accept the fact that he and the other clones aren’t actually that different. We see this change in many ways: he tries to sit with the regs, he enjoys going on a mission with Cody, and he quickly gets attached to Mayday. 

Crosshair’s journey of accepting himself as a clone and finding companionship with others outside his squad humbles him and makes him an overall kinder person. It is integral in how he becomes disillusioned with the Empire. The Empire makes him feel so alone. Look at his room in “The Solitary Clone;” it’s no better than his cell on Tantiss. “Nat-borns” don’t understand what it is like to be a clone and his squad isn’t there anymore, so Crosshair turns to “regs.” He starts realizing that their experiences under the Empire aren’t much different from his. It’s Mayday and the mission on Barton IV that really pushes him over the edge. Mayday, a reg, understands him more than he’d like to admit. He’s lonely and feels like his efforts aren’t enough. 

Crosshair has let the Empire mistreat and abuse him for months, but eventually he snaps. He can’t do this anymore. He’s a person. Mayday is a person. Has his and Maydy’s loyalty meant nothing? Has the loyalty of the clones in general meant nothing? 

A clone’s identity is intrinsically tied to being a soldier. Why did Crosshair stay with the Empire? A simple answer is it gave him a purpose. Crosshair deeply internalizes his role as both a sniper and a soldier. He can’t see himself in another role as it is all he has known. What will happen when that’s taken away from him? Crosshair struggles with that exact dilemma. As I said early, being defective and unable to fulfill being a soldier means decommissioning and being discarded. I’ll bet this is why Crosshair struggles breaking away from his soldier mindset. He was taught to be loyal and there is no place for him if he can’t fulfill his purpose. Let’s take a look at his role as a sniper. Crosshair’s role is to wait on the outskirts and observe for danger. He’s supposed to keep his team safe from afar and spot trouble before it strikes. He’s a protector. That role gets shaken when his tremor starts. What happens to Crosshair if he can’t shoot? What happens to his brothers? 

S3 introduces the arc of Crosshair learning to accept help from others and becoming more than a soldier. A sniper is supposed to be distant, a loner, and always on the lookout. Once that role is challenged, suddenly, Crosshair realizes he can’t do this alone. He initially tries via brushing it off or shaking his hand. But it’s not enough. Both Hunter and Omega grow concerned. Omega takes the initiative and gently encourages Crosshair to try meditation with her. Even if it doesn’t work, the fact that he tries already speaks volumes. Throughout the season, Crosshair tries multiple times to do things alone. However, Hunter declines that proposal and says they should work together. The most glaring example is the climax of "The Cavalry Has Arrived." Crosshair is missing his dominant hand, weakened from his injury, and on top of that, it’s pouring rain and Hemlock has handcuffed himself to Omega. It is only through the help of his siblings that Crosshair makes the shot. He did it with the support of his family. 

In relying on his family, Crosshair becomes more than a sniper. He becomes more than a soldier. Even if he had his hand, Crosshair still would’ve had to overcome the huge barrier of making a steady shot. Either way, Crosshair overcomes by accepting the love and help from his family. Looking back, I’m really glad that this was a part of his arc. Crosshair has spent so much of the show alone, having to rely on himself and his skill to survive. But as time passes, he learns that it’s ok to have help. As people, we’re not meant to carry all our burdens alone. Crosshair learns he doesn’t have to remain distant all the time to protect others; sometimes, our greatest strength comes from each other.

The Beauty of Self-Worth

“Omega, don’t risk anything for me. I belong in here.” (This line is one of the most heartbreaking lines in the entire show). “So, I’m doing this alone. It’s what I deserve.”

A smaller, but just as important arc, is Crosshair’s journey of forgiveness. By “Tipping Point,” Crosshair has largely tackled his inner conflict. He knows who deserves his loyalty and who doesn’t. He realizes that he isn’t so different from the other clones. However, the guilt from his actions still lingers. Although he gets his message out, everything else fails. Tech dies, Omega is captured, and he doesn’t know what happened to the others. Crosshair suffers for a long 5 months due to Hemlock’s conditioning. His days are filled with the same mundane (and painful) routine and there is no sign of hope… that is, except for Omega. No matter what happened in the past, Omega undying love for him never yields. 

“None of us belong in here.”- Omega 

Omega’s words are reassuring and they hit Crosshair in a way he doesn’t expect. How can he, who has done these terrible things and has been forgotten by the world, be worth kindness? For all the times he said/did something cruel to Omega, she still came back for him. It’s Omega’s compassion that helps push Crosshair to finding his own self-worth. She loves him when nothing seems to be working for him. She encourages him to talk to his brothers. Crosshair wants to be accepted and belong again with his brothers. But up until that point in the narrative, everything around him seems to tell him the opposite. 

As much as I would’ve liked more from Hunter, I’m still glad he and Crosshair are able to have a conversation. In “The Return,” Crosshair admits how wrong he was. To come to terms with the darker parts of one’s self is important in forgiveness and the courage to do so is immense. There are things in life we as people can all do better. It’s what makes us human. The last time Crosshair interacted with his brother, it devolved into anger and pain-fueled argument. Crosshair so desperately wanted his brothers back, but it had to be on his terms. As the brothers fight again, Hunter antagonizes him into getting answers. A quick “blink and you’ll miss it” moment is that Cross’ hand trembles when Hunter brings up betrayal. Crosshair initially clamps up before biting back, blaming Hunter for Omega’s capture. But as both brothers learn to realize, both of them need to do better. The past hurts immensely because of that broken bond. Now, they have the opportunity to mend it. 

“I have regrets too, Crosshair. All we can do is keep trying to be better and who knows? There just might be hope for us yet.”- Hunter

Like Omega, Hunter’s words offer reassurance and comfort. Can Crosshair, a person who hurt his family, be worth that forgiveness? Hunter’s words all but confirm that Crosshair is forgiven in his eyes. Crosshair’s struggle to find forgiveness and worth in himself is eased by the people who he cares for the most. Even something simple as a hug from Wrecker catches him off guard, but it’s something that tells him “you’re loved and wanted.” As the vulture leaves the outpost, Crosshair slowly learns to forgive himself for what happened. 

It all culminates in the hug he gets from Omega in “The Cavalry Has Arrived.” Crosshair believed he deserved to die in order to atone. After everything he’s done and been through, does he still deserve a happy ending when it’s all over? Omega’s hug says yes. Tantiss is the heart of his pain and agony. In another world, Crosshair would never have set foot there if he chose differently. Perhaps Omega wouldn’t have suffered there. Perhaps Tech would still be alive… Without any hesitation, Omega wraps her arms around Crosshair and he is shocked. She reaches over to pull Hunter in and Hunter wraps his other arm around Crosshair, holding him close. And without any words, Crosshair leans in and closes his eyes. As the trio begin to head back to the shuttle, it’s Crosshair who reaches out and places his stump on Omega’s shoulder. In doing something as simple as leaning into the embrace, Crosshair accepts the love he is given. He lets himself be loved and understands that he is worthy of that love. 

This isn’t the end of Crosshair’s journey, of course. Crosshair has a very long and difficult road ahead of him. No, his PTSD wasn’t stored in his hand. Cutting off his hand isn’t a magical “cure” for it. Crosshair still has to work through a lot and he will. The big difference is that he knows he doesn’t have to work through it alone. With the help of his family, Crosshair can continue that journey of healing he began in “Bad Territory.” He’s so loved because he’s Crosshair, a brother, a protector, with fierce loyalty that could never be truly broken. 

Anyways, we’ve reached the end of my character study. Thank you all for reading. Crosshair is a very complex character and one who faces many trials. But no matter how many times he falls, he always finds a way to pick himself back up. At the end, he makes it. Crosshair has learned a lot, but I’m grateful that TBB team chose a long and complex route for him. Because guess what? Healing and growing as a person isn’t a “one size fits all” scenario. It’s a messy and difficult process. When all is said and done, Crosshair has one of the best realized redemption arcs in all of Star Wars and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it played out.

[windyboi101]

Cyn Headcanons

Cyn won the poll I hosted! I also got WAY more notes than I expected so I am only during 30. Sorry, but its the only way to keep me from writing duplicates, low quality HCs, etc. Please like and reblog if you enjoy, as it lets me know I am writing content people enjoy, and it helps to spread my posts around! The more viewers, the more feedback I get, which is the most valuable resource to me.

So, without further ado,

30 Cyn Headcanons (Some serious, some silly)

Serious Headcanons 1. Prior to her disposal, Cyn worked as a toy assembler/demonstrator. This is why she would overexplain her actions, since toys can't exactly speak. This would later go on to influence the Solver's outlook on humanity and how it should be treated.

2. Cyn's cause of fatal error was not a workplace accident, but execution (murder) from a higher up at the company she was employed at. Reason? Up to you, whichever makes it most tragic :)

3. The Cyn we see in the show was only partially controlled by the Solver for some sections. When she was first brought home, barely noticeable influence, like 10% controlled. By the start of episode 5, about 70% of her was controlled by the Solver, but the excitement about Movie Night was genuine!

4. Solver-Cyn left Tessa for last on the night of the Gala Massacre. She had warned Tessa to not come, which shows that she didn't want to have to kill her.

5. While J was the first to fall under control of Cyn's Solver abilities, J was the last to be 'modified'.

6. While the Solver is fully in control of Cyn by the time the events of the show start playing out, Cyn is still within the consciousness of the bodies the Solver takes over. This includes being witness to Uzi's first transformation and Doll's mind.

7. Cyn was certainly younger than the other drones, and due to this she was never switched out of 'Parental Guidance Mode' that censors swearing (Like Uzi being unable to see Nori's crude writings). This is why Cyn couldn't fully swear when she lost grip of N's core.

8. The Cyn part of Solver has abandonment issues. This is why she was willing to clone the main cast of Disassembly Drones rather than see them as just tools. It is also why Cyn was willing to leave them alone if they obeyed her orders, despite her plan that consisted of consuming all matter possible. If she could keep them as friends, she would.

9. While still herself, Cyn had OCD and was very meticulous about her tasks. For the short time she was 'employed' at the Elliot Manor, she was particularly good at stacking and arranging of objects. Unfortunately, this would become arrangements of triangular hexagons and other mysterious symbols shortly before she was deemed too damaged to work.

10. Cyn did not create a solution for the Murder Drones to not burn in the sun because she sees it as a way to keep them restrained. The less time they can be out doing whatever they want, the less likely they are to figure out any sort of deception or way to usurp her.

11. If Cyn did not have to take a more direct approach for her plan to succeed by the end of Episode 7, she would have a fear of Sentinels while not in her 'blackhole' form after the events that transpired in Episode 6.

12. Cyn's 'birthday' was April 14th, 3052.

13. Cyn seems to have an infinite supply of bows. Nobody knows where she gets them from or how she keeps making them.

14. Post-Finale, Cyn would constantly be trying to hijack pieces of technology to gain more power. Fortunately, none of these attempts would get far due to Uzi's capable technological skills.

15. What would keep Cyn docile would be allowing her to hijack weak and limited pieces of technology, like an old game cartridge or a singular floppy disk. However, this ruins any sort of data stored on the item in question but would definitely create the closest example to those early 2000 creepypastas like 'Sonic.exe' and other 'my video game was hAuNtEd' types of scenarios.

Silly Headcanons

16. Cyn genuinely enjoys tea. Unfortunately, she does not know how to drink it properly.

17. If Cyn got an animal plushie of herself like Uzi, N, and V did, it would be an Octopus.

18. Cyn wasn't one to be impatient or throw temper tantrums like in Episode 5, that was all the Absolute Solver.

19. Cyn could have been knocked out for a few hours if you threw a big enough weighted blanket over her.

20. Cyn would host 'oil tasting parties' as a crude way of replicating the activities of her former owners.

21. Cyn's 'startup message' is not "Hello World." It is instead "Violence is the question and the answer is yes."

22. If you gagged Cyn's mouth in any way, she would use sign language to be able to communicate her actions in excessive detail, just like she does when she speaks. ("Light sip" or "Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle.")

23. If you gave Cyn a YouTube channel, she would market it like those "Spiderman Elsagate" videos completely unironically, but then have the content be very in-depth analyses of complex equations and theories.

24. Cyn does NOT know what sex is. She thinks humans reproduced by being delivered a child via Stork.

25. Cyn's knowledge of emojis (her last reaction in Episode 8) comes solely from what she could hijack from V's mind when she still had control, since V was texting Lizzy at some point in time.

26. Cyn sees William Afton as a role model.

27. Cyn's choice of play in GTA would be using mods to make everything fly around at high speeds and explode at random.

28. If you slapped Cyn across the face, her head would spin around on her neck until the momentum fully stopped.

29. Cyn is the kind of drone to taste-test a footprint and be able to know where somebody went.

30. A McDonald's sprite would be enough to kill Cyn.

[radioisntdead]

Want some requests for Gravity Falls eh? Well fine. How’s about the twins and Pacifica with an older teenager reader whos an orphan that lives by themselves, but still acts like an older protective brother type. Going with them on adventures, teaching proper values and boundaries and just being the sort to lift them up when their feeling down, or bring them down a peg when their too big for their breeches.

Pine twins, Pacifica and older sibling figure reader headcanons

Older sibling figure reader who does odd jobs around town! And happens to get a job at the mystery shack the summer the twins arrive!

You also sometimes babysit Pacifica, her parents literally just throw a stack of money in your face before leaving you to watch her.

It might be the way you were raised [you missed your parents, where did they go?? People don't just go missing like that, do they?]

But these two twelve year olds going on adventures without some type of adult supervision didn't sit well with you, what if something happened to them?!

So you just start trailing them at first, somehow always there.

Dipper thinks you're one of gravity falls's anomalies at first before you come clean that you were just watching over them because you were worried.

You may or may not have full on beef with the gnomes after they try to make her their queen and the Man-ino-taur folks.

You also may or may not have a gnome hat made into a keychain hanging off your bag..

No kid should have to stick their hand in the PAIN HOLE.

Mabel's humanicaticature business phase...

These kids were giving you gray hairs and you weren't even in your twenties yet!!!

Stan too!! And he was an elderly!!!!

With Pacifica things are a little different, oh how you wish you should rip that bell from her father's hands, she's a kid!! Not a showdog!!

The kid never really had a chance to be nice with parents like those, have you seen that panel with her so innocent looking? You really think her parents didn't crush her spirit??

You try to teach her how to not be a little jerkwad, it's a work in progress, she's getting nicer though!!!

You share your favorite songs with the kids, they're young and they WILL know good music!!!

Watching Dipper try not to sing along as your belting it out to Disco girl is hilarious.

Mabel is absolutely vibing and Pacifica is just kinda nodding her head to it until she gets comfortable enough to sing along.

Eventually by the end of the summer you're belting out songs with three children.

I would like to state you also hang out with people your own age.

But they're practically your siblings at this point, might also help that Stan already sees you as part of the family, Both him and Ford have forgotten that you aren't legally a pines.

Yet anyways.

You wondered if your parents would mind, if they were still here, you didn't know if they were still alive or not, it'd be nice to have some closure.

Speaking of Ford you're there when he comes through the portal, genuinely one of the weirdest things you've witnessed, you didn't like him much at first but he grew on you.

You did have to drink an entire bottle of sparkling grape juice after that though..

You THRIVE during weirdmageddon, you know how some teenagers have a zombie apocalypse playlist? You have that shit on BLAST, YOU ARE RUNNING AROUND KILLING IT.

Speaking of zombie apocalypse when dipper started one you were so concerned like HOW??? DID THIS 12 YEAR OLD START AN APOCALYPSE???? that and HIM CLONING HIMSELF??? you drank so much sparkling grape juice that night.

Honestly you've probably prevented them from dying so many times.

You've probably came close to dying a couple of times too, knowingly or unknowingly.

Probably doesn't help that you ARE willing to die for these kids, like as far as you're concerned these are your siblings.

After the Northwest's lose their influence you absolutely punch Preston.

Violence!!!!

I think nearly everyone in this fandom can agree that Pacifica works at Greasy's once she's a little older, not for money per say, her family is still pretty well off, not as much as it was before weirdmageddon but still wealthy.

She works just to understand hardwork and all that jazz, her buying something with her OWN money for the first time, she was so happy showing you it.

After the summer ended you kept in contact with the kids, giving them advice here and there, keeping them in the loop with the events in town, same with the Grunkles.

You're invited to every family gathering, every holiday and otherwise, sometimes Pacifica tags along with you for these!

Eventually you just start getting referred to as an Pines.

And oddly all your legal documents have you listed as a Pines..

How odd!!

Mabel makes you a sweater that says best older sibling ever, you sob from joy as you put it on.

DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER, SACRIFICES CAN BE MADE!!!!

GOOD EVENIN' FOLKS! I HOPE YOU ENJOY, I wish I could read the gravity falls books,

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, anyways THANK YOU FOR TUNIN' ON IN AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL NIGHT!

psst! Join our discord!

[anarcho-astromech]

my dad and brother are watching through the clone wars for the first time and I’m watching some with them and

i cant stop thinking about how the war traumatised bariss offee and how it traumatised her in such a different way from ahsoka

like i know weapons factory is supposed to show anakins inability to deal with attachment and loss

but it’s also about how luminara is too easily detatched

bariss needed someone to see her and see her struggling and luminara was too willing to let go and let bariss operate on her own. she trusted bariss to the point that she couldnt see when she needed help when she needed support because she thought she was prepared enough, trained enough

ahsoka was trained enough. she was a child far too good at playing soldier, being supported by someone who would do literally anything for her, even if it meant destroying everyone in her way. and that was wrong of anakin. and she never stopped playing soldier. after the republic fell, she worked as a spy for the rebellion because thats all she’s ever known, she was prepared to be a soldier.

bariss was trained but that doesnt change the fact that she wasnt a soldier. she was a healer playing a soldier with a teacher who couldnt see her desperation. she needed someone to see her. and luminara couldnt do that

yeah i know this isnt a new take. all of this has been said before and all of this will be said again, all of it repeats itself, the story will never end

[kybercrystals94]

Come Back (ch. 2)

Read here on Ao3!

Whumptober 2024 - Day 13 - Prompts: Team as a Family // Familial Curse

Rated: T | Words: 773

<<Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >>

A/N: Told myself I was not going to write anymore multi-chapter stories for prompt challenges...but here we are...not sure which prompt will be the next chapter, but keep a look out! (Special thanks to @fionas-frenzy & @omegafett99 for their suggestions with this prompt fill!)

“How’s it looking?” 

“We’re in luck. Whoever scuttled this ship didn’t wipe the hard drive’s data imprint. I’m transferring the files.” Tech doesn’t have to ask if Omega wants to help. He already knows she does. She would not have sought him out otherwise. He holds out the data stick, and she readily takes it. “But I still need to copy the master drive. It’s under that panel.” He goes back to his own work. 

“Tech?” Omega asks a moment later, and he waits for the expected questions to come next. Instead, she asks nothing related to copying the master drive. “What was the war like?” 

Omega may have been bound to Kamino her whole life; however, she has been surrounded by the essence of war. The Kaminoans were not discreet in their purpose for cloning soldiers. The question, therefore, seems unnecessary, since she surely knows the definition. “It was a primary mission objective comprised of battles on various fronts.” 

 “But what was it like?” Omega asks again, emphasizing her words in such a way as to indicate he had not just answered her question. 

“Hm?” There is no other answer to give. “I just told you.” 

**

“What was the war like?” Tech echoes the distant question, voice a breathless whisper. “I didn’t understand your question at the time, did I?” 

Omega is not present to answer. He wonders if she and their brothers got off Eriadu safely. This can’t all be for nothing. His brokenness, of body and spirit. He does not want to think his mind might be broken too. Not yet. 

Time is moving strangely. He doesn’t know if it’s been mere minutes or hours or days. But he can’t stay in this cave forever. He needs to find water at the very least. And then a way off this planet. A way back to his siblings. But maybe he can rest just a few moments more. 

“The war was everything,” Tech says to the darkness where the warmth of Omega’s presence lingers like a ghost. Maybe his mind is broken after all. “It was our whole lives, our whole meaning, our whole purpose. There wasn’t anything else. Until the Order. Until you.”

He has to find his way back. He has to tell her about the war. About their history. About her brothers. He has so much left to teach her. He was willing to go through with Plan 99, and had meant the words with his last breath. 

Only the plan had failed, and he had drawn breath again against all odds. 

“I’m picking up a heat signature over here,” a voice says. It isn’t modulated through the comm of a helmet, but that doesn’t make Tech fear any less. He can crawl further into his cave, hope that he isn’t worth coming after. 

Before he can force his fragmented body to move, a set of hands claws into the narrow opening, fingers trying to find holds on the remains of his armor. He wants to struggle, to pull away, but perhaps he is more injured than he initially realized. Perhaps it was adrenaline that pushed him this far. 

Perhaps he is dying after all. 

Perhaps…this is the end. 

He is dragged out roughly and dropped. He cries out in pain. 

“What are you doing here, Empire scum?” the voice demands. 

Tech coughs, a rattle deep in his lungs. That is not good, he thinks faintly. “I am…” he gasps out, “...not with the Empire.” 

“You’re a clone.” 

“I have freewill,” Tech bites out, fingers clawing into damp earth. Dew has settled. “My brothers and I chose against the Empire.” 

“Your brothers,” the voice scoffs, voice saturated with disdain. “You mean other clones.” 

Something inside Tech breaks. These individuals, whoever they are, hate the Empire. Hate him. Hate his brothers. But they are his only chance now. He won’t survive much longer on his own power. “Please. I want to go home.” 

“Why would we help you? Why shouldn’t I just end you now, put you out of your misery?” 

“Because I have information that might be valuable to you,” Tech says, and maybe some unchecked emotion leaks through, but he is too exhausted and shattered to care.

A boot rolls him to his back, and Tech is staring up into a twilight sky. The misty clouds he fell through have cleared, and stars blink down at him, brilliant pinpricks of light. Even without his goggles he sees them. Omega loves the stars. 

“Prove that you have information we want,” the voice says. 

But Tech can’t think of anything to say before his thoughts and vision go dark. 

TBC

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[gffa]

I know you’ve said before that you view prequels!Anakin and clone wars!Anakin as separate characters, so I’m curious what your thoughts are on Ahsoka series!Anakin are? (This ask was sent by someone who has not watched any of the Ahsoka series, so if he hasn’t shown up enough for you to form an opinion feel free to save this for later)

Hm, I don't recall having said I saw prequels!Anakin and clone wars!Anakin as separate characters befoe, you might be thinking of someone else, or maybe you meant that I have struggled with reconciling the different properties with each other--though ultimately I usually manage to do so fairly well, as I do consider them the same character and each part of the bigger whole. The Ahsoka series!Anakin is hard to figure out how to blend in there, because I go back and forth on whether or not it really was Anakin or not, if it was a Force vision or Ahsoka projecting or truly Anakin himself, because each idea has such interesting and deliciously heartwrenching implications. But for the sake of this post specifically, let's say it's truly Anakin in the series--he fits perfectly well with how I see the character, even after his death, because the whole point of him showing up is that he was there for Ahsoka and her issues. This version of him isn't really about Anakin's story, it's about Ahsoka's story, and right then she needed him to represent both Anakin and Vader to her, to force her to confront her fears about what he became, her loss and fear that she could be responsible for more darkness in the galaxy, and her hurt that she wasn't sure she had anything to offer other than being a soldier. In the episode, Anakin says that she's more than just being a soldier, she's more than a legacy of death and war, because he's more than that. If this is truly Anakin, I love that for him, because being a Force Ghost is about truly letting go of all the shit you're holding onto in life, that you find balance within yourself again, that just by dint of how the Force and Force Ghosts work, Anakin has to have come to peace within himself about how he was more than just Vader, he was more than just death and destruction. He may wear his ROTS era clothing because that's what Ahsoka needed from him, he may not be glowing blue because this is in her mind not in the real world, he may be flickering back and forth with Vader because she needed that from him, but I have no problem seeing this version of Anakin as the same as this one:

Because the most selfless thing Anakin could do for Ahsoka was show up and help her confront her fears and deal with her issues. The most selfless thing he could say to her was: you're more than just this because, if I can be more than the monstrous things I did, you can be more than the mistakes you've made that are far less, because that's what she needed to hear. The most selfless thing he could do was dig into his own horrible past and say, yes, this happened, it's part of me and thus part of you, but you can heal from this, because I know you loved me and you weren't wrong to do so, you're not wrong to love someone even though they did so much wrong. She comes out of her vision with a new peace beginning to settle inside her and, given how much Anakin worked to drag himself out of the dark and let his attachments go, let his fears go, and embrace compassion for others again--it's a beautiful continuation of everything with Luke, with being willing to embrace compassion for the children who come after you, the ones you're meant to protect and teach and guide. Maybe it wasn't perfect, maybe there was still some sadness in him or fear of how she saw him, some crankiness that she wasn't learning the lessons he was trying to each, but ultimately I see him as being there entirely for her, not for his own closure, but for hers, because she needed him, so he was there for her.

[asksythe]

Commed. Artist: Duckie Beam

I want to write a post-FGO dark romance Oberon/Ritsuka story featuring Single-Dad!Oberon and Dead-Mom!Ritsuka.

It's my third attempt at writing a dark romance story, with different interpretations of dark and the characters themselves. Out of the three attempts so far, this one seems to have excited @erimies the most. I get why. It's my most poetic so far.

I have given it a name...

Apple, Apple in the Skies

The story is styled around gothic fairy tales and dark nursery rhymes, in which Oberon effectively becomes a single dad to a flock of terrorist children, all of whom remind him of the woman he loves, who hurt him beyond anything he has ever known in his thousands of years of existence. The children are feral little gremlins born of Riri's flesh and Oberon's heart.

The plot goes something like this:

Ritsuka Fujimaru's journey ends. The world is saved and humanity is secured, but she herself dies. She dies not in battles but at the hands of the very mages she saved, who go after her to make her a subject to study and harvest.

Oberon watches it all go down, watches Ritsuka being butchered by the people she fought for. And there's not a thing he can do about it.

Centuries pass. Humanity is now stagnating, trying to break into the Age of Wills and failing. Some secret components are missing.

The mages of the future believe the key to their ascension lies with the Last Master of Humanity. Examining the impossible miracles she performed and her extraordinary link with the heroic spirits, they believe she accidentally and unknowingly created a doorway between flesh and blood humans and ether-liner existences (ala Age of Wills humans).

If only they had the still-living specimen to experiment with! But alas! The foolish, wasteful, and shortsighted mages of the past already wasted such prime research materials! They cut her up into pieces and used her body as reagents for frivolous projects. And when those projects failed, they paraded her body around as trophies. A lock of hair here. An eyeball there, pickled in primordial juice. The hand with the command codes still in tact. Pieces of skin and teeth and some pulled nails with the crusted blood still stuck to them.

The petty king of some nation boasts of having her entire preserved spleen as house decor. What wasteful, gross misconduct as magi researchers!! Now their descendants have no more of the prime original materials to work with.

But needs must. So several wars break out in order for different groups to claim the remains of Riri's preserved body.

They start experimenting with these parts. One group has a success, using the hand with the command codes, they create a genetic clone of Riri, and then use this clone as catalyst in a summoning ritual, hoping to call forth a rare extra class servant.

Oberon answers the call, and, of course, promptly massacres all the mages and steals the cloned child away. In no time at all, Oberon susses out the existence of other research cells carrying out their own attempts at cloning the original Last Master. He goes after them, hitting them guerilla style and stealing any successful clones they manage to create.

The story is propelled forward by Oberon's desperate drive to free all the little morsels of Riri and the human's efforts to corner him. The mages are fascinated with Oberon's devotion to Ritsuka even after her death and the cessation of their contract.

.

.

.

I want to examine the layers of Oberon in this scenario. He's such a fascinating and complex character. I just can't help but want to play with such a well-written and designed character. I want to see how far he will stretch and bend, see if I can break and remold him and make it convincing somehow! Ergo... why this story idea goes to such dark places.

I want to explore the trauma of having to see the one existence he loves be butchered and he himself is completely helpless, incapable of doing a single thing. Then I want to explore the whorls of his warped feelings upon hearing that impossible, familiar call all the way in the Throne of Heroes, and then rushing to answer that call only to see the flesh of the woman he loves be used to make a walking, talking facsimile of her.

How does he feel when he looks upon the cloned child bearing her eyes and her face and her hand upon which the command codes are emblazoned? What does he think when he decides to steal the child away with him into the night?

It's Ritsuka but it's not Ritsuka. It's some child who is the physical manifestation of Ritsuka's violation at the hands of the mages. But this child will grow up to look exactly like Ritsuka, and maybe one day she will look at Oberon exactly like Ritsuka did centuries ago when he first fell into this horrifying, inescapable abyss called love.

His feelings for Ritsuka would be warped too, because how can it not in the face of Oberon's suffering over the centuries after her passing? He loves her but he doesn't trust her. Because she has shown before that she can't be trusted with her own safety.

He loves her. He wants her to be happy. He doesn't trust her. He can't let her leave. He clips her wings and tells her to stay forever. Oberon as a character should be aware of his own misplaced, warped feelings. He's too internally conscious not to. But being conscious doesn't mean he can do anything about it. Like how he was in LB6, laughing at himself in the end.

Once more, Oberon chases after an ephemeral dream forever out of his reach. She is gone, and they will never meet. He doesn't even get to hold her and take her into the abyss with him in her final moment like he said he would. All of that repressed yearning and how did it end up? He's once more stuck in hell of a different kind.

My plan is that eventually, Oberon resolves to treat the clones as Ritsuka's children. He tries to teach the cloned children what he believes the original Riri should have known. He teaches them to fight, to survive, to run away, to scheme and deceive, to be ruthless. He believes this is what Riri should have done to avoid her grisly fate, but even when he talks of her in his barbed way to the children who never know her, slivers of the woman he loves come through.

The Riri clones all possess the ability to see right through Oberon, just like the original Riri.

The story becomes Sad single-dad Oberon rearing a flock of feral children as they go about terrorizing the mages and detonating all of their research facilities, stealing away more clones and any morsels of the original Riri's body.

.

.

.

The ending is fairly straightforward. Oberon is cornered by the mages. At the end of the day, a masterless servant against the totality of the mage's resources is not a fair fight. Oberon makes a production out of his own death, a fitting exit for a Fairy King / Terminal Device. But in doing so, he makes sure his flock is grown and strong and escapes the mage's eyes after the final battle.

The children take his lesson to heart. They lie. They scheme. They deceive. They are ruthless just as he wants them to. And they survive just like he wants them to. They disguise themselves and slip into the great mass of humanity. They infiltrate human governance and magi high society. They avenge their fallen father and mother.

Yep, the clones are children of Ritsuka's flesh and Oberon's heart. Imagine a flock of feral gremlins with Ritsuka's determination and insight into human hearts but with Oberon's social savvy, ruthlessness, and sheer brain power. Now imagine them all on a roaring rampage of revenge for their father and mother. Not only will they slaughter all the mages and anyone having to do with their parent's death, they will suborn the mage's great project itself.

.

.

.

The finale of the story is the scene where all the now grown-up children come together to witness the pinnacle of their achievement. Having suborned the mage's dream to propel humans toward the age of wills, they carry it out in a way they think their mother would have liked.

More than that, using their combined knowledge and the magi tech after centuries of mesing around with servant summoning and splicing human genes, they find the heroic spirit Ritsuka Fujimaru and create an interlock binding between her and the terminal device Oberon Vortigern.

No good children want to see their parents separated in such a tragedy, don't they? So of course, after avenging them, the children would make it a goal to reunite mother and father.

The children are clones of Riri, but they are not Riri. They each hold a piece of her, so they instinctively know what she would have liked and the guilt she bears, knowing what happens to Oberon once she passes away. It is a regret so strong it persists even after she dies.

.

.

.

I have 2 endings in mind:

Ending 1: the sad ending. Oberon gets his wish of 'dying together' with Ritsuka as their saint graphs are merged into one.

Ending 2: the earn your happy ending. the children incarnate Oberon and Ritsuka into 'new age-of-will human' bodies. They have a second chance at life, growing up together. Final scene of this ending would b tiny Oberon and tiny Ritsuka playing in an orchard in space and falling asleep underneath the shade of an apple tree. This is Erimies' preferred ending!

.

.

.

Some lines from reborn Oberon's perspective in the second ending.

"I want to pull your pigtails and push you on the swing, laugh at you for being clumsy, and skinning your knees while patching you up. What a crybaby you are, never leave me again."

.

.

I also wrote nursery rhymes for this story!

Apple, apple on the tree,

Whisper secrets, dark and free.

Shadows dance in moonlit night.

Lonely branches weep for thee.

Beneath the branches, children play.

In the orchard, lost their way.

Apple, apple on the tree.

Hold our childhood's reverie.

Leaves have fallen, seasons passed,

Memories of joy don't last.

Apple, apple in the skies,

Silent witness to goodbyes.

Ah, still pretty rough. They need polishing for sure. But I like some verses and how they sound.

If I ever get around to writing this, I would like to commission an HTML skin for AO3 so that readers will read the story like they are reading the pages of an old fairy tale book.

Something like this, probably.

[smolbean-17]

SEASON 3 THEORIES

Part 1 (Episodes 1-3)

I never made any theories for Season 2, but quite a few of my theories from Season 1 were really close to what actually happened, so I figured I’d give my shot at theorizing Season 3.

I can’t really guess how exactly these plot points will land and in which episode, but I think these things will happen in the first 3 episodes, in no particular order. We’re getting all 3 eps in one night so they’re going to be establishing quite a bit.

Ep1 - Confined

This is the episode where we will see Omega and Crosshair confined at Mt. Tantiss together. Omega has her Season 2 hair, and seems more optimistic than she does later on in the trailer.

At this point I don’t think Omega is treated as a prisoner. I think she’s restricted of course, but it seems to me from the trailer that she’s serving as more of an assistant to Nala Se with limited freedom. Hemlock promised her she’d be treated well, and I feel like he was telling the truth. And maybe Omega has chosen to behave herself (for now) and has made a plan of luring them into a false sense of security so she can find a way out.

And then she sees Crosshair up and alert and not being tortured (and being escorted to another part of the facility? More cloning experiments?) and she decides to escape with him somehow.

Crosshair is disheartened and incredibly sad, maybe because he found out about Tech and perhaps believes his other brothers were captured/killed. Who knows. Someone either screwed with his emotional state before this shot, or maybe he’s just drained from his captivity. But I think it’s the former.

It will show more of the inner workings of what’s going on at Mt. Tantiss, but it won’t reveal too much. I think it will mostly establish what Omega is doing there.

Ep2 - Paths Unknown

As for the boys, we will see that there’s been a passage of time. How much time, I’m not sure. But probably a few months. That’s when we hear Hunter say the famous “Omega’s been waiting for us a long time. I’m not making her wait another day.” (pretty sure that’s all one quote that’s been sliced up)

It’ll establish that Echo has left again with Rex, probably to liberate more clones and look for hints about where Omega is along the way. Hunter and Wrecker are alone. They set up base on Pabu, recruiting help from Phee who is more than willing to help. But they never stay there long, and they run themselves ragged trying to find Omega and not getting any closer. Both Hunter and Wrecker are more angry and determined than we’ve ever seen them.

Ep3 - Shadows of Tantiss

Meanwhile, Omega finally hatches her plan to escape…

Things obviously don’t go according to plan, and she doesn’t get too far before she’s stopped. Just in case, they inject her with a tracking implant…

and she gets imprisoned.

It looks like this little cage situation is the same as this one from the leaked trailer:

Omega’s hair situation is really the only thing throwing me off lol.

So she meets Crosshair again. She tries to get through to him and show him that she hasn’t lost hope. He argues and Omega gets through to him in the way only she can. She finally gets him to agree to an escape.

The episode could end with Hunter and Wrecker getting a call from Rex and Echo that they finally have info on Omega, thus leading into Ep4, A Different Approach (which would make since if you consider they have new information).

So these first 3 episodes will be jam packed with information, and maybe not a ton of action, but will be establishing episodes to move the story along.

Another thing I noticed from the leaked trailer…

Are we getting a flashback(s)? That looks like Hunter’s old armor paint job, and that backpack and helmet to the left is very distinct and only belongs to one person…

I would seriously love to see Clone Wars era Bad Batch again. Maybe flashbacks are interspersed throughout the season for extra exposition/character development/emotional damage. Maybe the first episode opens on a flashback!

Let me know what you think! Part 2 coming soon!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4