#and the ‘spy’ stuff is meant to contribute to that and not be used for a genuinely important plot line

[lesbiansanemi]

I truly do not get the spy x family hype….

[octopus-reactivated]

Title me Miss

You remember Decima? If not, here she is.

Tw/cw: Pet whump. legal slavery, stress position, maybe? low self-esteem, dehumanisation, unreliable narrator, derogatory language

__________

The cage was small, much smaller than cages usually used in stores. He had to bend while kneeling. His back hurt and he wanted to lay down, curl up on cold floor, but then he wouldn't be able to get at kneeling position fast, and if someone would look at him, and see he isn't even kneeling, then he won't be bought and taken to new home and new Master and it’s not like his chances were high to begin with.

He had to stay in this uncomfortable position. Of course stupid Pet like him deserved anything better, anyway.

__________

That's bad - thought Paparazzi realising the celebrity saw her taking a photo of him. Except that she wasn't a paparazzi, and he wasn't a celebrity.

Caretaker quickly turned around trying to walk away without getting into a confrontation. It was most likely that she would be able to get away, and even if man would demand to delete photos, she already switched memory cards, so the evidence was safe.

She took a glance into a reflective surface. Yep. Mr. Politician was following her, and even pointed at her. Rude. She hid behind the nearest corner, taking her jacket off. Then she hopped into the closest shop and got wig off - good thing she actually decided to start using them. She walked into the furthest part of the shop, hiding clothing, wig and camera in a bag and done! Caretaker can be a different person now! It took her 15 seconds no more. Still far away from a perfect time of 7 seconds, but most likely 15 seconds would be enough.

Caretaker calmed herself down, and crunched behind a cage

And then she saw where she was. A “Pet” shop. She realised There was a human in a cage, and he looked at her with hopeful eyes. Oh no. She suddenly felt guilty. She never was brave enough to go after a big company. Did this combination of events happen to show her what happens to people because she refuses to take action... Even if this action is just spying on corrupted politicians?

She will have to pull herself together and inform Justin she's ready to hunt down big fish.

Caretaker stayed a little longer, until she decided it was safe to go. She stood up and at that moment a man in a cage whimpered. She looked at the boy. He had teary eyes. Was it because she didn't want to buy him? Why would anyone be sad for not getting bought? Maybe Pets were punished when someone decided to leave them? It made no sense, but common sense probably got beaten out of them. Whatever it was, the boy was authentically sad.

"I'm just... looking at the description, don't worry" she sent him a reassuring smile. What the what was she doing? She's not here to buy anything? Maybe she would be able to steal him? No, she's a simple photographer playing spy, not a thief. And THAT would be illegal, and she can't have a criminal record. Caretaker looked at papers glued to the board over the cage. Age, physical attributes, placing of scars, training facility, 'one previous owner' note, price - cheaper than she would expect for a human being- what he was trained to, blablabla...

"Interested in-" without thinking, she turned around and punched the owner of a voice in the stomach. He bent in half. Only then she realised it was one of the employees.

"I'm so sorry i didn't mean to hurt you, you terrified me" she apologised quickly, and she meant it. She really was sorry for punching an innocent person. Oh wait, this guy works at Pet store. Nevermind, she's not sorry. Unless that would make a fuss and affect her reputation. Then maybe a little.

Employee straighten up

"You're stronger than you look like" He said, quite impressed.

"Thank you. I didn't meant to use that strength on you"

"No problem, it was my fault anyway. I tend to walk quiet" He said, but to be honest it sounded a little forced. Later on he will trash talk about her to his friends for sure. "Anyway i was meant to ask if you're interested in this Pet"

"Well, I am considering... "

"We also have many others here, or you can visit our website and..."

"No thank you... I think… I think I will talk to my friend, he's like 78% of my impulse control. I will be back in a few minutes."

"Of course if you want to discuss it with someone..." Employee looked disappointed, but he also didn't want to come out as pushy, so he didn't stop her.

When she was walking away Pet sniffed, and an employee kicked cage saying something angrily. He switched from servile to cruel in seconds. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting. She will stop this. But first she had to make a call.

__________

Pet was waiting, hoping for the impossible, and then- then someone walked in and looked at him! Mistress with exotic blue hair! She was looking at him! Maybe she will pet him and decide he looks adorable and take him? He tried so hard to look cute!

Of course it wasn't enough. Mistress stood up. Why would she want a disgusting, horrible Pet like him? He whimpered and shut up immediately. He didn't get permission to make a sound. Bad, untrained Pet.

"I'm just looking at the description, don't worry," Lady said. Of course, you stupid mutt. Humans won't just decide by looking at face, they would want to know... all those important stuff written in his document, that he was to stupid to understeand.

One of the Masters came and talked to Lady... but she just punched him! And the Master was in pain, but still didn't get mad... Did it mean that Lady was so cruel she wanted to hurt even other humans and powerful enough to get away with this? Pet trembled.

Master tried to convince her to purchase one of Pets, him or some other, that was less useless, bu the Lady apparently didn't liked anything, so she used banal excuse even dumb Pet was able to look through and left.

He tried not to cry.

Master kicked his cage.

"Can't you even try to be less hopeless?" he said angry

__________

"Justin, my beloved, my light, my braincell and my source of income i need your advice"

Sigh.

"What is this time?"

"So I was doing as you said, and you were right, they really met and there was a third man with them, and I got photos, but he saw me and..."

"Did you lose evidence?"

"Nah, don't worry it's safe like a baby in your mother's arms. The thing is I had to flee and I went into the first open store and there was Pet and he looked so sad, and I have to take him now, but..."

"I see, do you want me to gently sway you from making decisions you already know it's bad, or do you look for my genuine opinion about your capability of taking care of a pet with your job?"

"No no no no no. You misunderstood me. It was A Pet. And I want to take him, because I'm afraid they will beat him to death if i don't but I also don't want to give them my money. I don't want to contribute to the system, but stealing is bad and I don't know what to do anymore."

"Okay. Okay, wait a moment i need to think about it for second"

"Okay"

"Alright, I have an idea: big companies like that always have some dirt. So do like this: go to this store and buy him casually, but look for old ventilation, unsafely placed things or anything. Note that and take photos if you can, and we will later snitch on them for WHS violation or something"

"Okay. Thank you i knew i could count on you"

__________

Pet was kneeling in the cage. He could have a new home by now if only he wouldn't be so disgusting. The last customer was really scary, and cruel and even she didn't want such an awful Pet. He tried not to cry. Crying wasn't cute and he had to look cute even if it was pointless.

Then he heard quick angry footsteps. The blue-haired lady was back. What did it mean?

"I'M TAKING HIM!" She shouted. She had fire in her eyes. It took all of Pet's strength not to move away to the back of the cage.

She will buy him, and she was angry, maybe because the pet was scared of her, or maybe her Friend failed to control her impulse, or maybe it was something different, but the Pet will pay for that.

He was scared, but he will take all the pain if she would want him, please he wants to be wanted, even if it doesn't matter what he wants, take him away, he will be good...

Master rushed and took Lady to the back, where the documents were signed. Pet glued eyes to the doors. She still can change her mind when she will look deeper and realise how bad and ill-trained animal he is.

Or maybe she would like to have a broken animal to train up to herself? Was it about it?

__________

"Here are all his files. We have to make sure you had read them, especially the last page"

"Sure, give me some time"

"Also if you have any questions, i'm here to help"

"I don't have any..." she said, but then the idea hit her "actually, do you have any more detailed record of his training?"

"We do have records for all our pets, but we can show them only to the owner. We can email them right after purchase. They're quite large"

"Works for me" She said. Maybe the records will say more about his conditioning, and help with recovery. Anyway it won't do harm if she will have them.

Now onto reading stuff she will sign. Make sure the company won’t hide anything in small print.

It took longer than she would like to admit and hopefully she understood all the words just right… There was one page left.

There was something about being "ready to handle" and "responsiblebleble..." and

oh

Employee must have seen that she got to that part.

That part... changed the light she looked at the boy.

And she hesitated for a moment.

“May… may i know the circumstances of an incident?” she asked

__________

Master- no, the former Master now opened a cage and threw him on the ground. Pet felt his shoulder hit the hard floor and he holded cry in .

"Looks like you got purchased after all. Unbelievable. Ayway, how long do you think it will take for you to mess up and get returned?" former Master said. Pet was stupid, yes, and he had trouble learning rules but he knew that he can't break them now, and he wasn't allowed to speak

"Answer me you dumb Pet"

now that was an order

"A- a month maybe?"

"Ha! you aim high. I doubt you will be able to last two weeks"

Pet didn't want to go back at all, but if the former Master says he won't be able to enjoy new home for longer than two weeks then it was true. He had to bear Mutt for so long!

He took off one collar and put on another. It was so soft, softer than a pet ever had. Finally he grabbed him by the shoulder he felt on and took to the new owner.

"See you soon," former Master whispered to Pet.

And there she was. New owner. The scary Lady. Pet trembled.She didn’t clipped a leash or grab him by hair, instead she put her arm around him. Didn't she want him to have even this piece of freedom? Or was she afraid he would try to run away? He won't, he will be good and Pet hoped he would be allowed to speak to tell he will be good. But he wasn't allowed so he just quietly walked by her side. He couldn't crawl with her holding him, will he be punished for walking on legs like a human?

They walked outside. The sun was so nice, and the air was fresh. But he knew it was not to enjoy, he wasn't allowed to enjoy those things.

"We will have to wait here for a while. My friend - the one I mentioned before - will give us a ride. Anyway, what's your name?"

Was he tested already? He knew how to follow rules, he could follow them...

Owner looked at him in scary silence

"Oh. I forgot. You can speak. I wouldn't ask if i didn't expected any answer"

Oh no. Oh no no, they didn't even get home, and he disappointed Owner already.

"I don't have any name, Mast- Mistress"

“Hmm well then how did the.. shop employees call you then?”

“Disgusting, Mutt, Dirty…”

"That won’t work. We have to give you a real name. And you can call me by mine. I'm Decima. 'Mistress' sounds like some annoying character from a historical drama. But if you feel uncomfortable without honorifics then you can title me 'Miss'. But I prefer to be referred to by name, okay?"

"Yes, Miss Decima"

[desultory-novice]

To complete the Star Allies Wave 3 trio, how about Susie for the character ask?

003 Susie

...Heh. We're here, are we? I'll be honest, this one is tricky.

Susie, due to her affiliation with the antagonist (and what she herself did in game and is implied to continue to do in Star Allies) makes her, to my knowledge, a highly contentious character. (??)

I mean, to list out all the things the HWC does/is implied to have done would put this post on many people's blacklists including my own. So, I would just like it made clear that the obviously bad things happening in that game and that the various characters contribute to ARE BAD and we can all agree on that. Also, I will not be going into a discussion of them while taking about Susie. 

I'll just be talking about her as a character. Ready?

How I Feel About This Character:

All that said, I do like Susie. I'm very sympathetic toward her. Not to get too personal here, but I understand having a love/hate, highly-strained relationship with a father who does not seem to see you no matter what you do...

I think Susie was someone who had to grow up FAST - either while she was growing up alone with her father during their travels (which, given Max's tendencies to get very involved in work, probably meant she spent a lot of time raising herself) or simply due to learning to survive as a little girl lost and alone in Another Dimension.

As a result, I see her as kind of enjoying her second childhood as an adult woman. The loud laughter. (A trait she adorably shares with her father.) The insistence on a gigantic ice cream factory. Her being quick to snap to childish feelings like jealousy and how fast she runs away from accepting blame for the things she did. Her crush on Meta Knight just because he's strong and cool. 

She is a woman who is taking her revenge on a rotten life where she was robbed of family and normality by living completely responsibility-free in the present, and damn if that doesn't probably feel good! (Even if, again, as stated above, that is not.morally.good. And not good for the people she hurts.)

I also dig her pink hair. And I think her egg-shaped body is really neat, design--wise. Gal's got some serious hips where Sectonia and Clawroline are toothpicks - literally.

Any/All the People I Ship Romantically With This Character:

My Susie leans aro/ace (also lesbian HCs) and while that doesn't preclude me from ever shipping her with anyone, I think she's still busy living life for herself for the first time to want to have to split her time with anyone else? Especially the incredible schedule/emotional complications of maintaining a healthy relationship. That requires a lot of dedication and Susie already did the devotion song and dance for years for a father who tragically didn't even recognize her.

I have considered shipping her with various combinations of Mage-Sisters, and then I saw the 25th Anniversary concert video and entertained the idea of SectoSusie for a bit, which was fun, but nothing lasts. Except for Susie x ice cream! Get that woman all the ice cream she wants!

My Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship For This Character:

"Favorite" is hard to apply to Susie and her father for a variety of reasons, but hell if it isn't a completely AMAZING relationship. I mean, that story. The stuff going on in Planet Robobot just has a tendency to stay with you. Biggest tragedy in the Kirby franchise, maybe...? (It’s funny that all the planets are magically healed in the end, which is a bit of a cop-out, but if they didn’t give us at least that, it would be THE most depressing Kirby game of all time.) 

Anyway, if only the story were just a -little- more comprehensibly laid out in game, it would rival RtDL for "best story to adapt to a movie."

Susie and Max are very complicated, which is perfect for the relationship between a father and his adult daughter, and I love the game for it. I love that her rebellion against him is a mix of real corporate spy stuff and just this “child's game” kind of attitude. Yes, she's going to try and sell Star Dream to a competitor, but she CAN'T possibly care about the money. To me, by stealing Star Dream she's doing the same thing as putting tacks in her dad's shoes so he can't go to the office that day and miss her piano recital. She's being "his little girl" almost in secret, still hoping that this time...this time...

Oh, and since this is explicitly non-romantic, I'll go ahead and throw Susie + Meta Knight here. For anyone pushing the back button, I said NON-ROMANTIC!

I think exploring the absolute (implied?) horror show that went on here is very fascinating, speaking as an angst-fiend. 

I saw a spine-tingling comic on Pixiv about the lore that Meta Knight eats parfaits in secret every night being a thing that dropped -after- Planet Robobot and in this story, Meta Knight realizes that Susie messed with his mind and this craving was something she programmed into him. It was frightening and delightful and I'm open to more of it. (Again, Soul Melter EX Take, they're all friends after Star Allies, so I'm sure at some point they talked it out. But I'm happy for unwanted cyborg-modification angst UNTIL then!)

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character:

Since we're still talking Susie + Meta Knight here, I don't actually fault anyone who does ship them/likes seeing them together. PR is a neat game in that there is some seriously messed up stuff you can read into it, but that stuff does lie -beneath- the surface, and it does not make you wrong nor a bad person if you choose to take the game at face value. And, at purely face value, Meta Knight shakes off what happened to him pretty fast. So, that's fair.

Anyway, I guess my most unpopular opinion about Susie is that I like her and sympathize with her struggles? I also think it's funny(*) that she immediately goes back to roboticizing planets after PR - that is, I think it’s funny in the same way I think it's funny that Magolor is like "Kirby, my best friend, of course I'll help you! And when we're done, I can go back to my plans for galactic conquest, mwahaha!" Basically, on a purely joke level, the fact that NONE of the villain-friends are remotely “better people” now is hilarious to me.

(*) Again, standard disclaimers apply. None of the actual horrible stuff involved in/implied by roboticization of planets and their people and eradication/mocking of other cultures is actually funny.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen / Had Happened With This Character in Canon:

I actually really love the one unusued idea for Susie Kumazaki posted on Miiverse where she was going to be a robot Max built in mourning for his daughter, and that she had only thought she was the real Susie. Sure, it's a story that's been told before, whereas the time-dimension-memory shenanigans of PR is more innovative, but I like the classics too.

A nice touch would have been if they went with the "Max was a robot the whole time too," then you could have a future where he could possibly be rebuilt and reunited with his "daughter." 

Alas. HAL decided to deliver us a story about how painful reality can be instead. But that's what's beautiful about PR's story. For all the sci-fi and the memory-devouring-soul-sucking-ancient-super-computer-that-was-built-flawed, the human drama is all too normal and maybe a little too relatable in places.

Favorite Friendship For This Character:

This, right here!

This is from Itsudemo Kirby. It is a thing that really happens. 

I like seeing Susie hang out with the other pink characters. Susie and Chuchu and Ribbon and Kirby all just hanging out having Pink Girl fun times? Yes please! 

I suppose I do enjoy “Susie and Magolor team up to engage in malicious late-stage capitalism” jokes but I just want her to have lots of Girls’ Night Out time.

FREE SPACE/Recs:

Rinyo's Planet Robobot video is one of my least watched Kirby AMVs ever, even though I've got it in my Youtube rotation. The reason is because I always choose to skip it when it comes up. THAT reason is because it hurts. Damn, does this video hurt so much! The "screw you, humans, and your stupid emotions" chorus is so raw and painful and so Susie. 

The song very nearly puts me in tears.

Everyone -should- have seen it already, but just in case you haven't...

There was no happy ending for Max. And there was no happy ending to Susie's plan. But perhaps...there's still a chance for her to find happiness elsewhere?

Although it would help if she would actually STICK to the original Haltmann Works mission of improving lives and not in the bad way! If Susie were to go on to become the Seto Kaiba of the Kirby-verse, I would be very okay with that.

(...Actually, without the Access Arc or the Mother Computer/Star Dream, do we know if she's actually able to do much of anything? She's still got the loyal company robots presumably, but it was the Access Arc that did all the roboticizing on a planetary-scale. I wonder if she's effectively turned into all bark and no bite? Sticks around on Planet Popstar, despite threatening bigger galactic aims, while doing things like introducing people to internet and bluetooth - but that's about the best she can do? A little fun to think about.)

[likehandlingroses]

“Realistic” Tom/Thomas Relationship Timeline

The S3/S4 Tom/Thomas affair is a theory that has been making its way around lately, and it is centered around the contrast in the interactions between Thomas and Tom during the Season 3 Christmas Special and their interactions in the Season 4 Christmas Special. 

This means that usually the start of the relationship is viewed as coinciding with the immediate aftermath of Matthew’s death, which occurs in the Christmas Special of Season 3 (September 1921). Due to the interactions between Tom and Thomas in the Christmas Special of Season 4, the relationship can almost certainly be considered over by that time (May-ish of 1923). But what happened in between, and how long were they actually together? There’s one view that the affair occurs in between Seasons 3 and 4, which means that at the very longest they lasted just under six months (generally I think this view cuts it even shorter than that)...but this leaves some unanswered questions and some peculiarities, so I took another look at the canon to determine when, in fact, Thomas and Tom broke up.

(Note: I definitely know that Julian Fellowes did not intend for them to be having an affair, but also Julian if I’m right just DM me)

Let’s start with what we know about September 1921 and May 1923—the definite before and after points—for reference:

Christmas Special Season 3—September, 1921

In this Christmas special, we see Tom left behind while the rest of the family goes to Duneagle, and we see Thomas still dealing with the Jimmy situation a year after its apparent resolution. On its face, this episode features Tom being challenged in his new role in the house—and being encouraged to step up and face that role—and Thomas finding a way to resolve things with Jimmy.

Except there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on in the periphery of those stories: Tom knows that Jimmy is bothering Thomas and appears to want to intervene at the fair, but he is stopped by Edna, who at one point uses Thomas’s injuries as an excuse to visit Tom and assure him that Thomas is “feeling much better.” And—of course—there’s the fact that Tom and Thomas hug at the fair (and lest you think this was a RJC/Allen Leech moment not caught by editing, it was in multiple takes! Someone—multiple someones actually—included it on purpose). They are friendly, aware of each other, and to be honest it isn’t impossible to argue that maybe the relationship predates Matthew’s death! I’m going to argue otherwise, however, based on how Tom breaks down when Edna kisses him—I think Edna is the first time he’s even really thought of himself in romantic terms for a long time! But Thomas is right there in the wings, and he just finally made some progress on the emotional problem that’s been plaguing him for over a year!

It’s a big difference from what we see in the next Christmas special, big enough to start the theory of the affair in the first place...

Season 4 Christmas Special—Summer 1923

Once again, Tom is left alone at Downton while the rest of the family goes to London...and the difference in how Thomas responds is striking. He’s furious at having to wait on Tom, for reasons both we and the characters cannot quite understand. The excuses don’t add up—at this point, Tom has been living at Downton for three YEARS, and this has never been a problem before. Now all of a sudden Thomas is slamming trays and clenching his fists and provoking Tom into admitting that he sees himself as Above sitting next to him...what?

Then there’s Sarah Bunting, a Miss Sarah Bunting...whose presence infuriates Thomas while also making him eager to use her as a way to embarrass Tom. And Tom knows it, immediately. He’s embarrassed, he’s uncomfortable, but still he’s quick to pull rank with Thomas when challenged. Something has fundamentally altered the way they interact with and perceive each other while sharing the same space.

All of this speaks to a breakup, and a messy one at that...so with the knowledge we have, WHAT exactly happened between September of 1921 and May of 1923? Let’s look at what Season 4 has to say:

4.1/4.2–February, 1922

“That’s right: it’s Valentine’s Day.” 

This is an important piece of the puzzle, because Thomas—Nanny West drama aside—is in a pretty good mood for the Valentine’s Day episode! He engages with Daisy and Jimmy’s Valentine’s card drama with good humor and even some genuine interest...something I do not believe he’d do if he’d only recently been broken up with, and by someone who lived in the house! The big one here, though, is the dialogue Thomas has with Nanny West in which she calls him “Thomas” and he says, “that’s Mr. Barrow to you...”

Now, where did Nanny West hear him referred to as Thomas? The episode makes a point of the fact that nannies do not as a rule spend much time with the downstairs staff—and even if they did, not many of the downstairs crew call Thomas “Thomas” on a regular basis. Nor do the upstairs folks...with one notable exception. Tom, who has to be reminded by Thomas in 4.3 to address him as “Barrow” (more on that later), routinely messes up names and titles.

To me, this suggests that Tom and Thomas are still talking, and it’s pretty clear from Thomas’s attentions to Sybbie in the episode that it would have been easy for Nanny West to overhear it in that context. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re still seeing each romantically, but the “Mr. Barrow TO YOU” element implies that the correction was NOT made to whoever Nanny West heard using the name (we presume it’s Tom)...and the distinction is that Nanny West does not *get* to call him that! It definitely seems like whoever she grabbed the name from has been granted permission to do that, and she Has Not. And if it’s Tom...well.

So does that mean that Thomas and Tom were done by 4.3, when Thomas DOES correct Tom on his title? Not exactly...

4.3/4.4–The House Party (pre July 1922)

(tw on this section for discussions involving sexual assault)

The party features Edna’s schemes and assault on Tom in order to extract a promise of marriage from him. It also features a Tom who is incredibly vulnerable and entirely out of his element with the introduction of the Crawley’s friends. This is somewhat of a contrast from the Tom of the first two episodes, who stands up to Robert several times to intervene on Mary’s behalf, and even ropes Carson into the mission. It feels, for a moment, that despite Matthew’s death Tom has taken up the challenge presented to him at the end of Season 3 and begun seeing himself as a valuable, contributing member of the household and family.

But here, Tom speaks of himself as a fool, as walking a tightrope, and of not being understood. He relies on alcohol to get through the event, which Edna takes advantage of—and which gives us a Tom/Thomas interaction that speaks to, in my opinion, a continuing relationship (although perhaps an altering one):

Now, if I had to guess, I would say that Tom might be less *keen* than usual, given his overall demeanor and the new scrutiny placed on him by Edna coming back to the house (not to mention the house party itself). It’s very possible there’s been a lull between the two of them as of late. I do not believe, however, that there is evidence of a clear break between Tom and Thomas as of the house party.

For one, Tom doesn’t just say the wrong thing when addressing Thomas in the drawing room—he says, “Thomas, would you get me a drink for God’s sake?” That is Not how he talks to him in the Christmas Special, where he is stilted and uncomfortable and concerned about how the words will be taken. He isn’t worried about any of that, and while Thomas corrects him, he doesn’t seem all that bothered by it. Tom’s look of irritation at the correction isn’t overdone either.

“It’s Barrow now,” also has flexible meanings. Of course it literally is what Tom is supposed to call him now...but “now” seems like a weird word to use when it’s been what Thomas is meant to be called for several years. It could be a post-breakup smackdown, but we’ve seen what those look like in the Christmas Special, and this doesn’t feel like that! I believe, rather, that Thomas is making reference to the fact that it is incorrect at that moment, something Tom should know and has been discussed!!!

The house party has both of them overworked and tense (this is also the time where Thomas has to fill in for Jimmy because Jimmy hurt his hand...which is SO ridiculous if you think about it for more than two seconds), but Edna’s transgression still draws Thomas’s attention

And that’s important! Thomas had been friends with Edna until this point, largely for convenience it seems—she is a new lady’s maid, and she can feed him information. Thomas even worked with her to mess with Anna, who had earlier made a comment to Edna about his intentions in befriending her. There’s a bond forming there, and while I don’t believe Thomas would genuinely support the literal details of Edna’s plot, I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that he would be Opposed to Edna taking advantage of what she would frame as an indiscretion on Tom’s part. Not if he disliked Tom or was predisposed to believe Tom was at fault (ie: someone who expects to be “waited on Hand and Foot while he decides what Might Please Him Next”).

But right away, Thomas is suspicious the morning after. We see Thomas spying on Edna as she corners Tom, and he specifically brings it up to her later to catch her out. Already his tone is soured where she’s concerned. He’s sensed she’s up to something and he can probably guess the vague idea if not the particulars...and it turns him against her almost instinctively.

So what’s that about? Could it just be jealousy? The thing is, we know what Thomas would do if he believed that Edna and Tom were simply having an affair—we see what happens in the S4 Christmas Special with Sarah Bunting. This isn’t like that at all. 

Thomas immediately blames Edna for what’s happened, calling her a manipulative little witch and declaring that he’s delighted her plans didn’t work. There’s no question of Thomas’s loyalties, even though Edna assumes he’ll want to “keep in with” her. Not for one second does he appear to consider this, and that seems to distinguish this incident from later ones.

4.5/4.6–What Are These Episodes (pre-July 1922)

There isn’t a lot to remember about these episodes for Tom or Thomas, and so what people may not remember is that these are the episodes Tom starts floating the idea of leaving for America—a full season before he tries starting that conversation again, and over two years before he actually DOES temporarily move to Boston. Now, that kind of decision takes time, but it’s kind of...strange that he begins making it here in the spring of 1922 and will not seriously consider it again until well into 1924!

Whether this has anything at all to do with Thomas can’t be determined, but I do enjoy hearing Tom say it will be impossible for him to marry anyone at Downton because an upper class woman won’t have him, and would an “nice Irish working class girl” make everyone “comfy?”...and Thomas is standing Right There! What does it mean...

Thomas is also getting more paranoid, he’s got Baxter in the house feeding him information...and he’s generally giving off a different vibe than he has all season. 

Here is where I think the connection is starting to see some serious cracks—Tom is realizing he doesn’t belong and is making moves to change that. Meanwhile, Thomas is making moves to ensure Nothing Ever changes without him knowing about it ahead of time! Tension abounds, though we don’t see any evidence of it being directed at each other just yet...

4.7/4.8–Interesting and Modern (July 1922)

Thomas goes to America and Tom meets Miss Bunting...weird how that just happened like that!

Thomas is excited to go to New York, and it seems...pretty clear he fucked while he was there. I think if you’re gay and you go to New York in the 1920s and you come back and all you can tell your coworkers is that it was “interesting and modern” you definitely were not doing anything you can actually talk about

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he and Tom are Done (they may not have ever been exclusive on paper), but the overall feeling from Tom is a dejected man in limbo...he can’t even say he’s a Socialist anymore. It’s not going well. So my inclination is to say that Tom hit pause (maybe not for the first time), and Thomas is dealing with it by getting some in New York (great!) and bullying his coworkers (bad!) So why do I think they weren’t totally done at that time? Because these episodes happen in the summer of 1922...the Christmas Special for S4 takes place in May of 1923. That’s a long time to have passed! A long time for Tom to keep Miss Bunting at arm’s length, a long time for Thomas to be fuming over something...I believe that in the Christmas Special what we are seeing is the last stand of two people who are grappling with finally cutting a fraying thread.

Another Look At The S4 Christmas Special

These scenes are truly some of the most incomprehensible things Downton Abbey ever presented to us with virtually no explanation.  So let’s take another look at what’s happening here.  

First of all, we have the scene with Tom and Thomas entering the house after sending Edith off and leaving Tom offically on his own--they don’t appear openly hostile, though there’s some tense looking when the other person isn’t and looking back down again when they are energy...but nothing egregious. 

Not until we see Thomas slam down a tray, that is. In fact, this whole thing seems to be coming from Thomas’s anger, while Tom appears eager to just smooth it over by not causing trouble and following the rules set forth by the household norms. This seems in line with Tom’s general dispositon--with both Edna and Miss Bunting he tries to ease out rather than break things off. 

 But Thomas interprets this as dismissive, and while he says to Ivy it’s about their positions in the house...as discussed above this really doesn’t logically check out. I do think it irritates him that Tom is essentially avoiding Thomas because it’s what “pleases him,” but it runs deeper than “he used to be the chauffeur.” Because that was always the case. 

And then Tom brings Miss Bunting back without telling anyone, and he takes her upstairs. And this makes Thomas INSANE, and Tom knows IMMEDIATELY that it will! And Tom is eager to assure “Mr. Barrow” that nothing happened (actually, what he’s really eager to do is have Thomas not stand there while he eats, but Thomas is not budging). 

Thomas is furious. He’s said to Ivy that he is SICK of this man, he’s tired of dealing with him...and then he tries to get Tom to sit next to him the car? 

Thomas stole a dog one time, and I still think this might be his wildest attempt at controlling a situation we see on the show. What is going on? If Tom HAD let him sit in the back, would Thomas have still gone to Lord Grantham about Miss Bunting? If Thomas hadn’t been such a jerk about Miss Bunting, would Tom have LET him? What is poor Ivy even processing this as? Am I the only one hearing Taylor Swift’s Better Than Revenge playing? 

Thomas acts immediately on coming to London, dropping the line of “Mr. Branson is stil a young man, and he can’t be expected to stay single forever”...he’s Angry Angry!! If they were on a break before, I don’t think it had fully set in for Thomas that it might be Permanent until now. And I think Tom’s newly avoidant personality we see in other scenarios gave him the wrong impression in this respect.

In Summary

I think that the relationship was relatively “on” from the period of September 1921 through whenever the house party took place. The house party caused some huge issues, mostly for Tom (understandably)—he may have unfairly blamed himself for what happened and drew wrongful parallels to what’s happening with Thomas. I think that after that it was very “off,” but I believe that neither Thomas nor Tom really committed to ending it either...and when we see them in 1923 they are in the peak stages of finally facing the end of things.

So what caused the final shift? Perhaps Thomas came back from New York with expectations, expectations Tom found himself intimidated by. Perhaps Thomas’s increasing paranoia and Tom’s growing agnosticism towards his own beliefs and identity are related and fed off of each other until they both just did not like the person they were seeing! Maybe it’s just that Downton Abbey is a really bad place for both of them, and even though they started off trying to protect each other from that, they got sucked in and turned on each other!

In any case, by Season 5 the romantic relationship appears over for good, though there is some evidence in later episodes that Tom and Thomas settled down a bit over time (Thomas defending Tom in S5 at Brancaster, and Tom saying he hates goodbyes in reference to Thomas). 

We will just have to see what happens when they realize they both are dating someone new, and they work together too :) 

[bunnimew]

Emma Knows Best

Rating: G Fandom: Rise of the Guardians  Characters: Jackson Overland, Emma Overland Tags: Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF, Cute, All the Cute, Humor, attempts at humor Summary: For RotG Secret Santa 2020 #32: Jack's cute little Sister

This whole thing only exists for us to see Jack's sister be cute.

I hope you like it! <3

On AO3 here.

The feast was going to be amazing.

Everyone who owned a mostly rectangle table had dragged it outside to help hold the food. The whole village chipped in. There were so many types of bread, cheese, stews, loafs, sides, and sandwiches that Jack’s stomach hurt in anticipation of just how much he was going to eat tonight.

But first…

“Jaaack!”

“You look fine,” Jack said automatically.

Emma huffed from behind the curtain like only a young lady could. “That’s not it.”

“That’s always it.”

Emma sighed and it might as well have been another huff. “Jack!”

“Alright, yes.” Jack left the window he’d been spying the celebration through. It was coming together piece by piece and every minute that went by filled him with just that much more excitement. He knew Emma felt the same, but she had never been as laid back as he was, and, honestly, that was probably a good thing. “What is it?”

Emma nudged herself halfway around the curtain, keeping herself modestly hidden, but revealing The Problem to Jack. “I can’t get this button!”

It was more like three buttons, but Jack didn’t say that. He immediately took both halves of the dress in hand and began fastening them together. Somebody else probably should have been helping her with this, but there wasn’t anybody else. Mom was busy cooking their contributions to the feast and her friends were all at their own homes getting ready themselves.

It was left to Jack and he wasn’t going to leave her to cry over buttons.

With the last one fastened, she disappeared behind the curtain again, then burst out a moment later with a dramatic twirl. “How do I look?”

Jack raised his arms with a flourish. “Like a princess!”

Emma threw up her arms in disbelief. “Be serious!”

Jack lowered his arms. “Like my sister.”

Emma dropped her arms to her waist. “Jack.”

Jack shook his head and gestured helplessly at her. “You look pretty! What more do you want me to say?”

She huffed, but, “That’ll do.” Then she looked him over. “Is that what you’re wearing?”

That tone, there was no right answer. “Yes?”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Jack!” She hurried over and grabbed his arm to tug him back toward his room. “This is a celebration! You can’t wear what you wear every day!” She was way stronger than she looked, and Jack was too afraid to really fight her on it, so he found himself shoved back in his room and the door shut in his face. “Don’t come out until you’ve put on something nice!”

Jack hated wearing his nice clothes. Not because they weren’t nice, but because he couldn’t be trusted not to mess them up, and then someone had to repair them, or replace them, and that was a chore he didn’t enjoy being at fault for.

Unfortunately, Emma had a point. If everyone else was dressing up, and Jack knew they were, then it would look bad on his mom if he arrived in anything less.

So okay, he would wear something nice.

Jack hadn’t thought he’d been that long getting dressed, but by the time he left his room again, Emma was staring out the window watching a group of dancers by the feast. Evidently, the celebration had begun.

Jack dropped into a dramatic bow. "Your chariot awaits!"

Emma turned from the window in shock and surprise, but, used to Jack and his antics, got over it. "That's much better," she said in approval of his fine button down and cloak, "but what chariot?"

"This one!" Jack cried as he raced forward to lift her up. She squealed in protest, but quieted by the time he had her settled on his back.

"If you put wrinkles in my dress, Jack, I'll never forgive you."

Jack grinned as he carried her out to the feast. He was already forgiven and they both knew it.

As much as Jack loved to hog his sister to himself, he knew better than to try and obediently 'galloped' his way over to her friends where he dropped her off before leaving to help their mother with their contributions.

Turns out she also approved of his outfit, proving Emma was right again. Jack figured he ought to just get used to that. Little Sisters were always right, weren't they?

She shooed him away to join the dancing which, yes, okay, he was supposed to participate in, but it was never as fun as it looked. He suffered several minutes of following directions until everything improved when Emma inserted herself across from him as his partner, which meant he could get away with misbehaving and making faces at her. She giggled and laughed and made faces back at him and, in general, made the whole thing bearable and much more fun.

Two songs later and they were sneaking away to the food together. Emma hadn't eaten since breakfast and Jack had forgotten to eat at all, so they weren't passing up the opportunity to dig in as soon as it was socially appropriate to stuff their faces. They sat across from each other at the widest table and Jack passed her jam when she traded him cured ham.

"This is so good, Jack!" she said, shoving a plate of cheese across the table to him. "You have to try it!"

As if Jack could say no to cheese. He grabbed two slices for his plate and shoved a third between his lips. "Mmm! That's amazing. Here, try it with this!"

Jack grabbed a plate of potatoes at his elbow and held it across to her so she could take a spoonful. She stabbed a slice of cheese with her fork, then the potato. "You're right, Jack!" Wow, he didn't hear that very often. "That tastes so good!"

He couldn’t say why, whether it seemed like a good idea or he’d been behaving too long, but Jack apparently ruined it by grabbing a thick slice of honey ham and spreading a sweet berry jam over it. He could tell by the horrified shriek from the other side of the table.

“Jack!” Emma hissed, obviously under the impression she was being quiet, except like all kids, she was actually at least three times louder than she meant to be. She’d figure it out, one day. “That doesn’t go on ham!”

Jack looked right at her and asked, “Why not?”

“Because it goes on these!” She said, pushing a roll at him. He took it from her and stuffed it right in his mouth, totally dry. “At least have some butter!” She sounded completely appalled.

Best to make it worse, then. Jack obediently sliced off a thin pad of butter, then popped it into his mouth, right off the knife. With a wink, just for flair.

She had both hands over her mouth to stifle her laugh. “That’s not how you’re supposed to eat that.”

Jack furrowed his brows. “Says who?”

“Says everyone!”

“Well I’m not everyone,” he said, then pointed the knife at her, “and neither are you.”

She was smiling, and that’s how he knew she understood. But she was shaking her head all the same. “I’m not eating butter alone, Jack. And You can’t make me.”

That was fair.

“Probably for the best.”

“Of course it’s for the best,” she said with poise. It looked adorable on her. “I always know what’s best.”

Jack hoped she never stopped thinking that. “Hey, now. I’m the big brother. That means I get to be right sometimes, too.”

She looked so smug that Jack didn’t know what to do with himself. “Yeah? Well, one day I’ll be big, and then those days are over.”

It took everything inside him not to laugh. He couldn’t laugh; she would never forgive him. And he needed her to forgive him, because he wanted to be there.

He couldn’t wait to watch her grow up.

[avidrawsthings]

I lost track of how long this took me from start to finish but I’m very impressed with the final result. I can’t recall the last time I’ve drawn a line-up like this and actually finished it. That aside, Reina is meant to be very tall for her age, like at least a head taller than most kids her age, but here she looks to be of average height...XD

This is my take on the MC Through the Years Challenge (I think that’s what it’s called lol) by @leah-demarco 

My contribution to the MC Childhood Challenge is right here! The stuff above can be regarded as a continuation from that.

Ties into the Future MC Challenge here!

(If the letters on my blog are difficult to read on the PC, use CRTL + to zoom in. When I tried increasing the font size on my settings, all it did was make the letters overlap horribly)

1984-1985 (11 years old)

After bonding with Ricardo (Jacob) over the past 3 years, Reina made up her mind to attend Hogwarts just for the sake of being closer to him. Since he never told her or her family about the vaults in order to keep them safe, Reina was completely expecting him to be at Hogwarts starting off his 6th Year. It wasn’t until after she met Rowan did she learn the truth. Upset and shocked as she was, that gave way to her absolute determination to find him and bring him home.

As Ricardo never mentioned having a sibling to anyone except Dumbledore and Chester, Reina was only ever seen as the friendly foreign transfer student from the Dominican Republic. She hit it off quite well with her fellow classmates, becoming popular in her own right, second to Penny. With dreams of owning her own bakery one day, she decided she would have a mini baking business while at school that became a hit with her classmates.

Much like Penny, Reina proved herself to be skilled enough at Potions to also be on Snape’s good side. She views brewing Potions in the same manner as she does baking, knowing the importance of having the right ingredients and the proper way to mix them. Despite enjoying such a positive atmosphere, it didn’t stop her from having to deal with Merula’s shenanigans. 

Since Merula didn’t have the excuse of MC’s relation to their sibling to get away with messing with them, she often faced the consequences for her actions. The other students viewed her actions as quite malicious because as far as they knew, she was attacking the transfer student for no reason.

1985-1986 (12 years old)

With encouragement from Rowan, Reina tries out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team and becomes their newest Chaser. She also meets Andre around this time and the two bond over their love of Quidditch and how they were taught by their respective grandparents, Andre with his grandma and Reina with her grandpa. 

Rowan effectively took Penny’s place for all the Quidditch stuff, as her own involvement stemmed from her family’s tree farm also making wood for brooms, and she wanted to see them in action. This helped Rowan break out of her shell, especially after hitting it off very well with Murphy.

Activities aside, Reina was still determined to get involved with the vaults for the sake of bringing Ricardo home. After meeting Bill for the first time, Reina unknowingly latched onto him due to seeing him as an honorary big brother figure. Once the Ice Knight had been dealt with and the Ice Curse broken, Reina would be left in shock upon hearing what she thought was Ricardo’s voice for the first time in 2 years. He begged her to not press further for her safety, but she wasn’t having it, promising him she’d rescue him from wherever he was.

1986-1987 (13 years old)

Develops a big time crush on Talbott after meeting him in group study sessions, and goes out of her way to help him when realizing he’s going through something. Merula’s constant spying nearly destroyed the chances of Reina and Talbott becoming friends, but in the end they succeed and the two become quite close.

With the Vault of Fear causing Boggarts to run amok all over the school, Reina knew she’d run into one eventually. What often puzzled her was that she’s never encountered one before, and isn’t exactly sure what her fears are. She got her answer when walking down a hall on the way back from the courtyard. It would take the form of a woman she wasn’t familiar with, but insisted she was Reina’s mother. The sight alone caused Reina to collapse with a high fever.

While she already knew her mother was abusive, the woman died when Reina was a toddler and her memories of the woman were wiped to spare her from the trauma. As the Boggart couldn’t figure out what Reina feared at the moment, it appears to have latched onto her subconscious. While she wasn’t sure why her mother’s image would cause her to have a fever, it gave Reina and her friends all the more incentive to break the curse as soon as possible. In time, of course, they succeeded.

1987-1988 (14 years old)

Reina pays less and less attention to Merula’s nonsense, and goes as far as befriending Ismelda after helping her deal with heartbreak regarding her feelings over Barnaby. Reina then attends the Celestial Ball with both Ismelda and Rowan as a girl group.

Some time after the Celestial Ball, she starts dating Talbott and the two are head over heels for one another. They do keep it private, however, as Reina herself is still very popular second to Penny, and Talbott would rather not be the center of attention.

After meeting up with Torvus, she befriends the Centaur much faster thanks to him not knowing of her relation to Ricardo. She has some familiarity with Centaurs as a herd of predominantly female ones live a short distance outside of her hometown. Progress is made and the Sleepwalking Curse is broken.

1988-1989 (15 years old)

Her 5th year proved to be a major turning point in Reina’s life. With newfound responsibilities, she now had to balance Prefect duties, her side baking business, Quidditch, detention and figuring out how to solve the newest curse. Reina’s emotion-reading abilities allowed her to be aware of Rakepick’s wickedness, and she refused to go anywhere near the woman to the point of avoiding her classes entirely. This didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

The group found themselves divided over Reina’s choice to avoid the woman. Some of them (including Ben, Rowan, Talbott and Tulip) sided with Reina when she shared her concerns, while the others (Bill, Charlie and Penny) had doubts. Bill felt very appreciative of not only Rakepick teaching them actual important things, but the fact that she’d secure a Curse-Breaking job for him once he graduated. Charlie, of course, sided with his brother, and Penny herself was desperate for whatever help was possible to free Beatrice from the curse.

When questioned if her current levels of stress was affecting her ability to read the emotions of others, Reina couldn’t provide an answer, but stuck by her gut instincts regardless. Things reached a breaking point near the Christmas holidays. Penny (with some manipulation by an opportunistic Merula), took Reina’s refusal to cooperate with Rakepick in the worst possible way and angrily lashed out at her friend. The ensuing argument led to a vicious falling-out between the two. Some weeks later Reina would suffer a stress-induced mental breakdown that left her bedridden for some time.

Prefect duties were given to Rowan with Sprout’s approval, she was excused from detention and couldn’t take part in Quidditch until further notice. Her condition also prevented her from having her Quinceañera, which deeply upset her for quite a while. When Merula failed to get the painting from Peeves, Reina had to do it for her despite her weakened state. She recovers enough that she’s approved to enter the vault with the rest of the group. 

After Rakepick revealed her true colors and went as far as trying to kill Reina, the group fights back and forces the woman to flee. She reunites with Ricardo and the two have a heartfelt reunion. He joins the group in heading back to school. While Reina would fall into a coma for a week (even clinically dying for 4 minutes), she would eventually recover. With Ricardo safe and sound, and the Portrait Curse being broken, Reina made it clear she would no longer be involved with the vaults. The injury she sustained from Rakepick would leave Reina in a wheelchair for most of the upcoming summer.

1989-1990 (16 years old)

After the emotional fallout from everything she went through the previous year, Reina fell into a very deep depression. It was so bad that it darkened her hair and left her in a lethargic state. She barely interacted with anyone outside of her family, Rowan and Talbott. She only took 4 classes (Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology) at the N.E.W.T. level as her future career of running her own bakery didn’t have any required classes to go with it. 

She had no energy for her extra-curricular duties, so Rowan officially replaced her as Prefect. Reina had also stepped down from Quidditch for the same reasons, and ceased her baking side business as well. In her downtime she’d often be sleeping due to her near endless exhaustion. She even found a way to switch off her Empathetic abilities and kept them off due to not caring. With Ricardo tackling the final vault, Reina stayed true to her word by not getting involved when the next curse broke out.

She would remain in her slump until one night when she had a nightmare of Rowan getting killed right in front of her by Rakepick. It scared Reina so badly that it took a Calming Draught for her to be able to relax. While it didn’t break her out of her depression right then and there, it proved to be the push she needed to eventually make a recovery and get her inner fire back. What definitely added to it was how prophetic it felt. The same night she had the nightmare was when Ben and Merula went to the Forbidden Forest by themselves and encountered Rakepick, but were saved at the last minute by Ricardo.

Reina and her friends outright believe that despite the teachers’ best efforts to tackle the current curse, they weren’t getting anything done. The group would take matters into their own hands, but Ricardo would act as their guide, using his own experiences to help them out. 

1990-1991 (17 years old)

By this point there’s no sure way of knowing how the vaults would be dealt with, but they would be dealt with. Reina by that point would feel a sense of relief that she could finally put the vault stuff behind her and go back to as normal of a life as possible. She’d graduate with the rest of her friends and together take the next step toward the new stage of their lives. 

After graduating, Reina would head back to her home country and work under her family to learn how to officially run her own bakery.

[threadsketchier]

i'm the anon asking about Luke's Jedi school, i guess i meant the whole who, what, when, where, why thing? who was there? what did they do, in general? when was this (which i guess means how long after ROTJ)? i guess the where and the why can be skipped cause you said it was on yavin iv (right?) and the why is obviously the "pass on what you have learned" so yeah. also a random question haunting my brain is how did they, like, get groceries, were they near a town or something? thankssssss

OK  *cracks knuckles*

The Whoozle - Luke’s first class attendees were:

Tionne (a scholar/historian and musician)

Dorsk 81 (a clone from an entire society of clones)

Kirana Ti (a Dathomiri witch)

Kam Solusar (a former member of cloned Palpatine’s Dark Side Elite)

Brakiss (an Imperial spy who never fooled Luke but he kept him on hoping to turn him to good; he eventually ran off and got recruited by another failed student, Dolph)

Streen (a Bespin tibanna gas prospector who kept himself isolated from sentient contact because he couldn’t control his strong latent Force empathy from picking up everyone’s thoughts and emotions around him)

Gantoris (tormented leader of a forgotten colony on a deadly volcanic planet)

Corran Horn (attending under an alias of “Keiran Halcyon” for Reasons™, otherwise a cocky asshole from the X-wing novels lol)

Kyle Katarn (a dude who got his own graphic novels/video games; he didn’t stick around for long and had a bunch of adventures on his own - and actually spent some time tutoring Mara Jade)

Kyp Durron (a sadly messed-up kid who was fucked over by the Empire real good and thrown into the spice mines of Kessel before he could even reach puberty, so he carried a really big traumatic chip on his shoulder; he was like barely 17 or 18 when he was busted out and started at the academy)

Cilghal (a female Mon Cal - a niece of Admiral Ackbar, and also a New Republic ambassador - who possessed a natural talent for healing)

Mara Jade (that baddest bitch we all know and love from the Thrawn Trilogy lol)

***There’s a few others mentioned on Wook but I’m not including them here because they’re kind of sprinkled in from various other EU media and don’t make an appearance (that I can recall) in the actual JAT series.

The Whatzle - everything got started in the Jedi Academy Trilogy by KJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

*cough* sorry  XD

Fun fact: apparently it was Mon Mothma’s idea to suggest the location and not Luke, go figure.

The Whenzle - about 7 years after ROTJ (I get annoyed with Legends EU always dating stuff as “X years ABY,” meaning After the Battle of Yavin, so I always gotta mentally subtract 4 years from those dates).

The Wherezle - yep, Yavin 4, a nice green steamy joint much nicer than Dagobah, where you can still get swamp-ass without the swamp.  They repurposed the ancient temple that the Rebellion had used as a base in ANH.

The Whyzle - Luke eventually let the fire under his ass get lit and petitioned the New Republic to get his Jedi school started so he could finally not be the only fucking Jedi saving the whole-ass galaxy all the damn time...aka, yes, “pass on what you have learned.”  (Like I mentioned, this took place barely a year after Palpatine tried to come back and wreck everything again, so there was definitely some motivation from that plus the Thrawn disaster that happened the year before THAT.  The GFFA is always crisis-central so the Jedi needed to make a serious comeback.)

WHAT DO - Like I also mentioned, Luke was still figuring everything out regarding the old Jedi Order, and his own training had been the severely abridged Cliff Notes version (plus, um, these books were written way ahead of the prequels so...they don’t mesh well), so needless to say his teaching methods were not nearly as formal, and he tended to use examples from his own training.  Because he was the only master to go around, there wasn’t any pairing up for “padawans” at this point, he was teaching everybody simultaneously, so there were a lot of group lectures and activities.  They’d also gather to hear Tionne sing about Jedi history that she’d researched and turned into ballads.  In order to keep everything running, there also likely had to be task assignments as part of everyday life - somebody’s gotta clean the toilets and cook, etc., but that’s technically extrapolation.

JEDI DOORDASH - no, loooool, considering that this place was on a jungle moon, they had a nice tropical climate but not a ton of clear space for agriculture.  Keep in mind Luke’s a former moisture farmer (and I can’t believe the only thing the Larses were harvesting was literal moisture) - he had to have extensive knowledge of hydroponics or other indoor farming, and that temple is huge, so it’s totally possible they could grow at least some of their own produce.  But they need a lot more supplies than that, especially at the beginning, so they had supply runs from cargo ships who would bring them stuff - and hey, Mara herself was one of those supply pilots sometimes.  Some of my fellow Legends peeps also conceptualized the academy as opening up to some tourism to contribute much-needed funds - come chillax in the hot springs and learn more about the “mysterious” Jedi that used to creep so many people out back in the day, and see they’re just ordinary folks like everyone else...

...except that, yeah, they can technically kill you with their minds.  :)

In Legends it seems like the academy (also known as a Praxeum) was the only habitation on Yavin 4, but in Disney nu!canon there are other settlements on the moon; Poe Dameron’s parents Shara Bey and Kes Dameron go live there with a baby Force tree.  Feel free to remix and mash-up whatever elements you dig!

[sepublic]

           As a teacher, Trexdis has definitely SEEN a lot.

           She was and is a spy, so she’s pretty good at observational skills, just quietly noticing others, keeping track of little clues or hints here and there, tiny puzzle pieces that allude to a bigger picture, to something else going on in the back of a person’s head.

           Trexdis also has a pretty good frame of reference for what decent parents should be like; Her and Will’s parents were loving and attentive. And of course, Trexdis knows what it’s like to grow up neglected, without parents to really look after you… And, she grew up alongside her handful of classmates and friends who hadn’t been as lucky. Kids who’d been neglected, didn’t get enough to eat… Had unhealthy pressures and expectations placed onto them, didn’t get validation, were afraid to speak up. Felt like their parents’ acceptance was conditional, that sort of thing… She quickly got a good eye for tiny little reactions to even the most innocuous gestures.

           So, by the time she became a teacher at Arkley’s… Trexdis has a pretty good eye for this sort of thing. And, she’s wizened up, cooled down, she knows how to approach things properly, subtly, carefully. She doesn’t call the kid out on it- Instead, she approaches them in an almost deceiving kind of way… Where she’s hiding her true intentions with some mundane and innocuous, but really she’s getting at slowly unrooting the truth from the kid, without actually confronting them, not making them uncomfortable, etc.

           The kid’s comfort is VERY important to Trexdis, the whole idea is to give them a safe environment where they can feel like they can open up- If Trexdis deprives that, what’s the point? But at the same time, she has to make sure… She can’t take any chances, she won’t and refuses to. So of course Kate will take matters into her own hands… She’ll quietly get to the root of things, and then subtly do what she can to help, without calling attention. Maybe having an impromptu pizza party, claiming that the Spirius Drones or some friend of hers accidentally made too many pizzas, she’d REALLY appreciate if the kids could clear it out before it goes bad…

           Not really calling attention to it, not making a big deal as she commends a kid’s progress, gives them good notes on their work. Or else makes sure not to call on them to speak in front of class, watches her body language… Reads the general room and environment, and if she can tell some kid is lowkey panicking and having anxiety over an assignment that’s due, she’ll admit to the entire class that whoops, she made a mistake, and now she’s extending the deadline to compensate! If kids come to her with questions, Trexdis is ALWAYS incredibly patient and attentive, thorough, making sure to give as many answers in anticipation, so the kid doesn’t have to speak up much.

           And of course…

           Like I said- She doesn’t want to get the kid involved. Not make them uncomfortable, not make them feel at fault for ‘causing a mess’. But Kate HAS to know and be reassured, because she can’t make assumptions in good faith… And, well- Her time in the Monster Realm taught her that sometimes, you’ve gotta do morally dubious things, for a greater good of sorts. Privacy is important, so of course Trexdis isn’t going to immediately go off and spy on some kid at home using her invisibility; Well, not always. Instead, sometimes she’ll arrange a meeting, under the innocuous guise of just ‘checking up’ with the parents or guardians, whichever, let them know how the kid is doing, it’s all routine and normal.

           And, Trexdis will drop small hints, little verbal cues, and gauge the reaction of whoever’s she talking to then. She’ll make it clear the child’s having a GREAT time at school, but it really depends on the situation. And, if she feels like it’s appropriate… Well, she might have a chat- Just bring up her curiosity. Allude to just how observant and careful she is, her wild imagination that goes out of control, there’s literally nothing the kid could be blamed for about this… Then, she might ask. Or not. Trexdis might allude to it, say she noticed this, she’s just a bit concerned, and depending on the reaction… Well, she can figure out a LOT from the reaction.

           Trexdis respects privacy, but she also CAN’T take any chances when a kid is at stake here. Especially if the issue in question IS as bad as she thinks it is, if it’s something Trexdis can’t just remedy at school, if it’s something that requires her to immediately step in, to put a STOP to this adult ASAP… Then, yeah- She’ll use her invisibility to check on a kid back home, and make sure they’re safe. It’s wrong and intrusive, but Trexdis is used to doing bad things for a better purpose. In some cases, the kid’s privacy is already being violated by someone else, so at the very least, Trexdis can make sure that when this is all said and done, she’ll never have to invade their privacy like that again, because they won’t need her to. It’s necessary closure.

           For peace of mind, Trexdis watches and quietly observes, totally unnoticed- And if she sees something that confirms the worst, then… Depending on just HOW bad it is, who knows? Maybe she’ll just outright step in to stop it. But probably not, that’s only rarely… Instead, she’ll arrange another meeting with the parents. Again, just a follow-up… And this time she’ll be a lot more direct about her curiosity and paranoid ‘imagination’, and outright ask if something’s the matter, if this kid is having issues. Trexdis can’t exactly call social services, her status with as a member of the Arkley Gang is kind of complicated… But amidst what cruelty she must inflict, Trexdis is determined to do at least some good, wherever she can.

           Trexdis will call out the parent. She won’t reveal the bombshell yet, if ever… But she’ll make it clear that yeah, there’s CLEARLY an issue here, and it’s her responsibility to check. Some ask her what right she has, that this isn’t Trexdis’ jurisdiction, but she’ll bat that aside, because hey, SOMEBODY has to step up when the parent clearly isn’t! And she can and WILL get serious… Trexdis wants to, and she only reins herself in for the sake of the kid. She doesn’t want to disrupt things for them, but sometimes…

           Sometimes, you just gotta do what needs to be done. Trexdis will get her point across, clear and bluntly- You do anything wrong, you make that kid uncomfortable… You make them feel responsible for this change of behavior, you do ANYTHING that isn’t to make their life better…

           …And she will know. She always does, she always finds out. Sometimes she’ll even drop the reveal that, yeah, she knew and SAW what happened last night, too!

            Usually, Trexdis makes the point while she casually, wordlessly reveals her own sword collection, or something like that. Yeah, she’s used to making threats, and the unusual status of Arkley’s as a school… It gives her a LOT of leeway to do plenty of things, she’s pretty high-up in a criminal organization, so Trexdis exercises plenty of resources and minions at her disposal. Normally she prefers to do it by herself, on her own, but you know how it is.

           If the parents still aren’t getting the point? Try to get mouthy, threaten to call the police on her, or something? Again… Trexdis has spent a LOT of time not being nice. Doing horrible, terrible things, and she’s accepted this by deciding to contribute it towards something greater and worthwhile in the end. She can and WILL get physical and kick someone’s ass, to get her point across; Because sometimes, nothing enrages her more than what she sees a parent do their own child. Sometimes she remembers how they took advantage of this kid, someone so vulnerable and dependent…

           And a part of her just snaps, decides screw it, the time for formalities or that stuff, it’s all done and gone- These people are twisted and need to be put in their place ASAP, as brutally as needs to be done, because no chances can be taken at the kid’s expense! Trexdis can and will get physical to prove her point, she’ll utterly terrify and thrash the abuser, and make threats that she will ALWAYS follow through on, if her conditions aren’t meant. Long ago she stopped worrying about who had the right to do this or that, now all she cares about is settling this, and doing what needs to be done.

           When the parent crawls back home, after being reminded by Trexdis not to let their kid know ANYTHING happened… She’ll of course follow them. Follow them the whole way through, invisible and undetected, to make sure they don’t break her rules. Trexdis will silently stalk and decide if the parents are trying to go behind her back, keep an eye out for them trying to abuse the kid, trying to take things out or accuse them. 

          If she catches them doing something wrong, she might just knock on their front door very loudly, as a reminder that SOMEBODY is watching… And again, if push comes to shove- Sometimes she HAS to step in personally and manhandle the abuser. She’ll of course be invisible, for anonymity and confidentiality, the kid has no idea what’s going on, and in some ways that’s more terrifying… But regardless, after the first time, the parents truly realize just how serious, just how far Trexdis’ eyes and ears can reach- And then they finally, truly, permanently stop.

           The poor kid is of course terrified, and it breaks Kate’s heart- But what else can she do? They were always going to be terrified no matter what happened… This way, the terror can finally end and stop, once this moment is over. And once Trexdis ensures everything is going along nicely, as she so kindly demanded… Sometimes, she’ll take matters into her own hands, and have Arkley just take the kid. If an environment is THAT toxic, Trexdis has no choice… And yeah, she knows what Arkley eventually has planned for those kids, too, she’s no idiot- But that’s why she has that plan to backstab him, to kill Arkley before he has the chance to really begin the torture and indoctrination.

           She’ll make an ACTUAL safe haven out of Arkley’s assets and resources, and to the kids there- Hopefully, nothing will have really changed, except for the better. In the meantime, Trexdis is busy, so a lot of times she’ll have an agent of the organization do things on her behalf, the Spirius Drones such as Nine or Ten prove useful in that regard. She can pull her strings well and subtly, to the point of being untraceable- And in some cases, she might just ask a student she trusts to befriend the kid, to give them support and much-needed solidarity.

          And, if Trexdis deems it necessary, if she deems the environment for the kid comfortable enough- She might drop the hints that, yes, things ARE going to get better and stay that way, and she knows- Because she’ll personally see through to it. Because that’s what she’s been doing. Trexdis of course prefers to operate in anonymity, but sometimes the kid wants or deserves an answer, and sometimes they feel better, knowing a trusted teacher is keeping watch over them. It really depends and Kate handles it with all of the tact she can, she’s not perfect… But in the midst of some mistakes, sometimes you just gotta keep trudging on stubbornly to get it over with and do what needs to be done, all temporary and momentary feelings or morality be damned.

[edmund-valks]

A Family Reunion - Part II

(( Continued from Part I ))

Like most fortresses, the community was much less secure once you were past its outer borders.  Ilandreline did little sprinting or sneaking after the encounter with Teth, instead strolling openly along the back roads and meandering paths.  Half-overgrown trails wended through the trees, their gently twisting branches drooping under the weight of their black-cherry leaves.  There were some early buds mixed in as well, presaging the brilliant blues and purples of spring.

What surprised her most was how good she felt.  Sure, her leg was still oozing blood through the aggravated scabbing and she had more bruises than she remembered getting and it was entirely possible someone else was going to try the same thing Teth had, but the air was so…  She inhaled deeply, unable to find a way to put it to words.  Wet, not damp, like the morning mist; light and crisp, cool, without being bone-chilling; heavy with so many scents she remembered more than knew.  The smells of wet leaves, freshly-churned black earth, distant hearthfires burning, all combined to something experienced rather than sensed.  This all really is a part of me, isn't it?

When Ila realized she had reached Mother's gate, she was momentarily disoriented.  Had she really just… daydreamed through half the village?  Just strolling idly, lost in thought while possibly being hunted by cranky relatives?  Gotta be more careful.  Good advice, especially here.  Stress manifested between her shoulder blades as soon as she passed into the compound, eyes trying to look everywhere at once.  She wasn't exactly on bad terms with her siblings or father, but one could never be too careful, especially this close to home.  Luckily none of them were in evidence, which meant no more excuses to avoid meeting with Mellura'thel.  Swearing beneath her breath, Ilandreline tossed open the door to the greenhouse without knocking.  "Mother, I- shit!"

She threw herself back out, then dove to one side.  Time away and nostalgia hadn't dulled her reflexes: the sight of Mellura'thel Glimmerbow spinning in fury at the interruption of her concentration was still a huge sign of possibly lethal consequences.  Scrambling back to her feet, Ila ran fullbore toward the house proper.  She almost made it.

While she generally preferred subtle methods, such as slow-acting poisons, Mellura'thel was still a highly skilled arcanist.  In situations where a poison wouldn't be reasonable, she could still ensure her ire was clear.  Currently this meant Ilandreline found herself lifted off her feet by heat-leeching tendrils of magic.  Wrapped around each limb, they pulled and pulled and pulled, until it felt like her joints were about to pop.  And were they still pulling?  She bit down hard on her lip, hoping not to scream when something finally tore.

The awful stretching stopped.  "Ilandreline?"  She was facing the wrong way, but she didn't have to see the look on her mother's face to know what it was when she heard her name in that tone.  "There are much more pleasant ways to die than bothering me while I'm working. Surely you recognize that.  I don't recall raising any simpletons."

"Sorry, Mother.  I wasn't thinking."  She was barely thinking now, either, unless it was about how breathing wrong might dislocate four joints at once.  "Do you think you could… let me down?  Walking is going to be real hard if my leg gets popped out of its socket."

The shadowy pseudopods lowered her to the ground instead of simply dropping her.  A surprise, to be sure, but welcome.  Ila turned, facing her mother with a sheepish smile.  "Thanks.  I hope I didn't ruin any of your work."

"I lost nothing but time."  That wasn't a killing offense.  Not by itself.  "Why are you back so soon, daughter?  I thought we agreed you were unlikely to return."

That was an interesting way to describe telling her daughter she didn't contribute positively to the community and therefore wasn't much use, but okay.  "I wanted-"  She stopped herself with a frown.  "No, I need to talk to Grandmother.  I thought about what you said and while I still think you're wrong, it brought up some other stuff."

The only hints at her total surprise were the raised eyebrows and two quick blinks.  "I see.  And you came here because…?"

"I thought it would be best to let you know I was here rather than waiting for you to find out later.  Or see me and suspect I was some kind of illusory spy."

"Reasonable," Mellura'thel admitted.  "Perhaps even wise.  You did not travel through the Nightwood this time, did you?"

Ila shook her head.

"Why not?"

Kind of a silly question, given how things had gone last time, to her mind.  "I wasn't sure my, uh, access was still valid.  I'm actually pretty sure the paths no longer recognize me as part of the family.  Rather than take that chance, I came the hard way, from the east."

A long silence.  "I think you made the right decision, if you insist on being here at all.  Did no one stop you at the barrier?"

"Tried.  Ignored me when I reminded him it was up to Grandmother to decide my fate, not some prick with a bow and a grudge."

Her mother's mouth bowed downward, an expression of distaste.  "The guardian claimed exemption from her rules?"

Sure did, didn't you, Teth?  "Said her opinions didn't matter since he worked for Grandfather."

"And what did you say in response?"

Ila shrugged.  "Not much.  Kicked him into a spike pit and broke his bow."

Was that a flash of amusement in Mother's eyes?  Maybe even pride?  "What else?"  Did you kill him, she was asking.

"Nothing."  She didn't need to know Ila had taken the ritual blade binding him to the family.  That was for Grandmother alone.  "He was unconscious and had a wooden spike through his arm, figured that was sufficient for the time being."

"Mm.  I've warned you about leaving enemies alive, daughter."

"And under normal circumstances you know I wouldn't have, but he was mostly within his rights.  Besides, given the… uncertainty… around whether I'm still part of the family, I figured it was best to leave the decision to Grandmother."

Though she grimaced, Mellura'thel agreed.  The family matriarch was an absolute terror to cross.  Very few survived the experience.  "I see.  That is a… not unreasonable opinion to hold.  The consequences would certainly be dire if you had done otherwise and been wrong."  She paused, then took Ila's hand in hers.  "I am glad you are making good decisions, daughter."

It was Ilandreline's turn to be bamboozled, staring at her mother as if she was now three-headed and shooting rainbows from her ears.  That was the closest she'd ever heard Mellura'thel get to saying something like "I love you."  The sensation was unnerving.  “I… thanks.  Um.  I should… go talk to Grandmother now, right?”  The thought of having to deal with parental affection was stressing her out.  It would be much better to be doing something else.

“Yes, I believe so.”  Perfect.  She’d just be on her way then, no more awkward feelings-  “I will take you there myself.”

“Buh?”  It wasn’t the most eloquent statement, but it did accurately express her mental state.  “Why?”

“I am your mother.  She is my mother.  This way there can be no question that you are under her protection -- and mine.  Come now.”  Mellura’thel began walking.  She was halfway across the courtyard before Ila was convinced this wasn’t some elaborate joke tapping into a sense of humour her mother had never before displayed.

Hurrying to catch up, which meant a peculiar gait incorporating the mild limp from her wounded leg, Ilandreline tried to think her way through this unexpected course of events.  It wasn’t easy; her mother was talking to her.  “Remind me who Teth is.”

“Why?”

“Because he has volunteered his life and I would like to remember who we are planning to give to the Great Dark.”

Oh, right.  That.  “Um.  Do you… do you remember when Von was going to be married?”  Von was her oldest sister.  “Her spouse-to-be was Teth’s sister.”

Peripheral vision showed Mother’s lips thinning as they pressed together.  Engagements were not uncommon, but their being ended was.  More often than not they were arranged by families in order to make or keep certain alliances.  Even though Ila hated politics, ignoring them was a recipe for disaster.

“I remember her.  Stella, yes?”

She shrugged.  “That’s what Von called her.  I’m sure she had a longer name, just like Teth does, but I don’t remember either of ‘em.”

“Immaterial.”  Mellura’thel’s hand waved it away.  “What matters is that Vondariel was right to end things.  I presume this ‘Teth’ felt some residual and misplaced anger at the familial shame resultant from her decision to terminate that relationship.”

Ila laughed nervously, deeply grateful her mother was bad at recognizing certain emotions.  Someone more perceptive -- namely the person they were on their way to see -- would have pulled from her the real reason behind Teth’s hatred.  It was only indirectly connected to Von and Stella.  Thankfully only she and Von knew the truth, and neither of them were going to share.  “Yeah, that’s… that’s probably it.”

There was no further conversation, praise the Dark.  They reached Grandmother’s without incident, at which point Mellura’thel held the gate open for her daughter.  She even smiled, at least to the extent she ever did.  Ila was sure she had to say something then, though she didn’t know what was happening.  “Thanks,” she said, trying to return the smile with one of her own.  “I, um, appreciate… this.”

“You are welcome, Ilandreline.  Return home when you are finished here.  You must tell me what Mother decides.”  She closed the gate between them before Ila could respond and immediately started back the way they’d come.

It wasn’t even a request.  She commanded it!  Shaking her head, thoroughly puzzled, Ila turned to her Grandmother’s door.  It looked harmless, but she knew very well what lurked behind that facade.  “This,” she reminded herself, “is exactly why I’m here.  Also possibly the worst idea I’ve ever had.”

Tasting fear when she swallowed, Ilandreline knocked on the door and waited.

***

Unlike a number of other relatives, Grandmother only made you wait if she wanted you to think about what you’d done.  That Ilandreline waited for less than a minute -- the approximate time one would expect it to take for an elderly woman with aching joints to put her knitting down, extricate herself from a cushioned chair, and cross the room, muttering mild oaths about both visitors and her knees all the while -- was a good sign as things went.  Unless Granny Laine was just that excited about the chance to ruin her life.  The old woman did take a certain joy in making sure she never had to teach anyone the same lesson twice.

The door, simple wood by appearance and so utterly benign to the peculiar sight of her family that Ila was absolutely certain the wards were incredibly brutal in addition to subtle, opened slowly to reveal the eldest of her relatives.  “My, my, my.  Ilandreline!  What a surprise!” she said, sounding entirely unsurprised.  “Come in, my dear.”

Ila did so, trying to keep herself together despite the storm of emotions.  Seeing her mother again, even lying to her, was a simple thing.  Being in proximity to Grandmother?  She managed to keep herself from trembling as she stepped into the small entryway.  There was a fire in the hearth down the hall, in the sitting room, its light near to blinding to her unshielded eyes.  The other opening from where she stood led to the kitchen.  She heard nothing from that direction but was willing to bet there was a pot of tea already prepared.

When the door shut again, the soft click of its latch sent a faint shiver down her spine.  You’re in it now.  Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she turned around.

The first thing most people noticed upon meeting Eldest Aurelaine, Voice of the Great Dark, was that she was old.  Not ageless, as many of her people were, not even weathered, but like a human in the late throes of senescence.  The beauty of youth, assuming she'd had it, was long gone.  In its wake was a slightly hunched, wizened figure, with fiercely glowing eyes of midnight.  What there was not was any sense of frailty; despite the wrinkles and sometimes sagging, sometimes too taut flesh, Aurelaine remained a figure of raw power.

Ila had no idea how old her grandmother really was, nor even if she was a blood relative.  It wasn't important, so she'd never wasted any time trying to find out.  Family was what they all were, in that they were united in faith and purpose.  At the same time, family was no protection or deterrent.  Love happened however it worked out for the involved parties, but partnering was often directed for certain purposes by the elders.  Same with the occasional murder/sacrifice.  (Killing in self-defense was acceptable, but always investigated; lying about it had… unpleasant results.)

"How've you been, child?  Has the larger world treated you right?"  The way Aurelaine asked suggested there would be consequences for Azeroth if it hadn't.  Perhaps that was a little girl's belief in the most trusted person in her life.  Then again, if anyone could threaten the whole planet…

Ilandreline drew back enough to look the matriarch in the eyes, not bothering to hold back her grin.  "Nothing I couldn't handle.  It's… a bit lonely, though.  I've made a few friends, I think, and they're better behaved than most people around here, but, you know… It's not the same."

An understanding nod.  "Leaving home is like that.  If you stay here long enough, though, you'll remember why you left.  That's why the saying goes how it does, why you can never go home again."  To another viewer, the way her lips pulled back may have looked malicious; Ila saw in it amusement instead.  "You're never the same person who left.  That's a good thing."

Before she could stop herself, Ila blurted, “But I’m here anyway, so is it really?”  Her mouth failed to close afterward, her brain having caught up too late to prevent anything.  She did bring a hand up, though, politely hiding her appalled gawping behind it.

“Oh, it’s good to have you back, little Lina,” the old woman said, a low chuckle working its way up from deep in her chest.  “You always bring excitement with you.  Come.  Sit.  There’s tea and cookies next to your chair.”

“I… what?  You… knew?”  Of course she knew, Grandmother always knew, but…

She prodded Ila in the soft flesh below her ribs, an almost gentle poke with her rather pointed finger.  “Of course I did, girl, don’t be silly.  I’ve known since the last Prelude Night that you’d be coming home soon.  How soon I wasn’t sure, not until that business down south.”  Still laughing to herself, Aurelaine ambled by, taking her own advice by heading for the sitting room.

Ilandreline found herself struck dumb for a moment, blinking at nothing as she grappled with the difference between expectation and reality.  If she’d been expected, then shouldn’t everyone have been reminded to let her in?  Or was that part of some test, too?  Was she being evaluated somehow?  That felt more like something Mother would have come up with, but surely she’d gotten it from somewhere.  Chewing her lip, she eyed Aurelaine for a moment before following.

For whatever reason, Granny Laine had always liked her.  Nobody knew why, but the matriarch of their family was not someone you questioned if you enjoyed living.  She was crafty, ruthless, and -- it was rumoured -- undying.  As in she couldn't die, not that she was in possession of immortality.  Few people were fool enough to test it and, of those who did, only Grandfather was still alive.  Assuming that one considered his unnatural state of being counted as “alive”.  If Granny was going to act like everything was okay, like this was a visit from her grandchild no different from any other, then… perhaps Ila could let go of some of the fear.  Or perhaps the tea and cookies would take care of that for her.

Conceding to the wisdom of her elder, Ilandreline followed after.  The firelight was enough to force her to squint for most of the way, but once she settled in, the light level seemed reasonable.  Ah, the screen isn’t high enough for that…  She frowned, thinking about the standing grate straining brightness for the eyes of the seated.  No, it is high enough, but only barely for her.  Anyone taller would be affected.  A defense mechanism, even here.  No wonder she was still alive.

The chair -- “your chair”, she’d said, granting it an unexpected level of personal relevance -- was as comfortable but smaller than she remembered.  No, that wasn’t quite right.  Ila was simply larger than she’d been in any of those memories.  As promised, there was a delicate porcelain cup and saucer, the former full of still-steaming tea.  Beside it was a small plate, simple stoneware, with an array of cookies on it.  Sweets were something she rarely trusted, but here…  She took one, halving it with a single bite.

For a moment she was a girl again, sharing the tiny cake she'd made with her favourite relative.  She'd made it herself, from scratch, with all ingredients but the most difficult collected on her own.  It hadn't been great, but Granny Laine knew how hard she'd tried.  The effort deserved praise, and that she wished to share was noteworthy.  Ila had gotten some very useful feedback that day, along with advice she hadn't understood at the time.  She'd remembered it all the same and was glad she had.

The present returned with a dizzying crash.  Setting aside the cookie for the moment, Ilandreline picked up cup and saucer, hoping she wouldn’t shake too much.  It was very noticeable if you did, and an irritating sound.  So far, so good.  A sip, to test the flavours and show her trust.  Then and only then could she let herself meet her grandmother’s eyes.

“Thank you,” she half-mumbled, not sure where to start.  “For, um, all this.”

Aurelaine’s amusement was expressed via snort rather than laughter, dark eyes glittering ominously above her own cup.  “Don’t thank me yet, child.  This isn’t a social call, you’re here for a reason.  I’m only putting you at ease so you can feel the right kind of fear later.”  There was her grin, properly discomfiting.  “We can do the smalltalk first, if you like, but if you’d prefer to get it out of the way now-”

“Yes, please!”  The words tumbled out without her conscious participation.  There was also an irritating rattling sound now.  Frowning, Ila glanced furtively about, trying to place the noise.  Oh.  Her hands were shaking, the cup and saucer clattering against one another.  The fear hadn’t left after all.  Deliberately setting them aside, she curled her hands into fists, digging nails into palms to help her focus.  “I… I want a place here.  My place here, I mean, not one Mother or someone else would have planned for me.”

A subtle movement in lieu of a nod.  “And what does that have to do with me?”  She sipped her tea calmly, in what would have been a pleasant scene for a painting what with the way the firelight danced and lit her profile, providing a sort of halo around the loose bun of iron-grey hair pinned atop her head.  “You said you wanted your place.”

Ila frowned, trying to get the tracks of her mind united on the single puzzle before her, how to talk to Grandmother.  “I do.”  She licked her lips, swallowed, exhaled.  Certain little acts were soothing.  Also the fingernails pressed harder against the soft flesh of her hands.  Focus, focus.  “What I mean is that my place in the family has to tie in with what you think of as my place, or else I’m… not really part of the family, am I?”

“Is that really what you think?”

“No,” she answered immediately, then flinched as she heard her word.

Cackling, Aurelaine placed her drink on the side table, rubbing her hands together as she hunched forward.  “I appreciate the honesty.  It was a good try, your explanation, the kind of thing your mother would approve of.  But you’re here with me, not her, so let’s try it one more time.  Why do you think your place here has anything to do with me?”

“Because you’re the only one who didn’t try to change me.”  She felt the truth of the statement in her bones, though she hadn’t realized she knew it.  “Mother wanted me to be like her.  Father didn’t care what I did so long as I wasn’t in his way.  Sandy and Von and all the rest… well.  We learned to live with each other with minimal bloodshed, but I’m not sure that counts as having a place.”

Silence and raised eyebrows.  The standard indicator that the question had not yet been answered.

“If I’m going to have any place here, it’s through you.  Not just because you seem to think there’s something about me worth caring for, but also because you’re the only one with enough influence to make everyone else understand I do belong.  I’m not a sacrifice waiting to be made, or a failure who’s going to weed herself out!  This is my family, too, and I deserve to be a part of it!”

Grandmother’s smile wasn’t menacing to Ila.  It was the same one more than a few relatives had seen right before their deaths, but that didn’t bother her.  She associated it with the best parts of her childhood rather than the last moments of lives.  This time, though, she sensed some kind of darkness to it, what she would have called a spiritual chill if she’d been more inclined to faith.

“You’re right, dear girl.  On all counts.  And that’s the cleverness I’ve always liked about you.  You know the rules of the games, know you have to play them even if you don’t like them.  You’re a survivor who knows better than to fight a system that would destroy you.  But there’s more to it than that.”  She leaned back finally, relaxing into the padding of her chair, fingertips curling like talons over its cushioned arms.  “How long has it been since you’ve heard the voices, Lina?”

The question was so unexpected it left her at a loss for long seconds, scrambling to process and find the answer.  “I… I don’t know?  Other than the, um, couple times recently when I used the knife, it’s been…”  She looked up at the plain ceiling, not really seeing the thick beam supports as she made referential calculations.  “Since the nightmares stopped.  That first year after Consecration, I think.”

“Are you sure?  You stopped hearing them so long ago and haven’t heard them since?”  The question had the hallmarks of a trap, but she couldn’t understand how it could be.

“I… Yes?  I’m fairly sure.  The nightmares and the voices were all part of the same thing, so once I learned to tune them out, I-”  She stopped, teeth clicking as they came together.  Trap sprung.

Soft laughter from across the room.  “They’re still there, aren’t they?”

Ilandreline nodded, not trusting herself to speak, not knowing what she would say even if she did.

“And you’ve always avoided the little... perks... of your heritage ever since then, haven’t you?  Because you knew that if you opened up, even a tiny bit, you’d hear them again.  The dreams would come back.  Isn’t that right?”

More wordless agreement.

“You’ve proven you have the will, child.  Most of the others went mad, but you learned to shut them out.  There aren’t many like us, you know.”  Granny Laine stood then, with obvious effort, crossing the space between to put a gnarled hand beneath her granddaughter’s chin, tilting her head up to look her in the eye with uncomfortable intensity.  “That’s why I gave you my knife at your Consecration, Lina.  That’s why you’ve been allowed to be yourself for so long.  I wanted to see where you’d go with that freedom, what you’d do with it.  And it’s brought you back here, hasn’t it?  Here to us, to me, asking for help to find what’s been missing from your life for so long.  Your place, yes?”

There was a yawning precipice before her, Ilandreline knew.  Her grandmother was almost certainly about to push her over and into it.  The question was whether she would also catch her.

“If you want to know how I see you, you’ll have to spend some time here.  I don’t take apprentices often.  Or lightly.  Ours isn’t an easy faith to administer, after all.”

“H-how long?  To stay, I mean.  I have friends, you know, and they’re probably going to wonder where I am if I-”

Aurelaine squeezed her jaw -- gently, but enough to stop her talking.  “It won’t be all at once.  Stay the week, eh?  If you’re still sane at the end of it, we’ll talk about when your proper lessons will begin.”

A week.  She could do a week.  Probably.  Ila nodded, barely shifting the surprisingly strong grip of the Eldest.  “I… alright.  As long as you answer my questions.”

“Of course.”  Grandmother’s voice softened, lowered, until it would have easily been lost amongst the whispers Ilandreline had ceased noticing.  “But you’ll regret asking them when I do.”

[yourknightingale]

truth or truth: car edition

Probably my only contribution to this Bechloe week. Sorry for late post! I didn’t know I could make it. This is for the prompt TRUTH OR DARE.

Summary: Beca and Chloe take a short road trip. Car conversations can get a little out of hand sometimes.

———

An hour and a half into a 4-hour road trip, Beca had made herself comfortable and ready to nap in the passenger seat. A soft but weighty object flew to her shoulders with a pound.

“Beale! What?”, she jolted awake and turned to the driver side. She clutched the neck pillow that landed on her lap. “You know they fill this with beans, right? Dried beans! That kinda hurt, dude. What was that for?”

Chloe, who was firmly looking ahead and concentrating on the drive, replied with a scoff. “That’s not fair, Beca. You’re not allowed to sleep. It’s only 4 hours and you have to stay awake to keep ME awake. Passenger seat duty.”

Beca mumbled under her breath.

“Okay, if you keep doing that, I’ll have to pull over at the next gas station and we’ll switch. You drive. I sleep.”

The brunette straightened up right away. Shuffling a little in her seat so she can settle, she said, “Your driving skills are better than mine and you know it.”

Chloe lifted her right arm and made a thumb-up gesture without taking her eyes off the road to which the other girl just shook her head. Beca pulled out her phone from her pocket and plugged it in the car radio. It didn’t take long for the Corolla to be filled with music with just two people on their way to a wedding venue.

After 5 songs, Beca started skipping and reshuffling her playlist. “Sorry, Chlo. I’m not feeling my music today. You still good?”

“Yeah. Just actually getting bored. Highways aren’t really fun.”

“How about I turn this down and I just talk?”

Chloe raises an eyebrow. “You sure? I know I said I don’t want you to sleep but I don’t know about talking Beca.”

“Shut up, I ain’t telling you deep stuff. I don’t know. Car games?”

“Like what exactly? All of my senses are focused on this road.”

“I Spy?”

“I don’t want so much of a distraction while driving.”

“Guess what kind of fruit I am?”

“Really? No. Try again.”

“Truth or dare?”

“Unless you’re gonna dare me to switch driving, probably not a good idea. Truth or truth, yes.”

“Alright, truth or truth then. So it’s like truth or dare. Except it’s all truth. And you have to answer, no passes.”

“Cool, I guess. It’s like having a normal conversation.” She teased.

“That’s what you’d think. I go first. Truth: Why am I here with you?”

“Wow, starting off really strong there, Becs. First of all, you’re still a Bella. And this is a Bella wedding. Aren’t you excited to see Cynthia Rose? And her partner? And weddings? And free food.”

“Are those questions your truth?”

“No. Here’s truth for you: Are you still scared of showing you care for your friends even though this occasion can serve as our mini Bella reunion one long year after our graduation?”

Beca rolled her eyes. “No, it’s just that it’s in the middle of nowhere. And I’m too tired to drive. And that’s why you’re doing this which I appreciate, but it seemed a little unnecessary. My butt hurts.” She paused. “Beale, truth. Are you fond of weddings?”

“Yeah. What’s not to like? Friends are there. Free food. Love is everywhere. Your turn, Beca, truth. Why aren’t you?”

“Well, it’s not like I’m not fond of them. Weddings are okay. It’s just that it’s..” The brunette trailed off.

“You know it’s probably gonna be legalized in all states this year. We don’t have to drive 4 hours to be free.”

“You’re one hopeful beacon, Beale. I don’t know where you get it from. Truth: If the states don’t legalize anything this year, would you drive 4 hours to get married?”

“Oh, Beca. Is this your way of asking if I’m gay?” The brunette flushed red and stutters inaudibly. Chloe just laughed. “In 4 years that we’ve known each other, you can’t tell?”

“It’s not like you’re very obvious. I haven’t seen you with anyone since Turd from when we first met.”

“Tom.”

“Whatever.”

“And to answer your question, yes, I’ll probably have to drive to where it is legal. Canada, maybe.”

“Dude, you’d go that far?”

“Why, truth Beca, wouldn’t you?”

A brief hesitation from Beca gave this back-and-forth a short halt. “Maybe. I would.”

“Cool. Maybe we should go.” Chloe turned her head and gave Beca a wink.

“Dude!” The brunette gently pushed Chloe’s cheek so she’d face forward. “Look at where you’re driving!”

Chloe just smiled and teased again, saying, “For all I know, you’re just hiding a blush.”

“Dude, stop.” Beca didn’t want her to know she was right.

Half an hour of silence went by. Near empty roads still dominated their trip. Beca tried reshuffling her music, but decidedly turned the volume low after a while.

“Chlo,” Out of nowhere, she started, “can we pull over?”

“Do you need to go? There’s a gas station in about 3 minutes.”

“Not that. I just need you to not be driving while I say this. Beale, truth, do you think you can l-“

“Hold that thought, Beca Mitchell.” Chloe aggressively gassed it and sped up, they reached the station a minute and 15 seconds early. The car even made a squeaky sound as it stopped to park. Beca was sure she saw the back tires smoke.

Chloe unbuckled herself and turned to the passenger seat. “You were saying?”

Suddenly feeling indecisive, Beca tried to hold back what she was about to confess. “Uhm, I was gonna say, truth: Do you think you can stop for a bathroom break?”

“Mitchell, I swear that’s not what you were gonna say.” Chloe held Beca’s gaze until the other girl looked down on her phone. “Fine, no more truths. Dare. I pick dare.”

“Wait, we’re still playing?”

“Yes. Beca Mitchell, I dare you to ask what you were gonna ask.”

Beca furrowed her brows in slight confusion. “I don’t think you can change the rules.”

“I’m parked now.”

“Chlo, I think it’s best for both of us if I don’t.”

“Just continue, Becs. Do you think I can what?”

Beca sighed in defeat. In a low hushed voice, she uttered, “Do you think you can like me..back.. if I say I like you?”

“What do you mean? I already like you. Is that your truth? Cuz that makes it my turn now.”

“Chloe, I’m not playing anymore.”

“I say dare. I dare you.”

“Chloe, no. You’re misunderstanding me.”

“I dare you to love me.”

It was quiet for a few seconds. Beca could barely look at Chloe and she could tell that the redhead hadn’t looked away from her yet.

“I need some air.” She didn’t wait for a reply. Beca just opened the door and started walking towards the convenience store. Before she could go too far, she heard her name.

“Beca, wait.”

When she looked back, she could see Chloe half-sprinting towards her. “I didn’t mean to scare you with that. I meant it though. I guess I just wanted you to not just like me. I’ve been into you since day one, did you know that? I felt the rush when you asked me if I can ever like you back.”

Beca laughed a little. “Sorry, worst timing for a laugh ever. I just…” she started laughing a bit more, Chloe even joined her. “Did you really just dare me to love you?”

Chloe, in pure happy disbelief, replied, “You can be a little clueless sometimes.” She took a step closer to Beca and leaned in to give her forehead a little kiss. “Let’s get back in the car. We still have almost an hour to drive.”

Beca’s heart raced and with the adrenaline pumping (brought about by their conversation, absurd dare, and a tiny gesture of affection), she volunteered to drive the rest of the way. In one condition. That Chloe didn’t sleep and should talk to her about the possibility of their new relationship.

[kingofthewilderwest]

In Race to the edge, I do think that Heather is a good character in terms of being well developed and contributing to the storylines, but there are just certain aspects about her that stop me liking her. She just comes across as full of herself and really boar headed. I know that Hiccup is boar headed as well, but unlike him, Heather never listens to anyone. She talks down to the other characters as well, albeit not in a comical way like Snotlout and the twins do. With her it is more nasty.

I think it’s perfectly fine to recognize a character is a well-developed, good character, but at the same time not enjoy her presence on screen! In many cases, writing a good character means that the audience will hate them (Solf J. Kimblee and Shou Tucker from FMAB come to mind). Regardless, whatever the writer’s intent for characters, we all have the right to dislike or like the characters we do. Even if we fully understand why the character was written into a story, that doesn’t mean we have to connect and fawn over them. So you do you with Heather! That’s chill!

That said, I do think there’s an important distinction to make between Heather and Hiccup’s personalities and life choices. These two characters might both be boar-headed, but they come from very different life circumstances. 

Heather is a character who lacks trust in others. She’s gone through many traumatic events, from being separated from her birth parents, to watching the Outcasts kidnap her adoptive parents, to watching invaders destroy her hometown and kill many people including her adoptive parents, to fending for herself with no humans to support her, to learning that the sociopath behind her misery is her biological brother. All these circumstances have scarred Heather to the point that trusting others is legitimately challenging - even daunting. 

There gets to be a point in peoples’ lives that, when they’ve been repeatedly harmed by others… they lack the innate ability to form meaningful trusting relationships, even when they yearn to connect. There’s this constant internal dialogue taunting you, saying that you’re destined to be alone, that everyone will leave you because everyone always has. It becomes a game of fighting yourself and somehow reversing negative beliefs you’ve held for years.

Now, it’s not that Hiccup hasn’t had hard points in life too. I mean, he lost a freaking leg as a teenager! He had rough differences of opinion with his father, too. But he didn’t develop the trauma and vast insecurities Heather did. And while Hiccup’s had harrowing escapades with enemies like Alvin and Dagur, Hiccup’s emotionally improved throughout his teenaged years because his social network has increasingly supported him. Hiccup has become more confident, more comfortable, and happier. Hiccup has been able to trust his peers; he has a close-knit social network he knows he can count on, a father who believes in him, and a best friend dragon who stays by his side through anything.

Hiccup isn’t in a psychological situation where trust is hard to understand. He hasn’t been conditioned by negative experiences to the point that his internal dialogue is telling him his friends can never be reliable. Hiccup makes his boar-headed decisions for different reasons than Heather does. When Heather acts in her own interests, it’s not that she’s justified doing those things… she’s still making wrong choices that hurt others… but I think it’s understandable given her painful background. And frankly, that fear you’ll always be alone, that suspicion even the nicest people will have to leave you behind… it is HARD AS HELHEIM to unlearn.

We see this struggle in Heather throughout Race to the Edge. Heather doesn’t listen to the others because she’s scared to trust them. Heather acts on her own self-interests because she thinks that no one else will take care of her.

In Have Dragons, Will Travel, Heather says that she believes she’s destined to be alone. She’s gotten to such a low point that, even though she’s in the company of friendly people, she doesn’t think she belongs with them. She believes she’s been cast out alone, and that’s how life will continue.

Hiccup: I talked to Johann. He told me Dagur wiped out your village… and your family. I’m sorry.Heather: Then you know why he has to pay.Hiccup: I do. But you don’t have to do this alone.Heather: I don’t know. It seems that I’m destined to be alone.

Heather is unable to trust the dragon riding gang. She’s skittish. Even though she’s touched that they’re trying to do well for her, she’s also so accustomed to fighting for herself. Fearful that these people will turn against her, she can’t trust them with basic friendship instincts. She locks up their dragons, which is definitely for her own self-interest and their harm… and she’s doing it out of fear, from lack of trust.

Heather: Look, I’m sorry I locked up your dragons. I just didn’t trust that you guys would let me go after Dagur.

Heather’s fragile fears break when all the riders are tell Heather that attacking Dagur is a bad idea. Heather’s response that they’re “all talk” rather than friends. Now, it’s true that real friends stop others from doing foolish things. Fishlegs, Snotlout, and Astrid aren’t wrong to question Heather here. Heather’s reaction is emotional rather than logical. However, I find it very realistic given her situation. It’s a response I have seen MANY TIMES by people who’ve been scarred by trust:

Fishlegs: Wait a minute. You want us to go into battle with Dagur and the Beserkers without Hiccup and Toothless?Heather: Guys, I wish Hiccup and Toothless were here, trust me. But they’re not. And we can’t wait. Fishlegs: I have to say any aerial assault of this magnitude would be foolish without Toothless. He’s the most powerful dragon in our arsenal. Heather: You heard Johann, Astrid. This is our last chance. Tell them.Astrid: Well… Look, Heather…Heather: You too?! Just forget it. All that stuff about trust and having my back… I guess that was just talk!

Heather is so accustomed to being alone that when she sees her friends being less-than-rosy to her, her fears kick in, and she believes they’re full-out against her (because everyone’s always been against her, she feels). 

Heather again demonstrates an inability to trust Hiccup in Snow Way Out. To be fair, she’s grown. She trusts Astrid enough to give Astrid information about the dragon hunters. At the same time, old habits and deep fears are hard to overcome. We see that Heather still is acting with limited trust, believing Hiccup wouldn’t react the right way to her spying, and that Astrid isn’t judging the situation right when she suggests they tell Hiccup.

Astrid: We should tell Hiccup what we’re doing, this doesn’t feel right.Heather: No. We agreed.Astrid: I’ve never lied to him before!Heather: I know. But this is the best way to take the Dragon Hunters down. From the inside.Astrid: Hiccup could help us! He’s really good at this stuff.Heather: He also cares too much. Astrid, if we told Hiccup that I was spying on the Hunters, we both know he’d try to pull me out of there.

To Heather or Not to Heather also shows Heather’s struggles continuing. Since she’s inclined to be alone, she’s quick to give up and believe she isn’t going to be part of the dragon riding gang. Windshear starts acting up, and Heather’s immediate response is that “this isn’t meant to be.”

Heather: Windshear doesn’t belong with other dragons. And no matter how much I love being on Dragon’s Edge, I’m not gonna choose all of you over her.Fishlegs: But you haven’t even given it a chance. Hiccup is the best dragon trainer there is. I’ve seen him do things I never thought were possible. Heather: I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Really, I do. I just can’t take the risk.Fishlegs: Okay. I wasn’t gonna say this, but here it goes. I don’t want to go back to being long-distance Terror mail pals. I want you here.Heather: And I feel the same way. Believe me. But Windshear has spent her whole life with me. Protecting me, and watching over me. That’s all she knows how to do. I’m sorry, Fishlegs.Fishlegs: I have an idea. I’ll never ask you again, but please, just this once, trust me, Heather.

“Please, just this once, trust me, Heather.”

Even with the man Heather is starting to attach romantic affections with, she’s finding some difficulties trusting still.

I know I’m talking mostly about her in the first few seasons, but since this is the starting point of Heather (and her character arc conclusion is getting to the point she can even trust Dagur again in Gold Rush), I think this is the context whereby we can understand why she acts the way she does for the whole series.

It’s true that Heather is boar-headed at times, and it’s true that not all her boar-headed choices are based on lack of trust. It’s true sometimes she says things that are somewhat scathing to other dragon riders. But to be fair, the dialogue in the DreamWorks Dragons shows has Astrid and Hiccup saying some pretty scathing things to the twins and Snotlout, too. The friendship dynamic of the Edge is one of constantly haranguing on each other. In a weird way, the fact Heather starts dishing on the others has always felt to me like a depiction she’s finally part enough of the gang to understand their dynamics and get in on them. Doesn’t mean that all the insults the gang says to one another are justified, but it’s interesting to think that Heather starts picking up the crew’s interactions and becoming a part of them.

It’s also true that I don’t remember the middle seasons of rtte as well and am not talking about how she acts during those either! 

So it’s not that Heather’s always justified in how she treats others or how she acts in her own interests. However, I think that we do have to understand Heather in this light of her psychology. Lots of the times Heather charges out on her own is because her life’s been conditioned that way, and she’s stuck in a psychological rut fearing that only she can help herself. She does also have a growth arc where she gets better about these things.

In the same way, when Hiccup acts boar-headed, stubborn, and aggressive in RTTE, it’s because of underlying insecurity. He feels uncomfortable being bested by Viggo. It starts to eat at him. Hiccup makes riskier, daring, and sometimes more stubbornly foolish choices… because of what he’s internally fighting through. It doesn’t take away the fact this is a character weakness for him. Faults are faults. But it does mean we can understand why he’s in this mental framework, too.

Whether or not we like Hiccup for acting that aggressive, or Heather for acting in her own self-defense, it’s up to us how we feel about them. And liking or hating them, even when we understand their dynamics, is a part of us being humans with opinions. No opinion of “I like this character” or “I dislike this character” is wrong! I suppose I personally don’t call Heather “nasty,” but “scarred and struggling.” She’s also a character I connect with and love in RTTE. That said, even if she didn’t have a background reason for being a little harsher in the story, it doesn’t change the fact that we can acknowledge characters who are good for storylines but might not be our personal faves. We all have different relationships with characters, and we don’t have to love all of them! For me, I’m happy to love Heather. For you, you might not connect, and there are other characters you enjoy seeing on screen!

Take care and stay awesome. Have a good one!

[saltylikecrait]

Blue - Post-TLJ fic

For @finnreyfridays​; (why are there no thematic line breaks on Tumblr anymore?) Have an angsty one-shot featuring secrets and Rogue One.

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Going to Scarif bothered him. Not that he thought it was dangerous – radiation levels were far lower than the New Republic originally predicted and safe enough for humans to explore – it was the fact he knew what had happened there long before he was born. The First Order taught about the fall of Scarif like the world had been infested with vermin instead of a small group of rebels and that the life on the world hadn’t been extinguished quick enough. That had been the start of the Empire’s fall, he was told, for the rebels had gained what they needed for their first major victory. Everything after had been a domino effect.

When he ended up with the Resistance, Finn learned another side to the story. He learned about the group that went to Scarif, knowing it was a suicide mission. About the defector that made it all possible, the woman who found a sense of purpose and gave the rebellion hope again, the spy that wanted to make things right…

Finn thought he might have found a group he had a few things in common with, too bad that none of them survived to see the fruits of their labor…

Scarif was still thought of as a dead planet, like Jedha before it. The idea of going to a ghost of a world made Finn uncomfortable.

“I don’t think we’re gonna find much, Finn,” Rose told him while they were packing up. “A dead planet’s a dead planet. If anything is alive there, it’s just gonna be plants.”

Really, they were just going there to scout the area to see what they could find. Imperial remnants, a natural formation that would be a perfect hideout, First Order operations...

It was a small group going: Finn, Rose, Rey, Chewbacca, and C’ai. Everyone had their roles, whether it was scouting and surveying, mechanics, or flying. It would only be a short trip and their transport was hence only prepped for less than a week of rations.

Upon arrival, the group looked down below to the blue planet they were about to land on in silence. The New Republic made sure that everyone had remembered Scarif. Few ventured to this world, convinced that only the ghosts of Imperials and Rebels still walked it.

C’ai glanced at the world confused, then looked down at his geographical map and back to the world again. [This isn’t right,] he said. [Nothing matches. Were we given the right maps?]

Rose was the one to step in, trying to help decipher the issue.

“It’s the right map, but outdated. I think the Death Star’s blast must have altered the landscape.” She pointed to a spot on the map. “Look, this kind of matches, but maybe it was flooded.”

C’ai nodded, though he did not seem happy with that answer. This meant he would have to rethink where they would land and that they couldn’t rely on their maps when they explored the area. He scanned the world and the part of it he had originally intended to land on, recalculating the best place and one that might not have any natural obstacles that could prevent them from getting off and getting back on the shuttle. Finally, he found a clearing on a sandbar large enough to be an island.

The first thing Finn noticed about Scarif was how blue the sea and sky were. Finn felt a sense of surrealism as he looked around the tropical landscape. The sun was warm against his skin and he thought about how nice it would be to lounge in its warmth for hours.

That feeling of wonder quickly dissipated when he realized how silent it was outside. There were no calls from local avian wildlife, no sound of creatures ruffling through the foliage. All was quiet. The Death Star had destroyed all life here, save for some sea creatures, insects, and tiny rodents able to burrow far under the ground to avoid the worst of the destruction. Large creatures – the Empire being one – did not survive. Those tiny creatures that seemed so insignificant before now were the top of the food chain and with what little research that had been made in the last three decades, they thrived now that the plants had regrown and reproduced stably. Finn wondered what this world would look like a millennium from now. Would those little rodents change into something bigger, no longer threatened by the larger predators that once stalked them through the brush?

Yet Finn had a feeling that there was something more here, but he couldn’t explain what.

He must have looked worried, because Rose came up to brush her hand against his shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “It’s all right ‘fraidy-cat. There’s nothing here.”

That didn’t ease his anxiety at all.

Rose frowned at him and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. It didn’t make him feel any better.

“Relax,” she tried again. “You got Jedi girl and a Wookiee looking out for you.”

Finn looked over to see Rey looking over at him and Rose before quickly glancing away. He had noticed this had become a common occurrence with her, especially when Rose was around. For the last couple of months, Rey seemed a lot more melancholy but Finn summed it up to being part of the aftermath of learning that Luke was not the teacher she was looking for.

The look she gave him, as sad and tired as it was, had more to it.

He wanted to ask her why, but something told him it might be something he shouldn’t butt in. If Rey had something to say to him, surely she would tell him? He thought their friendship was tight knit and secure enough for that.

He kept his thoughts to himself.

“Do you feel it too?” Rey finally asked him.

“What?”

“There’s something out there,” she whispered. “I’m not sure what.”

“Is it dangerous?” Finn grew worried again.

There was a pause while Rey thought, as if she were concentrating on her surroundings.

“I don’t think so,” she finally said. “It means us no harm.” She didn’t sound completely convinced, however.

Despite this, the three of them headed out to the jungle. Finn admitted to himself that he kind of liked just hanging out with Rey and Chewbacca. Sometimes, with Rose around, Finn noticed how Rey seemed to distance herself from them. He wondered if she and Rose didn’t get along but he had never thought to ask, worried that he might stir something up on accident. Rose sometimes eyed Rey warily, like she was keeping a close watch on her. OK, so that meant there was mistrust, but Finn had no idea where that had come from.

Chewbacca and Rey kept an eye on things while Finn was busy looking at the meter he was using to tell if there was any radiation in the area.

“Huh,” he began. “Radiation levels are low, maybe just slightly above average…”

Rey puzzled over the thought. “Didn’t the Death Star use a giant kyber crystal to power its beams?” she asked out loud. “I don’t think kyber would emit radiation, though some other stuff that powered the Death Star might have. It wasn't a giant nuclear bomb,” She shuddered at the thought. Nuclear weapons were largely put in disuse. Centuries of fighting left worlds dead and uninhabitable. Additionally, leftover nuclear weapons were a pain to dispose of, which largely contributed to why they lost popularity. Once weapons like the Death Star - bigger, better, badder weapons - were created, there was no use for the others.

Every once in a while, Rey would glance suddenly in one direction, then, calmly settle herself down. Finn knew the feeling of being watched, and he had that feeling now though he was not sure if he could attribute it to Rey’s behavior or not. He thought it would be best to keep an open eye.

It wasn’t until nightfall that he realized what that something was.

He took a shift to keep watch through the night while Rey and Chewbacca slept. Only for a couple of hours; he could stand boredom for that long. About an hour into his time, he felt the air shift, and the world seemed to warp. Then, in the foliage, he spotted an unearthly blue glow that reminded him of a dimmer version of the glow of the broken lightsaber that Rey always kept close to her.

…Come to think of it, she never told him how it broke.

The glow drew closer and Finn instinctively readied his blaster for anything.

Then he heard voices. More like whispers.

A group of three human appeared. Two men and a woman. It was like looking into the past with their old gear. One even wore the insignia of the Empire. But what Finn was more focused on was how iridescent they were, surrounded with that blue glow that seemed to outline them.

The one wearing the Imperial symbol on his shoulder spoke first. He glanced at Finn curiously, then smiled.

“Well then,” he said, his voice echoing as if the sound were being blocked from carrying too far. “It seems like you and I aren’t so different.”

“Huh?” Finn wasn’t sure what was going on.

“I was given a second chance too.” The ghost – and Finn guessed they were ghosts by the way they behaved - looked out at the sea, visible here through the trees. “I made sure I chose the right side the second time.”

The woman next to him smiled, causing Finn to notice how young they all had been when they died. She might have been the youngest of the three, though it was hard to tell. All three of them looked like they had seen far too much during their short lives.

She approached Finn and bent her knees to get a better look at him.

“Your friend is losing hope,” she sighed.

Friend? He was trying to figure out who the woman was talking about. Then, he remembered what Rey had said to him earlier about how she sensed something otherworldly. “Rey?” he asked.

The woman nodded. “She has a lot of weight on her shoulders and she's full of regret. Those may make all the difference in this war you’re in.” She sighed again, deeper. “All that work and sacrifice to end one war, only for its outcome to directly bring about the next."

Finn's heart clenched. Would they defeat the First Order only to find decades later that all their hard work was for naught?

“I don’t think you need to worry too much,” said the final ghost, a man with an accent that Finn did not recognize. He had a face that Finn would have found trustworthy in life, had their paths ever crossed. “Well, maybe a little bit, but not about what comes after.”

“What should I be worried about?” Finn noticed the woman giving the second man a hesitant glance. “Rey?”

“She hasn’t told you the whole story,” warned the woman.

“Wait,” Finn furrowed his brows. “What are you talking about? Are you saying she’s hiding something? Like something bad?”

“Back when I was alive, I had to learn that trust goes both ways,” the second man with the heavier accent said. The woman shot him a quiet but affectionate glance, which he mirrored. “You and your friend won’t be on the same page unless that’s also true for you.”

That still didn’t exactly tell Finn what was wrong, though it gave him a heads up that he and Rey needed to talk about… something.

He thought back to the broken lightsaber and all the questions he still had, realizing that maybe that would be a good place to start.

“I don’t know your names,” he told the spirits.

They took only a moment to give them and just as mysteriously as they appeared, the three vanished into the air, like they had never been there to begin with.

When his shift was over, he padded back to the campsite, finding that Rey was up and getting ready to go looking for him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “I told Chewie I’ll take next watch too.” Then, she stopped, noting the odd expression on Finn’s face. “Is something the matter?”

“I saw Rogue One,” he began, not sure how to explain what he just experience. “At least, I think I saw some of their crew.”

She nodded like she understood what he was talking about. “I know,” she said. “I saw them too.”

He shifted uncomfortably as he tried to think of the right way to broach the subject he was about to bring up. Then, finally, words came to him.

“They said something that worries me and I realized that you never told me about how the lightsaber broke.” He waited to see her reaction.

Rey’s widened eyes told him that she was not expecting this. Awkwardly, she stared at her boots. “I-" she started, stopping herself. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ll stay up with you,” Finn offered. “You can tell me then.”

“But you need to sleep,” she insisted, but he knew she was just feigning concern about his health to try to get out of giving her story.

“I’ll sleep when you’re done,” he promised. “But I want to know, Rey.” He paused, debating whether he should continue with his next thought. Finn took a deep breath. “I need to know I can still trust you.”

He had seen fear on Rey’s face before, but never like this. It was a combination of shock and hurt where hopelessness seeped through. It made him feel guilty to make her feel like this.

“You don’t trust me?” she asked, quietly.

Quickly realizing that he may have hurt her, Finn shook his head. “It’s not that, but for the few months, I’ve had a feeling that you’ve been hiding something from everyone. You just haven’t been yourself, and that worries me.”

She bit her lip, shifting her gaze between him and the nearest palm tree. "I did something I regret," she said, quietly. "Sometimes, I just want to forget."

"You don't have to carry that alone," he told her. "We're all behind you."

It was another moment before she began her story. "I didn't come straight to the Resistance from Ahch-To," she started.

Finn allowed her to tell the story without interruption, but at times, it was difficult to. His eyes widened the more she spoke. This... was a lot to take in.

He knew that Rey felt guilty and he kinda understood why she did what she did, but still, part of him felt betrayed. He had known Kylo as a stormtrooper, known how he treated and manipulated others. Of course, almost getting killed by him didn't help matters, but he thought Rey was smart enough to know that the Knight of Ren was just playing her. Why suddenly put some trust into someone that didn't deserve it when she never trusted anyone in all her years on Jakku? Even if she did it in hopes of making a quick ploy to stop the First Order, Rey should have known that Kylo couldn't be relied on to make a sudden turn and be trusted to remain an ally.

His face must have shown this, because Rey's lower lip trembled and she stood up and walked away.

"Rey, wait!" Finn followed after her, knowing that things were not going to be the same between them, but he wanted her to stay in his life. Finn might not know a lot about many things, but he did know it was never too late to make things right.

[kellanved-ammanas]

Space Mercs AU: Halloween Party Part Two: Party

Spy went back and forth on whether or not he was going to attend the team Halloween party. It would be silly to celebrate a holiday typically only celebrated by humans especially on a planet humans weren’t native to. But… it was one of Ellen’s favourite holidays, she’d always insisted that he celebrate it with her. That had been a long time ago though, he… sort of missed it. Which meant it’d be dumb to go; he missed it because he still missed her. So it was decided, he was not going to go.

Despite that seemingly final decision, he found himself hiding invisible in the corner of the common room as Scout prepared it for the Halloween party that evening. That didn’t mean he was going to the party though. He was just curious to see what was being done for it.

Scout had enlisted the help of Demo, Engie and Pyro, in the making and hanging of the decorations. Mostly black and orange ribbons, probably cloth bought from the store in town and cut up. But he’d also used his artistic skills to make a big ‘HAPPY HALLOWEEN!’ banner, decorated with little spiders, ghosts, bats, and a couple skeletons peeking out from the corners.

Somebody – it certainly wasn’t Scout – had figured out how to make bat shaped cupcakes and ghost shaped cookies, they were all a little lopsided. Some more than others, but only a few of them were unrecognizable. There were chips and dip too. Whatever the dip was, was dyed bright red, possibly trying to resemble something gory in the theme of Halloween (?) but failing miserably – not every food experiment could be a winner. But of course, there was alcohol, tons and tons of alcohol, enough to take up half the table. Spiked punch and just straight bottles of liquor next to the two-liter bottles of soda. There was even a few bottles on liquor from the town, obviously brought in by Demo, Scout had refused to even touch the stuff since it had killed him.

A lot of work had gone into all of it and it was quite impressive. And the whole thing was orchestrated by Scout, he was even clearly in charge of where everything went. He’d inherited his mother’s love of Halloween all right. Not surprising, she had a way of pulling people into things she was passionate about and making them love it too.

Holding back a groan, Spy slunk out of the room, hugging the wall lest he bump into anyone by accident. He was going to have to attend the party now, wasn’t he? Out of obligation because he was – did he dare even think to himself? – proud of the work his son – thinking about Scout, using that phrase was probably risky, if he did it too often, he might accidentally say something out loud that gave away his secret – had put into it. But also, because he did enjoy Halloween, he wanted to celebrate it again. And so, he would even if it did go against his better judgment.

 -

“You showed up!” Scout said as soon as Spy stepped into the room.

Spy had actually shown up first but had remained invisible hidden in the corner while everyone else arrived. He’d then waited a few more minutes after Sniper – the true last person to arrive – came in to sneak out and reenter visible. “I was bored and had nothing better to do so I figured I might as well show up see what was going on in here.”

Scout’s exuberance was unaffected by Spy’s feigned apathy. “That means everyone’s here, yes! Even Miss Pauling showed up.”

“Well, the Administrator’s not here so technically, not everyone’s here.”

“Well, she doesn’t count. For all we know she might not even be a real person because she’s just a voice over the speakers from our point of view. So, yes, everyone is here and it’s amazing. I’m not letting your garbage attitude ruin the party. We’re going to eat and drink and watch scary movies until our socks fall off. I don’t even really know what that’s supposed to mean but we’re going to do it anyway.”

“Okay, all right.” Spy hadn’t come here planning to be contradictory, it had just kind of happened out of habit.

“Good. I’m glad you showed up. Demo said you wouldn’t but then Medic made a bet with him that you would. So if Demo’s mad at you, that’s probably why. But now that everyone’s finally here… it’s scary movie time!” The last part was addressed loudly to the entire room.

The TV they were presumably going to watch these scary movies on was now set up in the middle of the room with two midsized couches and some beanbag chairs, setup in front of it, exactly enough room for ten people. Engie, Pyro and Sniper were already hanging out one of the couches while everyone else hung out at that food table right behind them.

Surprisingly, they all gathered around the TV – bringing plates of food with them of course – with no further prompting from Scout or anyone else. Even Demo left the ready supply of alcohol behind, bringing only a single bottle of it over with him to sit in one of the beanbags next to Soldier. Spy quickly grabbed a drink and snagged a spot on the outside end of a couch before anyone else could, ending up next to Engie.

“I didn’t think you’d show up,” he whispered while Scout chose what movie they were going to watch first.

Spy shrugged. “I had nothing better to do.”

“Well, I’m glad you did.”

Spy almost asked ‘why?’ because it made some sort of sense that Scout wanted him here – he was the one organizing the party so naturally he wanted everyone here just for the sake of it – but why would Engie be glad Spy showed up? It didn’t really matter though and wasn’t something Spy wanted to get into right now. So, he didn’t respond.

As the opening credits of the first movie began to roll, Scout ran to dim the lights. He then ran back to reclaim the center beanbag chair as if it were possible he might miss something important by being away for five seconds instead of two.

 -

The first movie was one Spy had seen before a few times, back when it had been Scout’s mother who insisted he watch scary movies with her. He wasn’t sure if that made him more inclined like it or dislike it. Either way though, it was more interesting than the second movie which was so stereotypical it wasn’t scary at all. In Spy’s opinion anyway, the others didn’t seem to mind. Though all of them, except for Pyro, were drinking more than him so that might have something to do with it.

The third movie and fourth movie were pretty decent, nothing too grand but satisfyingly spooky. But three quarters of the way through the latter, Demo finally passed out. Soldier had either been matching him drink for drink and also passed out from alcohol consumption or had fallen asleep because of how late it was. They leaned into each other snoring softly which is what had drawn Spy’s attention to them.

After the movie ended, Miss Pauling had to leave, the fact that she’d been able to stay as long as she had was surprising, it was past midnight after all. At some point Heavy and Sniper had fallen asleep too. Pyro looked to be sleeping as well but it was hard to tell for sure, he might just be very relaxed, leaning into Medic’s shoulder, who surprisingly didn’t seem to mind.

But despite all that and the tiredness mixed with the obvious effect the alcohol was having on him, making him groggy and unsteady, Scout insisted they keep going. Medic was of course all for it, he was loving the gore and routinely stayed up until stupid o’clock in the morning anyway. Engie didn’t look tired either for the same reason as Medic, staying up all night was a frequent thing for him, he was used to it. Spy was starting to feel sleepy but he wasn’t going let them know that, he could stay up all night if he had to. So another movie it was.

“I think Scout might’ve finally fallen asleep,” Engie whispered a bit more than an hour and a half later as the credits rolled across the screen.

“Really?” Medic said as he stretched out a leg to prod Scout with the toe of his slipper. Scout didn’t respond even when Medic poked him a bit harder. “Weak.”

“I guess that means the party’s over,” Spy said as he stood up. Finally he could go bed.

“Yep, looks like.” Engie stood too. He bent down to gently take the remote out of Scout’s hand to turn off the TV before going over to the light switch to turn the lights all the way back up. “Now uh… you two, before you go off to bed, help me get everyone we can up so we can send them off to their rooms, this ain’t no place anyone should be sleeping in. We’ll clean this mess up tomorrow sometime.” He gestured towards the table, now a mess of mostly crumbs and a few left-over cupcakes and cookies. At most maybe one quarter of the various alcoholic drinks were left over, Pyro was the only one who hadn’t drunk anything, which was a contribution to why most of the team now was now fast asleep.

Spy didn’t want to stick around to help wake everyone up but… he did anyway. But only because Engie had asked Medic to help too and Medic seemed to be staying.

Everyone but Demo and Scout woke up to a small amount of prodding, shaking, or poking. Not surprising, Demo was drunk off his ass and Scout had literally slept through a fire alarm once.

“We shall have to slap them to wake them up,” Soldier said. Before he could make a move to do so, Heavy put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.

“No slapping, we can carry them to bed,” he said.

“I’ll drag Scout to bed,” Spy volunteered with a sigh. “His room’s right next to mine anyway.”

“Oh, interesting,” Medic said with an evil smirk, rubbing his hands together.

Spy ignored him; a reaction was what Medic wanted. Instead, eager to be done with this business and in bed, he bent down to pull Scout up and hoist him up on his shoulder like a sack of grain. Scout didn’t even stir. “Now I must bid you all a good night.” He bowed slightly to everyone in the room before heading out. Normally he would’ve gone invisible too because it had a better affect, but whilst carrying another person it would’ve just look silly.

Unfortunately, their sleeping quarters being on the ship to make things more convenient when they moved meant the journey to their rooms was quite lengthy, even while going at a fast walk to leave everyone else behind. Luckily Scout wasn’t too heavy so the burden wasn’t as bad as it could be.

He reached Scout’s room and picked the lock to gain entry. He placed Scout on his bed and… against his better judgement, tucked him in. In hindsight, maybe he shouldn’t have volunteered to do this but it was too late now. But it was most likely the first and only time he’d ever put his son to bed.

“Good night,” he whispered, almost just mouthing the words, before retreating out and to his own room.

Previous

[dontcallmecarrie]

They had plenty of practice with international law at this point, sure, but this was something else. The existence of a Nazi organization in this day and age sounded like something ripped directly from a pulp novel, for one. The sheer ignorance displayed in the uploading the entirety of an intelligence agency’s servers to the internet meant there were multiple screams of frustration heard in Legal...

For this ask meme, which is now closed.

This can be like 99% attributed to the fact that I was a fan of Burn Notice, back when I could watch it. The “I used to be a spy, but then I got burned and things only went downhill from there” thing, plus my having a bad habit of overthinking things, meant I was basically mentally screaming when I saw Natasha do what she did in The Winter Soldier. 

or, in other words, this was me trying yet again to rationalize canon events in a way that fit with the real world more than what the writers ended up going with, if only because I can’t afford to gloss over/ ignore it the way they did. Admittedly, it doesn’t help that the MCU’s mostly action-centered, either, focusing on the next explosion or battle rather than exploring the aftermath— which, incidentally, is a bit of a pet peeve of mine and something I full advantage of, when writing TWiFFON. Again, I don’t really watch the tv shows, don’t exactly have the time […I’m not even caught up on the MCU, so]. 

All in all, stuff like this is part of why the accidental world domination thing’s proceeding as scheduled, if not even earlier than expected because, thanks to the sheer amount of hand-waving of politics and infrastructure the writers have done, I have a lot to work with. Hey, if nobody’s picking up the pieces, then don’t mind if I do. Or, rather, Stark Industries, which only results in even more miscommunication as time goes on and Tony and SI get a reputation for kicking ass, taking names, and doing the paperwork afterwards because they’ve done one hell of a job thus far.

plus it helps contribute to the Game of Thrones-level* comedy of errors vibe I was aiming for, when writing TWiFFON.

*note: I have yet to actually read or watch GoT, but from what I understand the sheer scope and magnitude of politics going on in that universe is…something else.

[naruto-scenarios-plus-akatsuki]

Small Encounters

This comes from back in Saryie’s academy days when she was finally transferred into Iruka’s class. 

Small Encounters

Saryie didn’t have many friends in the academy while growing up. It wasn’t because she was shy or distant. She was rather sociable and open, but she had a distinct drive to catch up to her peers. After all, how was she going to become stronger if she was not even at the same level as the kids her age.

No, the reason she hardly had friends as a child was because she was focused. She was able to excel pass three grades within two years in order to catch up to everyone else by age 11. That had left little time for her to create bonds since the minute she was introduced to a class she felt like she was being transferred to another.

Things had only begun to slow down when she had finally transferred to the grade with kids her age. She was no longer behind and could learn at the pace of everyone else. She would never forget how stoked she was when that day had come.

Iruka, her new teacher, had introduced her to the class as a new student and lucky for her, she didn’t have to make any speeches. Instead after her introduction, she was given her assigned seat at the back of the classroom. Which, now that she came to think of it, might have also contributed to her not making many friends.

It was in that back of that classroom, she was able to observe others and quickly learn the dynamics of the class.  She learned who everyone was by listening. Whether if it was by what others had to say about someone or by watching them make spectacles of themselves. She learned quickly who the class clown was. Iruka would always be scolding him and calling out his name. Naruto was a very hard name to forget.

However, during her first week it felt like many of the kids had already forgotten her name.  She had only managed to catch the attention of a few and was barely getting to know the kids around her seat.

One of the few kids that were interested in her was Kiba Inuzuka, she was going to learn. He had stopped her outside during their personal training time. He had stood assessing her while in his coat and jeans. His shaggy hair peeping through his hood. His demeanor laying on an impression that rubbed Saryie the wrong way. He had seemed arrogant and nosy.

“So, you’re the new kid, huh?”

Saryie turned around to spy the boy who had spoken.

“Obviously so,” she stated with a roll of her eyes as she turned back to practicing with her dull kunai.

“There’s not many new kids that come around. You from here?”

“I live here,” she retorted. She was on guard based on his tone and came out sounding snippy.

The boy sniffled twice. “Nothing like I’ve smelled before if you live here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The tops of her ears became heated at the insinuation he was implying. She sharply turned to him. Her eyes inflamed as she came into his personal space.

“Tch. Nothing!!” Kiba shot out defensively.  “You smell different is all.”

He turned his head away from her childishly like what he said was not offensive at all.

“Well your face is different!” she countered, her face puckering in annoyance.

His head spun back towards her with his eyes narrowing in on her short frame.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“YOU HAVE TRIANGLES ON YOUR FACE!” She blatantly pointed out. Her voice raising after his.

“At least I don’t look like some wannabe ninja!!” Kiba taunted, feeling his own anger rising.

Saryie clenched her fist. “I’m more of a real ninja than you!”

Kiba huffed out a laugh. “HA! Yeah, right. You couldn’t beat me at anything if you tried. I’ve been doing this ninja stuff for way longer.”

Saryie’s eyes sharpened at the challenge.

“Oh yea? Well how about a race then?”.

Kiba’s lips twisted into a smirk revealing one of his fangs. He was confident that she had challenged him to the wrong activity. “Any time. Anywhere.”

Saryie threw her blunted kunai at the ground forcefully. She used her foot to push kunai further into the ground, imbedding it at their feet.  

“First one to the fence and back, wins.”

“Fair enough.”

“Good.”

They both ready themselves before shouting go and charging through the air. Kiba was first to take the lead, having reached the fence first. He had longer legs in comparison to her but she knew she was agile and quick.

She was on top of his tail soon after tapping the fence. She sped passed him in the final seconds, grabbing her kunai as witness to her victory before he could even get his hands on it.

Kiba huffed ungracefully, having tried to out run her in the last instance. He scowled in his defeat and looked begrudgingly up at Saryie’s confident smile. She twirled the kunai around on her finger while eyeing him.

“See? Piece of cake.”

“Heh. Yea, whatever… I wasn’t even going my fastest. Plus, I already ran lot this morning,” Kiba mentioned nonchalantly as he placed his hands behind his head.

Saryie was about to get worked up again when she saw a small fluff ball pop out of Kiba’s jacket. Her eyes went wide at the sudden appearance of the dog in his coat as it woofed in greeting.

“Awe you have a doggy!”

She instantly was in front of Kiba, invading his space as she inspected the dog. She was already petting the dog before Kiba even had a chance to speak. He was surprised by her change in mood and felt oddly nervous about their proximity.

Saryie didn’t seem bothered by the proximity as her attention was fully on the dog.

“Yea, he’s my ninja hound. His name’s Akamaru,” Kiba answered, his tone mellowing.

“He’s cute.”

“Thanks…”

Saryie smiled at the pup before standing straight and meeting Kiba’s eyes. He could feel a blush creeping up along his face as he sniffled once more.

He immediately turned away from her.

“I’ll see you around, Smelly.”

He offered his farewell and just like that Saryie was irritated once more while watching his retreating back.

When he was out of view and when no one was looking, she checked herself.

She couldn’t smell anything and undoubtedly thought he was lying.

Eventually she learned of Kiba’s sharp sense of smell and he would comment on her scent every time they crossed paths.

Little did she know, he never meant for his original comment about her smelling different to be an insult. Yet, ever since their first encounter, the two always manage to butt heads and argue. The nickname he gave her following her into their late pubescent years.

She was never fond of Kiba as their bond was constructed of rivalry and discord. She had enough arguments at home to deal with and she wasn’t going to let him think she was anything else than his equal. He had underestimated her and that only fueled her to prove him wrong.

Maybe that’s why she hardly had friends in school. She saw them as competition rather than as her allies and Kiba had only been one of the first bonds of the many she would make.

[itsawonderfullifewithz]

Songs of Summer 2018

To The Movies

For our family, the unofficial start of the summer began when Avengers: Infinity War came out in late April. With the exception of the first Ant-man movie (which Z. really enjoyed), Z had been a casual MCU fan, watching snippets of whatever was playing on FX.

Despite it’s dark ending, we both enjoyed the movie. For me, I enjoyed it so much that I decided that this would be Xavier’s first theatrical experience.

Full disclosure: I know that Avengers: Infinity War isn’t the most appropriate for a 4 year-old. But, I want my son’s first theatrical experience to not just be an enjoyable movie, but to also be a pop culture touchstone. Originally, I had planned on Xavier’s first experience in the theater to be Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While Star Wars is and always will be a cultural touchstone, The Last Jedi has been the most divisive film among the broad Star Wars fan base. I can’t have my son’s first movie be controversial.

So a few days after our first viewing of Avengers: Infinity War, we took Xavier. As expected, he was frightened at some scenes--he covered his eyes at the beginning when Thanos appears. He got some enjoyment once Iron Man, Dr. Strange and Spider-Man show up but fell asleep at the halfway point and woke up at the credits.I know that Infinity War will be watched on an annual basis (Xavier and I watched it again once it came out on Bluray) and hopefully he’ll grow a special attachment to the movie as he gets older.

Not that we were finished with the MCU, since the next movie we saw was Ant-Man and The Wasp. We brought along Xavier (again he fell asleep halfway through). The movie was a welcomed delight, lighthearted and fun after the dark conclusion of Infinity War. Z., however, needs to see it again since she had to go to the bathroom during Luis’ monologue sequence.

The Spy Who Dumped Me was our next movie. No Xavier this time since it’s Rated R. While I enjoyed some parts of it, I don’t think it’s the best of the Spy Parody subgenre--Spy with Melissa McCarthy, the first Austin Powers movie and the Kingsman series do it better.  

Z knew I wouldn’t enjoy her next choice: Crazy Rich Asians. I knew she was interested after seeing the trailer, so I braced myself for the trip to the theater. But, she was very considerate and let me off the hook. She went solo while Xavier and I stayed at home. I’m glad Z. went and saw the movie though. Even though I didn’t go, I’m glad one of us contributed to its box office success, since it’s the first movie with an all Asian cast that had a nationwide theatrical release since The Joy Luck Club in 1993. Representation is great. We just need more Asians in Avengers in addition to Dr. Strange’s sidekick, Wong.  

Cedar Point

Aside from the scare that we had with Xavier, the Cedar Point trip was a blast. The last time Z and I went there was during Halloween in 2013, where we visited the haunted attractions. We watched Xavier hop on the kiddie rides and strolled around the park.

As for myself, I got to ride a roller coaster--something I hadn’t done in twenty years. I had to ride it myself, since my tactics of persuasion on Z. were futile. The Gemini--a wooden roller coaster with dual tracks--was the only choice since it was near closing time. It was a rougher ride than I had remembered it when I was a teenager. Then, at the end of the ride, there was a malfunction, leaving about twelve of us stuck on the track. The attendants weren’t able to get the ride moving again, so we all had to get out and walk on the tracks to the exit. We were only about fifty feet from the ground, so if I fell I’d only suffer from a few broken bones, but what do you expect from a 40 year-old roller coaster?

Weezer

On the weekend of my birthday, Z. and I drove up to Clarkson to the DTE Energy Theater. Last year, Z. picked Coldplay for our summer concert, this year I chose Weezer. Like I said back in February, my fandom for Weezer had been rekindled.

We missed the opening band: the Wombats, which is okay since I only knew one song by them “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.”

We arrived in time to watch The Pixies--they opened with their most famous song Where is My Mind. Gigantic, Wave of Mutilation were also played but they did not play Here Comes Your Man--the only song Z. likes. The Pixies are much like Pearl Jam, where their setlist varies from show to show.

Then came Weezer. They opened up with Buddy Holly and followed it up with more classics from the Blue album, a couple of songs from Pinkerton, a couple of songs from the Green Album, one from the Red Album (Pork and Beans), and one from Raditude (If You’re Wondering If you Want Me To). About halfway through their set, they did a couple of covers: Take on Me by Ah-Ha and Africa by Toto. These covers were the highlight for Z. I think she prefers Weezer as a cover band. Sacrilege.

Food Trips

Z. and I enjoy Ann Arbor during the summer the most since Downtown isn’t swarming with U of M students. This is our time to enjoy the many dining selections we miss since parking can be a pain. This year, in addition to our trips to NYPD pizza and Blimpy’s, we went to Blue Tracker--a bbq joint and  El Tacoreia.

And of course, the summer wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Culver’s. 

Makers Faire @ Henry Ford Museum

My cousin, his girlfriend and her daughter invited us to the Maker’s Fair at the Henry Ford Museum.

The Maker’s fair is basically a “Show and Tell” event held at the Henry Ford Museum, for hobbyists and creators to showcase their work. I hadn’t been to the Henry Ford Museum since I was a kid. I just remember the vintage cars and WWII planes hanging from the ceiling. The Maker’s faire added a lot more to see at the museum. There were plenty of robots, which Xavier enjoys and surprisingly, plenty of Star Wars stuff. It seemed more like a comic book convention than anything else.

One thing that surprised me was they had a section where they featured old technology and the 90’s were included. Like I needed another reminder of my age. 

Funko Pop Collection

The Pop buying started last year when I bought one for Z--The Annabelle doll. But then, Annabelle seemed lonely so I bought Carrie, drenched in the pig’s blood, for myself. It was never meant to be a collection. That all changed this past summer when in a span of three months our collection ballooned to over 100 different Pops.

Since then, we’ve adjusted our buying habits--only purchasing the ones we like and doing it together like another activity.

When we first got married, Z. and I brought up the idea of starting a toy collection. Now it’s coming to fruition.