#bc then they give us the similar Will scenes as a hint that he might feel that way about WILL actually

[mikesbasementbeets]

gjsjdhnfhs bi mike “evidence” that is literally just a list of visual parallels and the fact that mike often treats will the same way as the girl he’s supposed to like/his literal girlfriend with absolutely no nuance regarding the contrast in the emotional weights of the two relationships or ANY context for visually similar scenes and the fact that a “parallel” isn’t proof of 1:1 exactly the same character motivations just because mike makes a similar facial expression lmao

like bi mike truthers must literally think gay mike means that mike hates el actually and the fact that he cares about her at all means he’s bi

i’m so tired i’m SO TIRED

[notafunkiller]

I know many Bucky fans are mad, but I never expected him to have a lot of screen time in Thunderbolts* to begin with. Especially with such a huge team (and they need to be*come* likeable and relatable to the audience).

Thunderbolts* is NOT a solo movie, it's a team movie (Suicide Squad style).

He should've gotten a Winter Soldier film ages ago (getting some of memories back in Romania so we see many flashbacks), but in Thunderbolts*, he doesn't need to have 2h of screen time to be a key character.

And this is what I care about the most... Quality > quantity

In his MCU journey, we always found him in different stages (and this is what made it fun and exciting for Sebastian too) & I love the fact we get to put two and two together and try to understand hints rather than straight up being told everything about his life.

He is one of the most interesting characters & he carried the Cap triology (and Marvel knows it). He got less than 15 minutes of screen time & 13 lines in CATWS (a movie with his name in the title) & still stole the show... he always steals the show, he's "the underdog".

He's super popular & so is Sebastian. They don't bother to use him more because they know people (come to the cinema to) watch anything if he is in it.

They saw that with "Dumb Money".

So they might even give us Bucky in small doses intentionally.

Sebastian got more projects left, which = a safe paycheck he can use for other projects.

(This is why I disagree when people say he should leave Marvel as if:

1. He doesn't have a strict contract with more projects left & he wouldn't need to pay;

2. He doesn't need the money - to pay his employees, to produce & play in other films)

3. He doesn't find it comforting to play Bucky every 3 years...

He loves Bucky (and he is similar to Bucky) & he always gets to explore different sides of the character when he returns, which is amazing for an actor.

Also, Kevin said Bucky is the de facto leader, after all. And that doesn't mean his role isn't important (CATWS & CACW are good examples), quite the opposite.

(I think he might have a subplot & save the team at the end)

We all got ??? when we thought he's in the team because he is already pardoned. He proved he is "stable" in TFATWS.

It makes sense to me if he has his own thing.

The fact the team has to "earn the trust" aka go into a suicide mission bc they are seen as disposable is sick.

(Bucky is seen like this, too)

There is no good or bad side & Bucky sees right through this. He always did.

I'm glad Yelena is finally a lead, though & I wonder how she'll use the opportunity to take revenge on Valentina.

Also, I think she'll lose her dad (sacrifice maybe), and that will be an amazing scene.

I really hope Bucky & Yelena have at least one scene (maybe he is sent to lead them in the middle of the film or he just shows up to save the team at the end). They are similar, yet different, so a great, great duo.

Florence and Sebastian are 🙌🏻 (incredible actors... they portray the characters with so much passion. They know them so well) and I can sense a lottt of chemistry.

My point is: things always change, you never know with MCU & so let's wait and hope it's a good film⚡️

[nightmanatee]

did max... just end up doing things worse?

or an attempt to explain what has been going on in lis:de.

part 1. the start of the game: the photo, safi’s death, the timelines.

at the start of the game we *hear* a gunshot and it's presumably from the time when max decided to kill safi in order to save caledon from the storm (and safi herself). the problem is that we see this scene twice in the game - once when we have a flashback in ep3 and once when we stand here ourselves.

but these two flashbacks are different and unlike in lis1 when (if chosen) max decides to go back to let chloe die we have an identical scene. here we have a different one. do i have an explanation for this? actually yes.

see, the flashback from the photo shows us a different safi and max – most likely the original ones. their lines are similar but it’s not the *same* scene as we witness at the end of the game. but how can this be explained if not as…

part 2. where our max is from.

…I think that our max that we play as is from the “living” timeline. why? when we start the game we see safi getting pretty mad at the book deal cancelation we *do* hear the gunshot (from “dead” world max). we are told that max’s powers evolve through the game so there might be a possibility that “dead world” max “pushed” “living world” max in this timeline. that’s why “living” world max wasn’t seen here for 2 days. bc she was hanging out in a different world.  

maybe dead world!max killed safi just like she was asked to by safi herself (same thing as when max sacrifices chloe bc she asks you to so it is possible) to stop the storm. only to realize she was wrong -> go back through the photo with an owl and push max who still has powers into her own timeline and “change” several things in hopes that living world!max will not kill safi this time around. or! in the og flashback safi feels defeated - what if dw!max knew about her plans to conquer the world but didn't agree with that and hoped that if lw!max tries hard enough she's gonna change her mind?

this way you can explain the gunshot and safi being alive at the start of the game – other max makes you “hear” a gunshot from her reality. reggie saw himself as well as alderman – max “opened” her timeline for them to see themselves (maybe alderman was too close to the truth, maybe he was the one who pushed max to kill safi and dw!max didn’t want our max to feel pressured). dw!max kept giving you hints through polaroids: they’re different from our reality (bc dw!max changed our reality).

part 3. but what about the “difference” of timelines.

I feel like the og!max got her powers differently – maybe her first usage of them was during/after safi’s death. she got into our timeline through one of the photos before safi’s death (even before the owl) considering the first polaroid we see is the one at amanda’s bar. the next one is near the owl photograph location, then – max’s house. all other polaroids lay around at the same locations where max herself is. I guess it’s dw!max’s attempt to hint that these two worlds “used to” be different in way more ways until max had to go back in time and kill safi. or maybe it was her attempt to show how our max should’ve lived her life (and did live until dw!max threw her into her own timeline and changed too many things. it also explains the storm btw).

part 4. but where *is* the og max then?

idk. seriously idk. she might be dead, erased from the existence and only left as polaroids/an owl here and there. she might still be alive and waiting for max to understand everything/to get her memories back etc. she might’ve merged with our max once the timelines merged (tho how come our max doesn't remember all the alterations tho).

she has lived not aware of her new powers. then the book cancelation/all the stress led to safi becoming unstable. she either wanted max by her side or blamed her just like everybody else for the book deal. maybe she didn't even give the og!max a chance to choose (and that's also what changed with lw!max who was more sympathetic to her safi and who was able to gather evidence against other people).

that’s when max had to try and go back in time to prevent this from happening. she accidently(?) used the “new” power and threw another max from the timeline where safi hasn’t gotten all the clues *yet* (given the fact that dw!max is from the future). she’s realized her mistake, tried to change the course of *this* max’s life by not only bringing her into this timeline but also by making reggie/alderman see their alternate selves and by throwing polaroids everywhere in hopes for max to find out about another timeline in any way. she also was the one to *hint* max about “pulse” powers by showing her alternate universe moses in ep1.

and ultimately she won allowing max to save safi *and* merge the timelines.

but did she really win or is saving safi only going to cause more problems in the future? bc what the dw!max did was lead to safi either discovering that max has powers or changing her mind to ask max to join her and side with her in the future.

[an1muuarts]

rambles and hc on fiancée sissel's design

first off, lets give attention to yomiel's design

many ppl see at as "silly banana hair", or it's supposed to look similar to a soul shown in the cg when dead people lose their memories

however, in the context of his being paired with his fiancée, i interpret it as a crescent moon.

because, there are moon/night imagery in the game:

the game takes place aat night, ends in dawn

that one scene with sissel and the moon

the moonlight courtyard, the scene where cabanela gave jowd the tracker for yomiel, where jowd had his first steps on having the will to live

something something the other way to say i love you in japanese is saying "the moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

themes of light and darkness in yomiel's dialogue

this led me to headcanon yomiel and his fiancee to have a sun/moon theme

next, the color palette

sissel (the cat)'s neck scarf should be the starting point.

this could be interpreted as his fiancee used to wear it, but it can also be interpreted as the hint on what color palette she might have

now, this is pretty much full headcanon territory, so, theres a warning

i hc that yomiel wore clothes that are her color palette bc of grief

so, what is yomiel's original color palette?

to fit with the moon theme, my hc is that he usually wears cool or dark colors

and likewise, my sissel (the fiancee)'s design is sun-themed, that had red in it, probably has warm color palette

.

.

.

idk how to write conclusions in essays

[inke-ri]

OKAY episode 2!! holiday shenanigans and work kept me from watching it till now but here we go!

---

- We got the "you drool when you sleep" (in the wrong spot but still), I can rest easy

- Annabeth just standing around spookily instead of sitting down or feeding Percy nectar / ambrosia is really funny to me

-  about 80% sure they had Percy notice the Minotaur horn right away for time issues, but I really liked the slow build up to Percy accepting it all happened, Grover being patient with him and then sighing and giving him the shoe box with the horn.

- Definitely different from the book, Grover apologizing and all. But it's consistent with what the show did so far.

- Lowkey sad we're not getting a shot of Percy looking out at how beautiful the day/camp is, then down at the horn, then being miserable. Not a huge deal, it was just always a scene that stuck with me as a kid, I was hoping it would be included here. Walker would CRUSH it I know!

- I knew from the trailers that CHB is basically all inside a forest afaik, but it's still weird not to have the Big House overlooking the valley, being able to see everything. Especially since they kept Thalia's pine on a hill.

- Percy's annoyance with mr D is on point but it would hit a lot harder if we had seen Smelly Gabe be a drunkard and Percy somehow realizing Mr D likes to drink too -- his initial defensiveness and dislike for him was rooted in his trauma from his stepdad. It still works cause we know he doesnt like bullies thanks to Nancy, but I miss that

- lmao mr Dr just letting Percy and Grover talk it out

- The fakeout with calling Percy son made me ugly snort but I kinda miss how utterly bored he is in the books

- THAT SAID. the sarcastic tone, dismissive behavior, etc, DO remind me of this version of Gabe, so I do like Percy getting mad at him here!! I retract my earlier statement, it's subtle but if you pay attention you might tie mr D's behavior to Percy's stepdad. Still wish Percy looked more /angry/ about it tho.

- again with the happy/funny music tho, am I supposed to be laughing that Percy's miserable?

- hang on I did not follow the marketing all that much but WHY can NO adaptation get that Chiron's horse half is white lmao, is it an animation thing? I DONT KNOW.

- I do like how they used the wine bottle thing at the end to explain the demigods being able do whatever they want, so between that and getting show!Gabe vibes from mr D I quite like this

- Except for one tiny thing: where's Annabeth?

- Mr D literally said Grover succeeded they are SO CUTTING THE COUNCIL THING I AM SO MAD

-  ohHHHHh okay NEVERMIND we DO have open spaces, this place looks awesome!! Surprisingly similar to how I imagined CHB except I always saw the cabins not being in the forest, just close to it. I do love how they look tho, I can definitely get used to this. Very cozy somehow.

-  I will say this version of Chiron is growing on me after being a little iffy on him in ep 1!

- Luke has a slightly less cool kid, sunny disposition when we meet him but the entire scene at Hermes' cabin was Very Nice! I just miss Annabeth's blushing and stammering around Luke here

- No seriously where is my daughter have you seen her

- Mr D and Chiron playing, presumably, pinochle made me smile. Also the tiger print shirt lol

- hang on HANG ON we have a WHOLE SCENE with the Council of Cloven Elders that has NOTHING to do with Grover's searcher's license?

- I loved the scene with the dryad hinting at Grover being an anxious bean tho, finally some signs of that

- I am? So confused about this. I guess they changed Grover so beyond recognition that they have to give him some unnecessary drama/arc about lying to Percy? Why reveal that Hades has Sally right now - why not let it be a surprise when Percy gets to the Underworld? Why not let Percy agree to the quest, supposedly bc of his father, and later down the line let him confess he's only doing it to try and get Sally back like he does in the book? Why make Grover AND Chiron hide this from him? Unlike everything else, I don't understand the reason for these changes.

- Is... Is it Luke who tells Percy about the nightmares? I could have sworn it was Annabeth - she's definitely the one who talks about the AHDH and dyslexia. WHY are they giving Annabeth's lines to everyone else? I can see this being to show Luke and Percy bonding but at what cost?? WHERE IS SHE.

- ...  We aren't getting the training scene with best-swordsman-in-centuries Luke and the disarming maneuver that's gonna come back in the final fight are we.

- Clarisse sadly does not have the same vibes as the book. Also she looks so much older than Percy? Isnt she just 14?

- Interesting that they're setting up Percy catching the gods' attention - at least his dad's rn. If this doesnt lead into the "I'm impertinent" thing with Medusa's head I'll be sad.

- ps I LOVE that Luke is all about glory to be admired and looked up to, and Percy Does Not Care about it at all lol. Delightful way of showing that!

- Okay the first real laugh this got out of me was Percy being disgusting at archery. What an adorable bean I LOVE him

- I assume that's not Beckendorf but I really wish it was him lmao. Also love Luke looking out for Percy here

- Who IS this kid who keeps hanging around Luke? ... Is it Chris Rodriguez? Oh man pls let it be Chris

- UPDATE I CHECKED THE SUBTITLES (bc I couldnt understand which god's name was that) AND IT IS CHRIS I LOVE THIS SO MUCH FAM

- is he- oh my god the burning of the jellybeans to "pray" to his mom OKAY THIS IS AMAZING 10/10 I WEPT I'm officially adding this to the events of the books when I re-read it -- I hope we get more scenes like this!!

- goddddd its such a CLEVER way of telling the audience that Percy falls in love with this place fast, even tho it hurts that the "friends" he's talking about arent gonna stay around

- Interesting change to not have Percy seek out his Dad's approval so much-- I dont mind it, bc I like how they're leaning into how much he loves Sally -- but I wish they hadn't done *away* with it completely, the way they seem to have. Keep both!

- Idk, this dyslexic, ADHD kid who's always been told he's the problem struggling with believing he was too broken to keep his father around, only to later be told he IS his father's son and that Poseidon is proud of him regardless of what the world would tell him... That felt special to me. I hope the workaround this is to have Annabeth call him out on it as she does later down the book, when he sends Medusa's head to Olympus.

- SUCH a good scene tho

- I dont mind that they did this scene at night but I also liked the visual of Clarisse just being Clarisse and dragging Percy to the bathroom in broad daylight lmao. This flows better with the show's pacing tho

- Okay but like why not let Clarisse try to shove Percy's head in the toilet you know she'd be having a BLAST

- Percy looks more scared than angry, he's lacking the whole "they will NOT put my head in there. they WONT" thing. People keep saying Percy is appropriately angry in the show and I'm like THIS is angry?? You sweet summer children

- awwww no "you're dead, punk, totally dead?"- she just runs? How very un-Clarisse of her. Also, no Annabeth around to say she wants him on her capture the flag team?

- Will I have to start putting up missing person poste- NEVERMIND SHE'S HERE FINALLY LOOK AT HER

- the admission of stalking is HILARIOUS but I wish they kept her intro to earlier in the episode, you miss out on a lot of Annabeth's less "cool" moments like stammering around Luke (and I always loved that Percy was immediately aware of it and she glared at him, it was so indicative of their eventual dynamic), biting her nails/barely looking when Clarisse is bullying Percy and getting all wet with toilet-water but taking it like a champ with the capture the flag comment.

- I wonder if the "litter sister" comment is gonna hold up. Even if Luke never develops feelings for Annabeth eventually (which I would prefer, it always felt forced on his side), Percy's jealousy of him and Annabeth's crush on him are important.

- On one hand: I like they're setting up Luke, Thalia and Annabeth this early on. On the other, much like the Minotaur fight, you miss out on a lot of Percy figuring the puzzle pieces out on his own. He keeps getting exposition dumped on, especially with THIS memory in particular! Considering Rick is writing for this, and I feel his HOO series had a lot of the same issues, it's a bit sad to see that bleed into the original series. There was a lot less nuance in the sequels, and we keep consistently seeing the same here.

- But you DO show-dont-tell the conch horn? HAH :'D

- I REALLY wanted Percy to be wearing armor that was a size too big for him I really did

- nOOOOOOo they're cutting Annabeth's blushing and stammering PLEASE don't get rid of her crush on Luke it's IMPORTANT. Let it be one-sided!!! it's okay!!!

- Like I said earlier - they sanitized Annabeth's less "cool" moments, she feels too in control here. I want to see her be a 12yo!

- I just realized- no hounding him about the Solstice either. Did Mrs Dodds even say anything about "it" being stolen? The buildup to the master bolt's theft was SO good. Now she's just generally interested in him, not actively hunting for her quest. We're TOLD Annabeth is obsessed with her quest but we don't SEE how frazzled she is about it, how much she's seeking it.

- Okay, fine. Distracting me with the little fixing of his armor. It's lowkey working and they BETTER link back to this in BOTL or I WILL scream.

- The cut away to Percy flossing got a snicker out of me, tho my Percy will always and forever be a millenial. Also I can imagine Annabeth's face while she looks away from him peeing in the woods lmao

- Bonus: it shows Percy whistling! It better come back with Blackjack in the future!

- No growling from the hellhound?

- Why is daughter-of-the-god-of-war Clarisse taking her helmet off?

- I miss Percy at least trying to defend himself, taking a beating including from the electric spear, and only then telling them where the flag is. He would NOT volunteer the information right away just bc he's surrounded!

- Did they EXPLAIN why Clarisse thinks Percy is a fraud? I don't get it. Why not just leave it to the good ol' "she's mad he pulled a crazy feat like killing the Minotaur, one-upping her without even knowing", instead of having her doubt that he did it? In the book she was more like "yea right like THIS wimp is a Big Tree kid material, like he actually did it" - which felt more just mean of her than genuinely not believing him

- Also, why have Percy run from them- why not set this at the creek that marks the border between territories? Why have Percy run all the way to the canoe lake? Why do ALL OF THAT and not even show him stepping on the water and getting reinvigorated by it? This also takes away from Annabeth having to spy on him-- she's meant to connect the dots here, it takes away from her too

- I genuinely LOVE that they kept Percy catching Clarisse's spear on the edge of his shield, but the way he breaks it is almost on accident. I'm almost offended, this was a HUGE win for Percy and set up how he used the water to defeat her father later own. The choreography grows to be neat, but at the cost of all that made this fight special. Same with the Minotaur and Mrs Dodds. Is this going to be a pattern??

- For how old Clarisse looked, I love how YOUNG she suddenly looks when she screams-- that was a FANTASTIC bit of acting by whoever has been cast as her.

- The flag did not turn blue I am SO SAD

- More importantly: same with Clarisse not realizing it was all a set up-- they stripped Annabeth of THAT bit of smarts too. In the book she's counting on Clarisse being blinded by her need for revenge, she puts Percy right at the border where she can see him alone, and Annabeth knows he'll distract her enough to let her team win just as it helps her figure it out if Percy's the one. But in the show Percy is tucked away in the middle of nowhere and Clarisse straight up says she doesn't care about winning, which means Annabeth's "killer strategy" that Luke is so confident on actually had nothing to do with him- she was just looking out for her own desire to get a quest. I Do Not Like this change at all.

- I wanted to see Annabeth for so long and yet she feels so distant and aloof here, it's so strange. Annabeth is rational but deeply emotional... This reminds me of what the later series did with her, stripping her of a lot of that so she can be the cool leader of the 7 or whatever (the only exception being HoH really) and I REALLY hope they arent doing the same here.

- OhhhhhHHHhhh no I don't. I DON'T like that she pushes Percy into the lake. Not for the books and not for how the show has been handling Percy's character. I think I'll elaborate it in a different post here but. Yea no. This really bothers me.

- Cant believe I'm gonna say this but the movie did the claiming scene better.

- Also they removed the hellhound like WHERE ARE THE STAKES HERE

- I liked Percy's stammering of "I dont know"- how his instinct is to apologize, but... The changed vibes of the claiming scene... the triumphant music, no bowing, Chiron's speech being changed... This was a "the very foundations of your world have been shaken, AGAIN". Annabeth is not meant to be smiling or in control, she's almost speechless. Even Clarisse is meant to be bowing.

- The music and Annabeth's reaction is treating this as a victory when it's not. It's just profound shock, awe and terror at once. Just by people's reactions, you know what a big deal being a Big Three kid is. This is not it, fam.

- "claimed by poseidon" and 5 words later "son of poseidon" is writing my teacher would dock points out of

- ... the episode doesn't end here? The episode should have ended here.

- They ARE EXPOSITION DUMPING HIM WITH NO BUILD UP I KNEW THEY WOULD DO THIS AND I HATE IT. IM SO MAD WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS RICHARD.

- Percy's speech about Sally is great but is undercut by mr D *actually* yelling at him like? Mr D would never, EVER do that. He doesnt really feel like a god here, he'd just show a tad of his divine power and Percy would shut the heck up. Also, Percy accepts the quest because he brought the wrath of Zeus to camp - to innocent campers, and to innocent mortals. Why is he refusing it here? What are you doing to my son? What kind of BS writing is this???

- Grover is actively disobeying a DIRECT order from his primary god (alongside Pan, who hasnt been mentioned at all). What is going on. Again why are we revealing this now. Why are we exposition dumping AGAIN. Why are we taking PERCY'S motivation and spelling it out IN THE FACE of the camp directors, and rubbing our faces on it like its mud?

- This is blood of olympus level writing I went from the SUCH a high to being fuming. delightful.

- OH MY GOD THEY CUT ANNABETH FROM A SCENE AGAIN. WHAT THE F-CK.

-----

So, I went from genuinely enjoying this episode better even with the changes to being absolutely livid at some of said changes.

Looks like this is gonna be a high highs and low lows kind of story. Well, I'll be back for episode 3 when it releases.

[winderlylandchime]

2x12 1/2 has always been a boring ep for me but i was curious for his reaction to the Ben/Brian story: ‘Come on! Give me Brian and Justin. They probably missed each other since somebody had to cancel on Miami’ *looks at me like a kid on Christmas* ‘is that what gay clubs actually are like? they have random shower moments and shit like that? I wanna go to one!’…‘Is Ben’s whole schtick being shirtless and being into Buddha? I mean go off but bro find something that makes you interesting bc i am bored…do you think mike makes him even more boring?’ And the scene with Mikey finding out they were at White Party together and Justin finding out happens. ‘Oh my god! Is their version of trying to make Ben less boring really gonna be him being fucked by Brian? That’s pathetic and it’s not gonna work. Even I wouldn’t be able to make him less boring and I am a delight!’ *pauses the tv and looks at me* ‘okay seriously though, was i just that insanely high and didn’t see it or did they never hint at this shit? Also…do you think they ever read the scripts and called each other up to talk shit about it or something? Like *imitates like hes on a phone* “hey did you see what we gotta do next week? Whats wrong with Jeff? Did he forget how to write?” Do you think they ever did that?’ I am now wondering the same thing bc of pink posse and s5.. *the Ben/Brian flashbacks happen* ‘oh god. Oh god. OH MY GOD. Please no. This looks wrong. It feels wrong! I hate it. ITS WRONG, make it stop!’ ‘..see the problem is, i love Debbie but I’m still mad at her. But also is she gay? Why did she say that dead guy was one of us? Is she..?(i tell him debbie is straight) huh..i get it she’s like everyones mom, i guess..except Ben’s cause fuck that guy. Wait, oh no, do i sound like Debbie at times? Oh god, am i Debbie?..OH I FORGOT THEY CALLED THAT KID JANE DOE. Fuck those cops! Debbie is right they are…..lame fucks’(he refused to repeat after debbie bc she said fat fucks and he struggled to look for a similar word he kinda succeeded i guess) and the “he hasnt fucked me” scene comes up ‘oh god, michael, my dead grandpa knows you haven’t been fucked by Brian so no need to say it yourself. You sound desperate and pathetic, and in front of Ben? My god this guy might be boring but fucking hell he keeps witnessing the most dumbest shit ever.’ And now mikey found out. ‘..is it? Is it hilarious michael? Because you look like you’re about 3 seconds away from killing Ben for fucking Brian and not the other way around. Oh he must be jealous jealous. oh that has to sting..this is so fucking lame’ he is not having it this episode ‘not to sound rude but if you’re trying to sound like you’re not bothered by the fact that your man got to fuck Brian and you haven’t..you are failing miserably Mikey..have i said how lame this is? They really came up with this shit out of nowhere huh? Or is it going to like move the story in some way?’ He is visibly upset at how bad this whole Brian/ben plot is.

Hello dear sweet anon! Sorry to just be getting to your reports now. I promise it’s not an indication of my interest, just a busy day at work and throwing my back out yesterday by (checks notes) sitting. I need some of your brother’s drugs!

The biggest joke between me and my spouse is the budget that Babylon seemingly had… no gay club I’ve ever been to has been like that!

ARE THEY TRYING TO MAKE BEN LESS BORING! I die.

Did the actors call each other up to bitch about the insane storylines? Well we know that Randy had complaints about his character so I’m going to guess that yes they did. Plus it’s work. You have to complain about your boss at work!

I love that your brother refused to stoop to using fat as an insult even though cops are…well cops. We love a body positive man!

Michael in this storyline is really trying all of our patience. Of course Brian fucked Ben. His looks are the most interesting thing about him and Brian’s not in the habit of talking to his tricks. (Justin is the exception.)

[aquapede]

ok wait. i think i might be onto something here. i think i know why queen constantly ignoring ralsei is highlighted so much.

but to explain that i think i need to first explain the thought process that led me here, bc otherwise i sound insane. but i might sound a little insane getting there so--bear with me here

so, first off, ralsei is FULL of metaphors for kris.

to list a few: feeling abandoned and alone in a tiny town, waiting for someone to arrive to give them a feeling of purpose either in the form of a prophecy or a vacation, kris' adoration of asriel manifesting as wanting to be like him as much as possible, and ofc how ralsei just...looks like the other dreemurrs but with red/pink horns. he doesn't have to be their old headband to be a pretty clear parallel to them.

ok im putting the rest of this under the cut bc WOW it gets long from here

so, with the kris->ralsei parallel down, let's move to a similar topic rq

by the time dr takes place, toriel is smothering kris in attention in the aftermath of her divorce and asriel's departure to college. she says herself that she feels lonely with only the two of them at home:

and the only way she thinks she can bond with kris is through their shared memories of the family that tied them together.

queen reflects that in a more cartoonish and exaggerated way, like with her only trying to have a truce with kris once she knows the two of them are alone, or how she tries to use reminiscing on the arcade game in the cyber field to bring them closer. and she isn't lonely in the sense she's alone, she thinks no one understands her or what she's doing, and thus, is emotionally alone.

kris does seem to genuinely want to connect with queen, too, even making a move towards the smaller arcade cabinet without our input.

and it goes hand-in-hand w/ toriel's hinted-at alcohol abuse how queen only becomes visibly drunk once, in a scene where only kris is around.

so, let's take all of this a step further. if queen's behavior towards kris is indicative of how toriel treats kris now, and ralsei is a parallel to kris, i don't think it's a far leap to assume queen just straight up forgetting ralsei exists is how toriel used to treat kris, before asriel and asgore left and she had no one else in the family to turn to.

and i dont think this is malicious on any end! just to be clear!

queen seems to not have any ill will towards ralsei. like at all. she doesn't hurt him or try to control him after realizing she doesn't have a room for him.

but her immediate next action after realizing that she didn't know what to do with him was...to shove the responsibility of taking care of ralsei onto swatch/the swatchlings, the other major power(s) of the mansion.

and in this fantasy world where she's the villain, yeah, thats a good thing! but in a less literal sense, she put the 'burden' of taking care of him on someone else because she's too busy thinking about and accommodating for the lightners (or, asriel) to properly pay attention to ralsei. she doesn't know enough about him to give him anything he wants.

then, in her giga fight, queen briefly mentions ralsei (most likely to try and appeal to him) but can't even remember his name.

and ralsei can't find anything to say about queen in his toast besides how she shunted him into his role as a servant.

they're both content having their only common ground be their care for the lightners (or, the other dreemurrs) and neither really make a move to make their relation deeper than surface-level.

it's played for laughs but if this is genuinely the connection we're supposed to draw it's...sad.

and, obviously if this is meant to be a parallel to toriel's previous behavior, it probably wasn't as cartoonish as queen displays it, but the general idea it's giving is sad as hell, both for what it means for ralsei and for what it means for kris.

and if ralsei has memories of neglect alongside his whole being alone all his life thing....no wonder he's clingy.

tl;dr toriel is possibly making up for her previous neglect and ralsei is the way this is illustrated

[inriospocket]

last request for now i promise! i love the idea of y/n as rio’s girlfriend meeting his family for the first time officially as his girl after he feels like she’s the one. she encounters nick and he ends up asking rio if she could be his plus at a charity benefit and rio’s just like “nah.” and then nick says “always taking what i want” which is what i think he says in the scene while they’re eating in the bar? SO NOW as the family trying

*ask continued* to eat, make small talk, and find out how in the hell rio could have landed home girl, he’s hella protectively jealous now especially since his girl and brother/cousin whatever tf is having a charming conversation and rio’s just seething 🙃. also the idea of this moment seeping into a few days of rio only being cordial with her and keeping her at bay /being assertive to her @ work intrigues me especially if either nick stops by their shared home since he knows it’ll get on rio nerves/or he catches y/n trying out dresses with the notion of attending this event with nick bc she doesn’t underdtand the big deal (+she likes when rio’s possessive but obvi not like this?) and rio’s mad mad but not at her😅. feel free to do whatever you’d like with this. it mostly sounds like angst and possessiveness so can you mush everything together if it’s easier for you.

-

❀❤ enjoy!!

word count ♡ 1,237

summary ♡ Rio finally takes reader to meet his family but tensions rise as Nick invites reader to a charity benefit.

warnings: possessiveness, aggressive behavior, fighting

situation ♡ angsty

-

You could already see how tight-knit his family was when you and Rio both walked into his grandma’s house. So much laughter and shared conversations. It eased your nervousness until they started staring once you walked in.

You started to feel a bit insecure but Rio knew they were just staring at how beautiful you were. As cocky as he was, even a little part of him wondered how he got you.

“Close your mouths before flies get in!” You heard an older woman coming from the kitchen. You saw the resemblance between her and Rio and figured this was his grandma.

You smiled when she first came up to Rio and kissed his cheek before hugging you next. “You must be Y/N. It’s so nice to meet you, carino.”She smiled.

“Likewise.” You hugged her back.

Before sitting down for dinner, Rio introduced you to everyone individually, letting you get comfortable.

You started to connect all the characteristics that Rio had to his family. There was a lot of subtle influences but you finally figured out why Rio was the way he was.

Nick.

“You’re not going to introduce me?” Nick asked Rio, smiling towards you. You could feel the tension coming from Rio.

“Y/N, Nick. My cousin.” He said, reaching for the bowl with the rice.

“Brother.” He corrected, giving him a cold stare.

“Cousin.” Rio corrected again, dumping a ladle full of rice on your plate.

“Nice to meet you.” You said, trying to ignore the quiet battle between the two.

You continued answering questions that everyone had for you. What you did, where you met, etcetera.

“Oh, you’re a councilman.” You said to Nick after he was discussing a city issue that no one could seem to solve.

“I am.” He said, noticing your intrigue. You started to engage yourself in the conversation, giving pointers on the issue that no one had thought of yet.

Rio was proud that you had so much knowledge and insight about every topic but he knew Nick and this conversation made him seethe. He hated that everything he had, whoever he had, Nick always wanted it.

“I like this one, Rio,” Nick laughed.

Rio narrowed his eyes at him. “Yeah, I do too.” He said and you could feel the tension rising again.

“Say, Y/N. There’s a charity benefit next weekend. Why don’t you come?” Nick asked. He was charming, you noticed. Too charming and you realized that there was an underlying evil lurking.

“Oh, um...” You didn’t know what to say. You were so taken aback that he would make a subtle pass at you in front of Rio.

“Always want what I have, huh?” Rio pursed his lips. You saw Rio’s grandma shake her head subtly.

“Always get it too.” Nick smiled.

The next couple of days following and you noticed Rio distancing himself from you but also being unusually possessive.

“Rio, it’s just a benefit. Your grandma even asked if we were going to be there.” You said, placing the call on speaker while you tried on another dress.

“I’m not going to that shit and you aren’t either.” He said, his tone letting you know how serious he was.

You rolled your eyes. “What’s up with you? Your grandma’s expecting us so we’re going Rio.” You said showing him that you can be serious.

“I’m not going to say it again.” He said, getting more upset.

“You’re not my dad, Rio.” You shook your head as he laughed in response.

“That’s not what you were saying the other night.” You could hear his smirk through the phone and kissed your teeth.

“I’ll see you when you get home.” You said before ending the call.

You examined the dress in the mirror and decided to just take it off but before you could, you heard a knock at the door.

You hurried to open it and was taken aback to see Nick standing there. He made a quick glance at the way the dress hugged you before you said something.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

You noticed how Rio’s smirk was not just a him thing. It ran in the family and also meant that Nick was up to no good.

“Just picking up a package.” He said as he invited himself in, scanning the room around you.

“Oh, well Rio isn’t home right now.” You said, closing the door behind him.

He didn’t seem to mind waiting and you started to wonder what his ulterior motive was. “Oh, the issue we were discussing the other night. What you said surprisingly worked.” He told you.

You smiled proudly and you were just about to say something before you heard the door open indicating Rio was home.

You felt the tension in the room similar to the other day. Rio hid it as much as he could but he wanted so badly to put his hands on Nick. His house, his girlfriend. Everything sacred to him belonged here and Nick still found a way to weasel in.

You told Rio he was here to pick up a package.

“I told you I would give it to you myself." Rio said, dropping his keys. “Well, I was in the neighborhood.” He smiled.

"Your business is on the other side of town.” He said, not buying his story. “Like I said, I’ll give you the package.” He said, emphasizing that it was time for him to go.

Nick laughed to himself and walked to the door to leave. He turned towards you.

“You should go with the red.” He said, hinting towards one of the dresses you tried on. You already saw it coming but you were too far away to stop it.

You flinched once you saw the punch landing on Nick’s jaw.

“Rio!” You called before Nick threw a punch back near his eye. You contemplated how you were going to try to stop their fighting.

You knew it was a possibility of you getting hurt but you tried your best to put your body between them to stop their fists.

“Stop now! Stop!” You yelled, trying to push Rio away. Luckily, they had enough self-control to make sure they wouldn’t hit you and stopped.

“Nick, leave.” You told him. He shook his head while holding his jaw.

“You’re gonna regret that.” He said once more before he left for good.

You pushed Rio, visibly upset with him. “What’s wrong with you?!” You yelled again.

“Y/N, Nick is not trying to hear your opinions on gun control. Dude’s showing up to my crib knowing I’m not home, trying to get you to some charity benefit because he wants you.” He explained, wincing at the soreness in his face.

“I don’t see the big deal.” You said and walked to the freezer to get an ice pack.

“I know you ain’t slow, Y/N.” He said feeling like you weren’t even listening.

You walked back over to him and held the ice to his face, holding it there. “I don’t see how it’s a big deal when you and I both know he can’t have me. You’re so wrapped up in your head that you don’t even realize he’s already succeeding in pissing you off.” You said.

You could see Rio’s defeat. “Yeah, exactly. Look at you.” You rolled your eyes at his blackening eye.

“Sounds like you might be the slow one, dumbass.” You laughed.

[skampi835]

Mitsuhide + Kicho = kinsman??

Since I play Nobunaga's Sequel route (which like everyone's playing) there's this scene around chapter 5:

What?

... WHAT?😨 ... ok Stop! Hold it right here! ⛔

Sorry MC, but how am I or we - the community of kitsune lovers - not possibly able to pay attention on what Mitsuhide’s said right now?! He's literally dropping a bomb by casually mentioning his wayward kinsman??! 😳

Since when has Mitsuhide EVER said something casually?! Or was it a lie?!😨

Mitsuhide’s a relative to Kicho? Like whaaaaa---?! How could I not know that?!😱😱

Ok, to give MC - and the storywriters - gratitude, she's head over heels with Nobunaga who's in a risky situation right now, but I don't like Nobunaga that much (he's lord Dense in one of my fanfics I just don't like the way he looks!😅).

As a wikipedia-holic I had read something about Kicho (or better known as Nohime / Lady Noh) in Mitsuhide’s entry, but at that time I haven’t payed it much thoughts (bc I was searching for something else) and I can't remember some bond like that between them! I would've memorized it for sure! 🤔

besides with that knowledge I definetly would pay Kicho much more graditude bc I'm not really a fan of him.😅

Let’s have a look, shall we?!

Source: Wikipedia: Nohime (EN)

👉🏻The only similar thing between Mitsuhide and Nohime till then is, that both where known as to be born in Mino Province.

I’d have to say, Nohimes entry is pretty... well no much words are needed for that (ik that’s obviously bc she was a woman and in this time period women hadn’t much worth back then...😩). Cybird had a lot of good writers there for giving Kicho a somehwat authentical backgroundstory and charistics, I guess. (Still I wish they hadn't chance her to a male, bc how hot would have been a romance with a badass chick?!🔥)

There is only the mention of one of her survival theories, that she was killed by an assassin sent by Akechi. (frankly Nohimes wikipedia entry got me more questions than answers!)

Huh...? Why would he do that? Has Nohime even been there?

Source: Akechi Mitsuhide Wikipedia (EN) 

👉🏻Besides the annoyingly proof of women’s not worthy a mentioning in history... (not even in the main article!😨🤬) the theory's assuming that Nobunaga had brought Nohime with him to Honno-Ji, when the incident takes place. Ok since Nobunaga's Lord Dense in my fanfic, that's might be the sort of stupid things he'd do, but for real? Ehm... don't know...

But again, why would Mitsuhide sent an assassin behind Nohime, just to kill the wife of Nobunaga?! That’s way too much speculation for me and doesn’t make much sense, precisely because of the women worth thing. 😩

So get rid of this! I’m drifting off anyway.

We have to find evidence of Mitsuhide's and Kicho's relation! Nothing else! Let's go back to Mitsuhide’s wikipedia entry:

Source: Akechi Mitsuhide Wikipedia (EN)

Ah-ha!

So now we’ve something we can work with.

Since both where born in Mino Province they may could have been childhood friends, but what’s with the cousin thing there’s written?!

I think cousins could have been very cummon in that past times. So that was my first hint, hidden in Mitsuhides wikipedia entry! Who could have known?!

Don’t make me use my research powers grow! Let's have a look at the nearest relatives!

Source: Akechi Mitsutsuna Wikipedia (EN)

(what a short entry Mitsuhide’s father has!)

And with the first shot I got my answer:

👉🏻Omi no kata, Mitsutsunas sister and Mitsuhide’s aunt, got married away with Saito Dosan, who:

👉🏻That’s it, guys! 🥳🥳  We have successfully demonstrated the relation between our beloved kitsune Mitsuhide and Nohime, which is Kicho of course! They are actually cousins!! 😇

Again I'm surprised at how much attention cybird pays attention on the tiniest things hidden in some sources! And the bomb is blowing!🤯🤯

Ok now that we’ve finished this I’ll go back to the assasination thing (because it’s bugging me). And there was definetly something I’ve found again in my old research script of Mitsuhide that I had to double check:

Source: Mitsuhide Akechi Wikipedia (DE)

Translation (from google translator bc I’m lazy):

“Akechi was born the son of the lord of Akechi Castle in 1528. The family served the daimyo Saito Dorsan. When he was in dispute with his son Yoshitatsu, Akechi Castle was raided and burned down in 1556. Many Akechi family members fell victim to this attack.“

👉🏻That may could have been the source of the grudge, why Mitsuhide could have sent an assassin to kill Kicho. But that’s really just a theory... and well, maybe it will make someday a good oneshot or headcanon? Idk!

Let’s put together the evidences:

Mitsuhide and Nohime both where known to be born in Mino Province

They are relatives for Mitsuhides father and Nohimes mother were siblings

And now that I’ve finished one more useless research because of the mentioning of ONE thing Mitsuhide's so casually dropped in like a bomb, I fucking can’t wait to see Kicho’s or Mitsuhide’s sequel route after finding that out!😭😭😭

[scaredyships]

Renegades (Din Djarin x gn!Reader) | pt. III

summary: Mando picks out the planet Sorgan for the three of you to lie low on. Things get complicated, Reader gets a glimpse of how hectic Mando's life can be as a bounty for hire, and everybody is confused about feelings.

word count:  14.5k (...help)

author’s notes: Good LORD I was stuck on this for way too long. Between my creative focus being elsewhere and just being completely stuck as to how I wanted some scenes to play out, it took a lot for me to do more than a sentence or two at a time and then forget about it for days or weeks at a time.

This was also hard to write bc I am very uhhh put off by Omera and her original role as the possible love interest and I was trying very hard to remain believable/respectful about her. Cara Dune was also hard to write because of certain actions by her actor, so she's got a little bit of a lesser role.

I'm saying this now, with future chapters I am not going to be going episode-by-episode like I originally intended. I might jump around and have some "filler" things, I may completely skip over some episode happenings, I may diverge from canon here and there, but generally the outcomes will be the same as the show. I cut out the actual battle of Sorgan too bc this is already too long and I am terrible at writing action scenes. :v

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 (you are here) // ao3 link

---

It had been a couple days since you’d set yourself up a space in the hold. At least, it felt like a couple days. You weren’t accustomed to space travel and dealing with the lack of solar cycles to indicate the passage of time, so it was difficult to tell exactly. It didn’t really matter, in the end, but it was still a little annoying.

In that time, you spent most of your time getting to know your way around the Razor Crest’s small layout, what panels and buttons did what, and making sure the child on board was cared for and didn’t get into anything he shouldn’t. Easier said than done, as that kid was surprisingly sneaky and far too curious. He seemed well-behaved, right up until you weren’t looking, and the next thing you knew he was doing something like rooting around in a pile of netting and getting hopelessly tangled, or trying to put things in his mouth to teethe on.

Right now, the kid was up in the cockpit with Mando. Even though you were on board to help out, Mando still seemed to feel better when he was in the same room as the kid versus you being the one supervising, and to be honest it was nice to have a break from babysitting. You had never wanted kids of your own to begin with, and though this kid wasn’t exactly your standard child, it reinforced that at the end of the day, the factor of being able to give the child back to their actual caregiver played a large role in just how tolerant you were of them.

The entire ship suddenly jerked to the side and sent you crashing into the hull wall, your shins narrowly avoiding smashing against the edge of one of the crates lying around. To say you were shaken was a bit of an understatement, despite not a moment later, the normal smooth flight pattern returning and the ship righting itself. Did Mando hit something? Was some part of the ship on the verge of breaking down completely? You did a quick sweep to make sure none of the weapons lockers were damaged and that nothing was in danger of going ogg. You swore, this man had far too much firepower on board and one day it was going to come back and bite him.

Fortunately, everything was where it should be and the only things really out of place was your now-askew space, and your frazzled self. Huffing, you sped over to the ladder and clambered up to the cockpit to see if you could find out what was going on. On your way up, you could hear the low, modulated voice of Mando speaking, very likely to the child with the tone you could pick up.

“Ready to lay low and stretch your legs for a couple months, you little womp rat? Nobody’s gonna find us there.”

“Nobody’s gonna find us where?” Your head and shoulders were poking out of the ladder hatch, arms folding over the edge as you gave the pair a pointed look. You weren’t about to let Mando decide where you were going to camp out for months without you giving some input.

The Mandalorian turning to face you with the child in his lap was almost comical, like they’d been caught doing something they weren’t expecting to be called out on. You didn’t see any sign of concern over whatever had shaken you down below, so you figured you could bring that up later.

You could see a holomap beyond Mando, though it was too far for you to make out any of the text on it. You dragged yourself the rest of the way into the cockpit, righting yourself and coming to a halt just far enough that you could read the screen.

“An outer rim planet.” He leaned aside and let you read the screen’s details. Sorgan, huh. You vaguely remember that name from when you were compiling planets for Mando back when this whole mess started. The details past that escaped you, though. You squinted as you read on. No populations outside of small settlements to speak of, no starports or anything industrial… and it was one of those planets made up of a single biome - swamp.

To be honest, you weren’t thrilled at the idea of actually camping out for so long in such a place. You were so accustomed to being in places that had somewhat larger settlements, and absolutely more tech than this planet likely had, not just for business but simple things like staying entertained. But you were even less thrilled at the fact that this was a  swamp  planet. You knew not all swamp planets were the same, but the simple holomap readout didn’t indicate any further details about what kind of swamps it was made up of.

You hope above all things it’s not a bog planet like Nal Hutta. Gaseous atmosphere, skies choked by sickly green clouds, brown water, hardly any land to speak of.

You turned and gave Mando a look. “No information about the biome past ‘swamp’?”

He shook his head in that slow, deliberate way of his. You exhaled through your nose.

“Not a fan of swamps?”

“You could say that.” You turned back to the screen, like staring at it might make it give up more information.  Maker , you missed your database.

“How far away are we?”

“Not very, maybe an hour or two.”

You stepped back and fell unceremoniously into one of the passenger seats further back in the cockpit. The child, who had been watching you through this whole exchange, seemed to lose his interest once you sat down and went back to looking curiously around at the controls laid out in front of Mando. You could almost see the cogs turning in his head, and you started to suspect he had something to do with the ship going sideways earlier. Probably got a hold of the controls somehow.

“I guess I’ll have a better idea of where we’re going once we get a look at the planet.”

The Mandalorian nodded, and turned back to the controls to pilot you all there.

You had been closer than you anticipated, though it was still not a very short journey. Instead of going back down to the hull, you opted to stay in the passenger seat and simply wait. Jumping to hyperspace was something you had yet to get used to, but after so long of the smooth traveling with the smears of light streaking past the windscreens, you found you could relax a little and rest your eyes.

A jolt in the ship as you exited hyperspace shook you awake. Blinking and sitting up in your chair, you peered out the window at the planet taking up the view.

Deep green. Streaks of blue. White cloud cover. You breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back against the chair back.

“Acceptable?” There was a hint of amusement in Mando’s voice. You smirked at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine with it.” You actually were looking forward a little to seeing just what kind of plant life was on this planet. You could see a fair amount of tree coverage, which meant forests. It had been far too long since you’d seen proper forests, let alone been out in one. You had tried to replicate it with your plant corner back home, but it was never the same. Some time amongst real trees would do you good.

The descent had you watching out the window the whole time, surveying the landscape as its features came into view. It had its marshes and rivers, but equal amounts of coniferous forests and solid land. This place could almost pass for an arboreal biome planet in places. You spotted very few settlements on the way in, too, and what you did see looked to be the most basic of small villages.

Mando landed the Razor Crest some ways away from a small market, hidden amongst ample tree coverage. He locked down the controls and lifted the kid with one arm, removing a small silver ball from his clutches to attach to one of the levers in the array.

“I’m going to go out and find us some lodging. Wait here with the kid. Don’t let him touch anything. I’ll be back.”

He passed the child off to you, with such surety that you’d take him that he nearly dropped the little one on you before you could respond. You grabbed him with both hands in a slight panic, thinking he was about to fall, and in doing so your fingers gripped into the gloved ones already supporting his weight. Even with the barrier between skin-to-skin contact, it was awkward and had your face heating with embarrassment that you’d accidentally touched the bounty hunter. He, however, made no indication of any such reaction, damn that helmet making him unreadable. His hands withdrew once it was certain the child was in your grasp safely.

You and the child stared at each other as you held him out before you, like you weren’t sure what to do with him now. He looked back at you with a similar expression, and you swore there was a hint of some sort of mischief underneath it. Oh, he had definitely  been the one to make the ship go off-kilter, no doubt now. And knowing your luck, he was going to do more of the same once Mando left. You’d already experienced him trying to eat trash despite you actively watching him, you knew he was capable of more.

Mando descended the ladder into the hold, and the sound of the ramp opening up reached the cockpit. You looked out the windscreen, watching as the Mandalorian appeared in your field of view just as the sound of the ramp closing itself back up sounded.

And that was all it took.

The child turned into a complete nightmare the instant it was clear Mando was gone. It didn’t matter what you did - first he fussed and squirmed to be let down, so you did, and the second you turned your head he had somehow managed to get into the pilot’s seat and was attempting to mess with the controls. Every time you picked him up, he fussed again, wriggling and whining loudly, and whenever you set him back down he went straight for whatever he knew he could get in trouble for. You tried to keep this up as long as you could, which proved to be a pathetic five minutes or so. It was like having an extra-smart, extra-naughty loth cat with thumbs on board.

“Okay, kid. We’re going down to the hold. You can’t accidentally start the ship up down there.” You snatched the kid up under his armpits, and though he continued fussing, it was much less, like perhaps he wanted to be in the hold. You knew that the hold had just as much, if not more, for him to get into trouble with, what with the armory down there, but it was better than possibly starting up the engines and taking off.

You awkwardly climbed down the ladder with one arm latched around the child, and once you reached the floor you set him down, hoping he’d behave a little more. How wrong you were. It was like the kid instinctively knew where the controls for the ramp were, because he made a beeline for that panel - knocking whatever he could out of the way just to accentuate his point - and reached his-far-too-short arms into the air like he could possibly reach it if he just tried hard enough. No amount of you trying to redirect his attention or picking him up to set him down elsewhere worked, he would cry and go straight back to the panel and give you repeated looks with big, desperate eyes, like you were a monster for not understanding he wanted to open the door.

“Mando told us to stay here. So we’re going to stay here until he gets back.”

It was when the loud crying started that you knew you had lost the battle.

That alone was one of your top reasons for not desiring children - you couldn’t handle the noise that came with an upset child. Not for any good parental reason like not wanting to see them sad. You genuinely couldn’t stand the screaming, it set you on edge and made  you want to scream in turn. And here one was, cries bouncing off the hull walls and drilling into your eardrums with far more force than you could have imagined possible for something so small.

You rushed as fast as you could towards the control panel and slammed the button to open the ramp.

“OKAY!  Okay, okay, you win, we’ll go find him.” You glared down at the kid, whose clear face and perked ears indicated the crying had all been an act. You sighed heavily. He’d only known you for maybe a few days and he already knew how to get you to do what he wanted.

“He’s not going to be happy, you know that, right.” The child just tilted his head at you, smug little face seeming to say “no, he can’t get mad at me”.

You wandered back to your area not too far off to get some of your outerwear on - your belt, your ear piece, your blaster, whatever you might need in the immediate future. The neck gaiter you loosely wore got pulled up to securely cover the lower half of your face - it made you feel more secure, somehow, when you were venturing out into strange places. You picked the kid up and awkwardly shifted him to one arm, making your way down the ramp, and hoping you wouldn’t get into  too  much trouble with the bounty hunter. The kid, meanwhile, happily burbled in your grasp.

With a deep sigh and a roll of your eyes, you marched out onto the planet’s surface in the direction you had seen Mando go.

-

You were right. Mando wasn’t happy at all.

He had been trudging along, lost in his thoughts about what kind of lodging he should be looking for now that there wasn’t just him, but you and a child to account for, but still attentive enough to his surroundings that when he heard what sounded like distant footsteps crunching through the undergrowth he paused.

It was when he heard the sounds of the child babbling and you calling out to him to wait that his wariness turned to mild panic, and he rushed towards where he could hear your voices, hand staying within reaching range of his blaster. What had happened? He told you to stay back at the Crest and yet here you were, with the child. Had you been discovered, and just barely escaped? Was the Razor Crest captured?

He came to a halt just a few feet from you, surveying you and the child for any signs of distress or damage, stance wary and ready for a fight.

“What happened?” His tone was terse, apprehensive.

You looked wryly down at the bright-eyed child in your grasp, and back up at the bounty hunter. Or rather, somewhere in the general vicinity of him, as you found you couldn’t look directly at him.

“He, uh. Was very upset at you leaving without him.”

Mando’s defensive posture deflated and he tilted his head in a way that you  knew  he was giving you a disbelieving look.

“I told you to stay put, and the kid throwing a fit is all it took for you to leave?” He didn’t miss the way your mouth tightened into a thin line and your brow furrowed.

“He wouldn’t stop trying to be destructive, and when I tried to move him he’d just scream and go for the ramp! Look, I  told  you I wasn’t the best out there with kids.” You snapped, glaring into the blank visor.

Honestly, he could tell you were disappointed in yourself for caving so easily, and he probably wouldn’t have fared much better with his own lack of experience with children. But you could have been followed, and now the ship was unattended. The child, however, looked content as ever, his plan having worked. He sighed. It was what it was at this point. At least he was still in range that could lock the ship up remotely with his vambrace controls, which he set to doing immediately.

“Come on, then.” He motioned with a hand as he turned back to the direction he had come from, cape swirling around his form dramatically. You exchanged a tired glance with the smug kid, having half a mind to set him down and make him walk the rest of the way to wherever you were going.

“You’re lucky you’re at least a little cute.”

By the time you get to civilization, you’d let the kid down to walk - just beside Mando, and you just behind the child. Two unlikely bodyguards for an equally unlikely “dignitary”. The towering trees thinned out on the edge of the small market center, man-made structures beginning to appear. The buildings were small, mostly made of wicker and wood, with very little in the way of tech. The people were equally simple, their dress and presentation reflecting their rural occupations.

With the interest of the child in mind, Mando led the three of you into a common house, the busy sounds of kitchen work and the smell of grilling food easily reaching you before you even got to the entrance. It would have been more welcoming, if it wasn’t also accompanied by nearly everyone turning their eyes to your odd trio and whispering amongst themselves. On one hand, you couldn’t completely blame them, as the three of you were like the lead-up to a bad joke come to life. But it still made you very uncomfortable, knowing without a doubt that you were being watched and discussed. You hated the feeling. You self-consciously adjusted the fabric masking your face and furrowed your brow to try and give off the most “do not approach” energy you could, glancing around at the tenants. Not many of them returned your gaze, save a few, including one woman who didn’t at all look like she was from there. Strong, wearing armor and weapons - not to the extent of the Mandalorian, of course. But you could still feel that she wasn’t to be messed with. You averted your gaze quickly.

The child, meanwhile, was bright as ever with this new place he was in. He looked around the establishment, taking in the new scenery and the light filtering in through the gaps of the woodwork with his big eyes. You in turn watched him, as Mando located a table for the three of you. You followed suit and sat at the table, and as you turned to see what the kid was up to, you noticed the little one had locked eyes with a tooka cat beneath the chair of a nearby tenant. The child was curious, but you knew enough about tooka cats to know that the way it was looking back meant it was interpreting the child’s staring as threatening to its peace. Very few animals took maintaining eye contact as anything but a challenge, and this was no different.

“Leave it alone, kid.” You murmured just loud enough that you hoped he’d hear. Your words were too late, as the cat’s lips pulled back and revealed its enormous maw of teeth in a menacing hiss. The child flinched back with a frightened noise, and next thing you knew you were snatching him up by the ruff of his oversized coat and plopping him in the seat beside you.

There was barely any time for any of you to exchange glances when a proprietor approached the table, face weathered but welcoming.

“Welcome, travelers. Can I interest you in anything?”

“Bone broth, for the little one.” Mando motioned with his hand towards the child. You suppressed giving the armored man a skeptical look for ordering the most basic of things for the kid, when it was obvious they had more substantial food in this establishment. It was fine, you told yourself, he had the final say and this wasn’t the place to call him out on his decisions.

“Oh, well, you’re in luck. I just took down a grinjer, so there’s plenty. Can I interest you in a porringer of broth as well?” Mando shook his head. The proprietor turned her gaze to you expectantly.

“No, thank you.” You put your palm out in a placating gesture. Even though the aroma of food filtered through your face covering and had a tempting quality to it, somewhere as public as this was absolutely not somewhere you’d be comfortable trying to eat at. If you could take it to go, maybe. But you had no idea where you’d even be staying at this point, or how much longer you’d be looking for such a place. No, you could wait.

The proprietor nearly began to speak again when Mando cut her off. ���That one over there, when did she arrive?”

So, you hadn’t been the only one to notice the intimidating woman across the room. Well, it wasn’t that difficult, with how much she stuck out amongst the residents of the planet. You three were equally as noticeable, and you didn’t miss how the woman was still watching you, though she was trying to be discreet about it. There was wariness coming off of her, you could feel that much.

The proprietor glanced towards where Mando had indicated the strange woman to be, seemingly confused. “Uh, I’ve seen her here for the last week or so.”

Mando continued pressing her for answers she didn’t have. “What’s her business here?”

“Business?” The proprietor looked as confused as ever. “Well, there’s not much business on Sorgan, so I can’t say…” The sound of credits clinking onto the countertop reached in your ears as Mando casually tossed some onto the tabletop. You were too busy watching the woman out of your peripheral vision to pay too much attention to what he was up to. The proprietor mentioned the woman not being a log runner, and offered complimentary spotchka before she left to retrieve the order.

The moment the woman stood and moved to leave the common house, you discreetly rapped your knuckle against Mando’s vambrace. The black T of his visor turned towards you, and you vaguely twitched your fingers in the direction the woman had been moments before. “She’s leaving.” You murmured as lowly as you could so Mando could hear but others couldn’t. You didn’t get any impression of real danger or malice from her, but knowing that the three of you had prices on your heads, you had a feeling the bounty hunter would try to follow her and make sure she wasn’t about to report on your whereabouts to anyone.

Mando stood from his seat, gaze trained on the doorway to the establishment. “Stay here with the kid. I’ll be back.”

And there it was. You exhaled through your nose and looked down at the kid, comically small in his chair and watching as the beskar-clad man made his way to the exit and out of sight.

You wondered how often he went out of his way to pick possible fights like this.

The proprietor returned to the table and placed a small bowl in front of the child, breaking you from your thoughts. The complimentary bottle of spotchka made an appearance, too, but you didn’t pay much mind to it. Alcohol was never something you liked, between it being an acquired taste and dulling your thoughts. You still nodded appreciatively at her before she left to tend to the next table.

Before the kid could finish picking up his bowl, the faintest of sounds reached your ears. While you normally wouldn’t pay much mind to such things in a public place, there was some notion in your mind that it was the buckethead getting into a fight with the woman from earlier. You looked over at your tiny companion, who looked up at you over the brim of his bowl and towards the doorway Mando had left through moments earlier.

“He doesn’t need our help, we’ll just get in the way.”

The kid seemed to take that as a challenge, and hopped down from his seat and began to toddle off.

“Hey, no, we are  not going out there-” You jumped up and tried to herd him back towards the table, and you almost succeeded, but the little green thing was surprisingly determined and avoided your awkward movements, both of you caught up in a ridiculous dance. The tenants were watching you and your face heated with embarrassment. You finally scooped up the rapscallion with one arm, narrowly avoiding some of the broth sloshing from his bowl and onto the floor.

“Fine, we’ll go see what’s going on. Just stop trying to run off on me.” You pointed meaningfully at the kid with your index finger, peering into those big dark eyes and hoping he actually listened. He looked back at you with those big bright eyes and perked ears in a way that somehow told you he understood.

You carefully set him back on the ground. “Stay close.”

Exiting the establishment and turning the corner was as far as you needed to go to see just what you suspected - Mando and the woman scrabbling to get the upper hand against the other. It was almost comical, in a way, even though blasters were involved and the situation could very well turn dangerous.

And it nearly did just that when the two fell on the ground with blasters pointed at each other’s heads -  causing you to pull your own blaster from its holster - except everything was interrupted by a very loud slurp from the child as he watched from beside you, bowl of broth clutched tightly. The slow turns of their heads and prolonged look from both of them was enough of an announcement of a stalemate as any. You snorted and shook your head slightly at the scene.

“I take it you don’t actually want to kill each other, then.” You slightly lowered your blaster from where it was aimed at the woman. You didn’t miss the way Mando paused in a way that you imagined he was rolling his eyes under his helmet. He turned his attention back to the woman he was still vaguely pointing his blaster at.

“Would you like some soup?”

-

You all returned to the table you’d had back in the common house. The woman - named Cara Dune, you learned - told you her story. She was a former shock trooper for the former Rebel Alliance working on Endor, with no additional support, and as soon as the ex-Imperials were gone the politics got out of hand and she found herself working to “keep the peace”. Beating rioters and favoring delegates wasn’t what she’d signed up for, so she left, and now had a price of her own for desertion. She recognized Mando as being part of the Guild and suspected he’d come looking for her. She kept glancing curiously at you throughout her explanation, like she wasn’t sure what to make of you tagging around with a Mandalorian bounty hunter and why he was even letting it happen. Sure, the child was an equally puzzling factor, but she seemed to sense he was a touchy subject.

She eventually turned to you after her explanation was finished. “So what’s your story?”

You shrugged, idly adjusting one of your wrist pieces. “He got my house blown up and put me on a wanted list, so this is his way of dealing with the guilt.”

Cara visibly bites back a laugh and tries to hide behind her own cup of broth. You glance over at your companion, whose stiff posture tells you he’s not sure how to react, but he’s definitely embarrassed to some degree.

The ex-trooper downs the last of her broth, and stands from the table. “Well, this has been a real treat. But unless you wanna go another round, one of us is gonna have to move on, and I was here first.” She gives you all a curt nod, and walks away.

Mando leans back in his own chair and looks between you and the kid, who’s working on his second helping of broth. “Well, looks like this planet’s taken.”

-

The walk back to the Razor Crest was a somber one for you. Now that you had spent some time on the surface, you’d actually taken a bit of a liking to the place. But Mando was right - as remote as this planet was, it could likely only handle one fugitive at a time. Looked like it was back to the ship directory to root through whatever systems it could access. You tried not to let your mind wander off to mourn your lost database again. This was exactly why you compiled lists of multiple options, in case something like this happened and one of those choices fell through.

A tug on your pant leg dragged you from your mulling. You looked down and were met with the concerned face of the child looking back up at you.

“I’m okay, don’t worry about me.” The kid burbled quietly at you in response. That seemed to catch Mando’s attention, as he was now looking questioningly back at you.

“Something wrong?”

You exhaled through your nose, trying to come up with a brief answer that wasn’t too revealing. You weren’t big on talking about your feelings, and you got the impression that neither was Mando, so between the two of you it would be better if it was kept to a minimum.

“Feeling a little useless on the front of hunting for a planet, that’s all.” It was the first time you’d felt this useless in a  very  long time, to be honest, but you weren’t about to let that part out.

Mando turned back to continue the trek back to the Razor Crest. “We’ll figure something out.” His tone was superficially dull, but you could tell he was trying in his own way to sound reassuring. That counted for something.

Once you made it back to the Crest, which was safe and sound amongst the trees, the two of you got to work - the Mandalorian using the dying daylight to look over the ship for maintenance, while you took up the task of sifting through the planetary database for your next options. Originally Mando wanted you to take the child up with you so he’d be better contained, but after a pitiful look from those big, dark eyes, it was over and decided that he’d watch him. The “watching” very quickly turned into “put the kid to bed”, thank the maker.

It felt like you’d had barely any time to really start your search when you saw what looked like lights on the ground from your view in the cockpit. You slowly stood, watching the lights as they drew nearer. That couldn’t be anything good.

You clambered your way down the ladder and into the hold just as whoever it was pulled up. It was a small cargo sled, one that barely seemed to be holding itself together, with two men of seemingly modest origins on it. Mando wasn’t the least bit concerned about it, as he continued his repairs and ignore them as they tried to get his attention.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Mando didn’t stop working. “There something I can help you with?”

You slowly made your way towards the ramp, taking care to accentuate the sound of your boots hitting the floor and make your presence known, Mando could take care of himself, but if they knew you were here they were less likely to try anything than if he were alone. You shot them a warning glare when they glanced at you, but watching their already-anxious expressions deepen almost made you regret doing so.

“Uh… yeah… raiders.” “We have money.”

You raised an eyebrow at them.

“You think I’m some kind of mercenary?” Mando still made no indication he was going to stop his work for them.

That was enough to get them stammering. First about how they’d read about Mandalorians, and how they thought he was one based on his armor, and if half of what they read was true then they could recruit him for help. One emphasized again, that they had money.

“How much?” Mando had paused his working, turning more attention to these strangers.

“Everything we have, sir. Our whole harvest was stolen.”

“Krill… We’re… krill farmers.” “We brew spotchka. Our whole village chipped in.”

You don’t know what else you were expecting from locals of the planet, but the coin purse one of the men held up as proof of payment was sad to say the least. Krill farming and spotchka brewing didn’t strike you as a very lucrative business anyways, but if that was all they could muster…?

“It’s not enough.” And there was Mando, confirming your suspicions about what his rates were. You didn’t recall him being picky about his bounty, but thinking back, he did go for higher bounties more often than not. It looked like he still held onto that standard despite no longer being part of the Guild. Hell, if you were going by your own rates, what they appeared to have on hand wouldn’t even cover half of your cheapest services.

Mando finished what he’d been doing and made his way up the ramp towards you. The men following him up the ramp was unexpected, but not frightening. They were desperate, and you were getting a better sense of just how much.

“Are you sure? You don’t even know what the job is.” One of them tried to look to you for support. You stared back apprehensively.

“I know it’s not enough. Good luck.” Mando brushed past you, using your form as a barrier between him and the strangers as he retreated further into the hold.

“This is everything we have! We’ll give you more after the next harvest!” You stayed where you were, crossing your arms and staring the men down. You knew you should feel bad for them and try to convince Mando to do something, but with the last time you extended help ending with your entire life up to that point being destroyed, you were too wary to do so.

The two men looked between each other and your standoffish presence. Defeated, they slowly turned to return to their sled, talking to each other as they did.

“Took us the whole day to get here. Now we have to ride back with no protection to the middle of nowhere.”

Mando had only made it a few feet past you by then, so he was definitely within earshot of their conversation. He stopped and turned on his heel, coming up behind you and stopping just behind your shoulder. It took everything in your power to appear unbothered by just how close he stood.

“Where do you live?”

The men paused, turning back to look at the man that had just dismissed them.

“A farm, weren’t you listening? We’re farmers.” The hurt was apparent in the man’s voice.

“In the middle of nowhere.”

“…yes?” The confusion was palpable. You knew where this was going and you weren’t sure you liked it.

“You have lodging?”

The men started to realize where this was going, too, and jumped to provide answers he wanted to hear.

“Yes, absolutely.” Mando briefly glanced at you, as if he was about to ask what you thought. Unfortunately for you, that never happened and he made the decision on his own.

“Good.” Mando motioned to them. “Come up and help.” He motioned to you as well, and began pulling out cargo crates to have them start loading.

You approached the man, once the other men had carried one of the crates far enough that they’re out of hearing range.

“Mando, I don’t know about this. Middle of nowhere or not, Dune’s right, this planet can’t handle more than one fugitive at a time.”

Mando continued moving crates to the ramp. “If it took them all day to get here, they’ll be isolated enough.”

“That kind of distance from civilization, however small, hasn’t stopped bounty hunters before. You of all people know that.” You glared into the T-shape of his visor. You also knew that all it took was enough time for word to get out about sighting a certain beskar-clad Mandalorian traveling with a green child to reach interested ears. For all you knew, it could be happening right now.

Mando stopped his actions to turn and face you fully.

“We can always move on after the job if it doesn’t seem right.”

You sighed heavily through your nose. That seemed to be him trying to tell you he wasn’t about to change his mind. He  had  been doing this longer than you, you supposed. You glanced towards the closed door of his bunk, where the child was sleeping.

“…fine. But I’ll hold you to that.”

You briskly moved to where your makeshift corner was and started gathering up your own things for whatever sort of stay you were in for. Behind you, you heard Mando exchange a few more words with the men as they loaded the last of the cargo he’d pushed on them onto the sled.

His heavy footsteps approached you. “I’m going back into town for a while.” You turned, and noticed the pouch of credits that one of the men had shown you earlier clutched in his hand. “Stay here to keep an eye on them and the kid. I’ll be back.”

You stared at him for a moment, then nodded slightly. “At least he’s not awake to make me come chasing after you this time.”

You swore you heard a slight snort from beneath that helmet.

-

He’d returned some time later with Cara Dune in tow, and after rousing the kid the four of you joined the two men on their journey back to their village. The cargo sled, thank the maker, was the only part of the ride, no connections made with another transport like a boat like you were fearing. You didn’t like boats much, the swaying made you anxious. Five people made it a little crowded and awkward, and try as you might to sit as far as you could on some strapped-down cargo, to try and preserve some sense of personal space, you found yourself nearly falling off one too many times.

“That’s a good way to fall off and get left behind.”

You narrowed your eyes as you stared at the beskar-clad man that had basically just talked to you like a parent.

“It’s fine. I don’t want to get in anyone’s way.”

The way he tilted his head was enough for you to practically see the skeptical look he was no doubt wearing on his hidden face. The kid, sitting beside him, watched you intently.

“Nobody’s doing anything but waiting out the ride.” He pointed to a spot on the cargo just in front of him, where there was definitely enough room for you to fit, though it meant if you tried to stretch your legs out they’d be right alongside his. Clearly, he didn’t care about that if he was doing this.

You stared at the spot like it was a trap. Almost as if to prove a point, the sled went over a particularly pronounced piece of terrain and jostled you. You very nearly fell just like Mando had said you would. The only thing that kept you from going completely overboard was your grip on the cargo’s ties, but you still flopped embarrassingly around. You saw the man’s head tilt to the side as if to say “see?”

Defeated and embarrassed, you clambered down into the open area. Thank the maker Cara Dune had decided to try and get some sleep earlier, and the two farmers transporting you were busy navigating. You didn’t think you could handle having them involved in this, admittedly silly, exchange. You kept your gaze down, not daring to even look up at the Mandalorian. The kid, however, earned himself something between a glare and a smirk when you heard a small giggle come from his direction.

You drew your legs up into your new space, both to keep from invading even more of Mando’s space, and to keep out of the child’s space as well. Mando could handle an accidental kick if you absent-mindedly shuffled; the little green one probably wouldn’t fare so well.

Once you’d settled, you leaned back onto the cargo packed behind you and tried to get as comfortable as you could manage. Which wasn’t much. Mando, however, seemed capable of doing it, as he slowly fell backwards and folded his arms behind his head. You didn’t realize how  broad he was until now, seeing up close how much space he took up just by doing that. And all over again, you felt like you were in his space, and needed to get out of it out of respect. But there was nowhere to go.

You had to snort to yourself when the child mimicked the bounty hunter and tipped backwards onto his much-softer surroundings, peering up at the dark sky with equally dark eyes. At least he was content to do that.

The sled ride stretched on for the duration of the night and into the morning, the farmers switching shifts partway through. You’d never really fallen asleep all the way, just dozed in the same position you took when you initially settled in. Your eyes had closed, and you became somewhat less aware of your surroundings, but the slightest of unusual sounds or movements still drew enough attention that you’d crack an eye open to see what was happening. All through the hours of darkness and through the light breaking over the land. So when the sled began to approach the village, you could hear it. The sounds of people working, distant voices. Opening your eyes and pushing yourself upright, you turned to look up ahead. In the distance you could see the beginnings of some sort of settlement.

You shifted your attention to the others on the sled. Cara Dune was still sleeping, though you didn’t know how. Mando and the child seemed to be out, as well. It was harder to tell with the bounty hunter because of his helmet, but the way he laid there was convincing.

Reaching over, you lightly grabbed one of the child’s clawed feet and shook it to get his attention.

“Get up, kiddo.”

He blinked awake, eyes squinting in the morning light and mouth working to remedy having gone dry while he slept with it open the night before. His big eyes shifted around to look for his Mandalorian guardian, body relaxing once he located him.

You weren’t going to try and use touch to see if  he was awake, though. That could get you stabbed or shot, what with the combination of his reflexes and waking up in a strange place.

“Mando.” You raised your voice, hoping volume alone would do the trick. Fortunately for you, it did. The man shifted and groaned like he had just come alive, his helmet shifted ever so slightly and you could tell he was looking at you.

“We’re there.”

The armored man slowly drew himself upright into a sitting position. As much as he’d tried to get comfortable, he knew he’d be fighting with a back ache for a while after sleeping like he had. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t already dealt with before, with his longer bounty hunts taking him far from his ship and civilization and requiring him to put comfort to the wayside. You, however, had probably not had to relegate yourself to such circumstances. You looked like you hadn’t actually slept, bags present beneath your eyes and a subtle, narrow-eyed scowl he hadn’t seen before on your face. You probably didn’t even know it was there.

The approach to the village was quickly noticed by the villagers, and before you knew it there was a crowd forming to welcome you.

And a lot of them were children.

You could see and hear them immediately. You squeezed your eyes shut and exhaled through your nose for a moment to steel yourself, both for the crowd and the large percentage of it being so young. You hadn’t even had a chance to really get used to the green child you were tasked with helping out with. And these kids could  talk .

The sled came to a stop, the slight jarring motion shaking Cara Dune awake. She looked around, mind working to remember the circumstances that landed her in a strange vehicle with equally strange company.

The first thing the children of the crowd did, was fixate on the child companion of yours in the sled. They were all murmuring and giggling amongst themselves, and the kid looked back at them with equally curious intent. None of you had any idea when he was last around anyone of his mentation.

“Looks like they’re happy to see us.” You heard Mando’s voice crackle through his voice modulator. Cara Dune smiled, but all you could do was blink tiredly. You weren’t ready for this.

One of the children, a girl,  broke away from the crowd and got closer to the smaller, green child, greeting him personally. You watched the interaction carefully. She seemed to notice, as she quickly made eye contact and ducked away back into the safety of the other village children.

With that, everyone disembarked the sled and began unloading cargo. You slowly rose from your spot, knees protesting from staying folded for so long and making you grit your teeth. You grabbed the pack you’d brought with you, slinging it over your shoulder and hobbling off of the sled to join the others, who were carrying their respective luggage. The child had been surrounded by the village kids, the curiosity on both sides still strong and outweighing the apprehension of the strangers with him.

It was time to be shown where you’d be staying, though. Without any words exchanged, Mando shuffled over to gather up the child, kids scattering, and you, Cara Dune, and he were led to your accommodations.

The village was modest, but cozy. The huts all had a distinct charm to them, with the same woven look as the common house, and reminding you of fishing baskets. Smoke rose from some, and in the distance you could make out man-made ponds where they likely farmed their krill.

You were all led to what appeared to be a building other than a hut. There’s a woman there, apparently putting the last touches on preparing it for guests. When she sees you approaching, she stops fussing with the blinds and turns to face you. You don’t miss how she’s focused in on the Mandalorian, with some sense of hesitation, like she wasn’t anticipating how meeting a Mandalorian in person would be. You couldn’t blame her, honestly.

“Please, come in.” You let Mando lead, watching him walk in and put his cargo down onto the floor. The woman turned and seemed mildly surprised when you entered as well, like she hadn’t really seen you before when you made your approach. Again, you couldn’t blame her - if you’d never met a Mandalorian before, it would be hard to notice anything else. That, and it made sense that should word get out in the village about a Mandalorian arriving, the last thing anyone would talk about would be his companions.

“I apologize… I didn’t realize how many guests there would be.” She glances briefly at you and the child individually. You began to feel guilty about being there at all. Of the adults that were there, you were by far the least useful for the job involving the raiders, and of the resources available for guests you felt like it would be better to distribute them amongst the others before you. The child, too, you felt deserved things before you did. You didn’t miss him looking up at you with his big dark eyes, as if he could sense your discomfort.

“Is, uh, there anywhere else available—“

“This will be fine.”

You give the beskar-clad man a perplexed look when he cuts you off. You were attempting to give the man his space back, surely he would like that better than having you hole up in the same small building?

“It’s not any different from the ship. We’ll make do.” He was looking back at you through that dark visor as if he had heard your thoughts. You blinked.

“Are you sure?”

The curt nod he gave you told you the conversation was over. Well… as long as he was okay with it.

The woman took that as her cue that she could speak again. “I’ve stacked some blankets over there, I can get more should you need them.” She indicated the area she meant. You nodded appreciatively at her.

There’s a very slight sound from the doorway, and both you and Mando turn to see the girl from before that had been talking to the child. She attempted to hide behind the doorframe, bashful about being noticed, but the woman goes to gently pull her back into sight and gently hold her to her side.

“This is my daughter Winta. We don’t get a lot of visitors around here, she’s not used to strangers.” That explains the extra feeling of being watched you’d felt on top of the village at large watching you, this girl must’ve followed along. The woman turned to face her daughter. “This nice man and his friends are going to help protect us from the bad ones.”

Winta looked shyly at you and Mando, and politely whispered a thank you. The woman took her daughter by the hand, leading her outside. “Come on, Winta, let’s give our guests some space.”

Just like that, you were left alone with your usual companions.

You glanced around, seeing that it was essentially just one open room. That wouldn’t do. Whatever Mando told you, you knew he would appreciate having a space to himself. You, also, would appreciate some semblance of privacy.

Speaking of Mando, he hadn’t moved to unpack at all, he continued to stand in place as he tried to process what he’d gotten himself into. He’d done plenty of jobs, with plenty of clients, but he wasn’t at all used to being treated like a “nice man”, as the woman had put it. He didn’t know how he was supposed to fee about it.

His buffering was briefly interrupted when you pushed past him into the barn, and began to root through the blankets that had been left and other supplies that had been pushed off to the side to make space.

“I’m going to build some sort of divide for the room. To at least make it feel like there are two rooms instead of one.” You began draping things over your shoulders and arms as you found them, and looking up at the ceiling and the walls to see what you had to work with. Part of him wanted to tell you to just sit down for now, since he could tell you weren't rested at all from the night before. But he also felt like he wouldn’t be able to stop you from your current activity until you’d finished it. He resigned himself to getting his cargo unpacked.

What he doesn’t know, is you were also trying to distract yourself from your own thoughts. You had noticed how the woman had briefly paused in the doorway as she left to look back - at Mando, and only Mando. You didn’t know why, but something about it bothered you. Was it a look of apprehension and were you offended on his behalf? No, that wasn’t it. It was some other expression that was subtle and layered and happened too fast for you to read. But it still bothered you. You tried to brush it aside and get to working on your new project instead.

-

Before long you had constructed a simple set of walls from various things you’d found around - you’d taken some sheets from the pile of blankets, and used them in conjunction with some netting and poles to fix them to the walls and ceilings similar to what you had done with your space back on the Razor Crest. A crib had been provided for the child, and you moved that onto the “half” that you’d designated Mando’s space - the larger section, and the one with the window. Your “half” was more like your “third” of the bar’s interior. Really, you didn’t mind. Mando had been busy unpacking and reconvening with Cara Dune to offer any input until it was done, anyways.

Later in the day, you’d more or less finished unpacking what little you’d brought, and Mando was tending to his rifle. You sat on a crate, idly fussing with the settings on your blaster, musing to yourself if you could possibly bother the bounty hunter in the future for something more substantial.

“Knock, knock.”

The woman from earlier stood at the door with a tray of a few plates of food in hand, her daughter in tow. You could see them, but their attention was turned to Mando and the child, who was standing in his crib. “Come in.” Mando’s voice sounded from beyond the divide in the room.

The woman entered, setting the tray down on a nearby surface and picking up a plate from it. Winta stepped forwards shyly, asking if she could feed the child. Mando wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but he didn’t see a problem with it. “Sure.”

You watched from just around the edge of the divide, as the girl first knelt to feed the child, and then asked if she could play with him. Mando seemed just as fond of dealing with kids as you, hearing his sigh and flat “sure” in response. You smirked at that.

Once Mando had set the child on the ground, Winta immediately darted out the doorway with the child in tow. Mando started to protest, but the woman held him back. You didn’t know why, it was such a simple thing and she was coming from a place of experience where he had none, but for some reason… it made you bristle slightly. You felt like she was overstepping her bounds somehow. You shook your head briefly. She didn’t know any better, it was fine.

The woman then reached for one of the plates of food, to set on a surface closer to where Mando had been maintaining his rifle. “I brought you some food, I noticed you didn’t eat out there. I’ll leave it here for when I go.” Mando awkwardly thanked her, and moved to turn away.

You were hoping she would leave, then, but she didn’t. Instead, she asked if she could ask Mando a question. With his approval, she continued.

“How long has it been since you’ve taken that off?”

Oh, the helmet question. That was bound to happen sooner or later, honestly. You hoped she didn’t say anything too intrusive or insensitive.

“Yesterday.”

“I mean in front of someone else.”

The air felt heavy. You couldn’t quite see from your position where he was looking, but you saw him motion through the window towards what might have been the child and Winta, and other children based on the sounds of play you could hear.

“I wasn’t much older than they are.”

The woman sounded almost horrified that he hadn’t shown his face to anyone since then. The bounty hunter protested, saying that after his parents had been killed, the Mandalorians had taken him in and cared for him as their own.

It’s not like you knew what his past was, or what you expected it to be, but hearing it like this was like a punch to the gut. It was a horrible thing for him to have gone through at all, let alone as a child. You arguably had only just been getting to know him, but the fact that this woman he had never met before was able to get this fact out of him at all, let alone such a personal fact, stung. He had told you earlier that he’d trusted you. That should’ve been enough, and should’ve stopped you from having your thoughts run loose like they were.

“...I’m sorry.” The woman sounded genuinely sad.

“This is the way.”

“Let us know if there’s anything you need.”

Finally, she left. It did not escape you, though, that she hadn’t stopped to see if you had been there to let you know that she had brought you some food, as well, as you also had not left to go get food since arriving. That hurt a little bit, but with the way the prior exchange had gone it probably just slipped her mind. It wasn’t her fault. She was being a good host, she still brought it, didn’t she? You could swear, though, that she seemed to feel some sort of draw towards the bounty hunter and was acting on it in small ways. And you could not figure out why it bothered you.

Once she had left completely, you quietly crept out from behind the divide to retrieve your own plate. Mando was still standing before the window, watching the kids playing with the child. The woman now approached the crowd, no doubt to supervise and make sure they weren’t being too rough. You felt his eyes turn to you slightly.

“I uh… I’m sorry. About what happened in your past. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t not hear that part.”

Mando inclined his head for a moment, and then looked back up at you. “It wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have told you if it had come up.”

That lifted your mood a bit. Plate in hand, you wandered over to stand before the window, not too close but beside where Mando stood, to watch the kids.

“Looks like he’s having fun.” Mando hummed in agreement, arms folded.

You don’t notice, but the Mandalorian had turned his head ever so slightly to look at you without giving away that that’s what he was doing. He’s usually not the best at reading people, but he could tell that something about the interaction he had just had with the woman had upset you somehow - he also had not missed how she had left after speaking with him and hadn’t tried to see if you were around to speak to you, as well. This was a different kind of upset than what he had seen when you were first on his ship, after your home had been destroyed. He didn’t like it then, and he didn’t like this now. He realized didn’t like seeing you upset, or to be linked to the reason you were upset.

The two of you stood there for a few more moments, watching the villagers and the child play. You cleared your throat.

“Well, I still don’t like eating around others. I’m going to my ‘room’.” Mando felt a small smile flicker on his face at that, as you left and went back to your area.

Once you were there, you had been about to pick up a piece of the food when you heard the tell-tale sound of Mando’s helmet being removed. You didn’t know if it was the closer proximity or the conversation that had just happened, but you retreated even further into your area until you were as far away as possible, like somehow even being too close while his helmet was off was just as bad as seeing his face.

-

The job turned out to be much more complicated than any of you had thought. Surveying the woods showed that the raiders were in possession of an Imperial AT-ST, a formidable weapon to have even against trained troops, let alone a defenseless krill farm. Cara Dune was especially off-put by it, having seen the mech in action and barely escaping to tell the tale. Mando, blunt as ever, tried to tell the village’s occupants to just leave and find another place on the planet to farm, but that went over horribly - everyone was angry, saying that he’d agreed to the job and that he should keep to it, that they had lived there for generations and it took so long to even get the farm established, and so on. They insisted they could be taught to fight and help take on the raiders, stubborn in not wanting to leave their homes. Somehow, their desperation won over the bounty hunter and ex-shock trooper, and it was decided that the entire village of twenty-odd people would follow Cara Dune’s instructions to modify the village grounds into a battleground to take down the machine, and the raiders in turn.

The biggest hurdle was teaching the villagers how to fight to begin with. Nobody knew how to deal with hand-to-hand combat. None of them - except the woman, whose name was Omera - knew how to fire a blaster.

That also meant that Mando’s entire arsenal he’d brought along with him would be put to use arming everyone.

While Cara Dune was working with melee training her half of the adults, Mando was overseeing the target practice. You were more familiar with firing a blaster than you were with physical fighting, so you were attempting to help in that department, as well. You had certainly fired off your fair share of one-in-a-million hits in the times you’d even had to use your blaster, but you had no idea how you were able to do it. It was just… an instinct, somehow, that kicked in right at the moment it was needed, and would vanish just as quickly before you could even try to comprehend it. Still, though, you could try.

They were terrible.  

Shots were flying and only a small fraction were landing anywhere, and of those, even less were hitting their intended targets. Except for Omera. Every shot she fired landed square in the middle of her target, one after the other. You could see Mando watching her closely, nodding when she turned to look expectantly at him with a slight smile.

It makes you grit your teeth and you don’t know why. He’s allowed to be impressed by someone from a backwater planet being good with a blaster. He was allowed to be impressed by her tenacity to defend her village. He was allowed… and whatever this strange feeling was that you had, wasn’t allowed to get in the way. That was up to him.

You had been walking between the villagers, giving them pointers on how to better aim, but once you’d noticed what you had with the widow and Mando, something shifted in you. And unbeknownst to you, Mando was watching you, probably more than he had been watching Omera. Your eerie accuracy with your own blaster when you fired off and hit the targets, the way you went from person to person to curtly correct their poise, the way your eyes flashed as you stood back and looked from trainee to trainee with a calculating, concentrated look to determine who needed fixing where. This was a new side of you he hadn’t seen. It was intimidating… but in a good way. He caught himself being confused by his own thoughts, and reminded himself sternly that he needed to concentrate on training everyone and getting things ready.

That night, the plan would be executed. Luring the raiders out, having the villagers go hand-to-hand with the raiders while Mando and Cara Dune took care of downing the AT-ST. You hoped it would work.

-

In the weeks following the successful defeat of the raiders and destruction of their AT-ST, you stayed put in the village. You and Mando and the kid didn't have anywhere better to be, and Mando still stood by it being a good place for waiting out the hunt going on for the kid. Unlike Mando, though, you didn't feel completely safe. You still felt like it was only a matter of time before someone came looking. The raiders didn't all get killed, and though they probably hadn't laid eyes on the child, let alone the village's children in general, it would have been difficult for them to miss the beskar-clad man that they went up against. Word was going to get out.

Mando wasn't convinced. There was nothing besides your sense of unease to indicate that sort of thing would happen, and he needed more substance than that to act. And so, you were stuck there for the time being.

So you tried to make do with living during that time.

Mando spent his time being the quiet watchman of the village, keeping his weapons he'd brought along in top condition just in case. It couldn't hurt to stay vigilant. And it helped you be more at ease to know he hadn't completely shrugged off the possibility of danger.

And when he wasn't cleaning his weapons for the millionth time, or making sure the child wasn't getting into too much trouble with the village children, he was watching you.

He noticed the way you'd go sit out at the far edge of the village clearing, by the edge of the water beneath the shade of the trees, scribbling things in the odd flimsiplast book you'd brought along with you. He got curious one day and wandered over to where you were, making the excuse that he was patrolling the perimeter and just happened to be passing by you on his way. He got to see what it was you were doing - you were sketching the huts and ponds, as well as the trees and animals, making notes beside them. You didn't limit your note-taking to sitting out on the edge of the village, either, sometimes you stayed amongst the buildings and watched the locals and made notes about them.

There were more than a few times that the child would break away from the village kids and watch you, too, and there were times you'd tear a page out and let him scribble on it alongside you. It was endearing to watch, though he'd never admit it, how intensely focused the little one would be on mimicking you during those times. He saw you do your best to be social when the rest of the kids would inevitably crowd around the two of you and watch what you were doing, and begin asking questions. They did that to him, too, with his weapons, and he would try to tell them stories he remembered hearing as a child himself. You didn't seem to tell them stories, so much as just facts about how this or that worked, or how things are different on other planets in this or that way. They still seemed to take it in just as well.

When you weren't note-taking, or trying to avoid being swarmed by curious children, you'd be in the village kitchens, taking advantage of having proper cooking facilities outside of the makeshift space on the Razor Crest and trying out local ingredients and recipes. The child was frequently your taste-tester, and he loved every bit of it. There were times that he'd take a bite of something you'd made, and instead of downing the rest of it, he'd look around for Mando, and upon spotting him he'd hurry over with the food in hand, waving it up at him as if to say "try it". He would, of course, wait until he was in the privacy of his own space, but he'd always try it. He had to admit, though he knew the locals had been working with the ingredients for generations and were by no means bad cooks, there was something about your cooking that he liked better. He knew you'd brought along some of your own spices and that you put your own spin on things, but it was deeper than that and he didn't know why.

 He notices that though you try to converse with the locals when appropriate, you frequently retreat to be in his presence and just sit quietly. It starts as you just going back to the barn and him happening to also be there, but over time it evolved into you actively seeking him out in moments where he was apart from the others, wherever that may have been. It was… nice.

 It was also nice that, on some nights where neither of you could sleep, you would wind up quietly talking about this or that through the makeshift wall in the barn that divided your sleeping areas. The conversations were about mundane things, never lasted long, and were always quiet because of the sleeping child nearby. But it was a new thing for him that he found he liked. For so long he had traveled alone and in complete silence, and while there was still a degree of silence and separation between the two of you, it was different.

 The villagers seemed to act like you would just stay there forever. Names were learned, bits and pieces of life stories were swapped, some degree of familiarity was established.

 There was absolutely no way anyone could miss how attentive Omera had become to ensuring you all were still tended to, but especially in regards to Mando. He was civil in return, and you swear he had started to open up to her and go beyond just being polite. You, also, did your best to be civil towards her, but it was difficult for some reason. It was not your place to decide who was allowed to be friends with who, or how they responded to such actions. Not your place to feel put off by another person getting close to arguably the only person you knew beyond vague acquaintance-ship.

  And this didn’t just feel like someone building a friendship, either. You did not know why it bothered you as much as it did. But here you were.

 One day, you, Mando, and Cara Dune were all on the porch of the barn, lounging for lack of a better word. Cara Dune sat reclined in a chair, you on the edge of the porch, and Mando casually leaned back against the wall of the barn. He looked very relaxed and it took you a little more effort than normal not to just stare at the rare sight.

 And then Omera appeared.

 She had been in the barn doing some tidying up, as hosts do. As she exited, she handed a cup of spotchka to Cara Dune, who thanked her, and then she turned to Mando.

 “Can I set you something in the house?” She briefly turned her vision towards you, to indicate the offer was extended to you as well, but it went right back to the bounty hunter before you could answer.

 “Uh… thank you. Maybe later.” He mumbled his answer, awkward as ever. The woman looked back at you, and you shook your head to her offer, not daring to try and open your mouth. She seemed satisfied with that, and turned to watch the village children playing with the child. He’d captured a frog, and wasted no time in stuffing it into his mouth and trying to swallow it like a vine snake. The children laughed and groaned in amused disgust. The frog turned out to be too big for the little one and he spat it out, and everyone cackled as the frog hopped away, no doubt startled by nearly being eaten.

 “He’s very happy here.” Omera’s voice broke the silence on the porch.

 “He is.” The bounty hunter’s voice responded.

 “Fits right in.” And with that, the widow walked away. You watched her leave with narrowly-disguised distaste on your face. The kid was still a target for all you knew, and that little comment implying he should continue to stay just made you realize how little they understood about the consequences that could come their way should the hunters find him. Being able to actually be a child was good, yes, but not at the expense of having another event similar to the raiders, one they wouldn’t have time to plan for.

 Apparently, Cara Dune had some thoughts of her own.

 “So what happens if you take that thing off?” She nodded at Mando, indicating his helmet. “They come after you and kill you?”

 Your distaste turned to her next.

 “No, you just can’t ever put it back on again.” Cara scoffed at his answer. She looked at you to see if you thought it was as ridiculous as she did, a smirk on her face. You narrowed your eyes at her, and her smirk faded a bit. You’d known, and you respected his cultural beliefs not to badger him like she was trying to do.

 “I was gonna say, if that’s it, it wouldn’t be any trouble at all for you to just slip it off and take up living here, raising the kid and sipping spotchka.” She motioned in the direction Omera had left with her glass.

 “The beautiful young widow would be more than happy to help with that.” She looked back at you. “Am I right?”

 Your skin felt like it would scramble right off your body.

 Somehow, hearing Cara Dune confirm that she, too, had seen Omera’s interest in Mando made it all too real in your mind. And she wouldn’t be making such comments if she didn’t think Mando had similar feelings, either.

 Why did it bother you so much?

 You heard your name, realizing she was actually waiting for an answer from you.

 “Yeah, sure.” Your voice was quiet and clipped, a poor attempt to keep your feelings veiled. Cara Dune finally noticed your tense posture, the discomfort very apparent in the line of conversation she’d started up.

 She immediately regretted her teasing about the widow. Unlike you and Mando, she was actually able to read people. Mando may have been oblivious to it, but she could see now that you were more fond of the bounty hunter than she initially thought. She’d sensed some sort of dislike towards Omera from you, with how brief you kept your interactions with her, but this made it make sense. Kriff, you were probably oblivious to it, too.

 Mando’s modulated voice brought her back to the present. “You know, we raised some hell here a few weeks ago. It’s too much action for a backwater town like this. Word travels fast. You might wanna cycle the charts and move on.”

 You leaned your head back, rolling your eyes. “Finally.” You’d only been trying to convince him to do that the moment you’d chased the raiders off. “I thought it was going to take bounty hunters actually showing up to get you to make that decision.”

 You swiveled where you sat to look at the man pointedly. He shook his head lightly. You could almost hear the good-natured smirk under his helmet. You couldn’t help but quirk the corner of your mouth yourself.

 As forward as Omera was with hinting her interest towards Mando, Cara Dune thought, you weren’t too bad of a companion choice for him, either. You might not be the worse of the two, either, as far as the dynamic between you. As long as the buckethead wasn’t alone.

 She looked back to where the kids were all playing. “I wouldn’t want to be the one who’s gotta tell him that it’s time to leave.”

 “I’m leaving him here.”

 You and Cara Dune stared at him.

 “Traveling with me… that’s no life for a kid. I did my job, he’s safe. Better chance at a life here.”

 No. You weren’t going to let him decide that easily.

 “Mando. Do I need to remind you that the kid is being hunted as much as you are?” He started to protest, but you continued, standing up from your seat to face him fully, crossing your arms. “And, like you said, the fight with the raiders will have drawn attention. We sure didn’t kill them all, some got away. ‘Word travels fast’.”

 Mando stared back, at a loss for words, and looked to Cara Dune for backup. She only shrugged, indicating you had a point.

 “...if anyone was going to come, they would have done so by now.”

 You dropped your arms to your sides, an incredulous expression on your face. Really? Really?  

 “Mando-”

 He held up his hand to stop you. Such a simple motion shocked you enough to derail your thoughts. He really wasn’t changing his mind, was he…? Was he that ready to leave the kid behind?

 Was he that ready to be rid of you …?

 Leaving the child here meant your current “job” would no longer exist. It meant having to figure out where to go next, how to start next.

 You weren’t ready for that.

 You looked down at the wood flooring of the porch. You couldn’t figure out how to argue back in a way that didn’t sound selfish. Defeated, you turned away from the beskar-clad man and faced away, looking at the children playing again.

 Mando truly felt like this was the best option for the child at this point. He wasn’t anywhere near an acceptable parental figure, and per your own admission you didn’t do well with kids, either. The kid needed other kids to be around, adults that were willing and happy to raise him. You needed to be able to actually settle down somewhere you could rebuild. This tiny village, with its lack of technology, wasn’t it, and it wasn’t on his cramped ship with his stubborn self, either. You deserved better. He didn’t want to say goodbye to the kid, or to you, but it wasn’t about what he wanted.

 The three of you solemnly watched the child play with the other village children.

 “It’s gonna break his little heart.” Cara Dune muttered.

 “He’ll get over it. We all do.”

 You didn’t want to agree with him, on that last line. But he was right.

-

 Everyone had finished packing, all that was needed was for it to be loaded onto the cargo sled. The air felt weighted, and it wasn’t from the humidity of the surrounding swamp.

 For you, the air got even more oppressive when you saw Mando approach Omera and lead her slightly away from the others to speak to her. You knew he was just asking her to watch after the child. But you could see the way she was looking at him. You could see Mando fidgeting, almost shyly. You could feel your face get tingly. Why was this so hard for you? It wasn’t about you.

 You couldn’t hear the exchange, but you could tell Omera was saying something back at him, and the way her expression changed, you almost felt like she was asking him to stay, too.

 But then, pulling you from your wallowing in self-pity, you felt the same thing you’d felt back at your old home, just before the bounty hunters broke through and your life as you knew it ended. The intense, physical feeling of wrong, of something in your head thrashing about telling you to run. Telling you to grab the kid and run.

 They were here.

 You sprinted towards where the village kids were, focusing in on the child, drawing your blaster.

  "Mando!”  

 Whatever had been happening between Mando and Omera was forgotten, the widow spinning around to see what the shouting was, and Mando falling into a defensive stance, hand going to his blaster handle.

 Your timing couldn't have been better. As you skidded to your knees to grab the frightened child, the village children scattering in confusion and fear, blaster fire rang out and a scorched blast marked the earth right where he had been sitting. You ran in a crouch to hide behind the nearest barrier you could get to, in this case some of the cargo that had yet to be loaded. The child whimpered and clutched at your clothing, and you clutched him closer, blaster raised in your other hand in case you needed to peek around and return fire.

 You heard chatter from the other adults, and peering around the corner of the cargo, you see Cara Dune and Mando rush off int the trees. Omera is quickly herding the children to safety. You stay where you are, slumping against the back of the cargo, knowing Mando won't let whoever's out there get away. You look down at the kid in your grasp, who is looking back up at you with those dark eyes you'd gotten used to.

 "I told him it wasn't safe here."

-

 Just as you had warned him, the shots had come from someone carrying a tracking fob for the child. Cara Dune had seen to the demise of the hunter, and the tracking fob was destroyed. If it had been a different situation, you would have been more smug about being right.

 But as it currently stood, you needed to get out of there as soon as you could.

 The cargo sled was fully loaded, with additional supplies beyond what you’d brought with you, and the child was seated up where he could see out. You sat close by, not wanting to chance having to make a dive for him again. You hadn’t anticipated being so protective, but here you were. The village gathered around to see you off. Cara Dune offered to escort you back, but the decision was made to completely bypass going through town and just go straight to the Razor Crest. For once, you agreed with this decision.

 “Well then, until our paths cross.” the two exchanged a firm handshake. She looked back and nodded at you, and you returned it with a raised hand. It was good to know you had an ally out there now.

 You’d anticipated leaving by then, but when Winta rushed forward you had to suppress a groan. You were so ready to leave behind the other kids and yet here they were again, prolonging the goodbye process. With little regard for any sense of personal space, she wrapped her arms around the child in a hug. You leaned away a little to give them room. You didn’t expect her to release the child and give you a hug, too.

 “I’ll miss you so much.”

 You were frozen, your mind having drawn a blank and your body unsure of what to do. It took you a few moments to regain your senses, and you awkwardly put your hands on her shoulders.

 “Uh… us too.” She pulled back and gave you both a shy smile, and scampered away back to stand by her mother.

 Omera smiled and nodded at you in farewell. You tried to do the same, but you couldn’t guarantee your smile looked anything other than awkward and forced. You were terrible at this.

 “Thank you.”

 Mando nodded at her as well, and finally, he boarded the sled, and you left the small village.

 It was strange, you’d only been on the Razor Crest for a few days before the stay on Sorgan happened and took up the following few weeks of your life, but somehow the ship felt more like home than the village had.

 The three of you all sat in the cockpit area of the ship, Mando at the controls, you sitting in one of the chairs with the child in your lap, you idly letting him mess with your hands.

 Now that it was just you three, your curiosity was getting the better of you.

 “So, Mando… what was Omera saying to you before the bounty hunter attacked?”

 Mando flipped a few more switches and dials on the controls and sat back in his chair. “She was suggesting we stay, too.”      You mean she was suggesting    you      stay,     you thought to yourself.

 “...if the hunter didn’t show, would you have?”

 He turned to look at you. “Would you?”

 You huffed. “I liked being in the trees, but… too remote for my taste. Too closely packed. Too many kids trying to see what I was doing.” Too much of Omera trying to be friendly with the Mandalorian. You didn’t say that part, though.

 He turned back to face the windscreen. “If I had wanted to settle down somewhere, I would have done it years ago.” He folded his hands over his stomach. “I’m not interested in living the sedentary family life.”

 Somehow hearing him say that took a huge weight off your mind. But that still didn’t answer the selfish, nagging question you still had.

 “Did you like her?” You still didn’t know why you cared so much. But while your courage was up and you were on this train, you had to get it out. Mando’s head tilted in your direction slightly.

 “She was… nice. But I don’t think I liked her at all the way she liked me.” He turned back to look at the expanse of space before the ship. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but he was glad that you all got out of there before he had to tell her that. He wasn’t as oblivious as some thought, he could definitely tell that the widow was harboring some kind of affection towards him. He just didn’t feel the same way back, though. He never did. Besides, even if he did, his idea of how to live was so different from hers that it just wouldn’t work. Living on a farm, having and raising kids, staying in one place? Absolutely not.

 You looked down at the child in your lap, tugging on his claws that clutched your fingers, trying to hide the little smile of relief on your face. He perked his ears at you and babbled, seeming to sense you weren’t as weighed down as before.

 “You could’ve been free to go start your infochanting back up somewhere, though.” You looked up, a little surprised at the slightly quieter tone to Mando’s voice.

 He had come to appreciate your company, but he wasn’t about to directly admit it.

 You shook your head and huffed. “Honestly? I don’t mind.”

 You looked back down at the kid, gently grabbing the ends of his long ears and fussing with them, making him squeal.

 “I’m kind of glad to be back on this bucket of bolts with you.”

 You hadn’t made any indication of it, but Mando liked to think you were talking to him just then, and not just the child. Hearing those words stirred something in his chest, and though he couldn’t pin down what it was, he wouldn’t mind feeling it again.

[ody3baby]

I guess you can use this as a prompt if you’d like but also I’m just curious. How would you like for them to get together?

This is such a great question thank you! I decided to just write my thoughts instead of making it a prompt bc there's actually a lot of different ways that I wouldn't mind it to go/would want them to do. So if I wrote if it'd be just one of thos ideas (but I still might write it).

But I will start with that I definitely want them to have at least some inkling of feelings from either Eddie or Buck or even both in the finale. Because, if the writers really are gonna give us a romantic buddie storyline, I really don't see how they won't have at least a hint, even if it's one of those 'saying it saying it things'. However, since it's what I personally would want (while I try to maintain a more realistic approach lol) I would love to see somewhat of a confirmation that both have feelings for each other, even if it is a 'saying it without saying it'.

And then s5 we get mutual pining era.

Okay, so before I go any further I wanna point out a scenario that my sister mentioned even before last ep aired. I know this won't happen, but I would just love if we get some good friends to lovers angsty drama i.e. like what they did with caskett in Castle. Where maybe when Buck is saving Eddie one of them confess in the heat of the moment. Like the confession doesn't even have to be big, it could just be an 'I love you' that some people could still interrupt as them 'being bros who love each other as bros'. BUT THEN after Eddie is okay, either a) Eddie asks if he or Buck said anything and Buck tell him 'no' (you know like a liar) or b) where Buck asks Eddie if he remembers anything and Eddie says 'no' (also like a liar). And then later Buck talks to Taylor and Taylor mentions how she and him could never work, not when he has feelings for someone else and then maybe tells him "I think the universe came to you a long time ago. You just didn't realize it yet.' She then walks off and leaves him wearing a pikachu face. And then with Eddie, he breaks up with Ana and tells her that she was everything he thought he wanted, was taught to want, but that he needs to reevaluate himself. And then she maybe says something like "I hope you find what you're looking for. Though I feel like you might've already have" and he does not have the pikachu face. Instead he just gives her a small smile and nods. And then season 5 we get the drama of the mutual pining and one of them keeping the secret about the love confession bc they have to self reflect and afraid of losing what they have and worrying what the other would think and blah blah classic fic angst that I can see them put in the show since they've done so many fic tropes anyways.

But again I do not see that angsty drama happening but I would love to see IG. I do would like for them to still have those scenes with Ana and Taylor to help confirm the mutual pining.

And with Eddie, I can really see him getting shot be his epiphany moment. Whether it's him realizing that he's in love with Buck, or that he already had somewhat a knowledge of having feelings for his best friend but pushed them aside. But either way I can really see this epiphany where he realizes that he can't hide himself anymore and breaks up with Ana. BUT he still just went through a trauma that effected both Buck and Christopher, and I would like for that to trigger his PTSD. So I would love for him to want to do something about his feelings for Buck but still needs time to focus on himself. Meanwhile Buck is there with them every step of the way. (Roommates era while Buck helps Eddie anyone??)

And on Buck's side, I would want him to maybe just realize his feelings so he's been digesting them for a few months and kinda freaking out about it. But at the same time there are things in canon that showed that maybe he was aware. Idk I feel like it could go either way and either way  can see his current journey being that he also needs to revaulate himself and maybe also trying to see if Eddie feels the same way.

And in the meantime he helps with Eddie deal with his PTSD and they both kinds work in healing together and Chris as well. And if that's the case, then I would love for his they get together is a scene similar to the Kitchen Scene™ where they talk about the latest things go on in their life it's all very domestic while they're doing dishes or something and then Eddie getting shot is mentioned and that leads to them finally opening up and then rush into a kiss.

Or, maybe bc of still dealing with the trauma they kinda explode and argue in the kitchen which leads to one of them shouting "Because I love you!" Which immediately silences the other as they ask in a bewildered voice. If it's Buck who says it then I can see him try to retract it in a "you know as a bro" kinda way (of course he's not gonna actually say that but it's the vibe) but Eddie interrupts him and goes to kiss him. But if it's Eddie who shouts it I would want him to either be silent or be silent and then holds his head high and says, "You heard me". And then Buck proceeds to kiss him.

Oh! Another thing I would love is Buck's realization that he has feelings for Eddie makes him realize that he's not as straight as he thought and since he doesn't want to do anything that could risk losing Eddie (especially him getting shot my goodness) I would love if it s5 he kinda explores his sexuality a bit and starts dating Ravi. And we get jealous Eddie which leads to them probably arguing in the kitchen and a love confession.

Either way I want them to get together in the kitchen. It's a mighty need.

So yeah, as I said, there's so many ways that I would want it to go (some less realistic than others lol). But, my main thing is I would just love some kind of feelings confirmation or even hints of it in the finale. And for me I would personally want it for both of them bc there's been lead up for both of them having a realization. And then I would just love to see the Mutual Pining Galore while they help each other through the traumas. And then us watching and seeing how long these two idiots in love can keep their feelings in.

And none of none of these are probably that realistic, but tbh no how they do it, if they actually make Buddie canon (and endgame) then I would freaking love it with all of my heart (unless it's something that's messed up or idk which I highly HIGHLY doubt).

But yeah here's to whatever the future hopefully holds!

Thanks again so much for the ask :)

[sprolden]

please, do tell us why matthew will/won't die

thank u, anon, for endorsing me

enjoy an extremely long meta analysis on what i think will happen to matthew fairchild in chain of iron (+ chain of thorns)

ETA: the new tungle jungle update killed list formatting so all my bullet points are now below each other instead of having sub points but its Fine, i’m FINE, u just have to read over it i guess, let’s get to it

let’s start out with some reasons why matthew is extremely unlikely to die (spoiler warning for chog and tid!!!)

plot protection! matthew is more plot protected than.. literally anyone imo. the storyline of his secret and his romance with cordelia are two reasons he’s very unlikely to die because there’s too much to be resolved. killing him off would mean leaving those plotlines entirely unresolved.

similarly, matthews deep mental health issues funnily enough protect him from dying. cc never kills off characters who are struggling with themselves. (jessamine is the exception to this, more on that later)

same goes for the fact that matthew is bi- lgbt characters generally don’t die* in cc’s writing. she avoids the kill your gays trope like hell which, tbh, good for us???

not as stong of an argument, but it would make tlh too similar to tid- killing off the herondale’s parabatai who’s also interested in the main girl? yeah. i know cassie recently spoke about how she doesn’t really care for comparisons between tlh and tid, but i feel like this would be pushing it.

but then again, there’s a Lot of reasons why matthew might be dead as hell by the end of coi i’m sorry

most of all, book two madness! shit always goes down in the second book. cassie has also hinted at Shit Going Down in coi, and considering a lightwood already died in chog, i wouldnt be surprised if a main dies

“But Victoria Why On Earth Would That Be Matthew” well! because literally everybody else Cannot die:

it won’t be anna, alastair or thomas bc of said avoidance of kill your gays (And they still need to kiss kiss fall in love); grace, lucie, james and cordelia are simply too important to the plot for cc to kill them; and jesse’s... already dead idk what to tell u

i’m aware this leaves out christopher too, but tbh? i wouldn’t be too surprised if he dies. the only thing saving him rn are that he still has to marry grace if we’re following the family tree and that he has to invent fire messages but....... those are attainable goals for a single book imo (unlike matthew sorting out his Stuff) so... Perhaps it’s gonna be kit but thats a whole nother post

yeah i know i also just listed a bunch of reasons why matthew wont die but bear w me

so why matthew? because, plot-wise, there’s advantages to him dying, that other characters’ deaths wouldn’t have:

it would solve the love triangle. as a fairstairs it pains me to say this but it’s fairly straightforward: matthew dies, the gracelet is destroyed, jordelia lives happily ever after. we know jordelia will probably be endgame, so.. yeah.

on that same note: matthew doesn’t have a love interest besides cordelia. we know we won’t be seeing the tlh characters in another series, so everybody that lives has to get their happily ever after, which in cc’s case means being happily married. if i recall correctly, the only main characters that have ever ended up single at the end of their books were tda characters that we know we will see again in twp.

he isn’t on the family tree. we know for a fact that we can’t trust the family tree, but i think it’s unlikely for cc to just... ignore something as big as that.

but vic, wouldn’t a dead person be on the family tree? good question! that leaves us with our third option: matthew dies, but doesn’t die, aka downworlder/disowned matthew

basically, the whole idea is that matthew either becomes a downworlder and loses contact w the gang, or he gets stripped of his runes/disowned for what he did to charlotte

it would be a way for him to distance himself from the shadowhunters without actually dying- so it would create none of the ethical issues that come w dying (such as kill your gays) but it would distance him from the shadowhunters enough to let jordelia do their funky business.

matthew being stripped of his runes would explain why he isn’t on the family tree too, bc we know shadowhunters that were stripped of their runes aren’t allowed to have contact w their family.

i’ve talked about vampire matthew before but basically: there’s some hints at matthew staying young forever in chog, and him dying but becoming immortal instead would basically be pulling a jessamine. he dies, but doesn’t die.

becoming a vampire would also give us the Drama™ of his death scene, mayhaps some dramatic confessions, plus it would give him literal eternity to sort out his alcoholism/underlying issues (though i think that will be sorted out by the end of cot)

this also fixes the lack of love interest: if he’s immortal, that means we will probably see him again (maybe in twp/tec?) (with a hot vampire bf/gf, of course)

the only argument against this is again, that it would be too similar to tid, which we know cassie might be avoiding.

also perhaps that ppl might see it as as a way to execute the kill your gays trope without actually doing it, but then again, she sent haline to wranger island Just Like That so,,.,. she doesn’t seem to have any problems w that :^)

basically, i have no idea what’s gonna happen to matthew. i think downworlder matthew makes a Lot of sense, but at the same time it’s a bit of reach imo. if anything, i think it might make too much sense. (i had theories for tda that made a lot more sense than giant naked angels but We Got That Too, didn’t we!)

knowing cc’s writing, i think Matthew Suffers, But Somehow Lives is probably the route she will take. i just have no idea how it will be executed.

thank you for coming to my ted talk!

tl;dr: matthew’s death would be very convenient for some parts of the plot, but it would create a lot of issues with other parts of it. because of this, i think cc might take some sort of dying-but-not-really middle route.

* generally, because there’s a few exceptions: michael is bi but started out dead, which doesn’t count as killing people off imo. the faerie characters that died could be considered lgbt because technically all faeries are bi/pan, but none of the faeries that died ever had a same-sex romance. the aro/ace character that died in tmi is the only one i can think of, but he wasn’t explicitly aro-ace on page until the novellas that followed after tmi. matthew is very explicitly bisexual and has always been very explicitly bisexual.

[tyrannoninja]

It should be common knowledge by now that human beings in their modern form, Homo sapiens, first evolved in Africa. Exactly when we emerged on the scene remains uncertain (recent fossil discoveries suggest it may have happened over 300,000 years ago, a hundred millennia earlier than we originally thought), but whenever it was, most of our species’s history of existence would have played out on the so-called “Dark Continent”. It would have been no earlier than 70,000 years ago — and possibly as soon as 55,000 years ago — when the ancestors of all people outside of Africa would wander out of the continent and colonize the rest of the habitable world.

This would not have been the first dispersal of hominin apes out of Africa, mind you. Much in the press has been made of the fact that between 1–7% of modern human ancestry outside our ancestral continent comes from the descendants of earlier emigrants such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans. What may not be so widely publicized, however, is that the famous “Out of Africa” migration between 70–55,000 years ago would not have been the last movement of Homo sapiens from Africa into Eurasia and beyond, either. There is, in fact, a plethora of compelling evidence that humans from Africa continued to venture out and leave a permanent genetic mark on the ancestry of their Eurasian kin— even the “white” peoples of Europe.

I don’t mean a light dash, either. Almost one third of European ancestry descends from African admixture within the last 55,000 years.

As early as 1997, population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza observed in Genes, peoples, and languages that the ancestry of Europeans could be characterized as 2/3 Asian and 1/3 African. More recently, Jeffrey D. Wall and colleagues reported in 2013 that East Asian people had a higher proportion of ancestry from Neanderthals than did Europeans. Since Neanderthals are known to have lived in Europe and the Middle East but not East Asia, it seems unlikely that the ancestors of East Asians had any more contact with Neanderthals than those of Europeans. It would, however, make sense if the proportion of Neanderthal ancestry in Europeans got driven down by admixture with people with little to no such ancestry — namely, people from Africa.

In 2012, a population genetics blogger with the pseudonym “Etyopis” ran the ancestry of almost 3,000 individuals around the world through the program ADMIXTURE, measuring how much of their ancestry was of relatively recent African origin versus how much of it descended from the initial “Out of Africa” migration. His results revealed that between 28–29% of his European subjects’ ancestry was of recent African origin. This held true for European nationalities as different from one another as the Spanish, Italians, French, Slovenians, Lithuanians, and White American citizens from Utah.

In addition, African genetic haplogroups pop up quite often in some European populations. For example, almost 25% of Greek men carry the originally African Y-chromosomal haplogroup E.

That such discoveries would surprise most people of European descent is a given. It would certainly be ironic given the infamous history of white supremacists (or white nationalists, or alt-rightists, or whatever euphemism they want to be called these days) decrying “racial miscegenation” and “non-white immigration” as threats to Western civilization. However, even those who don’t subscribe to such ideological racism might still wonder when and how this African ancestry would have entered the European gene pool.

Most of it probably happened sometime before the first appearance of agriculture in Europe during the Neolithic period (7000–1700 BC).

Back in 1971, physical anthropologist J. Lawrence Angel wrote in The People of Lerna that the skeletal remains of Neolithic peoples in Greece and Macedonia showed “Negroid” physical traits common to African people, which he speculated had arrived in the region from the Nile Valley of Egypt and Sudan. More recently in 2005, C. Loring Brace claimed that the remains of a prehistoric Middle Eastern people called the Natufians — among the immediate predecessors to the first farmers in the Fertile Crescent and then Europe— showed “unexpected ties” to African populations.

Such ties between the Natufians and African populations may not be limited to skeletal features. Archaeologists such as Ofer Bar-Yosef and Graeme Barker describe the primitive tools the Natufians used as similar to those of earlier populations along Africa’s northern coast, even speculating that these similarities could attest to African technological influences if not a full-blown migration.

If the skeletal and archaeological data hinted at recent African admixture in the first farmers of the Fertile Crescent and their European offshoots, later genetic data from remains such as these would confirm it — even if the geneticists haven’t always realized it.

When analyzing ancient DNA extracted from various prehistoric remains in 2014, Iosif Lazaridis concluded that the first farmers to appear in Europe had 44% of their ancestry derived from a population he called “Basal Eurasian”, characterized by an almost complete absence of the Neanderthal ancestry that all non-African people have inherited today. He would later find in a second study that approximately half of the ancestry in Natufian and early Neolithic Middle Eastern populations came from this “Basal Eurasian” heritage.

Common sense alone would imply that this so-called “Basal Eurasian” component must actually be African. After all, it is the indigenous peoples of Africa, not anywhere in Eurasia or the rest of the habitable world, who have little to no Neanderthal ancestry. Yet, in a sense, Lazaridis’s label might only be partly wrong. One of the ramifications of the “Out of Africa” theory is that not all African people will be equally related to those outside the continent. Instead, those Africans from whom non-Africans splintered off (i.e. populations in the northeastern region of the continent) would have a greater genetic affinity to those non-Africans than would other Africans. And indeed, genetic research has revealed that native Northeast African ancestry is genetically closer to that of non-Africans than is ancestry from, say, West or Central Africa (the ancestry of aboriginal peoples from southernmost Africa, who speak Khoisan languages, is the furthest removed of all). This means that Northeast Africans really would represent a population basal to non-Africans (hence “Basal Eurasian”).

It is very likely, then, that the “Basal Eurasian” ancestry identified by Lazaridis and his colleagues actually comes from a native Northeast African population that stayed home on the continent for tens of millennia before moving into the Middle East and giving rise to the Natufians between 12,500 and 9500 BC. This African ancestry would have been absorbed and inherited by the Fertile Crescent’s Neolithic populations before they spread into Europe. With them would have arrived farming, animal husbandry, and the majority of the recent African ancestry that all modern Europeans possess.

This is not to say that Africans did not influence European ancestry after that point in the Neolithic. For example, skeletal remains with African characteristics have been uncovered in Roman-era sites in Britain, such as Leicester and York. We have also found a skull with a mixture of African and European features in a tomb in Ephesus, Turkey — it may belong to the famous Cleopatra’s (half?) sister Arsinoe. Given the influence of the Hellenistic and Roman civilizations around the Mediterranean basin in classical antiquity, it is not surprising that native Africans would have entered their population upon being incorporated into their empires.

For that matter, the Middle East may have also received influential African immigration even long after the time of the Natufians. Genetic data indicates the introgression of African ancestry into populations in Armenia around 3800 BC. It is around this same time period that linguists believe the Semitic languages (e.g. Hebrew, Arabic, and ancient Phoenician) would have appeared in the region. Since we know that Semitic is one branch of the larger “Afroasiatic” language phylum which first emerged in Northeast Africa, it seems likely that ancestral Semitic’s development in the Middle East is linked to the contemporaneous influx of additional African ancestry as far north as Armenia. In other words, it would have been yet another wave of Africans who brought the progenitor language of Semitic there.

And then, of course, there’s the historical incorporation of the Syro-Palestinian coast into two African empires, those of ancient Egypt and its Sudanese neighbor Kush.

All this history is important not only for its potential use for trolling white supremacists and eugenicists. It also attests to a little-appreciated influence of African people on the cultures of ancient Europe and the Middle East. Too often, Eurocentric accounts of history have regulated Africa and its indigenous peoples to the sidelines of importance, with one of the few exceptions being a de-Africanized misrepresentation of Egypt. The knowledge that Africa was not only the birthplace of all humankind, but also a major influence on the so-called cradles of Western civilization, should be one of many reasons to push it back into the spotlight of history that it deserves.

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2019 // the bonny scot

posting this a day later than normal because this is one of the rare episodes that shows a passage of time from one day to the next yayy love that for them

-wonder what filming these beginning sexy scenes is like for them in real life

-sooooo can lucy see nancys sexy dream? is she judging? does this mean she likes nancy with owen or nick more? or is she trying to tell nancy that her sex dreams are irrelevant to the mystery at hand and she needs to focus?

-seeing people in the ✨prison chair✨: gomber, carson, karen (voting for josh s3 just saying)

-completely ignores carson's question about herself typical nance

-"or maybe i did stumble across a knife" its like hes trying to make the case against him look plausible while attempting to maintain innocence. this is a slippery slope for carson to try and encourage her to keep her pacified + hide the truth while also trying to keep her from getting involved bc hudsons

-"genetics gets you in the door" aaaaand then she walks in to everetts office to meet him and crashes their family dinner

-ok who tf is dawn and why is she in charge here

-this guidance counselor of nicks is my favorite person

-"i admire your allergy to pleasantries" bess and nancy both have reveals to big families but nancy does not have the graceful, accepting reveal to her rich family like bess does at this lunch. nancys reveal is messy, cold, bloodstained and sticky-fingered, not nice in any way whatsoever. and this little chat with everett (bit of a parallel to lucy's) just highlights how nancy is always bad at bargaining with her grandparents*- always trying to fight on their level but giving up her equal hand bc she doesnt know how to hide it when they bring up something she doesnt know. like confronting celia at the masque: she was so confident with her theory and what she knew, but then we got a "what does that mean?" like. the instant you say that, you lose. and she walked right into the "yes i do have someone, hes in jail" 🤦🏼‍♀️ even in the car with ryan at the end of s1, he literally just fucking leaves her there. like 🤷🏼‍♀️ what did u think was gonna happen sis?? for all she can predict how past things lead to present circumstances shes fucking awful at seeing the direct future *(grandparents except for patrice bc her dementia makes her inaccessable)

-lmaooooo this awko ass portrait...i get the empty space is for nance but who on earth thought this was a good pic??

-LISBETH 🥺💙

-"will u help the claw for me?" george struggles financially to keep her livelihood while nancy is somehow shown as being taken care of even when her parent is incarcerated; both nancy and george live in single parent homes now with mention of both medical debt and george being breadwinner yet nancy has no struggles while george does. (i wonder if ryan had been able to help george here how the story would have changed)

-"when it comes to following people around without their knowledge or consent i am somewhat of a repeat offender" 😂😂😂

-"he wasnt endgame after all" BESS lmaoooo

-"...okay." lmaoooo i fuckin love owen

-i was hoping the girls' faces would be more shocked like with a glance to owen but they just....werent

-"we're the good guys" <---- this statement is soooo interesting in terms of how they structure the show and how the characters see themselves (its an interesting contrast with the more definitive good vs evil with things that are both clearly good and clearly evil but theres also a lot of moral grey area here, the show is kinda swamped in it. are nancy and crew the good guys? are they the bad guys in someone else's story? concerns.)

-"i'd call it more than just stuff" like why did u concede that??? and then the shit about oof that didnt sound like a compliment lmaoooooo why does she suck at arguing?? she and owen wouldnt work long term bc theyre so similar (as mentioned later on)

-i LOVE george slowly falling in love with nick here- hence how upset she gets when nick bails on her for nancy later (which is totally justified!!!)

-i am LIVING for the little nod this driver guy gives bess when she turns back around all nervous 😂

-"i do like buying things" i would so say that too tbh

-"you'd have plenty to talk about" LMFAOOOOOOO SHE KNOWS "marvins dont marry drivers" so diana is totally fine with the gay its just the poor she has a problem with 😂💙fuckin love that

-love how nancy just casually ruins everything for nick/george lmaooo

-"i have seen you at your best, nancy, and there is nothing like it." 🥴😳 i love this still-in-love look nancy gives him thats so strong he had to change the subject

-so is haunting time 11 pm? from that clock of bashiir's?

-how do NO neighbors notice this fucking water and shit

-these are TOTALLY AWFUL fake screams from the bonny scot crew 😭

-"i know well enough not to get involved when he's in play" both carson and ryan avoid engaging with everett even though nancy is willing to do so armed with less info and more balls/ but "could i trust him" and ryan says yes lmaooooo NO honey + that makes ryan 0/2 for helping the girls when they ask this ep

-"find a project of your own" and he does, with his youth center 🙏🏻💙 what s2 foreshadowing!

-"god i wish i still drank" 😂😂😂

-"she is darling." 💙👌🏻

-okay wtf is mirror bay??

-i really wonder about the extent of celia x sebastians relationship here. did she truly care about him or was it just secret and exciting sex? also would love more hints of diana vs celia moments like these. celia doesnt even look upset. i mean shes had time to deal but like wtf. and who exactly is sebastian to diana? not her husband? like damn what if he was. somehow i doubt she'd talk about him diddling celia if diana was disrespected also

-i wonder if celia being so invested in dna testing nancy was bc everrett dna tested ryan to make sure he was his bc of sebastian / other men (which would be totally valid on his part!! but wouldnt it be funny as fuck if ryan wasnt his 😂)

-what a neat hiding place in this frame lmaooo who put that in for them tho? like how do u go about ordering that

-"you certainly are your fathers daughter" this quote is doubly ironic and foreshadowy bc theyre referencing carson here as being a useful hudson attaché but nancy is playing everett just like ryan played celia about putting his house up (but TRIPLY ironic bc carson pulls off the long con of hiding nancy from the hudsons right under their noses this whole time!) the one time nancy is successful against them

-that bess/lisbeth look while lisbeth does something badass (+diana reassessing now that lisbeth has been revealed to be useful)

-"almost as fun as a real fight" why do i believe him? lmaoooo a bit weird that he would enjoy a fight w a partner, but i also think this is an acknowledgement of nancy being an "opponent" who exists at his level. but i also love the "let me take you out" as a direct mirror of her relationship with nick, where she avoids the public acknowledgment/"going out" but prefers the more subtle/hidden arrangements of staying in. but as shown with later eps, owen is way more capable of meeting nancy where shes at, which is so important to her + the only way of getting close to nancy. (the only foil is ace who somehow is able to do both)

-"not always about a guy" <---- this could have been such a powerful statement if the show had thought having nancy end up alone/choose herself instead of pitting her between love interests (nick, owen, gil, even potentially ace, in only 2 seasons) was a more worthy stance to take ; as an aro/ace person i cant tell you how much i would kill to see just one female protag choose herself over a man. and its more realistic to end up alone than have a happy ending anyway, for all that these shows try to be as "real" and gritty grimdark as possible

-"is that what you want?" this is an interesting question to his mother- like maybe he senses her unhappiness? combined with his issues with his father- still trying to look out for his mom? either way it's sweet. (it could also potentially work as foreshadowing of something happening to her, but i think that was played with but then diverted when it was revealed who really killed her) "i think its time i steer this ship" still kind of patriarchal tho. i get that its him coming into his own as a dad technically but still. i also like how he calls her "mother" and not mom

-love that old white people thumbs up at george asking about his clams 👍🏻

-okay fuck dawn tho lmfaoooo

-"stressful dinner huh?" 😂 i fucking love lisbeth so much why didnt they bring her back (wouldnt it be Fucking Hilarious if they brought lisbeth back to bounce bess on her expired visa since the marvins kicked her out and didnt fix it lmaoooooo)

-BESS IS A TOP lmaooooooo i fuckin knew it

-nick says "you can pay me back" wonder if thats gonna come back in s3 considering their "marital problems" (also, those bonds are sosus lmfaoooo if any single person cashing those was looked at sideways they'd confess in 2 seconds that some random guy is handing out bearer bonds they dont even make anymore with absolutely zero proof as to how he got them)

-"you wanna finish what you started?" 👀 (dont mind if i do)

-"i need my dad back" parallels s2 when she asks him to come home

-parent politics: "you are taking your life in your hands / no, i'm putting it in yours" vs "i know well enough not to get involved when hes in play" both carson and ryan try to dissuade nancy from pursuing her pulling this con on everett but go about it different ways: carson is wildly concerned with nancys physical wellbeing but ryan appears to be leaning more towards weighing the odds for her/ like a "you cant win so cut your losses/dont try" scenario which interestingly might have more weight with nancy; its easy for her to brush aside carson's worrying like second nature but nancy has been established to be a determined winner, and ryan speaks to her here like shes a beginners luck prodigy at a blackjack table by encouraging her to keep her record clean by not dealing in this next round. of course she herself admits shes incapable of not dealing in ie "you know me better than that" but i have lots more thoughts on how effective ryans approaches to nancy can be sometimes (saving for the reveal ep 🙏🏻)

-wonder what all carson knows about the hudsons? + that look on his face when he hangs up... wonder if he was just lying to her about knowing anything or just ashamed at having to admit bad things hes done for them

-love nick & bashiir waiting together 🙏🏻💙+ nicks very strong and pointed "good night" as a means of ending his convo w nancy on his terms (gotta reinforce those boundaries man!)

and lastly

-celia + that gossip girl moment when she just throws the whole phone away 😂(wonder if she was just talking to "gus" or whoever that guy was. keep forgetting the bobbseys' dad is in prison too, wonder if he'll feature in s3)

[piisuke]

Tell me about your Jujutsu Kaisen, Fire Force, amd Bungo Stray Dogs ocs, I dont care how long the explanation is

Oh dear lord

Okay so I'm entirely uncreative when it comes to names, so my jjk and ff names are similar, and because I haven't experimented with my bsd oc that much they're unnamed (I actually haven't thought about a bsd oc until now? Bc they're based off of books and idk books that much lmaooo)

1) Jujutsu Kaisen: Kaimu Kageyama

So Kaimu is a teenager that does not want to be involved with the shaman world at all whatsoever. They've been able to see curses since they were a child, however they don't come from a clan of shamans, so everyone they told just thought they were hallucinations. Because of this she was in and out of the hospital and eventually she just gave up telling people and just accepted they were there.

Sometime during their junior year they attend Satozakura highschool and become part of the band club, where they meet Junpei. They only meet Junpei bc once the movie appreciation club and the band club had to share a room. They never talked to Junpei, and all they knew is all the sudden he stopped coming to school, there was the big attack at the school (they just so happened to be absent that day) and all the sudden Junpei was dead.

Now all the sudden Kaimu is being haunted by Junpei. Now they both think it's because Junpei is a guardian angel and Junpei thinks he's been sent back to earth to find Yuji, but it's ACTUALLY because Kaimu has the ability to summon shamans that have passed on to the afterlife.

So this whole ordeal begins because now they have this broody goth boy following them around on TOP of the curses that's pestering them about this pink haired idiot they've never heard of. Finally they give in and end up stalking Yuji's instagram to find out where he is so that MAYBE Junpei will leave them alone. Chaos ensues and they end up at an occult shop Yuji frequented before eating Sukuna's finger.

Now once Kaimu gets there, they're forced to take a cursed Kusarigama they don't want. When they refuse to take it, the shop keeper, which is actually a high intelligence curse, attacks them and forces them to fight back.

This queues Nobara and Megumi to show up (idk why they're there tbh just pretend it's a good reason). The kids are trying to get the Kusarigama away from Kaimu, the curse is trying to get them to fight, and Kaimu has no idea who to trust. Finally they go to give the weapon to Nobara, when the whole damn thing starts to wrap itself around them and absorb into their skin. Once their body has literally absorbed the weapon, Kaimu becomes "possessed" similar to Yuji, although they can't control it at first and they go feral. They kill the curse instantly and move on to Nobara and Megumi until Yuji and Gojo show up on scene. Gojo uses his weird power thingy to knock Kai out and on with the story

Kaimu totally wakes up in the same room Yuji does btw

In the beginning, Kaimu doesn't want to be there. They run away every chance they get, only to be chased and successfully caught by Gojo. They really hate Gojo at first too, because he's so sarcastic and smug and seems to be laughing at their pain, when rlly he's just trying to keep them on his side bc with proper training they might just be the strongest student either technical college has ever seen. They do have a power like no other.

Finally Gojo gets through to Kai and they decide to stay. Instead of Gojo adding them as a fourth new year, however, he decides to have the first and second years teach them everything they may need to know. It's kinda urgent they learn everything they can because now they have a target on their back larger than Yuji ever did.

Maki teaches them more about the cursed weapon their body possesses, bc it's kinda only happened once before. They learn that the weapon, in a sense, controls their body. It reacts more to anger and agression (for example, Megumi punched Kai, and while it did make Kai angry, they didn't have control when their arm punched Megumi back twice as hard.) Maki teaches them how to use the weapon once they summon it out of their body as well.

Yuji is in charge of helping regulate Kai's emotions so the weapon can come out at will (when Junpei isn't distracting them; no one else can see Junpei bc Kai hasn't made a formal contract with him yet). Sadly Kai has to go through the same movie training as Yuji does and gets punched many, many times.

Nobara is only in charge of teaching Kaimu to imbue their cursed energy into curses through their Kusarigama, but is inadvertently teaching Kai to come out of their shell. She also assists Panda, who's only function is strength training.

Megumi and Inumaki get the most important jobs: actually teaching Kai about their technique, and sign language. Hear me out

Megumi and Kai's techniques are very similar, because they're both creating contracts with things they can summon that help them in battle. While Megumi uses hand puppets, Kai has to sign the shaman's name they want to summon. So really the first person Kai even interacts with st the school is Inumaki.

At some point Sukuna gets involved. The Tokyo trio gets badly injured in battle, and Kai has only known Sukuna for a little bit but knows for a fact that Sukuna will only heal Yuji and leave the rest to die, so they decide to make a deal with Sukuna: they'll do whatever he wants as long as he kills the curse and helps save the rest.

Sukuna agrees, and the only thing he asks is that Kai saves everyone themselves, and he gets to call them into his domain to chat whenever he's wants. He unbinds the last seal on the curse inhabiting their body and watches him take over. Sukuna uses the same Abraxis curse btw.

Kaimu is able to control curse better now, and Sukuna informs them it's actually their dad from a thousand years ago and they're actually a half curse. Sukuna is indifferent on which side they choose, but he informs them that they can also summon and create curses, which is why a lot of shamans want them dead as well as the curses.

The story low key becomes Kaimu having to fight against their dad persuading them to be evil, and Yuji's protag abilities to make them good.

It's a mess.

Also this Kaimu is non-binary considering transitioning, and everyone is very supportive of it. When Kai gets their uniform, they're very worried that Gojo is gonna give them a skirt like the other girls bc they're afab, but they're very happy to learn they get pants with a bad ass cloak and hood that stops just below their elbows. Kai also gets a choice as to which dorm they get to stay in and they choose the boys dorms, who accepts them with open arms.

2) Fire Force: Kaimu Kusakabe

Yeah okay we Shinra and Shō's cousin

So this isn't revealed until later on in the story, but when Kaimu was a child, her mom died in what was believed to be an infernalization, but was actually a cover up. This was Shinra's aunt. Kaimu never got to meet Shinra until later on when she seeks him out.

Now Shinra's grandma refused to take him in after his mom died bc of his ability and because she thought he was a murderer. Grandma Kusakabe takes Kaimu in begrudgingly because Kaimu was able to suppress the ability she developed and Burns uncovered her step father had set it up to look like an infernalization when in reality he was abusing her.

Grandma moved Kaimu out to the country, away from people. There she meets a little boy around her age because she's sitting at a bus stop and the other neighborhood kids are making fun of her. The boy shoos them off and tries to make friends with her, but it doesn't work out well. She reveals she's waiting for her dad to come back from the military on the bus like he used to when she was little, but she doesn't realize that he's been dead for months because no one told her.

After a few weeks pass she begins to trust the boy she still doesn't know the name of. He's sorta pushy about being friends with her without being too overbearing. She stops pushing him away when she's sitting at the bus stop snd it starts to rain. She was just gonna sit there and suffer until an umbrella appears over her. The boy explains that he saw on the news it was going to rain and he knew she would be there. After teasing him for knowing there would be two people but only one umbrella, she accepts his offer to walk her home. This is a hint. Take it.

The kids really bond when she takes him to a desert full if skelton's that they really aren't supposed to go to but go to anyway. The boy thinks they're creepy, but Kaimu talks about how cool they are. They find a skull and Kaimu decides to keep it. This is also a hint.

Grandma Kusakabe ends up passing away, leaving Kaimu alone. She ends up being dragged away to an orphanage, where she lives until she's eighteen. The boy finds out when he noticed she hadn't come to the bus stop for a while and finds the house deserted. He takes the skull, which is one of the only things left behind, to what appears to be a workshop. There's a montage of the boy growing old, making the skull into a face mask, dying his hair, getting tattoos, etc. It's Vulcan. It was always Vulcan.

The story actually starts with Kaimu being kicked out of the orphanage. She decides to go on a hunt for this famous Devil's foot that she's heard about for thr past ten years because her grandma always talked about how terrible he was. She was furious when she learned she was being put into an orphanage while she still had a living relative (she just did not understand he was only a year younger than her).

When she arrives at Company 8, she's actually kinda rude, but Ōbi admires her spunk and finds it "cute" because she looks as innocent as Iris with her small frame, but is rlly fucking vicious. She's trying really hard to explain she's related to Shirna (look!! Red eyes!!! Pointy teeth!!! We look alike!!!) And it's going very poorly.

While Viktor conducts a dna test, Kaimu tries to find literally any reason to stick around, and she decides, for the first time since she developed her ability, to use it in front of others.

Kaimu is only a second generation pyrokinetic. She has the ability to take a flame in her hand and mix it with any type of metal and smelt it to whatever she needs. It's not a very offensive technique so she's mostly used it for defense in the past, or making cool trinkets. Vulcan is actually the one who persuades Ōbi to let her stick around, bc he has an odd sense of familiarity with her and can't place why.

I haven't really thought of a story for her yet other than backstory, but I've experimented with having her get bitten by a bug and being turned infernal, only to get shot by Hinawa and... Turns back. Low and behold the first first generation with the ability to go infernal at will-

3) Bungou Stray Dogs: ???

Yeah I haven't actually thought of an oc for this one? But I have had ideas in the past of a girl who has the ability to make people fall asleep and stay asleep as long as she wants. The only downfall is for every hour they don't sleep, that's an hour she doesn't sleep. I'm not sure if I want her to be a former Mafia member or part of the association, but I know I want her to be tied in with Dazai some how because of his absolute cancel ability. Just him tapping her shoulder and her being able to instantly fall asleep sounds cute to me idk

Have fun reading this shit show

[straynstay]

Astronaut theory

first of all, I am confusion lol

SKZ broke me in a way that my mind is overthinking so many things that now I believe that anything from their MVs might be a sign. And may I add that Chan's recent live only made me even more confused PLS BOY IF YOU SEE THIS DROP THE THEORY YOU SAID WAS QUITE CLOSE TO THE TRUTH cause I'm nearly losing my mind, I need answers!!!!

so here I am again trying to understand their concept and trust me, it's not easy or short and I don't even know if it's right which makes me even more frustrated... also, we may have lost some important pieces to connect the whole story bc we don't know what was taken from the original MV with ot9, so yeah…

anyways... let me put a guide for you guys cause I'm not gonna write the title of the songs all the time, so AS = Astronaut; DK = Double Knot; MH = Miroh; SE = Side Effects; VS = Victory Song; YW = Yellow Wood (teaser); D9 = District 9; IAY = I Am You

Alright, let’s go back to the beginning! In I Am Not teaser we see that each one has a specific function inside the system or is doing sth very particular, Felix is dancing in front of mirrors on a rooftop (where they always are on their MVs) with a building nearby that shows a sign with FAKE on it – clearly indicating that either Felix is fake or their reality is fake, or maybe both; Changbin is in a room full of TVs like MIA; Seungmin is drawing sth that looks like a map (but I guess it was supposed to be sth else?) but he’s also the one in charge of the maps in Double Knot; we have Hyunjin trying to control a VR system, he looks quite frustrated with it, and after Hyunjin removes the headset, we hear a sound similar to when a program is being interrupted on tv and his image is frozen, probably bc he was disconnected from the main system.

and the most intriguing part: we have Jeongin in a bus – also sth reoccurring in their MVs – and he sees another Jeongin sitting on the bus stop, as if waiting for him. We all know by now that it’s a double, a clone, or whatever you may call it (like I mentioned previously on my Side Effects analysis that clearly shows they have ‘shadows’ like other selves copying their moves).

we don’t see what happens afterwards, but I’m gonna assume he finds out something is not right in the system and probably tells Chan (their leader) about it. Why I think this? Because in MIA they both sing the following lines: “Something is different, carefully look around you” (which is exactly what Chan does in D9) and “Something is changing, even if you hide it so hard, I can see it all” (which is what Jeongin does on the bus and also in Miroh, cause he’s the one in the control room, right?). But the thing is… I believe that the fake Jeongin is the one with SKZ in District 9. The double took his place after he got off the bus and is acting like Jeongin would, helping SKZ and all, but his line “better watch out” shows sth different, it seems somehow too menacing, almost like a threat – at least to me. So SKZ better watch out now cause there’s a fake among them, but SKZ is unaware

moving on.. it’s also in MIA that we see SKZ being duplicated – it looks like it can’t be helped. We know for sure that there’s a double for Chan, Woojin and Felix. In the MV it seems like Hyunjin also has a double that is watching himself from the other side of the door while the one inside the room says “Why are you staring at me again?” and then we see a surveillance camera (they’re onto Hyunjin, but Hyunjin seems to notice it).

this may seem dumb, but Changbin is duplicated in Get Cool (and like I said, any evidence is evidence lol). I don’t remember seeing Jisung, Seungmin and Minho being duplicated in any MV, and isn’t it weird that they’re the ones we see on the cage in AS?

in My Pace we have seven numbers shown behind them when they’re dancing: 137, 163, 191, 223, 241, 271 and 307. I thought they wouldn’t put this randomly so I searched what these number might mean and I found that they’re prime numbers (as you know, prime numbers can only be divided by themselves), and that prime numbers are very useful for creating keys to decrypt data by hackers. So I thought… what if Jeongin and Chan were trying to decrypt the system in order to mess with it but they need a key and Hyunjin was the key? And after DK happened, they managed to create glitches even more powerful than before? (like I explained in my theory).

anyways… moving on to Astronaut. ASTRONAUT = a person who is trained to travel in a spacecraft. But what if in SKZ concept an Astronaut is someone trained to travel their realities? And as we can see in I Am Not, Hyunjin is the one being trained in the VR apparatus.

also, he’s the one with an airplane behind him in Victory Song (and by now I think every little thing in these MVs are clues, sorry)

so what I take from this is that Hyunjin is like the tester of the realities they’ll have to face in order to escape District 9, like he is on a trial mode, if that makes any sense…

in the Astronaut MV, as we all noticed, we have some references from past MVs such as I Am You (the spinning thing); Victory Song (the red flares Chan & Jeongin are holding); Miroh (the boxes); Side Effects (the cart) and Chronosaurus (the plastics)

it’s interesting that Jeongin and Chan are the ones together when the music begins and I think this might mean sth because they’re always referenced as one, like in IAY; and Chan in AS is probably talking to MH’s Jeongin, because if they know what’s happening in the system, they might be able to keep in touch with each other even from different realities – but this is just me speculating too much!

in the MV we see 3 orbs: the 1st one is blueish with a green center; the 2nd is dark blueish/purple with a yellow center, and the last one is transparent with a black center.

so I googled those orb colors and found out that the first one may signify communication, neutrality, healing – might be applied to a master/guide; the second one may signify caution, insight, notice; while the last one may signify insecurity, being trapped or tortured. I don’t know if this makes sense, but I put it in here bc I strongly believe that these orbs represent Chan, Hyunjin and Jeongin, since they’re the ones that seem to be the focus of this storyline (and the color scheme of the scenes the orbs appear reminded me of IAY, 19 and SE)

going back to the AS MV, we also see Felix glitching like he did in MH and I was able to see in the background glasses being smashed, lightening, buildings, a road and a bridge, storm, moon, etc., and these are all elements that are present in their MVs, like showing what they already faced so far.

the cage scene made me think of District 9. When we first see it, Jeongin is the only one inside, but then we also see Han, Minho, Seungmin with him – and they’re slightly glitching, btw.

some other things happen to Hyunjin, he keeps on running, and now he’s outside on a dark road with a storm coming up – which reminded me of SE a lot, especially because of the two moons -, but he seems quite peaceful facing all those terrifying elements

he runs towards the end of the road that he can’t even see what’s waiting for him there – but maybe it’s because he already knows what happens next.

Hyunjin finds Chan in front of a door (maybe the exit?) and they all go through – to me it looks like Felix is the one about to close it, like he did with the gate in D9. Chan then shoots sth towards the sky like he did in VS (which caused a storm), but here it only makes a beam of light appear for them – as if they’re asking to go up? Like ‘beam me up Scotty’? you guys know this Star Trek reference, right? lol

and now we see the sky, but we don’t have two moons… I know it’s probably bc it’s morning, but in SE it was also morning and we saw two moons, so I’m assuming Hyunjin was able to find the finish line of the VR simulation (because I’m assuming that everything with the two moons is actually the VR)

at the end, we see Jeongin walking to the spinning thing like a glitch – like Chan also did when he went to the door, as if teleporting from here to there – and he’s alone, probably left behind. But why would SKZ leave him behind? Probably because they didn’t know he was there...

alright, so what does it all mean? I’m gonna try my best to comment everything and try to link the MVs with the lyrics to create a somewhat decent storyline.

on the released picture of the AS track list, this is what is written (it’s a rough translation, so I’m sorry if it’s wrong): “when we were happy together, we could do anything, where we chatted and laughed carelessly until dawn. Suddenly, I saw a bead… what is it? As soon as I got close, I heard a strange sound. At the end of the sound was a faint mixture of familiar voices calling my name. Without thinking, I started getting drawn by the sound”

To me, the first part means the I Am You setting. They were all happy after being free, they created their own world where they could do anything as long as they were together. In AS we see Hyunjin in this same environment and that’s also when the first orb appears. Hyunjin is attracted by the orb that could possibly be SKZ’s way to communicate with him inside the VR. Because remember, Hyunjin is there but what he’s seeing and experiencing is not real. He’s testing the ways out for SKZ. But he was so happy in that reality that he lost himself, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do anymore. And SKZ sent something to guide him out of this fake environment as we see in AS. He then started his journey back to where the real SKZ are, going through all the tokens from the realities he’s been through (like the boxes with the confusing mazes, but that are easily destroyed bc is not real; the cart from SE, the gate from D9, etc…). What also gives him hints is how the members start to act after he begins his running in AS. After he destroys the boxes, Felix is standing there like a heroic figure, glitching with Changbin, looking almost unapproachable or as if he can’t see him. we see Chan on the floor, so Chan is probably grounded like Hyunjin.

then he sees his friends trapped inside a cage. But the thing is that this cage is really ridiculous, any of them could climb or help the other to get out of there, so I think they’re trapped bc they’re not real, it’s all a simulation, – except for Jeongin, but I’ll get to this point later on, hold on!! – and this cage represents D9.

Hyunjin runs endlessly until he reaches the road I mentioned already, and he finds Chan, they all go through the door (how could they if four of them were trapped? unless nothing of that is real) and they are all dressed in white, like when they escaped D9, dancing happily on the rooftop.

to me, after Jeongin got off the bus he realized the system’s plan and told Chan (their leader), and they came up with ideas to escape, but they needed someone that could control the reality, and Hyunjin was being trained for it – although he was frustrated with it - so they asked him to go unlocking worlds (or roads, or whatever) and he did it, but as farther he went, he started getting lost in the system bc he didn’t know who he was anymore, was he a clone already? What he’s seeing is reality or virtual reality? What’s the truth, what’s the answer?

Chan and Jeongin were able to guide Hyunjin throughout the MVs to continue with their plan, but Hyunjin’s mind was starting to lose itself, although he had a feeling that something seemed off… And Astronaut is nothing more than a recap of all what they’ve been through and Hyunjin’s journey to the unknown in order to find SKZ again and help them escape.

so what about that last scene with Jeongin? Well, I think the Jeongin in white clothes with them at the end is not the real Jeongin, and the Jeongin we see sitting alone is in fact the real one that is trapped inside the VR. Chan was guiding Hyunjin but lost Jeongin in the meantime and didn’t realize it or Chan knows it and is also a clone anything is possible, because to me the Jeongin we see in their MVs isn’t the real Jeongin since D9, like I said in the beginning of this analysis. Maybe the reason Seungmin and Minho were found on DK by the drone is bc Jeongin was with them and he’s part of the system? The others weren’t seen except for these three. I also believe this hypothesis because the gate in AS represents D9 and Jeongin is the only one moving after Hyunjin leaves, probably showing that the real one was lost in D9, but since there can’t be two “Jeongins” in a same place, he needs to wait for them to realize that they’re dealing with a fake one and come back for him.

alright, to summarize this huge analysis...

EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED DIDN’T HAPPEN!! HYUNJIN WAS DECRYPTING AND TESTING THE REALITIES (IN THE VR THING) THEY HAVE TO FACE IN ORDER TO ESCAPE AND OVERTHROW THE SYSTEM AND NOW THAT HE’S FINISHED THE TRIALS HE’S BACK TO DISTRICT 9 AND CAN SHOW SKZ THE RIGHT PATHS TO FOLLOW BUT HE DIDN’T REALISE THAT THE REAL JEONGIN IS TRAPPED INSIDE THE VR AND HE LEFT HIM BEHIND AND NOW SKZ WILL HAVE TO GO BACK TO GET HIM OUT OMGGG I CANT ANYMORE

how else would we explain Hyunjin, Jeongin and Chan’s hairstyle looking almost the same as the one they had in D9?

some other thoughts I had: what if they’re duplicating themselves to leave the clones on the system so the real ones can escape?

ASTRONAUT also has 9 letters... this might mean something?

why is Chan singing all the time “I’m not me” in the background of Mirror? can he be trusted? I’m still not sure about Chan’s role in all of this bc he seems shady like Jeongin lol sorry Chan

from the Victory Song unveil track we have Chan saying this “we are Stray Kids, the owners of Clé. Roll the dice. Our beginning is District 9. We break the frame, escape from the system, and go beyond the fixed line towards STAY. We came to listen to Victory Song. So ring the 승전가”. Isn’t it weird that he says “break, escape, go” instead of “broke, escaped, went” ?? he only says “we came” bc the question is about their entrance in Miroh and Victory Song is after it, but if everything else also happens after D9, shouldn’t the other verbs be on the past tense too?

in Chronosaurus we see someone picking up three keys from the floor and I’m pretty sure it’s Jeongin.

one key for each – Chan, Hyunjin and him. But what can they do with the keys? I thought that maybe they could go spread themselves through the realities these keys unlock and place signs for them so they don’t get lost or forget about what they’re doing, like easter eggs? there are some black balloons on SE that reminded me of 19

in TMT there’s a billboard that Chan sees saying “do what you wanna do” (a message he left for himself there? and look at the background, it’s the space)

and what about Hyunjin? I’m not sure, but maybe the scene where we see him laying on the grass at the end of SE is actually because he just arrived in that reality and lost the key of that reality on that weird pond??? is the easter egg in SE himself??? I still think it’s weird the way Jeongin looks at him and smiles brightly in this scene lol

this is just what I was able to put together, but I still have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns, but unless Chan spills the tea I don’t care if it’s hot we’ll stay clueless about all of this lol

and he says we’re not clowns… right…