#but if it tells me tech is alive 👀

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AYYY they're all there :'D

All the clones and the kids :')))

Aww guys <3

Echo frankly I'm just glad you're alive lol

Aww <33

Ayy yeah Rex and him are finding their families :')

Echooo why must you always leave 😭😭💔❤️

You better be back :'))

Aaand where's my hug with Omega? Or everyone?

You better not die in a credit scene xd

YESSS live your own lives :'D

AAAHHHHH THEM ALL

THE BAD BATCH

WHOOOOOO

[half-truths-and-hyperbole-louk]

Louk's Bad Batch rewatch part 11 !!!

Let's go batcherssss 🤟💕

The Bad Batch 1x07

pew pew Hunter in the gunner seat 🔫

sibling banter while being shot at 👌 so on brand for tbb

Technically ☝

Wrecker hits his head count: 8 😰

"That is one strange looking lizard" ~ is cid becoming self aware 👀

Hunter sensing Rex..... I am totally normal about this

"It makes the kid happy" 🥺

happy dances for mantell mix 🤲

Cid talking, Hunter Tech and Echo: 😠😠😠😠 (the fourth one is me)

lmao Rex in his strider era

"That's not her ugly side" 💀💀💀

REX REX REX REX REX

CID CALLED REX A STRAY 😡

JUST THE BOYS SITTING AROUND DRINKING CHEERS AND SMILIMG OML 😭🥲😍😭

the big Wrecker and Rex hug 😭 me if I ever met a clone (fun fact I met Temuera Morrison and I'm still not over it 😭)

aww Rex bending down to meet Omega he so polite 🥺

vs Omega: HA OLD MAN 💀

Rex is so scared about the chips i hate it here

Rex has ptsd 😭 screaming crying

Wreckers nervous foot taps 🥺

BRACCA CAL KESTIS 👀

Omega: 'he's not gonna cut open my head' Wrecker: 'seems unfair'

Omega being Tech's translator

the boys trusting rex with their lives literally

Jedi fallen order music??? 🤔 a little bit???

ALL THE BOYS TOGETHER IN THEIR ARMOUR 🥲 tcw days

FIVES FIVES FIVES FIVES FIVES FIV-

Echo: "Omega." Rex: "the kid?" no Rex the other Omega

Rex teaching Omega about the venator 🥺

lmao now Wrecker's calling Rex old

Tech being aware of Hunters senses 🥺 I am just so completely normal about this whole episode I swear

aww Wrecker crawling across the beam he's literally so brave 💕

REX TELL ECHO AHSOKA IS OKAY PLEASE IM BEGGING 😭

Rex helping Omega down from the cable with "nicely done" i can picture his face under that helmet 😊

Omega cheering Wrecker on 💕

PULL HIM UP BOYS 💪even Echo was pulling one handed 🥲

Omega's hand on Wrecker's arm 🥺

Rex: "this will do nicely" Tech: ew no thanks Rex: bet lets go home Tech: "this will do nicely" 💀

again with the chip activating more each time they hear 'order 66' - Wrecker seems to get worse the more they talk about it

Omega checking on Wrecker again 😭

Omega's nervous hands againnnn 😭😭

Hunters hand on her shoulder

Rex's smile watching them together 🥺 so big brother shaped

"very few clones were immune to o66" YOU MEAN THERE WERE MORE??? WHO ELSE???

Wrecker is shaking the entire time until the chip fully activates and he's immediately still 🙃

Rex got a stun shot off as Wrecker hit it away!!!

Hunter picking up Omega and covering her head 🤲

they had that planned so well - attack from all sides

then Wrecker threw Echo by his head 💀

Hunter getting a piggy back 😂

the last thing Hunter saw before Wrecker knocked him out was Omega standing there with the blaster 🙃

"this isn't you Wrecker... I'm your friend" 🥲🔫

Omega was ready to shoot him 😫

Wrecker fought the chip so hard 🙃

Rex saving the day 💕

Rex really had no idea how to remove the chips he just hoped for the best fr

Tech: "he is alive" BRO

"I'm staying until he wakes up" ~ Omega x2

Rex looking at his helmet 😭

Hunter and Tech sleeping waiting for Wrecker

Wrecker's hand on Omega's head 🥺

"Oh. You made it" Techhhh 😂

Tech's shaved head !! his smile when he touches his head !! Echo pointing to his own head !!!

Where is Hunter's shaved head 👀

Omega's hand on Wrecker's cheek 🤲

Wrecker: "I tried as hard as I could" me: trying as hard as I can not to cry

Omega brought mantell mix 🥲

REX IS TALKING TO WHO 👀

Hunter: "the republic's gone Rex" Rex: "not all of it" SCREAMING SHOUTING BACKFLIPPING OFF MY COUCH

the arm grabs 👀

Rex walking into the fog like a dramatic Skywalker

oop scrappers 👀

ayy I have no power so I was supposed to post this earlier lmao 🙃

hehe I am a complete mess about this ep fr I apologise lolol 💕

[bleed-more]

Hi!

I found your blog because of your ask blog and have been keeping up to date with Tim's asker antics. I just felt the need to get out some opinions in a place I know someone will hear it, and my brain is telling me I can't do shit about Marble Hornets on my own blog until I post my own art about it, so I hope you're fine with me rambling about it here. (If I'm somehow crossing a line of sorts, please let me know.) Also, fair warning. This is long. Very long. I put a TL;DR at the bottom.

I feel like this fandom should appreciate Seth as a character more. Most people kinda just use him as the secondary butt to "brought the dog" jokes, and while that is an amusing line, I feel like Seth has a lot of untapped potential as a character that isn't really thought about because of that joke being spun into his only personality trait. From what I've seen, people seem to entirely forget or ignore a little something about him being the founding member of ToTheArk. He and Brian are the only two characters throughout the entire story to work together successfully. Tim and Brian? They fell out. Jay and Alex? They fell out. Tim and Jay? You guessed it, they fell out. Seth and Brian are the only ones who could actually work together in a functional partnership until the end, but because people only really bring up Seth as the guy Alex yelled at for bringing his dog, that leaves a lot of untapped potential with their dynamic. What kind of person was Seth to be the only person able to collaborate with someone successfully while under the Operator's influence? Were him and Brian already close before it all happened? Was he just the only one with decent communication skills?? Plus, he's the one who started guiding Jay on the path towards answers, which implies that he knows quite a lot about what's going on. I personally imagine Seth to be a similar person to Jeff from EMH. He's calm and collected, good with tech, and quite good with solving and creating puzzles. Intelligent and very caring, wanting to see all the people he cares about make it out alive, so he's doing his best to help get this stuff sorted out for good while trying to maintain a level of anonymity so nobody else he loves gets caught in the cross fire.

TL;DR: People should really start thinking about Seth's dynamics and him as a character more beyond him bringing his dog.

YES YES YES YOU NAILED IT I 100% AGREEE

I have an entire novel's worth of headcanons I've collected about Seth because listen listen hear me out...

90% of the loose ends and plot holes left in Marble Hornets, when filled by Seth, make for an EXTREMELY compelling story that opens up an entire second off-screen plot line with Seth and Brian going parallel with Jay and Tim.

I feel like Night Mind said it best on his "Marble Hornets Explained series":

"When you finally stop to think about everything we've revealed, you begin to realize Marble Hornets was never actually a horror story."

"It was a revenge story."

I actually plan on digging into this fully through Act 3 of @ohgreat-moretapes 👀👀👀 and until then if you guys send headcanon asks here I will answer them!!!! (Just keep in mind some theories I propose about Seth might technically be "spoilers" if you wanna wait for the reveals over at the ask blog. I'll don't think ask blog spoilers will happen too often but just in case I'll put a spoiler warning above posts like that).

@sunnytheopossum is also working on a comic detailing the off-screen rise and fall of ToTheArk which I am SO HYPE for, so go send him lots of love and support too!!!

We need more Seth advocates out there!!! We shall canonize him the way he deserves!!!!

[lizzie-is-here]

just got emotionally fucking annihilated by wakanda forever

but i also wanna talk about it! warning for spoilers and general rambling below 👇

ok, let’s start with parallels CAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY

first off, the comparison of shuri and killmonger 👀

it really does make sense, especially when you think ab how they both “go against” tradition, rejecting the standards. t’challa (rip ilysm) still wanted to please the elders, even if he had more progressive ideas (ie: sandals for his first day

also i’m so fucking glad they didn’t try to cgi chadwick in. it would’ve felt disrespectful and i think it was handled beautifully

her sparing namor the same way t’challa spared those he fought (saving zemo, helping bucky, trying to help killmonger)

the dialogue callbacks bro. fuckin “show him who you are,” had me sobbing. “vengeance is consuming us” babes, shuri, i’m crying.

her being angered by loss and snapping at nakia like t’challa snapped at zuri when he realized killmonger’s identity

also i absolutely love riri. i was a bit apprehensive going in, but i think they executed her well without just making her a replacement for tony. that being said, he would absolutely adore her

the parallel of her going too high and running out of oxygen and later turning it on namor in the same way mirrors tony’s suit frosting over and doing the same to stane 😭

the silent flashes of t’challa took my breath away. the silence really compounded just how empty and quiet their grief is.

seeing shuri try so hard in the opening and not even being able to say goodbye was so sad, and you can see her thoughts racing later on when she successfully synthesizes the heart-shaped herb. it’s a sort of “what if i’d thought of this earlier?” “who would still be alive?” “how could i have missed this?” sort of feeing

onto details!

the new black panther suit is stunning 🤩 the gold and silver details along with the dots that almost look like pearls, mirroring the ones she wears at the funerals? it shows that even if she is the leader of wakanda now, she’s still very young, still grieving her many losses

the tech and ai has really been amped up. shuri’s ai and her different interfaces looked amazing. also the ai (who i think is grio but i couldn’t tell) reminds me of jarvis. mainly in the orange blob department

the dora milaje looked stunning as ever, and seeing some new tech for them was exciting

THE VIBRANIUM THAT MELTED INTO THE CARS ALSKDKDKFKLDDK OBSESSED TONY WOULDVE LOVED THAT SHIT

talokan was gorgeous, even if it did violently trigger my thalassophobia

ummm everett and valentina being married (well, divorced) was a plot point i was not expecting. hope to see him in the thunderbolts tho he’s very slay

fucking 👏 t’challa 👏 junior 👏

i broke down right then and there

took me right out

i won’t lie the people of talokan gave me avatar vibes but i did like the touch of them having siren-like voices.

also namora was pretty so that’s a win

ok i get that it’s a movie. but realistically, i’d they’re fighting this massive underwater force, why not just call any other super powered avenger????

like for movie’s sake yeah it’s all fine but like if i were in the mcu living that shit i’d be like “let’s just call thor. have him like electrocute the water. or doctor strange. he did that cool water thing in endgame that had literally no purpose except to give him screen time. or wanda, we all know she ain’t really dead bffr”

AYO IS GENERAL NOW??? I LOVE OKOYE BUT THATS A SLAY

ALSO SHES GAY??????

I SAW THAT KISS AT THE END 👀👀👀👀

man i love m’baku so much. he’s just. ugh

ok in better terms, i think i like him so much because he is first presented as a chad, almost. he’s strong, a bit dumb, and leads the isolated tribe.

but then you interact w him and find out he’s incredibly emotionally empathetic and kind, and reaches out to shuri as a helping hand, a person to lean on.

i just really appreciate him okay 🥺😭

overall, stunning. 10/10, fifth time in a row that marvel’s made me cry at one of their movies.

aka black widow (bc yelena and the ending), shang-chi (bc gotdamn let me cry ab the chinese representation), no way home (cause duh), love and thunder (BC HE ADOPTED HER BITCH WHAT) and now this

stunning, showstopping, say what you will about marvel but damn they know how to make me cry

[celestialpaperhaze]

Hmmm good question! Well I'm obviously biased towards BG but here's something that's been on my mind that I thought I'd share to see if you find it privy.

Doctor H.B. advances her computer tech that was originally used to simulate combat against bosses and such. With a few new toys and upgrades, she asks Team Snakemouth to test the computer to see if the enemies follow their original thought processes as if they're there or even alive again. But low and behold...the extent of the team's memories bring their deceased enemies...and even allies...back from the dead and into the digital world. Sentient and "alive".

Imo, a tough prompt that had me thinking about the various characters and who they cherished, along with writing a story that had little to no Canon character building. On top of that is the challenge of making these characters interesting to you and the audience while pushing the story more towards an exciting and angsty read.

Obviously this is just to poke your creative block! By no means is it a request or a demand, but what do you think? There's a lot of ideas I have of Kabbu and his...past. Lmk what you think!

Ooooh I think it’s a really cool idea! I’d be most interested in seeing how different characters’ backstories are brought to light, particularly those of Kabbu and Leif. If the story’s post-canon, Kabbu’s likely to have come to terms with his past already, but I feel like there’s still so much that can be explored even before The Event—like what was life really like in the North? Did Kabbu have other friends besides Master and Bit, and if not then why did he not branch out more socially? Did he just not want to, or did people not like him? And of course, Leif’s background is a goldmine in itself. I’ve always been kind of interested in how Muse’s life played out after Leif “disappeared,” especially considering she did have a kid. Like did Leif know she was going to have one or was she putting off telling him and never got the chance? And on another note, I wonder what Chompy would see…? Would she have memories of the Mother Chomper being defeated?

I feel like I’m almost getting off-topic here but yeah, there’s a lot of potential! As far as angst goes though, if it’s post-canon it would definitely have to rely more on original concepts than canon conflicts, since Team Snakemouth’s pretty much got closure on the canon stuff by the game’s end. Maybe I'll try writing a little drabble to play around with this prompt, though I’m not the best at OC territory (I have like, three OCs). Either way, this is definitely something I’d wanna see more of if you were thinking of expanding the idea! (Plus I’m curious what you mean when you say you have a lot of ideas for Kabbu’s past 👀)

Oh and btw, I’ve been meaning to catch up on your bandits fic, hopefully will soon!

[sinisterexaggerator]

I know the answers to like 99.9% of these.

But. Here we go! 👀 ⛔️

⛔️ "Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?"

Hmm, not exactly. I always have the intention of finishing something, even if it takes me a year or more.

Well, I guess there was this one for a young Trevor Philips and Michael De Santa in North Yankton for GTA V. Never got around to adding more to it, and probably never will:

---

“Jesus, T! Get us the fuck out of here!”

“I’m trying M, but if you’re not satisfied with my driving skills, why don’t you sit YOUR fat ass behind the wheel?”

“Why the hell did you have to kill that guy?! He’s probably got a wife and kids!”

“Hey! He triggered the alarm! That’s why we’re in this mess.”

“No, we’re in this mess because you’re TRIGGERhappy!”

“Nananana… That snitch got what he deserved!”

Flashing lights, red and blue, reflecting off the crisp, white snow; two robbers running from the cops. Always running, forever, until the end of time, or at least that’s how Michael Townley felt, locked in tight by his seatbelt, the getaway car little better than a piece of shit, found somewhere off the beaten path before the job. It was a small-time gig, just a liquor store, but plenty of people warmed themselves by getting drunk; the register loaded down with money while its patrons were loaded down with booze; a typical, cold winter’s night for the pair of two-bit crooks.

Michael turned around, his weapon drawn, a pair of police cruisers in hot pursuit. They were firing their own rounds, aiming for the tires, and Townley knew he had to do something soon or wind up behind bars. “Can’t this thing go any faster, T?!”

“You know what’s REALLY fast? Your God damn mouth. Quit flapping your lips and get those assholes off our tail!”

Michael took a shot simply to smash the rearview windshield, seeing the cruisers clear as day as they were gaining on them, M feeling that all too familiar rush of adrenaline permeate throughout his entire being; he would tell T that he hated it, but the rush he felt made him feel alive, something he rarely felt at all.

On a good day he was half a man, kept alive by petty theft and diner food, skirting from one town to the next, Trevor at his heels like an obedient, somewhat restless puppy that needed to be potty trained – M taking it upon himself to break him in. He was useful, beneficial, however unrestrained and somewhat uncontrollable; he had it in his mind it was an easy fix, but Trevor had other wild ideas.

Michael pulled the trigger, and one cop spun out in a flurry of ice and squealing rubber, the car being buried conveniently in a mountain of thick, white powder, but not cocaine; that would be saved for their celebration later if they made it out alive.

“Whooo! That’s my cowboy! That’s some rootin’ tootin’ damn good shootin’, Mikey!”

“I don’t ever want to hear those words come out of your mouth again.”

---

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

LOL, you know allllll about my WIPs. Probably before anyone else. I have too many to choose from, but I hope to do these three things first and foremost:

Chapter 15 of Stars Above. Bane is in the bacta tank, forced to endure flashbacks from his past in the form of nightmares, and Zulara is left alone with Todo until he wakes up, however long it takes. But will Cad be pleased to see her there? What will Kayson think about her disappearance over the next few days? What lie or cover story will Hondo make up, if any?

This Hondo x Reader fic, where the reader is a spoiled little rich girl who is the daughter of a weapon's manufacturer. Their fates are hilariously intertwined, and Hondo is going to wind up getting more than he bargained for when he had originally set out to simply steal a little something off her.

A Tech x Reader fic where the Marauder is left in Tech's care during a Separatist attack on the planet Bandomeer. He comes across the reader who is injured and trapped under some rubble. He must help you/her and then pilot you both to safety. An unexpected turn of events causes you and Tech to be stranded until he can repair the ship; you are at the mercy of nature and the elements over the course of the next few days, not to mention any droids who may find you, and the rest of Clone Force 99 is preoccupied and unable to help. Hurt/Comfort/Possible smut. >D

[alpona]

George Karizaki: Questions & Theories

Questions:

1. The demon transfer thingy. It's a totally unique concept in this show, never explained. How do you even do that? What was that stamp?! It doesn't seem possible with the info main series has so far.

2. What happened to George's mom? At first I thought she died long before, due to her absence in flashbacks. Wouldn't even mention her, buuut then they showed her in photos, with the same flashback-age George. So, is she alive? Probably not anymore, very low chance. But then when exactly did she die? Or did something entirely different happen...?

( I totally don't have a fanfic level idea that she also went into hiding and is working for foundation X 👀)

3. How come George didn't recognize the weekend base as his childhood home at all? Because he left that place immediately after the fake death? Wasn't old enough to remember?

Plus, his age also doesn't quite make sense, if he's 28 now.... He was 3 when masumi faked death? But the kid in flashbacks definitely looks older than 3, should at least be 5... Well, I guess it's just an actor thing, it's hard to get an actual 3 year old kid to act.

Or who knows, maybe... He did recognize it. Everytime He walked in, he remembered. He wondered how things turn out like this, what's happening now, etc. Maybe he was falling apart all this time, who'd know? he didn't tell anyone, we didn't get to see that, the show isn't focused on that.

4. And where does George live now, why did he have to borrow Igarashi house after fenix skybase collapsed? Sure, he never seemed to leave the base before, maybe even lived on board for the time being, but the sky base couldn't be his only place to live, right? That's a flying thing, he could've lived there if it was at least a ground base with quarters. He has a car alright, as seen in 45-46. Doesn't he have a house on ground? Fenix also has employee quarters, so there's no logical reason for George not having a place. But then if he does, why did he set up lab at ikki's in a hurry, later weekend base... His own house would be easier...

Maybe, cuz distance? He had to stay close to the riders for work efficiency. Hmm, that sounds plausible.

So where was he living during the juuga arc though, I've been wondering where that famous rooftop ( 'famous' only to me for aesthetic shot purpose) is located.... That's not the weekend base right? Or is it? Where was his working lab during ep 46-48?

Birth of chimera shows a much better lab that's certainly different from weekend. And it's probably a former fenix lab, that's what they said, right?

But are we counting the music videos? George was basically sitting in his house there, which in reality was Nori-chan's house, so George's house is same as actor's... So George is Nori-chan for real..... Lol where am I going with this😝🤣

*later Update: looks like the Juuga vs olteca spin off will show George's house, so alright then.

5. Which brings us to this- what's George-kun's full backstory?

Who raised him after Masumi's death, what exactly happened after that? This answer's supposed to be simple, but i have a stinking suspicion that it's not so simple. What if an organisation took him?! Fenix? Akaishi? Was he abused? Well, there doesn't seem to be any sign of abuse... But something is off...

What did George mean when he said "everything (I/we? Went through) is daddy's fault" and "you're not the only one with scars that won't heal" ?  🤔 Just saying in general, maybe as in the whole ordeal? With the igarashis?

or....

Theories:

1. Random theory outta nowhere: what if we see how and why George became a fanboy, particularly this type of fanboy.

With all the confusion of who raised him, let's say a rider tech researcher. if somwhow he actually did watch other riders on a screen, as Footage, (taken with.. mini drones, as for watsonian explanation). Just like a tv show. And in his days of loneliness, these were his only 'friends'. The rays of light in the darkness.

🌚👁️ That would hit too close!!

2. Did George really know about the demons driver secret? At first I totally took him as that type of character so there was no doubt, he lacks morality, everything's an experiment, etc etc. Sure. Buuuut the more I think about this character, take subtle clues from the acting, now I've started having doubts.

He didn't get to know how or why his father got the burns, which was while absorbing Vail in the driver. He did know masumi made it, but wasn't sure of all it's 'hidden power', as stated in ep 24 to Olteca. Akaishi picked up the driver and later gave it to George with some unknown 'strict order' ...... Things are getting sus here.

My idea is what if George didn't know the full details about this driver, but had some suspicions or guesses, just like most things. He always has some idea in the background. That's why he does feel guilty for what happened to Hiromi, but can't fully deny of not knowing. He also has a tendency to appear to be in control.

Also why his excuse sounds lame.

I'm also wondering if all his behaviour while confronting Hiromi during 19-20 were acts....

I hope someone will read this very nitpicky theory session/ rant of mine 😅

Please feel free to suggest your ideas too!

[ageless-aislynn]

To preface, this post actually contains an unexpected love story. Trust me.

Backing up to the start: I decided there were 2 more Dead Rising achievements I wanted to try to get, the first and the third on the following list...

(PP Collector is time consuming so is something I'll probably try for when I'm just looking to roam around the game for funsies. 😉)

Now, the problem with having only women in your survivor group is that the game won't let new survivors spawn if that will make more than 8 in the mall at the same time. So you have to, you know, murder the men and some of the women who aren't easy to keep alive that long. 😑

Most guides tell you to start by saving Pamela and Heather but me? Nope, I'm not leaving my girl Leah behind, even though I have to carry her. So, that's what I did, even though that meant I had to carry her with me on my murderous rampage until we got to Day 2 when Pamela and Heather spawn in. 👀

Here's Frank introducing Ronald to a sheet of plywood. Repeatedly. Until dead. 😬 And yes, I thought it was only appropriate to put Frank in the orange prisoner jumpsuit for this run. 🤷‍♀️😂

But here's the thing. Start playing this song (may have to open it in another tab, or you know, just listen first) and look at the following caps...

"He's a bad boy with a tainted heart and even I know this ain't smart

But, Mama, I'm in love with a criminal and this kind of love isn't rational, it's physical

But, Mama, please don't cry, I will be alright. All reason aside, I just can't deny, love the guy."

Oh yeah, I just made you a suuuuper low tech shipper vid right there, my friends, lol! 😂😂😂

Anyway, when all was said and done on the achievement side, I still did something wrong because Sally didn't spawn in so that meant I had to herd Kelly, Lily, Janet and Kay back with Leah, Pamela and Heather so that I could save Jennifer as the 8th female survivor. I was hoping to stick Sally in the Wonderland Plaza bathroom with Leah, Pamela and Heather while I rescued the final 4 survivors at one time, which would've triggered the achievement without me having to move them. But alas, it was not to be. Had to restart once because I swear those last 4 have the WORST pathing of all of the survivors, they get stuck coming down the staircase and WON'T MOVE. I can't call them or it will bring the 3 in the bathroom out to be murdered trying to get to me.

Which, you know, happened. 😑😑😑

However, I kept trying and...

I got it and Tour Guide at the same time, whew!

But the important thing is that I now know that Frank and Leah's love is true. She doesn't care that he's a bad guy who does bad things in the name of good. Nope, he's always there for her, to pick her up and carry her away from danger, and he ALWAYS takes her to the nicest women's restrooms in the entire town of Willamette!

Yes, it's a love story, indeed! 😍😂😉💖💖💖

[hanafubukki]

@prince-kallisto I’m very curious what other narratives were changed to fit someone’s agenda. In book 7, we’ve seen how lies and rumors are changed to manipulate others. Hence the war between the fae and humans. I wonder if the KOD story was also changed since we do have that musical that Rook mentions. 👀👀

What’s weird is that, many of the fae are alive. They know the truth. The queen, lilia, baul, and many others. And yet, their story and history is getting covered up and even altered. (And they allow that?? I mean I know they are secretive and against tech to a degree but…isn’t this the same as becoming part of a fairy tale? When your origins are lost?)

But what irks and astounds me is, they are keeping this a secret from Malleus too. The future king. Someone who should know.

I can get why to a certain degree. Don’t want to spread hatred, revenge, stigma, etc. It would be easier to have harmony if Malleus doesn’t know some details of the past.

But then you are also making a generational divided as well, between the fae, and I can’t imagine that will be good ruling wise. (Unless their memories were wiped…) In fact, some might think Malleus is ignorant for not knowing. But I digress.

I think they didn’t tell him to protect him but all that did was isolate him. I don’t think he knew about the “love” part. And as someone who has been alone for so long? That hurt. He could have had a family. Be with a loved one. But no, he was made to believe was alone. He was isolated.

Everyone lied to him or kept him in the dark. And finding out now?? When his emotions are already all disarrayed?? That must have hurt so much.

The fact that Malleus only acknowledged the life force part hurts me.

It’s like he’s in denial but can we blame him? He’s coping (I’m coping). He very much didn’t accept that it was love that hatched him. In the next scene, he offers Lilia’s happiest dream, which doesn’t include him.

I wonder if this is another way to control him by the senate. Because by hiding something like this, they would be able to control his future spouse unlike Meleanor. But at the same time, they also risk losing the draconia line forever.

[ “Lilia’s LIFE FORCE wasn’t the only ‘nourishment’ for him to hatch- it was his pure love for him that did as well,”

Excuse me as I cry over this line 😭😭😩😩😫😫]

You know what kind of irks me? What did they tell malleus when he was born? Malleus is all “I was alone before I was born”

But we know that’s not true?

He had his parents.

He has his grandmother.

He has Lilia.

But no, he believed he was alone??

What the hell?? Couldn’t they have said his parents hatched him? Or Maleficia?

So it’s okay to lie and hide the fact that Lilia hatched him but you can’t spare his feelings? Or comfort him by saying his grandmother or his parents did?

And even if it was a respect thing so that’s why Maleficia wasn’t used, could you have not found another reason??

Did you have to say he was born alone? What the hell???

Then this brings to question. Does Malleus know how eggs are hatched? Because I doubt it. And if he knows, is this the reason why he is scared to show his love openly? One of the reasons?

Because true love has hurt him before?? Because it brought pain and loneliness?? Or hasn’t helped him? Is that what he thinks?

Because they hid the truth about this birth?

[thestalwartheart]

📓 pls! 💗

Hi!

I'm cheating because I do have a little bit of this written. It's all mostly notes though, apart from a drabble I wrote but never published because I've been hanging on to this idea forever.

The title (which magically has already come to me) is three nights, and it's 00Q. It was originally meant to be a kind of choose-your-own-adventure about the night James interrupted Q's date in NTTD. I imagined three different ways it could have gone.

Q knew James was alive the whole time, and he'd helped him get set up in Jamaica (I mean, look at the high-tech desks James had with hidden guns in that house!). They've been casually in contact (and casually you know 👀) for five years. When James turns up at Q's house, Q has to lie all night, and James gets exceptionally jealous about the date Q was about to have round. Lots of fun and complicated feelings.

A truly schmaltzy happy ending one where they were never involved before a James left, or at any point over those five years. James returns from exile and flirts his way first into Q's spare bed, then to his master one, and realises Q is it for him.

An angsty one that aligns with the canon ending (don't shoot me). Q and James slept together once after the Skyfall mission - a casual thing that Q would have liked to do again, but then James ran off with Madeleine. They sleep together again when James stays over in NTTD, and Q knows it'll be a lot harder to get over this time. But like anyone whose judgement is clouded when they get involved with James, Q goes along with it all anyway, even as he faces the reality that Madeleine Swann is once again on the horizon. James is a bit cruel in this, I think, but hopefully no more than in canon.

So, all well and good, right? WRONG. There's more!

I'm considering these 'three nights' as alternate timelines which Q gets exposure to upon ending up in hospital at the end of NTTD (I have an explanation, but it's too long to go into now). He's technically dead for a minute, and a guardian (similar to Star Trek's Guardian of Forever but a bit different) shows him some of the alternate paths his life could have taken. In a state of unconsciousness, he has no idea which one is actually real, though the Guardian tells him they all are.

When he wakes, he gets to find out which timeline he's in. And we get to find out which timeline the Q in the story is from.

There's potentially even more complexity after that (ie. Q getting sent back in time to some point in canon with the opportunity to save James), but I'm still noodling. Thank you for sending in this ask, though. It's helped me get a lot of my thoughts in order about it.

Whew, that was a lot! 😅 Let me know what you think!

[cinni-k]

3, 4, 11, 14 TELL ME MORE ABOUT HEIST 2 👀👀👀👀👀

3. If you had to fistfight a steamworld protagonist, who would you choose?

Copernica, because she's a fucking nerd so she's less physically strong, not to mention her intelligence and not being blown to bits frequently means she would know how to be careful and not seriously injure me.

4. You Must kill one steamworld character. don’t ask why. who do you choose? (to make this question harder and more entertaining: that character can’t be Payroll)

I swear that Payroll one was targeted specifically about me. Anyway generally I would probably kill Mayor Yicyonk in such a way that would not accidentally incriminate the bomb guy outside his house. If we're doing main characters though, that is infinitely tougher. My current answer is Orik because he's already been alive for longer than is typical of a Steambot, and he's completed all his life goals and is just vibing, so at least I won't feel bad about cutting his life short.

11. if you could add one character to the series, which oc (can be yours or not) would you choose?

Much as I am inclined to answer Bugg's OC Umeko, my 1 OC Mal. I designed them with the intention of being able to fit into their environment unobtrusively but also they represent something that I want out of the story in a writing sense. That's why Mal wins over Umeko and also they're still alive so they would actually appear.

14. Give us an idea for a new steamworld game! talk about the setting, the plot, the game mechanics, anything!

Oh cool this is a good opportunity to be concise about my thoughts this time. FYI no I am not done my little brain plans. Thunderful hire me.

In terms of basics I want the specific gameplay changes of removing penalties for quitting missions after they've been completed at least once, because by god am I sick of needing to go through an entire mission when I've failed on my goal to max out my rank already, either a secondary storage which can be used to store items that can't be easily accessed without removal or just the ability to re-obtain epic swag because having a game with inventory management that also encourages hoarding by preventing you from being able to re-obtain certain items is a bit piss honestly.

In terms of like actual ideas: Those tube shiners get released after the fall of Vectron, and start messing with the tech and causing problems on purpose. Piper & what remains of her crew (no one died but everyone except Sally, Valentine and Fen has moved on to chase their dreams) are still definitely criminals but they've started taking on the roles of helping people, through both defending them and handling less than legal but morally fine affairs as a business. When they receive word of some shady stuff going on they go to investigate and the ship gets attacked, so they wind up stuck & scattered on a larger world chunk with the ship in need of repairs. Piper, Wonky & Sally all wind in the same area or at least close enough (Piper & Sally are good introductory characters since Piper is A. The protagonist and B. Her lasersight allows people to easily grasp the aiming system, although I would quite like ricocheting the bullets to be included in the tutorial too, and Sally functionally introduces the varied weapon types starting with Assault because as a basic weapon class it is very easy to understand and adjusting to as opposed to Heavy Weapons where you can kill your teammates getting used to things) the group is able to find a little town and try to get help but most people don't immediately trust them, so they have to do favours to get materials for fixing the ship & build their reputation so they can recruit help on finding Fen & Valentine.

That's all the big story ideas I have so far but following that, for enemy allegiances there's a group of bandits terrorizing the little town for area 1, a group of Royalists trying to bring the old system back into power and maintain what they've got for area 2, and some fucked up Shiners partially fused w/ Vectron tech into cyborgs for area 3! The best inspiration I have for this is some scrapped concept art I remember seeing of a Shiner head on a robot spider body, which is horrible and I love it. Also the Shiners have access to acid/moonjuice, which can be stuck on surfaces for a turn and standing in it or being splashed with it forces you to move before the end of the turn or get burned (characters have too little health for guaranteed damage to be at all okay)

There would also just be more sidequesting options to do things like boost your reputation and gain access to extra bonuses like special items or discounts in stores and maybe other mission types thrown in like transporting items or maybe needing to clear out areas completely to try and open paths. Maybe also split missions where groups of 2/4 get split up between 2 paths (with something clear to show who's going with who) and open up paths for the other group like multiplayer Kirby games usually have. I think that would be neat. Also other means of recruiting characters like teaming up with them for a mission first, finding them (Fen & Valentine), or completing tasks for them. (For the record, conceptually in my head characters locked into missions would still be able to take items and would be seen in the starting menu locked in place, maybe characters you find have a question mark to identify them)

My brain is melting from sleepy so I'm gonna stop here because I can't keep anything straight but god that looks like a lot.

[raksha-the-demon]

👀 I am curious about the librarian

OH BOY YOU PICKED A GOOD ONE

First thing I should note is that this was a Dark Heresy campaign, which means it was set in Warhammer 40k, and focused on a group of Expendable Idiots (us) trying to stop the Forces of Chaos and Heresy.

ok, so there is a lot I could talk about here. Like, the time our Tech Priest tried to scare off some bandits by mimicking a demon, and he mimicked so hard that a group of actual demons showed up to join the party. Or the time my girl Narcia managed to manipulate her way from a B&E charge to being part of a planetary governer's inner circle. Or that time we accidentally blew up a planet on our very first job. Or one of my favorites, the time Narcia's boss gave her a book as a gift, forgot to tell her it was booby-trapped, and she just barely avoided getting her face blown off by a melta-beam that tore through half the ship.

But the heart of the campaign, for me, was Narcia's search for her brother. See, her brother was a Psyker, and all Psykers are taken away by the Black Ships to be trained/brainwashed. The ones that pass are pressed into service for the Emperor, and the ones that fail...well, the key point is that either way, they don't ever go home. But Narcia was not content with the idea of never at least knowing what became of him.

One day she met Renzo, who offered her a deal: he could help get her information about her brother, if she would become a spy for him. She didn't trust his motives at all, but he proved that he was capable of getting the kind of information she needed, so she agreed. For months she would secretly pass along information about the Inquisitor's activity, her teammates, and their missions. Sometimes he would give her small jobs to complete on the side. In return, he gave her pages from a journal.

Her brother's journal. Recovered from a sabotaged Black Ship.

He was alive.

This revelation came at the same time that her team was closing in on a cult they had been chasing. This cult had already killed dozens upon dozens of people, and were planning to summon some terrible demon that would kill even more. Planets were at risk.

And that evening, as the team went over strategies for how to approach the cult's hideout, Narcia realized what her brother had been doing since his escape. She realized what the "training" aboard the Black Ship had done to his mind.

Narica went to the cult headquarters alone. Her brother was overjoyed to see her. He was so happy that she could be part of what he was building now. It was going to make things better, see? There was so much evil in the world, but he was going to fix that.

Narcia tried to reason with him. She tried desperately to find some sign that the brother she remembered was still in there. Something, anything, to suggest that he might one day recover from the years of torture and abuse that had warped his mind. But there was nothing, and they had mere hours to go before he would be able to complete his ritual, and Narcia had gone in without backup.

So she told her brother she loved him, pulled out the melta-book, and suggested he would find something useful in the opening pages.

[tessasocs]

plot twist: josephine in maria's body at sanctum? 👀

Listen...I can’t emphasize enough how scared I am that you guys are gonna guess my entire plot before the story even gets started. (jk, jk, something does happen to Maria on Sanctum though)

Bellamy would absolutely go ballistic. Like even moreso than when Clarke was body-snatched. Because not only has he lost his girlfriend, but possibly the only person left in the world who understands him. He’d try to be strong but really he wants to burn the entire planet to the ground and he’d definitely be working with Miller to get her back.

Murphy would not help Josephine in any way, shape, or form. Maria and Murphy have a very strong relationship and while it may get tense in season 6, He would never help out the person who STOLE HER BODY, even for immortality.

Raven would be working overtime with Murphy to get Maria’s mind back. Maria is the last tether to Raven’s life before the ground, and there’s no way in hell she wouldn’t try everything to get her friend back.

Clarke wouldn’t know what to think. I think she’d be the one who is pushing for them to do better like Monty was asking so she’d try to make deals with Russell and Simone to move on, but she’d definitely be broken up about it.

Miller would be absolutely furious. He’d refuse to work with Russell and would be in a mood the entire time. He’d constantly be on the lookout for any sign that Maria was still alive and he probably (along with Bellamy) spearheads the mission to take her to Gabriel and get her back. 

Josephine would love EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Not only is she in a hot new body, but she’s in the mind of a woman tied to Becca Franco (the woman behind their tech and one of Gabriel’s crushes). She’d probably hate that Maria wasn’t easy to manipulate and that she doesn’t give up easily, but the two of them would have an amazing back and forth, especially regarding each other’s mind spaces. 

Maria would be in disbelief. At first she’d think she’s back inside the Flame, but once she sees her Mom she knows it’s something different. Unlike Clarke, who kind of gave up after having her sins thrown in her face, Maria knows that she’s a monster and that the world is probably better off without her, but she’s choosing to live and nothing’s going to get in the way of that goal. Nothing is going to stop her from finding her way back to her family.

Send me a plot twist and I’ll tell you how the characters would react to it!

[firespirited]

I gave the heads up to mum that I'd brought up the touchy subject of missing memories with sis and how I hadn't wanted to catalogue any of it, other than taking note that she's in pain (wondering if i made it worse) and maybe that subject is something that i need to work on (cue deep dives and extensive personal re-examination) because she's a grown woman who's asked for independence in all things medical and got *herself* a therapist. I contribute when she has clues for me ("1st day of period or minipill withdrawal = very dark time" led to pmdd or pme. Two years ago I realised that her insomnia meant she was constantly stopping and starting a medicine cold turkey when it's one that requires slow uppage/downage - we've had to taper down over 18 months to get to a half dose) so there is a certain amount of collab work as she knows me well too and can better remember how long I've had this stupid earache for example. I was able to say that I do not want to be backed up if sis needs mum on her side, I don't care about being right and can cope with being hurt as it's an expression of anguish what matters is that we help her pinpoint whatever's causing this so she can choose how to proceed. I might need help with dates and times though as my memory is swiss cheese. Ultimately i'd rather drop it entirely if it's a sticking point, it doesn't happen often anyway... so she can focus on other symptoms of hormonal inbalance.

Finding the balance is hard but getting better between wanting to protect my (not so little anymore) sister from everything and respect her autonomy... I trust her and asked if she wanted to know first and that any notes taken would be available because it's a diagnostic tool nothing more.

Mum's like "yes she's in pain and that's the sole issue so i try to ignore anything that seemed out of character as just meaningless self defense 'make it stop' words." (man alive, I wish i could attain that level of chill) and she goes "Oh and i have plenty of recorded timestamped moments as she has those paranoid arguments with me on WhatsApp." 👀 hokay. Of Note: i mentioned to mum that sept to nov 2021 i vague posted a lot and apparently that when sis was off the pill.

So yeah i got myself all worked up for both conversations and both went fine. We won't mention so much as mood swings unless it aligns with the dates and sis *wants* to mention it.

And after my benzo/ssri withdrawal after surgery where I became utterly convinced mum hated me and basically got a taxi driver to sneak me out of hospital and lately my very rude troglodyte grunts to 'get out, get lost' when I get sleep deprived, they've promised to always keep me fully accountable too.

Today's dr visit is going to be interesting, the ultrasound dude last week refused to scan sis' lipedema which insults both the endocrinologist and our doctor who prescribed it together. The tech hinted there's some sort of drama going on between the local xray, ultrasound clinic techs and the local doctors. Our dr is tuned in to all the feuds, she'll tell you to remove prof Ys papers from your file before showing it to prof X because he has beef with prof Y (usually some old funding or tenure grudge)

[rexandechosandwich]

MOOOON!!!! 😭😭😭😭 my heart!!! The angst keeps stacking up 😭😭 Such sweet torture! (Also too many reactions under the cut. Especially to that Tech scene 🫣🤤🥵😮‍💨)

THE MEETING WITH CROSSHAIR IS EVERYTHING!!! Poor baby thought he killed Sarah! He’s been living with that 😭😭 I’m so happy he got to see her alive!!! BUT THEN TELLS HER TO LEAVE TO PROTECT HER IM FREAKING CRYING AHAIN!!

“Don’t speak her name!” Crosshair yelled.

I had chills! Omg to hear him scream that had to be gut wrenching 😭

Of course he’d sense her distress and the pain that overcame her at the idea of seeing him again, of not having prepared enough to actually have a chance of saving him, of meeting him only to surely lose him again.

The foreshadowing… HERE I GO CRYING AGAIN

“You’ re beautiful,” he whispered.

Ooohh and that kiss 🥺😍 everything is in that kiss! Their passion and love for each other, their happiness seeing each other again, and their painful goodbye!!! Fuvk fuck fuck fuvk im laying on thr floor wondering why the force loves torturing them 😭😭

“You know,” Tech continued. “We could always run away together and forget about the other two.”

Okay okay okay my guilty pleasure right here! If Tech said this to me, I’d go in a heartbeat. And the bra does wonders? Please share these ‘wonders’ Tech 👀🥵 lmao and thank you for blessing us with that image of Tech under the console 🤤 and his buzzed hair oh myyy

But seriously I love the banter between Tech and Sarah! Tech just wrecked by her last remark, short circuiting his brain hehehe

I love that he makes it known him and Wrecker also miss Crosshair! And that Hunter does too, he’s just more angry with the situation than at Crosshair himself.

Ughhhh this series is sooooo gooooood!!!!!

Failed Reunion

Chapter 17 of Moonwalker: The Batch

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Summary: The boys have their inhibitor chips out, and it seems like Sarah can finally catch a break, but the arrival of imperial ships on Bracca will force a heartbreaking reunion on her and the batch.

Word count: 5.5k

Tags/warnings: Mature. Still pretty angsty, some fluff, hurt with some comfort, polyamory, mentions of broken bones, allusions to sex and masturbation, mention of burns.

A/N: Hmhmhmhmhmh self indulgence time

Songs: long reach, ended up drowning

Rex’s last words to Sarah bounced back and forth in her mind, words she wouldn’t forget.

“Remember, Sarah. You can save him if you go about it right. It’s worth it, but you already know that.”

Standing between Hunter and Tech, staring into the endless sea of rust and debris of Bracca, a sight made unexpectedly peaceful with the deep blue sky in its final gleams of twilight. With her arm still wrapped in a cast and resting on the cloth Tech fixed for her, she thought about how in the universe she was supposed to go about it right.

She’d proven that going alone to save Crosshair from the Empire wasn’t an option. Logically, an attempt would be made to go as a group, but the whole squad, even with Rex’s help, had barely survived against Wrecker when his chip activated.

How would they ever survive Crosshair under the chip’s command?

A gentle bump on her shoulder snapped Sarah out of her daze, and she turned to see Hunter and Tech looking at her, eyes softened with concern, until a gentle stroking on her arms drew her attention onto her Guardian.

“What’s the matter?” He asked her.

Sarah sighed. “Just thinking too much over something Rex said.”

“What was it?”

“It doesn’t matter right now,” she rubbed her eyes.

Hunter’s features dropped. “Sarah, how long has it been since you’ve slept?”

“Too long,” she looked up at him. “I’m fine, okay? I’m just tired and on painkillers.”

She pressed herself up to Hunter, her head resting on his chest, and without a second thought, Hunter wrapped his arms around her.

“Just hug me,” Sarah said quietly.

Hunter gave a light chuckle before kissing the top of her head. “That I can do.”

If she had just let herself drift off for a bit, Sarah would have fallen asleep in his embrace, feeling warm and protected. She thought back to when they were on Jedha, the way he held her close as they were both asleep, how it felt to wake up engulfed in his warmth.

Maybe that was all Sarah needed; some time to recover, to be in the arms of her Guardian, for once feeling like everything was okay, like she was safe, like she hadn’t let anyone down, and like her mistakes didn’t matter or define her.

But she couldn’t quite forget everything and set it aside for the sake of peace, rendering her doomed to face everything head on, if only for a while longer. Perhaps her team was always ready for anything, or at least it seemed that way, but while Sarah attempted to keep a strong front, all she could think of at that moment was how small she felt. She felt tiny in a huge galaxy that had managed to slap her in the face constantly for months.

She didn’t know how to go about anything at that moment, but she didn’t want to. All she wanted at that moment was to curl into a ball and sob while someone hugged and comforted her.

But while she wasn’t necessarily curled into a ball and in a blanket, Sarah was being hugged by someone, someone who loved her unconditionally, who would protect her even at the cost of his own life. Someone who, for the life of him, would never blame her for the mistakes she made, would always seek out her well-being, who would prefer to hug and comfort her before smacking her for her stupidity even if she deserved it.

With a shaky breath, a single tear rolled down her cheek before more and more came, and quiet as she was, she could feel Hunter’s embrace tightening.

Echo and Wrecker finished bringing their haul of stunned scrappers, accompanied by Omega, who curiously hopped behind them. As they set them down next to one of the walls on that makeshift balcony, Sarah stepped out of Hunter’s embrace, her gaze now drifted to Tech, whose gaze was yet again buried in the holopad he always carried, looking up who knows what.

He looked different. The inhibitor chip removal had forced him and Hunter to shave off parts of their hair, and while Hunter could easily cover it with his bandana—he would never cut the luscious curls off, that much was obvious—Tech embraced the new look and shaved off the sides of his head, giving him a soft sort of mohawk that somehow made the brown curls on his head look more graceful.

It suited him, and Sarah would lie if she said he didn’t look handsome.

“Remind me what we’re still doing here,” Echo spoke up. “We can’t have many more close calls.”

“We need the money, and there’s a lot that we can loot here,” Hunter told him.

“Rex offered us to go with him,” Echo argued. “We could have left with him and forgotten about our debt with Cid in the first place.”

“That’s not how it works, Echo,” Sarah spoke, calmly. “If you owe someone anything, especially credits, you get hunted down. If you get lucky, you get a warning, but it’s better to pay up and be on good terms.”

“I suppose that’s your pirate past speaking,” Echo couldn’t help but smirk.

“Yeah, which means it’s better if you trust me,” Sarah answered.

“Hunter and Sarah are correct,” Tech intervened. “My scans not only indicate a large amount of weapons and equipment that we could definitely profit from, but also the possibility of intel stored in the cruiser’s central control system. If I can get my hands on that intel, we could sell that alone for worth far more than any weapon.”

“Alright,” Hunter said. “Head to the bridge and see what you can find. The rest of us will go to the armory and load up on whatever we can get our hands on.”

“Try to get something for us to use too,” Sarah suggested. “Wrecker will know what.”

“Hell yeah, I will,” Wrecker grinned with confidence as he and Omega pranced off into the ship.

Before they left, Sarah knudged Hunter’s elbow.

“Mind if I go with Tech to the bridge?” She said. “I can’t do much carrying, anyway.”

“Since when do you ask me for permission?” Hunter smiled at her. “Go.”

“Oh, I’m not asking for permission so much as for an opinion,” Sarah grinned deviously. “You know I do whatever I want.”

“I’m familiar with that,” Hunter gently kissed her forehead. “Now go.”

Tech had put his helmet on before he and Sarah made their way to the bridge. At times, he had to hold her to help her through the rough areas within the old, corroded hallways of the cruiser, all of them eerily dark. For comfort, Sarah looked around them and tried to imagine them brightly lit, gleaming in full glory like they would in the old days.

“Were you guys frequently on cruisers?” Sarah asked Tech.

“Almost never,” he replied in his easy-going tone. “We pretty much got around on the Marauder since the start of the war. I’m guessing you had your fair share of times traveling aboard a Jedi cruiser.”

“I sure did,” Sarah replied, nostalgia bathing her voice. “Anytime we were deployed on missions, we took gunships that always flew from cruisers. We’d be briefed in the hangars, wish each other luck before stepping in the gunships; sometimes it was light-hearted, other times we were all terrified of the battle ahead. General Skywalker would usually be on one gunship with Rex, and normally I’d take another one with Ahsoka and the rest of Torrent Company.”

Just as she finished reminiscing, she and Tech had arrived at the bridge, far sooner than she’d expected.

“Alright, let me get the power back on,” Tech began to crouch.

“You can do that from here?” She asked him.

Tech shot her an are you kidding me? glance from the ground, to which she could only chuckle. He finally went underneath the ship’s main panel, lying on his back as he fidgeted with the controls.

“Would you please hold a lantern up for me in the meantime?” Tech asked. “You only need one hand for that.”

“Yes, sir,” Sarah teased.

“Come, now,” Tech spoke with an audible smile. “I asked nicely.”

She sat and held the lantern while Tech worked on getting the power back on, and their conversation at times made the two of them laugh. Sarah thought of how she always got on so well with Tech, how natural and easy and simple it was to be around him, never mind his incredible intelligence. Being with Tech was simply a matter of reciprocating the art of listening.

Unsurprisingly, Tech succeeded in getting the cruiser’s power back on, bringing another smile on Sarah’s features.

“Now what can I do?” She said as she powered the lantern off and hooked it on her belt.

“Sit,” Tech told her. “I’d rather you don’t exert force that may injure you further.”

“It’s fine,” she persuaded, glancing at her broken wrist. “You did a great job with it.”

“Of course I did,” Tech answered. “Even so, I’ve already performed all the operations I’d like on your wrist. The rest is a matter of you keeping it still so that your bones can regenerate.”

Sarah smiled. “Fine.”

Sarah couldn’t help but stare at the engineer as he lay on his back, doing what he did best. The angle gave her an obscene view of his legs, bent and slightly parted as he worked, his focus unwavered. His physique, alongside Crosshair’s, was often overlooked when compared to his two brothers, both more muscularly built, expected to use their strength to succeed. But while Tech’s intelligence was his key asset, anything regarding his physical capabilities was not meant to be underestimated.

After a moment, Tech emerged from below the control panel and took his holopad, sitting on the ground with his gaze glued to it.

“How do you feel?” He broke the silence.

While it wasn’t the first question she’d expected to hear from Tech, Sarah recognized how loaded it was.

“Woozy with painkillers,” she answered. “I really just want to sleep.”

“You know what I mean,” Tech momentarily lifted his gaze from the holopad and found hers.

Sarah sighed, turning away, suddenly unable to meet his own gorgeous eyes.

“Do not evade me, Sarah,” Tech said. “I know Rex got you thinking about Crosshair again, as I’m sure the removal of our inhibitor chips did as well.”

“It sometimes feels like I’m the only one around here who still thinks of him,” she went to sit on the ground, cross-legged, in front of Tech.

“You are not,” Tech replied. “I do, and Wrecker does too. Before you and Echo came along, he and Crosshair were by far the closest—but I’m certain you noticed that before the war ended. I believe Hunter is the only one who won’t allow himself to admit he misses Crosshair, especially not after…” Tech’s gaze went to Sarah’s chest. “That incident.”

Sarah exhaled. “Rex said that if we do it right, we can save Crosshair too. I only wish I knew what the right way was.”

“Well,” Tech lied down under the panel again, “you are someone who always sees opportunities, and you have quite the amount of gut feelings to help you in your decisions. I’m certain you’ll know when to take the chance.”

Her insecurities manifested in silence, bringing Tech’s attention to her once more. He left the panel alone and sat closer to her, expectant of what she had to say.

“I don’t doubt that the Force tells me what’s right,” her voice went quiet. “But maybe I misinterpret it.”

“You do not,” Tech said.

“Then how else have I screwed up so badly?” Her eyes began to gleam. “Supposedly, I know how to do things. Supposedly, I know how to keep myself and others safe, and yet, nothing I’ve done has gone right since the war ended. I always fuck up one way or another, and it’s all on me.”

“Sarah,” Tech placed a hand on hers, quieting her down. “You insist on doing things alone. You don’t have to. And whatever you choose to do, mistakes will always happen. There is a margin of error for every endeavor that the human mind sets out on, one that is bound to manifest. It is not your fault, it is the nature of things. The error is not as important as what you do to solve it afterwards.”

Her bottom lip quivered. “Tech…”

“Try not to go alone next time,” Tech continued. “You can count on me, you always will.”

She smiled softly at him. “I never thought I’d hear you being so emotional.”

“I meant you will need someone to see all the technicalities of your mission,” Tech removed his helmet and adjusted his goggles, giving a sigh. “Sarah, you are a beautiful person who is incredibly capable of figuring things out, all you need to do is get back up.”

Her cheeks reddened, and her skin under his hand began to feel warm.

“Did you just call me beautiful?” She smiled.

Tech reciprocated with a hint of a chuckle. “Everything I say is intentional.”

“Even if your overall sentence had nothing to do with my beauty?” She raised a brow.

“I have to make it known somehow,” Tech smirked. “If Hunter had his shot, maybe I could too.”

“You made your feelings very clear back on Ord Mantell, genius,” Sarah laughed. “You still have the bra, by the way?”

“It does wonders,” Tech grinned.

Sarah playfully rolled her eyes and gave him a gentle smack on the shin.

“You know,” Tech continued. “We could always run away together and forget about the other two.”

Sarah openly laughed. “Watch what you say, Tech. I still have one good hand that I could smack you with.”

Tech let go of her hand, laughing softly. “I would thank you for that, princess.” He then reached for his comm. “Omega, I need you on the bridge.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to have her wed us,” Sarah teased.

“Sadly, no,” Tech said as he reached for the holopad. “I need to copy the master drive of the ship’s informational storage, but that is a task that requires two hands.”

“Oh, Tech,” she purred. “You’d be surprised at how much I can do with just one hand.”

For all his sly comments, Tech was left staring blankly at her, cornered by her remark.

Sarah shrugged innocently. “You started it.”

Tech’s shock turned into another laugh. “Very well, you win. However, Omega is on her way. We should probably tone it down.”

“We definitely should,” she agreed.

Tech resumed his work on the panel, leaving Sarah to stand and gaze at the scenery outside. For a moment, her mind lingered on what Tech had said, even if, for the moment, part of it had been a joke. What if she were to run away with someone she hadn’t had any drama with? What if they could just leave, and forget all that had been weighing them down?

But, once again, Sarah was reminded it wasn’t possible, and that real life was what was in front of her: waiting with a broken wrist while her squad scavenged for intel and weapons to clear off a debt, after which they’d continue to work as mercenaries.

And then, just as Omega paddled happily onto the bridge, eager to be of help, Sarah couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge those big, starry eyes. A shudder overcame her while she felt a disturbance in the Force, bringing her gaze back up to the scenery of Bracca as night fell on the planet.

Just as the shudder cleared from her chest, she saw piercing brown eyes flashing in her mind.

It’s him.

A red light on the ship’s controls began beeping on and off, sounding an alarm, and the shuddering returned to her.

“Tech?” Her voice broke with nerves.

He immediately went over to her along with Omega, flanking Sarah’s sides. The engineer stared at the beeping light for a moment, his hand hovering over it. “It’s the proximity sensor, but it must be glitched. It should only activate when there is a vessel nearby—”

“Tech, that’s just it,” she began to pant. “He’s here.”

His eyes widened, knowing what Sarah meant. Just then, the whirring of engines sounded above them, and through the bridge’s windshields, they could see three imperial shuttles flying just above the cruiser, landing in front of it.

Sarah’s comm bepped.

“What is it?” Hunter’s voice came in. “Sarah, what’s wrong?”

Of course he’d sense her distress and the pain that overcame her at the idea of seeing him again, of not having prepared enough to actually have a chance of saving him, of meeting him only to surely lose him again.

Slowly, Sarah pulled her comm up to her mouth, watching as the shuttle in the center opened its door.

“Crosshair’s here,” she declared.

Upon hearing the words come out of her, Hunter and the rest of the squad rushed to the bridge. As soon as they arrived, Hunter gently squeezed Sarah’s hand before taking the binoculars Tech handed to him. By that point, the troopers who were in the shuttles had already exited them and taken their formation, leaving the final, dark-armored elite squadron to be the last ones setting foot on the planet’s ground.

“It’s him, alright,” Hunter said lowly.

“Im jamming their transmissions now,” Tech spoke.

“That won’t stop him,” Hunter put the binoculars down and held tighter to Sarah. “We have to move.”

“We might have to hide,” Sarah said. “He’s going to find the Marauder and lock it down.”

“That might only entrap us more,” Tech said. “I’d rather we hurry back to the Marauder while he looks for us in the cruiser, that is, if we won’t make the attempt to get him to the medical bay.”

The room fell quiet.

“What if we bait him there?” Sarah suggested.

“It’s too big of a risk,” Hunter said. “We’ll be outnumbered and cornered. I’d like our chances more if we encountered him on more open ground before taking him there.”

A rush passed through Sarah’s body, and she feared once again it would be stupidity rather than confidence.

“Should we try it?” She asked.

Hunter looked at her, worried, nostalgic, but wanting more than anything to support her, hard as it may have been for him.

“You decide,” Hunter told her with utmost trust.

But Sarah felt she’d break. What if she was wrong again? What if her decision cost them dearly again, perhaps more this time? She’d seen how they’d struggled against Wrecker, and she knew firsthand that Crosshair probably wouldn’t fight the chip for long enough to not hurt any of them, not with his programming being enhanced. What was more, back on Kamino, Crosshair hadn’t had nearly as many troops backing him up as he did now. Facing three attack shuttles’ worth of troopers would be difficult even for her and her squad.

Running away seemed like the only sensible option.

But if they left, if they ran away and safely returned to Ord Mantell, where would that leave Crosshair? The imprint was still there, Sarah could still feel him. Could she ever forgive herself if she left Bracca, and in those last seconds, felt Crosshair watching the ship fly away? How could she possibly talk of wanting to save him from the Empire if she turned her back on him now?

Whether they left or if they tried to bait Crosshair to the med bay wasn’t clear, all she knew was that they had to leave the bridge.

“Let’s go toward the hangar,” she said.

They walked down the dark hallways only to find that Crosshair had predicted their movements, and they opted for heading towards the artillery deck instead. Just as they were arriving, Hunter reached Sarah and stopped her, gazing at each other in the darkness, while she tried to make out his expression underneath his helmet.

“What is it?” She asked him.

Hunter hesitated. “I don’t want him to see you. Not yet.”

“He won’t hurt me—”

“We don’t know that,” Hunter’s voice broke. “Sarah, if he sees you’re alive, he’ll either rejoice or finish the order he was given. I can’t risk that again.”

Sarah sighed; he made a good point, one she couldn’t afford to ignore.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll stay hidden.”

As they made it into the rusty artillery deck, its structure on the brink of falling apart, Sarah felt a brief hunch warning her of the incoming squads. As though on cue, Hunter reached for her and helped her crouch behind one of the cannons, allowing her to remain unseen as the soldiers ran inside. The squad watched as they were surrounded by endless troopers in white armor, void of any detail and personality, until finally, when they looked toward their north flank, they saw him.

He was already aiming his rifle at them, backed by the rest of his new squad, all of them donning armor as dark as his.

Silence crushed the artillery deck, with tension only rising as brother watched brother, the barrier of their helmets raised as they aimed their blasters. Crosshair facing off his former squad, and his former squad facing off against the one who was taken from them, the one who’d been left behind.

“Crosshair,” Hunter spoke, his tone riddled with nostalgia and with an underlying grudge. “Brother…”

“You became predictable after the war ended, Hunter,” Crosshair spoke.

Sarah could feel how clouded by grief and anger Crosshair was, his usually smooth, monotonous voice sounding strained.

“Why come after us?” Hunter inquired.

“You’re all traitors,” Crosshair answered.

“No,” Hunter took a step forward, still aiming the blaster. “That’s your inhibitor chip talking. It’s controlling you, Crosshair. We can help you, just lower your weapon.”

“I don’t want your help, Hunter,” Crosshair said. “I’m past it. I only want to complete my mission, but I’m leaving it up to you if you want to come with me or if I’ll have to fire at you too.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Hunter said. “The same way I know you didn’t want to shoot Sarah.”

“Don’t speak her name!” Crosshair yelled.

It became clear to Sarah that Crosshair’s own turmoil had clouded him from being able to sense her, and if he had sensed her, he’d deemed it a hallucination. But it was time. She got up from behind the ruined cannon and walked up behind Hunter and Omega, as much of a risk as it was, she had to see him and try to get to him, and she’d listen to the voice inside of her telling her Crosshair wouldn’t hurt her again.

“Crosshair,” she said.

He flinched when she spoke his name, lowering the rifle in an instant. He stared at her, and after a few tense seconds, Crosshair surprised everyone by removing his helmet, his eyes wide with sorrow and shock with a hint of relief, but most of all, guilt, as he looked at her.

“You’re alive,” he said quietly, gradually raising his volume. “How are you alive?! I—I shot you, I saw you die! You were dead!”

He stumbled, falling to his knees as tears rolled down him. “I killed you…”

Sarah let out the sob she was holding in, shaking her head slowly as she held out her good hand. “You couldn’t, Crosshair. You never could.”

Crosshair shook, still looking at her, finding it within himself to stand up again. He stared at her hand, extended, offered to him, before looking back into her eyes.

“Come,” she said. “Come back to me.”

One of his troopers leaned over beside him, getting his attention once more. Slowly, Crosshair reached for his rifle and his helmet again, putting it back on as he stood up, prompting Hunter to stand in front of Sarah and shield her from him.

She’d failed again.

Before anyone could fire the first blast, the cannons of the artillery deck began firing without warning, rattling the fragile place to a point of destruction. The thick tension had now broken into an outburst of chaos, one Sarah caught herself in the middle of.

She’d lost sight of Crosshair in the middle of the firefight, and as she looked for him, she felt Hunter reaching for her and taking her with him, running after Tech and the others who had taken advantage of the mayhem to find an improvised way out.

Sarah was still trying to get over the image of Crosshair crying on his knees as she walked behind Hunter, and by the time she got a grip of her surroundings, Sarah noticed they’d wound up in the ion engine chamber—crazy as it was for an exit, it would be the safest bet. It was huge, dark, and it still smelled of oil and blast primer coating; they walked carefully along the edges, making their way down, with Hunter remaining close to her the whole time, helping her down the tougher heights.

Once they were all lower and nearly at the final edge of the engine, a blast suddenly hit one of the engine’s beams, nearly knocking Tech off balance from how close it had been to hitting him, and Sarah’s mind raced.

Crosshair fired that as a warning rather than to hurt Tech, because as they all were painfully aware of, he never missed.

“How did he know we’d come out through the engine?” Wrecker said.

“Beats me,” Hunter answered, “but we need to find a different way out now.”

“We could always try the bottom part of the engine,” Tech said. “These chambers have trapdoors for repairs, I simply didn’t choose them from the beginning because we’ll land onto more debris.”

“I think that’s true for any corner we choose,” Hunter said. “But if there are less troopers, it’s worth a shot. Lead the way, Tech.”

“You got it,” Tech answered.

Just as they began to follow Tech, a loud, booming rumble filled the engines followed by the terrifying sound of it powering up. When they looked up, they saw the engine’s center begin to flow with light blue, freshly-ignited plasma.

“Tech?” Hunter said, frightened. “Can the engines be powered on?”

Tech looked at all of them; even he seemed scared. “Yes. I reactivated general power on the ship.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Sarah comforted him.

“But…” Omega said. “Crosshair wouldn’t. He wouldn’t!”

“We can’t afford to stay and find out, we need to move out of here, now!” Hunter said.

“The explosives,” Wrecker spoke up. “We can use them to break away from the engine!”

“Everybody grab one!” Hunter ordered.

Sarah did the best she could, lining the lower part of the engine with explosives while the others did the jumping and climbing, until at last, the engine’s inner circumference was lined with a detonator every few radians. They all regrouped at the bottom, pressing themselves to the ground as they waited for the explosives to go off, and in the desperate waiting, Sarah felt Hunter’s hand squeezing hers tighter than ever while he held onto Omega with his other arm.

Then, it all happened fast. The loud boom of the engine engulfed the area as well as the various explosions from the thermal detonators. The cone that they were at rumbled and creaked loudly, and soon, they felt its force overpower them as it fell with a loud crash, splitting in two parts in the process.

Sarah rolled as she fell and lost sight of whoever was nearby, but before she hit the debris on the ground, she caught a small glimpse of Tech, Echo, and Wrecker rolling down considerably far from her. The worry of being separated from them was washed over by the overwhelming pain of having landed on her broken wrist, wincing when she shifted to put her good hand on the ground. Alas, she had expected to land on earth to heal, and instead, it was all metal.

Solid, rusty old metal on the brink of decay wouldn’t help her heal.

“Is everyone okay?!” Hunter called through the comms.

“I’m alive,” Sarah confirmed, strained with pain.

“We’re all good,” Tech replied on behalf of him, Wrecker, and Echo.

“Meet back at the Marauder!” Hunter told them.

Sarah was about to head towards the ship when her marks began going warm, and she turned in the direction they told her. Something, or rather someone was far closer than she’d expected him to be, and she wouldn’t leave him now.

It took a lot of climbing, a difficult and agonizing effort, but by the gods, Sarah would reach Crosshair even if she had to do it in pieces. Eventually, she reached the point where he’d been sniping from, and after looking around for him, she noticed Crosshair bent over more debris, breathing heavily, looking weaker than ever.

She ran to him, quick to grasp his shoulder, her voice shaking as she noticed his injuries. The right side of his head had been burned, and some of it had extended onto his body; she panicked, knowing he looked far more injured than he had back in the cave on Kashyyyk, when he’d risked himself to save her.

And suddenly, Crosshair’s breathing became faster when he opened his eyes and realized she was with him.

“Sarah…” His voice was nearly a sob. “You’re alive…”

“Of course I am…” her eyes began to well with tears.

Weakly, Crosshair reached a hand out to caress her cheek, his finger trailing over the new additions of her now blue marks.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered.

She forced herself not to cry yet, taking his hand as she leaned into his palm. “Come on,” she was about to take him in his arms, but he stopped her.

“You have to leave,” Crosshair grunted. “They’re on their way.”

“Then we have to hurry,” Sarah resolved.

“No,” he said, applying more force to his touch, making him strain. “Sarah, leave… please.”

He stopped all of her movement and, with his head tilted away from her so that she could only see the left side of his face, the side that hadn’t been burned by the engine’s thrust, he looked her in the eyes. Sarah didn’t know if he was pushing her away due to pride, spite, warning, or if he was trying to protect her too.

But if Sarah had to guess, she’d say he didn’t want the Empire to find her there, because while they would help him heal, they would certainly try to hurt her.

She wanted to believe that he was protecting her, and the warmth on her marks as he touched her only helped her confirm it, but it only made tears fall from her as she squeezed his hand.

“I can’t leave you again,” she whimpered.

“We don’t have time,” he began, only to be compelled to shake his head, his usual response to the chip taking over his emotions. “Please, leave, Sarah. They won’t be kind to you.”

Sniffling, Sarah’s gaze jerked up in the direction she could hear comm chatter from, only to feel Crosshair squeezing her hand with resolve.

“Now,” he said, his eyes pained at having to push her away, even though he desperately wanted and needed her there.

Sarah wouldn’t let it all be in vain, and once she knew she’d have to leave him there, she leaned in and sealed her intent with a tender kiss on his lips. As they kissed, Crosshair felt soft, he felt warm, like a home to her heart, and when she tried to part, Crosshair shifted forward despite the pain he felt, chasing her lips to kiss her again.

They kissed for as long as they could until a shuttle’s engine could be heard in the distance—Sarah had to leave, or she wouldn’t make it. With a soft gaze, she looked Crosshair in the eyes.

“I will go back for you, somehow,” she said, and then, unable to look out of there, she went down the way she came. Not long after she disappeared from his sight, a shuttle flew up next to Crosshair for a medic to retrieve him while Sarah watched, hidden in the debris.

He’d kissed her. He’d begged her to leave and showed relief that she was alive. Perhaps it was the injury, but the real Crosshair was shining through the chip more than before, and Sarah allowed herself to feel hope.

“I’ll go back for you,” she whispered into the night as her final promise before she began making her way back to the Marauder.

But the sorrow of leaving Crosshair was quickly shadowed by the sudden, terrible feeling that Hunter was hurt. With her marks going cold, Sarah rushed through the debris, following where their bond told her Hunter would be.

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