#but one of the biggest lessons in star wars

[jjoelswatch]

Always amuses me (read: exhausts me) when people are surprised and angry when Star Wars creators refer to Thrawn as a villain and act like it’s the end of the world because the creators don’t “get” the character.

[berristreasuredlibrary]

big beefy men part two?? but... they're subs???? bigger sigh...

A/N: I finally finished it!! I hope you guys enjoy it, I certainly enjoyed writing it >:3 I couldn't figure out who else to put so perhaps you guys could help me out and lmk for sure! I yap too much so enjoy! (I read it over once so there might be typos, pls ignore them O_o)

Big beefy men who look like they could crush you without much effort. Except... they're the biggest sweethearts you've ever met. Whose hands envelop both of yours - including your wrists - and who love to bear hug you from behind, especially when you don't expect it. They're the perfect size for it too!

Sneaking up behind you when you're getting a snack from the pantry or fridge, footsteps silent despite their big frame, a shadow slowly creeping up your back, a cheeky smile making its way onto their handsome face. Standing just inches away from your body, they watch in amusement as the hairs on the back of your neck begin to stand, your body telling you that something is there, yet you never quite learn your lesson.

So, when big arms wrap around your waist, squeezing your plush body against their chest, his hands squeezing whatever they can get - which is a lot - you squeal, your precious snack falling from your grasp. You can huff and squirm as much as you like, though your efforts to escape are futile - as you've come to accept -and your lover only finds it amusing, watching you battle with his arms in a war you'll never win.

Your scent surrounds him, much like his entire stature surrounds you, and he can't help but bury his face into the crook of your neck, breathing your heavenly smell like it's the last breath he'll ever take. You can feel his muscles flexing, straining against fabric in a way that has your mouth watering, your mind running wild as your feet leave the ground.

It's not his fault, not really, or that's what he tells you at least, when you can no longer feel solid ground beneath you. You're so much smaller than he is, his back hurts often, having to lean down to hug or kiss you. Or bend you over any solid surface.

You can squirm and huff all you want, complaining about not being on the ground, but he knows you better than that. He knows you only complain because your panties grow increasingly uncomfortable, getting sticky since your pussy began drooling for the brute of a man you call your lover the minute his arms wrapped around your middle.

He knows you squirm against his form - the solid wall of absolute muscle, carved by the gods themselves - because if you stop and stay still for even a second, your focus will be on how your clit throbs, on how heat pools low in your tummy, how your nipples begin hardening under the shirt you're wearing...he knows.

It's not like you can help it either, not when he's so handsome and his body rivals that of a movie star - but you know he'd put models, bodybuilders, and actors to shame if he really wanted to. No, you can't truly help it, and with the way he's looking at you now - with wide eyes and pouty lips, his hands sliding up to squeeze your tits, pinching your sensitive nipples - it really isn't helping.

Despite still being in the air, his hands still squeezing and playing with your tits, you know you're the one who truly holds power. He may be big and strong, but you know with the right coaxing and pretty words, he's putty in your hands. So, when you shift your hips up slightly, dragging your ass along the length of his hardening cock, you bite back a smirk when he groans softly, boarding a moan.

His hands squeeze your tits harder, trying to ground himself desperately, yet his hips have a mind of their own, because they roll forward, trying to set a rhythm that would ease some of the discomfort. However, he is thoroughly disappointed when your hips stop their movement, and he whines against your throat where his face is buried.

Your hands push against his forearms, signaling him to let you go, which he reluctantly does, missing your warmth seconds after setting you back onto the ground. His eyes met yours, blown out and unfocused, his hands clenching at his side, while your eyes drift down to eye the bulge straining against his sweatpants, the fabric outlining the shape of his cock deliciously.

Your hands move up to push against his stomach, coaxing him to lean back onto the counter, before they travel lower, tugging on the waistband of those sweatpants and watching him swallow down the saliva pooling in his mouth. His eyes dart down to watch your hands push the offending fabric down his hips, watching at the elastic stretches over the toned muscles of his sharp hips and thick thighs - it's enchanting really.

Your mouth waters when his dick springs free from its confinements, bobbing up and down slowly, the sight making your pussy drool even more than before. Thick and heavy, just barely being able to stay upright, threatening to hang with the sheer weight of it. Veins decorate the shaft, his tip colored an angry shade of pinkish red, trimmed hair at his navel leading you down to the delicious sight of your lover's dick.

Pre beads at his tip, making your mouth water as you lean forward and wrap your lips around the angry tip, dragging your tongue along his slit slowly, your eyes locked on his expression. Watching as his jaw goes slack the moment your heavenly mouth is on him, his eyes struggling to stay open, and his hands hovering over your head - wanting to touch you, yet knowing he didn't have your permission yet.

Humming around his tip, you pull back, spitting onto the area your mouth had just been, before peering up at your lover intently, voice silky smooth and teasing at the same time. "Baby, gotta get you wetter. Help me out?" Your hand wraps around the base of his aching dick and he struggles to choke back a broken whine as he watches your tongue loll out, waiting patiently for his help.

His head dips forward slightly, chin tilted down as his lips pucker briefly, watching as a thick glob of spit lands on your awaiting tongue. his ears catching the pleased purr that rumbles from your chest. When you move forward, letting your combined saliva slowly roll down your tongue, he swears he dies right then and there, because the moment the warm, stickiness of your mixed spit feels like heaven against his aching hot dick.

You barely manage to wrap your lips around his angry tip before his thighs are tensing and he's crying out. "C-cumming! Oh fuck, 'm cumming!" The moans falling from his lips are sinful, drawn out and raspy, his mouth having fallen agape to let them fall freely, his eyes watery and locked on the way your cheeks puff with his load.

Hia hands find their way into your hair, having been brave enough to finally touch you, his fingers tangling in the strands and pushing your head down whilst his hips shift forward, forcing more of his throbbing and twitching cock into the heavenly warmth of your mouth. Your own arms move up to wrap around his thighs, squeezing tight and making your own eyes water when his tip pushes further down your throat.

Cum and spit dribbles from the corner of your mouth, only to be scooped up by his fingers after he detangles a hand from your hair, popping the digits into his mouth seconds later, moaning at the taste of his cum and your spit. His head tilts to the side slightly, eyes watching your throat work as you swallow down his thick load, thighs twitching beneath your arms and his chest heaving with each ragged breath he takes.

When the last of his cum is swallowed, he's pushing your head away and moving onto the floor, ripping your clothes from your delectable body in his haste to return the favor. "Please please, let me fuck you. I'll be good, I'll fuck you really good. Wanna be inside your pretty pussy. Please, baby? Promise I'll be good for you, I really wanna make you feel good too."

And how can you deny him? With his beautiful puppy eyes, the pout playing at his lips, and the furrow of his brows, greedy hands squeezing your tit, your stomach, waist, the fat of your ass, and your thighs, until he's cupping your soaked pussy, panties merely shoved aside to expose you to him.

His free hand wraps around his shaft, pumping himself quickly as his eyes roam over your plush body, fingers toying with your clit and dipping into your cunt, teasing the both of you. It's only when you nod that he shifts closer, knees nudging your thighs further apart, a pathetic cry leaving his puffy lips.

An endless string of breathless 'thank you's fill your ear as he drags his sensitive tip through your folds, tears rolling down his cheeks when he finally sinks into your heavenly pussy, back hunching over your body as he buries his face into your neck. A shaky sigh leaves him, as if it pained him to be without your pussy, gummy walls wrapped around his cock and squeezing him in a way only you were able to do.

Desperate, wet kisses are pressed against your throat as his arm wraps around your shoulders, keeping you still against him, his other hand squeezing your tit when his hips finally reel back only to slam forward, both of your cries echoing in your kitchen. Apologies leave his lips, frantic kisses matching the frantic pace of his thrusts, his tip grazing that spot in your gummy walls, each brutal thrust knocking the air out of you.

Pathetic cries of your name are muffled against your collarbone, fat tears dripping onto your skin, his hips never faltering, even when he sits up and grabs your thighs, hooking your legs over his arms, squeezing the plushness of them and letting his head fall back with a loud moan. Your own cries rise in volume and pitch at the change in angle, his tip hitting that gummy spot dead on now, your hands clenching, unable to grab onto anything.

His nails dig into your thighs now, balls smacking against your ass, the sound of your squelching pussy and your combined moans a sinful melody that has his mind reeling, leaving him hazy, only focused on the way your pussy swallows each inch of his cock with each brutal thrust. It's maddening perfection, and it has his orgasm rapidly approaching.

Babbles leave his lips, unintelligible sentences being strung together by the bulk of a man, usually so composed - yet reduced to nothing but a pussy drunk animal. "S-so good! Feels so good, baby! W-wanna cum with you, please? Let me cum with you." His body moves forward, hunching over you once more, folding you in half with your legs thrown over his broad shoulders. At yet another change in angle, your hands fly to his shoulders, digging your nails into the muscles, making him moan pathetically and increase his pace, pumping into you with his hands braced beside your head.

His mouth crashes onto yours, tongue tangling messily with yours, drool coating both your lips and chins, his moans and whines muffled with each drag of your tongue, brows furrowing as his orgasm steadily approaches, dangling in front of him teasingly. When he feels your pussy begin clenching around his cock, his fingers fly to your clit, rubbing the little bundle of nerves with a desperation like no other. Your cries get muffled by his shoulder when he ducks his head into your neck, crying out into your skin when your orgasm crashes over you.

His own orgasm is pulled from him suddenly, just seconds after yours, thick ropes of cum flooding your clenching pussy, sensitive walls milking him dry. With a few more ruts into you, his hips finally still, his body twitching above yours as his grip on you finally loosens, letting your legs fall to his hips, his dick pulsating in your heavenly pussy, the last few spurts and clenching of your walls making him whimper against your throat.

When he finally lifts his head from your neck, it's to peer intently at you, his eyes shiny with tears and pure adoration, his forehead slick with sweat, his hands moving up and down your sides until they find yours, his fingers lacing with yours, his spit-slicked lips parting to whisper weakly.

"Did I do good?"

KNY: Kyojuro, Sanemi...

JJK: Gojo, Geto, Choso...

AOT: Jean, Armin, Eren...

MHA: Keigo...

COD: Konig, Soap (Johnny)...

Haikyuu: Bokuto...

+ more

[evilminji]

I just Literally Galaxy Brained :D???

Oh? My? God?

So here I am, on a Star Wars kick, when I Ponder my beloved Danny Phantom. As ya do! Who? I wonder? Could I mix into the star wars universe?

WHEN IT HITS ME.

You know who LOVES kids? Just... will Burn Down Planets for this kid they literally JUST met? Mandolorians. Know where you can find a SHIT ton of those, genetically? The GAR!

Those are CLONES, baby! WE got a Clone! She's feisty and adorable! Smol! Bites! Got them big ol tooka eyes and itty bitty hands! Likes to fly, explore, and fight! She's BASICALLY born for this!

Tell me they would collectively look at this tiny feral child, with her poofy lil hair and chubby cheeks, fangy lil grin and biting tendcy, and go "is BABY!" Come on, tell me. I'll call you a liar.

And you KNOW the Force and Ectoplasm are probably messy EXs. Dani could TOTALLY use they "why should you allow me in? .....because they're not the boss of you" argument to GREAT effect.

Here, Skywalker. Kenobi. Watch this mysterious child... foooooor.... uh, Reasons! Yes. I, the Force, definitely have valid reasons for doing this! I am NOT just being a petty bitch! #SoundsLegit

But? Gasp! The child is a Cadet?! A BABY Clone! Of WHO? A legendary warrior king, from what context they can gather. Made by his enemy. Sent to kill him. Forgiven then adopted. Ooooh, lots of life lessons there. Clone rights and forgiveness and such.

But more IMPORTANTLY, to the GAR?

BABY CLONE! Is BABY!!!

We are ALL Buir now! All of us. Biggest family in the galaxy. Dani is cool with it, congrats New Fenton's! On the Be-Fenton-ing! Tremble in FEAR, scrubs! It's OUR HOUSE NOW!! Mwahahahaha! *cackles from her perch on top of a table*

But... wait... what is that glowing stuff that you're getting low on?

Oh? This? New beloved Highly Unhinged Jedi Friends and Clone Dads? Oh it's just my LIFE SAVING MEDICINE that I NEED TO LIVE that I never told you about! :D

*horrified silence*

*PANIC*

It's okay. It's OKAY! Everybody STOP SCREAMING! W-well just reverse engineer... *machine makes the equivalent of a Dunno noise* FUCK! Okay! New plan! Dani, sweetie, lil warrior, what do you remember about your medicine? What does it DO, exactly?

Unstable clone.

Okay! Okay, that's a start! THEY are stable clones. Right? Right!

.........r-right? Are... are they SURE? Cause, I mean, it's ONE thing when it's just THEIR health on the line... but when it's their YOUNGLING? Their lil tooka Dani? Their ade? Are they SURE? How sure. Bet HER life on it sure?

....no. No they are not. They don't trust the long necks NEARLY that much. Time do do a DEEP deep scan. Best they can find. They got to make SURE. Boba might be the only STABLE clone... assuming the sleemo even told the truth about that.

And? They LEARN some stuff.

Like about the chip in their head's. Supposedly an "inhibitor chip". Sends Skywalker into a karking rage, cause that looks a whole lot like a slave chip to HIM. Dani says they can CHECK. Then doesn't wait for an answer as she sticks her HAND into someone's head to just... pluck it out. Hand it over to be sliced.

Dani, sweetie, c-can you do that for the rest of us? Sure!

But! The race is ON. To either figure out how to contact the original, stabilize Dani, or synthesize Ectoplasm in a universe that DOES NOT HAVE IT. All while unknowingly? Absolutely Fenton CURB STOMPING Ancient Sith Plans into oblivion.

As is the Fenton Way.

This IS The Way~☆

@hdgnj @babbling-babull @the-witchhunter @hypewinter @mutable-manifestation @legitimatesatanspawn @lolottes @spidori

[gffa]

I don't usually watch pretty much any Star Wars YouTube video essays because I like myself far too much to put myself through that kind of torture, but I watched one from a YouTuber I regularly watch and suddenly my recommendations were full of videos about Why The Acolyte Was The Worst Star Wars Show Ever and, given my complicated feelings on the show, I couldn't resist my curiosity, so I watched a handful. It's been an interesting experience. I agree with some criticisms that were pretty universal (the characters did things because the plot demanded it, not because they felt like organic decisions) and disagreed with others (Mae's decision to prioritize Osha over the Sith made perfect sense to me), but it was a glimpse into an area of fandom I don't usually go into and the kind of arguments formulated and how they present their views. The feeling I was left with is that there's a lot of really salient points being made, but also that I really felt like a lot of people got swept up in how much they hated the show that they refused to admit that some stuff was actually fine, even beyond that the lightsaber fights were loved by the vast majority. It's just a constant search for more things to be mad about or say were dogshit when there's already plenty to work with. I didn't really feel the need to defend the show or jump on the hater bandwagon and I think that's the two biggest lessons for me: 1. Ultimately, there were things I liked and things I didn't like, but after a week out from the finale, I can't really muster up the energy to get into the cage match myself. 2. Star Wars YouTube essays make me feel nothing, I was so bored, where's the pizzazz, where's the passion for loving something even when you're mad about a disappointing show, where's the spark?

[breeyn]

An essay rebutting the “bad writing” claims of s2 ofmd. Spoilers herein.

I’ll preface this with saying you’re obviously allowed to like and dislike whatever you want. I am in no way opposing that. And your reasons are your reasons. Have at. (Also - this is a collection of observations from the past few days, I’m not calling anyone out)

I AM going to rebut the idea that season two was poorly written and lost the spirit of what the show is about.

My favourite movie of all time is Empire Strikes Back. It’s been my favourite movie since I was four. I’m pretty sure it’s a fave of David Jenkins, too. He and Taika have made absolutely no attempt to hide their love of all things 80’s - Prince, the Princess Bride, Kate Bush, Star Wars, etc.

I have ancient video tapes (that I can’t play because who has a vcr) where Lucas is interviewed by Leonard Maltin? Malkin? I dunno. Who cares. Maltin asks him about the Star Wars (original trilogy) story arc. Lucas says “in act I, you introduce all the characters. In act II, you put them in a situation they can’t get out of, and in act III, they get out of it.”

That’s how it works. This is how stories and literary structures work.

Of course you’re not satisfied with season two. You’re not supposed to be.

The arguments I have read on why s2 loses the spirit of s1 is because no one heals. No one learns anything. No one moves forward properly. The person who makes the biggest move towards healing dies. The two main characters end the show doing the exact fucking thing they had promised themselves and each other they wouldn’t do. Our romantic lead still doesn’t understand his value or make any headway on addressing his tragic flaw. It makes no goddamn sense.

My gremlins in weird: it’s not supposed to. In Act 2, EVERYONE LOSES. This is how it goes.

I’ve read a lot of people saying “but this felt like a series finale, not a season finale.” We all know that outside politics play a part here, the strikes make everything precarious. I remember the last writers strike. It destroyed tv for fifteen years. Anyone remember Pushing Daisies? Some of y’all have never had your fave show cancelled with zero resolution for the characters and it shows.

Daddy J did us a kindness. He softened the blow of a tough season. After the brutal cliffhanger of s1, he gave us a little softness and hope. All those things you’re mad aren’t resolved? It’s because THE STORY ISN’T OVER.

No one on earth thinks “stuff all your trauma into a box and ignore it” is good advice. A way to actually live. This show did not have enough screen time to throw out dialogue for no reason. There was foreshadowing in s1 for s2, and there is foreshadowing for s3 in s2. This is a well-crafted story by very smart people who care very much for these characters. There is zero chance Frenchie explained the box in his head for no reason. The reason people have not resolved their trauma and growth is because they haven’t done it *yet*.

And friends - it’s not thinly veiled. They straight up fucking tell us what they’re doing.

Luke Skywalker spends the first two movies fucking up and desperately trying to prove himself and just generally being an idiot. Sound familiar? He ignores the lessons he is supposed to be learning to go off and do what he feels like doing, and loses fucking badly. At the end of Empire, Han is gone, Luke and Leia wave goodbye to the Falcon that has Lando and Chewy - the rest of their crew - aboard. Everyone has lost everything they care about. Vader is undefeated. Yoda is pissed. Nothing is resolved.

You see where I’m going?

If you think I’m stretching this too far, welp, when Ed tells Stede he loves him - the climax of the finale - Stede quotes Han fucking Solo. Like - *it’s right there*. The story structure. The reason everything is unresolved.

So yeah. They wave goodbye to their ship because they have wounds to heal (like Luke’s hand). The people aboard the ship have things to find. Ed and Stede have *not* learned their lesson about whims and how not to be like Anne and Mary. It’s not stupid that they’re doing the same thing, and it’s not pointless that we were shown Anne and Mary. It’s all relevant.

The resolution comes in Act 3. None of these people are done. The story is far, far from over. And just in case the studios want to be dicks about it, David Jenkins was lovely enough to not repeat my enduring heartbreak over Pushing Daisies.

Thank you, @davidjenks 🖤

[heartpascal]

omg plsss do more platonic father-figure joel fics comforting the reader please i begggg they are so good

carved over the door

▹— joel miller x platonic!reader

▹— summary: you’ve been hiding something from joel, and he finally found out. his reaction is… not what you expected.

▹— a/n: ok this isn’t even like. close to being a favourite but i think the idea is cute, execution just isn’t great!! to be clear, things like this are NOTHING to be ashamed of, but this is gonna touch on how it can make the person feel!! (EDIT as of july, i have no idea how this fic is looking so please go easy, i haven’t proofread it, only tagged a bit of writing on the end to finish it up, so it’s not great)

▹— warnings: father figure joel, reader is illiterate, r is embarrassed about it, therefore says some bad things, is ashamed almost, so please be wary, cute lessons ensue, swearing, lazy writing at the end, use of ‘sweetie’

▹— taglist: @rhymingtree @sleepygraves @wnstice (everything), @auggiesolovey @just-kaylaa @evyiione @lemonlaides @fariylixie0915 @erensloveinterest @dazedshoon @faceache111 @randomhoex @canpillowscry @pedropascalsrealgf @star-wars-lover @coolchick333 @soobsdior @ilybbg @rvjaa @oliest19xx @pedropepsi @sunflowersdrop @truthfuleeyours (pedro)

masterlist

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Being born into the end of the world probably should have killed you off early. Most kids your age were either dying or dead, or being trained to become child soldiers. It was rare for kids born in the pandemic to live, you had been told. Risks of death were everywhere, from Infected, to FEDRA, all the way to all those diseases you hadnt been vaccinated against.

Survival odds were bleak, to say the least, but you were one of the lucky ones.

Life had put you in the path of the only two good people you knew — Joel and Tess. It was them who had saved you from FEDRA’s clutches, though you had never understood why. They had consistently told you that they only looked out for themselves, so was the way of life in the apocalypse, but each time you needed them, there they were.

There was that time you had an infection, and despite the weather being awful and security tight, Joel and Tess had gone out on a supply run, getting a hold of the antibiotics that had saved your life.

You tried to be useful, hopeful that if you helped them enough, as much as they helped you, that they wouldn’t kick you out any time soon.

It’s why you always took it upon yourself to clean their bloodied clothes, to sew up the tears that would have ruined them, to wash the dishes you all ate your rations off of. It’s why you always made sure to use the coldest water, refusing to take any that may be the slightest bit warm from them. Little things like that would surely keep you at least somewhat helpful.

It’s also why you kept your biggest secret quiet.

You had done your best to prevent them from ever finding out, and had they not decided that you could join them in visiting Bill and Frank, you were sure they never would’ve.

They’d known the two men for a while before you had arrived, and this would be your first time meeting them. Joel usually insisted upon you staying at the QZ, too worried over the journey and the risks it posed for you to attend any of their supply runs, but they seemed… content to let you join.

The three of you would be heading straight to Bill and Frank’s, and then straight back. No pit stops, no detours, just one confirmed route.

Your nerves had been playing up the whole time, causing you to jump at any sound, your hands shaking at the sight of Infected, hell — you had listened to every word that Joel and Tess said, though they didn’t blame you. It was your first time outside of the QZ, and they understood how frightening this could be.

You couldn’t decide if arriving at Bill and Frank’s made your anxiety better or worse.

It kept you quiet the whole time you were there, even as Bill tested the three of you, nodding when the screen flashed green. You stuck by Joel’s side as the four of you set up the table, Bill inside the house cooking dinner.

The four of you finally sat down, with Frank and Tess starting up conversation quickly, before Frank stopped, turning to you and saying, “Oh, would you mind going and grabbing a bottle of Barbera, sweetie?”

He was nice, and you didn’t want to get Joel and Tess in trouble with them by bringing you if you didn’t help them out, so you nodded with a nervous glance at Joel. “Sure, in there?” You pointed towards the house, and Frank nodded with a smile, turning back to his conversation with Tess.

You stepped away from the table, glancing back and seeing Joel looking at you with a quirked eyebrow, frown marring his features. You smiled tightly toward him before opening the front door, stepping inside and following the smell of cooking until you found Bill. “Um, Frank said to grab the bottle of… Bar—Barbera?”

Bill grunted, a grumpy expression covering his face, and nodded his head toward another door. You went through it quickly, down some steps, and you just about stopped yourself from crying when you saw the number of bottles around the room.

By the three minute mark, the stairs creaked, and Joel appeared at the bottom, looking increasingly concerned as he saw your distressed expression. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s—it’s fine.” You replied, your voice shaking slightly, and you looked away from him, continuing to scan all the bottles on the shelves in front of you. The labels meant nothing to you, and you couldn’t help but get more upset by Joel’s presence.

He placed a hand on your shoulder as he approached, and didn’t say a word as he grabbed a bottle up towards your left. He led you out of the room, handing you the bottle and guiding you to where the other three were now settled at the table, food set out in front of them.

“Thank you, sweetie.” Frank said kindly as you set the bottle down at the table, quickly pulling your hands back before anybody could see the shake to your fingers.

You sat through the rest of the dinner quietly, barely able to enjoy the actual nice, home-cooked food through your racing thoughts. You answered Frank when he spoke to you, still knowing that you needed to be polite, but you were starting to feel sick.

When the three of you finally made it home, Joel and Tess had shared a number of concerned glances, eyebrows drawn close together as they murmured between one another, still talking quietly even when you dropped down on the sofa, a sigh leaving your chest.

It stayed that way for the next few weeks, and there was an awkward energy growing in the apartment the three of you shared. With your uncharacteristic quietness, and the way Joel and Tess would converse quietly, as if you hadn’t noticed, something was up.

That much became increasingly obvious when Joel sat you down on the couch you slept on, the crease between his brows as deep as ever.

He said your name nervously, and cleared his throat before he continued, “When we were at Bill and Frank’s, I, uh— I noticed somethin’.”

“Noticed what?” You responded when he didn’t continue, your anxiety leaking into your voice in the way it shook as you spoke, and you knew exactly what was coming. He’d realised your secret — he and Tess must’ve been deciding what to do during all of those talks.

“Fuck,” He muttered, clearly unsure how to go about this conversation, “Don’t… take this the wrong way, but, can you read?”

Your heart dropped to your stomach, and you swallowed nervously. “‘Course I can read, Joel.” You replied, snapping at the man, who just frowned more at your response.

He nodded, and reached into the backpack by his feet, pulling out a relatively thin book. He looked almost remorseful, pulling this out when he knew you were lying, and you hated the way that shame pulled at your stomach, making you feel sick as you looked at the letters you couldn’t make any sense of.

“Y’know, there’s nothin’ wrong with not knowing.” Joel said, voice softening as he looked at your panicked expression.

“Except that you don’t want me around anymore, right? It’s fine, but it’s not good enough. Don’t want some dumbass kid who can’t even read hanging around, is that it?” You snapped, anger firing up in your chest as you stood from the couch, fists clenched at your side as you averted your eyes from the book in his hand.

Your cheeks were burning, embarrassment flooding your expression, and your eyes were beginning to fill with tears.

“What? No, kid, sit back down.” He said, pushing you back to your seat by your shoulders. “Don’t go ‘round making assumptions like that. I’m offering to teach you.”

“Oh.”

He snickered at your response, though he looked almost embarrassed to be making the offer, like he was unsure what your response would be.

“So… you’re not kicking me out?”

“‘Course not. Getting ahead of yourself, there.”

“You really wouldn’t mind… teaching me?” You asked, heart still hammering in your chest as you stared at the man, his face softening at your nervous questions.

In response, he moved to sit right beside you on the couch, and opened the book in his hands. “It’s been a while for me, kid, so go easy.”

You smiled at him, wiping your tears before settling close to his side, head gently resting against his arm to get the best angle of his book. He pointed an index finger at the words as he read aloud, pointing new letters out each time they came up. Some familiar words came up, spelled phonetically, and made sense once you’d learnt the full alphabet on paper, but others made much less sense. Like fight — where did the gh come from?

By the time the two of you had made it through the first chapter, you could recognise letters on paper, know the sounds that the letters made, and even read majority of the simpler words, the ones that came up often.

Tess came home a bit later on, after you had fallen asleep against Joel’s shoulder. She raised her eyebrows, a hint of something like a smile on her face as she looked at the two of you, and asked, “Good first lesson?”

Joel wiped a hand down his face, his muscles tense in his efforts to keep still in order to not wake you, and stay awake himself. “Made some good progress.” He acknowledged, his voice barely louder than a whisper as he looked down to where you were slipping from his shoulder. Tess nodded at him, before heading down the hall to get on with unpacking her backpack.

From then on, these sorts of evenings happened a few times a week, almost always ending with you falling asleep against Joel. Your reading ability improved, and when the two of you finished the short book, you started rereading it immediately, now able to follow along more clearly as the stuttered words flowed more easily, and soon enough, Joel was promising to grab a new book from Bill and Frank’s.

The new words were tricky, when starting the new book, but each time you got stuck, Joel was there to help, and eventually, you got used to reading without his help. Sounding out words you were stuck on yourself, just waiting for his confirming mmhm to be muttered before you would continue on.

When finally, you finished an entire chapter without a murmur from Joel, you pulled away from his side excitedly, looking towards his face and seeing his expression being nothing short of filled with pride. He pulled you back to his side, one arm wrapped around you this time, and squeezed your shoulders before urging you to continue.

Feeling your eyes start to slip, words going blurred on the page, you asked, “Could you keep going?” Without questioning you, he continued from where you left off, reading the words out loud and keeping his arm wrapped firmly around your shoulder.

It was strange, hearing that softness to Joel’s voice, when before these lessons, you’d only ever heard the gruff voice he usually had. It made sense, you supposed, given that he remained rough around the edges for everybody who wasn’t you and Tess, but it made you feel… almost comfortable. It was like a safety net was wrapped around you, like nothing could happen to you if you stayed at his side.

You yawned, eyes still trying to focus on the book that Joel continued to read, his finger subconsciously moving along the page whilst he spoke the words.

It wasn’t long before you fell asleep against him, his voice fading to a whisper when he realised. It became something of a tradition between the two of you, these lessons where Joel taught you, and then eventually read to you until you fell asleep. He didn’t mention how much it reminded him of before, of her. And you didn’t mention how much more comfortable you had gotten since the lessons had started.

No longer were you on the edge of your seat, waiting for them to give you the boot. Now, you finally felt… accepted. In a way you never had been before Joel, before being taught something that wasn’t just for survival.

Strangely, it was almost like you could live, rather than survive. You didn’t voice it aloud, but you suspected Joel felt similarly, if his change in behaviour said anything.

[david-talks-sw]

I was watching the Clone Wars featurette about the Holocron arc and Dave talks about the scene where Bane threatens to kill Ahsoka. He says "we're seeing a dark side of Anakin, and in a very clear illustration of why Jedi should not have attachments, we see that attachment get exploited." So clearly at what point in time he understood the whole attachment thing. What happened?

Unlike Karen Traviss, I think Dave Filoni actually understands what "attachment" means, in Star Wars. Apparently, it's the Star Wars theme that he and George spoke the most about.

"The biggest area of the Force and the Jedi [that] George and I have gotten into discussing the whole deal with attachments. And, arguably, that's what Anakin whole life is hinged on, is this - like you've mentioned - he has a lot of attachments to Artoo and how how right or wrong is that? Is it that the Jedi have made themselves dispassionate, that they are actually deceived by the Sith and they fall apart?" - Dave Filoni, Rebel Force Radio, 2012

What I've noticed is that, while understanding the meaning of attachment... Filoni doesn't seem to agree that the Jedi embody the concept of compassion.

He has acknowledged sometimes that "attachment is bad" is the theme of Anakin's story (but question if it's really so bad, unlike Lucas who says it's understandable but bad) but disagrees that the Prequel Jedi represent the obvious counter-theme, "compassion is good."

If you read what Filoni says, he argues that:

The Jedi have lost their way, taken the "rid yourself of attachment" rule and pushed it to an extreme where they've rid themselves of any empathy and thus compassion. They've focused so much on being selfless that they've forgotten how to love.

All except for Qui-Gon, who is the only one that truly knows how to love without getting attached, to love selflessly.

And personally, that strikes me as a coping headcanon, a way of reconciling the theme and feeling the Jedi like Mace, Ki-Adi, even Yoda and Obi-Wan are stoic, unlikable and too different from Luke.

Sure, they're not perfect, but nowhere in the films is the Jedi's stance on love framed as "bad" by the narrative. The narrative agrees with their philosophy, and George echoes it.

In fact, among 772 collected George Lucas quotes, I've never seen him state that theme while adding the asterisk that "of course, the Jedi of the Prequels have forgotten how to be compassionate, except for Qui-Gon who was the true Jedi."

And of course he doesn't do that. Because doesn't that muddy the waters so much?

Supposing Qui-Gon truly is the only character that embodies the concept of "compassion"... doesn't killing him off in the first film confuse a targeted audience of children?

Bearing in mind that the Prequels are about how greed makes people and institutions become the very thing they swear to destroy, and Star Wars as a whole is about being selfless instead of selfish:

In one corner, we have Anakin and the Senate showing what you're not supposed to do.

In the other, you got Padmé, Shmi and the Jedi, showing you what you should do instead.

Simple. I can see a kid getting this (and I did). But according to Filoni, that second point is incorrect. Instead, it's:

In the other, we have... Qui-Gon, who is one of the first film's four protagonists that dies at the end, without openly stating anything about the trilogy's theme. Theoretically, there's the Jedi who state and address the theme, but they don't themselves embody it so they don't count. So really... in this corner we have nobody (?)

That seems overly complex, a whole lotta hoops to jump through. Doesn't make sense. But hey, good luck learning the lesson, kids.

So yeah, Dave Filoni gets what attachment means. He just doesn't think it's as bad as Lucas' films frame it as, and disagrees on the Jedi narratively embodying the concept of compassion.

And I think it's coping. It's connecting non-existent dots, Always Sunny-style, to justify not liking characters that weren't meant to be developed much, due to their calm, collected nature and secondary/tertiary role in the story.

Coping and coming up with headcanons are what any irritated Star Wars fan does when they're confronted with something they're unable to make sense of.

“I care because I passionately believe that important stories ought to make sense.” As well you should—and when a story does not, you apply that passion to finding a way to make it make sense. [...] When a rational and inquisitive mind is confronted by the engaging yet irrational, it often responds in this manner. This process is not usually appreciated by those undergoing it; the most common reaction is a deep irritation. But isn’t that always how pearls are formed?” - Don DeBrandt, Star Wars on Trial, 2006

Unless they choose to make documentaries and click-baity YouTube video where they decide to spew hate and get angry pointlessly. Which I'd argue is still worse.

[writerbuddha]

As a Buddhist I wanted to know what your opinion is on people criticising George Lucas for ‘stealing from philosophies he didn't understand or respectfully engage with’.

Uh-oh. This is a very complex issue. I might stir up the hornet's nest.

To be entirely honest, throughout the years, I've met these four types of the people who would claim, George Lucas is "stealing from philosophies he didn't understand or respectfully engage with."

There are many people who have no accurate recollection and/or understanding of what they saw in the movies and the tv show. For example, they would insist, mindfulness of emotions in the movies is presented as repression of emotions, or that non-attachment is presented as not having families, which are obviously not in line with Buddhist and other Eastern teachings, so they conclude, George Lucas is "stealing from philosophies he didn't understand or respectfully engage with." These people are, in my experience, genuinely well-meaning, they simply misunderstood some of the core messages and lessons. A good example is that some people would accuse George Lucas with twisting the Taoist "Yin" to mean evil, because the "dark side is an essence of evilness", which is not what the movies, the tv show and Lucas are saying at all.

There are some people who simply don't like and feel threatened by Buddhist and other Eastern teachings George Lucas depicted in Star Wars - mostly non-attachment and mindfulness of emotions - but they identify as progressive, and for them, that is irreconcilable with not liking, feeling threatened by and therefore attacking those Buddhist and other Eastern teachings. So, they entertain the idea that if George Lucas would "understand and respectfully engage with" those teachings, they would not have any issue with them at all, because they imagine, they would affirm their beliefs and attitudes instead of challenging them. This is a quite problematic attitude: in fact, these are the people who don't understand or respectfully engage with these philosophies.

There's an extremely marginal but very loud group who actually recognized, they misunderstood the core messages and lessons George Lucas was telling, so their takes on Star Wars are simply inaccurate - but, for various reasons (including, but not limited to using Star Wars as a means to cope with traumas, mental health issues etc.) they won't accept this, so claiming, George Lucas is "stealing from philosophies he didn't understand or respectfully engage with" is their way of sticking their heads into the sand. I.e., "the Jedi are not teaching Buddhist non-attachment, George Lucas is just appropriating Buddhist philosophy" etc.

And finally, there are those who don't like the fact that George Lucas depicted Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies in his movies and would try to use this statement, George Lucas is "stealing from philosophies he didn't understand or respectfully engage with" to present their outrage over the fact that George Lucas dared to introduce these non-Western philosophies to Western audiences and that it became extremely popular, as a progressive and woke position to take. The biggest problem with this group is that it's somehow convinced that erasing Buddhist and other Eastern teachings from Star Wars is a Good Thing.

Honestly, this fourth group is the one I'm the most concerned about. Here are people who would also signal ethnic nationalist ideas and prejudices i.e., basically claiming, Buddhism is copyrighted and non-Eastern people have no right to practice or teach it, which is, to be frank, an attack on Buddhism itself. Or those who actually have no understanding of or interest in these philosophies, but are desperate to find someone to "expose" for wrongdoing - these are those who didn't care until it was cool to care, and feel that it's George Lucas' fault that they didn't care before, even though he was always very clear on the fact that he depicted these philosophies in his movies and that he was inspired by Eastern cultures.

And here, I would point out that in my personal experience, those people who, for example, would say that George Lucas should have made Yoda (his Jedi Master who is "like a little Dalai Lama" and "Buddha-like" as he said) an elderly Asian man, are by and large would not say, George Lucas is "stealing from philosophies he didn't understand or respectfully engage with," but would make more nuanced statements and they would make them in good faith, without running around asserting things like George Lucas can't be a sincere Buddhist practitioner because he can't etc. and - again, in my personal experience - they would be able to recognize and would be more than happy to see these philosophies depicted in Star Wars. In other words, they're more about the how, not the what.

[alexxncl]

‼️NIGHTBRINGER LESSON 34 SPOILERS‼️

masterlist | all lessons | season 2 | lesson 33 | lesson 35

i might be getting ahead of myself here, but are we lilith ?? like is that what's happening rn ??? he's not saying mc's name, and raphael doesn't day their name in the next scene...if so then that's actually really fucking sad 💀

it makes sense though, belphie not wanting mc to go into his head bc he's still clinging to the past and doesn't want to lose them forever like he lost his little sister forever, especially since human life is so finite compared to that of a demon or an angel or a reaper

also it's obvious by his choice of words that despite him looking older, belphie is very, very young in his mindscape, just like mammon was. i feel like this also shows how close mams and belphie are even if it's not shown much on screen in the game, or at least how much belphie takes after mammon's, if not all of his older brothers traits, for better or worse

well nvm...i still think my theory is valid though. belphie wants to go back to his old life and end up not losing lilith, but still have mc with him

i wonder how similar mammon and belphie's bond in the celestial realm is to their bond in the devildom. is belphie still as reluctant to ask for help and advice openly? is the banter still the same? are there less insults? how does the age gap here cause them to treat each other differently if at all? or the lack of angelic status?

oh i'm gonna cry

big brother mammon will always have my heart and i need more of him

we know belphie's love of stars and constellations and the night sky in general started when he was in the celestial realm, and seeing it manifest in mammon in his mindscape makes my heart happy, even if mammon isn't the reason he became interested in astronomy (was it michael? lucifer? idk i don't remember)

i also think it's very interesting how belphie's brain is actively working against him "wanting to hide from mc". he literally said "i don't want you to see the inside of my mind" and is hiding away from them. i think, in reality and in his mindscape, he's running from the fact that he has to face his feelings about the idea of mc leaving to go to the "human realm" and the possibility of losing them forever like he lost lilith

this was (obviously) not beel speaking, but his inner thoughts in the shape and voice of beel. circling back to belphie having the best and worst traits of his brothers, his insecurity and need for reassurance rivals levi's, and we don't get to see it as blatantly because he masks it way better than levi does

ok so we're here in the timeline...interesting. how much time passed between luci and dia's first meeting and the celestial war? how much time had passed between the celestial war and mc's initial arrival to the devildom? how much had belphie aged?

angels and demons age different than humans do, and belphie doesn't feel any older than like...10 or 11 at the most, but beel seems older than that. maybe its his mind warping things to make himself seem and feel younger, but maybe he really was that young. was lilith even born at this point? how old was belphie during the time of the war ?????

also i'm mad we didn't get to see michael bc i wanna know what he looks like but oh well 🧍🏾

oh baby :((((

i'm not the biggest belphie fan AT ALL, at least canon belphie, but i think it's necessary to acknowledge how his trauma severely affects the way he acts. he went from blaming himself, to blaming an entire race of people for his sister's death. he feels like he should've been the one to die, even if it meant leaving his twin without him

now, if he got a proper redemption arc after lesson 16, THEN we could talk. i think the devs fumbled his character in that regard, but my hcs about his redemption will have to suffice for now

he didn't want mc to see this dark part of himself because he hates that he still has this mindset, that he's trapped in a cycle of "what ifs" and wishing it were him instead of her, constantly ruminating and letting his anger and grief fester without ever dealing with it properly and letting himself heal. he not only thinks he doesn't deserve to heal, but that he doesn't deserve to live long enough to see himself heal, that he doesnt deserve to live at all

WHY ARE YOU BEING DIFFICULT????

i mean i knew this would happen since its only lesson 34 and there's still 6 more to go...but damn

i love and hate the fact that he's so smart. like, they could easily just ask barbatos to send them back to the human realm if it was that serious. he's clearly taken a liking to them. lucifer knows something's up, and he won't forge a pact with them until he gets to the bottom of whatever's going on

initially, i thought it was a spell to bring them back since he'd been the one facilitating the trips into the brothers' mindscapes this whole time, but this is wayyy more interesting

i feel like the barbatoses communicate across timelines, or that their lives intermingle with each others' somehow, so whatever they feel for one person in a specific timeline is felt for ever version of them in every timeline. we know barbatos, at the very least, knows that kayden is an important person in the grand scheme of things, whether it be because of the way diavolo feels about them or because they play a large part in the obey me version of a canon event

if it's more than base level importance, we can assume that there's a level of trust and love that barbatos feels for mc that stretches across time (callback to the login screen's dialogue)

maybe he gave us the piece of the grimoire for a reason outside of belphie's mindscape escapades. what if this is how we gain lucifer's trust? if a demon as powerful as barbatos can give mc a piece of his grimoire, then he should be able to make a pact with them, seeing as they're trustworthy enough to be in cahoots with THE time demon

anyways barbatos is nightbringer and you can't tell me otherwise. unless you think it's michael. then i might hear you out...i'm stuck between thinking either of them is the titular character simply because of the simultaneous lack and abundabce of emphasis on michael's importance

[sitp-recs]

hi, can you by any chance recommend any drarry fics where they're both professors?

Absolutely, anon! I hope you enjoy:

Professor Potter and his Magical Menagerie by @dracogotgame (T, 7.5k)

Harry Potter descends on Hogwarts with a horde of magical beasts. Professor Malfoy is not amused.

More Than That by joosetta (E, 11k)

This is a story about two 52 year old men who refuse to age gracefully.

Homecoming by November Snowflake (E, 27k)

Harry thinks spending two weeks as a guest lecturer at Hogwarts will offer the perfect chance to get away from his troubles. Then he meets his assigned faculty guide: Potions Master Draco Malfoy.

Phoenix in the Fire by @lqtraintracks (E, 28k)

Harry never expected to have a hot summer fling with Draco Malfoy when he agreed to mind the castle with him. He also never expected that it would all have to end on August thirty-first. What happens when casual sex with Harry’s ex-enemy turns not casual after all? And how the hell is he going to stop Draco from making one of the biggest mistakes of his life?

Boom Clap (The Sound of My Heart) by Femme and noeon (E, 39k)

Post-war Hogwarts has been energized by its new teaching fellows program. Where once bitter enmity divided the wizarding community, Malfoy and Potter chummily patrol hallways together whilst Granger and Zabini seek lost parts of the castle at McGonagall’s behest and Chang supervises Quidditch when not lecturing in Charms.

Of Roses and Dragonfire by xErised (E, 53k)

Years after That Kiss, Potter (and his new pet snake) appears again, this time as Hogwarts's Quidditch and Muggle Games instructor (what are Muggle Games anyway? Is this why Potter is swimming in the Great Lake wearing such a tiny pair of pants?), disrupting Draco's peaceful life as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

A Lick and a Promise by @tackytigerfic (E, 55k)

Something sinister stirs in Hogwarts! When magical creatures and students at the school are hit with a debilitating blood curse, Minerva McGonagall approaches the Ministry for help. Star Auror Harry Potter seems to be the obvious choice to go undercover—as DADA Professor, naturally. He’s going to need the help of the Ministry’s foremost expert in blood magic to get to the bottom of the mystery, though, and he’s not entirely convinced that going back to Hogwarts with Draco Malfoy is a good idea.

Finely Drawn Lines by @the-sinking-ship (E, 61k)

Draco doesn’t consider himself an artist (though the dozens of sketchbooks lining his shelves might suggest differently). Yet ever since Potter returned to Hogwarts, accepting a teaching position alongside Draco, his drawings have taken on a rather singular focus.

Transfigurations by Resonant (E, 71k)

Five years after Voldemort's defeat, Harry returns to England to help re-open Hogwarts.

Lessons in Humility by playout (E, 86k)

After the dissolution of his marriage and a good bit of soul-searching, Harry returns to Hogwarts as the new Defense teacher. Go figure, it happens to be the same year Draco takes over the role of Potions Master. Neither man is happy about this turn of events. Will they be able to set aside their differences and learn a thing or two about trust and humility on the way?

All Life is Yours to Miss by Saras_Girl (M, 114k)

Professor Malfoy's world is contained, controlled, and as solitary as he can make it, but when an act of petty revenge goes horribly awry, he and his trusty six-legged friend are thrown into Hogwarts life at the deep end and must learn to live, love and let go.

A Secondary Education by Thunderbird587 (E, 234k)

Fleeing the aftermath of his recent divorce, Draco Malfoy takes up a post as the new Potions Master at Hogwarts. At first he believes his hopes for a fresh start are dashed when he sees that a certain boyhood rival is on staff there as well. But Harry Potter is being weirdly nice to him, leaving Draco no choice but to play along.

[writersblog20]

I got you, baby girl

Pedro Pascal x reader

Summary: After a traumatic event, Pedro came in to make sure you felt safe again. You’re his baby girl after all.

Warnings: rage from the reader, hints to a bad household but no clear mention. A horrible father and stepmother, intimidation, (life) threats, mention of no safety, mention of the system failing the reader, ptsd, trauma, dissociating, edibles, dad jokes with Pedro, Reader calls Pedro old man (no offense, it’s part of an ongoing joke war in the story), Pedro being some sort of father figure vibes, wholesome relationship with Pedro, age-gap.

Words: 3,9K

A/N: So eh…. Something traumatic happened yesterday and this is what it’s based on the only thing different is that Pedro is in this. But yeah, I just really want and need him to comfort me because I’m seriously going through hell right now and yes I’m using the line from joel from the last episode from TLOU

 I got you, baby girl

You went to school and had a pretty good day. You felt alright and had a little bit more energy. You texted Pedro, like you guys always do. He was your co-star and you could say you had a pretty wholesome relationship. Kind of like Bella and Pedro have. You were great friends with Bella as well when Pedro introduced the two of you. Anyway, Pedro lived near you so the two of you spent time with each other as much as you could. He really was your comfort space and you loved him so much.

You walked into your classroom and it was going to be a long day but that was fine. You had an assignment and that would be: make a after movie from the event which would take up the whole day and evening but like I said, you were ready and gladly took the job.

The day went by fast and you went outside after the lessons to get some fresh air but that was when you saw her. The wife of your father. The one who did horrible things to you as a child. She did that besides your father. She was just as guilty. You immediately got on edge and went to fight or flight mode and yours was fight. And boy, did you want to fight her. The rage you felt was out of this world and you would happily sent her ten feet underground. It wasn’t that she would ignore you… Oh no… she was way worse, just like your dad and test you. She would always smirk at you and watch you. That made it always ten times worse because you wanted to bash her head in. First do all this shit to you as a child, getting away with it because the system failed you and then would always smirk at you when she would see you. It was like the biggest slap in the face because it told you everything you needed to know. “Yeah I did that and yes I got away with it. what are you going to do about it?” kind off smirk.

You walked back inside, completely in shock and that was when you realized that the event you needed to film, was why she was here. “Fuck….” You thought in utter shock as your body started to tremble, your eyes getting watery and your breathing became rapid. You texted Pedro about the situation and he knew a couple of things about your father. Just some snipped, important snippets nonetheless.

You texted Pedro but you knew he was in a meeting and probably wouldn’t respond right now. One of your teammates who walked outside with you, advised you to go to one of your teachers, preferably mentor. So you did.

You knocked on the door and walked in, sitting in front of your mentor as you spilled what was going on. You wished to never tell anyone here but you had no choice right now. You told the most important things but still wanted to do the assignment. You told her that you were scared that she might contact your father and that he would wait outside for you. He was a dangerous man and unpredictable. You never expected this to happen. You closed this chapter a long time ago and thought you might never see them again because you haven’t seen them for at least 2 years so you thought they moved or something but apparently not and now he knew what school you went to…

Your mentor gave you advise for what you could do if you felt uncomfortable or something would happen, where you could go and to who. You were deadest on doing this assignment. You wanted to because you never want them to take something else from you away, even if it would be this dumb project. It was the principle for you. There were moments where you teared up a couple of times but pushed those emotions away as much as you could, only to notice that it was getting harder with the second.

When you were done with the conversation, you and your teammates gathered the gear and started to get ready, only to be interrupted by your mentor and one of your other teachers, asking you to come with them. So you did. You felt a heaviness in the air, how could it not but you tried to stay as professional as you could because that was how you kept your emotions under control. Like you wanted to say, you know what, it’s not that big of a deal, forget about it.

But you knew. You knew this was a big deal and not something to take lightly, even though you really wanted to take this lightly so you could dissociate from it. Yeah, not a good copings mechanism. You sat down and the air got thicker and thicker with the second, almost making it unbearable to breath. Your heart was pounding in your chest.

Maybe you took it so lightly because you were already dissociating. You weren’t thinking clearly anymore and was very much led by your emotions, which is understandable. You teacher started speaking up. “Y/N, I’m really sorry to tell you this but I think it’s better for you to go home… We can’t guarantee your safety here. We know you’re strong and you want to do this assignment but there will be more to come so you don’t have to worry about that. But I think it’s the best to go home. Not only for your physical safety but also for your mental safety and to avoid conflict. I’m very sorry…”

She spoke softly but you felt your heart break in to a million pieces. You understand where they are coming from but the point is, that it’s even necessary and how fucking unfair it is. They did things to YOU and now YOU HAD to go home. Why did the system fail you? Why do you have to leave and not them. Why do you have to fight for your mental health because of things THEY did to you. Why can they live without any consequence? IT’S THEIR FUCKING FAULT AND NOW YOU HAD TO LEAVE. That was it. You felt so much injustice and it broke you down. You started crying and couldn’t stop.

They looked with sympathy at you and you hated it. You hated this conversation, you hated the people who did this and you hated this look. It was always the look. That’s why you didn’t want to tell people. You know they mean well and of course you would feel like shit even if they wouldn’t give you that look. It was just the unfairness. They took something from you, once again. Your mentor softly rubbed your knee. You even had to go through the fucking backdoor. You felt your phone buzz and look who it was. Pedro. Or in your phone: Pedge. You picked up, needed to hear him. That was the only thing you wanted right now. You needed Pedro.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on?” Extreme worry laced in his voice. You started to tear up as you looked up at your teachers. “Could you maybe pick me up?” The cracks in your voice with the tremble was undeniable. “Are you still at school?” you hummed and let out a soft sob. “I’m on my way, stay there sweetheart.” You hang up and the teachers stayed with you until you got a text from Pedro, telling you where he was parked.

Your mentor walked with you with two security guards. The fact that this was necessary was heartbreaking. Pedro immediately got out of his car when he saw you. His face plagued by worry, anxiety and wanted to comfort you, keep you safe and protected. He picked up his pace, his eyes never leaving his face and you felt yourself crumble down with each step Pedro got closer to you.

Tears slipping on your cheeks when Pedro got to you and pulled you in the biggest and tightest hug. The people from school took a step back, giving you some space. You started to sob uncontrollably and your whole body was shaking. Pedro got out of the hug and placed his large hands on your cheeks. “Hey, look at me. it’s me. It’s okay, it’s okay baby girl.I got you. I got you baby girl.” He told you when he pulled you in a hug again. “I got you, you’re safe now. I got you.” You’ve never heard his voice this soft before. He was so gentle and you were so fragile at the moment.

“Let’s get you home baby girl.” He whispered, making you nod while you hid your face in his neck, smelling his cologne which made you feel a bit safer and calmed you down. Pedro took your backpack with your laptop and gear in it from you and hang it on his shoulder. His other arm over your shoulder, pulling you close to the side of his body. He said some things to your teacher, which you didn’t hear. You were very much dissociating right now. Pedro softly led you to his car, never taking his eyes off you.

He knew you were in for a ride now. Yeah you were safe now and stuff but the after effect, was what was going to be tough. You were extremely triggered in your ptsd. Pedro helped you in the car and slightly leaned over you to put the seatbelt on while you stared in front of you with, at the moment, no emotions behind your eyes. very much like a doll right now but that is dissociation huh.

Pedro was driving to his house, yet keeping a close eye on your while you silently cried. Just tears running down at this point. When you arrived at Pedro’s house, he helped you get out of the car and led you in the house, his arm still around you.

He placed your backpack on the table when you sat down on the couch, still having trouble processing this. Pedro sat down next to you and pulled you into side. One arm behind you and the other around you, caressing your head as he softly pulled your head towards his chest. You broke down at that point, just completely and franticly crying your eyes out while Pedro softly rocking you back and fort while he shushed you and whispered comforting words in your ear.

After 45 minutes, Pedro finally managed to calm you down. Your breathing started to slow down again and the crying started to get less and less. You felt exhausted. Mentally and physically. “There you go. There you go sweetheart. You’re doing so well princesa.” He cooed you. Your eyes were puffy and completely red at this point. “Let’s get you some tea. You need to hydrate.” He told you and only let go of you when you got out of the hug. Your back and sides started to hurt because it wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world so you got out of the hug. Pedro reluctantly let go of you, awaiting your next move.

Pedro cupped your cheeks and softly, gently wiped away the last remaining tears from your cheeks while giving you a soft, loving and gentle smile. You softly smiled back but you both knew it wasn’t a real one. He softly planted a kiss on your forehead and pulled you into another hug. His hand behind your neck, softly placing your head against his chest as he let out a soft sigh as he started to relax himself now, knowing that your safe. He was extremely worried and stressed about you but now that he had you in his arms, that fear became a little less.

Pedro got out of the hug and reached out his hand for you to take. You walked hand in hand towards the kitchen where he started to make some tea. “Let’s go upstairs and get you into something comfortable and wash your face right now baby girl.” Every time he called you baby girl, you felt more and more safer and calmer.

While the tea was waiting to boil, you both walked upstairs. You’ve been here many times when you would accidently fall asleep on his couch and he would bring you upstairs to lie you down in his bed while he slept on a couch in his room. When you would wake up in the middle of the night and find him there, you woke him up to just get in the bed with you. Nothing behind it, just sleep. He didn’t want to make you uncomfortable but he could never do that.

Anyways, you’ve been here many times by now. Pedro got some of his comforting clothes out of his closet and gave you a hoodie and joggings with some warm socks. You walked in the bathroom and looked in the mirror, only to see yourself completely broken in the mirror. It looked like you’ve been through hell. Well, you kind of did since all the flashbacks from years prior came back obviously.

You got changed and washed your face before walking back. Pedro was patiently waiting for you as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking at his hands. He quicky looked up at you when you exited the bathroom. He stood up, worry still visible on his face while he awaited your reaction. You walked towards him and placed your arms around him for a hug. You felt his arms around you and gently tighten around you as he lingered his lips on the top of your head.

“How about, we get some tea, get high, watch a stupid movie and order your favorite take- out, with the dessert obviously and you stay here for tonight and take a day off tomorrow hmh? You need your rest baby.” You nodded softly, only to tear up again. “That sounds really nice, I’d like that.” You could just cry about anything at this point. “Then we’ll do that. And don’t you worry about a thing okay? That’s my job.” You softly chuckled but you knew what he meant. He meant that he would take care of whatever would come your way.

You walked downstairs and looked outside, only to see a snowstorm going on right now. Pedro lit the fireplace as you sat silently on the couch. Pedro went to the kitchen to get some tea for you and to put your plushy heating pad in the microwave. You started to stare in front of you again until Pedro came back into his Livingroom. He placed the tea on the table and gave the plushy to you with a soft smile. He got a blanket from the corner of the couch and placed it around your shoulders and sat next to you.

You always had the corner of the couch at Pedro’s house and so now and then you shared it with him. Or well, he just sat next to you in the corner and you were perfectly fine with that. So this time was for obvious reasons no different. You were waiting for him to get comfortable before you did because you wanted to cuddle. Pedro held his arm out for you and you laid against his side, your head resting just above his heart with your arm around him. “You got the edibles by the way?” you asked when you remembered but already heard Pedro chuckle above you and gave you the candy.

You both took it and he got the tv remote searching for funny videos. You guys were easy since you both had the same humor so when you would find something, you shared it with him and the other way around. You both easily sent a lot of tiktoks to each other. It was your love language and Pedro figured that out pretty quick.

You rested against Pedro again and he softly cradled your head and chuckled softly at the videos being played on his tv, making you chuckle softly as well which Pedro noticed and dramatically gasped. “Are YOU laughing at this?” Sarcasm and a playful tone lingering on his words. “Are you??” you chuckled a bit more when he poked your side before chuckling himself as you squealed.

After a while the edibles started to kick in and you finally reached your relaxing point. You were at this point rolled up in the blanket. “Let’s order some food” Pedro remarked and laughed a little when he saw you. “My little sad burrito.”  He told you with sympathy yet playfully. You giggled slightly and Pedro held his phone in front of you so you could choose what to eat. You chose on sushi and Pedro ordered a whole bunch of stuff and obviously, desserts.

The two of you were more slouched down into the couch and Pedro more to your side at this point, cuddling up together. You both almost fell asleep until the doorbell rang. Pedro jumped up. “Fuck, I forgot.” He mumbled more to himself while he struggled to get up, making you chuckle slightly.

Pedro got back inside with three full bags full of food. The smell hit your nose and your tummy started growling, making Pedro chuckle softly. You got out of your cocoon and helped him placing the food on the small table in front of the couch. When everything was set, you both sat down on the carpet on the floor. “Thank you Pedge..  for everything.” You told him and Pedro stopped eating for a sec and looked at you. “Baby girl, it’s no problem at all, you know that right? I’m here for you, you don’t have to do it alone anymore.” He told you and softly placed his hand on the back of your head and softly pulled your head towards him so he could kiss the top of your head. You smiled softly and Pedro knew that this too, was a part of your love language.

After dinner and some desserts, you were completely content. You and Pedro cleaned the table and placed the left overs in the fridge before plopping back down on the couch. At this point the edibles reached a point where you both would laugh at everything. Or at least, you both had that effect on each other and it almost started a war from who can make the other laugh the most. So that happened on set and interviews, red carpets etc.

Pedro got your plushy again and placed it in his microwave and gave it back to you when it was warm enough. You started watching some compilation of tiktok videos on his tv and both couldn’t stop laughing. Laughing even harder at the next video so at a point you both were in tears from laughing so much. You wiped away your tears and looked at Pedro who laid stretched out on the couch, his head against your shoulder as he tried to stop laughing but failing miserably and making you laugh because of him.

It was dark outside, the whole street covered by the snow, only for more to come as the storm picked up. For some reason you always felt comforted and safe when it snowed. It made you feel like you were in a tiny snow globe where nothing could hurt you so imagine how safe, comforted and protected you felt now.

All of a sudden you just felt like giving Pedro a hug so you did. You wrapped your arms around Pedro and held him tightly. Pedro was taken back by surprise and was scared for a moment that you felt bad again. It took him a moment to respond but when he did, he quickly placed his arms around you and held you tightly while his lips rested on your head. “You okay baby girl?” he asked gentle, making you nod. “Yeah… because of you. Thank you. I know I said it before but I mean it. thank you.” He knew what you meant. You loved him and this was your way of saying so. “You’re more than welcome. You’re my baby girl, don’t forget that.” His voice still soft and kissed the top of your head multiple times.

When you got out of the hug, but still kept physical contact by laying on his chest again. At this point you both laid down completely. “Not to ruin this moment, but my back is killing me.” you chuckled at the way he said it. “Yeah, yeah you laugh about that. Come knocking at my door when you get my age, then we’ll talk” He said playfully. “Want to watch a movie in bed old man?” you chuckled, playfully teasing him as a dramatic gasp left his lips. “Did you just called me an old man? I’m offended!” You got up from the couch and reached out your hand to help him off the couch. “my fault. I meant middle aged man.” You chuckled. This was always a part of your joking routine.

Pedro took your hand and groaned dramatically when he got up from the couch, making you laugh. “You go freshen up first, I’ll warm up your plushy.” He told you. You quickly kissed him on his cheek as a thanks and made your way upstairs. When you were done, and got a pajama from Pedro’s closet, knowing he won’t mind and laid down in bed, scrolling a bit through your phone. You heard Pedro walking up the stairs and into the room. He handed you your plushy and you held it against your abdomen and thanked him before he disappeared into the bathroom which didn’t take him long.

He crawled in next to you and handed you the tv remote to look for a movie. You chose out your comfort movie and cuddled up in Pedro’s arms. Pedro knew you were exhausted and would fall asleep in no time, which he wasn’t wrong about. You were desperately fighting to stay awake, nodding off and then quickly opening your eyes again. Pedro saw you fight and he softly chuckled. “It’s okay baby girl. Get some sleep, you’re safe now. I’ll be right here and won’t go anywhere.” You mumbled a bit at the cooing before closing your eyes and feeling the safety in Pedro’s arms. You were glad you had Pedro who looked out for you and would cross the world for you if he had to. There was no doubt about that and he would make sure that you won’t forget that.  

[femboyhorror]

🌲 pines family headcanons ✨ click the read more for more in-depth headcanon stuff!

this started out as a little silly edit of ford, then i decided to do one for stan as well and once that happened i knew i had to do edits for the pines twins as well. i might end up doing others like soos, wendy and pacifica but for now we have the main four pines.

🌲 dipper has glasses but prefers not to wear them. he thinks they look nerdy but wears them more often with the support of mabel and his grunkles. 🌲 bisexual disaster. 🌲 dipper will always be a transboy in my head. struggled with gaining acceptance from his parents but knows he always has a place where he can be himself in gravity falls. 🌲 CW SELF HARM IMPLIED: his dysphoria and dissociation from his body ends up worse for a while after sock opera. for a while turns to… not so great methods to remind himself that his body is his own. 🌲 became clingy after weirdmageddon, either clinging to his sister and grunkles before going back to piedmont or just staying by mabel's side often after. 🌲 probably has pierced ears but would wear very subtle earrings, to mabel's displeasure.

🌠 big decora kei vibes. so many stickers and hair pins. she also will often wear mismatched socks! 🌠 is the one to suggest she and dipper get a matching hair streak. blue was the only color dipper would agree to. 🌠 mabel gives me big pansexual vibes. starts to discover her own identity around the time dipper does, and ends up dating candy and/or grenda for a hot minute. 🌠 wholly supported dipper when he came out as a transboy and was his biggest ally growing up. 🌠 after weirdmageddon she asks ford for drawing lessons. the two bond over arts and crafts. 🌠 CW MILD ED suffers from a sort of survivor's guilt after weirdmageddon, guilt over being tricked by bill and almost staying in mabeland manifesting mostly in the form of being a people pleaser, forgetting to eat and sleep. the other pines thankfully notice this and put a stop to it.

🎣 i love long haired stan. i like to imagine after the series the guy feels comfortable enough to grow his hair out again. 🎣 stretched earlobes! 🎣 is a transman and also gnc as hell. he also is insanely good at using makeup. (dipper and ford don't really use makeup and mabel just likes to be Silly with makeup.) 🎣 (tbh i can also imagine stanley as being transfeminine as well, they're just That Gender.) 🎣 as soon as mabel saw his "glorious mane" she was practically begging him to let her braid it. he pretends to just go along with it for her sake but he secretly loves having her do his hair. 🎣 the adhd to ford's autism. he definitely suffers hard from rejection sensitive dysphoria and tends to panic if it seems like someone is upset with him. (i.e. ford confronting him over the broken machine, mabel upset with him for lying in the land before swine.)

✋ his sweater is a huge comfort for him. in general he likes heavier clothes to ground him. ✋ i like to imagine him with plenty of earrings and tattoos. earrings mainly themed around space and stars and ends up getting some tattos on his wrists to cover the burn scars from weirdmageddon. ✋ a touch of the tism. has a hard time distinguishing tone. (i.e. not being able to tell if wendy was complimenting him ironically or not.) ✋ while he doesn't mind if people see him as a man, he himself doesn't feel all that attached to the idea of being male. fine with any pronouns but probably likes to use neopronouns. (maybe star/starself?) ✋ achillean, mainly attracted to enbies and men. tried to date a few girls growing up to try and be "normal" (comphet's a binch) but at around high school enough bad experiences made him avoid dating for a while. ✋ he loves loves loves space and astronomy! it's sort of his hyperfixation. used to name constellations with stanley while spending nights on the stan o war and they bond over this on the stan o war ii!

[equallyshaw]

little lion | Luke hughes au! ↠ all about luke and liona. ↠ au Masterlist! ↠ also not in order, these are random thoughts!

met in october 2023

they do not officially date until 11/04/2023

split time back and fourth between newark and greenwich village

the type of couple to wake up at sunrise, get a coffee and bagel from the corner truck and walk through central park

luke is for sure the one that runs into pigeons and acting like a fool

only to get kailey to laugh

life's mission of luke is to make kailey happy and laugh at all times

intimate touching instead of kissing in public, always having to hold hands or have a hand on a thigh, of their lower back. especially if they go out at night, luke makes sure they are glued to each other at all times

the most competitive board gamers (monoply- absolute feral and scene it harry potter- she will kill whoever- including luke to win. so will luke.)

kailey got luke into harry potter and made him read the books early on in their relationship

actually, she got him onto reading in general. will read anything now.

luke demands one broadway show a month from kailey, meaning they put on the cast album and she belts out the songs with him.

luke absolutely adores kaileys mom, helen. will constantly ask about her and shamelessly asks for home cooked meals from her.

kailey adores it and whenever he gets homesick, she brings him over to her mom's or invites her to hang out and he's grateful for the relationship

luke does not meet alex until July when she invites him out to Washington dc for a visit

one of their favorite dates is to go to painting or paint pottery

they also like to go to watch movies, because she is a movie fanatic and it's something simple to do

her first game that she goes to is the last home game before christmas break, with a win over detroit

nicknames for kailey: pretty girl, calls her by her middle name 'kai', my romashka - meaning my cammie or chamomile, and my lioness

nicknames for luke: pookie, lukey, my love, darling, and Mashunechka (an generic intimate nickname)

huge fans of ice cream and ice cream dates

huge sweettoothes in general

when summer comes around, kailey visits michigan as much as she can between working her nannying job and working at the local bookstore in georgtown.

once her dad finds out about him, kailey and him go to cape cod

around their 6 month mark, kailey see's something on social media and quickly feels like luke might be cheating on her based on the limited space between the two. she even calls her dad about it, but does not mention specifics.

their song is: say yes to heaven, by lana del ray

just like how people belt out to taylor swift and are obsessed with her? that's them with olivia rodrigo and tate mcrae. no hesitation.

when kailey's in a particular mood or stressed with school, luke will come over to her apartment or she will come to his and jacks and they will have a star wars marathon.

as a fashion major, she feels entitled to update his fashion. as well as jacks, because they both need it.

she researches curly hair routines, and the both of them continuously try new things to find out the perfect routine, for him.

she teaches him russian, dubbed "little lion lessons". she teaches him the basics and simple greetings and conversation words. he surprises her though about six months in when she is having a harder time with her mental health, and gives her a whole ass talk in russian and like she thought that she knew he was the one she wanted to marry. but she REALLY knew he was the one.

luke learns enough russian to have a basic conversation with kailey and alex. alex is pretty stunned to say the least. he goes, "you mean he didn't flunk out of highschool?" in old slavic to which luke didnt understand.

uncle geno is the BIGGEST fan of the two

she tells him before she tells her dad

when pittsburgh visits new jersey, he invites her out to dinner along with luke.

in summer of 2024, she joins the cast of hadestown at the off broadway theater for a limited time run as eurydice, for the month of august. luke comes to her first week of shows before heading to michigan to get some things settled, before pulling quinn, jack and his parents for the finale on the 29th. after a two-day staycation, her and luke head back up to nyc and jersey for the year.

cape cod is their place - they get a offseason house in 2028.

luke and kailey ended up going 4 times during their first summer being together

they have a very important talk one morning over coffee and croissants and just know that that is where they are meant to visit at least once an offseason.

some angsty thoughts:

once she graduates in 2026, she has a hard time figuring out what she wants to do. her dream is to open a boutique clothing store in manhattan somewhere or on the cape or georgetown, but doesn't know short term.

ends up going to Washington for about two months, and it just so happened to be when alex was moving from Washington to new york to get back together with kaileys mom once he retires at the age of 41, a year after kailey graduates, he and her mom decide to give things a go again after some really good years the past few.

but she's in Washington while he is back in michigan, and even though luke is trying his hardest to give her the space she needs and craves, its difficult. he is moody af and at times does NOT train.

kailey calls sent a text over in july, stating she needed a break for a bit and that she would reconnect with him once the season begins.

luke has such a shit show of a summer after that + the beginning of season.

kailey spends july through September in the hamptoms with her parents, after alex helping fulfill her mom's dream. summer in the hamptons. (for longer than a week)

luke gets hella jealous because andrei visits for a week in august before heading back to carolinas. he hates how close the two are now that they are on a break.

OH and he also does not like her bestie chris, and thinks he still is in love with her but we'll get a blurb for that at some point hehe

when kailey returns to nyc with her parents she does not expect to see luke in the city.

he always used to say he hated the city when he was not with her

that the reason he loved the city with her, was because she gave it life and energy. he loved seeing it through her eyes.

she was very shocked to see him and he was stunned too. he didn't expect to see her the first time he headed into the city.

but nico being the swiss princess that he is, has to come up and greet her when she goes to dinner with her parents at Soho house

and then the rest of the group comes up, and alex is NOT happy

he doesn't care for any of them, she whispers in russian "be nice dad."

but he see's luke and relaxes a bit.

he really likes luke and began to feel like maybe they could be the real deal before their break.

but anywho

alex talks some sense into his daughter (calls her a dummy) and literally drops her off at the train station to head down to jersey to talk to him. (will get blurb at some point!)

and she does

and yknow, they get back together and what not.

and ofcourse, not without luke promising that he's gonna marry her one day. even though they had talked about it many times, and their future together- she knew it to be soon.

hope you all enjoyed!

please like and reblog if you did (:

[intricatechaosofyou]

Sewing Lessons

Fandom: The Bad Batch; Star Wars

Summary: Life Day is quickly approaching, so you and Omega set out to give your boys some gifts.

Using the prompts “Did you get us matching pajamas?”

Warnings: sewing needles (no one gets poked, they just exist), kissing, I am unaware if mistletoe is a thing in the Star Wars universe but it is now so deal with it

Author’s note: Happy Life Day Exchange @wizardmandoo !! It was great getting to write for you. I hope you enjoy this story and have a fantastic Life Day season, babe!

And thank you to @cloneficgiftexchange for putting this together!! This was my first exchange and I’m so glad to take part!

━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━

Strands of green hung around Omega’s door frame as she sat in the gunner’s mount that served as her makeshift room. The young girl had never experienced a real Life Day before. Kamino wasn’t known for their festivities; the long-necks claimed they took away from their work time. So although the boys didn’t have much experience actually celebrating the holiday either, they all tried their best to give Omega a perfect first Life Day.

Hunter had let you all stop for a few days on a snowy planet. With enough supplies, he figured you could take a break somewhere festive for the holiday.

Wrecker had let Omega sit atop his shoulders to hang up homemade garland around the Marauder.

Tech had taught her about the history behind the holiday, telling her everything he had learned from the Holonet.

Crosshair had taught her to make the perfect snowball and helped her perfect her aim.

And Echo told her stories every night before bed he had heard back during his days celebrating Life Day in the 501st.

Yes, all the boys had done their best to give Omega a perfect Life Day. But Omega was even more excited to give them a perfect Life Day. The girl had the biggest heart, so that’s how you found yourself crammed in the gunner’s mount with her, carefully watching as she stitched her design.

She had wanted to give the boys gifts, and when you recommended pajama pants, she jumped at the idea. The boys only had their blacks and sometimes the Marauder could get cold, even for them.

So the two of you found the perfect red and black pants that would match the team’s colors, and Omega was insistent on adding the Clone Force 99 symbol onto the pants, skull and all.

“It’ll be perfect!” She claimed.

So you found the sewing kit you kept in case someone’s clothes needed repair and showed her how to sew.

The girl was very intent in her escapades, listening and watching your stitching intently. She put her all into making the design. And when she was disappointed about her stitches being crooked, you reassured her that her brothers would love them no matter how they looked.

“I’m done with Tech’s,” she announced, holding up the pants to show the freshly sewn design on the left leg.

“Perfect, Megs. Now only Echo’s and Hunter’s left.” You took the garment from her and folded them up to add them to the pile of finished gifts.

She nodded and began to thread her needle when Wrecker called her name from the cockpit.

“I got something else to hang up!” He called.

Placing her supplies down, she rushed down the ladder to help Wrecker hang up another decoration.

You laughed and climbed down from her room as she took off. You smiled at the small girl before looking to your left, finding Hunter leaning against the wall, arms crossed across his chest.

“Hey there, Sarge,” you smiled.

He smiled and glanced over at Omega. “You two are certainly spending a lot of time up there.”

“Just having a little girl time.”

His eyebrow raised at your response. Although it wasn’t a complete lie, it wasn’t the complete truth either.

“Anything I should be concerned about?” He questioned.

You adamantly shook your head. “Nope!”

He smirked and leaned in to whisper in your ear so Omega wouldn’t overhear him. “No Life Day gifts hidden up there?”

You gasped and gently hit his arm. “How dare you accuse us of hiding something!”

He rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t move away from you. “Don’t worry, I won’t ruin the surprise, cyar’ika.”

“You better not,” you retorted as Omega came rushing back up to the two of you.

She immediately grabbed your hand and tugged you back towards her project. You didn’t resist the girl’s pull and sent Hunter a wink before heading back to Omega’s little room.

———————

The seven of you sat in the middle of the hull of the Marauder. Omega had practically been bouncing off the walls as the time to exchange gifts came around. She happily handed each of them their gifts. Even though you didn’t have enough credits to wrap them in something nice, it was clear by the look on their faces that they appreciated the gesture.

As they unfolded the garments, Hunter smiled at you. “Did you get us matching pajamas?”

You nodded and gestured to the girl beside you. “Megs is the mastermind behind this one. She wanted to do something special for you boys.”

“Do you like it?” The young girl asked, eyes sparkling in anticipation.

“They’re perfect, Omega,” Echo replied.

“They’ve even got our symbol on ‘em!” Wrecker shouted, glee evident in his voice as he held up the pants. “Looks great!”

Omega smiled and happily retold the story of sewing the symbol on as the boys listened, indulging her in the exaggerated tale. Even Crosshair had a small smile on his face as Omega spoke.

You happily listened along from your spot on the floor when you felt a hand on your shoulder. Looking up, you found Hunter standing above you. Subtly, he tilted his head towards the doorway of the cockpit.

Getting the message, you nodded and stood up, careful not to interrupt Omega’s story as you two made your way to the cockpit.

“What’s up, Hunter?” You asked, voice barely above a whisper as you stood in the doorway.

There was a pause as he considered his next words, fingers twitching as if he was twirling his vibroblade between them.

“I wanted to thank you. For the pants,” he finally said.

“Megs and I just want our boys to be comfortable,” you responded, heat blooming in your chest. “Thanks for not spoiling the surprise.”

A smirk made its way onto his face and he leaned back against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. “So you two were hiding Life Day gifts.”

“We weren’t hiding anything. We just evaded your senses,” you lied, smiling innocently at the sergeant.

Hunter clicked his tongue. “Nothing evades my senses, cyar’ika.”

You tensed slightly, wondering if that was true. Could he hear the way your heart was fluttering in your chest? Could he see the way you smiled just a little bit bigger when you saw him? Could he feel how your skin was always warm when he was around?

Hunter opened his mouth, no doubt to tease you again, when Crosshair’s voice rang out through the ship.

“The mistletoe seemed to evade your senses though.”

You glanced at the team’s sniper, brow furrowing before looking above your head.

There it was. A small plant hung from the cockpit’s doorway: the new decoration Omega and Wrecker had hung up a few days prior.

Glancing back at Crosshair, you found that the rest of the team was staring at you.

“What‘s so important about mistletoe?” Omega asked innocently.

“It means they gotta kiss,” Echo explained, a teasing lilt in his voice as he glanced at the two of you.

“Technically—“

Tech was quickly cut off when Wrecker shoved him.

“Shush!”

You turned back to Hunter, slightly confused when you saw the small smirk on his face.

“Hunter…”

One of his hands came up to cradle your jaw, tilting your face towards his.

He leaned in, nose brushing yours. “I told you. Nothing evades my senses.”

Before you could respond, you felt his lips press against yours. It was completely intoxicating, and you grabbed his shoulders to keep yourself steady. The kiss was filled with such precision, every movement careful but filled with such feeling, you felt like you were drowning in him.

As Hunter pulled back from you, the rest of the world came crashing back on you. The cheers of his brothers, the feel of his blacks beneath your fingers, and yet you could only focus on his eyes and how they remained fixed on you.

You, stumbling over yourself as your mind tried to catch up.

Your head spun as you connected the dots, the fact he brought you over here purposely, knowing the mistletoe hung above you.

Just to kiss you?

It seemed surreal, the ghost of Hunter’s lips still on yours. But it was real.

A smirk spread across your lips. “I’m glad you liked the present.”

“That’s all you have to say?” He asked.

“Happy Life Day,” you whispered, before reconnecting your lips, earning another round of hoots and hollers from his brothers and Omega.

And as you two rejoined the group, Hunter’s arm draped across your waist, you smiled to yourself. Happy Life Day indeed.

[freyanistics]

Fiery flames 🔥 (part 1)

Wally (human) x dragon!reader

Part two here

Thousands of years ago dragons ruled the skies. With their terrible fiery breaths and intelligence they were seen as the biggest threat to mankind. But as the years pass and the world changed dragons started to disappear one by one from the war between them and humans. Nowadays they are simply deemed a fantasy in storybooks. But you are still alive. Sure you might have to stick to your human form and adapt to modern life but the large scaly beast was still active inside of you, waiting to break free.

You lived in an apartment complex in the lesser side of the city, where crime was a bit more prominent, your typical robbers and car jackers. No one dared to bother you so you were never worried of waking up with your stuff stolen or getting mugged off the street. The reason you moved here was because it was much more interesting than surrounding yourself around pompous idiots in the white collar district. You also had made a couple of friends in the complex including a young mother with two young children that you babysit every Friday night and an widow who always told nice stories.

It took awhile to adjust to your new mundane life. You missed the times when you were a large liege seizing havoc upon knights and hoarding your prized possessions but that didn’t mean you couldn’t entertain yourself. At night you would fly through the dark skies over the city looking down at the light up buildings just like the old times.

This particular morning you woke up around six am getting up and ready for work at your new job. You was a camera person for this live set children’s show called ‘Welcome Home’. If you had to pick it reminded you a bit of Mister Rogers and Sesame Street. There were live actors that would dress up as these characters and do your typical lessons like being kind to one another and how to count to ten. You didn’t have no opinion on it since you wasn’t the targeted audience. After getting dress and shoving a toast in your mouth you rush out of the building to the train station taking the D train to the uptown area. While riding the train you looked down at your phone scrolling through your feed not paying anyone no mind, even when someone was singing loudly drunk.

After getting to the studio and clocking in you immediately got to work setting up the cameras. The other workers rushed around preparing to record a few episodes while the actors got ready. You’ve met all of them finding them kinda quirky but friendly folks, but your least favorite of them all was Wally. He was a weirdo to say the least. The ‘star’ of the show most would say and for good reason; he was funny, charming, and pretty outgoing to everyone who met him. A lot of the people around here and his fanbase found him attractive as well with his cocoa brown skin and dark blue dyed hair that was always put up in a pompodor. You however didn’t see the hype but then again humans didn’t really get you going, you only dated a handful in the past. On top of all of this he just had a weird vibe that you couldn’t exactly place, maybe because he had a bit of a staring problem that people overlooked.

After thirty minutes everything was put in place as you started to record. You sat there with the other camera people as the actors performed on the set. This particular episode featured Wally, Barnaby, and Howdy teaching kids about counting and adding. Wally was explaining how adding works while looking straight at your camera, but it felt like he was staring at you. There goes that weird feeling again but you quickly shook it off. Afterwards the break bell rings and you all stepped away to eat lunch. You pick up your subway sandwich sitting down between Poppy and Frank diving in hungrily, scarfing it down in less than ten minutes.

“Geez Y/N, you sure can eat!” Barnaby says teasingly from across the table. “That wasn’t even five minutes!”

“What can I say? I’m a growing person.” You respond patting your stomach causing the others to laugh.

“How about about an eating contest?” He challenge raising an eyebrow.

“You’re on big guy.” You smirk as Julie jumps up clapping her hands. “Me and Frank can be the judge!” Frank cuts his eyes over at the rest of you while holding up a book. “Why me? They’re going to just get themselves sick.” He shakes his head.

“Come on Frank, it’ll be fun.” Julie pleads as he sighs putting a bookmark in his book before closing it.

“Can I also judge?” A voice calls as all of you turn to the star of the show himself, Wally. While everyone lights up you couldn’t help a frown appearing. Great. Mister big shot was here.

“Sure Wally!” Julie was saying excitedly as she starts listing stuff they would need. You could feel his eyes boring into the side of your face as you tried not to look over at the blue haired man. Don’t make eye contact to give him any ideas. The bell rings signaling that lunch was over. As everyone disperse to go back to their places you felt a hand on your shoulder looking over to see it was Wally. He was staring at you so intensely that it felt like he was looking into your soul.

“Hello Y/N, how have you been?” He asks in that sickly sweet voice you loathed.

“I’ve been alright Wally.” You said putting your hands on your pockets. You both stared at one another in some type of staring contest. He was shorter than you, probably just above 5’1, so he was looking up at you. You wasn’t intimidated by this kid, in fact you was more annoyed by him than ever. What did he want? You couldn’t help but feel like he was hiding something.

“So did you needed something or did you just wanted to stare at my pretty face?” You said chuckling trying to break the tension. At your comment Wally grins flashing all of his teeth and you could have sworn his pupils got larger.

“I don’t mind either.” He said in a flirtatious tone causing you to double take. Was he…flirting with you? Just as you was about to say something he turns and strolls off casually, hands behind his back as he hummed the Welcome Home theme song.

God he was weird.

(This is a test to see if I can write Wally well! I know it says part one but I’m not sure if I’ll continue, if y’all like it and want more let me know!)

[mysterythief]

Ahsoka Rant: Colors and Fallen Jedi

It's Saturday, so I finally have time to sit down and write this analysis for Ahsoka that I've wanted to do on the importance of colors in Star Wars, and how it directly correlates to Ahsoka and explains the title for episode 4: Fallen Jedi.

Star Wars has always identified the hero and the villain of the show through colors and costuming. Anyone can walk into a Star Wars movie and without any other context identify the good and the bad guy based on the fact that the good guy wears light colors and the bad guy wears dark.

Don't believe me.

Phantom Menace:

Attack of the Clones:

Revenge of the Sith:

A New Hope:

The Empire Strikes Back:

We see this light vs dark costuming choice in most Star Wars media. Our biggest exceptions are:

Anakin: After the Phantom Menace Anakin is always in dark colors. And even then his costume takes a gradual change to Darth Vaders full black.

(Attack of the Clones vs Revenge of the Sith. You can see his costume gets darker)

Luke: In Return of the Jedi, when he is close to giving into the dark side.

And now Ahsoka (up til ep. 5):

What is soooo interesting about the first 4 episodes of the Ahsoka show, is that you can't identify the good and the bad guys just by looking at their costumes. Everyone in the scene above is wearing dark colors. And they are all shades of grey.

The purpose of ep. 4: Fallen Jedi is to show that every Jedi we have seen up to this point in the show is a Fallen Jedi. They all carry aspects of the Jedi, but none of them are true Jedi.

Lets start with Baylan and Shin. The first time we are introduced to them mirrors the first time we are introduced to Qui-Gon and Obi Wan.

Hoods over their heads, mysterious, walking side by side. Exactly how we know the Jedi to typically appear. Obi Wan and Anakin, even Luke, all typically enter a new area this way.

I would describe Baylan as Lawful Evil. He still believes in the practices of the Jedi, but not the Jedi code. He has Shin wear an apprentice braid

They stay together so he can teach her at all time.

And he keeps his word to Sabine.

But his morals reflect that of Vader. And his fight to rescue Morgan Elsebeth mirrors Vader fighting the Rebels at the end of Rogue One/ beginning of A New Hope.

The most interesting aspect of this duo is the Shin has the lightest costume of the two (It's also lighter than Ahsoka and Sabine's costumes). It is closer in design and color to the typical Jedi outfit, while Baylan still wears Clone Wars armor.

Baylan is the Jedi who fell during the Clone Wars. He feels he only knows how to destroy to create something better. Shin is still an apprentice, doing purely what her master tells her, and could go either way in the force. Her costuming suggests that her fate could swing and Ahsoka and Sabine could sway her away from the dark side. Either way, they have both certainly fallen from the Jedi Path.

Ahsoka is also fallen Jedi. Soon after meeting Ahsoka again we get this exchange between her and Hyuang.

Ahsoka flat out tells us that she doesn't follow Jedi protocol. Though those of us who know Ahsoka from the Clone War know that this is literally nothing new. AND THAT'S THE POINT. Ahsoka was taught a mix of the Jedi code and a Warrior code, because that's what Anakin had to teach her to keep her alive. Ahsoka has been a fallen Jedi since the accusation that caused her to leave.

Unlike Baylan, Ahsoka doesn't follow standard Jedi teaching practices. Sabine doesn't have an apprentice braid. They don't stick together

And even when they are together, Ahsoka keeps a purposeful distance, like she's afraid of the responsibility.

And like Baylan, her outfit mimics her Clone Wars armor (from season 7)

Baylan even directly addresses this to Ahsoka. That she only knows how to fight.

A Jedi should know other ways, other options. But all Baylan and Ahsoka know is how to fight. (Which is why Anakin's lesson to Ahsoka in ep.5 is soo important. Look forward to another rant from yours truly on it more in depth.)

Knowing that Ahsoka has been a fallen Jedi for such a long time, seeing her in her fallen Jedi state, makes her transition to Ahsoka the White in ep. 5 so much more powerful, because seeing the main character finally in light colors tells us what we knew all along. That there is sooo much good in Ahsoka, just like there was good in her master before her, and his before him, etc. And we finally get to see Ahsoka in live action not as the fallen Jedi who has been picking and choosing her responsibilities, but as the Jedi Ahsoka is. With so much love, compassion, and kindness. I'm so excited to have the Ahsoka that we all know and love back!