#but seriously I find this part of echo's character really interesting

[phantom-of-the-501st]

"I don't enjoy solitude" Pt 2

I'm gonna call this a part two because it follows on from the post I made yesterday. Although I guess it is less of a follow up and more of a case of reworking what I said in the original post into something a little bit more fleshed out, because I feel like I glossed over a lot of stuff I wanted to say initially (and didn't because it was almost midnight when I wrote it @saturn-sends-hugs don't yell at me for not sleeping I know 😭)

I'll probably just recap everything I said in the other post in this one anyway so it doesn't matter whether or not this is the only one you see I guess

Like I said yesterday, this line is interesting because while it initially puts forward the idea that Echo doesn't like being alone, the actual context had nothing to do with Echo being put in a situation where he would be by himself. In fact, Omega is asking him if he wanted to join her in something. And yes, Echo does hate being by himself, but the line is more about Echo being left alone with his own thoughts. It isn't just being by himself physically, its being stuck in his head without any escape. That's what terrifies him.

And it makes sense. Echo went through some atrocious things and a lot of his memories are either bad or have likely been tainted by other circumstances in a way that means that he doesn't want to think about them. Outside of that one scene of Echo in the cockpit following Tech's death, we never see Echo not doing something or not being with someone. There is always something that is keeping him from his thoughts and that's the whole point. The last thing that Echo wants to do is confront what is in his head. Being alone with nothing but his own mind is exactly what he went through on Skako Minor and the last thing he ever wants to do is revisit that.

But the thing is, it isn't healthy (at least, not in the long run) because for as long as Echo keeps running from his thoughts, he's going to wear himself down. This man never stops. He just keeps going and going and going and half the time if he isn't doing anything "practical", it's against his own will. And so much of that is linked to survivor's guilt. As many other people brought up, Echo likely blames himself for the clones who died as a result of the Techno Union getting a hold of the battle strategies. We know that it's not his fault but to Echo the fact that he survived that entire ordeal, while it was his own plans that were used and manipulated to kill his brothers, must eat away at him.

Echo has never really taken the time to mentally process a lot of what he went through. By the end of the show, he is in a much better place than he was initially: he's physically healthier and he's actually cracking jokes again. A lot of that is thanks to the Bad Batch. They were integral in his healing journey. However, that doesn't mean he's okay. This is a man who can't be left alone with his thoughts because it will cause him to spiral. Not constantly being around people or constantly doing something leads him into a dark place and that isn't a great position for him to be in. This man doesn't really know peace because every part of his life, even his mind, runs at 300 miles an hour. And Hunter knows this. He wasn't wrong when he asked Echo when it will ever be enough. He's watching his brother run himself ragged trying to rescue the clones and to fight against the Empire, when realistically, it's not a battle they can win. Every time Echo leaves Pabu, the Batch are faced with the idea that it may be the last time they ever see him. Because if we're being completely honest here, unless Echo ever gets to the point where he is okay enough to sit down and actually relax for once in his life, there will be a point when it will be the last time they ever see him. Whether or not it's in two days or two years or two decades, this man will lose his life to the cause, even if it's as a result of him working himself down to the bone.

Echo will never value his own life over the life of his brothers. He won't retire because to him it will never be fair that he can live a life of peace when there are others out there who can't have that, and that means he will only stop the fight when there is no-one left worth fighting for. But there will never be a point where there is no-one left to fight for. Echo will continue to find a reason to stay in the fight, to keep working, to never keep still because that's just who he is. And we love him for that. We love his loyalty and his dedication and his endless ambition. But it's also to his detriment. I don't know if we will ever see Echo at a point where he is truly okay. He will keep going until he can't anymore and if that is at the cost of his own life, then that's what he'll take.

[randomhealer]

(L&D) When a hot scene comes

characters: Xavier, Rafayel, Zayne, Sylus, Luke & Kieran

warnings: Crack, don't take it seriously, not reviewed, GN reader, use of the word dick in Sylus' part only once, but really nothing explicit I think

n/a: did you see some parts cut? if so I'm sorry, this has been with me for a while and it was a big smut actually but I tried to redo it- sylus part was so big it was a whole one shot i cut off lmao, Happy bday Doktah zayne

Xavier

Xavier is watching attentively but not like a movie but like a documentary in his mind, he is using all his brain cells to remember important points of the scene. Do you like the scene in front of you? Do you like it when the man does those things? Okay, so he'll remember to be a little more dominant next time, the movements, some lines... he'll try to remember that if you find it hot...

Xavier is more attentive to observing you and your reactions than in the scene, he already has what he needs so he observes closely... your cute little smiles, your lip bites, your low giggles, sighs... he doesn't really like you giving such reactions to another guy, even if it's on TV, he'll still let it go this time since he'll use what he learned to his advantage

(If you look to the side you will see Xavier looking at you sideways while he has a pillow on his lap, he looks a little angry)

Zayne

He's fine with what you chose to watch, he won't blink because of you even if the movie is boring, although he's a little surprised by the kind of movie you like, he expected something more... innocent? romcom... something like that, not a dark romance full of whips, ropes, candles being used in unconventional situations... even fruits are in it?!

He is shocked... although still cold on the outside, looking at you, the little creature next to him, looking innocent, smiles at the scene unfolding on TV, he just sighs after all you are small but you are still a big box of surprises.

At the end he will be warning you about the risks of using items or anything unconventional for that type of thing.

Rafayel

"Oh you destroyed my innocence, you monster"

That's what he'll say at the end of the movie, even though he watched it all the way through and with a carefree smile on his lips, he seemed more used to all the heavy stuff in the movie. Of course, none of those fake scenes can beat the dirtiest thoughts he has about you. If that's what people like, then his thoughts about you would win four Oscars. He could make a movie with more than four hours in seven different settings with more than twenty hotter scenes than this one with you in a single day.

He is more interesting than a lame movie with bad acting performances and he will show you after the movie is over

Sylus

Sylus is judging the entire movie, laughing at how different things are from real life, and how bad the lead actor was, although the movie was a bit similar to your first meeting...

"Do you like watching this kind of stuff? I thought you were a well-behaved kitten..." Sylus murmurs softly in your ear pulling you closer as he tightens his arms around your waist as the two of you lie on the couch.

"My dick is way bigger than his, and who needs so many toys to make sure their partner come at least once?" He says with slight sarcasm, a chuckle almost like a light heavy purr echoes from him before you respond.

"but you have a room just like the one in the movie with some toys too"

Sylus just raises an eyebrow at this before sighing and replying while drawing circles on his waist with his thumb "No Kitten... those are not 'toys' they are items for real torture, the first thing you thought when you entered my work room was 'wow bdsm toys?' you are dirtier than I thought love."

Luke and Kieran

You got Luke, You got Kieran

and now you have one on each side sitting next to you while the three of you watch the movie together, even though it didn't go as planned.

The movie was more of a comedy to them than anything, it was almost like taking the boys to an amusement park, first they didn't like the male actor, they found him tacky or even compared him to Sylus a little to the point of choking on laughter, they were rooting for the girl in the movie to break up with the guy and have an independent life, saying lines from the movie to you and telling you how lucky you are to not have just one guy but two guys who could make a better dark romance and that you wouldn't need to call the police on them...

"Boss has a room just like this room in the movie... do you think Boss is actually a dom who likes BDSM?" Luke asks looking at you and his brother on the other side of the couch, both with their arms around your waist, Kieran just rolls his eyes slightly

"no, I still think Boss is a secret Wanderer, I'm sure he turns into one every night, that's why he doesn't sleep...Mc can confirm this"

[lefteagleblizzard]

𝔙𝔯𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔰𝔲𝔭𝔭𝔬𝔯𝔱

Mike munroe x male reader

A request that I received from a really nice person here on tumblr: a small idea I liked for a fic if you like the idea as well. Nothing too big, just a fic about Reader and Chris being brothers and constantly nagging each other about their crushes on Ashley and Mike.

I expanded the request a bit, sorry if I went overboard with it. Hope you enjoyed it.

Tags: set before the event of the game. Male reader. He/him pronouns are used towards the reader. Chris and the reader are brothers. Some very quick shifts of pov between characters. Jealousy. Mike and Jess/ Emily are not together in this. Friends to lovers. Mike is a flirt.

Words count: 4000

Can also be found on wattpad and ao3

𝔉𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔱𝔟𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥

𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱 𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔢'𝔰 𝔞 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔪

𝔗𝔴𝔬 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯

𝔄 𝔱𝔬𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔪𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫 𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢

ℌ𝔬𝔩𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲

𝔍𝔢𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔲𝔰𝔶 𝔞𝔱 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨𝔴𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔐𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔦𝔫

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔣𝔦𝔰𝔥 𝔭𝔞𝔱𝔥 Part 2 of it

For anyone interested, I took inspiration from this clue that you can find while playing as Chris.

The music thumps in the background, a mix of bass-heavy beats and voices blending into a dull roar. You and Chris sit at a small, round table near the back, well out of the action but with a good view of everyone mingling.

"So," Chris says, taking a long, dramatic sip. "You actually spent the whole night staring at Mike. Dude, seriously, you're lucky your eyes didn't burn a hole in the back of his head."

You scoff, leaning back in your chair with a mock sigh. "Like you're any better. When are you actually gonna talk to Ashley? She's cool, she's cute, she's well, out of your league but hey, a guy can dream.”

"Hey, I do talk to her," Chris retorts, feigning offense.

"Uh-huh," you say, raising an eyebrow. "It’s a lot if you can manage to squeak out a sentence before turning red.”

Chris chuckles, crossing his arms. "Fine. Why don't you go up to Mike and tell him what you think? 'Hey, by the way, I've been thinking about how perfect your jawline is all night!’ I'm sure that'll go over great." He did a horrible interpretation of your voice to mock you even further.

You roll your eyes, feeling your cheeks flush just a bit. "First of all, I would never phrase it like that. And second, at least I actually know things about him beyond his favorite book."

"Oh, really? Let's see who knows more about their crush. No cheating. No wimping out. Winner gets bragging rights." Chris leans forward, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

"Bragging rights? How about you admit I'm objectively hotter than you when I win?" you echoed, folding your arms.

"Sure. Whatever fantasy helps you sleep at night," Chris said, grinning as he dramatically cracked his knuckles. “I'll go first since I know you're just dying to hear all the juicy Ashley knowledge."

You chuckle. "Go with your in-depth research, Sherlock."

Chris clears his throat, sitting up straighter. "Fine. For starters, her favorite color is purple."

You make a face, unimpressed. "That's it? You think knowing her favorite color makes you the expert here?"

"Let me finish, smartass. She loves thriller movies. She also has this little habit of chewing on her nails when she's nervous."

You raise an eyebrow, genuinely impressed but unwilling to give him the satisfaction. "Okay, okay, not bad. But that's kid stuff. Let me show you how it's done."

Chris rolls his eyes, clearly not expecting much. "Alright, hotshot. Give me your best Mike trivia."

You sit forward, lowering your voice like you're letting him in on a secret. You have always been good at noticing things. Maybe it was a result of growing up with Chris and when it came to Mike Munroe, your crush, the small things were more than just interesting, they were revealing.

For one, every morning, without fail, he was up before the sun. He’d go for a quick run to stay in shape. You’d always catch glimpses of him at college heading back to his room in a tank top, earbuds in, eyes focused ahead and glimpses of sweat on his forehead.

He had this tough, confident exterior. He wasn’t loud like some of the others in the group. He had a way of using humor to deflect, to keep people from getting too close. You saw it when he’d brush off any talk about specific topics.

And then there were his tastes.

He likes his coffee black. Pretends it's macho. He had a surprising amount of nostalgia in his preferences. You couldn’t forget the time you’ve talked together casually on the lodge, his face lighting up as he talked about his love for old action movies.

Chris raises an eyebrow. "Alright. Maybe you’re better equipped than me. But, let's be real, you wouldn't even know where to start."

"Better than starting with nothing," you counter. "Besides, I could charm him if I wanted to."

Chris raises an eyebrow. "What would you even say?"

You grin, leaning in like you're revealing a grand plan. "I'd just walk up and ask him about his football season. Mention that time he scored the winning touchdown. You instead are hopeless"

Chris nods, pretending to take you seriously. "Oh, sure, because that'll definitely make him swoon. Hopeless? Me?" Chris laughs, leaning back with a smirk. "At least I don't have to worry about being mistaken for a stalker."

You both burst into laughter. For all the banter, you know neither of you would really judge the other for these harmless crushes. It's what makes the night so much fun.

From across the room, you caught sight of Ashley standing awkwardly near a table stacked with half-empty snack bowls and crumpled napkins. She shifted from foot to foot, clearly trying to blend into the background.

"Hey, Romeo. This is your chance," you said, leaning closer and nudging Chris with your elbow.

Chris snapped out of his trance, his head swiveling toward Ashley. His brows furrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth tugging upward in amusement before settling back into a more thoughtful expression.

Chris groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "What am I supposed to do? Walk up and make everything even more embarrassing?"

"News flash: she knows you're a loser," but she clearly likes you anyway. Stop overthinking it. Just go talk to her. Be romantic for once. She loves that whole 'awkward and sincere' thing you've got going on."

"First of all," Chris said, pointing a finger at you, "I'm not awkward. I'm, uh, charmingly self-aware. Second, what if I say something dumb? Or worse, nothing at all? I can't just walk up to her and-"

"You're a coward," you interrupted, shaking your head in mock disappointment.

"Yep," he said, popping the "p" and lifting his cup in mock toast.

You were scanning the room until your gaze landed on Mike Munroe.

He was leaning casually against the wall, drink in hand, chatting with a girl you vaguely recognized from English class. His tuxedo fit him perfectly, tailored in all the right places, the dark fabric catching the light just enough to highlight his athletic build. The black foulard tied loosely around his neck was an elegant touch, a little different from the usual bow ties and neckties most guys wore. His hair was perfectly tousled, like he hadn't even tried but still managed to look effortlessly handsome.

You felt your chest tighten. For a moment, your imagination betrayed you, painting a picture of Mike turning toward you, smiling like he did when he told one of his dumb jokes when he got elected class president. You could almost hear his laugh, warm and inviting, as if it were just for you. But reality snapped back into focus when the girl he was talking to leaned closer.

"Mike would never look twice at me like that." You mumble more to yourself without thinking, unable to keep the disappointment from your voice.

Chris, placed a hand on your shoulder. His touch was light but reassuring. "Don't do that to yourself. You're a catch. If Mike doesn't see that, he's an idiot."

You looked up at him, grateful but unconvinced. Chris stood up, brushing imaginary lint off his jacket. "I'm getting us drinks. Let's make it through the rest of this night together, yeah?"

You nodded, watching as he made his way to the bar. You glance around, your gaze landing once more on Ashley and an idea strikes you. Chris is now far away from your position. It’s your chance to do something.

You stride over to her, flashing a friendly smile, keeping your movements casual so you wouldn't startle her. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed you, but she relaxed as you softly took her arm.

"Hey," you said, grinning playfully as you gently guided her away from the corner.

Ashley laughed, the sound light and genuine. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice tinged with amusement but no resistance as you led her toward your table.

"Come on, you can't let Chris and I have all the fun sitting in the corner judging everyone." you replied, glancing over your shoulder with a mock-serious expression.

"That's what you two have been doing all night? Very productive." She scanned the place as you reached the table and she managed to spot Chris at the bar, meticulously mixing something with an unusual level of focus. But then her gaze shifted, catching Mike watching the two of you.

Jaw set, lips pressed into a firm line, eyes tracked the way you gently tugged Ashley along. His gaze lingered on your hand before flicking back up to your face. Lips pressed together in a faint, almost imperceptible scowl, as though something about the sight of the two of you together unsettled him. There was a slight tension in his posture, the way his shoulders seemed just a bit too stiff for someone casually enjoying a party.

Chris returned with two drinks in hand. "Okay, I've done it," he announced dramatically. "The ultimate drink. If you don't like it, I'm never speaking to you ag-" He cut himself off mid-sentence when he saw Ashley sitting at the table, smiling up at him.

"I... uh..." Chris stammered, turning an impressive shade of pink.

"You made this for me?” Ashley asked sweetly, taking the drink from his hand before he could respond. “Thank you, Mr. Bartender."

Chris blinks and he lets out a nervous laugh, giving you a quick glare as he hands the drink to Ashley.

She giggles, taking a sip and you watch as Chris visibly relaxes. They share a smile and there's a warm, unspoken understanding between them, a quiet moment that you can't help but feel a bit envious of.

The music shifts, slowing into a softer, more romantic melody. Couples move onto the dance floor, swaying together in a slow embrace. Ashley’s eyes light up as she turns to Chris, her cheeks flushed with a faint rosy tint from the slight inebriation she feels. "Come on, Chris," she says, tugging at his hand. "Want to go there for a bit?"

Chris's eyes dart to you, searching your face for reassurance, his expression almost apologetic. He's asking, without words, if you'll be okay.

You manage a smile, giving him a nod.

Chris lets out a laugh, his tension melting away as he lets Ashley pull him onto the dance floor. They disappear into the crowd, leaving you alone at the table. You watch them go, feeling a bittersweet pang in your chest as you take in the sight of them together, laughing and smiling, fitting together so effortlessly. Chris fumbling his way through the first few steps before finding his rhythm.

They looked so happy.

And you were here instead, alone at the table, your thoughts inevitably drifting back to Mike.

Chris feels his heart race as he stands on the dance floor, his hands resting lightly on Ashley's waist, her arms draped over his shoulders as they sway to the gentle rhythm of the music. Her gaze meets his every so often, a smile warm and genuine, making him feel like the only person in the room.

"I didn't know you had these moves." she teases, her eyes twinkling.

Chris chuckles, shaking his head. "Oh, trust me, I don't. I'm just doing my best not to crush your toes."

Ashley laughs, her grip tightening on his shoulders as she rolls her eyes. "You're doing just fine. I don't mind if you, you know, relax a little."

"Relax? Yeah, I can... I can do that," he says, voice faltering as he tries to ease into the rhythm, matching her movements as the song continues.

His focus wavers after a while, gaze drifting over her shoulder as he catches sight of his brother sitting across the room at one of the tables with Matt nearby.

There's something off about the way you're holding yourself. You're smiling, sure, even laughing at something Matt is saying, but Chris can tell that the smile doesn't quite reach your eyes. It's the kind of forced expression he's seen on you before, usually when you're trying to act like everything's fine when it really isn't.

Matt, on the other hand, seems entirely oblivious, leaning in a bit too close, his face lit up with that typical over-eager grin. He's almost leaning into your personal space as he chats away, looking way too thrilled to have your undivided attention, his eyes never leaving yours. The proximity feels a bit too familiar, too comfortable, with his arm casually resting on the back of your chair.

Chris feels a pang of protectiveness twist in his gut. He glances around the room, half-expecting Emily to appear and pull Matt back to the dance floor, but there's no sign of her. Instead, he spots her on the far side of the room, tipsy and laughing as she spins around with some stranger she's apparently mistaken for Matt. She's caught up in the music, oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend is practically glued to your side.

Ashley notices his distraction, her gaze softening as she studies him. "Chris?" she asks, her voice gentle, bringing him back to the moment. "Is everything okay?"

He blinks, snapping his attention back to her, guilt creeping in as he realizes he's been distracted. "Yeah, yeah, sorry," he says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Just... got a lot on my mind."

Ashley smiles, tilting her head as she searches his face. "You sure? You can tell me, you know."

Chris hesitates, glancing around the room one more time. His gaze lands on Mike, who's slow-dancing with the girl in glittering dress. She's leaning against him, her head resting on his chest, but Mike's attention isn't on her.

His eyes are locked in your direction, his brow furrowed and his jaw set in a subtle scowl that's hard to miss. There's a tension in his gaze as he watches you and Matt together. There's a faint scowl tugging at his mouth, a subtle clenching of his jaw that makes it look like he's holding back the urge to step in but doesn't quite know how to act on it. His brows are drawn together and his eyes flick between you and Matt with a guarded intensity.

Chris frowns, glancing back at you. It's clear now that something is brewing beneath the surface, something he doesn't fully understand but can sense all the same. He looks down at Ashley, his expression softening as he makes up his mind.

"Hey, Ash?" he asks quietly, feeling a bit awkward but determined. "Would you mind helping me out with something real quick? I, uh... I owe someone a favor.”

You were mid-laugh at something Matt had said about his latest sports practice when a shadow loomed over the table. You looked up to find Mike standing there, holding his drink loosely in one hand and the other casually tucked in his pocket.

"Hey, Matt," Mike said, his tone light but carrying a subtle edge like he's asking for a favor he already expects to be granted. "Mind if I steal him for a bit?"

Matt's smile falters, and he glances at you, a bit reluctant, as if he doesn't quite want to let go of the moment he's carved out. "Uh... well, we were just-"

"Looks like Emily's about to make out with that guy," Mike interrupted, tilting his head toward the dance floor. "You might wanna handle that before it gets messy."

Matt whipped his head around, his face paling slightly as he spotted Emily drunkenly giggling and leaning far too close to the stranger. "Shit," he muttered, scrambling to his feet. "I'll, uh, catch you later." he says to you, giving you a quick nod before he disappears into the crowd.

"Yeah, sure," Mike said smoothly, his smirk widening as Matt hurried off. You glance back at him just in time to catch a wicked grin flash across his face as he watches Matt weave his way toward Emily.

He turns back to you and without a moment's hesitation, he slides into Matt's now-empty chair, shifting it even closer to yours with an obnoxiously loud scrap of wood against the floor. He dropped into the seat with a satisfied sigh. His arm resting along the back of your chair but soon sliding fully around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him.

The warmth of his body, the faint scent of his cologne, earthy with a hint of spice, made your thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind. From this close, you could see every detail of his face: the light beard perfectly trimmed along his jaw, the sharp angle of his cheekbones, the infuriatingly perfect way his smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth. He was leaning into his persona, that cocky, playful charm cranked up to eleven and it was doing things to your brain you weren't sure you were ready to admit.

"Well, this is cozy," Mike said, his voice low and smooth. "Didn't think Matt was ever gonna leave. Guy's got some stamina for talking, huh?"

You blinked, struggling to form words. "Uh, yeah. He's chatty"

Mike chuckled, the sound warm and teasing "Chatty? That's the nicest way to put it. Bet he's been boring you to death, huh?"

"Not entirely," you said, though your voice was far too shaky to be convincing. "He's enthusiastic."

Mike raised an eyebrow, clearly enjoying how flustered you were. "You're too nice, you know that? If I had to sit through more than five minutes of that guy's rambling, I'd be asleep in my chair."

You laughed, though it came out a little too breathy. "Maybe I'm just better at pretending to be interested."

"Pretending, huh?" Mike's smirk widened. "So, what about me? Are you pretending to enjoy this little moment we're having?"

Your brain short-circuited. "I... I mean, no. I-uh... you're not boring. Definitely not boring."

"Good to know," Mike said, his voice dipping slightly as he leaned in just a fraction closer. "I'd hate to think I was putting you to sleep."

"You're not," you managed to say, your face burning.

Mike grinned, clearly reveling in your flustered state. "You're cute when you're nervous, you know that?"

“I’m not nervous,” you said quickly, though your gaze flickered away from his, betraying you.

“Sure you’re not,” Mike murmured, his fingers brushing just a little too close against your shoulder, the touch lingering for a beat longer than necessary. “What were you and Matt talking about? You looked a little bored." His tone was smooth but there was a faint edge to it now, like he was testing the air.

You noticed the subtle shift in his expression. His jaw tightening just slightly, his eyes narrowing for a fraction of a second as if he didn’t quite like the idea of you and Matt sharing a private moment.

You shrugged, trying to sound casual. "Just sport stuff and his latest victory for his team. He was just being friendly,” you added, trying to sound indifferent.

You didn’t miss the slight tightening of his jaw, the way his eyes flickered just briefly toward the ground before locking onto yours again.

Mike’s lips quirked into a knowing smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, he looked real friendly.” The smirk that followed didn’t help, pulling at the corner of his mouth as if he was more amused than you thought he should be.

You raised an eyebrow, narrowing your eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

For a moment, Mike just stared at you, his expression unreadable. “Nothing,” he said too quickly, the innocence in his voice so forced that you could almost feel the tension cracking around him. The grin stretched wider, like a challenge. “Just saying, if I didn’t know better, I’d think Matt was hitting on you.”

Your breath caught in your throat and a flush of heat spread across your cheeks. You tried to play it off, but there was no denying the way your heart stuttered in your chest. “He wasn’t,” you said quickly, your voice coming out a little more defensively than you intended.

"Either way. Figured I'd come over and I don't know... make the night more interesting for you. Prom only happens once, right? Gotta make the most of it. Besides—” His voice softens, his gaze locking onto yours with a sincerity that takes you off guard. "—I've been waiting for an excuse to spend some time with you."

You swallow, feeling the heat rise to your face as his words sink in. "You have?"

"Yeah," he murmurs, his thumb grazing your shoulder in a slow, deliberate motion. "I mean, I could've come over sooner but you were busy with your brother. Then you were with Matt and I figured, maybe it's time I got a little selfish."

The intensity in his gaze makes it hard to breathe and for a moment, all you can do is stare at him, caught between disbelief and exhilaration. "I... didn't think you noticed me like that," you admit, your voice barely above a whisper.

Mike's grin softens, his hand moving from your shoulder to gently rest on your waist, pulling you even closer. "I notice a lot more than you think," he murmurs, his voice low and husky. "Like how you always look away when you think I'm watching, or how you get that little crease in your forehead when you're trying not to smile too much."

Mike makes a silent note to himself to later thank Chris for the insights he’d shared minutes ago.

You laugh, feeling both embarrassed and overjoyed. "Okay, now you're just showing off."

He chuckles, his arm tightening around your waist as he dips his head a bit closer, his voice a soft murmur. "Can't help it. You’ve got me so close to losing it and you don’t even realize it." His fingers press gently into your side.

“Dance with me,” he murmurs, his voice low and laced with a tenderness that surprises you. There’s a quiet intensity in his eyes, a vulnerability that makes your heart race. “Let me be the happiest guy in this place tonight.”

You feel your pulse race at the invitation, your mind whirling with both excitement and uncertainty. "What about that girl you were with?" you ask, your voice quiet and hesitant, unable to stop yourself from wondering.

Mike's smirk returns, his hold on your waist tightening slightly as he leans in, his voice a soft, almost possessive murmur. "She's not you. You’re the only one I can’t get out of my head.” His voice is rough, coated in something darker.

You meet his gaze, feeling your breath hitch as you search his face, trying to process the weight of his words.

He takes his chance to lean in, his lips brushing softly against yours in a kiss that leaves your heart racing. His lips crashing into yours with a desperate urgency that leaves you reeling. His hand slides around your waist, fingers tightening as he pulls you against him. The heat of his body sears through your clothes, and his thumb traces a slow, deliberate line along your cheek, sending jolts of pleasure straight to your core.

When he finally pulls back, his lips are swollen, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, that familiar cocky edge in his eyes. His eyes burn with that familiar, dangerous gleam-a challenge, a promise. His breath is ragged, as if he's barely holding back.

"Still up for that dance? Because I've got this new boyfriend I'd really like to show off." he whispers, his voice low and teasing. His breath brushes your skin, sending a shiver down your spine. He looks at you with that trademark mischievous grin, the one that could melt anyone’s defenses.

A rush of warmth floods your chest at his words, a mixture of giddiness and disbelief. Your heart skips, caught between the sweetness of the moment and the thrill of his presence. The corners of your mouth twitch up as you meet his gaze, and though you can barely keep your composure, you nod.

Mike's grin widens and as he takes your hand, guiding you to the dance floor, you feel as if you're floating, lost in the warmth of his gaze and the excitement of being his.

Note: if you liked this, please leave a comment. I love reading them <3

[arrowmance]

[ ♥ ] 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟑, 𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

This letter is directed to... Leviathan, the Avatar of Envy. To the demon who I've fallen for, despite the distance.

❥ back to the masterlist : upcoming, 4th letter

Dear Leviathan,

It's been raining here in the human realm, aren't you cold? Because I know how difficult it is when you're alone shivering. Haha, get that joke? No? Okay.

Seriously, I've had a lot of friends out of reach, and the distance between us is... indescribable. Alright, do not come at me for how I portray my feelings, nor how my thoughts not making sense right now but, please, listen.

Call me a creep all you want, but I took note of our conversation the last time you called.

It was counterintuitive to make a call in the bathroom. Perhaps the first time around, it felt like a miracle. I was so used to being the one calling you when it's night time at this place, so imagine my surprise when you called me in the morning even.

And you didn't usually start the conversation how you do. Don't get the wrong idea it's not like you were being completely out of character or being overbearing or annoying, but it's the first question you asked:

"It's been raining here since you left, is it cold there?"

YES. OH MY FUCKING GOD, it has been very VERY cold since I left your place. Look, it's good to be home, like I missed this place, but oh my Diavolo did I miss all of you.

Especially my best friend, my full-time homie, my lifetime partner.

Because, if I'm being honest? Being alone sucks. And it's been so long since I've had someone that I was comfortable sharing my interests with, because...

We're both losers, aren't we? We're nothing more that losers in love. And yet, thinking about it just makes me all the more excited. I can't escape how while you keep describing yourself as this shut-in, good-for-nothing, useless otaku, but all I see is someone who does what he loves. Someone with no shame in screaming to this world and announce a passion. Didn't you realize half of the population don't even have the balls for that?

Really, it's endearing.

It's a great way to survive hell, and I'm glad I got to know you better. I'm glad you introduced me to TSL, and Ruri Tunes, and tens and thousands more of games and anime from your collection. I'm still catching up, barely making even 1/4 of that list, but you got good taste. And... aaaa...

I should've written about being a "Professional Avatar of Sins comforter" in that one essay instead…but hopefully, you would appreciate the little honorable mention you had in the written work.

"As much as I didn't have only 1 hobby, Leviathan sparked my interest in gaming like I'm a child again. Well, I'm actually grateful for that, so I'll thank the Otaku for now making it somewhat one of my hobbies." 

Gods, I sound like some sick teenager. So, hear me out, what if I did tell you I've fallen? And I like the way you play games and endless rants of the things you're most passionate about?

My heart skipped a beat at the sudden tune of "My Chance!" vibrating from my phone atop the plastic table, and you just had to let me release this part of me that I didn't even realize I have. Really, I'd do anything to see those familiar orange eyes and purple strands, running my fingers and combing your Justin Bieber style bowl cut (that you wear better).

“I’m not ready to save myself from the embarrassment that is talking like a lot already," you probably once said. "Just for you to not hear anything and I have to repeat it all over again and that's pretty awkward since I forgot what I said earlier or did I even say anything worth your time? Ahh I can’t believe I just wasted your time-”

I'd listen.

I'd echo this sentiment a million times on the stereo. I'd listen.

So when I look out when it rains, I find north.

Because I'd get to imagine the distance shorter, guided by that northern path. Whether I'm on the South, East or West, you'll be the one I'm looking for.

And if I don't make sense now? That's good, you'll figure it out eventually. Because there was never anyone else who synced with my thoughts like the rhythmic beats of my heart.

My player one, thank you.

Happy Holidays from here, and when it rains, I'll always remember you. While I'm here, alone. Shivering.

Thank you so that, even when the stars are gone, I'd have the rain.

I'd have you.

With love, Your Happy Place

© 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 2024. do not copy, modify, or repost any work as your own.

december 3rd, 2024 | wave dividers by cafekitsune

[emoelrics]

How Asa Captures the Experience of the Modern Teenage Girl

I truly have to applaud Fujimoto for his writing of Asa Mitaka. It’s been a while since I have seen such an inspired character and truly excellent writing of a teenage girl in shonen manga. In most shonens, the experience of a teenage girl is reduced to stereotypes like the tsundere or a love interest for the protagonist. *cough cough Naruto* But Fujimoto really shines bright among writers by turning his previously teenage boy led manga to a part led by deeply troubled and melancholic teenage girl.

Part 2 opens with a loss of autonomy specifically bodily autonomy which is something teenage girls are all too familiar with. Teenage girl’s decisions are made for them without any consideration of their own feelings and opinions. Parents, guardians, and other authority figures feel the need to make decisions  on behalf of the overly emotional and volatile teenage girl. Teenage girls are never taken seriously and no one really cares to sit down and listen to them. It is a prison -- to be caged in a body and mind that no one cares to pay attention to.

Teenage girls also lack their own bodily autonomy both physically and sexually. Teenage girl’s bodies are policed heavily and overly sexualized. Despite the over sexualization of their bodies, teenage girls are not empowered to make their own sexual decisions. While Asa is not overtly sexualized in the way she is drawn, we can tell that her body and other teenage girl’s bodies are deemed for consumption by authority figures. The teenage girl is never safe even if she is respectable, conservative, and demure; grown men and authority figures will still be tempted. As is exemplified by her teachers budding relationship with the class president and lust for Asa.  

I thought that it was so fascinating that the direct cause of Asa’s death is her male teachers lust and her classmate’s jealousy. It echoes true for many cases of grooming and it is an experience many girls are all too familiar with. Girls who are groomed lash against their peers due to the lies spoonfed to them by their adult male groomers. They will never find solidarity amongst fellow teenage girls instead they seem them as sources of competition. 

Not only does Fujimoto capture bodily autonomy and sexual desire perfectly, he perfectly embodies the inner monologue of teenage girls. Puberty for teenage girl’s is a pivotal moment in their lives. Childhood and innocence remain so far out of their reach as they are forced to mature quickly due to the nature of our society. 

These facts make it unsurprising that teenage girls exhibit high rates of mental illness. In a CDC survey, it was found that more than 57% of high school girls  “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.” Asa completely exemplifies this. She is lonely, sad, and isolated. With no one to trust or turn to for support, she is prone to destructing coping mechanisms. 

One of which is suicide as is covered in the falling devil arc. The crushing loneliness leads to an inability to trust peers/adults which further contributed to Asa’s suicide attempt. And in our modern day, 30% of the girls surveyed reported seriously considering suicide and 13% attempted suicide one or more times in 2021.

Young people in our day are struggling with the crushing fate of the world -- climate change, capitalism, and social upheaval. This contributes to mental illness. Asa too faces a similar fate -- a world marred by violence, lack of accountability and support from authority, and destruction left and right.

All in all, I am just so happy with how Fujimoto has written and dealt with Asa’s character. It’s real, raw, and respectful. And I’m sure so many teenage girls who read Chainsaw Man must find some sort in Asa and the struggles she deals with.  

[leviackermanscleaningbuddy]

72/10 & 74/5 Doesn't have to be pack but would be interesting to see ot8 reacting to reader saying the first half of each prompt. Like reader did something dumb (drank too much or did something dangerous while in a funk) and the guys are mixed emotions. Like some are all baby reader while at least 2 of them decided the cold facts are better.

SKZ PROMPT GAME

Prompts: "I want to get better, I just don't know how...." "That's bullshit."

"How, exactly, is this my fault?" "How is it not?!"

Members: OT8, Platonic BTS Appearance

Relationship: Mafia Boss's Daughter!FemReader x Rival Mafia!OT8

Genre: Angst

Warnings: Dark Themes, Guns, Mafia Shit, Hostages, Whump, Injuries, Torture, Minor Character Death

"Okay, no more surprises, right?" You ask into your earpiece hopefully, breathing hard, swiping some sweaty hair out of your eyes as you drag the last body into the storage closet and slam the door shut with your foot.

It's a tight fit, but you make it work.

"Yeah, right. Totally." Hoseok's voice echoes in response through the earpiece, and you hear keys clacking frantically somewhere in the background on some piece of equipment.

Something in his voice makes you take pause, and you blow out a huff of breath, leaning against the wall for a moment as you ready yourself to breach the next corner.

"Jung."

"Yeah, yeah. Here's the thing-" He hedges out, voice still bright, even though you're sure he's readying himself to tell you bad news. "-we accounted for all the security in our plans, right? But I'm getting some thermal imaging from the fourth floor that doesn't seem to fit."

You breathe out harshly through your nose.

The tactical gear you wear-dressed in black from head to toe-is making you sweat like a motherfucker, and the mask you wear is starting to itch.

"Fine. We'll deal with it when we get there." You bite out, creeping forward, gun held out cautiously in front of you, as you ready yourself to round the corner. "Just find us a clear path to the roof."

"Roger that."

You motion to the two men behind you to follow close on your trail, and dart around the corner, clearing the area with one discerning sweep of your gaze before you stand up straight and let out the breath you'd been holding.

"Fuck." One of the men behind you swears under his breath at the sight of the empty hallway, almost sounding disappointed. "I was really hoping there'd be more of our old friends waiting for us. I'm itching for a good brawl."

You toss him an unimpressed glance over your shoulder, and you see his eyes light with a grin behind his goggles as he shrugs easily, as if you haven't just finished demolishing almost a dozen men on your trek to this position on the second floor.

The other man elbows him hard in the side, making him yelp, even though you know he couldn't have felt it through the bulletproof vests you all wear.

Your father may be a bastard, but he'd taught you, and these men, how to prepare for a fight, you'd give him that much.

"Shut the fuck up, Tae. Only you would be disappointed we don't have a fight ahead of us."

"Park." You ignore their ribbing, and motion the other man forward to your side. He advances and listens closely as you say, "You and Kim take the north stairwell. I'll take the south. Hopefully Jeon will beat us to the rendesvouz point and back us up for whatever Jung saw on the imaging equipment."

"Got it, boss." Park intones seriously, before grabbing his buddy and dragging him down the hall to the intended stairwell.

You take a moment after they disappear, to catch your breath and quiet your thoughts.

You need to be on full firing mode for this next part.

You're about to face your father, and you can't back down. Not this time.

Not when he holds something so dear captive.

Creeping to the stairwell, you move upward, clearing the floors as you go, moving steadily toward your goal.

When you reach the door to the fourth floor, you pause, hand hovering over the doorknob.

"Jung."

"Yeah. I see you." You hear typing and then he says, "You're all clear from what I can see. Thermal imaging isn't picking anything up anymore."

You consider that, letting your hand drop to the door knob as you check in with the others.

"Kim. Park. You in position?"

"Roger that."

"Yes, ma'am."

You nod and take in a steadying breath, readying the gun in your free hand, ignoring the sweat that is dripping down your forehead and stinging your eyes.

"Min. You have visual of the rooftop?"

"Yeah." Your sniper comes in over the speaker, and you can hear the sneer in his voice when he says, "Bastard has everyone right where we thought he would."

That's good at least.

Your father has never been anything but predictable, and your little band of rebels, and friends, now defectors, used to be under his command, giving you the advantage in this attack.

You all know how he moves by now.

"Kim." You speak to the other hacker now, the one who has been silent all this time. "Make sure all the security feeds are looped still."

His deep, serious voice comes over your earpiece a moment later.

"Affirmative. You're good to move."

Taking that as your signal, you shove open the door to the fourth floor and go through, guns blazing.

No one is there.

"Fuck." You swear under your breath, because there should have been a small detail of your father's security here at least, if the pattern of the previous floors was to be believed, and it's suspicious that the floor is empty and silent.

Park and Kim appear from their respective stairwell at the same time as you, and you all stare each other down across the empty landing for a brief moment of frozen time.

"What the fuck-" Kim starts to say into his mic, glancing around, but is interrupted at the entrance of your fourth and final agent in the building.

"Jeon, what the fuck is going on here?" You demand, stepping toward the younger man, as he holsters his gun and slides a long knife out of a pocket on his tactical pants.

"They fucking all moved to the roof." He replies, slightly breathless, motioning with a jerk of his head to the open door behind him, leading to rooftop access. "They knew we were coming."

"Shit." Park swears vehemently, kicking his boot hard against the wall of the hallway, making a large whole in the flimsy dry wall.

"How did they find out?" Kim hisses at the youngest, who throws his arms in the air helplessly.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?! How, exactly, is this my fault?"

" How is it not?! You were advance recon!"

"Okay, okay." You cut in sharply, reaching up under your protective goggles to rub at your nose for a moment. "We go on with the plan. He was bound to be one step ahead of us, but we accounted for that, because we all know how the son of a bitch works. We're fine."

The men nod, gathering their composure, pulling out their weapons once more as you turn for the rooftop access.

"Let's go-"

Before you can motion them forward after you, a gun shot rings out and a bullet ricochets sharply against the metal doorframe above Jeon's head, making him swear and duck for cover.

The rest of you don't hesitate, scrabbling behind debris and doorways to avoid the sudden rain of gunfire.

"What the fuck-?" Kim says for the second time in as many minutes, raising his voice over the sound of gunfire, as he leans out around the doorframe and takes down one of the guards rushing from the opposite end of the hall. "We cleared that stairwell!"

"What's going on? We lost video feed!" You hear Jung say through your earpiece in a panicked sort of voice.

"They fucking ambushed us!" You shout back, leaning around your cover to take a shot at an advancing guard.

He goes down with a sharp cry and a bullet in the chest.

"Fuck." Jung swears, and you hear him scraping his chair across to another console. "I'll try to get feeds back up. Hang in there."

"Fucking bastards." Beside you, Park leans around your shoulder to shoot another guard, this time, taking him down with a well aimed shot to the head.

Kim laughs gleefully, a little unhinged, shooting another of your father's detail in the slit between their goggles and helmet, blood spraying like a fine film across the opposing wall as the man goes down.

Jeon slides across the floor to take cover on the opposite side of the hall, taking down another two guards as he does so, a knife lodged in one man's throat, a bullet through the other's skull.

You're suddenly very glad in that moment that they're all on your side.

Another guard goes down on the heap of piled bodies, and suddenly, the hallway is quiet, the ringing in your ears from gunfire pitching upward as the dying men fall silent.

You stand up carefully, gun still at attention, surveying the area, and Jeon stands up with a groan across from you.

"Fuck, you're hit." Park exclaims, and your gaze instantly whips to Jeon as the other man hurries to his side, carefully lifting his arm and expecting the gunshot wound there, blood seeping sluggishly through the dark fabric of his tactical gear.

"It's just a graze, Jiminie." Jeon says with a slight grunt and a half smile in the other man's direction. "Nothing I can't handle."

You let out the breath you've been holding and glance to the stairs that lead to the rooftop, to your father.

"Okay. Let's go."

Behind you, you hear the other three men follow you silently up the steps, then,

"Why didn't you fucking warn us about the move to the roof, hyung?" That's Kim, hissing into the mic.

"I didn't fucking find out in time." Min grates back in response, sounding furious and on edge. "They cut the lights when they cut the feeds."

"Shit." Park mutters. "Another sure sign they know we're coming."

"We're walking right into a trap." Jeon adds, though they don't stop following you up the stairs, not even hesitating as you reach the door at the top.

"I know, but what the fuck else can I do?" You snap back in response, hand already on the doorknob, gun at the ready. "I'm not letting him have this. Or them."

A heavy hand goes on your shoulder, and you glance over into Kim's dark eyes, flashing behind his goggles with determination.

"And he won't." He offers you the hint of a grim smile and motions toward the door with his chin. "Let's give him hell."

You take in a deep breath, glancing around at the other guys, who look just as determined as their brother, and nod.

"Alright. On my count."

"One."

You turn the door knob.

"Two."

All your guns go up, the guys shuffling in to flank you.

"Three."

You slam into the door with your shoulder and all emerge onto the rooftop.

And just like you thought, your father is standing there, surrounded by his most trusted security detail, and at their feet, with guns to all of their heads, is your eight men.

You hold your gun straight, pointed right at your father's chest as you advance, expression hard, the three men right on your heels, though their guns are aimed at members of the security guard that flank your father.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Your father sneers, smirking smugly as you come to a stop about twenty feet away.

You don't want to risk getting too close and having him shoot one of the men at his feet in retaliation.

"Let them go." You grit out, as your eyes flick quickly over your men, taking stock of them, making sure they're all still in once piece.

Everybody looks okay. Changbin's got a slowly bleeding gash over one eye, and Chan looks like he's been pummeled in the face by the butt of a gun, but they're all alive.

"Where's the fun in that?" Your father holds out his hands, stepping up between Hyunjin and Felix, leaning over to jostle the rope tying Felix's hands behind his back, even as he winces slightly at the movement. "You know that's not how these games are played, my dear daughter."

"Your games are with me and only me." You hiss back, noting the blooming bruise on the side of Jisung's face, anger welling hotly in your stomach at the sight.

Your father tsks disappointedly, and motions to the men at your back.

"You made the game bigger after you sided with those traitors." Your father spits out, spitting on the ground in front of you, and you feel Kim tense beside you, but he holds his position.

He retreats slightly, moving to stand behind Jeongin, twisting his fingers in his hair as he tugs his head back roughly and forces him to meet your gaze. There's drying blood on his lips.

"After you chose them over me."

"It's easy to chose someone, anyone, over a father who never gave a shit about you." You sneer back, smirking now, as anger flashes in the depths of your father's dark eyes.

"I grow tired of this." He remarks coolly, tugging at his expensive suit, as he falls back behind the safety of his men once more. He waves a hand in your direction. "Kill them. But save her for last." He fixes you with a dangerous glare. "I want her to watch while I kill her little boyfriends in front of her."

The guards crack their knuckles, advancing toward you, and you mutter into your earpiece, "Kim. Do it now."

Your father laughs-a cold, unhinged sort of song. "Please." His eyes flick to Kim standing beside you, a haughty look on his face. "He can't get you out of this."

The corner of your mouth tips up, as a tall, dark figure appears on the rooftop behind your father and his men.

"Wrong Kim." You remark triumphantly, watching as your father's eyes widen minutely, before a chain of explosions echo around you and send the rooftop into chaos.

You dive out of the way of some of the debris as shouts ring out, losing sight of the other men as you make your way across the destroyed rooftop toward where you last saw your men.

There is the sound of gunshots to your left, and then you hear someone go down with a scream, but it's not one you recognize, so it must have been some of your father's security.

"Min." You mutter breathlessly, ducking behind a chunk of asphalt, as you shoot and take down another guard wandering in the smoke. "Take the stragglers out."

"Got it."

You jump over a fallen electrical line, sizzling in a puddle near the stairwell door, gun at the ready, and see a familiar form through the lingering ash up ahead.

Chan's gotten loose and is in the process of untying Seungmin, who has a nasty looking black eye, as Minho picks up a fallen guard's gun and covers them from the back.

He catches sight of you at the same time you see them, and before you can stop yourself, you're dropping your guard and running to him, taking his face in your hands and inspecting him, relieved just to have him alive and warm beneath your touch.

"Fuck." You breathe out, taking in the blood trickling slowly from what seems to be a split lip.

"Yeah." Minho remarks, giving you a lopsided smirk and an arched brow, always the one to keep his cool. "Fuck."

Chan finishes up with Seungmin and pushes himself to his feet, taking your chin in his fingers and inspecting your own face behind the tactical gear you wear with worried eyes.

"Fuck, princess. Are you okay?"

You laugh, but it's sorta choked, and nod as he caresses your jaw with his fingers.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"Thank god." He lets out a harsh breath and glances over his shoulder as the others come to join you, Hyunjin supporting Felix, who is holding his ribs.

You're just glad you're all still alive for this little reunion.

Changbin glares into the smoke, the gash above his eye still sluggishly dripping. "Where the fuck did that bastard go?"

"Hopefully killed in the blast." Jisung remarks, eyes narrowing dangerously, as he takes an offered gun from Minho and scans your immediate surroundings.

You open your mouth to respond, and an arm goes around your throat, dragging you backward from the men before you can react, knocking your weapon out of your hand.

You feel the cold steel of a gun go against your temple and then your father's voice, "Well, isn't this touching."

Chan's expression hardens as he stares your father down. "Don't do anything stupid, Reginald."

Your father laughs, and pulls you tighter against him, your breath choking in your throat, his words hissing hotly against your ear.

"We're far past stupid, aren't we, Mr. Bang? We passed stupid the moment you fucked me over in that little exchange of product and then took my daughter from me."

"We didn't take anything." Minho reasons coldly, expression unreadable, gun still in his hand. "Not the product. Not your daughter."

"Seems people-suppliers and daughters alike-have a habit of leaving you to find something better, hm, Reggie?" Changbin muses easily, though his eyes are hard and gleaming, like steel.

"Shut the fuck up." Your father snarls, wildly digging the gun into the side of your head, finger shaking over the trigger. "Don't push me or you won't like the consequences."

"And you-" He tangles his fingers into your hair roughly and yanks your head back so hard that you whimper slightly. He gives you an unhinged, dangerous grin, gun still aimed at your head. "-you are useless to me now. Soiled and ruined. The Yakuza's heir will want nothing to do with you, a common whore."

You bite down on your lip so hard you taste copper as he yanks your head back even farther, the gun digging into your skin painfully.

"All you had to fucking do was give me an heir, you little bitch, that's all I asked. Give me an heir to the family business, tie us up in the dealings with the Yakuza, but now-"

He laughs wildly, and you can tell, your father is losing control.

"-now you're nothing but their-" He waves the gun maniacally at your men, watching cautiously, not daring to make a move with your life hanging in the balance '-little slut, and I think it's time we end this whole charade."

"No, please." You gasp out, putting on your fakest, weakest, most imploring tone for him, keeping your face pleading even as he yanks on your hair once more. You force tears from the corners of your eyes. "Please don't kill me. I swear, father, I'll come back. I'll make good on my promises-"

His arm tightens around your throat and you choke on your next words, but his gun hand wavers against your temple.

Your father has always loved women who beg on their knees for him. It's his one weakness.

"Please! Please! I beg of you! I'm sorry! I'll do better. I promise! I want to get better, I just don't know how-!"

You swallow hard, trying to get air past his encroaching arm, and your father's lips pull into a sneer as he stares down at you, bold hatred brewing in his eyes.

"That's bullshit." He hisses out between his teeth, and his finger moves to the trigger once more.

You drop the act, glowering up at him.

"Yeah, it is. Get fucked, you son of a bitch."

His face contorts with rage and as his fingers pulls down on the trigger, you bash your head back into his face, his nose crunching beneath the force of your blow as he howls.

The gun goes off, but it misses, and you whirl out of his grip, taking out his legs with one sweep of your own, catching him off guard as he tries to stem the gushing blood from his broken nose.

He goes down hard, and you don't miss a beat as you pick up the dropped gun, standing over him with the barrel pointed right at the center of his head.

Your father glares up at you, hands still over his bleeding nose, and spits bloodstained spittle at your feet.

The front of his expensive suit is dampening quickly with crimson blood.

What a waste. Just like him.

You feel your men congregate at your back, and you hold your gun hand steady, staring down at the man who made your life a living hell, now nothing, groveling at your feet.

"If you beg, I might let you live." You offer in a hard tone, clicking back the hammer of the gun to cock it.

His eyes flash and he opens his mouth, but nothing comes out, blood dripping from his nose, down his lips.

"She might-" Chan steps up beside you, a hand going down on your shoulder as he stares down with unbridled hatred at the man at your feet. "-but I won't."

You cock your head, studying your father, and tsk slightly, like you're mulling something over. You crouch down, lowering the gun slightly, and stare right into his soulless rage-filled gaze.

"You know." You muse as he glares at you, gun still pointed vaguely to the center of his chest. "I used to dream of this day. Killing you, making you beg me for mercy, just like I begged you all those nights in my bedroom."

"But." You shrug, tossing the gun easily between your hands as you consider him. "My begging fell on deaf ears, and you know what? I think you deserve to know what that feels like. Goodbye, father."

You stand, and without another word, shoot your father in the head.

His body goes limp and blood pools beneath him, staining the already reddening ground a deep burgundy, soaking his expensive Armani suit.

"It's a shame." Hyunjin remarks off handedly, as Kim, Park, and Jeon all emerge on the other side of your father's body, pulling off their tactical masks. "It was a nice suit."

[cyanbugremix]

Reductive Audio #7 Spoilers

Uhh this is just a list of my favorite facts from the reductive audio

All d(a)emons are ambidextrous, and Ivan is left-handed, but the cool part is that Ivan became ambidextrous when Vega was controlling him (idk is that cool?? It's interesting for sure)

Brachium has only ever experienced vanilla extract through the memories of the dead.

Caelum on the other hand has made a "Vanilla Extract Tumblr Cake" (one of those polls where people "bake a cake" and it has too much vanilla extract voted for, i think) and it turned out horrible!

In Mario games, Elliot was forced to play as Luigi by Aaron, because of his at home nickname being "Ell/L" and Luigi starts with an L (you get the gist. It sounds the same)(Elliot wanted to be toad tho)(Aaron would play as Mario)

Gavin technically can and has pretended to read a book, he just has never actually committed to doing so

Lasko is scared of heights even though he knows that he could catch himself if he were to fall, so he thinks the fear is annoying

Damien peut parle français (Where did Damien learn french?? At home? School? As a hobby?)

Ash was taller than David, until David hit puberty and shot up (thus the big guy nickname came to be)(Seriously tho. So many boys would shoot up in like 3 months during summer break and be wayy tall when we'd get back to school and I was always amazed that someone could grow that tall that quick)

Oof T-T Sam was close with his Grandma Adeline (Adelene?), and when she passed he went back home to Mont Blanc to say goodbye to her grave (he snuck into the cemetery at night because he was a vampire by then)

Kody was gonna originally be involved with Closeknit, but then his character was taken in a different direction (makes lots of sense. He would be a closeknit guy)

Huxley was the fastest kid in his grade because he was obsessed with Bionicles (specifically pohatu with the mask of speed) (omg i forgot about bionicles until I looked them up again. I never did anything with them but I remember them)

Milo doesn't drink alcohol because he doesn't want to find out if he can get addicted to things as easily as his dad

Avior has HEARD of Gavin but never met him before

Oldest 3 d(a)emons in order: Polaris (Dead), Vega (dead for a bit but alive again), Ursa (elation daemon)

Camelopardalis has been in therapy for 2 years to work through the the bad memories that he had to keep of the whole Vega and Ivan problem (and he hasn't wiped his therapists memories yayy!!)

Arden took out the second most shades (David is the winner in taking out the most) during the Inversion, and Christian and her defended the VIP box through the whole night, even when Christian couldn't stay in wolf form

Kelsey started the Chrissy nickname! (Arden and Asher use it the most)

Aaron, when Elliot's powers first manifested, would imagine what it was like to be magical (He wanted to be a "Warder" and do force field stuff)

BLAKE WAS GOING TO ORIGINALLY BE CALLED CARVER OMG

Zeke (Member of Closeknit) drinks "Cactus Cooler" (orange and pineapple soda)

Xavier (contra-elemental) was originally supposed to survive the inversion

Bailey's mother is beta of the Keaton pack

DJ Anxiety (Hudson) still makes mixes, he just hasn't done live DJ-ing since the Inversion

Gregory Keaton doesn't exist in the Fooliverse (his parents never met in that AU)

Anton doesn't like gore, and bcuz of that he prefers black and white horror movies (modern ones often have too much gore in them) (Such a vibe for him)

Brachium was the last serenity daemon created by Min'Ara's own hands

E'Laetum has a grudge against Vega because Vega was specifically built to be the opposite of Polaris (even tho the dude didn't have a say in his creation)

Quinn sounded like he was interested in turning Darlin' (but they never could figure out if he was serious or not)

Hush was supposed to originally be apart of one of Echo's "deals"

Porter's maker was a dude named Felix, who got executed because Felix seemed to really like creating progeny (as well as being horrible to them)

Alexis resents Porter for becoming William's favorite when he wants someone to go out and do whatever, because Alexis does more "collateral damage" than Porter

(And there's cool Vampire lore from The Summit vampires from 26:18-27:36)

[latibulater]

lloyd venture is such a weirdo character to me but really like......

i think lloyd and rusty would have gotten along of what little we say how lloyd acts he is written very comically "how dare you sir i smell of freshly cut flowers" when he gets called stinky,

and the phrasing he uses "the orb is a source of untold power, we must take our time and learn how to harness that power for the good of mankind" is then echoed by rusty at the end "we don't know what it is yet, it could be dangerous" "we need to study this, and if we find it'll help mankind move peacefully forward, then we shall share its teachings" like, that is NOT Jonas at all.

I feel like Lloyd was about practicing restraint and cautiousness while Jonas rebelled against that and acted with impunity by recklessly put those around him in danger for his own curiosity/amusement/profit. and he was so profitable and an ally of the government thats how he got said impunity. like, we know ofc Lloyd was a piece of shit businessman with the whole milliner factory, but all the characters are pieces of shit and i do think Jonas' relationship with the government, in contrast to how his father was a part of a secret society, is a unique aspect of how shitty Jonas is in contrast to the crappy actions of all the other characters.

And so of course, Rusty is kind of a bounce back in Lloyd's direction of restraint because he has firsthand experienced and witnessed the ramifications of super science and its affect on the public. Rusty still ofc is his father's son i.e. mutating the escorts in PROM and his everything in Clean Suit. He is much more cautious though, and feels a need to study things a lot more closely than he was encouraged too.

I can see a young Rusty, smart but not astonishing, making his way through different assignments his fathers leaves him and getting mocked for taking so long, or Rusty becoming interested in something new and beginning to learn it and his father telling him to give it up and come help Daddy instead since Rusty clearly isn't picking up on it (quick enough for an impatient Jonas)

I do wonder a lot of Rusty ever knew his grandfather, or seriously what the rest of the Venture family is like. Do you think there's some people in Denver that roll their eyes every time Rusty is on the news and like "yep thats my second cousin, what a freak show". Like, I really doubt Jonas was the only son of Lloyd and I doubt Lloyd was the only son of his own father, much less to say of the in-law and extended family.

SERIOUSLY like I desperately want a s8/s9 where the Ventures are now back in Colorado and Dean and Hank end up meeting extended family they never realized they had. I WANT THEM TO HAVE MORE LOVED ONES AND PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THEM!!!!!!!

Society if Lloyd had been a part of Rusty's life v.s. Society if Jonas had been a part of Hank and Dean's life

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

It’s not every day your childhood friend gets married, but it’s also not every day you get to talk to an actress you’ve adored for a decade. And thus, I found myself, anxiety-riddled, in my car, in the non-distinct parking lot of a brewery in Florida.

Then Rebecca Ferguson lights up my phone screen, radiating that same magnetic energy that first caught my eye in the 2013 miniseries The White Queen. She’s well-spoken, charming, witty, and brimming with passion as she discusses her Apple TV+ dystopian drama, Silo.

In addition to playing the lead role of engineer Juliette Nichols, Ferguson also serves as an executive producer on the series, becoming involved with Silo quite early on and using her position of power to listen, speak up when needed, “and care for the people on set.” The result is a work environment she loves, friendships with her VFX team, and adoration for her cast, including Harriet Walter, David Oyelowo, and Tim Robbins.

As I mentioned, Rebecca Ferguson is a pure delight. I’d happily step out on any family function for a chance to pick her brain, but what she’s far too humble to mention, a fact that is abundantly clear to droves of viewers (and hopefully, awards voters too)—is that a central reason why Silo works so well—— is because Ferguson is pitch-perfect in the role. We become so invested in the many twisted mysteries of Silo because we’ve become invested in her. Ferguson’s Juliette is strong and commanding, a true badass, fighting to uncover the truth. But as we peel back the layers, we see a subtle, heart-breaking vulnerability that adds a layer of complexity that only an actress with Ferguson’s seriously impressive range can deliver.

To echo Ferguson herself, “Please just watch season one.”

Awards Daily: Rebecca, you got involved with Silo early on. How has your input shaped the show and shaped Juliette as a character?

Rebecca Ferguson: It’s a big question with a very non-simple answer. I mean, I think my involvement is by casting the people you cast. You get the characters that you get. Do you know what I mean? You read a script, and you analyze the character, and you talk to [the team].

It’s a tricky, intense question. I mean, things come about by creating, listening, reading, thinking, and researching, right?

AD: Juliette is such an interesting character in that she’s initially very stoic and we peel back the layers of who she is as the show goes on. We learn more about her relationship with George (Ferdinand Kingsley). We learn more about her father (Iain Glen) later on. How did you calibrate your performance, knowing that a lot of the big reveals would happen later in the show?

RF: It’s kind of on the page. It’s like any film or any acting job that you do. We don’t reveal everything straight away, right? When we do a Mission Impossible film, we don’t tell you about the syndicate. It’s what storytelling is all about, right? You do scene by scene.

AD: Did you find that you had to approach Silo any differently?

RF: No, I didn’t. I’m very simple in the sense that I read a script. I like the character, and I start deep diving and do the work that I need to do to bring her forth. There’s nothing different to the process of anything. Everything is different in the sense that it depends on the people you work with. I have four different directors. It’s a little different, but the process for me is the same.

AD: What is your process? Are there certain ways that you like to break down the script?

RF: I mean, no. To be honest, I don’t really talk about my process because it’s my process, but I like the show, I love the scale of the set, I love the team, and I love the fact that I get to sit in on the writer’s rooms if I’m allowed to. I get to be a part of the process. You know, it’s a love journey for me. This is a baby; this job is. It’s one of the happiest jobs that I’ve ever done.

AD: The set is so extraordinary. What is it like to be in that environment, to run through those stairs?

RF: That’s phenomenal. The fact that Apple has actually put so much effort into letting creators create the environment. You know, we have people come for set visits to see it because it’s so incredible. And we have three different locations where we film, in one area, in one town outside of London.

I’m so close to the visual effects guys. They’re very good friends of mine, [VFX supervisors] Paul [Bongiovanni] and Daniel [Rauchwerger], And I often ask them, ‘Okay, I can see the stairs. We’re looking at four turns that I can run, and we run them all the time up and down and up and down, and they’re different levels, right?’

But I often ask, ‘Show me what you’re doing. I want to see the visual effects that you’re going to put on so that I can act against the incredibleness that you’re going to bring.’ Because, to be honest, the silo wouldn’t be [possible] without the VFX team.

AD: Does having this level of access change how you might approach another project?

RF: You know what, that’s such a good question. I think being so much on the front foot. And being the lead and having a producer role. By producer role, I don’t analyze that in the sense that I know what a producer is, and I put a cap on it. I just have a voice, and I speak, and I listen, and I care for the people on set.

It’s a very, very, very good environment on our set. There is no hierarchy. Everyone does what they need to do because they’re hired to do a good job. No one steps in on someone’s toes. It’s collaborative. Not all sets are run like this.

So after Silo, I was worried about doing other films because I was thinking, ‘How am I going to react when sets are moody and when people are not nice, and when there are egos.’ But to be honest, I did Dune. I mean, it was a good place to go. I was like, ‘Oh, I can lean back. We’re good. This is run pretty well.’ And then I did Silo season 2 again, and then I did something else, and now I’m doing a thing [sci-fi drama Mercy] with Chris Pratt, who is one of the nicest human beings, ever.

I’m doing well, and I’m very fortunate with the sets and the environments, but I think I’ve learned—and I’ve learned this from Mission and Tom [Cruise] as well, who speaks up a lot—if things don’t work, communicate it.

Be clear, pause, listen, and take in when people who don’t really have a strong voice are trying to say something, and give them space to actively feel that they are involved in the process as well. That’s how you get the best of everyone.

AD: Did you make any adjustments coming into season two?

RF: No, I think it was all very much the same. Because we’d found a formula that just worked, we had new crew members, which was sad. We’d lost a couple to other shows. But other than that, I think we had about 80 percent of the people back. People were knocking to come back. It’s just a really happy set. And no, nothing’s new. New directors, so taking and listening to their approach and seeing how that works. But they also understand that they’re walking onto a functioning set.

AD: What is it like for you to be at the center of this thing that has become a cultural phenomenon? People are anxious for season two. I mean, it’s exciting, right?

RF: So exciting. Someone asked me, ‘When was the moment when you realized that this was something?’ I didn’t look for that. But it was the moment when Apple called. The show was out, the numbers were coming in, I read a couple of reviews, my husband was probably looking [things] up and kind of going, ‘it’s good. It’s good.’ But I didn’t want to take it in. Apple called, and they said, ‘It’s good. People are liking it.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, the numbers don’t lie. People are actually watching it.’ And the reviews were good, and they were compelled, and they were feeling what I had felt reading it and making it. And that is huge for me because I really care. I really fucking care.

AD: Okay, last question, if you could pick any role or position within the silo, what would you be? You’re so regal. You’d make a good mayor.

RF: Yeah, but I’m also Juliette, who’s not regal, right?

AD: Well, if you weren’t Juliette.

RF: I think that it would be really boring up top, to be honest. I think the regulations are dull, right? I think I would either be middle. I like farms and greenery. I need all of that. I’d probably run my own little shop of something, little knickknacks, paddywhacks. But I would have a foot down in the deep.

AD: Rebecca, I know this show means a lot to you. As I let you go, is there anything I haven’t asked you about that you’d like to mention? Do you have any final thoughts?

RF: Thank you. I mean, no, I think you’ve really nailed most of it. And I think the fact is people know the show is dystopian. And if you like the genre, I believe you would really love the characters around it. It has the most incredible cast, and it has a cast that has really nurtured their characters and the evolution of the characters. The fact that we’re going into season two is so overwhelmingly exciting. It makes me want to grab people and go, ‘Please just watch season one and know that we’re going into shit that is intense.’

[robertfettuccine]

My Post-May the Fourth Bad Batch Thoughts

there's lots of 'em

[spoilers]

To start off, I was So excited for the finale I stayed up to watch it when it came out (1am in my time zone) and idk it didn’t feel worth it to do that during finals week after watching the ep

Maybe I had too high expectations but I figured that to wrap up the entire show we’d at least get an hour? Maybe more? I was hoping for something like the s1 premiere but no 51 minutes and you suffer.

Ok I've decided to put my thoughts into 15 minute increments for Organization Purposes

Part One thoughts:

Ok so right away I feel the "wrecker is gonna die" vibes. "Can you make it?" "Try and stop me." It feels very final it feels like he won't. I def thought my first time around that he wasn't gonna make it

The way Hemlock holds that gloved hand... I thought surely that had to be important somehow. I've been wondering about it since he was introduced.

Echo looks like handsome squidward sorry

The way Omega rewires the droid.. Tech. But the way she starts giving orders to the rest of the kids is so Hunter. She really is her fathers' (plural) daughter.

Sidenote the way her theme combines with a light, string-heavy version of the Bad Batch theme while she and the kids are getting ready to leave the vault... mmmm me when music

Ok back to the Batch and ough.. Wrecker is seriously hurt this had me so nervous they're out of med patches I thought for Sure he was gone

Imagine you're in the military and you get sent to some super secret boring base and your whole job is to stand around and guard a submerged lizard (?) and you're already confused and over it and then you find a bunch of kids in your walls???

WOw this is really minor but the cut from the kids and the Zillo to Echo and Emerie at 9:46 felt Really awkward. That's all.

the HAND thing again what is With that Hemlock??

Wrecker again with the Dying

REX MENTION!!!!! WTF IS A BAD HELMET PAINT JOB

"Clone Force 99 died with Tech" what a great line. If only it carried emotional weight within the rest of the story. If only the character's actions made that make sense. Hmm.

"If we all go in, we're not all making it out" see this is why I thought I was getting rogue one'd

"Omega needs you both" is sweet and cool, but she doesn't. She's proved this whole season that she's competent on her own. Idk.

Plan 99 namedrop? Also crosshair's self hatred and guilt is so devastating he's constantly trying to atone and it's so.....

Tech namedrop????? And for WHAT??????????

nOO that stormtrooper.. they done squished his ass

Jax is afraid of heights! Just like Wrecker!! Good character moment for everybody.

Part 1 TLDR: The first third of this episode was full of contrast, which was super interesting to watch. Omega and the kids are doing great, the lighting on them is generally softer and.. idk, lighter. They get hopeful music and they succeed. The Batch on the other hand..... everything is so ominous. It feels like somebody's gonna die (and it feels like it's Wrecker). My main gripes: some of the jump cuts feel like the episode was hastily stitched together and they don't make sense, I don't really know what to do with that knowledge. The Plan 99 conversation didn't make any sense within the context of this season (I'll elaborate later). Positives: Omega is really winning this ep, you can see all of her brothers in her and it's beautiful. What they've done with her theme in the music I Love. That moment with Omega and Jax when he says he's afraid of heights is really sweet.

Part Two Thoughts:

Ok starting off strong, Scorch questioning his orders for a bit? He's going to lose brothers? The door closes before we can hear what he says over the comm? I really thought maybe Scorch redemption.

Ok Hemlock is activating the CXs. There's four of them.

They all have different armor.. and different body types.. very similar to the batch....... hmmmmmmm

CX-2!! *clown noises*

Ok close up on the same CXs from before. One of them uses blades. One has.. sci-fi brass knuckles? CX-2 is there. This feels like Evil Bad Batch.

THE CLOSE UP ON CX-2 SPECIFICALLY WHY IS HE IMPORTANT

wrecker dying again uhnnnnnnhnhhhhhhhhhh

The brass knuckles CX just grabbed a panel of Something and used it as a shield. That's Plan 82. That's Wrecker's job.

WHY IS THERE ONE WITH GOGGLES JUST LIKE TECH'S? WHY

Goggles clone duel wields sword-vibroblades. ?

The one with the staff.. Hunter?

Ok Vibro-Sword CX, why toss the Sword to CX-2 so he can cut off Crosshair's hand? Why not just do it yourself? Those things have enough reach that he could have sliced it off himself.

The way CX-2 talks is Just like Crosshair. The inflections are exactly the same.

Ok I get Hemlock's a sadist but why keep the Batch alive at all? Seems like that's more dangerous than experimenting on them is productive

Echo and Omega's reunion is lovely. "Hey kid. And... other kids." he's doing amazing

Using the Chief Scientist's datapad just like last time Omega escaped... nice.

Hemlock's hand again.

Ok so crosshair just gets a hand stump and we move on?? This whole scene felt weird and out of place to me but Especially that.

Yeah!! Clone rebellion. Echo is Fives if he won (and had no melanin)

Maybe Electrostaff CX is Wrecker? He seems taller and has a wider build.

But nvm Brass Knuckles CX plays wrecker's part in the batch and Electrostaff doesn't

GOGGLES AGAIN WITH THE SWORDS?? WhY isn't CX-2 fighting with the rest why is he with Hemlock why does he stand out so much WHY

"My work will always be Kaminoan" yeah Nala Se isn't redeemed for me she's still a supremacist and a eugenicist and she and Rampart both deserved what they got. Satisfying ending for them both though.

Part 2 TLDR: This part had a ton of potential. There were a lot of suspenseful and mysterious shots. The story started getting more intense, even though the kids escaped successfully. There was weight there, and as an audience we could tell how much was on the line. I loved watching this part. My main gripes: Honestly none with this part alone. All of it felt pretty in-character, it had depth, it had weight, and it had meaning in the story. It makes less sense when we get to Part 3 though. Positives: I absolutely loved watching this part of the ep. It had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out just what was going on with the CXs and who wasn't going to make it out. Giving Echo the chance to continue his brother's mission and free the clones was great. Nala Se and Rampart both got a fitting end, I was very satisfied with that as well.

Part Three Thoughts:

Wrecker is fighting Staff Guy (possibly Evil Wrecker) oh that would've been so cool

And they just STABBED HIM?? JUST LIKE THAT?? What was with the focus on CX-2 throughout the ENTIRE SEASON when he literally Didn't Matter At All???

We're not even gonna talk about the hand then huh. Ok.

Closeup of the Goggles Helmet?? What was the purpose. What was it.

And then they have SOmeone pick up the sword and helmet all ominously and then it's just some guy. We see his face. It kinda looks too small for his body. Like bad photoshop

Ok so echo doesn't have lungs? or like..

There is Such a focus on the Goggles. Like we were never supposed to see his face. Like it was maybe supposed to be suspenseful.

Ok why so ominous if Wrecker is just gonna shove his face into a wall instantly? Why all the suspense and cool shots?

When CX-2's ship blew up I thought for sure it was from Rex or Phee's ship. But no. (can regular DC-15s even Do that?)

HNNNNNHG wet hair Hunter

SCORCH?? Ok so he could have been some random guy and it wouldn't have made a difference. What was the purpose. Why did he have a name? Why bring in a Legends character just to get rid of him in the most anticlimactic way possible?

Hemlock threatening Omega literally doesn't make any sense? It carries Zero weight. Omega even brings it up and Hemlock doesn't respond. Because it doesn't make sense for his character. Why.

Nice little callback with Crosshair's shoulder rest

Crosshair shooting Omega's binders off should be a tense moment but it's not. There's nothing at stake here. We know he won't shoot Omega. What am I supposed to be feeling?

Ok seeing Hemlock just get absolutely Pelted was nice

She hugged Crosshair first. Maybe we can start resolving some of his guilt. If we actually took time to show characters processing their emotions.

We're Still not talking about the hand? That feels notable, is that just me???

Ok and everyone just.. leaves. We just leave. It's done? Where was the climax supposed to be genuine question

Ok so we're namedropping now. Project Stardust with a nice subtle imperial march in the background. Okay?

We are back on Pabu now. The clone kids are there. The clones are there. The kids are there. Emerie is there. Everybody's happy.

Where is Phee?

Echo's ending is actually fine. I went into this ep the first time thinking for Sure he was going to die. Instead he's doing what Fives died trying to do. He's the last Domino but he doesn't have to fall and I think that's ok. But why isn't he with Rex in Rebels?

"With Hemlock gone, and his data destroyed, they're finally safe" - M. Night Shyamalan in the ATLA movie because we must Tell our audience Everything. Seriously why are we telling the audience something they can see? Why does Omega say that out loud? Nobody would say that. It's obvious. That line was just SO out of place

No real goodbyes for Echo though? No sweet character moments? No reactions from anyone?

Nice clones theme though. Fives would be proud.

All the dialogue between Omega and Hunter in this final scene just feels so.. off. Lazy. Show us what's going on, don't tell.

Why do Crosshair and Wrecker feel like such an afterthought here? Why is it so Awkward? Why were they over saying goodbye to Echo and Omega and Hunter weren't? It feels like they weren't supposed to make it out. It feels weird. It feels forced.

Part 3 TLDR: This was the part of the ep that just fell flat for me. It had some cool moments, but it felt really rushed and poorly thought out. It feels very out of place with the previous 30mins. It almost feels to me like it was rewritten, although I may just be delusional. My main gripes: This part of the ep should have had the big emotional moments and also wrapped up all the loose ends introduced in the rest of the season. It did none of that for me. Why cut off Crosshair's hand to have none of the characters really acknowledge his sacrifice? That isn't a resolution to his arc. None of the Things that happened to the Batch this season were processed at all, and everyone except Hunter and Omega was pretty much sidelined towards the end. CX-2, who was built up all season, died in a super unsatisfying way. The dialogue and staging of that final scene felt super off. The cavalry never arrived. Positives: As always, the Kiners killed it. The music was great. I love a happy ending, that rarely happens in Star Wars and I would've absolutely eaten it up under the right circumstances. Watching Hemlock finally get it was super satisfying. Echo's ending as a continuation of the Domino Squad's quest for clone individuality was really fitting actually. That One shot of Tantiss... glorious.

Epilogue Thoughts:

The way the city is set up on Pabu makes it look just like Tantiss in the overhead shot.

Aww the red bandana in Omega's hair

Hunter aged much better than Rex.

"We want to keep you safe" "You're our kid Omega" OK WHERE IS THE WE? WHERE IS THE OUR????

Ha she's taller than him short king Hunter wins

"Keep an eye on Wrecker and Crosshair" you're not gonna say bye? They aren't gonna see you off?? No way Wrecker would be ok with that

The GOGGLES :((((

Omega's lil salute like Tech in S2E4 Faster my heart

Where are Crosshair and Wrecker in the epilogue. It feels like a weird choice to leave them out. They're just as much her dads as Hunter is.

Epilogue TLDR: Honestly I liked that this was their ending. Finally, some Star Wars characters can have peace. With that said, My main gripes: significant lack of Crosshair and Wrecker, who absolutely wouldn't have let omega leave without saying goodbye. Similarly, lack of Phee, who seemed to be becoming a mother figure to Omega. I can't imagine she wouldn't have seen her daughter off. Positives: old Hunter. We don't get to see that many clones age, and Rebels animation, as much as I love it, just didn't quite do it justice. It was great to see some characters get to actually live out full (ish) lives at peace. Also older Omega's character design was peak.

Oooookay so this ended up being a Lot longer than I intended it to be when I started writing it but I just had a lot of thoughts on the finale and needed to put them somewhere. I loved the experience of being a part of the Bad Batch fandom from start to finish, and I made some great memories for sure. While the finale wasn't necessarily what I was hoping for from this show, I loved being delusional with everybody. Plus, this isn't the end. (we know they won't give up the clone wars animation style it makes them too much money)

[tavyliasin]

BG3 FicFeb NSFW - Day 3

I'll be honest with you darlings I had every intention of making this one spicy but then feelings happened? Still, it was fun to write, and an interesting scenario I might re-use at a later date. Shortfic below the cut (still NSFW) with some CW/Tags for angst, hurt/comfort, scars, wounds, mention of character trauma, but I promise it is mostly on the fluffy comforting side~

----- -----

Day 3 - Body Worship

It had been far too long since Tav had found an opportunity to bathe properly. Not just scrubbing off with a damp cloth, or dunking into a freezing lake, a proper warm bath. Of course, taking advantage of having access to a brothel’s finer rooms whilst investigating a disappearance was something she took very seriously. She had to be completely certain she wouldn’t miss a vital clue amongst the perfumed soaps and soft towels. Who knew when the last piece of information they needed might be at the bottom of a wine bottle, or lurking in the bowl of fresh fruit…

“Well, that is certainly better than a murky pond.” Astarion echoed her thoughts as he sank into the water beside her. “Gods that feels good.” 

“We should take up the role of investigators more often.” Tav chuckled, reaching for the silver bowl that held a fresh sponge and some soaps. “Here, let me, for once.” 

“You don’t need to-”

“I want to.” She left little room for further complaint, taking his hand in her own and delicately sponging away the dirt that seemed to cling to his nails.

“I am not about to break, you know.” He watched her with an eyebrow raised as she continued to be far more gentle than he felt he deserved. 

“I know.” If anything, Tav slowed slightly, taking a moment to caress his fingers reverently. “But the world has been rough enough with you lately. Is there anything wrong with a little tenderness instead?” 

“Yes- No. Maybe.” He wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say as she brought his hand to her lips and kissed each fingertip in turn. “You…Well…” He sighed, giving in to her care instead for now.

“Relax, Astarion, please.” She trailed a line of kisses up his forearm to his elbow, her fingers gently brushing the faint lines of decades old scars and far fresher bruises marking his pale form. “You know, you really are beautiful.” 

“I know.” He replied, out of reflex. “Sorry, old habits… I suppose truly I have no idea if I am or not, other than the parts of myself I can see clearly. Even the water doesn’t hold my reflection any more.”

“Then let me be your mirror.” She smiled, brushing a stray lock of hair that threatened to fall forwards into his eye. “Now, where was I?” 

Tav began to wash his other hand and arm, with the same reverence she had used before, but this time giving voice to the thoughts that floated through her mind as she did. 

“Here, your fingers. I could comment on how skilled they are, how you can make me feel, but what I admire most is how they always find a solution. You’ve picked locks, disarmed traps-”

“You can do that just as well as I, my love.” He protested, though just as quickly his arguments met their rebuttal.

“Maybe, but you were the one who unlocked my heart.” Tav laughed at the absurdity of her own statement. “It’s cheesier than an entire dairy, I know, but it’s true. I spent my whole life just going from one fling to the next, living each day like it might be my last. Living like that…well you just don’t think of a future. Or who you might spend it with. It was better to just enjoy what I could when I could. Besides, attachments could be exploited.”

“And you see a future now? With tadpoles in our brains, and the threat of an actual mindflayer Elder Brain looming quite literally over our heads?” Despite his words, his expression was soft in the low light of the room.

“I see one worth fighting for.” She leaned forwards and stole a kiss, but only for a moment, pulling back to leave him wanting more.

“Such a tease, my love.” 

“I learned from the best~” She put on the hint of a flirtatious tone to match his voice. “Anyway… Here. This part next.”

“A scar, darling? Really?” He almost pulled his arm back, like her touch burned the mark deeper into his skin.

“This was not long after we met. I remember worrying that you might lose too much blood if the wound were just a fraction to the left.” Tav dipped the sponge in the warm bathwater again and carefully cleaned the area, rinsing off the soap when she was done. “But that’s not what I think most when I look at it, or any of the other marks that battle has left upon you.”

“Enlighten me, what is it that you see in such a blemish?” Astarion frowned, struggling to see what she meant.

“Endurance. A fight that didn’t end you. A strength that goes beyond what you can lift in your arms.” She sat back a moment, the myriad of scars across her own body clearer to see as she gestured to them. “Something we share, our will to live, and to be more than the world tried to make of us.” 

“Well…I suppose…” He sighed, looking closer at Tav’s form now. Subtle muscles and soft curves, the map of old wounds telling as many stories as his own, and not one of them diminished her beauty in his eyes. “There is some charm to them, maybe.”

She continued to cleanse the sweat and marks of the long days from his body with tender care, her praise like a balm to the bruises on his soul. She almost paused when it was time to move around to his back. “Is it alright if I…?”

“There is nobody I trust more to resist the urge to put a dagger between my ribs.” He mimicked the motion playfully with empty hands as he spoke. “Oh no need to be so serious, my darling, the point is that I trust you. Completely.” 

The vampire shifted, turning his back to her. The view was always a painful one - he was free, but the marks remained, the knowledge of the pain in their making broke her heart if she let those thoughts back in. “Even this,” she began carefully, “has never once diminished your worth.”

Tension rose in his shoulders, even as she tried to massage it away. “A poem of subjugation is all that is, a beautiful lie that promised power.”

“And yet you are more powerful than ever, you didn’t let the lie consume you. How about this instead.” She put the sponge aside, and began carefully tracing her own pattern across his back as if overwriting the scars his past had left. “I’ll write my own verse for you, let it erase the old one.”

“What is it exactly that you’re writing?” A hint of worry tinted the curiosity in his voice as it dropped a little quieter than it had been before. 

She leaned forward and whispered close in his ear. “My wedding vows.”

[wildwinterlunas]

Ok back to my regularly scheduled lore content.

I find it incredibly interesting that Cassidy is often dumb and reckless both by fans and in lore. Cause from what we see in lore Cassidy is actually really good at following orders and staying on mission, the only times we see him be anything close to reckless is in the Reunion cinematic and even then he wasn't the reason shit went sideways, Ashe was, she's the one who escalated.

The whole situation could have been smoothed out if she had just handed Echo over. Even in the Reunion situation we see that Cassidy's brand of recklessness often works in his favour. Even then, in the few missions we see him on, he's the one taking things seriously, the one trying to stay on plan, the fact that out of everyone he's called reckless is interesting.

Something else of note is that Sombra and Doomfist don't act that, never once do they question Cassidy's abilities and competencies. In fact the only time either of them poke fun at him it's in a way that's directed to his personality, not his ability. In fact an old voiceline Doomfist has with Cassidy;

Cassidy: They wouldn't even have to pay me to put you away.

Doomfist: Then how would you afford the hospital bills?

Shows that he doesn't underestimate Cassidy, yes, this line is kinda a joke line, but the fact that Doom doesn't deny that Cassidy can put him away is very telling. (Also I'm pretty sure if anyone tried to arrest Doomfist they'd end up in the hospital, not just Cassidy. I mean we all saw in cinematic.)

But why is that the case? Because Doomfist and Sombra are the only playable characters we know were a part of Talon while Cassidy was in Blackwatch, aka when Cassidy was probably the most dangerous. It's no secret that Doomfist wants Cassidy in Talon, he even tried to get him to join in an interaction from OW1. So him and Sombra not underestimating Cassidy makes sense.

Also Baptiste says that he's surprised that Cassidy's Talon file says he'd reckless;

We all know that's Reyes's doing, mf got petty real quick. Also we all know Reaper isn't really the best judge of character, he currently hates everyone and he was dumb enough to hire Moira, someone with a clear grudge on Overwatch and who's morals allign way to close to Talons.

It also ironic because Cassidy was the one who exposed Blackwatch by waking up the entirety of Rialto with an assassination.

Anywsy I really hope we actually get to see Cassidy being a leader in the upcoming story missions. I want to see the serious Cassidy who knows when and when not to goof off, the Cassidy that was second in command of Deadlock and Blackwatch. I want to see Reapers reaction to being on the receiving end of Cassidy fighting for real and not sparing. I want to the other Overwatch members realise how effective Cassidy truly is, I want that realisation of "oh fuck he really was trained by Reyes and Amari".

[leofrith]

sending you more. 12, 21, 22 🩵🩵🩵

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

it's not as if he's even unpopular because he is about exactly as popular as his very small amount of screen time warrants. 😭 but leofrith is the character of all time he is so deep (in my head) and he has so much going for him as a character (in my head) and if everyone paid more attention to him they would see how interesting he is (the version of him that exists in my head). ... in all seriousness though, there is so much there that never gets any deeper exploration because this fucking game is allergic to developing its characters and relationships even in spite of the insanely long run time. like i know i keep bringing up the notes, but he's gotta be the character with the most notes referencing him just lying around the map (and i don't even think i'm being biased when i say that). he's extremely loyal to a degree that blinds him to his better judgment (and hiiii i know another character like that 🤡)!! he's very protective of his people!! he loves his sister!!! he's honorable!!! he's covered in his own blood!!! he's on his way to rome to commit regicide!!! he's tall!! this has been a ted talk.

21. part of canon you think is over hyped

i'm going star wars for this one, but the general fan response to basically... any star wars show post-mando s1 (not including andor because that one deserves every bit of praise it gets) is uncritical to a pretty embarrassing degree. again, i'm speaking mostly of the general fandom outside of my little hater echo chamber, but the amount of bending over backwards a lot of people do to explain why mando s3 or ahsoka are good actually just blows my mind. you don't have to make excuses for it!! finding a bad show enjoyable is totally fine!!! i promise it's literally fine. but the way a lot of people try to explain away some of the truly awful writing is actually maddening.

22. your favourite part of canon that everyone else ignores

the cairn dialogues in valhalla get (quite reasonably) ignored a lot of the time because doing the cairns is actually rage inducing, so i understand why a lot of people steer clear of them. but that also sucks because i do really think that those dialogues do more for building up eivor and sigurd's relationship and eivor's childhood than anything else in the rest of the game. it's obviously a shitty call on the part of the narrative director (hi darby) to regulate what i consider to be very important pieces of eivor's character development to a total chore of a side activity, and i wish they had better integrated those into the main storyline somehow.

send me a number!

[rotzaprachim]

12, 17, and 18 for the asks!

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

uhhh... no one in my particular circle of people with Taste, but Jyn. not even in terms of immediate fandom disk horse, but that in the wider-off tumblr star wars cultural reception, I think that even if rogue one is remembered as that That Time SW managed to Make Another Film That Was Good, the individual characters have been kind of... swallowed up. and that's why i love her. she's such a fucking mess. she's kind of petty and mean but in the space of things feels really human and fragile and somewhere outside the sw Strong Female Character Warrior Queen thing. her introduction scene as an adult where she takes the fucking shovel and just starts swinging is one of my favorite things in sw.

i think the same could be said of a bunch of the individual characters in andor, who i deeply adore, especially cinta, vel, bix, and kleya. not that they're unpopular in the I Hate These Women Way fandom sometimes does but that you just don't really see much... about them. (i do wish things about bix's writing were different, but i am fascinated by her as a CHARACTER and the fact that not only was she part of the extremely nascent rebellion before cassian, before almost everyone we know, if you draw the lines she's probably REALLY central to the axis circuit which is.. fascinating. like because she has no reason to tell Anyone the Truth of her secret dealings, we actually know extremely little about her, and that fascinates me. also she's this woman stuck in a small town she's tied into the fabric of and that's this source of complex ennui and pain i really love seeing in genre fiction and would love to root around in some more.)

vel and cinta... HELLO... vel and cinta.... cinta and vel... my brain is always thinking about them. just a lil.

also! i think leida mothma is second only to dark vader in greatest villains of the star wars universe. she's annoying as hell and she's this generational ticking time bomb about what happens when the kids born into the empire swallow it, when they /aren't/ leia organa.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

instead of twitter misogyny i would like to see jyn/bix also jyn/bix/cassian. nothing will save us but bi threesomes.

AU's where cassian drove the van for the aldhani rock group's cringe death metal band (or, if we're placing SW into the 1970's, the aldhani group's 60's scottish folk band.)

honestly extremely attached to any kind of thing where jyn and cassian have a deep connection to each other that isn't laterally a hallmark greeting card. like i actually really find the extremely close FWB vibe with them during the rebellion era to be tremendously interesting, and i don't think fandom does enough with the whole fact that maybe a 70's space-futuristic leftist army /might/ not have the same ideas around social organisation and intimacy as a a netflix rom com OMG ARE YOU GUYS LIKE TOGETHER TOGETHER???? (like i'm sure the goss on echo base was insane but i'm also not sure it might have been That.)

Anything which recognises the Real Fact that Rogue One AU's should be set in the 1970's and everyone should be wearing 70's fashions and there should be way more oblique mentions of bellbottoms and paisley. except arguably andor might be set in the 60's. in which case they should be wearing 60's fashions.

This might be summoning snakes into my house but... you know all the stuff i said about kidfic aus? turns out what i really dislike are bad kidfic aus! because they thing is is that i think jyn and cassian's narratives are profoundly focused on the question of What It Is to be Someone's Child, and sw in general is really interested in the questions about what it is to be someone's parent and someoen's child in extremity (how well they carry this out ESPECIALLy with women is debatable) and there's a lot of room to do some seriously interesting character study work and post-war How Do We Break These Cycles work if it's something aside from the kind of bioessentialist hey guys woman's purpose Fulfilled because she's had biological children/ narrative OR the you can tell how Healed jyn and cassian are and how Over the War is cause they have two (2) biological children in space!suburbia called lyra and galen scenario, which proliferates in fandom. basically what i'm saying is there's no weird indie movie about rey climbing into cassian's car at the Jack-Q service station to steal his potato chips and him being like WHOSE KID IS THIS i have to RETURN you so this isn't KIDNAPPING [terrible flashbacks] and rey being like nooo mister and then they go on a loopy roadtrip to find her parents when of course the answer is in the journey. also nobody's written the scenario of Ye Classic Space!Road Trip to The Beach and the kids in the back seat are like BISCUIT BARON BISCUIT BARON and cassian is squinting over the top of the steering wheel because he thinks he missed the turnoff and pulling ye old Hay Comida En La Casaaaaa but Jyn's just like actually every single Biscuit Baron in the galaxy is closed, just for today, and the only thing they sell is black coffee.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

not to be like people would Care if they were white men BUT the amount of press and buzz and fics there would be if velcinta were white men like literally shut up about white war criminal superhero x white war criminal superhero when there's antifascist lesbian guerillas shooting fascists AND wearing twee hats in the highlands while they feed sheep in their lil space!scottish brokeback moutain moments. i think they're slept on as individual characters and as a ship especially when Cinta is one of the only women of color in the modern star wars and vel's story is on some level literally about queerness, being a queer woman in a conservative society (always hiding, always changing.)

jyn and cassian's matching magical girl anime moment soulmate chrystal kyber necklaces

still boggling over the fact that cassian and jyn's Rebellion Kidnappers/Dads canonically are people with History, c'mon guys, there's an infinite amount of stuff to do with saw and luthen accidentally setting their kidnapping victims/adoptees/proteges up together. (also i'm just extremely fascinated by saw and luthen as characters, up there with Guys Fandom Sleeps on.)

[fatherbearfreddy]

(ignore how freaking late this is I meant to write this in the morning but I had church. If you aren't interested in Vanessa and Glitchtrap you don't need to read it, yes this is shipping them, no I will not apologize.)

“Hey, Van? You should probably get up.” Yune tapped her leg. 

Vanessa Raglan looked up at her, bleary eyed. For a second her pupils looked to be different sizes, but it was gone in less than a second. Yawning, she rolled over. She’d somehow fallen asleep with her back on the floor and her legs in the air like someone had thrown her across the room. “Oh…dang am I in trouble? Sorry.” 

Yune shrugged. “You looked like a cartoon character down there. But no, I fell asleep too.” She bumped Vanessa’s arm. “Dang Van I didn’t know you had it in you. I’ve never seen you so happy in my life.” She helped up the drowsy security guard. “Really, where have you been hiding that party animal? You should bring her out more, it’s a nice change from Miss don’t touch my laptop.” 

I’m not that grumpy am I? Answer later, when she can’t hear us.

“Haha! I hope we don’t get in hot water with the boss.” Glitchy tilted their head and shrugged. “What can I say? It’s a different side to me, maybe you’ll see her again soon.” 

“I love the purple and green ribbons, I didn’t take you for a dress up type of woman. They look great.” 

“Aw, you’re too kind! I love your dress.” 

She’s…actually not so bad, maybe we can get to know her better? She seems to like you. 

Yune smiled. “Well some kind of bug in the system sent the entire camera system in this part of the building out, so nobody who fell asleep will be in trouble unless someone talks. I know you won’t, you don’t talk to people very much anyways. Or… maybe you do? Seriously, did you get drunk before you showed up? I’ve never seen you even talk to Chica, let alone help her lead a full game of following the leader.” 

You didn’t let us eat the pudding >:( 

“You’re allergic to it, and did you just emoticon in our head?” Glitchy whispered before winking to Yune. “Sorry, sorry! I’m a little tired, you understand right?” He shrugged. “Chica’s not so bad, I love watching her dance around.” 

“More like watching you dance around! You got some moves Van! You should really go out with us more, I think you’d like it.” Yune winked back and handed Glitchy a small piece of paper. “Or maybe go out with me? Either way, here's my number so we can keep in touch. I’ll let you know if I see any bunny stuff, heard you muttering about it before you disappeared. You need fabric right? I’m sure I can find some nice stuff if I ask around. Well, I need to freshen up so people don’t realize I slept in these clothes.” She ran off, calling. “See you later!” 

Glitchy waved goodbye sweetly and leaned back on the wall. “You’re allergic to pudding Van and we wanted to have fun right?” 

Right. It looked so good, and we haven’t been able to afford candy in weeks because of those new parts. I’m going through sugar withdrawals! Why would you get us hooked on all that crap and then cut it off? 

Glitchy ignored her question. “Want to keep her number, Bunny? She might be a good ally for this. She’s not too smart, so I doubt she’d be any trouble.” 

She’s not dumb. You’re too judgemental, but…sure why not. I don’t think it would work out with us though, since I already have you.

“Could I have her?” 

What about me? Vanessa’s voice echoed through them, sending a cold shiver through their spine. We just had a good night and…

“Darling, I’m joking.” The chill flowed out of them. “Besides, I’m not really one for people I can’t know as intimately as I know you.” Glitchy spun around in Vanessa’s body and took a bow. “You gave me your body for the night, and that deserves a reward.” He was always a little amazed at just how different he sounded using her voice. How different her voice sounded when he used it if he wasn’t imitating her. 

A reward? Are we finally going to have that pudding? Why did she act so childish when she wasn’t in control? Well, it made things much easier, and he could always make her stop. It was barely even forcing since they got along so well! It was nice to have someone who listened to him for a change. 

“No~ No pudding Bunny. You need to get that off the mind. This is my body too, and we aren’t going to aggravate your medical conditions.” Glitchy trailed a finger along the wall as he walked, still enjoying the sensation of unrestricted movements. It was so good to be free of that metal suit. To be free of his old self, that crusty little man. Glitchy had much bigger plans than a little kiddy killing in a family restaurant. The internet, and the world of technology had sped ahead of him so beautifully, and now he could go from place to place with a new face. He could jump from computer to computer and touch anything he wanted. 

This place felt more like home than anything he’d had in some time. “No, I have something better. How about you take the day off and drift around in that nice little space I made for you? I’ll handle life for you, and you can just relax…and fade away for a little while. How does that sound, Bunny?” 

…Fuck I was hoping you’d offer that. It’s exhausting trying to be a security guard all the time. Oh, and you actually have really good taste in clothes for a weird rabbit mascot. 

He laughed quietly, pulling their hair forwards to look over his handiwork. “I learned a thing or two living online. Besides, you like the weird rabbit mascot. You didn’t really join me just because I’m so charming, did you?” 

Stop using my mouth to puff yourself up and send me drifting already. I joined you because…I…I’m not really sure anymore…It’s fuzzy. But it wasn’t your looks I can tell you that. 

“Go on, admit it. You liked that I was always there when you were play testing, watching over you, pausing those awful scares so you wouldn’t fall on your ass screaming…Should I go on?” 

Vanessa sighed and mentally shook her head. Just…Please, I want to rest. 

“Alright. Don’t worry about how far away you go, I’m never letting go of you. You understand that Bunny, that’s why it’s so easy to close those eyes and let any of the world you can see disappear and our special little place fade back in.” 

…What did I used to do before you came along? It’s…never…mind…

“That doesn’t matter Darling, what does is now that I’m here, I can take care of everything. You just follow me through the steps. Goodnight.” 

Vanessa was already gone, and Glitchy had an entire day to live as a human without her eyes. Time to make some more connections, he never knew who might be a hidden gem in his plans. Plus, it was always good to spend some time with these new shimmering forms their old characters had become. New, just like him. Chica was his main target, but Roxy had proven to have some cracks he could pull wide open if Chica didn’t work out. She would, eventually. Everything came to him if he was patient, even if it took longer than he’d expected. 

[lunzoic]

After finally beating the game...

Big spoilers for Scalet/Violet ending!...

I think I'm echoing a lot of other people's sentiments when I say 'Huh, so that's where half the budget went'. I don't even mean that in a salty way, I'm just kind of baffled that there's such a strong contrast between the effort that went into this final area and the rest of the game. I seriously underestimated how much there was going to be too since the Pokemon tradition is that post Elite-Four content is kinda lacking, and the only hint that Area Zero was not 'postgame' was that credits had not rolled yet. I was really expecting Area Zero to just be an afterthought, similar to the usual optional postgame dungeons. Or like Ultraspace, in which: you go there, leave after having one big fight, and optionally come back later to find more ultrabeasts. And instead we got a fairly expansive dungeon that both contains the really cool paradox pokemon as well as like, the game's entire narrative weight, interesting character interactions, a big fight I was definitely not expecting, and all the actual intriguing plot elements in one ultra-concentrated dose. I actually prefer a fantastic ending to mediocre game rather than the other way around, it's just very surprising to see it happen when the opposite is so common. And yeah some of that perception is filtered by the bar of expectations being set so low by the rest of the game, and of course it was by no means a perfect ending. The jank still allows you to accidentally skip if you jump off certain cliffs, the scripted encounters with paradox Pokemon are just ok, and navigating Area Zero without Ko/Miraidon can be a pain if you take a wrong turn. But the pacing, the dialogue, the way the characters play off each other, the gradual reveals, and the whole final fight was actually incredibly well done. And it makes me feel a little sad to see that the dev team was clearly capable of making great story-driven game segments, but that it was only at the very ending of the game that they really got to flex those creative muscles. I feel like it's also created a weird dichotomy of people who could not abide the jank and put the game down or decided not to buy it in the first place/refunded it and the people who stuck it out to the end and got an unexpectedly quality finish. Good for us I guess? I definitely would have lost interest a lot sooner had friends who finished the game not given clues that they really enjoyed the ending...

More specific ending spoilers and commentary: Having an AI character being aware of having their own will being overridden was equal parts fucked up, heartbreaking, terrifying, and really effective. The way they're clearly fighting against it even as they taunt you, their whole speech about freedom and treasure, that moment when they seem to intentionally succumb to the programmed will in order to sincerely tell Arven that the original professor loved him (oh my FUCKING god)... Now THAT'S how you break the mold in terms of creating a different narrative hook than the usual formula! For me it really did retroactively change the feeling of the entire game, knowing that the 'professor' who started you on your whole journey was actually patiently waiting for you to become strong enough to venture into area zero and do what but their programming did not allow them to do. That they were vicariously enjoying every step of your adventure along the way, because their very nature as an area zero anomaly meant they could never leave themselves. Their final decision to send themselves to the past/future in order to disable the time machine, while kind of cheesy and nonsensical, was something that they willed with their own heart and wholly defied the original professor's wishes. That in their vast intellect they decided to stake the future on a bunch of teenagers is still pretty goofy but hey, it's Pokemon. Like a lot of people I did suspect that there would be some sort twist with the professor, but I did not expect THIS, nor did I expect a Pokemon game to handle a sympathetic AI character in a really emotional and interesting way. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given that Pokemon as a franchise has had various created/artificial beings who are treated sympathetically? But it does also kind of highlight once again that the game feels kind of hodge-podge in regards to what audience it's catering to, due to the entire game feeling hand-holdy and kid-friendly in its appeal and then... that entire ending happens. I can imagine some kids not even being able to finish the game, not even due to difficulty spike but because of finding the Arven and robo professor story too scary and sad. On the other hand, Pokemon at its roots has always some pretty damn heavy themes, so I guess this could also just be considered a return to form? Pokemon themselves being fully sentient creatures forced to serve their masters no matter what, the entire arc of Mewtwo being created and then destroying its own lab... I remember finding those too sad to contemplate as a kid so I kind of just. Didn't. But those aspects were never really explored to the depth they could have been within the main game's stories (I do know the movies/anime/comics have darker storylines, but those are all 'extended lore' as far as the games are concerned). So this is the first time where elements like the death of a main character and having the villain be a human (in appearance) ally with explicitly programmed loss of will who doesn't want to turn against you are THIS front and center in the story of a main series game. And it was actually done pretty emotionally and effectively, so I do applaud the decision to take a risk and make a more mature storyline happen at all.

And yes, it is not lost on me that both a reluctant final boss and the subtle use of the menu interface in the finale are reminiscent of ah... a certain other game? I might be seeing stronger connections than I should due the killer music contribution by Toby, and I don't really care if it was intentional or not, but I'm just really happy to see any game make use of those tropes to great effect.