#cal : threads

[catlliecal]

[Spoilers for MHA 395]

If Himiko is truly on her death bed here and she isn’t making it through the battle, then Dabi needs to die. He endured far greater injuries than she did, burning himself from the inside out to the point of barely having any skin on his bones. Her dying but him living would be a huge slap on the face. That isn’t even mentioning that Himiko has been presented as sympathetic and wanting to be understood while Dabi has been shown to hurt anyone, blood related or not, to achieve his obsessive goal of killing Endeavor and hurting him in whatever ways possible. If the character with the greatest chance of being saved dies, then the character with the lowest chance of being saved needs to also die.

[akuna-fanclub]

The thing about Bode is, you don’t have to forgive him for what happened—but you can find yourself *understanding* why he did it. Ultimately, I think choosing the Empire felt like his only hope. His wife had been k*lled by an inquisitor, because of his force sensitivity, and now he was on the run, with a little kid by his side. By working for the enemy, Denvik promised him that Kata would be safe if he quote, “stayed useful”. I feel like at that point, he was so far into it, it was easier to keep doing his bidding, while knowing that Kata was safe.

The first time we see Bode, Cal, and Kata interact—Bode feels genuine here. He’s trying to explain to Cal why he did what he did, and Cal doesn’t get it. That’s why when Bode says that he doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a father, I feel like that’s super important for the next game. Because Cal will essentially sort of have to play parent for Kata, and now he’ll see firsthand. Personally I think that line resonates a lot more than we realize, that whole scene in general. At the end, on Tanalorr, it’s clear that they would’ve been willing to Give Bode a Chance, but at that point we see a VERY different Bode than we saw back on the imperial station. I feel like this is the first time we actually see Bode as any sort of “villain” vs someone who was just struggling, and it’s interesting to see why it took so long, but I feel like it’s super telling.

Especially when in all the force echos, we see how much regret he has for what he’s doing to the Mantis crew. You can see it in the cutscene before Cordova dies too, when the imperials attack, Bode looks up, then closes his eyes as if indicating that he’s regretting what’s about to come. Especially because he worked so closely with Cordova for a bit. And he WAS a Jedi!!! I don’t think it’s so much that Bode is anti republic/Jedi, but mostly that he’s so beyond desperate to keep his daughter safe that he’s done some things that he regrets. And THAT is why he’s one of my alltime favorite characters. Like they built sooo much into this one character, and managed to pull it off flawlessly in ONE game??? Incredible. Ate and left no crumbs.

Also, we have to remember, in one of the force echos, he literally tells Denvik that he promised to share which inquisitor killed his wife, if he turned in Cere’s location. Denvik of course goes back on this, and Bode rightfully gets upset—but can’t do anything. There’s so much pain, and regret behind Bode’s character, and his voice actor and the entire crew just *chefs kiss*, nailed it.

[flyingwide]

jumping back and forth between my Cal/Merrin heat cycle fic (Zabraks have heats now, i've decided, you're fucking welcome, Star Wars) and my Vernestra&Qimir piece and NEITHER are what i'm SUPPOSED TO BE working on

[radicheart-a]

He's still got a knife in his chest. Thankfully it isn't blessed or he'd be in a lot more pain right now. Still...it's not exactly a good thing. Pulling it out without the right means to treat it also isn't a good thing, though.

So, for now, he's holding it in, being mindful of his movements as he searches for a way to bandage himself up.

[dahliayoung]

CLOSED STARTER FOR @fromharbor ( calahan macarthy ) WHERE: caffélicious on open mic night

Caffélicious was done up for open mic night, the soft glow of string lights casting a warm hue across the café. The crowd that had gathered for the show was buzzing with chatter as people sipped on their drinks and enjoyed the night’s entertainment. Dahlia was up next and sat at the corner of small, makeshift stage near the window, tuning her guitar. She’d played at Caffélicious countless times, but it didn’t exactly do away with the pre-performance jitters she felt each time. Her name was called and she made her way onto the stage, introducing herself and then starting to play. The melody of her song came to life beneath her fingers, her voice quiet but clear as she started to sing. There were few familiar faces in the crowd, but Dahlia remained focused on the music. It was one of the songs she’d written recently, inspired by the many twists her life had taken lately. As she wrapped up her set, a round of applause filled the room, and Dahlia offered a grateful smile and nod before stepping down from the stage. She made her way over to the barista counter, her guitar now slung over her shoulder, in desperate need of a drink. Her order in hand, she turned to leave and nearly collided with a rather tall someone. The hot liquid in her cup sloshed around dangerously, but she managed to save it. “Shit, I’m so sorry about that!” she said, looking up to meet their gaze. “That was almost really bad.”

[mando-of-esverr]

Inquisitor and the Mando: Escape! OR NOT!

[backmaskcd]

closed starter for @justcallmecal location: the library

"So how mad are you at me?" Kennedy had been avoiding going to the library because his books were months overdue, but the seasonal depression had slammed into him hard this year. "Is it something an agreement to joining family dinner would solve?"

[bruisedconscience]

“Can you please put that photo back where you found it? I have a very delicate organization system in place.”

[kovnynir]

cal hadn't come back for nearly two goddamn weeks, and it was definitely getting to ezra and ayda. maybe he really was done with them. maybe it was all over. ezra had certainly taken it the hardest -- neglecting to shave, neglecting to go out much, just overall neglecting to do anything. he was fucking hopeless without cal, they were together first because they were meant to be, they were fated to be together, for fuck's sake!! ayda was upset too. she blamed herself. if she had just told cal what happened in the first place instead of letting him find out in a shock, it could've been resolved. she hated thinking that they didn't trust him when it couldn't be further from the truth. they adored him and they just didn't know how to tell him of such a scary moment. she found herself sitting on the dock of the ship every day, waiting until nightfall in the hopes that she'd see cal coming. night was nearing yet again, and ezra strolled out, lightly tapping her back with his foot. ❝ he's not coming. you know he's not, ❞ he said flatly. ❝ he left us, remember. ❞ ❝ b-but we- but we love him- he has to come back... ❞ ayda replied, her hands clasping together. they had this conversation nearly every night. ❝ he doesn't love us. he gave up. we hurt him. gotta get over it some day. ❞ despite prompting her to get up, he crouched down beside her. he pulled her in, resting his lips on the top of her head.

[xbeautifulmonsters]

@x-violentdelights Cal to Bishop ( Babycakes )

"Thanks," he took the coffee from Chloe, who very clearly was trying very hard to keep herself quiet. But then he turned around and saw his friend walking in. "It's not as bad as it looks," he confirmed and took a seat, "I really think Scarlett needs to stop having an open bar and I need to stop trying to keep up with Wren." A hand was held up because no - this wasn't Wrengate 2.0. "Nothing happened, we were celebrating," he sighed, taking his glasses off, "How was your night, I lost track of you."

[apprenticestanheight]

reblogging every time I check something off my account maintenance checklist bc I am terrible at upkeep (featuring my golden commentary as I go about doing the tasks on the list):

if there is one thing I am good at putting off, account upkeep is that thing. I just updated my master list for adam and it went from two fics to fifteen in twenty minutes. I tell myself that trying to do it might not always turn out bc the inter-account search function is bad but then everything I need is just,, it's RIGHT THERE?? LIKE HELLO??

I will definitely eat my words when I go to write up my chainshipping + hoffstrahm masterlists but oh well. we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

tasks completed: 1/9

[graunblida]

@jeditrash smashed the heart

" oh that? " the warrior thinks back to the flametrooper she punched off a ledge mere minutes ago. to the untrained eye, it would appear as though she sent the soldier flying with brute strength alone. in reality, lexa channels the force into her STRIKES when fighting close combat. " it's a technique i learned in the order... from master windu, actually. "

[xbeautifulmonsters3]

Cal to Wren ( @x-violentdelights )

When it came to Scarlett's parties, Cal helped himself to breaks more often than when his played any official gigs. Here, he was the talent but also a guest. So as he walked back to his set up with a drink in his hand, the incubus couldn't help but let out a small sigh. Yeah, he really wished James was here too - couldn't be helped. "Holy shit," he played up a small gasp as he wondered over to the shifter, "I was starting to wonder if you were actually my imaginary friend all along." A smirk was thrown at Wren after he took a sip of his drink, "Feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

[lxvenderhxzehv]

Where: Huntsville Library Who: Josie and Cal (@justcallmecal)

"I think I need to go home early" Josie sat almost unable to move from the chair she was in without feeling sick. Someone had come into the Library with something from the diner and it spun Josie in to a nauseous nightmare. She rarely got sick, let alone catch a stomach bug. She never missed school or work for that matter "I think being out in the rain last week and stuck in the bank was just the perfect recipe for me to catch something" Something was wrong but she just couldn't figure out what this was and she hated it.

[imprvdente]

@omniishambles sent: [ 📲 message sent: ]  i know you're busy but please add me to your list of things to do. From Lightman 😌 from: 🐝  *  ―  𝑷𝑰𝑪𝑲 𝑼𝑷 𝑻𝑬𝑿𝑻 𝑴𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑺. 

[ 📲 Lightman ] i'm sure i can find a spot in my to do list [ 📲 Lightman ] squeeze you in there ;) [ 📲 Lightman ] you're fine sharing my attention with a bunch of serial killers, right?

[cielsosinfel]

(copying over a ridic long twitter thread where I rambled nonsensically about Rolan post-Lorroakan fight, don't mind me. I have even more thoughts since I read through the Dialogue Parser and saw how his behavior changes if either Cal or Lia, OR BOTH, die that has me even more gdkghkhkh ok i guess i rambled about that in the tags, anyway, i'll copy those bluesky posts over later)

didn't make it to HoH but I did beat Lorroakan finally (I just had to change Lae'zel to battlemaster and give her goading strike and she carried me the whole way lmao) and ROLAN... ROLAN.... ROLAAAAAAAAAAN... i am 100% satisfied with how his story concludes

I'm still kinda surprised how much a fairly minor side character, whose death in the game has negligible impact on anything, stil got to me so bad... the way you can tell from the first scene that he's deeply insecure + deeply stressed over responsibility for his siblings' safety

(instead of trusting his siblings to be able to watch out for themselves as much as him). And he covers it all up with really embarrassing self-aggrandizement, just so conceited, gets mad at TavDurge for showing him up in a way that makes him look weak and incapable.

THE WAY HES AN ANGRY ABUSIVE DRUNK IN ACT 2 AND EVEN when you rescue Cal and Lia he's still so angry and yelling, and Lia is too. i get the impression Lia was the one who always looked out for Cal and Rolan as kids so she has her own issues with needing to be the Strong one

and Rolan is chafing over being the weak adopted brother and has developed even WORSE issues over being the Strong one, and neither can concede ground on who has is the most responsible sibling, and the dynamic is all fucked up and Cal is the only one trying to find some balance

neither of them ever learned they can express they were terrified for the other's sake, and terrified of being too weak to look out for the other, without wrapping it up in protective anger and finger-pointing. it's just ;________;

it really hit hard when he actually apologizes for the way he acted while horrifically drunk in act 2 lol... but then if you stand around him and Lia are still arguing. they really just need to hug it out. cal sitting off to the side desperately wishing they'd hug it out

anyway the fact Rolan is so conceited and assured of his own power and greatness and ability to handle Everything On His Own, that he desperately convinces himself his new master beating him for no good reason constantly has a meaning, he just has to survive to prove himself...

and survive to provide for his siblings (who can't even live with him because lorroakan is that much of a dick???), and is just, a shadow of how he was in act 2, angry and aggressive and ready to take on an army himself for cal and lia's sake, just gets to me sooooooo bad. god.

I just think about what kind of mental gymnastics he must be doing since he got to the Tower, feeling so angry but needing to square everything happening with the image he built up of this guy he HERO WORSHIPPED FOR YEARS, trying to just focus on the needs of his siblings... ugh

And then how it hits all of his insecurities with weakness, of being the one who rescues and protects others instead of needing the rescuing and protecting. Surviving near-certain-death twice only to end up stuck in an abusive apprenticeship. god how stupid must he have felt

(and when i say that i mean that with all the empathy and sympathy in the world, mind). anyway i'm rambling. i really love rolan. i really love how happy he is in the convo after defeating lorroakan, how he SMILES and seems so excited to finally have cal and lia LIVE WITH HIM