#dominoes writes

[chamerionwrites]

Also idk but I feel it is important, for reasons of genre understanding, to recognize that good old fashioned murder is like the least violent thing anybody ever does in a proper spy story

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #86

Danny and Damian are twins but they never get split up. Their life growing up in the league of assassins was rough and unforgiving. Damian was older by a few minutes but Danny was always seen as the lesser twin in Ras eyes. Danny is seen more as a tool to improve the heir instead of his twin. Talia eventually has enough of one of her babies being seen as inferior and she takes both of them to their dad, Bruce Wayne when they turn 10. They become the Robin twins and train under Batman.

4 years go by and Jason is visiting the manor talking about how his new neighbor Jasmine Fenton (He totally has had parents that had a lab and sounded like they were very close to becoming rouges especially since they’re apparently building a portal to another dimension. They decided to raid the house and investigate the lab. Red Robin and Batman were investigating the computer and files. And both Danny and Damian were investigating the giant hole in the wall. Damian is looking at the circuit board panel on the wall and Danny investigated the giant hole in the wall. Oh no he tripped.

[saturn-sends-hugs]

you ever think about echo and fives

you ever think about how, after rishi, all they had was each other. everything they knew, gone in an instant. except for each other.

you ever think about how they found a place for themselves in the 501st, slowly putting the pieces of their lives back together and finally feeling like they belonged somewhere, somewhere they were wanted and celebrated and loved. They found a family, people that had their backs, and they were able to just be. They could mess around and play and laugh with their brothers because who was gonna stop them??

you ever think that fives came back from the citadel, an empty space at his side, and couldn’t stand it? Couldn’t look at the places he’d thought were safe, couldn’t talk to the friends they’d made together because none of it was right without echo beside him?

you ever think that echo got out of the stasis chamber and just knew, the minute he wasn’t there, that fives was gone? and just like fives, the 501st just felt wrong without his twin? you think that’s why he couldn’t stay?

do you ever think that echo, used to being youngest and looking up to fives and now suddenly he’s the Older Brother in his new group, the one with experience, the one they should be looking up to, you think he felt out of place? watching the empire rise, watching brothers fall and realizing one day that, oh shit, he’s the responsible one. him, echo, one half of the most chaotic duo the 501st had ever seen is now the responsible one, and what the hell happened?

you ever think about how scary that would be? looking back at the life you had and not even getting the chance to mourn it because your new brothers need you, the world is falling apart and you’ve been through more than they have so you have to be the one to help them through it. looking back on the shiny he was and realizing he can never go back.

just. echo and fives.

anyway little league by conan gray is the most domino twins song in the world and my heart is trying to tear itself in half 🫠

[tending-the-hearth]

just a friendly reminder that i will never get over the tragedy that is the domino squad

[writingmonet]

Now...real-life amnesia is (mostly) irreversible. Like you can't imagine the things of your past and if people tells you about it, it will feels like a another-person life.

To quote this YT video who explained the amnesiac trope so well: "real life amnesia is messy, tragic and [...] unfixable."

So...what if the reason Echo can barely speak about Fives is due to amnesia? He knows that Echo had a twin, a best friend before.

But him? After Skako? He's half-droid, there's no Fives around. He can barely remember anything except the Citadel. So in this scenario, Echo knows that Fives was someone to him before. He's another Echo. He had another family and while he manages to reconnect with Rex...he just can't with a dead person.

Not anymore.

Yeah, okay I go cry in the corner after that.

[lifeofclonewars]

okay wait no. small pause on the Kix feels as I think about how Rex is more by the books than Cody (and lightens up at least a bit on that throughout the war) and how he tells the Domino Twins "reminds me of me, actually" in his lil promoting them to ARC speech and just. how much he latched onto Domino in the first place

this man saw Echo and his by the books-ness and Fives encouraging him to lighten up on certain bits of it and went "oh, they're just like me and Cody" and got attached and indeed continued to see the parallels throughout the war

[wantonlywindswept]

so all of the fic where the GAR and Coruscant Guard don't get along because the GAR thinks Coruscant is a cushy gig and the Guard are in Literal Hell are 

so fucking chefkiss

like it is a trope i will DEVOUR, i will unhinge my jaw and swallow that shit whole

but 

what about an inverse?

what about a Guard that's the protecting soldier meme except real?

troopers on leave on Coruscant finally feel like they can relax from the war because they know the Guard has their back, and everyone knows that if you need a hand or an ear or a hug you can ask any Guard* and they are always the most patient helpful big brother types ever, they will listen and they will help and they will protecc

(*sole exception: fox**, who shoulders all of the pain and rage and condenses it into a tiny supernova of fury in his chest that he shoves down into a locked box of emotions, and one day he'll die

**except also very much including fox, who rages and rails and might throttle you for being an idiot but he'll also absolutely gut any aggressive natborn that even breathes in your direction)

so they still might think that Coruscant's a cakewalk compared to the frontlines but they're glad that they have brothers protecting the homefront too, they're glad that at least SOME of them can stay gentle and kind and at peace

of course then palpatine and the sith and all the corruption in the senate are exposed

(because TCW canon is for COWARDS and people who like being SAD)

and the GAR realizes all the shit that the Corries went through, all the ostracization and threats and abuse and pain

and it just

made them kind

[bestworstcase]

Anything from Volumes 1-3 that is setup that you don't think is given enough attention or respect for good setup?

Sidenote to this:

Open seat with no person in it + Salem having someone looking for the Choice Relic was hinting at Summer Rose. Did we have anything hinting at her pre Beacon's Fall or just things that she fits given additional context?

regarding summer specifically, while i wouldn’t call them hints per se, there are a handful of beats in v1-3 that smell like foreshadowing to me:

the first is “she was right about you; such arrogance.” – cinder might well be referring to salem here, of course. however. what strikes me about this remark is that arrogance is not a characteristic that salem seems to perceive in ozma; rather she describes him, in her soliloquies and songs, as a self-destructive, deceitful, manipulative fool blinded and trapped by his faith in the old gods. cowardly. fallen from grace. think of what she says to oz in 8.9—look how you’ve diminished, how you’ve lessened yourself—she sees him groveling at the feet of tyrannical monsters and sees debasement.

does it follow for salem to characterize ozpin to cinder as, primarily, arrogant? i’m not convinced it does. but summer rose? well… hm. consider, also, that the full line is “this whole time, right beneath our feet… she was right about you; such arrogance…” <- i think it is more likely than not that “she” is someone inside the brackets of “our,” and in context “our” is either [cinder + ozpin] or [cinder + her associates physically present at beacon].

in the event that “she” is not part of “our” the more naturalistic phrasing is “beneath our feet… salem was right about you” – because “she” otherwise has no antecedent. of course, some allowance here for this to be a narrative choice not to name salem yet, but we’re one (1) episode off from revealing her face and by this point we’ve known for a while that cinder works for someone else, so the choice to drop the name here or in the volume credits is of fairly trivial importance. unless of course cinder isn’t talking about salem.

second: “Oh! We've also stopped some bad guys, too! I guess it's like they say: "like mother, like daughter"! I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early…” [laugh track] – obv this part of ruby’s address to summer’s memorial headstone foreshadows ozpin’s conspiracy and team strq’s involvement therein. but it also foreshadows this exchange:

RUBY: We don’t have to kill you to stop you, and we will stop you. SALEM: Your mother said those words to me… she was wrong, too.

and i think it bears pointing out that ruby is wrong here, and later in the volume qrow specifically calls attention to this and lays out why she’s wrong. team rwby didn’t stop the bad guys; they cut off one avenue of attack and cinder circled around from a new direction that took advantage of torchwick’s imprisonment, and this also resulted in the public break between ozpin and ironwood which eroded the cohesion of the inner circle. ergo, ruby thinks she stopped the bad guys but in the long run the consequences of the breach all benefited salem.

looks into the camera like im on the office.

like mother, like daughter!!!

further, that sequence of events ultimately leads to the final confrontation between her and torchwick – wherein he declares “if you can’t beat them, join ’em,” and shortly gets eaten by a grimm right after making it clear that he intends to kill her. torchwick’s death is thematically motivated – a narrative rejection of his cynical every-man-for-himself, dog-eats-dog outlook – but consider that:

summer rose, if she is indeed salem’s willing agent, is certainly at beacon tonight – because she’d be the one who stayed behind to hold the fort.

summer is thus the one salem instructs to “reinforce our numbers at beacon,” meaning the grimm; that instruction only makes sense if the person receiving it can communicate with or command grimm. ergo, summer must have some degree of control over grimm.

ruby is disarmed and on the ground getting beaten by a man who fully intends to kill her, and a grimm swoops down out of nowhere to eliminate him faster than he can blinks. and then… the grimm rears up, roaring at her, and comes down with a sweep of its wings that creates a blast of air that pushes her away. that isn’t aggression!! that’s a defensive threat display!! (the feilong in v4 does the exact same thing – trying to push the boat away). it’s ruby who charges the gryphon, and while it lunges forward in reaction to her charge, all that happens is she gets her feet on its head and pushes off to leap over it, and the grimm goes fucking flying so hard it crashes into the ship’s interior and never emerges. the point being,

math.

it’s plausible that the grimm was drawn to torchwick’s murderous rage. but the way it behaves immediately after it swallows him – that very clear “get away from me please” body language, and ruby -apparently- kicking a grimm the size of a goddamned clydesdale dozens of feet and then through the hull of a literal warship? ruby is strong, but she’s not… that strong. but if the grimm didn’t want to engage her and propelled itself under and past her at the same time as she vaulted off its head? that would explain what happens perfectly – ruby’s kick altered its launch trajectory just enough that it crashed.

minutes later, someone loyal to salem scraped a very badly injured cinder off the top of beacon tower and left ruby alive where qrow would find her. salem’s vested interest in keeping ruby alive is VISIBLE throughout the battle for beacon, and notably include a perfect opportunity to capture her while she’s in a coma atop beacon tower that isn’t taken – suggesting that salem makes her singular attempt to capture ruby solely to reassure cinder that Something is being Done.

and if summer rose has command over grimm and was at beacon that night… the gryphon’s behavior is exactly what i’d expect if all the grimm had marching orders to insure this one girl in particular – the spitting image of their commander – doesn’t come to serious harm. there’s a nonzero chance that gryphon did in fact save ruby On Purpose!

…and that happens in the context of a fight between ruby and the bad guy she thought she stopped (but she was wrong), who joined salem because “if you can’t beat em, join em.” (salem voice) she was wrong, too…

also

<- like mother like daughter. summer had a nevermore’s eye view of the battle for beacon, in this essay i will –

third: this one is something i didn’t really Think About until v9 and specifically the v9 ost dropping, but some of the things cinder says in v2-3 strike me as like – she got that from summer im sure of it. for example, in midnight, cinder’s view of huntsmen is that they’re free, they have power, they can go anywhere and do whatever they want, and rhodes never contradicts this. where did she get “huntsmen and huntresses should conduct themselves with honor and mercy”? who taught her the aspirational moral ideal?

summer rose, maybe.

but in the deeper sense,

where did cinder get the ‘destiny’ conceit? her underlying beliefs about how the world is are a product of her childhood, but the overt framing of fate/destiny isn’t present in midnight; nor has salem ever spoken of destiny and her philosophical views are in many ways a rejection of destiny – salem does not believe in fate, she is the woman who dedicated her life to toppling the gods.

and on close examination this looks like yet another suspiciously summer rose shaped hole!! “you’re special, ruby […] special the way your mom was special […] it was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to lead the life of a warrior.” – in after the fall, ozpin gives coco an entire pep talk whose central conceit is embracing and submitting to the turns of fate – sacrifice “show them gods and deities/blind and keep the people on their knees” & guide my way “you were born to hypnotize them all/they all said their prayers/can you hear me up there?”

cinder, of pyrrha: “people assume she’s fated for victory, when she's really taking fate into her own hands. interesting. add her to the list.” & “it’s not about overpowering the enemy; it’s about taking away what power they have.”

<- that second statement is salem’s strategic doctrine, through and through. but the ‘power’ cinder is talking about here is derived through manipulating the perception of destiny; the self-fulfilling prophecy. the invincible girl cannot be touched because she makes subtle adjustments to insure that no one is able to try. it is pyrrha’s belief in destiny that destroys her, as it destroys ozma. ozpin invokes fate to justify and explain his choices. those born with silver eyes are destined to lead the lives of warriors.

summer rose was destined to live and die fighting the grimm – so the world promised her. maybe she believed, maybe she felt like she had no choice but to accept her prescribed fate. until she met salem, and took fate into her own hands. made a choice. broke the chains. it’s about taking away what power they have, like salem did when she tore the scales from summer’s eyes, like summer did when she refused her destiny and joined hands with the grimm instead.

what does summer rose look like through cinder’s eyes? she was a huntress. she was literally destined to be one of the greatest huntresses in history, a hero, the shining pillar upholding the world order that chose the enslavement of children as a fair price for peace. fate dictated that she be the icon, the idol, the embodiment of the system that brutalized and subjugated cinder – she had every privilege cinder could ever dream of, freedom and security and a home, a loving family – and she chose to walk away.

and if they talked about that like, ever, and specifically if summer talked about that warrior’s destiny as a cage, a curse she had to escape – is it any wonder that cinder would adopt that framing to make sense of what happened to her? if summer rose was fated to stand at the pinnacle, then does it not follow that cinder fall was fated to be ground into the foundations? and likewise, if summer rose can shatter her pedestal and fall from grace, then cinder fall can shatter her chains and rise. summer proves that the idea of destiny is powerful but not inviolate. and it is hollow, it is a lie, a fiction, and that means it can be taken away. revealed as a deception. destroyed.

anyway

to the broader question

i think people really, really do not give the jaundice arc enough credit for the long-term set up it’s doing.

(or the very overt textual statement from THE HISTORY PROFESSOR! placing the blame for the violent radicalization of the white fang squarely on human bigotry and persecution of faunus in general; the white fang arc is clunky and hamstrung by the inadequacy of its vocabulary, but the fandom talking point that the narrative perspective on this subject has “evolved” or “improved” is just. not true. v1 is very emphatically clear that 1. terroristic violence is not activism, 2. ascribing the terroristic violence of a few to an entire minority group to rationalize bigotry is bigoted in and of itself and completely unacceptable, and 3. violent radicalization is created through relentless discrimination and hate, which creates a self-reinforcing circle wherein the justifiable outrage of the persecuted outgroup and the extreme violent reactions provoked by the persecution are distorted into a justification for further persecution by those of the in-group who materially benefit from perpetuating this cycle!!! all of this is explained in an almost afterschool special manner by the main character faunus rights activist and the history professor!!! in volume one!!! what changed is that the writers developed the skill and vocabulary necessary to weave these ideas into their storytelling in a more effective and more cogent way!!! literally begging the rwby fandom to start listening to the actual words the characters say)

ahem. the jaundice arc lays so much of the groundwork for jaune’s and ruby’s character arcs reaching all the way to v9 and undoubtedly beyond; it sets up the first pieces of the ozlem fractal; it foreshadows the white fang arc and sets up blake’s character arc of self-reclamation and figuring out how she wants to use her voice as an activist; it draws attention to the misogynistic cultural norms that define and are defined by the history between ozma and salem; it lays the foundation for the scene in v2 where ozpin questions blake, which hits the way it does because we have the context of anti-faunus harassment occurring openly at ozpin’s school and nobody doing anything about it, and by extension is the first stroke of the salem-faunus connection that is almost certainly the keystone holding the entire narrative together because it is her relation to the faunus that provides the key to decipher the lost fable.

the jaundice arc is a crucial load-bearing pillar that supports the entire narrative and people revile it because nobody in this fandom can be fucking normal about jaune. lmao

[youssefguedira]

V, JoeNicky & Nile

V. An abandoned or empty place.

When Joe pulls the sheet off the couch it kicks up enough dust that it makes Nile sneeze. The couch underneath is old, wooden frame rotting, fabric stained and full of holes where moths have eaten away at it. 

“Sorry,” Joe says to Nile when she finally manages to get the sneezing under control. “Didn’t realise it was that bad.” He puts his hands on his hips and looks down at the couch. Nile looks it over.

“There’s no saving that,” she says, wiping at her eyes. She can heal from falling over ten stories, but she can’t get away from allergies.

Joe frowns. “I liked that couch.”

The house is older than anywhere else they’ve brought her, and has been abandoned for long enough that it’s falling apart. But through some trick of posing as their own sons, or something, Joe and Nicky still own it, even if there’s a giant hole in the roof and all the windows are broken. Why they’d decided to come back here, Nile doesn’t know, but it’s a nice enough area, and a good distraction from, well. Everything. Growing back a leg, she’s discovered, is not fun. 

From one of the other rooms – she thinks it’s the kitchen, she’s not actually sure where Nicky had wandered to – there’s the sound of something breaking and crashing to the ground, and a muffled curse. 

Joe makes a questioning noise in the vague direction of the kitchen. A few moments later, Nicky appears in the doorway, covered in dust. “I am okay,” he says. “But I think we will need to go out to eat tonight.”

“Nothing?” 

Nicky shakes his head. “Unless you want to start a fire and go hunt some rabbits.”

Joe grins. “Just like old times, right?”

Nile shakes her head firmly, which makes Nicky smile. She loves them, but there’s no way they’re doing that. 

“We can probably clear out enough space in here,” Joe says, gesturing to the floor. “Get the sleeping bags out of the car. Probably have to start a fire anyway, but…”

Nile looks around again while Joe says something to Nicky in Arabic that makes him laugh. The house is falling apart, sure, but it’s structurally stable, and the bones are all there. It could be something. They’ve got time to make it something. 

Nicky is the one who goes for pizza in the end – he doesn’t trust Nile and Joe to order it if left to their own devices – while they try to clear out a space in the living room. Eventually, though, after Nile has another sneezing fit, Joe suggests they just take the sleeping bags outside instead, which works out a lot better. He sets about starting a fire with practiced ease while Nile sets out the sleeping bags around it. They’re far enough away from civilisation that she can’t hear cars passing by, which is kind of surreal, and the stars are brighter than she’s ever seen them. 

When Nicky gets back, two boxes balanced on one arm and a bottle of wine in the other, he looks over their makeshift camp and laughs. “Just like old times, then?” he asks.

Joe grins. “Except we have pizza.”

“And actual sleeping bags,” Nile says.

“Ah, these modern inventions could never quite match the comfort of a pile of furs,” Joe says wistfully. Nile gives him a look. She’s ninety percent sure that one’s bullshit, but she can never quite tell with him. 

Nicky sets down the pizza boxes, and jogs back to the car to grab the pack of plastic wine glasses they’d bought before they got here. 

“We should’ve bought marshmallows,” Nile says. “Could have made s’mores.”

“Well, we’ll have to go to the hardware store tomorrow anyway,” Joe points out. “And I think it’ll be a little while before we can actually sleep in there.”

“Tomorrow, then?”

“Tomorrow,” Nicky agrees.

[rendomski]

The Domino Effect

Summary: Shaak Ti was often tempted to save some clone kids. AU, where she finally goes for it. And the ties of siblinghood run strong among the clones.

An impromptu ficlet, ~1000 words. Enjoy 🙂.

Force acts in mysterious ways, thinks Shaak Ti when she walks by the cadet barracks late in their night cycle and overhears the argument. Apparently, someone who doesn’t want to be called Hevy decided to go AWOL, and 99 is trying to persuade him otherwise.

Supervising kids that are raised with a sole purpose—to fight and die for the Republic—is a morally challenging task. Shaak has been tempted multiple times just to take on board as many kids as she can and whisk them far from this madness. Something tips the scales, finally, as she steps into the vast barracks and speaks, “So, you want to get away, cadet?”

They both freeze in shock.

“No, General, sir. Hevy wasn’t going to—” 99 begins, but not-Hevy interrupts him, staring with a desperate defiance.

“Yes, sir. I was planning to go AWOL.”

Shaak stares him back, but the kid, almost a grown-up—or what goes as grown-up nowadays, the cadets are shipped away even at a younger age than at the beginning of the war—does not budge.

“Alright,” says Shaak. “Is this your stuff? Take it and let’s go to my ship.”

“Sir?”

“You want to go AWOL? I can take you off-world on my ship. No one would dare search for you there.”

Not-Hevy grabs the bag with whatever he can claim as his own, but then hesitates.

“Sir, with your permission. My brother, CT-4040. Trainer Bric has it against him. He would do anything so that CT-4040 doesn’t pass his final test.” His eyes go wider as it dawns upon him how implausible the chance Shaak is offering him and how close he might be to failure by asking even more of her. He finishes nonetheless. “May I… may you take him away, too?”

Shaak’s confidence that she is doing the right thing blooms.

“Yes. You may take your brother with you.”

***

“Sir?”

“Yes, CT-4040?”

“Cutup, sir. My name is Cutup,” he glances at CT-782, who is stubbornly not Hevy. “Since tonight. So… Droidbait. CT-782, we’re not leaving him behind, like we did during the simulation, do we?”

Leaving behind during the simulation, this sounds very familiar. “Cadets, what squad are you from?” Shaak asks and nods upon the name, knowing already what comes. “I understand. Go for your brother, and bring Fives and CT-1409 along, too.”

***

“99, I am not leaving without you. We all owe you.”

The aged clone shakes his head, “No, Hevy. You go with the General. As for me, there are a few other troubled brothers that need my support here.”

Of course, five pairs of near-identical eyes stare at Shaak hopefully at the words. “General? You have some more space on your ship, don’t you, sir?”

She sighs. “Just be quiet. It is getting serious, so from now on, let's make it a stealth mission.”

“You've heard the General. It is a stealth mission.”

Exasperated groans, “We're standing right here, Echo,” follow.

***

“Sir?” Fives tugs at her sleeve with suspicious shyness. “It may sound crazy, but… Well, there is a girl here.”

“Oh, not again!”

“Don’t listen to him, General. He is making it all up. He has never met a girl in his life.”

“Well, I did! I keep telling you, and you idiots, refuse to believe me!” Fives snaps. “Sir, there is a girl here, working in the hospital. I met her. I talked to her.”

***

There is a girl, indeed. Experimental Medical Researcher 003, EMR-003 for short, whom Shaak has never met and never seen in any official documents. Moreso, she has never even heard of the Jango female clone program. And this gets extremely suspicious now. Her hunting instincts and the Force both sing to her that she is on the trail of something bigger.

“I am not the only one here, sir. There is one more girl, at least. She is different, but she is also one of us. I can get her out of the lab, I know the way.”

***

Another girl is different, for sure. Shaak can't grasp what is different about this kid—a five-year-old cadet at the most. Not the blond hair, there is a number of blond cadets around. There is something else, something elusive.

“Oh, you want to take us all off-world?” Omega, not EMR-something, notes Shaak, looks at the gang of clones with contagious joy and amazement. Cutup winks at her, and she waves back at him enthusiastically. “We must take my brothers with us!”

“We are all your brothers,” says no-longer-CT-1409-but-still-rather-reluctant Echo serenely.

“I know! But those are… They are my little brothers! And,” she saddens, her childish voice dropping almost to a whisper. “There are only four of them left.”

Shaak sighs. Alright, four more little kids, not a big difference.

***

…they happen to be not quite little kids, and it is finally clear what is different about Omega. The list of questions and problems grows ever longer. Shaak has hunted down and bitten more than she can chew.

She needs to take someone into the partnership in crime—Plo, most likely. And Obi Wan, who found Kamino in the first place, may have some valuable insights…

But first things first. Her navicomputer is still calculating the hyperspace route when a fight erupts in the back of the ship. And Fives is proudly showing EMR-003 around the ship, despite being here for the first time himself. Half of his explanations are totally wrong. Lanky, bespectacled cadet who has confidently strapped himself in the copilot seat and already asked Shaak three questions in a row, turns around and begins to correct him. Someone is asking loudly over the clamour whether her Jedi ship is equipped with guns.

Only 99 gazes silently into the starry void, mesmerised. Looking in his wizened face, Shaak Ti realises that this is his first time in space, despite his long and respectable age of thirteen.

[coldbrewarts]

Lab buddies

Domino 6/Write in Stone AU where an Aged-up Omega gets adopted by Domino squad and subsequently Torrent.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

ON THE TOPIC OF BARNABY. as well as his relationship with Wally.

So. To kick this off - Riv (@funonion) and I were Speculating, and they introduced me to the johari window:

They put Barnaby in the “facade” section, and I entirely agree. To quote them;

“So he’s Wally’s guide, right? He’s the “knowledgeable” one of the two and is always the one teaching him new things. And you know, it’s one thing if you’re just teaching him how to laugh or how to tell a joke. But.

Clown has given us two doors. One says that Barnaby understands Wally in a way the rest of the neighborhood doesn’t, and is willing to do his dirty work so to speak. The other says that their friendship was not a natural occurring thing and had to be enforced repeatedly within the show. HOW THAT’S BEING ENFORCED IS ANOTHER THING ENTIRELY but it is worth it to note.

What is Barnaby willing to keep? What is he willing to bury for his little buddy? I can’t say anything definitively yet, but the fact that I even have to ask is telling. The class clown archetype is usually used as a way to cover up for something else a character might be experiencing”

And my response, (I won’t directly quote because I have little things in the phrasing & elaboration to add / tweak );

Barnaby being a Comic Relief Character immediately raised so many alarms in my head. I love comic relief characters. They’re always so fucked up in one way or another, and Barnaby is almost certainly SO inauthentic. He’s wearing a comedy mask just as opaque as Wally’s own mask. In everything we’ve seen about him so far he’s either Teaching Wally, wisecracking/joking, or… pretty much nothing else. We got that moment of concern in audio 14-14, but that doesn’t reveal anything beyond genuine care for Wally.

Comedic characters have the best disguises. Their poker faces & ability to deflect is always top tier [and practiced], and just look at comedy-focused actors and entertainers - so many of them have severe issues, either with their mental health or life. From what i’ve observed both in that aspect & with fictional characters, they play it off & work hard to entertain/deflect [one in the same] right up until the end. Sometimes it’s a coping mechanism. Usually it’s both. If they laugh loud enough and make people think they’re lighthearted fools w/ nothing underneath, no one will look any deeper and thus they’re “safe”. 

& I’m a little suspicious that Barnaby’s red/orange/yellow spots aren’t naturally those colors. While yes, he could be (in-universe) designed that way to echo Ms. Beagle, there’s a strong possibility that that’s not it. What if he paints them to feel a connection to her, or it’s a physical manifestation of Barnaby covering up his insecurities/issues - what if it’s part of him striving to convince the world that he is what he paints himself as. 

The laidback funnyguy with a loving mom and not a problem in the world. 

And I mean, Barnaby claims to be a natural blue and I believe him! But the other colors? I’m doubtful

(I was going to include the Cast As Lil Kids Designs in this since Barnaby has all blue spots, but given how early in 2021 it was posted and how there seem to be little discrepancies from the ~official~ designs, I don’t want to provide it as evidence.)

& on the topic of Wally and Barnaby’s relationship being both real and not - disclaimer, this conversation happened before my Updated Thoughts On Them post, so there may be some minor rephrasing here from what I originally said - I’m sure that the relationship started out as inauthentic. Wally was assigned Barnaby as a best friend and technically vice versa, but I don’t doubt for a second that it became real to some extent. Clown wouldn’t treat their relationship outside of “canon” WH stuff the way that he does if they weren’t actually friends. They’ve said that Wally & Barnaby would be friends in every universe (which melts my heart <3 platonic soulmates my beloved <3), so then I have to agree with Riv. what WILL Barnaby do for Wally? I touched on this in the Milk Theory, but especially if Barnaby prides himself on “knowing Wally better than anything else”, what would Barn do to preserve that?

This relates to another conversation we had - Barnaby possibly having abandonment issues. It’s such a choice to have him of all characters be explicitly stated as an orphan. That and while every other Neighbor with a mentioned family have a somewhat large one (Howdy and his gajillion relatives, Julie and her three siblings, Poppy and her crowded tree [note: Eddie has a mentioned mother, but that info is tenuous and who knows if there are other Dears]), Barnaby has also explicitly stated that Ms. Beagle is his only family. That’s it. And farm life can’t be a sociable way to grow up, not with all the chores he must have had and how rural he might have grown up. Barnaby jokes that Home is the “Big Apple”, which could just be a joke - but jokes often come from a place of truth, and Home might be the most populated area Barnaby has lived in. Who’s to say!

Either way, Barnaby was orphaned one way or another, and I don’t doubt that it weighs on him. Especially if  his birth parents really did abandon him. That added to a possible life of loneliness… I wonder if he’s latched onto Wally emotionally, which would hit all the painful places if it turns out that my “Barnaby is more attached to Wally than Wally is to Barnaby” theory has merit. Abandonment issues could also strongly back the apparent walls he’s plastered over with circus tent fabric

Back to Barnaby & Wally: the fact that, at present, Barnaby and Wally seem to have the best disguises / strongest masks. That. looking at 14-14, i suspect that Barnaby is excellent at keeping his up, but as soon as Wally’s mask cracks, so does Barnaby’s. 

And then there’s the side of their dynamic that we could look at - it seems to be a very multifaceted relationship. The way that Barnaby genuinely cares yet in the 00 Halloween audio Wally was left off to the side and Barnaby was just “checking on him” while socializing (then again, this could be part of Barnaby understanding Wally & respecting his space / Wally wanting a break from that socialization). Barnaby is patient with Wally and yet he seems to sometimes treat Wally as his sidekick / let him fade into the background and yet Barnaby kept checking in on Wally during the 14 bug audios (this last one I could tie into the abandonment issues theory). 

Then there’s how Barnaby calls Wally kid & can tend to treat him like one despite both of them being in the same age group. The way that all of this could, in a way, relate to the infantilization of autistic people (no matter how well-meaning or unintentional) & internalized ableism. 

Note: Riv pointed out that Barnaby does seem to be doing the best with what he has, and that this can connect to the Johari Window’s blind spot / unknown. 

I do agree with this wholeheartedly! And I have to mention that - and making a Very educated guess here - the interactions we’ve seen take place in the very late 60s / very early 70s, so Barnaby’s behavior towards Wally is actually pretty fucking stellar given the time period. We can’t expect him to be perfect or do everything / say everything right. That would be boring I think! And one thing I deeply appreciate about the Neighbors & their dynamics is that they feel like real layered people, not cardboard cutouts being perfect caricatures of what people are “supposed” to be like.

Riv also presented this:

We likely are going to reach a point where Wally asks Barnaby something that he can’t / doesn’t want to / won’t answer. And like.. Ok. This is a slight tangent but I swear it’s related! When I first discovered WH and learned the Wally basics, I wondered two things.

Are we going to watch Wally “discover” new emotions? Because he certainly has them. Clown has said that Wally only ever feels happy, and a lot of people took that to mean that Wally can’t feel anything else. I don’t think we should take that answer at face value, because. I mean. Look at the project & creator we’re talking about. Layers, guys. Indirect direct answers. I think that Clown meant that Wally only ever feels happy in the Neighborhood because he has no reason to feel any negative emotion. Everything is as it should be. Until it isn’t - and I think that’s where he’s going to have to struggle with new emotions as he encounters them through new situations/events unfolding as the “story” starts to deteriorate. We’ve actually seen this a little bit - in Wally’s record audios (i believe the chronological second to last?), the way he says “Let Me In” so insistently. That’s definitely not a positive emotion being expressed. 

How will the topic of death be handled - because it will be handled, it’s stated in the project warnings. I was wondering this even before I read the list, because I was presented with a blank slate puppet character and so went “oh fuck, this dude doesn’t know about death, does he?” Obviously I wanted to know how that would go. I want to know how it Will go! 

How would Barnaby explain emotions that Wally doesn’t know how to convey? How would Barnaby explain death in a way that Wally would understand - given that Barnaby (& all the Neighbors sans Wally) knows what death is  - and would Barnaby be willing to explain such a thing? I have a feeling we may find out.

And in a way, I suspect that if none of them know, Wally will find out himself and have to process it without help. But then again, how can something die if it was never really alive in the first place? Unless the death warning relates to human characters… I’m currently assuming it relates to both humans and puppets. 

In conclusion: Barnaby has a carefully fabricated facade, he's doing the best with what he has but it likely won't be enough, and uh. shits fucked!

[iridiss]

just noticed a plot hole in my mcd rewrite fic, cycles of love

gonna have to go back through all the chapters to rewrite whatever snippets have it

[darth-kote]

Actually can't believe they'll give us an episode like Rookies and show us rishi outpost and not tell us every single detail of each clone on the damned moon like-

[writingmonet]

Fives Psychology, part one: heir of the Dominoes

Okay, this may be very, very long, I’m high in caffeine and my brain won’t shut up about this since yesterday. Is this necessary? Only for my sanity. Also, it doesn’t seem to have been written? This is a huge shock for me, considering how popular Fives is (and how underrated Echo criminally is). This is part one. Part two will focus on Rex, Tup, the chip and Echo's return Arc.

Let’s begin chronologically, with Clone Cadets.

SW's chronology is a mess but this episode can easily be placed in 21 BBY at the very early stages of the war. Fives is a member of Domino Squad.

What this episode learn us?

First, Fives closest brother is Echo (he’s his twin, fight me).

And that means a hell of things for us. As @dominosquadsupremacy as pointed out in her own analyze of the episode, Fives and Echo are the closest. Echo wants to change squads? Yeah, sure. But not without Fives. Fives want to change squads? No prob’s as long as Echo’s here. But for that, they have to convince General Shaak Ti.

And guess who speaks for advocating their cause? You guessed it. Not Fives. Fives is not the one talking when he and Echo request to learn of the squad. It’s Echo. It’s Echo who makes the points and Echo who answers Fives' questions when he has one.

Now, Echo does has a reputation of shyness among the fandom, to whom I agree to, toward strangers. Within his squad? Hell no. Echo is the one who calls Hevy on his behaviour. He is the one who engage himself in a physical fight with Hevy because he can’t stand being mock by his older brother. Echo has traits that Fives will display later, but for the current time he does not. Some may argue that this is because the writers didn’t had plan Fives to “die” as it was for Echo and has Hevy was already dead (since this episode is shortly before the infamous Cutadel Arc but was created after Rookies). And you’re probably right by pointing this. But it doesn’t dismiss my point. Quite the opposite I dare to say. Following the “death” of Echo, Fives in his own, was the one who changed of behaviour, encouraged by his closest brother’s death. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s return to our Clone Cadets.

Something I forgot to add is Domino Squad's common ambition: being an ARC Trooper. They all want that, and this will be relevant in the episode ARC Trooper.

During the infamous (absolutely not foreshadowing) fail-test, Fives and Echo are together (as they already were in the beginning), Echo even making a joke at his brother (perhaps to light his mood) assuring him that he’s on his side. It’s a recurring theme among them, being at each other’s side. Wherever Fives go, Echo go. And vice-versa. Until the end of times (sorry, wrong universe.)

Anyway. When they decides to let Droidbait (DB) behind, injured, Fives and Echo are making the decision with Hevy. Cutup is the one staying behind (and does this imply that, if Cutup had survived he would have seen that Echo wasn’t dead? I may overthink it, but for the sake’s of tragedy, let’s say yes). When the test is stopped, F&E exchanges a look (and honestly, Colt was right to be mad at them).

After that, they don't reappear until the end where, Fives and Echo are again at each other's hips, and while Echo takes the Citadel first, he's shortly followed by Fives and the others who cheers.

To the first who tells me that Fives has NO display characteristic traits in this episode, I’ll ask him to rewatch the first 5 mins. Fives get mad at Echo. Since the beginning Fives tends to be angry in stressful situations (as they all are), even toward his twin. Later, more anecdotally but still, he calls on Cutup about his famous girl lie. Again, Fives (I think but this time it’s nearly impossible to be 100% right) is the one stopping Hevy from engaging in a second fight, against Bric (which he would have lost, let us be honest).

To summarises in a nutshell

Fives closest brother is Echo

Fives let Echo do the talking to advocate their opinions, their well-being and ambitions at General Shaak Ti where Fives appears more reserved in front of, more hesitant.

Echo answers Fives doubts and questions. Some might say he's Fives guiding voice.

Fives already has anger (like Hevy and Echo I say) but it's Echo who physically hit a brother

Echo always tries to lighten the mood, not only to Fives.

Being an ARC Trooper is Domino Squad's whole goal. That's what they want.

In addition, while Echo is mainly spoken bout here, the influence of the others, especially Hevy, cannot be denied on Fives. Hevy is the one who considers themselves as just a number when he clearly thinks of himself as an individual. Hevy does not let his brothers down, thanks to 99.

And speaking of Hevy, I present you the Rookies episode.

Now here, this episode is mark by 2 majors events

the appearance of Rex in Fives and Echo's life

The death of all Fives' brother except one

Let us talk about Hevy first. Hevy who dies in a very heroic (but avoidable) way, if only the device had worked properly. Hevy sacrificed himself. We do not have, unfortunately, Fives' reaction to his death, but to say that he was unaffected would be madness.

Because Hevy displays many traits that Fives will also later. They're both bold, impatient, and headstrong. They value their brothers above the republic. Hevy stayed in Kamino to not let down his Dominoes brothers, to ensure their success. He died to protect his brothers, both died doing their duties He also was a man of action, much like Fives.

Much like Hevy, DB and Cutup death has impacted Fives. To honour them he painted a Rishi Eel on his helmet, which he did not change.

Now I think the Rishi is a symbol that represents Domino as a whole. It was the first and only mission they ever did together. It was the last time they were together, free from Kamino's suffocating walls. It was also the place where Fives met Rex.

Rookies introduce us to Rex and Cody meeting the Dominoes. That is major. not only because Hevy, in a few hours, managed to make an ever-lasting impression on Rex, but because Rex decides to take Fives & Echo when he shouldn't have. That's right! Cody presents himself as their new boss. Not Rex. Now, perhaps Cody was simply the boss because he was the superior of Rex. But again, at the end of the day, Rex takes the twins and not Cody.

Fives is not extremely prominent in this episode, but even from day 1 hos closeness to Echo was here. Echo checks on him regularly. Fives do not mock him unlike Hevy & Cutup at the start of the episode (and as they did on Clone Cadets). Echo stops firing in a middle of a fight because Fives is touched, and Cody has to remind him to keep firing.

And, at the end of the day, it's the two of them together. They only have each other's left after Rishi and yet we already see the seeds of Fives changing.

Episode 3: ARC Troopers.

We learn and observe multiple things during this episode. Now, I'm going to analyze this deleted scene, who can still be considered as canon.

Fives is impatient to be an ARC Trooper. Frankly, I guess why. He's been in the 501st so long (we know that this episode happened in 21 BBY too but SW years seem to be longer than ours) and it's frustrating not being able to achieve what was his squad dream is (is: because Echo remains).

They have Hevy's name and iconic canon on their armour. They mourn him, like they mourn Cutup (when Fives tries to make a joke but Echo reminds him that it was Cutup who was good with the jocks, not him) and DB too (even the writers won't state it). Their meeting with 99 also taught them that Hevy let his medal to 99 (I headcanon that this medal is all that remains for Echo to his brothers, along with his and Fives' medals).

Defending Kamino is defending the place where them, as a squad, have grow up. They have no love for the Kaminoans (I mean, who has?) but they'll defend the place no matter what

99's death. Here we can see that it's Echo who reacts the most strongly to 99's death. Again, Echo seems to be the impulsive one, who tends to react strongly to emotions and events (hugging 99's in his arms, screaming his name shortly before that). Fives doesn't. He's growing impatient with his lack of evolution and clearly is ambitious and mourns his brothers but he's not as emotional as Echo can be toward 99's death.

At the end of the day, they are named ARC Troopers to which Echo's first reaction is surprise, while Fives' one is pride. They did it. They accomplished their squad dream: being the best of the best.

Now, it is time (as it always is in stories) to deconstruct all of that.

One simple method for that: Echo's death - Fives' closest brother and twin.

Now this essay lead me to the question of: was Echo's fake death always wanted? From what I understood (by comparing to other clones' deaths and Filoni's comments) it appears that yes.

That led me to the other question of why? Pure tragedy, like Filoni likes? Probably. Continuation of Fives legacy? It may have been the wish in TBB, and - writing-wise, this is my favourite option, although she's imperfect and would deserve a writing commentary on his own, I digress.

I'm gonna spare you all the details but Echo's death is a echo of Hevy one. Death for duty, duty for protecting his brother. As seen in the previous episode, Echo tends to react emotionally, harshly and strongly when one of his close brother is in danger. When he run toward the shuttle I bet that the only thing he was caring for was getting Fives outta here.

Wanna an anecdote? What is the common point between the Citadel Arc, Umbara Arc and TBB final in s3? Matt Michnovetz. He wrote those arcs. And, while Echo is never explainly mentioned in Umabara you can feel his ghost on Fives' changing character.

Fives did not take well Echo's death. I do not invent. First of all his reaction, is strikingly similar to Echo's one at 99's death (a violent scream of the name and, should he have time, he would have stayed with his brother but was forced to walk away). Fives pass the rest of the following episode looking behind him as if his twin could reappear and this was just one, big joke.

(I don't want to end up a wall decoration)

Now on Umbara. The episodes are complex so let us be focus. First there is this quote of rex who might appears as anecdotical but who bothers me.

Rex: good to have you back

Fives: just like old times

So this means that between the Citadel (s3) and Umbara (s4) Fives wasn't with the 501st, as Rex lieutenant? Like old times means that they were doing missions together with Echo, but they didn't for a while? Where was Fives all this time? Did he request to take missions solo? I do not know but this imply that, at some point, Fives was gone from Rex's sight and only came back for Umbara, and this seems to have been the first mission they were doing together just like old times.

Now, Fives has an extremely changed demeanour during the arc who reminds us of Hevy and Echo, and he clearly has some left-to-deal issues.

Fives spoken advocation for his brother's well-being - like Echo

Fives strong and commanding leadership - like Hevy

Fives fighting all authority and calling Rex - like hevy

Fives deciding that "screw up that, I'm outta here!" - much like Hevy improvised plan in front of a desperate situation in Clone cadets, in their final test.

Fives clearly struggling to not go physical with Pong Krell to defend Rex - unlike Echo here

His outbursts of emotions, anger and frustration, are very reminders of himself and Echo as well

His closeness to clones like Rex and Tup and Jesse and so on may come from a psychological need to always having someone on his side, like his twin. I'm not sure Fives knows how to remain without anyone on his side (but this is part 2 mostly, so I leave it here)

Then there's this quote:

Where's the honour in marching blindly to our deaths?

Fives saw DB, Hevy and Echo sacrificing themselves knowing that they had no chance to get out of this alive. They walked blindly to their deaths, and Fives never forgot that. If he can stop his brothers from doing so, he will. Pong Krell saw clones as disposable. Rex was too stuck in his commanding-book nature to react. Fives had enough. I think he threw the book and the rules (if he ever respected them) the moment Echo went out of his life. All his actions on Umbara are a mirror of his dominoes brothers and the consequence of Echo's death on his psychological mind. He's Fives ghost and this ghost will never be able to leave him in peace as long as his brothers are threatened and cast aside. Fives is done with commanding officers like Tarkin and Krell who don't care for his brother's lives ("he is the one who never realizes the cost").

An appreciable detail is the animation. On Umbara Fives look clearly exhausted, as if he hadn't slept for a long time. We can see the progress of the animation here and it's all more fantastic if we consider that, yes, Fives probably didn't have a single good night of sleep since his twin's death.

Personally I only have a face like that when I didn't get my week of goodnight

Okay, this is long enough and I need to go. Don't hesitate to give me your arguments if you think I'm wrong, I would love to discuss it with you. Sorry if this is incomprehensive to you, I wrote that in like one hour and I'm too lazy to do a second lecture.

[tending-the-hearth]

i love you reunion scenes in movies and books and tv shows i love you fix-it reunion scenes in fanfictions i love you reunion scenes where the entire world falls away from the person realizing the person/people they love most in the entire world is still alive i love you reunion scenes that have little inside jokes mixed in i love you reunion scenes with crushing hugs and sobs of relief i love you reunion scenes with joyful laughter and hugs that lift people off the ground i love you reunion scenes where you can see the person melting into the hug i love you reunion scenes that heal the bad that's happened during the time of absence i love you reunion scenes that show just how much people mean to each other