#echoing silence~

[ineedtoescapefromreality]

~Who needs the beach when you have minecraft? ~

[here-comes-the-moose]

Echo about Omega: This is my darling baby sister. An absolute sweetheart. My pride and joy.

Echo about the other batchers: These are my stinky little brothers. I found them in the trash one day and they wouldn’t leave.

[ninedeuce]

My vinyl collection (so far).

[starry-bi-sky]

im on my hadestown bullshit again but im also still on my SVSSS bullshit too so au where Shen Yuan gets transmigrated into a nameless NPC sometime after Bingge merges the realms and becomes the demonic emperor over like, basically everyone. And Shen Yuan manages to become an immortal cultivator and has a few years to himself to explore the world he's in, conveniently avoiding Bingge the whole time. Until eventually Shen Yuan joins what is essentially a traveling theater group.

They all love the strange stories he tells, ones he claimed he learned from far away places, and eventually ask him to write one as a play so that they can share it with the world. He does one better and writes a musical and slightly xianxia-izes Hadestown so it fits with the times better.

Eventually they learn everything, the music is st up, their lines learned, and the group rents out some kind of low-class stage for a night in a town that's neither too big nor too small. One that Bingge is conveniently passing through.

The actor for Orpheus falls 'sick' the opening night, and Shen Yuan gets convinced into taking the role by his. He has the prettiest voice, and he knows Orpheus' lines and character the best! Shen Yuan agrees.

Bingge attends that night too, and sits in the far back, in a seat where nobody can see him that well.

There is nothing to prepare him for the Tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Not the actor, who looks distressingly, uncannily similar to Shen Qingqiu, from the sharp curve of his jaw to the sound of his voice. It's Shen Yuan's saving grace that he has just enough differences that Bingge doesn't fly to his feet immediately.

Not the character Orpheus either. Who shares a distressingly similar worldview to the one Bingge once had a long, long time ago. A young man, a boy really, with so much hope for the world around him to near the point of naivety. Who believes that there is still good in the world and the people around him.

There's nothing to prepare him for Epic III. A song the lone Orpheus sings to convince Hades to let him and Eurydice go, one that rends Bingge of his flesh and leaves him feeling raw and wanting.

Suddenly he's no longer watching the stage; he's on it, standing in Hades' place, jaded and bitter and cold and reigning over all. Having become cruel like Shen Qingqiu once was. He stands in Hades' place, tall and imposing and powerful.

And there is a shadow of the past sitting at his feet. A boy in love with the world looking up at him, stripping him down to his soul, and asking him where he's been. Bingge stands in Hades' place, and just like that, becomes a man again.

[ineedtoescapefromreality]

It's on Rosalyn that she can't keep her fucking mouth shut about my relationship

Hey!

how sam feels with all the couples emerging

(in case you need clarification she's the one in the middle /j i love u sam)

@hey-guys-its-sam @ineedtoescapefromreality @chasing-that-jackson

[thinwhitedoc]

SHERLOCK | Martin Freeman as John Watson

[linderosse]

Minor spoilers for Echoes of Wisdom— be warned!!!

No major spoilers at all; everything discussed here is from the first hour or two of the game.

So— I haven’t played for long yet (gonna continue in an hour or so), but the game is already amazing!!!

Gameplay is stellar: the strategic, tactically complex fighting style is literally how I fight in *every* game, and I’m so happy to see it emphasized here!

I’ve also been thinking about a name for the new Link.

I haven’t spoiler tagged this post because I’m not discussing any major spoilers at all, but just to be safe, more under the cut:

If I merge Echo into Fable, like LU is, the nickname won’t be an issue. But if I merge Echo into Aurora (like I really want to, check out #wis aurora for more on that) or make Echo a new Zelda, the new Link would need a name (like Spirit and Phantom did when they were separated from Wind and Tetra).

Because I like matching the Zelda and Link names (and based on something you learn about the world from the Suthorn village smith in the first few hours of the game), my first thought is that Link in EoW is the Silent Hero, or the Hero of Silence.

So: Echo and Silence?

It’s a bit dark, but I think it kinda works… although I don’t know what this Link would think of that nickname, since I haven’t met him yet.

[vaguely-concerned]

the melancholy edge it must have for lucanis romancing rook especially to see the end of the murder of crows quest before they know for sure lucanis will be staying with them tho. the 'so happy for him that neither his cousin nor his grandmother is irretrievably lost to him (*cough* no matter what I might think of them personally *cough*) and also that it all ended about as well as there was any sane reason to hope for even though he's saddled with this awful job he doesn't want now! incidentally my heart feels like it's being crushed under the immense pressure haunting the deepest abysses of the ocean floor at the idea of not seeing him every day anymore but we're not going to be talking about that right now'

[echoes-in-echoclan]

This is MY comic and I say Auburn forgives him

Moon 0 

Moon 41.3 - Moon 41.5

[ineedtoescapefromreality]

Mhm, that's great, perfect even

Heyyy there Ollie. Just checking you apologised to your sister :]

@ineedtoescapefromreality

...i did

[ineedtoescapefromreality]

mcleans r u coming 2nite?

@yeahiguessim-white

Yeah sure-

Wait, wait, wait, going where???

[infjarts]

hero zelda :3

more info on this au coming soon...

[volturialice]

hmmm should i make like a slow return to tumblr

[ineedtoescapefromreality]

Just go with it, I'm not smuggling something illegal don't worry

I need a place to hide, no questions asked and no telling my parents. Can I trust you???

@ineedtoescapefromreality

uhhh sure (ig)

[lifblogs]

Alive

@summer-of-bad-batch Week 12 Alt. Prompt: Radio Silence Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 2025 Summary: After Eriadu, Echo leaves messages on Tech's comm channel, feeling like he's talking to his brother again. READ ON AO3

“Hey… Tech,” Echo said into the comm. “It’s been a few rotations since… well, you know.”

He looked around, suddenly feeling ridiculous now that his voice was coming out of him. Night had swiftly fallen, and the lights of the landing pad he currently sat on, legs dangling over the side, were all that lit it. A ship was there—one of Rex’s ships.

Echo… missed the Marauder, but he knew he could help more from here. And… after so much loss, he couldn’t… well, he couldn’t handle it at all. It was like his foundation he’d built with his new family had been ripped right out from under him, and he couldn’t stay, not without anything to stand on.

Hunter’s face had been carved with pained, but he had said he knew Echo had to do this, and also mentioned he could do more work to search for Omega, for Tantiss, than he could if they stayed together.

Wrecker had hugged him so tightly he had worried an implant was going to embed deeper into him, or the controls on his legs would shatter.

Wrecker wasn’t angry, like Hunter was to some degree. He was sad. They all were.

It was more than that though.

The massive hole in Echo’s chest that he’d worked on filling and healing with his family, now made it so any reminders of them was too much. Hunter was too much. Wrecker was too much. Because around them it was easy to see who wasn’t there.

With Rex and Howzer and the boys, there was none of that, really. Though, every time he looked at Rex he thought of Fives.

No Fives.

Now no Tech, and no… no Omega.

“I don’t know if anyone’s told you,” he went on, “but… Omega was taken. By—by Hemlock. I know that’s not what you want to hear, maybe I shouldn’t even be telling you since we failed to find Tantiss, and save Crosshair, but…

“I don’t know what to do, Tech,” he went on, voice rough, tight. Tears welled in his eyes, and he let them, let his world blur around him.

“I feel so lost,” he admitted. “I… I remember when I first saw you. You were the first person I’d seen since… Anyway, I was scared. I was, but when I saw you, seeing you knew exactly what you were doing to save me, I wasn’t scared anymore. I didn’t even know you yet, and I trusted you. You were so human, so real. It was like… It was like…” Echo found himself at a loss for words, not sure how to describe what it had felt to see a human again, to see someone saving him, not torturing him, not using him, but saving him.

“Well, imagine being afraid, more afraid than you’ve ever been, and then seeing human eyes, eyes you almost recognize. I felt… home. You did that for me, Tech. And when you unhooked me, when you carried me… I decided if I ever got through that—and of course I did because I had you—that I would carry you too.

“Maybe not in a real sense—unless it was needed—but in a sense that I’d be there for you.”

Tears fell, throat so tight he barely got his next words out: “That I’d save you.”

Silence seemed to swallow him, even amongst the night noises of the creatures in the jungle.

“And I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

Echo switched off the comm, and placed it against his forehead, hunching in on himself, sobbing.

He didn’t know how long he was out there—maybe hours—but that was how Rex found him.

He didn’t say anything, just put a hand on his shoulder, and it was enough.

“Hey, Tech,” Echo said from the cockpit of one of Rex’s ships. He wasn’t exactly flying it given the one hand situation, but he was keeping an eye on things while everyone else rested. The comm chanel was still live, but as usual there was nothing on the other end. Radio silence. Still— “Sorry it’s bee awhile,” he said. “Been pretty busy, looking for Tantiss, for Omega. I miss her.”

He sighed. “I miss you. I wish you could come home to us, you know? I knew what Plan Ninety-Nine was. Hunter had briefed me on it, but I never thought…”

His words cut off, a million thoughts clouding the space in his head. There was a fierce ache in his chest, and fear, betrayal, greater than he’d ever known, was trying to rip him apart.

He was a traitor to his friend, his family, because…

“Sometimes I hate you for it,” he finally got out, words tight, crawling out of the barbed wire in his chest, the electric frisson that had tried to keep it locked in tight.

And now that the words had been said, they hurt.

Echo nearly choked on a gasp, and he put his hand to his chest, curled in a fist. He hunched in over it, shaking, tears falling freely down his face, sobs catching in his chest, a pained growl leaving him.

“You left us,” he said. “You left us. What are we supposed to do with that? You made sure we didn’t all die, but… you didn’t put yourself into those calculations. You died. Did you even care? Did you think you mattered, or was it just us? We cared about you too, you know! We cared about— We still do.

“Omega got hurt,” he went on. “We all did. And then… well, without you… Hemlock took her. I know—I know I already told you that, but you weren’t there. You weren’t there, Tech! What am I supposed to do now? You were the first person I saw. The first person! And now…”

Echo sighed. “Whatever.” He switched off the comm.

“Tech, you’re never gonna believe this,” Echo said, grinning wide, the hole in his chest smaller for once, filled in with brilliant light. He was tweaking the energy crossbow he was planning on giving to Omega as soon as he saw her. “Omega’s back. She escaped, and guess who was with her? Crosshair. I know! She really did it. She saved herself. She saved him.

“I haven’t seen her yet, but Hunter did warn me she looks a bit older. I know that when I do see her I’ll think about the time I missed with her, and I know it’ll hurt, but it’s okay because she’s back. She’s safe now.

“Crosshair’s safe now,” he added. “Heard he’s as thorny as ever.” Echo grinned thinking of it, and thinking of Crosshair’s grudging acceptance of Echo which had turned into a bond with trust, that trust stronger with all the hard edges. “But she did it, Tech. She finished your mission! I know there’s still the Empire, that Tantiss is still out there, and Hemlock is, but I just thought I’d let you know. For once in almost six months, I’m finally happy. And I think… I think you would be too.”

Echo couldn’t sleep, as usual, and he was lying around in his rack, Gregor snoring beneath him.

With a deep sigh, he pulled out his comlink, dialing it to the frequency that never responded, and never would again.

“Hi, Tech. It’s me. Echo.” His words seemed too loud, and he rolled out of his rack, landing neatly on the deck.

He made his way over to the lounge that was on this massive ship, and sat back in the booth by the table. Only the ship’s hum met him now, the lights dim.

“I don’t know why I’m still doing this,” he admitted. “I know you’re… you’re gone. But I have so much to tell you, so much to say. It’s still weird not having you here. I always turn around thinking I’ll see you, I find my eyes searching every room I enter, and sometimes when I haven’t slept for days I imagine I see you out of the corner of my eye, coming to tell me some crazy fact. And I’d listen. Oh, I’d listen. What I wouldn’t give to have you telling me about some animal or language right about now. You could tell me about the history of the comlink and I’d listen. I’d listen to you talk about the galaxy, about other life-forms, about what you ate for breakfast. About everything.”

Echo had to pause, all choked up.

He didn’t know why he kept doing this to himself, kept tearing at his open wound instead of letting it heal.

But if it healed would he forget? Would he forget all the wonders that had made Tech such an amazing life-form? Would he forget his smile, his startled laugh when he actually found a joke funny, the sound of his voice, the way he spoke, his eyes? Would he forget it all?

Echo knew that wasn’t quite how it worked, and yet he kept doing this, kept letting himself bleed.

He had half a mind to let himself bleed until the Empire was nothing but dust.

“I’m sorry.”

He switched the comm off, and let the silence invade all the dark spaces in his mind, let it play with the nightmares.

Echo leaned back, looking up at the deck above him, not taking in any of the details, not even the color.

Everything was drab, and gray, and dark. Cold, and silent. So cold, like when he had been nothing but a tool for the Separatists.

Echo didn’t welcome it, but it was there. Without Tech, it crept in every day, and maybe would until Echo was gone too.

“I’m sorry to tell you this,” Echo said, “but the Empire found Pabu. I wasn’t there. I’m actually on my way to pick up the others now, but I thought you should know. Phee is safe. But Omega—she gave herself up to save everyone.

“I’d be proud if… if it didn’t hurt so much. I know you’d be proud. In a way, I think she learned it from you—sacrifice. You meant so much to her, to me, to everyone. So I thought I’d let you know, we’re heading to Tantiss. We’re destroying that place, and we will not stop until Omega is free, until the clones are free. I just wish you could stand by my side after we win.

“Hell, sorry for all the bravado. I’m… scared. I could always tell you when I was afraid. I think sometimes you’d find it silly, but then you’d realize it wasn’t silly to me, that it was real. And talking to you about it—it was like you unhooking me from that machine all over again, saving me.

“I’d save you if I could. I would have. But now all I can do is save her.”

Echo swallowed hard, looking out at the blue-white of hyperspace streaking past.

“Tech… thank you.”

Echo switched the comm off, telling himself this was the last time. If he could save Omega—and he would—he’d let his wound heal. Maybe finally it could heal.

Echo had abandoned his armor, his comm, feeling like he was losing part of himself for this, giving himself up to save Omega, so he never got the message that came through as he landed at Tantiss. He would know, would learn who this was, would even have help from him as he turned on the other CXs, but he never heard the high, frightened voice that said, “Echo, it’s me. It’s Tech. I don’t know how, but… I’m alive.”

And with the Marauder in ruins, no one else in Clone Force 99 heard that voice. If they had Crosshair wouldn’t have been so afraid, wouldn’t have thought Clone Force 99 had died, after all; Wrecker wouldn’t have lied, wouldn’t have pushed himself too hard; Hunter wouldn’t have been ready to give up all he was for his little girl, would have known he wasn’t alone. They would have been a family in that tense moment in the jungle, and would have known that Clone Force 99 was very. Much. Alive.

[xolunarwitchxo]

Wish you could see you through my eyes xo