#ez crew

[fairy-edits]

🖤 SHICCA 💛

-Edens Zero-

(#Coloring)

Credits: H.Mashima's Arts.

Color by me.

[raayllum]

AARON: I mean, like you kill a Magma Titan and take its heart. You saved, you know, thousands and thousands of starving people. Like, maybe that's worth it. Maybe you make that trade, or maybe, maybe it's wrong. No matter, there's no way to put a you know—it's trolley problems, right? It's like, you know...

KUNO: Yeah, it's a trolley problem.

AARON:  But yeah, I think you're—you're right in characterizing it as it's certainly a more complex, you know, justification that is required to pursue dark magic. And there are some people who would not accept that justification. But what's interesting about it is, you know, the questions, there are questions, you can you can come out on either side of it. You know, there are cases, you know, would Rayla have died if Callum hadn’t used dark magic? Yeah. I think she would have.  So did he have to? Are we thankful that he did? Thank goodness—well yes, we love Rayla! Well of course we needed him to do that. You know what I mean? Then there’s some kind of morality that sometimes is based on your attachment. Now if you said, should Callum use dark magic to save one person, knowing that he'll—he may be corrupted for the long term and his potential to be, you know, a hero in the future may be altered and his potential to be manipulated or you know, go down the wrong path, all that risk to save one person? Well, now you might say, “Oh no he shouldn’t—for one person?” But then if I go, “But it was Rayla!” then you go “Oh no, [laughs] yeah, he needs to do it!” [KUNO laughs] So I don’t know. But it’s also even that, right? It comes down to “well, in that moment, what did he do?” Well in that moment, he took like a—I-I think the ingredient is a piece of a snake rattle—

KUNO: Or something. Yeah, something like that.

AARON: “He didn’t even kill it, it was already dead, it was already dead man, what did he do?” Well, I don’t know. He supported the system, so it is complex. It’s worth arguing about, a bit. There’s not a clear right or wrong. There are risks. There are long term consequences. Those are baked into it. But I don't know. When—when it’s your Mom in trouble, what do you do? You do the dark magic! You save Mom, right? I do.

—Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast interview with Aaron Ehasz and Villads Spansberg

[tehzeldamaster]

For a future AU I have where the crew are all in their 30s

It's an AU where their crew stays together and live as bounty hunters/vigilantes. And ofc its a big 4 AU, so Steinbell, Remura, Wivry and Krisguna are all a thing.

Most of it is just an expansion of the dilf stbl AU I came up with so I dont have much for the others yet lol

For this AU their ages are

Shiki 30

Weisz 32

Homura 31

Rebecca 30

Kleene 29

Jinn 33

Laguna 34

(Shining Stars n/a since they don't age obvs)

[krockat]

lol. sooo it seems my followers list is also bugged now,,,, not just my following list..?

yeaaa.... it's staying at the same amount - in the number, visually, on mobile... meanwhile even though i am blocking bot followers - it doesn't go up or down, even when i reload and leave, lol

my following list has been broken for Years. i have hit its prostrate several times and so good and deep it couldn't think no more and could no longer function.

but that's okay. it doesn't need to be able to think. heck, i can't think a lot of the time either!

but it does get a little bit confusing at times, for sure, hmm? and frustrating?

like being unable to follow new people sometimes, but only sometimes, and sometimes totally being able to Without having to do any unfollowing.... it's uh.

it leads to confusion ':D

aahh.. my best era was when i was definetely and also Visually past the following limit. i remember sitting there at 5013 and being smug as a bug who had fugged.

and alive!!! i felt so alive!!

which some bugs don't after they have fucked.

[galaxythixf]

@ofluminance said: " hey shiki!!! " smiling bright, rebecca heads towards him, waving. " wanna keep practicing your aim with some more games? i think we both could use the practice! it might even make a cool video! whaddya say?! " / :))))

"Yeah!!" His answer comes with zero hesitation and a triumphant fist to add to his already rampant enthusiasm. "I'm still not used to aiming with my Gravity Cannon." As if she needed it he offers a lazy, visual demonstration with a balled fist shaken back and forth with very little effort. "Maybe I should start dual wielding too! Two gravity cannons are way better than one!"

[coffeeflavoredcookies]

Also, they're about 2/3 years younger here. Unless we get some sort of time skip, they're all probably weak as shit. What are they gonna do about THAT.

[masterj]

Friendly reminder that Lightning McQueen did NOT retire from racing in Cars 3. He only took time off to be Cruz's crew chief until her rookie season was over.

He clearly said after the final race was over, that he wanted to keep racing, since he has a choice now that Sterling is out of the picture thanks to Tex buying Rust-eze.

And when he and Mater meet up with Cruz in Cars on the Road, he says to her that they're both racers now.

Because like McQueen said, HE decides when he's done.

[klamv-art]

How the Eldarya men would look based on my headcanons Pt. 1

I don't know if anyone remembers but last year I made a couple of "redesigns" of Valkyon y Nevra (well technically also Ez but I'm always posting him lol), well I decided to revisit those designs and also do one for Leiftan and Lance just to have the whole crew of TO (They are just going to be busts btw, I don't have enough energy nor time to make a full body for each character 😔)

I'm going to make individual posts for each guy where I will explain a little bit my design choices and all of that. So let's start :D

Ezarel

There you have my design for Ezarel 🤲🏼🩵 Most of you probably have already seen him since I can't stop drawing him orz

Let's talk a little about his design.

The most noticeable changes I made were to his hair. I decided to change his hair color to a darker shade and also changed his hairstyle. I gave him different bangs and also made him have a high ponytail as his regular hairstyle instead of his original low ponytail.

I also gave him freckles. I headcanon Ez to have very sensitive skin, so the moment he steps out in the sun freckles start to appear across his face, ears and shoulders. And he HATES it. Elves are seen as these very beautiful and flawless creatures and in Ez's eyes he sees his freckles as flaws.

As a more minor detail, I gave Ezarel some gold jewelry because he looks very pretty with it.

[lobstermobster-95]

Down in the Wicked Depths Below

Woe to the man

The dark-eyed sailor

Ship’s adrift

And the sea’s his jailor

Drag him down

Down, down, down

Down in the wicked depths below

Woe to the man

The dark-eyed sailor

Ship’s adrift

And the sea’s his jailor

Drag him down

Down, down, down

Down in the wicked depths below

Lost at sea, the sailor cried

I will not die

The sea shall bow to me

“That was quite a display,” Finnegrin said as he rummaged through the piles of assorted junk on his desk. His gruff voice drowning out the singing voices of the crew on deck. “All that talk about how love makes you stronger, but the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself.”

Callum looked away.

The tidebound captain wasn’t wrong. Seeing Rayla like that – writhing and screaming in pain, skin turning blue as if she were already dead – it did something to him. Just like it always did something to him when he thought he’d lost her.

That spell had simultaneously caused a pain in Callum that was so deep that he couldn’t think or see straight. He’d forgotten any spells or tricks that could have helped him and instead did the only thing he could think of.

It had at least been a solid hit – something his younger self would be in awe of for several reasons. A lot of good it had done him though.

At that moment, Callum caught sight of Bait’s empty cage and for a terrible, brief second, thought perhaps the little guy had already been cast into the depths. However, Finnegrin stepped aside and revealed the glow toad had been crammed into another smaller cage.

“What are you doing?” Callum asked, feeling confident he already knew the answer.

“Oh, don’t worry. The cage is for his protection,” the captain replied with a smug smile. “This way, he lures us a leviathan but doesn’t get eaten.”

He crossed the room and stood before Callum, looking down at him with the black-hearted confidence of a man who had spilled more than his fair share of blood. “The one getting thrown into the sea serpent’s hungry mouth is your elf girl.”

He may as well have been strapped to an anchor and dropped into the sea for how quickly Callum became submerged in the crushing weight of dread and panic. He struggled against the chains that bound him to the post, but there was no give.

He couldn’t lose Rayla. Not again. Not ever again.

“No, no wait!” The words leapt from his tongue without his consent. “A dying breath, blood filled with hatred, and a unicorn horn. That’s the dark magic you want. Just…just let her go.”

They could deal with the ramifications. They would find a way to protect Domina Profundis, but Callum had to protect Rayla first.

A beat passed as Finnegrin paused in the doorway before he began to click his tongue in disappointment like a parent about to scold their child. “Oh, my poor lad,” he said. “That deal was no longer on the table.” He chuckled, pulling the door open and quickly disappearing through it, leaving Callum alone as he sunk even deeper into despair.

“No!” He called out to no avail. “No!”

Again he struggled and again the chains around his wrists did not budge.

Hot tears began cutting their way down his cheeks. This was really it. Rayla would die and a piece of him would die right alongside her. They had only just begun to truly mend their relationship. The last few weeks began replaying in Callum’s mind

Staying in his and Ez’s old, adjoining rooms had been his idea. After Umber Tor, he’d shed the last piece of the already-cracked and crumbling armor he’d built around his heart over the last two years. He’d opened himself back up to her, and it was wonderful. They’d often stayed up late during those nights, fretting over Ezran and the others or just talking like they used to.

Then they’d traveled to Lux Aurea, retracing the steps they’d taken together on that first world-changing journey. The route had been easier this time. There was no dragon egg to hide and protect, no duplicitous aid from Soren and Claudia, and no race to outrun an impending battle with Viren’s corrupted army.

And with the border open, the route itself had become more traveled, leading to amenities like the inn they’d stayed at. Seeing Rayla happy and at peace that night had filled Callum’s heart in a way it hadn’t been in two years. He’d wanted to kiss her again, to hold her and tell her he loved her.

Now he desperately wished he had.

He could hear shouts and thuds from above him and his heart began to pound. He didn’t have much time.

Looking around for something, anything he could use to free himself, Callum spotted it. The slug Finnegrin had offered as a dark magic conduit.

No. No he couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

He’d sworn to himself that he would never do dark magic again. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t who he wanted to be. He’d vowed to write his own destiny.

…But what would that destiny look like without Rayla?

The question seared his heart like a brand because he knew the answer immediately. Without Rayla, he had no destiny. If he allowed her to die when there was something, anything , he could have done to save her, the anguish would fester in his body like a blight and consume him from the inside out.

He would do anything for her.

Anything.

Pulling against the chains one last time, Callum reached out and grabbed the slug.

~

The sunrise was beautiful, almost mockingly so after all that had happened the night before.

Callum sat at the base of the mast, feeling no modicum of triumph or elation at their victory. He felt like a liar, a sham. He was the first human mage to do primal magic and still he’d resorted to dark magic.

He thought he was better than this. But was he? Was he any better than Viren or Claudia if he would dirty his hands with the lives of innocent creatures if pushed far enough?

“So…” Came a voice through the fog. “Two primal sources? Now you’re just getting greedy, mister mage.”

Callum saw Rayla as she sat down next to him, felt the warmth of her living, breathing body, but he didn’t feel any less ashamed. If she knew what he’d done to save her, she’d be disgusted and furious, as she should be.

“Callum, are you okay?”

Was he? He let the question sink deep before nodding his head and letting his eyes finally unfocus from the abyss he’d been staring into.

“Yeah,” he said, pulling a smile up along with him. “Yeah, I’m okay. I am.”

He looked at Rayla as she smiled back at him, his heart feeling full and complete as she brought a hand up to his cheek.

“I’m glad,” she said softly.

She pulled him into a hug and Callum felt guilt wrap itself around him along with her arms. Below them, somewhere in the guts of the hull, two dark magic snakes now slithered and slunk because he’d brought them to life.

He’d broken his oath, and as Rayla sighed contentedly, holding Callum like she had when they’d first fallen in love, he knew that he would do it again in a heartbeat to save her.

And that’s what scared him more than anything.

[fairy-edits]

🖤 MEETING AGAIN... 💛

-Edens Zero-

(#Coloring)

Credits: H.Mashima's Arts.

Color by me.

[raayllum]

obviously a lot of it is for shits and giggles (ezran is a dark lord, for crying out loud) but the fact that the Zoom into Xadia dnd skit has 1) callum and rayla switching roles as each other (which is somewhat what’s happened in S4) and 2) has callum completely bail on protecting someone innocent to switch gears and defend rayla once she gets attacked instead

[rookie-lou]

Hudson McQueen & Lightning McQueen

More versions of my picture. For my cars 3 story with six different endings. Shortly after or during the Florida 500 race.

Explanation: (He also has a scar near his hair on some pictures, the timelines where he crashed)

First picture is the main one. (Not in my story)

42 suit: Cal crashed and can't race anymore.

Lightning joins his team and wears the suit for one race

95 suit: Like in the movie.

White suit: Lightning has no sponsor cause Rust-eze is bankrupt. Piston Cup official sponsors Lightning for now.

95 suit & splint: Lightning has a little accident during the Florida 500 race.

95 jacket: Lightning is Cruz's crew chief

[garbinge]

Bail Out

Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & OFC Rosario Reyes

30 Day Fic Challenge

Word Count: 1.6k A/N: I have an obsession with Reyes sisters and the endless possibilities of what could have been.

Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content. Mayans Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics @narcolini @danzer8705 @keyweegirlie

“I’m here for Angel and Ezekiel Reyes.” Ro was visibly annoyed but she kept her voice level. 

“They’re being processed, in the meantime, can I see some ID?” The cop spoke without looking at Rosario. 

She handed over her I.D, not making much of it until the cop let out a question. 

“You their mom?” 

Rosario snapped her head to frown at the cop with disgust. 

“Do I look like their mother?” 

“We called for a parent or guardian.” 

“Well my mom’s dead and my dad is depressed in bed mourning the death of my mother so you got me.” 

“And you are?” The attitude of the cop was growing. 

“Their older sister. Whose 22 and fully capable of taking them home and punishing them for whatever stupid shit they got into.” 

“Vandalism.” The cop looked away and kept writing things down. Not losing the attitude but seemingly accepting that this was the best case scenario. 

“That ain’t a citation? You gotta book ‘em for that?” Ro’s arms were crossed, despite her anger at this whole situation, they were her brother’s she was going to defend them. 

“No, it ain’t.” The cop mocked how she said it. “They’ll be out soon, you can take a seat.” The cop pointed to the waiting room behind her and then closed the window to ensure Ro wasn’t going to continue talking. 

Ro scoffed, and rolled her eyes before taking a step back into the waiting room. It was a mix of being petty and also being anxious but she didn’t take a seat, she kept pacing 5 steps one way and 5 steps the other until the buzzing sound forced her legs to stop. 

She looked up and Angel was the first one to walk into the room. His hand was tight on the plastic bag that held his rings, wallet, phone, and chain. He looked a little tired but overall his expression was mad. Ro knew the feeling well and knew how it presented on both of her brothers. Which is why when EZ came out with a similar bag of personal items, she could see his face wasn’t angry, but disappointed. 

“You I expect this from, but you.” She pointed at EZ. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Angel gave her a look of annoyance. 

“You don’t have any ground to be giving me the fuckin’ attitude like that.” Ro practically barked at him. 

She didn’t notice it but the cop behind the window smirked at her comment. 

“Can we just go home.” EZ interrupted her. 

“When you tell me what the fuck happened.” She kept the same tone with EZ as she did with Angel. 

“Not here.” Angel looked over his shoulder at the cop behind them. 

As much as Ro wanted to argue and prove Angel and EZ wrong in everything coming out of their mouths, she had to agree, she wasn’t going to incriminate them. 

“Let’s go.” 

As the three siblings made their way through the dark parking lot and into Ro’s car, none of them spoke. The only noise was the street lamp buzzing in and out and the sound of her car engine sputtering an extra time as it struggled to turn on. 

As they drove and got to a red light, Angel was lifting up an apron. “What the fuck is this?” The black waist apron was littered at his feet, clearly discarded by the driver of the car earlier. The embroidered words Rivershack Tavern were sewed in an orange thread on the apron. 

“It’s called a job.” Ro leaned over and snatched it from Angel’s hands and threw it in the backseat where EZ looked at it. 

“The Riverside Dive Bar?” EZ’s voice from the backseat seemed confused. 

“That place is nasty, Ro.” Angel added on to his little brother’s confusion. 

“Yea, you know that because you go with all your little biker gang crew.” Her knuckles got tight against the wheel as her feelings started to bubble in her gut. 

“It’s not a gang, and I’m not a part of their crew, my roommate’s cool with them, that’s it.” Angel got defensive. 

“Riverside is dangerous.” EZ wasn’t going to let this conversation die just yet. 

“Yea? Lotta vandalizers out there? Wouldn’t wanna get too close to them.” She was ready to go to bat for herself, always. 

“He’s right, it’s scummy there, fuck you workin’ in a bar for?” Angel’s face was twisted up as he pulled his rings out of the plastic bag and started putting them back on his hands. 

“I’m trying to get the fuck out of here, and to do that, one needs a little thing called money. And to get money, Angel, people usually get a job, I know the concept of holding down employment seems foreign to you but to some of us it’s a means to live.” Her words were harsh, but she had enough of him ragging on her when she was the one who came down to pick them up. 

“You can’t work anywhere else?” It was a question EZ usually would have asked, the way it was said also. More serene, more understanding. 

“Well I might have to because I had to leave halfway through my shift to pick you bozos up.” Her eyes moved to the rearview mirror to look at EZ who was just staring out the window now. “Wanna tell me what the fuck happened?” She asked as the light turned green and she began driving again. “And no bullshit the real deal.” 

Angel got quiet which was very out of character for him, she was expecting some rant about how the police in this town have nothing better to do than stop two brown kids from walking around but it was silent. 

“Any acknowledgement that I’m not talking to a wall would be appreciated.” Ro continued waving her hand. 

“E?” Angel spoke up now, leaning his head back against the seat rest. 

That shocked Rosario. She was expecting Angel to own up to whatever it was and leave it at that but for him to shift the conversation to their littest brother was not expected. 

Ez’s mouth got tight as the anger coursed through him and he punched the seat in front of him which happened to be where Angel was sitting. 

“The fuck?” Angel sat up and turned around just as quickly as the punch to the seat happened. 

“You had to break the fuckin’ window and make the alarm go off.” EZ was now yelling. 

“I was trying to get in the car like you fuckin’ wanted!” Angel argued back. 

“I’m sorry, you were breaking and entering into a vehicle? You’re lucky they only charged you for fuckin’ vandalism.”

“They charged us for vandalism because I went back and tagged the car with a sharpie I had. I knew it’d knock the charge down.” EZ said it so matter of factly. 

Ro looked at Angel as if she was looking for confirmation and he just waved her off which was his way of agreeing. 

“So you wanna tell me why you were breaking into a car?” Ro’s eyes were glued to EZ in the mirror when she asked until she placed them back on the road. 

“Why you lookin’ at him.” Angel smirked. 

“Because if it was on you, you woulda brought your dumb ass biker club hangin’ roommate.” Ro was starting to piece some of the puzzle together. 

Angel laughed at that. “Tell her, E, tell her what we were doing.” 

“It was the car that was at the Pop’s shop.” EZ spoke. “I wanted to find out what was inside, clues or something.” 

Ro was lucky they were approaching a stop sign because otherwise she would have pulled over. She turned her body and looked at him. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” EZ said like he was a child again. 

“Like what?” Ro nodded her head up. 

“Like I’m crazy.” EZ said it while looking directly at his sister’s eyes. 

“I’m not.” It was two words but spoken so firmly. 

All EZ did was raise his eyebrows. 

“I’m looking at you wondering why you didn’t come to me, too.” 

“Didn’t think you’d want in on the illegal activities.” He crossed his arms over his stanford sweatshirt. EZ had been wearing that sweatshirt since he was in middle school in anticipation of going away to college and that anticipation had never fallen to second place, until now it seems.

“Plus I knew we’d need a bailout.” Angel chimed in which earned him a look from both of his siblings. 

“She’s my mom too.” Ro spoke and moved back to looking straight ahead in her seat. “It was fucking stupid of you to do this.” The reprimanding was here and it was directly specifically at EZ, not Angel. 

“Didn’t find anything out either.” Angel added in not realizing his sister wasn’t exactly talking to him. 

“Dad know?” EZ asked, his head leaning against the window. 

“What do you think?” Rosario was back to pressing the gas. 

The three siblings sat in quiet for the rest of the ride home, not talking to one another. There wasn’t any tension in the air, though, just the heaviness of knowing there was really no solution in sight, just the sorrow and mourning of their mother, and the gnawing feeling of uneasiness and unanswered questions of what happened.

[x-reader-things]

Hi!!! I was the one who requested the jealous Ezra x reader fic!

My request was Ezra being jealous around the best friend that is a boy (IDK if that was the original prompt but here it is!)

Thank you so much!

Thank YOU so much - especially for requesting again, I am so sorry that it got deleted-

I think it had something to do with being jealous and protective but I’ll just merge the two.

I hope you enjoy!

“Best friend or not.”

Ezra Bridger x Fem!Reader [romantic]

Summary ; In which Ezra is denying his jealousy, and gets protective of you after a mission.

Requested? ; Yes

Warnings ; A bit of canonical type violence, reader’s best friend is a bit of an asshole, and mentions and of assimilation and depictions of losing important items of cultures.

Word Count ; 3.8 k

——————————————————————

Ezra Bridger is never really one to be jealous.

Sure, he had bouts of it when he first met Sabine. Mainly vying for her attention instead of it being on others out of pure admiration, mistaking it for a crush. And sure, you were jealous of it back then too. But that was before you realized that Sabine was cool, and before he realized that all he wanted was a friend.

Never really had that before he met you and her.

And that, was almost a few years ago.

No, Ezra Bridger was never one to be jealous.

Not in the slightest.

Not at all.

No, he wasn’t drawn to it like a moth is to a flame. He didn’t feel a slow burning pit in the depths of his gut, the simmer of fire licking up the back of his neck. He didn’t feel annoyance ticking in the back of his head with a timer constantly going off and resetting when the feeling settles down. He didn’t roll his eyes every time Linel Rhayme, a pantoran rebel fighter known as the new Pheonix-3, and you were in the same room together. No.

He wasn’t jealous.

I mean, how could he be? You can have other friends. You HAVE had other friends. HE’S had other friends. He can’t be jealous, it’s not possible.

It’s a horrible emotion that Jedi shouldn’t have.

He wasn’t jealous.

——————————————————————

“Ezra! Focus.”, his master sternly said in a low voice, a hand clamping down onto his shoulder with a pressure he knows only as Kanan. Kanan leaned down a bit to make sure Ezra was listening. “Specter-7 will be fine. Now pay attention to this meeting, we have another mission we have to focus on.”

Ezra’s eyes darted away from you loading up Phantom II with supply crates in the distance. Your laugh rang out and echoed softly against the stone walls of the rebel base on Yavin IV, blending into the ambient bustle of noise around the area like a raindrop to a puddle.

Serene and unbothered, unlike the surface tension of the water.

Your pantoran friend laughed along with you, a voice that Ezra immediately tuned out with a quiet huff of breath. His… dislike (not jealousy!) of said rebel allowed him to be drawn back into the meeting at hand, focus no longer split up between two parts of the base.

Linel was assigned another mission along with you and you alone. Something that had to deal with intel and grabbing specific packages of important items that belonged to a few of the cultures being forcefully assimilated into imperial culture.

You, before having joined the Ghost crew at your young age, had been training on your planet to be a cultural anthropologist. You knew a lot of bits and pieces and important information about thousands of different groups along the outer rim, and being in the rebellion helped you hone that ability for even the smallest and most important tasks a rebel could have.

Bringing hope to people that they would stay, and not be completely wiped away from existence due to the Empire.

“Items hold a lot of importance, Ez.” You once told him. “It’s physical evidence of people, and creatures, and even planets alike that they exist. The empire wants to take that away from us too. I think everyone here knows that, to some degree.”

You were definitely an integral part of that mission. And Ezra couldn’t knock that. You would be able to differentiate what came from where, and help other rebels send it back to the places that those items came from.

His problem lies with Linel.

Kind of.

And the fact that you had to get close to Dathomir, where those witch-spirit-things were. And remnants of Night Sisters and who knows what else around the place.

He wished you didn’t need to go.

He wished that his mission with the rest of the ghost crew wasn’t on the opposite end of the Outer Rim.

He wished someone else was going with you, not Linel—

No, no, no.

Stop.

That’s jealousy talking, you aren’t like that Ezra.

He sighed through his nose, thoughts clearing up the more he paid attention to Hera’s instructions on their mission. Infiltrating another important supply run of ammunition that the Empire was sending off to one of the other planets they took.

It was just as important as your mission.

He needed to focus on that.

——————————————————————

The ride back to their temporary home on Yavin IV couldn’t go any slower than it did. The amount of alternate hyperspace routes the Ghost Crew had to take due to an increase of imperial vigilance was both annoying and astounding all on its own.

They - especially Ezra - could only hope that you were alright. You were a great flier, a great fighter even, trained underneath both Hera and Sabine themselves. They all know you can handle the heat when things get tough.

Their questions lie within the realms of of Linel could take it.

Hopefully he should, being a Pheonix-3 fighter who has flown under Hera’s command herself before. She has no doubt that he can handle a flying situation when he’s at the helm.

Of a one-manned ship, that is.

The crew could only hope that nothing went wrong, and things went as smoothly as they usually would go. (Not that smoothly, knowing their luck, but at least smooth enough to make sure you weren’t physically hurt.)

The moment the Ghost docked down on Yavin IV, Ezra quickly got off the ramp once it touched the ground. He jogged over to Aleksandr Kallus once he saw him, and slowed to a stop once he was close enough.

“Hey, Kallus—“, Ezra greeted, a little bit breathless on his rush to get over to him. “—any sign of Spectre-7 and Pheonix-3 yet?”

“Not yet, Bridger,” Kallus told him, earning a frown from Ezra. And a furrowed brow. Odd. But not out of character. “Don’t worry, Spectre-6, they just hit a small snag coming home.”

“Needed to take another hyperspace route, I’m guessing?”

“Not… exactly.”, Kallus sighed, partly out of annoyance. He had a task he had to get to; Ezra was taking up some of his time doing it. “Look, we’ll know properly when they come back. Their comms were a little garbled but I’m sure it’s fine, now, if you excuse me.”

He stepped around Ezra, going off into some other part of the base of his task. Ezra groaned quietly, shaking his head while walking back to the Ghost.

“What’d Kallus say about her?”, Sabine asked him, pushing a crate of unopened ammunitions his way.

Ezra took the floating crate, and moved it to join the pile of other crates in front of them. “Said she hit a snag coming home. They aren’t exactly sure what’s going on, either. Comms weren’t all that clear, apparently.”

“That’s… concerning”, Sabine said. A worried furrow crinkled the skin in between her brows when she took off her mandolorian helmet. She set it against her side with her arm slung over it. “I mean, I’m sure she’s fine and all, but he said nothing else?”

“Not a thing.”, Ezra crossed his arms in front of him, his hands lightly digging into the orange material of his jacket. It wasn’t much of a worried furrow that made his brow angle downwards as much as annoyance. Disdain, almost.

Kallus was still a little iffy on the trusting end for the both of them.

Sabine hummed in thought, eyes boring into the stone ground below them. “I’m sure we’ll figure out more when they both come back. Spectre-7 is always careful, especially on a mission that plays to her strengths. She’ll be ok.”

The mandalorian gave Ezra a comforting pat on the shoulder, one he gratefully took with a small and thankful smile, and walked back onto the ghost. Sabine took another ammunitions crate from Zeb, and pushed it down the ramp towards Ezra. He took the crate from her, looking back and forth between the ghost and where the Phantom II should be showing up, and continued on with his task of putting them all in a pile to be moved.

It should at least give him some time to stay calm. Distracting himself from the horrible flame of an emotion that sparked every time he thought of your mission, and who you were with.

He’s not jealous.

He’s not jealous.

He’s not jealous.

Concerned for your well-being, maybe.

But not jealous.

——————————————————————

A roar of a smaller ship skidding harshly on the stone snapped the whole of the Ghost Crew out of their stupor. Their mundane task of unloading the ship ceased, a whole load of wide eyes - and lenses, in Chopper’s case - staring in a frightful concern at one of the most dangerous landings they’ve seen the Phantom II take yet.

Once the skidding stopped just before a whole weapons unit, the screams of other rebels scrambling away had trickled down into a lot of murmuring. Ezra took the first step and dashed down the ramp of the Ghost ship, followed by other concerned rebels who found their way over to the smoking engines of the Phantom II.

Ezra coughed, covering his nose with his elbow and opened the back door entrance with the force. He didn’t want to waste any time if you were injured.

You and Linel almost stumbled and fell out of the ship, coughs racking through your throats. Smoke billowed out of the back, and there was a chorus of shouts when you both got out of the ship.

“I told you to leave the flying to me—“, you said, wheezing out another cough. You shoved Linel’s side, and you heaved in air. Your hand snapped up to cover a gash - bruise? No, definitely a gash - on your right arm. Ezra was immediately at your other side, his right arm going under your left to help you up better.

Your tired eyes met his with a thankful nod, and he nodded back at you. The both of you turned towards Linel once he started speaking.

“I’m a better flyer than you! I fly more than you on the daily, Y/n!”, he snapped back, also wheezing out the smoke from his lungs. You scoffed at his words and stumbled a step closer towards your friend.

“Woah, careful—“, Ezra began. He promptly shut up the moment your accusatory finger from your injured arm pointed up at the pantoran.

“Shut up, Linel, I fly the Phantom II WAY more than you do. You had no idea what the hell you were doing when those damn imperials got there!”

Ezra blinked. He - wasn’t expecting the amount of disdain in your voice. The amount of venom spouting through your words and weaving through the air like an uncomfortable blanket.

“You wanted to take things slow, that’s not how I do things—”, Linel started.

“YOU COSTED US THOSE CRATES!”

“YOU WERE TOO SLOW—“

“ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT - THAT’S ENOUGH, YOU TWO”, shouted another voice. Ezra, Linel, and you all flinched. Hera’s voice rung out in stern chords, silencing the yells that began to echo across the base. “That’s enough. Ezra, I want you to take Spectre-7 to the medical bay while Pheonix-3 tells me his version of what happened. Chopper, I need you to run specs on Phantom II, tell me everything we need to replace or get fixed. Sabine, Zeb and Kanan will go get what’s needed. Spectre-7 I’ll get a recount of your version of events later. Everyone understand me?”

A chorus of ‘Yes sir’s’, and ‘you got it’s’ and warbles from Chopper sounded off. Chopper headed closer to the damaged ship, Sabine, Zeb and Kanan following afterwards. Hera took Linel off to the side and sat him down on an empty crate, prompting him to tell her what happened on the mission.

Meanwhile, after Ezra was certain he glared holes into the back of Linel’s head, he led you carefully to the medical bay of the base. Your arm needed tending to, and he wanted - no, needed - to make sure you were ok.

——————————————————————

“Alright, Spectre-7”, Hera began, walking into the room of the medical bay you resided in for the moment. “Spill. What happened during the mission?”

Ezra finished tugging the last of the bandage over the gash on your arm, and tucked the last sliver of gauze underneath the rest of it. You glanced over and let out a sigh, your eyes settling in on staring down at Hera’s shoes.

“The mission started off as planned.”, you started. Your good hand lightly picked at a rip against the seam of your pants, thick material rough against the tips of your fingers. They were comfier than they looked, that’s for sure.

“We got out of hyperspace near Dathomir, hid behind one of the asteroids nearby and cloaked our signature. The pirate ship - not from anyone we knew, that’s for sure - docked on the light cruiser and we flew close by and attached to the pirate ship as planned. Sabine’s implant on the ship from a couple weeks ago worked, we didn’t need to contact them inside. Bounty hunters were distracted, bucket heads distracted. Something about payments and other shit I wasn’t paying attention to.

“The crates were there, on the bounty hunter’s ship. And I wanted to take things slow. Take as much as we could for a run back, and then go back on it again for the rest. Linel stayed inside Phantom II to load in the crates as planned. On my second run things went to hell and back between the pirates and the imperials because of a mishap in their agreement and Linel almost took off without me!”

At this point your hands moved with your words. An angry astonishment still held into your words, a bitterness left by your best friend. One you wouldn’t think would betray you, but ended up doing any how.

The simmering spark of flame in Ezra’s gut flared again.

Now’s not the time for jealousy, he told himself.

“I had to leave half of the items there, and rush back on before the door closed. And because of how quick he left we got spotted by imperials, we fought over who’s going to fly and we fucked up the Phantom really badly. Got nicked by a bunch of TIE-fighters and we we finally got back here the atmosphere finally did those damages in. Most of what was in the crates still left in the Phantom II are as good as destroyed now, Hera!”

You finally looked up at Hera, and her eyes immediately softened. Not out if you being one of her soft spots of the rebellion. One of the kids she took under her wing. No, not just out of that. The pure look of anguish that you hid behind your irritation at Linel was there, clear as day.

You always loved caring and learning about other people.

Cultural items held a hand in that. Those were always important to you. Severely, almost.

“All those pieces - all those stories, maybe even people, gone. And it was his fault for being too impulsive and my fault for letting it get to me. It was like before I joined you guys, Hera - everything I fucking lost from my people I that promised to get back and didn’t. It’s all gone because we fucked up.”

Oh.

You took a quiet breath, you shoulder bumping into Ezra’s. With a couple of blinks, you looked back down at Hera’s shoes, and wiped at the corner of one of your eyes, successful at keeping the dam that was your waterline of a lower eyelid at bay. “So… that’s all there is to it, General Syndulla.”

Nevermind.

Hera sighed, and sat down on your left side, her hand gently settling down on your left shoulder. “Well, at least now I know that maybe some best friends shouldn’t be paired together.”, she lightly chuckled, and you let out a quiet scoff of a laugh.

That feeling isn’t jealousy.

Your pinky finger edged against Ezra’s on your right, and he tapped his against yours, both of you curling said finger around the other’s.

It’s anger.

“Linel’s going to be grounded here for a couple weeks”, Hera states, voice still as calming as ever. “I have to ground you here as well to save face, alright? I’ll have Chopper go over the mission logs and recordings made during it just in case, see which one of your stories are corroborated with it. Just in case.”

She said the last sentence in such a way that told you she was still on your side. And you couldn’t be more grateful to her.

“Now, about the gash?”, Hera asked.

“The landing”, both you and Ezra answered. The Twi’lek laughed softly at the two of you.

“I figured as much.”

——————————————————————

“Hey, Linel Rhayme, right?”

Linel looked up from the data pad he was looking at, locking eyes with Ezra. “Oh, Commander Bridger. What’s up?”, he asked, letting his hands hang against his sides, datapad clutched into one of them.

“Nothing much,” Ezra said with a shrug. He leaned against the stone wall of the base, uncaring about the rough ridges digging into his back. “You and Y/n. Spectre-7. Best friends, right?”

“Right. The one and only!”, Linel answered, a nervous lilt slowly cantering into his voice. “Kinda messed up on that last mission though. We made up for it, I think. She’s still a little icy about it, but it’s nothing I’m not used to.”

“Right.” Ezra said with a slow nod. “Well, kinda understandable when her best friend almost left her to fend for herself against both bounty hunter’s AND imperials. But I mean, you said it for yourself. Nothing you aren’t used to, right?”

Bitter.

Bitter.

Bitter.

Linel shuffled his feet. He was a couple inches further away from Ezra than he last stood.

“Look, Commander, it’s not like I had a choice. They would’ve grabbed us if I hadn’t started leaving—“, the pantoran began, brows beginning to furrow against his blue skin.

“—But, the thing is, you DID have a choice.”, Ezra cut off, eyes narrowed, darkened under the shade of the stone above them. His voice was calm and collected as his arms crossed in front of him. “You almost got captured regardless, and you put my partner in harms way. I don’t really take kindly to others that end up hurting the people I care about, you know.”

Ezra pushed himself off the wall, and walked closer to Linel. “Next time instead of spearheading your way to an impulsive decision like that on a mission under her lead, why don’t you listen to her instead, huh?”

He gave Linel a couple pats on his shoulder, and began to walk away.

“It’s not like you’re any better, Bridger.”

Ezra stopped in his tracks, not looking back at Linel behind him. He had more to say, so Ezra decided to wait until he said what he needed to.

“I’ve heard stories about how Commander Bridger of the great ship The Ghost was impulsive, and consistently put his teams into greater danger because of his decisions. Especially at the beginning.”, Linel said, a hint of malice lacing in between those words. “Don’t be a hypocrite and reprimand me for something I did that you’ve done multiple times.”

Calm.

Ezra took a deep breath. “I may have been impulsive and done that a few times, especially during the beginning. I’m not knocking that in the slightest. But, they were never out of a selfish need to get away after I joined the Ghost. And I made sure I never left anyone behind if the situation allowed it.”

He turned back to Linel. “Can you say the same for yourself?”

Silence.

“Be glad that my partner forgave you. That’s a trust you never want to try and earn back if you break it.”

Ezra turned away once again, not getting a sound out of Linel, and walked on. “Thanks for calling me out on my hypocrisy though. I’ll be sure to work on it.”

The pantoran could only watch the Jedi walk away.

——————————————————————

Somewhere off in the distance was the rest of the ghost crew - minus you and Hera -!near Phantom II, checking it’s diagnostics and grabbing what was needed to replace it. Sabine caught a glimpse of Ezra talking to Linel, and excused herself from the rest of the group to grab some supplies they needed.

“You didn’t go too hard on the guy, did you?”, she asked Ezra when he walked by her. She had the hovering cart of supplies in her hands already, and pushed them with her while the two walked back to the broken down extension of the Ghost.

“I didn’t.”

Sabine raised a brow at her younger brother figure, a smirk rising onto her face at his shrug. She gave him a pointed look.

“I didn’t!”, he raised his hands (and his voice octave too), in mock surrender. “I swear.”

“Surreee you did.” The mandalorian rolled her eyes with a snort, looking ahead of them. “Sure.”

A long stretch of silence slid by them both as they walked, only broken by a quiet and reluctant scoff Ezra let out. “Like I’d ever let him get away with what he did with Y/n kriff free.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t let him either. Best friend or not.”

Ezra nodded in agreement.

“Best friend or not.”

[thekingofwinterblog]

Thoughts on people saying "Kuina dieing to the stairs is anti-climatic!" To me it works, because that seems to be the conflict of Zoro's ark: pipe dreams vs cruel, sometimes even banal, reality - Kuina feared that she wont reach her dream do to simple biology, and she died because of something that could happen to anybody who is human and not a demigod - hell Zoro in the end is also a human, so what are the chances that he has the best swordfighter genes?

Guess the only flaw could be that in Arlong park the fishmen were said to be 10* stronger than humans, so by Zoro easily defeating them it kinda proves the point mute and makes Kuina sound like a brat "Well a man is 1.6 times stronger than a man, but fishmen are 10 times stronger, and I defeated the ez gg, git gud"

I really like Kuina and her story, but there is no denying that the original message it was trying to convey has been diluted HARD by One Piece's later developments.

The message of the tragedy of Kuina's death is indeed that simple, Banal reality is very much a thing that can upend pretty much anything. It's basically the same message of Usopp's backstory. his family's plans fell to pieces for the simple reason that his mother got sick and died after his dad left. no grand battle, or dramatic circumstances behind that. she just got sick and died.

It is very similar to Kuina's death, in how ambition, plans, and desires of Humanity can be derailed by mundane and cruel reality. That is life. To claim othervise would be naive. People Die.

That part still holds up.

The other big part does not. Namely her father's line "Humans are fragile beings Zoro."

The thing about this line, and it's importance in the context of One Piece has been destroyed over time to such a degree that rather than the feeling of grounded reality that it once brought, instead brings laughter by how untrue it actually is.

Early One Piece had a much, much less uncomfortable relationship with death than the Modern series which is terrified of killing people off.

This is not to say that tons of characters died, on the contrary, not counting flashbacks and chapter 1, you can probably count the people who died in East Blue on one hand(I can only recall Zoro's skinny opponent during the Kuro Arc), but Death was treated in a very different manner than it would be later.

When Oda had this random bandit gunned in the head in chapter 1, it was to set a tone. None of these characters are playing around, wheter they were pirates, bandits, marines or bounty hunters. They lived in a world where getting killed in a fight was a very real and expected risk.

When Usopp gets laughed at by the Black Cat Pirates, Luffy throws a huge boulder at them, and tells them in no uncertain terms that if they laught at him again, he WILL kill them all.

In the context of this world, Kuina's story has very specific point. Namely it's there to showcase that even if you do overcome your doubts and fears, and do commit to chasing your dreams, that is no guarantee for success.

You can still die, and in the stupidest ways, because this is not a universe where death is cheap. It does not take much to kill a human being.

This is also hammered in with what happened to the cook Pirates, a strong, and experienced crew that sailed and survived the Grand Line, and seemingly the New World as well... And they went down toa single, wave in the East blue they hadn't positioned the ship for.

despite their strength they went down like complete chunks.

Just like Kuina.

With all of this in mind, within the context of East Blue, Kuina's Death by a broken neck makes sense from a thematic standpoint.

If you look at it from beyond that era, and into the grand line, where death became as cheap as salt by the sea, it instead makes her going down to something as simple as falling down the stairs and breaking her neck, as something frankly hilariously silly, given just how many characters in this series cheats death, in the dumbest ways possible.

I could make a list of characters who the story would be better off if they died, and i would literarily be able to put up a list with at least over a hundred characters.

The simple fact is that the old tone where death is treated as a serious thing that can happen in any fight, is dead and gone, and has been for a long, long time in One Piece.

Thus removing one of the big thematic points of Kuina's death.

As for the other point, Kuina's actual strength, I dont really see that as a problem.

The Reality is that neither Kuina, nor Zoro knew ANYTHING about the "Real World" so to speak. That was mostly what Mihawk's entire speech during his and Zoro's fight was about. The fact that he was a big frog at the bottom of the well, who had never seen just how wast the world actually was.

While she was at a disadvantage in terms of the fact that her training would begin to produce slower results than Zoro's due to simple biology, the reality is that the strength ceiling of One Piece seems to be the same for men and Women.

After all, Big Mom was by all accounts just as strong as Kaido, able to fight him to a very comfortable draw withouth any greater injury.

Hell, you could make a very good argument that the reason why Big Mom never managed to surpass Whitebeard and had to settle for just being one of the other Yonko who were not the Strongest Man in the World, was because she let herself go really, really hard. Who knows how strong she might have become if she had kept herself in shape rather than just indulge in hedonism completely and become utterly decadent.

There is also the reality that Kuina is drastically underselling her own strenght and potential, because by all accounts, Kuina was a monster in her own right.

Zoro used to train by lifting boulders over his head while training to fight her.

And Kuina was stronger than him. and not by a small amount either given her unbroken 2001 win streak.

Her greatest problem was, at the end of the day that despite being blessed with immense natural skill and strength(much moreso than Zoro) she had a fragile self esteem, in large part caused by her father's upbringing that told her she was destined to failure.

Her story was about overcoming that, and her tragedy was about the fact that after doing so, her dream was still snuffed out to something completely unrelated to any of her worries or struggles.

[the-fabulous-51]

im curious how you envision lightning ending up in radiator springs in the human-verse. i don't think you've mentioned it in any of your fics (except maybe that one chapter of whumptober). if you have put absolutely no thought into it that ignore this lol

I spent all day thinking about this

So. I have left.... .. Many things ambiguous cause I couldn't figure out how to make it fit exactly in the human!verse side of things XD

But I, like everyone else, have Thoughts:

Let's start with the trailers: so there are some very obvious differences in my human!verse and NASCAR, though I do take a lot of inspiration from irl racing (mainly the racing aspect itself). But where a lot of NASCAR drivers fly to their races, most of the guys in the human!verse here will ride in a trailer, either in the same trailer as their cars (basically a small room just for them tucked in the very back of the trailer closest to the truck part) or in a separate trailer that's very RV-like, depending on how much $$$ the sponsors want to spend. so, for example, Dinoco obviously would go the two-trailer way if not just outright flying the King out to a race if it's far (or with Cal's run, just opt to go the RV route since the two are family and live together easier than a lot of crew chief/driver combos can), where early on Rust-Eze isn't going to or has the money to spend on buying rookie Lightning a whole other trailer, especially if he doesn't have a crew chief sharing the space with him. So for his rookie year he's staying in a small, cramped trailer room that's very reminiscent of a small, pop-up camper room if you've ever stayed in one of those. It's got the bare minimum and the door opens along the side to the outside world or directly into the trailer where the car is.

my crude representation

The car, usually packed up by the pit crew, has to be secured by Mack this time, who is used to securing regular cargo from his past jobs and does not tie down the wheels correctly. there is no pit crew to double check and lightning, who does know how to do it properly, is too prissy to check it himself.

And lightning, being the drama (mc)queen he is, will sometimes opt to sit in the car in the trailer rather than the cramped bedroom (not that the car is any less cramped with the way the seat is but it's his happy place whether he'll admit it or not)

And same as the movie, he promises he'll stay up with Mack and falls asleep anyways, just in the driver's seat of the car (impressive, since those are Not comfy and he's still in his fire suit from earlier (stinky boy))

And same as movie, one of those toys on the shelves falls and opens the back door when Mack falls asleep behind the wheel and ends up in the rumble strips. The car, secured incorrectly, gets shaken out of the straps and starts creeping down the ramp until it ends up stock-still and facing backwards on an active highway.

Which is Bad news.

Lightning wakes to cars dodging him and he manages to start the car and whip it around in an adrenaline-fueled record time.

Mack is gone

And (because it's funny) Lightning's drivers licence is useless here (it's a Florida license and as someone who held a fl license for a while, in some places they do not give a fuck, they'll pretty much throw that thing at you and call for the next person) so it's been, oh, a few years since he's been behind the wheel of a car in a real road (I hc him as somewhere around 23-24 in the first movie) and between that and the adrenaline, he can't remember how to read the road signs to tell him where to go (and it's not like any of them are saying LA yet, theyre still a ways out.)

The rest of his chaotic journey through to RS is the same in the movie just cause that's my favorite scene in the movie and idc if it'd be impossible in real life. it's fun.

And I'm torn with Mack's side of things between not changing it and him stopping at a rest stop, getting something from inside, and as he comes back out seeing the back open and panicking bc he thinks someone stole the 95, only to then find Lightning missing and then thinking someone stole the 95 *and* kidnapped Lightning. Poor Mack.

So yeah. This was mostly me talking through the logistics of how trailers work in my human!verse but I feel like that's really important to how I imagine Lightning ending up in RS. Of course, after doc and everyone joins, Rust-Eze splurges on a whole other RV-like trailer for Lightning and Doc, with the others usually being put up in a hotel nearby or something. Rust-Eze not having an RV trailer is why in 'beginning another end' Doc and Lightning stay in a motel overnight. Even though Mack and the 95 trailer were still there, Lightning hates the little bedroom and opted to stay in a shitty motel room w Doc instead (also he has separation anxiety lol)

And in 'straight and narrow' lightning sits up in the front with poor Mack (who usually sleeps in the attached bedroom on the truck cab, which is not too dissimilar to Lightning's trailer room, just that Lightning has a smidge more standing room in his)

(So in my fics, when I say 'trailer' it's usually referring to something like an RV bus. Who drives it? Idk yall just roll with it lol)

Basically this puzzle boiled down to:

How does lightning end up separated from Mack and the trailer?

How does the car end up separated from the trailer?

How do the two get separated together?

How does Mack not notice until LA (or sooner, depending)?

I lean this way personally rather than the other popular version (also the movie writers' original version of events i believe) where lightning is accidentally left behind at a rest stop (which is also very valid!!) just because personally it doesn't answer more questions for me than it generates (but my alt events for Mack kind of pays homage to it bc it's still a very good version of events).

Lightning being separated with the car is important for obvious reasons and the og movie had a plausible swiss-cheese of events, so all I think it needs is some light tweaking before we got something just as (humanly ;)) plausible on our hands.

I have no idea if this answers your question or if I just went on the most unhinged ramble :)