#from corrie to wolf

[nikyminicz]

From Coruscant Guard to the Wolf Pack

[spiralingemptyness]

Clone wars hc

Been lurking on tumblr for a bit (while) and decided to throw my own clone wars hc cause the hyperfixation be hyper fixated (sorry for any spelling errors).

Kit Fisto and Obi-Wan are bffs - They both lose their robes and seem to flirt with anything that walks. meaning they have get togethers and give each other flirting advice.

Jocasta Nu and Admrial Yularen are BAMF, and are severly underrated. you don't get away with hurting someone they care about unpunished.

Rex's first thought of ashoka was "that's a child" followed by "that's a child on a battle field" and then "that's a child on a battle field with no clothes, what the kark".

One of the shinies from Monnk's battalion definitely asked Fisto (while high on pain meds) if he lactates and monnk and fisto lost their shit and couldn't stop laughing for 5 min straight.

Kix (and other medics by default) have tranq/hypo guns for any vode or jedi that try to leave med bay when on bed rest.

Fox and Amidala gossip and constantly talks shit about Palpatine

Kit Fisto Smile Supremacy, this man win's best smile, it never fails to cheer someone up.

Rex definitely twirls his guns before putting them in his holsters when he's done using them

Bly is obviously in love with Aayla, and he tries to hide it (and fails miserably) but he's so respectful about loving her and swooning, that Quinlan couldn't even give him a shovel talk.

the clones were absolutely baffled when they met the jedi's

Wolffe and Fox are twins, they might be at each others throats 90% of the time, but if you talk shit about the one of them, the other won't hesitate to beat your ass.

Monnk says the most off handed shit in a dead pan tone (ex. Monnk: well I'm not gonna live, laugh, love this. Fisto, laughing his ass off: I-I'm Sorry? Monnk: I'm just saying this is gonna be a bitch)

Plo Koon is Plo Buir, He's at least adopted the Wolf Pack and Ashoka

the 501st and Ashoka are siblings

Grey adopted Caleb Dume

The Iron Battalion/13th battalion took one look at Cal and immediately adopted him

Ponds isn't dead (cause fuck canon), he found Boba before his schemes could go off and made him a deal, He helps Boba plan the assassination attempts on Windu (he trust his general won't die, but he gave him more headaches) so there's no casualties, but slowly the attempts stop and now Boba just lives in the 91st venator's vents.

The first time Cody picked up Obi-Wan's lightsaber he thought it was so cool, and now he just wants to glue the damn thing into his hand

Hound spoils Grizzer, he absolutely adores the massif

Jesse make sure Kix is actually taking care of himself, and make sure he's not over working (and when necessary, he uses a hypo to make sure Kix sleeps, cause Kix will hold that over his head and pay him back for it)

Fox and Thorn are opposites but they are really close

The corrie guard has a list of all the good and bad senators

The most forms that Monnk and Cody (and occasionally Ponds) fill out are forms for more robes

Cody's name is Kote (but goes by Cody cause so many nat borns mispronounce it) and Obi-Wan randomly asked if that was his name, and Cody was just utterly shocked

After Umbara, Fox say a very traumatized trooper (it's Dogma) who is facing shitty consequences for doing the right thing and adopts him into the guard

After Kix woke up from his stasis and found artoo's (again, fuck canon) he would stay up on nights he couldn't sleep and watch videos of him and his vode from artoo's memory bank

Clones using their Jedi's lightsaber - Cody using Kenobi's lightsaber after he loses it for the millionth time, Rex using it to back ventress away from ashoka, Fox finding quinlan's in a dumpster (with quinlan in said dumpster)

Hound let's grizzer purposely tackle people when he can easily apprehend them because it's funny or because whoever he's chasing pissed him off and he's petty

Yoda is the ultimate menace (like srs palpitine hates his ass, but yoda -and everyone else- hates him even more)

Yoda still keeps in touch with Rys, Jek, and Thire (mainly Thire) after the treaty or smth

The Corrie found Quinlan Vos in a dumpster and now he won't stop bugging them (expecially Fox)

Fox is a walking encyclopedia of every republic laws, you do one minor thing wrong and he can quote every law you broke, word to word

A trooper (let's call him Sharks) from Fisto and Monnk's battalion can just get a group of sharks to gather around, at every planet, every time, without fail

Plo's disappointed dad sigh can make a separatist army fold into defeat

Kenobi absolutely loathes caf, he hates it with a passion

Each high ranking clone officer has to deal with something of their jedi - Cody has to deal with Kenobi flirting with seperatist and losing his lightsaber, Rex has to deal with his general constantly crashing ships, his batshit crazy plans and his general continuously using the force to throw him, Monnk has to deal with his general randomly "shedding" clothes, and all the clones have to deal with their generals and commanders not wearing armor (Except for Jaro Tapal, HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO WEARS ARMOR)

Corrie Guard can sleep standing up, very useful when guarding in the pods during senate meetings

The nice Senators (mainly Chuichi, Amidala, and Organa) and Vos very often get things for the Coruscant Guards, and whenever the guard see's the gifts they are baffled and bamboozled

Rex called dibs on Domino squad after the moon mission

Echo and Fives without hesitation took Tup and Dogma under their wing

Fives, Hardcase and Jesse started a prank war in the 501st that accidently evolved into a GAR wide prank war (with Coruscant being neutral ground, cause the guard doesn't need to deal with that shit, doesn't mean they don't help out)

Fox holds ALL the blackmail, and has multiple informants in every battalion, plus he has the power to withhold caf shipments

Fox also regularly reads his batchmates mission reports to mae sure their ok

The Corrie guard accidently adopted a stray tooka and a loth cat, now they're the guards emotional support animals

Rex keeps complaining about his brothers flirting with their jedi's that he didn't even realized that he third wheeled between Anakin and Padme that he joined their relationship

every mothers or fathers day without fail, shaak ti and plo koon always gets presents and gifts from their children (troopers and cadets.... and ashoka)

Coric is Kix's Ori'vod, he didn't admit it at first but Kix grew on him and well medics stay togeth

Coric purposely avoided being CMO of the 501st because they are hellions, Kix wanted to strangle him after he realized what being CMO of the 501st meant

Rex was on the 212th with Cody when Anakin was still a padawan

Rex hates evals, natural blonde plus Kamino is a recipe for hell. Also he was shocked at Skywalker being nonchalant about his hair, Anakin just though it made him cooler

That's all I have for now, if you see any you've seen before my bad, I honestly just typed the first that came to mind and kinda spiraled from there. I'm just now starting to interact with tumblr, so I might upload more and maybe even some art if I can stay focused long enough.

[enigmatist17]

It was said that there was one clone on Coruscant that could make the Force tremble from his rage.

His name is Commander Fox.

He's a terrifying presence when shiny's first meet him, but by the end of their first week, the beskar reputation he's earned on Kamino is pretty much ruined. Fox is more mother hen than silent wolf in the few walls the Corrie Guard have to themselves, sharing what little he had to make sure his brothers could smile, even if just for a moment.

So when he finds a shiny hiding in his office, catching sight of tears that are wiped away too slowly for his trained eyes, the mother hen is there to comfort the trooper. They'd been cornered in a hallway by a senator who had felt the poor Guard up the moment they'd been alone until someone had come along and gave him a chance to slip free.

"They won't ever touch you again." Fox's voice is calm as he pulls out his special blend of tea that a Jetti had given him some time ago, and the trooper watches his commander make him a cup.

"How do we even stop them? We're property." The shiny swallows thickly as he tugs at the blacks around his neck, and before his mind can wander back to that hallway, a warm cup is suddenly placed in his hands.

"They. Will. Not. Touch. You. Again." Fox's voice is still gentle, but the shiny finally stops trembling as he sips the tea until it's gone far too soon. His office becomes a temporary bunk for the day, the trooper passing out after Grizzer seemed to be dropped off to become a convenient pillow.

The mother hen has vanished the moment Fox steps out of his office, and the wolf has taken over.

A comm goes out to everyone as Fox stalks the halls, and his fellow brothers single out the senator who'd made one of them cry. The senator doesn't seem to notice until Fox entered his office, and locked the door behind him.

"What do you want clone?" Their voice is one of contempt, but as Fox slowly stalks forward as if they were the prey he was after, they suddenly focus on that locked door.

"You do not get to touch my men as if they are playthings." The clone talks as if he were discussing the weather, and the desk between them is not big enough.

"You are property, y-you don't get to tell me what to do." The senator darts to their feet, but find they're trapped against one of those windows that overlooks the city below.

"We fight for you, and ask for nothing in return." Fox towers above them now, and when he debuckets, he has on a terrifying smile full of sharp teeth. "That does not entitle you to take what you please."

His voice has gone from cool and calculated to a snarl filled with rage, and the senator trembles violently.

"If I find you do it to any more of them, I will not be this nice next time." Every word from Fox's mouth seems to make the whole building rattle as the senator nods desperately, focusing now on the fact that the clone was trained to be an expert killer from the moment they could move. Fox finally moves back, slipping his helmet on as he regarded the terrified natborn before leaving as quietly as he had entered.

The shiny wakes up to find Fox going through paperwork, and after a short conversation, he's given a pat on the shoulder and the promise they could talk to him anytime they needed.

The senator flees when they see the shiny a few days later, leaving the trooper quite confused before they shrug and breathe a sigh of relief.

[vodika-vibes]

Do you happen to have any personal hcs for how Fox and Hound (not like the movie lol) might look under their helmets? Since we don't see that in the original show...

Hi there! I definitely do have some personal headcanons about appearance (though now I'm thinking about The Fox and the Hound, lol)

Commander Fox

Fox doesn't generally cut his hair in a regulation style unless it gets too long to stand under his helmet, which means that he only has a regulation cut once every six months or so.

His hair started going grey within four months of his assignment to Triple Zero and by the time the war ended his hair was mostly salt and pepper.

He doesn't care overly much about grooming, in the sense that he'll go a day to two without shaving or brushing his hair, so when he's not wearing his helmet he's got obvious stubble and his curls stick out in random directions.

Perpetual dark circles under his eyes since he only gets about 5-6 hours of sleep a night.

Fox has several scars from his cadet days, including a long one across the bridge of his nose, and a burn scar on his left forearm.

One of the big things for when I write Fox, is him having Lichtenberg Scars traversing an entire arm and going up the side of his neck, he hides them from his brothers outside the Guard by wearing his blacks all the time.

I also think that he's developed more scars on his body during his time in the Guard. This goes hand in hand with my headcanon that the Guard regularly gets the oldest armor and weapons, and their medics barely have enough bacta for every injury.

I think Fox is heavily tattooed, but I think each tattoo is a continuation of the one he got before. I also think that there's a vod in the guard who does the Corrie's tattoos rather than running the risk of someone other seeing their scars.

ARF Trooper Hound - So, I didn't have anything specific in mind at first, but I started thinking about it and now I do.

I think Hound has shoulder-length hair that he pulls up into a half-tail or a half-bun when he's not working. When he is working, it's braided flat against his head so his helmet doesn't fit awkwardly.

Hound tends to play around with his hair in regards to color, so it's not unusual to see him bleaching a chunk of hair so he can color the blonde with Space Sharpies.

He's leaner than a lot of his brothers, a lot of his job involves running to keep up with Grizzer, so he's built like a runner. This doesn't mean that he isn't as strong as his brothers, just that he's not as big as, say, Jesse.

He keeps himself clean-shaven because he doesn't like the feel of a beard while wearing his helmet, he says it itches.

He has scars from training Massiffs on his arms and legs.

Look, Hound was chosen to become an ARF Trooper and he made being a dog person his whole personality, or so it seems. He even has a Massiff tattoo on his leg, and a massive Loth Wolf tattoo across his back. (Fox told him he was forbidden from requisitioning a loth wolf for the ARF Troopers).

I think Hound is regularly covered in bruises from overly enthusiastic dogs. (I also think he runs, or at least is a part of, a clone fight club. It's an unproductive way for him to deal with the negative emotions that come with being a member of the Guard).

[the-starry-seas]

list your 10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 people!

tagged by @loverboy-havocboy mwah <3

1) Tech Bad Batch you'll always be famous to me

2) Donnie for every version of TMNT love that dude

3) Ripley from Alien I will never be normal about her

4) Blue from Jurassic World I could pet her

5) Bee from Transformers I think he could fix me

6) Barney Barton from Marvel comics I need to throw him off a roof

7) Kili from The Hobbit deserved so much better...

8) BT FROM TITANFALL LET'S GOOO BEST TITAN 4EVA

9) Zer0 Borderlands I'd let him shoot me but that's maybe a low bar

10) Tsume from Wolf's Rain maybe precursor to my Crosshair interest

tagging @rooksunday @hastalavistabyebye @whiskygoldwings @insertmeaningfulusername @mereelskirata

@corrie-guard-things @cookiemonsterv3 @letshareapapou @adhd-coyote @sofiasfanartcollection

[kartaylirnaak]

Dear Creator Letter

Thank you for making something for me! As usual, I have gone into far too much detail, so if you have any questions, please just message me.

Likes

Likes General

Queer everything

Stories that lean towards the more happy, positive and lighter side of things, rather than being grim, dark, bleak, and miserable

Disability and chronic illness with realism 

Men crying and showing emotions

Quiet moments between characters

Dealing with trauma, including from canon events

Intimacy and tenderness

Affection

Vulnerability

Relationships full of support, validation, empathy, compassion, understanding, and care

Having responsible adult conversations with clear, open, honest, and transparent communication

Subverting expectations, especially around gender and sexuality

Characters being BAMFs

One character caring for another e.g. hair washing, cutting, shaving, bathing, cleaning, dressing, massaging sore muscles (the vulnerable intimacy of being taken care of/taking care of someone else)

The rest is under a cut as this is rather long.

Likes Star Wars Specifics

Order 66 didn’t happen

Clone rebellion

Rex as an ARC Lieutenant in the 212th early in the war and being Cody's ARC

Trans clones 

Clones fucking with gender and/or not being bothered with gender

The clones free themselves (either from the Republic or the Empire, either is fine)

Clones as terrifyingly hyper competent and exceptionally highly skilled genetically altered super soldiers (basically a bunch of Steve Rogers running around the galaxy) 

Clones get, find or discover a cure to the advanced ageing

Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies post war no order 66 where the clones get to live out their lives as free people and get their happily ever after ending or similar

Clones communally sleeping together i.e. vod piles

Natural blond Rex

Neurodivergent clones

Likes Characters

Rex

Cody

Echo

Fives

Fox

Dogma

Jesse

Kix

Wolffe

Waxer

Boil

Wooley

Hardcase

Tup

Thorn

Alpha-17/Seventeen

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Ahsoka Tano

Blackout

Spark

Howzer

Fireball

Nemec

Comet

Boost

Sinker

Barriss Offee

Plo Koon

Likes Ships

Jesse/Kix (Jessix my beloved)

Cody/Rex 

Fox/Dogma

Echo/Fives

Cody/Rex/Echo/Fives

Cody/Fox

Rex/Echo/Fives

Echo/Fives/Fox

Blackout/Spark

Wolffe/Comet

Poly Wolf Pack (Wolffe/Boost/Sinker/Comet)

Poly Corrie Commanders (Fox/Thorn/Thire/Stone) 

Poly Command Batch and Rex (Fox/Bly/Cody/Wolffe/Ponds/Rex)

Likes Fandom Tropes

Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies

Fluff

Whump

Hurt/Comfort

Light Angst (must have a happy ending where the angst is resolved)

Non-traditional omegaverse

Mers/merfolk/mermaids/merpeople

Chat fic

Canon divergence

Touch starved

Soft AUs

Missing scenes

Slice of life

Domesticity

Number plus one e.g. 5+1 times 

Reunions

Likes NSFW and Kinks

Dom/sub

BDSM

Bondage

Leather

Latex

Leather bondage restraints

Sounding

Cockwarming

Free use (must be respectful)

Somnophilia (prenegotiated)

Sex toys

Vibrators

Cock cages

Milking

Cock and Ball Torture (CBT)

Total enclosure

Sensory deprivation

Predicament bondage

Impact play

Sensory play

Body worship

Boot kink, especially grinding and humping

Gags

Hoods

Pup play

Medical kink

Knotting

Cum inflation

Overstimulation

Mouth fucking (with fingers, cock, strap-on, dildo, toys or other appendages e.g. tentacles)

Consentacles

Subspace

Polyamory

Porn with feelings

Praise kink

Breeding kink (no risk of pregnancy)

Humiliation and degradation, including verbal

Sex toys worn under clothing

Begging

Edging

Oviposition

Collars

Face sitting

Fucking machines

Healing and acceptance through porn (basically the trojan horse smut meme)

Cunnilingus and rimming

Non-exclusive polyamory 

Threesomes and moresomes

Rough sex

Tender sex

Dirty talk

Casual and non-taboo nudity, sex, and kink

One character utterly ruining the other until they’re a sobbing, limp, boneless wreck

Aftercare 

Trust, respect, vulnerability and openness, especially in kink and BDSM

Electrostimulation

Hypnosis 

Polyamorous clones

Clones with an approach to sex, intimacy, relationships, nakedness, their bodies and solves where it’s casual, non taboo, open, and just another part of their relationships with each other

Heavy leather muzzles

Knotting

Fisting (anal and vaginal)

Glory holes and reverse glory holes

Nipple clamps and weights

Predicament bondage

Brat taming

Basically, the kinkier the better, with the exception of anything that is a DNW of course

Please treat the following topics with respect, care, and maturity:

Disability and chronic illness

Trans, non-binary, and gender diverse characters

Neurodivergent characters

Characters that are part of an minority, oppressed or otherwise

Body shame and self worth

Kinks, fetishes, and BDSM

Power imbalance in relationships

Do Not Want (DNW)

DNW General

Any kind of abuse or abusive situation, including but not limited to rape, sexual assault and harassment, domestic violence, and emotional abuse

Abusive, toxic, messy, unhappy or unhealthy relationships

Characters being assholes or nasty for the sake of it

Discrimination of any kind

Non-critical portrayal of cults, authoritarianism, paternalism, patriarchy, misogyny, sexism, racism, transphobia and/or ableism

Anything underage

Anything involving kids or children, including appearing in the background or being mentioned

Pregnancy

Horror, thriller and suspense

Ambiguous endings

Betrayal

Gratuitous and excessively detailed descriptions of violence and injuries (descriptions are fine, just not over the top)

Anything to do with smoking

Infidelity

Melancholy and anything overly depressing

Pining and yearning

Slow burn (unless it is complete and resolved with a happy and unambiguous ending)

Character bashing

Focus on proposals or weddings

Toxic positivity

Bittersweetness

Religion or religious symbolism and themes

Drug addiction

Gambling

Terminal illness

Parasites

Eye trauma

Body horror

Cops

DNW Star Wars Specifics

A heavy focus on the events of during Order 66 (mention of and/or some detail is fine)

Anit-Jedi or Anti-Mandalorian sentiment (neutral or balanced and nuanced critique is fine)

Ridiculously oversexualised outfits for female characters e.g. Suu Lawquane in early TCW

DNW Characters

Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Maul/Darth Maul

Savage

Shaak Ti

Wilhuff Tarkin

Pong Krell

Any Kaminoans

Any RepComm or Legends clones, with the exception of Alpha-17

Lieutenant Nolan

Mas Amedda

Edmon Rampart

Royce Hemlock

Saw Gerrera

Count Dooku

Cad Bane

Orn Free Taa

Any of the CX clones

Pre Vizla

Jar Jar Binks

Ki-Adi-Mundi

Any of the Hutts

DNW Ships

Any ships involving anyone listed in DNW Characters

Crack ships

Any ships for Ahsoka, Barriss or other underage characters during TCW

DNW Fandom Tropes

Dead Dove Do Not Eat

Hurt No Comfort

Angst with no happy ending

Most AU’s, including modern, highschool, sport, cowboy and harry potter (please see the section about AU’s below and message me if an AU you’re considering isn’t listed anywhere in this letter)

Time travel and time loops

Crossovers

Sickfic

Main Character Death

Crack (crack treated seriously is ok)

Enemies to lovers/friends

DNW NSFW and Kinks

Noncon and dubcon

Gun play

Blood play

Age/regression play, including diapers

Scat and vomit

Spitting

Breath play, including choking

Cannibalism

Gore and vore

Possessive behaviour

Smoking or ash tray play

Necrophilia

Guro

Anything unsanitary

Mommy/Daddy kink

Castration

Detransition

Wire or metal cage muzzles

Face slapping

Beastiality

Fluffy handcuffs

Needles

Brats or bratty subs acting out (a small amount of light, playful cheekiness is ok)

Unsafe BDSM and kink practices — E.g. violating boundaries and hard no’s, ignoring safe words or signals, or making safe words something unclear and generic, like “Stop” or “Wait”, which could be easily misunderstood. This is less about including safe BDSM and kink practices for the sake of it and more about not doing unsafe practices like the examples above 

Art 

All of the above Likes and DNW’s still apply, this section is just specifically for art.

Likes, including NSFW

Characters that look real. This can include, but isn’t limited to, scars, body hair, stretch marks, skin conditions, and birthmarks; fat characters with rolls; disabled characters where their disability isn’t hidden and they have accessibility devices

if that’s something they need

Characters that look like they’re in a moment of ecstasy or lost in the moment

Quite ok with explicit NSFW e.g. genitals, penetration, body fluids

Moments of tenderness, vulnerability, and openness

DNW, including NSFW

Religious symbolism and iconography

Tarot cards

Pinups

Styles or colour palettes that involve too much eye strain (a little is ok)

Ambivalent

These are topics, tropes, characters and more that I’m not overly interested in but also not overly bothered by either. It’s fine for them to appear, though preferably not at the expense of any Likes.

Ambivalent Characters

The Bad Batch (not including Echo)

Ambivalent NSFW and Kinks

Vanilla sex

Honour bondage

Rope bondage/shibari — I’m not the biggest fan of rope bondage in general, which is hilarious for someone who’s written some. I do think it can be done well, particularly for something like tender shibari involving subspace and soft D/s. However, on the whole I generally prefer bondage done through other means listed in the Likes section.

Tricky Areas

These are topics, tropes, characters and more that are close to a DNW but can be included under the right circumstances. Please message me first before including any of these.

Tricky Characters

Commander Bacara and Neyo — I’m still warming to Bacara and Neyo and forming my own understanding of them as characters. When done well, I do enjoy them but with the caveat that this is with specific and more developed and nuanced characterisation. I’m not a fan of the prevailing fandom tendency of making them cold bastards and having that as their entire personality. 

Luminara Unduli

Jango Fett 

Boba Fett 

Tricky NSFW and Kinks

Knife play

Omorashi/Watersports

Sections of Note 

AU’s

I’m not really a fan of AU’s for Star Wars, hence why they’re in the DNW section. That said, the following AU’s are ok:

Fantasy

Magic

Prompts for the Codex Plus Flash Exchange

Here’s a few ideas if you’re looking for something a bit more specific.

Clone rebellion Cody/Rex/Echo/Fives where Fives Lives and they all reunite

Sub Dogma. I love sub Dogma. He’s the perfect wet rag of a clone to put in the blender.

Alpha-17 domming the fuck out of Cody and Rex

Cody/Rex/Wolffe where two of them are caring for the third after they were injured or something happened to them

Cody and Rex are on Coruscant at the same time and are making this Fox’s problem

Established Codex and Jessix where, for whatever logistical reason, they all end up sharing Rex’s quarters, and then end up in a pile on the floor sharing each other

Kix teaching Cody and Rex sounding by demonstrating on Jesse

Codex join a play night with the Wolf Pack (Wolffe/Boost/Comet/Sinker)

Clone rebellion Cody/Howzer/Rex. Cody bends Howzer over the holotable and fucks him while Rex has a lot of fun providing commentary and watching, before eventually joining in.

Kinky additions or variations on these

Credits

Thank you to the following people, from whose Dear Creator Letter’s I have liberally pilfered.

Elthadriel

cabezadeperro

haltiamieli  

trudemaethien

lightningbig

Nons

[sl-walker]

Neither Fox Nor Rose (ST:TOS, Arc of the Wolf) for the ask game please!

Ooh, boy. The story that goes after Forty-Eight, which was and remains the hardest tale I've ever told. Neither Fox Nor Rose refers to The Little Prince, sort of roundabout, and the discussion between the Little Prince and the Fox. In a part of the story not yet written, Mel Corrigan tells Corry that Scotty's not his fox nor his rose, and she's referring to that. And it's sort of-- not a refutation of the (paraphrased) line, "You are forever responsible for what you have tamed," exactly, but pointing out (correctly) that Cor's and Scotty's relationship is a helluva lot more complicated, and that it's also pretty erroneous to ever consider Scotty 'tamed'.

And that ties into a few scenes towards the end of this story, not quite written yet (though well known), where Cor tells Scotty that wolves and dogs are genetically almost identical. So-- what's the difference between them? And Scotty -- out of his head on narcotics and probably frankly also on anxiety medication -- says that the difference is that wolves don't need humans the way dogs do. Cor replies that that means the first wolf had to have chosen to come to the light of man's fire, and Scotty answers, "Not just once. The first wolf to the fire woulda had to have made that choice over an' over again."

Anyway! For a snippet (which takes place between those two yet unwritten scenes):

--

The sea fog weighed everything down as dusk fell; ghostly beyond it, the lights of homes intermittently faded into the dim radius of their constricted world, then out again.  Against the darkening sky, the evergreens and bare branches reached up and out, leaving the road a slick ribbon navigable by sight and sensor both, as it vanished into the silhouettes.

The decision to stay down on the peninsulas, hopping from one to the other on old backroads, wasn’t discussed; Corry didn’t need to speak up to know that both of them wanted to stay down there in the fog, bypassing even the relative gentleness of Damariscotta and Newcastle in the off-season.  Instead, he wove them along Splitrock Road and, where it ran into Bristol Road, stopped at the old, gray-boarded general store long enough to get a cup of hot chocolate for himself and a cup of ginger and mint tea for Scotty.

It wasn't exactly routine, but not too far from it; they had often ended up running the roads before, and if this particular time was heavier, then at least they were together for it.

Exchanging small talk in the store (New England politeness in full force) was a rote action that Corry went through, taking comfort in the normalcy of it even as he spoke the words automatically, the usual questions and answers, the gentle routine of it; when he came back out, the lids of the cups steaming in the thick and wet air, Scotty had his window down and his arms folded on the door, chin resting on those.

He blended well into the near-night, all gaunt highlights and shadows, but there was something softer written even in those stark lines than Corry had seen in quite some time; when Cor got back into the driver’s seat, only then did Scotty sit back again to take the offered tea, the barest wince accompanying the motion. “What did ye say those were?  A kind o’ tree frog, aye?”

It took Corry a couple of long moments of combing through those words before he was able to make full sense of them and pull up the memory they related to; he’d been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed the peepers singing in the twilight.

It was a sound he had looked forward to whole-heartedly every remembered year of his life.  He wondered what it meant that he hadn’t even caught onto it this time.

“Peepers,” he said, closing his eyes for a moment, not only to mark the sound of them calling into the dark, but to mark the conversation they’d first come up in, years ago.  Him and Scotty in the Wôbanakik Preserve, hiking together on a sunny autumn Saturday; it might as well have been a different lifetime altogether, for all that had happened since.  “I mean, I’m sure they have a scientific name, but we just call ‘em peepers.”

Scotty made a quiet noise in the affirmative, a low hum, and they sat sipping their drinks for another unmarked piece of time before he spoke again, “I hacked her jacuzzi.”

That had Corry looking over, caught off-guard; he was too wrecked internally to smile about it, but he could feel some small jolt of baffled amusement at the words anyway.  “To what end?”

“Pain relief.”  Scotty quirked his eyebrows, looking out the windshield and absently shoving his overgrown hair back out of his way, though to no avail. “Upped the salinity in it well past protocol so I could float.  Meant I had to cycle the cleaning system far more regularly than it'd normally call for, but it's none the worse for wear.”

“Did floating hurt less?” Corry asked, taking in his brother’s profile, heart aching in all too familiar ways at the thought of that pain.

Scotty seemed to think about it for a moment, narrowing his eyes, then said, “Hurt different.  A little less, but mostly different.  Not quite so localized.”

"And now?"

"More tolerable'n usual."  There was a beat, then Scotty added, "I went over to Boothbay Harbor with yer father."

The fact that Scotty had been in Maine often enough and long enough that there was no 'r' left in harbor, even used in the same sentence as over or father, made Cor smile for real, briefly, and made something ache in his chest.  At least until all of the implications of those words sank in.

Dad had been going over there for his monthly pulmonary workup for years now, ever since he’d retired.  He wasn’t ready to commit to a lung transplant because he was mostly able to change his lifestyle enough that the residual damage was manageable without too much disruption.  But that did mean he went to St. Andrews regularly to keep up on it, especially because he was the first person to ever be infected by that specific strain of bacteria and live to tell about it.

There were papers written about him on file; given his own field, Corry had some very mixed feelings about that.

But if Scotty went with Dad, that meant he probably didn't just go along for the ride itself. "What did they find?  And prescribe?  And recommend?" Corry asked, once he was sure he could do it with a neutral-to-positive tone that didn't give away his own, probably sad question of why didn't you let me take you?

Scotty answered the second one first; he pulled an orange prescription bottle out of his (borrowed? permanently appropriated?) coat’s pocket.  After Cor took it, looking over the label -- and noting that the address under Scotty's name was 139 West Side Road and not 22 West Side Road, where he was currently staying -- he said, a little reluctantly, "They only did a quick tricorder scan, so it only got so detailed.  But aside wantin' to do more in-depth scans to confirm it, they figure all that new bone they put me back together with in Baltimore, especially where it was knit to hardware, is micro-fractured all through.”  He worked his jaw for a moment, then admitted, “There were a few larger cracks that were lit up, too.  Not gettin’ into the connective stuff, anyway."

Corry barely held down a shudder, before finally managing to absorb the rest of the prescription label; it was a pretty hefty anti-inflammatory, the kind you could only get from a doctor.  Two weeks worth, presumably to give Scotty time to make some decisions without really letting him kick the whole thing even further down the road.

Cor wasn’t too surprised, though.  Even when they bolted from Maryland, he knew that his brother wasn’t going to heal without actual, active, professional medical care.  He just-- hadn’t anticipated the amount of time it would take before Scotty would even be tentatively willing to seek it.

Then again, now that he knew more, it wasn’t so hard to see why.  No matter how godawful it had been, having to wait and watch and note the inevitable deterioration.  Or the torment of knowing how much it had to hurt and being unable to do a single damn thing to help.

He handed the bottle back over, breathing out. “That’s a-- lot.  To get confirmation on.”

Scotty shrugged, though there wasn't really anything dismissive or casual about the gesture, even if his tone was firmly entrenched between those two as if he could downplay his own words.  "Aye.  And apparently I've lost seven and a half kilos somewhere between now and the last record they've got access to."

That also wasn't any real surprise; the numbers, not the fact of it.  Cor could see it especially on Scotty’s face, the softer curves and lines whittled down in a way that didn’t quite fit him; mostly, he was always too bundled up to see it anywhere else.  Another thing that Corry had been fretting over and was unable to do anything about.

“Maybe having the pain under better control will help with that,” he said, still stepping carefully.

“Maybe.  First thing I’ve had in hand that hasn’t seemed like some manner o’ self-punishment,” Scotty replied, saluting with the cup of tea, the two tags fluttering against the side.  “I mean, yer mother brought food, and the soup wasn’t too hard, but...”

He trailed off there; Corry had little trouble filling in the gaps.  

He wished he knew what to say.  Instead, though, he started the skimmer again; figured to drive a little more, maybe in the hopes that he’d be able to leave his heart-soreness in the parking lot and just let himself be relieved that they were talking and together.

[mymiraclebox]

which one of your Kwamis took the most time to create?

This is actually a hard question to answer, because so many of my kwamis went through so many different stages. Take my boy Graay for example-- he was my first OC kwami, and originally he was a kwami of Balance in a trio with Tikki and Plagg, he was the "price" of the wish, essentially. He was always Graay the Wolf who loved grapes and hated humans, but he's gone through so many changes since my original idea of him.

Originally he was going to be in a North American, his Miraculous not part of any Box, going to be found by a young girl who eventually changes his perception of humans. Also the holder that betrayed him was actually going to be a good person who sacrificed his very soul to save Graay, but Graay didn't realize it until years later. But the Graay I have today is very different than my original Graay, who while I've always had a Wolf kwami from the beginning, so you can say he took the most time to create with how much of his story changed even if his basic name and design was always the same.

---

Another kwami who went through a lot of change was Yuume. Yuume was always going to be an evil Sheep of Dreams, but my first version of him was of an ancient kwami who never got a Miraculous which made him bitter, and used Dreams to communicate with humans to act out his evil schemes. Now Yuume is a young kwami who does have a Miraculous-- and he hates that fact.

---

Then you have someone like Zipp, who've redesigned three times now (third version hasn't been posted yet) and I'm still I'm not sure I'm happy with it-- so he may be going through many more changes.

Or you have Koree, who was originally a Raccoon of Darkness named Corri (who was named a variation of Dusk before that) who I kept abandoning, then bringing back, then changing, then changing again, etc.

Then there's others whose concepts I've had for a while-- since I've started watching Miraculous I wanted a Snake kwami named Habu; but my friends told me not to bother because there was going to be a Snake kwami later on (this was when I was still catching up with the show). But what do you know the idea stuck around anyways and now I have Habuu my Rattlesnake and I love her.

Finally there's kwamis that just took forever to come up with and get right. When I decided on the idea of Alpha Kwamis and wanted to to make Graay part of a duo, I knew I wanted a Chaos kwami to be his other half. But it took me forever to figure out what animal I wanted for this Chaos kwami. At one point they were going to be a Dinosaur (a raptor of some kind if I remember right) named Voidd, but then I dumped that idea very quickly. I went through a lot of different animal ideas, asking others for their opinion on a Chaos animal, etc. I was stumped on creating a Chaos kwami for a long time, until it hit me that the perfect animal was right there the whole time: the platypus. A semi-aquatic, egg laying mammal (of action) with venomous spurs, looks like a combination of several animals, lacks a stomach, basically "sweats" milk, glows under UV light, can sense electricity... and I could go on. xD But perfect Chaos animal.

From there everything about Prrysm fell into place. I wanted her to have a hard time maintaining a physical form, to glitch in and out of reality, to be a rainbow of colors (which is where she got her name), and yeah.

This turned out to be a bit of an essay. xD But these are the ways I've had kwamis take the "longest", all in different ways.

[mystoriesmylives]

The Sister Wolf-Habits

Whina has bad habits.

First is her temper.

Whina is extremely protective of her squads (well mostly, all clones, but her squad come first.) So anyone that insults her squad is going to get a chair in the face. One shiny insulted Thunder, saying what a useless soldier he was and Whina just jumped the man. He started screaming because she bit his face.

Poor bastard needed stitches.

Mixed in with the temper was the swearing and insults. She swears like a pirate and she can come up with creative insults. She once called a senators daughter an “entitled cunt” after arguing with her over military protocols. The pack had to drag her away from that one.

Then there is the smoking.

She doesn't smoke those little death-sticks, nope.

She smokes those huge cigars that just stunk. To make it worse, Rafe and Elspeth also smoked them and the group usually all smoked together. They were made to smoke outside after some troopers complained about the smell.

But her weirdest habit was the vents.

Whina crawls into the vents of every building and ship she comes across. She states that she has to know every part of the place shes in, but Sinker told his vod he thinks she is just nosy and likes to spy on people. She had cubbyholes everywhere, stuff either with books, snacks, or weapons.

She even somehow sneaked into the Jedi temple; though she was found quickly and kicked out.

The one place she couldn't sneak in was the senate building.

The Corrie guards always manage to find her and Fox then threatened that she tried again, she was going to shoot her.

So she did it again.

And he shot at her.

When she came back to the barracks with a blaster burn on her shoulder, she only had two words.

“Worth it.”

AN: If anyone wants to know how it looked when Whina got kicked out of the Jedi temple, just think of Jazz from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

@eyecandyeoz @justalittletomato @gran-maul-seizure @herbalinz-of-yesteryear @stardustbee @kimageddon @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius @ninjigma @kotic-kryptid @a-dorin

[sanloss]

Alright, but consider this:

Rex also got bit by the werewolf. And Ahsoka has no fucking clue. (It happened during her exile)

Rex: Find Fives

Ahsoka: What?

Rex: *Turns into Wolf*

Ahsoka: ohshitfuck- *starts running away*

And then we have two options: Reasonable, and Pure Crack.

Reasonable:

Things go the same as they did in canon, only Ahsoka doesn't need to trick Rex into the medical chamber to remove his chip- she only needs to kick his ass into it. They try the "She's not a jedi anymore" thing, it doesn't work, etc etc, Ahsoka gets to dig a mass grave and thousands of SW fans everywhere get to cry their hearts out.

Crack:

The troopers on the bridge start shooting Ahsoka, and Rex's big brother/papa wolf instincts go mental, and he bites one of them.

Cue Wolf!Jesse staring at Wolf!Rex like:

*In Wolf*

Jesse: What the kriff?

Rex: All of the 501st has chips in their heads.

Jesse: !?!

Rex: The chips make us follow orders. Our orders are to kill Ahsoka.

Jesse: !!!

Rex: But Wolves don't follow orders.

Jesse: ... I see...

(And the reason why they aren't getting shot at is because Werewolf Fur is very resistant to blaster bolts + the Chipped Clones not really knowing what to do about them? Cause like, they're wolves- and wolves can't really be expected to follow orders- so are they traitors?)

The two of them go on a biting spree, turning the entire ship into werewolves. Ahsoka and Maul are very confused.

Maul: Did you know they could do that!?!

Ahsoka: I'm as surprised as you are-

*a single wolf takes down 12 clones without a scratch*

Maul: Would you like a truce?

Ahsoka: Truce.

Once the entire ship has been sufficiently fluffy-fied, the two no-longer-affiliated force users approach. Through various charades, mimicry, and one shiny- now called Paws- discovering that werewolf paws are dexterous enough to write with on whiteboard, a plan to de-chip Ahsoka's portion of the 501st is formed:

One of the clones (in wolf form) gets in the tube, and two wolves lay down on him. After they transform back into humans, Maul holds one arm still enough to let Ahsoka (and eventually, a medic) inject them with a sedative while they get their chip removed.

Since Ahsoka didn't need to free Maul as a distraction, the Hyperdrive is fine.

They get to Coruscant just in time to hear Palps go "I'M THE EMPEROR NOW!"

Maul goes :< but they rush to the Temple anyways- he can't resist the puppy dog eyes (not all the clones got de-chipped yet, but they need to go save the younglings now.

(Also, because I'm not a heartless monster, Liberty dies during the assault on the temple, not after.)

The rest of the 501st gets turned by Ahsoka's party, while Maul and Ahsoka attack Anakin. Rex goes to get Padme- and turn most of the Corrie Guard- to get her to stop Ani from killing everyone.

Rex: Girl, come get your husband, he's committing war crimes.

Padme: WTF?

Rex: He's about to kill children

Padme: D:

So they go to the temple. Ani gets slapped upside the head (before or after killing younglings, depends on how evil you want to be) and gets dragged to the healers by 20 different werewolves with familiar markings (The Werewolf!Clones have markings like their helmets).

The Younglings all latch onto the Fluffy Saviors, and a whole bunch of them now think Maul is the coolest guy ever. The Crechemasters sigh and get the Fluffiest clones to guard Maul.

Maul has no idea what to do with the attention.

Bail and the Boys + Fluffy Cody show up, and get very confused.

Bail: Where did all these dogs come from?

Ahsoka: ...Therapy dogs?

Yoda: *looking at the newfound Light coming from Maul* Legit, this seems.

They go kill Palpatine- by "They", I also mean the hundreds of Werewolf!Clones. Maul gets the killing blow, along with Wolf!Fox. This is televised, and All The Younglings now think that Maul is the Coolest Thing Ever.

Palpatine's empire is dead before it can really even begin. The Purge is incomplete- While a lot of Jedi did die, the Younglings, Crechemasters, and a lot of the Corps survived.

Anakin gets kicked out of the order, but seeing as he had been manipulated by Palpatine since he was nine, he was given quite a lot of leniencies. That, and he never actually killed any younglings.

He gets to be Padme's House Husband and take care of his children.

Ahsoka, Maul, and Rex all get the Republic version of a Purple Heart. Maul gets to be the Coolest Guy Ever with the Younglings.

Cody gets bitten by a werewolf sometime during the war, and can transform at will with no full moon requirement, effectively becoming himself as a very large dog

he and Obi-Wan conspire to keep this fact hidden, as they're very aware of the danger of the Kaminoans finding out and disappearing him into their labs

when Order 66 goes out, Cody has a split second to fight it

and, well. wolves aren't exactly good soldiers, and you can only sort of expect them to follow orders.

transformed, Cody runs straight to the General, but when he gets there, he realizes that he can't actually warn him of the danger, because he can't transform back to explain without the Order taking hold

but he can whine sadly and pull on Obi-Wan's ridiculous sleeves with his teeth until Obi-Wan gets the hint and lets him lead him away to safety in a stolen ship

they make the rendezvous with Bail and Yoda

(Bail: what's with the dog Obi-Wan?

Obi-Wan, sweating: it's, um, a service dog

Yoda: ...fake, that sounds, but okay)

and then Cody and Obi-Wan make the trip to the Temple to disable the beacon, with Cody fighting off his brothers as nonlethally as he can while Obi-Wan does his best to follow his lead

after they find the evidence of Anakin's betrayal and receive Yoda's assignment, Obi-Wan sobs into Cody's fur the whole flight to Padme's apartment, and then silently the whole flight out to Mustafar hidden aboard her ship

while Obi-Wan is busy fighting with Vader, Cody manages to drag Padme's unconscious body back aboard her ship, then sneaks back closer to the fighting just in time to see the end of the duel

(if he waits to act until Obi-Wan is just far enough to not notice when Anakin's screams cut out, well, that's his own business)

he follows Obi-Wan back to the ship and drapes himself across the man's lap the whole way to Polis Massa

after Padme's death and her children's birth, Cody demands that they keep at least one of the babies

(look at his puppy dog eyes. how can you so cruelly deprive him of tubies like this.)

so Luke grows up with his Uncle Ben and their very strange, very large dog, Cody

when they end up on the Death Star nearly two decades later, Cody materializes from wherever he'd been lurking on the station just in time to drag Obi-Wan to safety during his duel with the Grand Inquisitor

as soon as their bedraggled group arrives on Yavin, Rex shows up to eagerly greet his former General; Cody, while thrilled to see his brother alive, starts viciously growling at him as he approaches: he might not understand in detail how the chips work, but he knows what he experienced that day, and he's seen what his brothers have done since then

Obi-Wan explains the situation to the man from the Cody-approved distance of half the hangar away, how Cody transformed one day and has refused to turn back since, and Rex immediately expresses his confusion, asking if they haven't removed Cody's chip

(Cody: I assure you, I did NOT let anyone microchip me!)

following Rex's explanation, Cody rushes them all to the medbay to undergo surgery, leaving Obi-Wan to explain to Luke how their 'dog' is actually his other Uncle

while Obi-Wan and Cody are distracted desperately making out with each other in the medbay, Luke sneaks off to destroy the Death Star, setting them up to all live happily ever after

[bethnalgreen]

Dead Mountain preview chapters

So, the new novel in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Nora Kelly (and Corrie Swanson) series is out in about a week. I ordered my copy from the Poisoned Pen because I want the collectible cards. (Sorry, guys, don't really care that it's an "autographed" first edition.) I used to be a B&N bookseller, so I know people who order from there or Amazon tend to receive the book on the release date, while I'll have to wait a week or two. Fortunately, Amazon has a sample available online that I can obsess over in the meantime.

Spoilers for the new book (and previous books in the series) ahead!

Chapter 1: It's late October. Two frat guys get stuck in the snow in the New Mexico mountains. They proceed to get drunk and stoned, crawl into a cave for shelter, and find human remains.

Chapter 2: She's back! My favorite character, Special Agent Corinne/Corrine Swanson, appears. (Has Hachette fired all their proofreaders? Come on, it's kind of essential that you figure out how the first name of your co-heroine is spelled.)

It appears that Corrie has spent the past few months on boring FBI assignments after the shit-show that wrapped up Diablo Mesa. I find the mention of debriefings and lie detector tests reassuring; I wondered how much she told her superiors about what happened. Apparently, she told them everything. Unfortunately, it looks like she's gotten screwed over again with regards to commendations, promotions, etc. because of the case's classified nature. Typical. (Can't FBI agents get commendations or decorations for classified work? It seems like Pendergast has a few of those in his jacket.)

Her boss now has a case for her, and introduces her to her new mentor, Agent Sharp. (RIP, Hale Morwood.) Corrie notices that his clothes and haircut are better than typical FBI issue. He's pretty quiet, has an accent she can't quite place, and has a reputation for being somewhat of a lone wolf. Hmm, reminds me of someone ...

Anyway, her boss assigns her the human-remains-in-the-mountains case, and Corrie and Sharp leave posthaste.

Just a small rant here. This chapter states Corrie's been at the Albuquerque FO for about a year. Excuse me, it's been ALMOST TWO YEARS. She started her assignment in ABQ in January 20xx. The meat of the story in Old Bones took place in May/June. The events of Scorpion's Tail took place three months later (fall of 20xx). Diablo Mesa took place six months after that (spring of the next year). Dead Mountain explicitly starts four months later, on Halloween. That's nearly two years. Her probationary period should almost be up already. Sometimes I wonder if the authors are deliberately messing with the timeline to keep Corrie in stasis, or whether they just can't be bothered with consistency.

Chapter 3: We begin with another inconsistency. We're told that Morwood was forced into a mentoring role by an "injury," but it was actually his interstitial lung disease.

Corrie learns a little more about the Manzano Mountains region and gets snarky about the "need" for hundreds of nuclear weapons. Sharp seems to appreciate the sarcasm.

We're introduced to a deputy for Torrance County, who reminds Corrie of her "friend," Sheriff Watts of Socorro County. She wonders what Watts is up to. This is interesting ... he asked her out in Diablo Mesa, and she pretty much accepted. It's now four months later, she obviously hasn't been too busy, and they haven't gone on that date yet? In fact, it doesn't even sound like she's really kept in touch with him. Maybe later chapters will clarify this situation and explain how in the world he's surviving with only one of his Colt Peacemakers.

The deputy seems decent enough, but the big kahuna himself, Sheriff Hawley, is yet another of the male LEOs that Corrie runs into all too often. Calls her "young lady" even after she's identified herself as FBI and refuses to leave the scene (which he's stomping all over without protective gear) until the MALE FBI agent threatens him. Sigh.

Side note: I got an email from Poisoned Pen, which refers to an "evil sheriff" in this novel. Does Hawley have something to do with the "Dead Mountain" cold case that Corrie and Nora are going to investigate? On the other hand, one Goodreads review says that the plotline with Nora, Skip, and the sheriff goes nowhere. Is he just evil for evil's sake, then?

Anyway, Corrie goes into the cave and sees the human remains. And there the preview abruptly ends.

I feel like there's a lot of unpack here, and we don't even know what's going on with Nora and her billionaire boyfriend!

As much as I bitch about continuity errors in these books (I guess you never stop being a copy editor) I almost always really enjoy them. I expect I'll devour Dead Mountain as fast as I can, give it a chance to digest, and then read it again for things I missed the first time. And I'll definitely login to watch Preston and Child's appearance at the Poisoned Pen on publication day.

Anyone who reads this, feel free to speculate on what might happen in the book. I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to drag ...

[markmonlux]

The Weekly Dose of Mark

Sunday, July 30th 2023 • 07/30/23

Allen Gladfelter drove both Greg Spence Wolf and me to Freelance Fandango. We arrived at the Red Elm Café to find a notice on the door that they were closed today due to staff shortage. I checked my phone, and sure enough, there was a voicemail from the owner telling me this. Somehow I missed it. So Greg left a sign on the door that Freelance Fandango will be held at our backup Corina’s Bakery. As Allen drove us over, I sent texts to Jennevieve, Stowe, Corry, and Anique. I asked if I had forgotten anyone. Don’t forget Nori! I sent Nori a text. Only later, when Stan strolled in and gave me a stern look, I forgot to text him. He teased me about it. Who do you forget to text? The one guy who is always at this thing. Allen asked me as the meeting ended what I would include in my write-up on the meeting. Will it be Nori’s gift to me of Japanese stamps and the stories of his visit with his mother there? Would it be Stan’s graphic novel that he received as a Kickstarter reward? Or would it be Stowe telling us about his daughter’s wonderful time at the Taylor Swift concert? How the wristbands were electronic and lit up creating patterns in the crowd to go with the music. I looked over at him, and he saw it in my eye. You’re going to write up the venue change, aren’t you? Yes, Allen. Yes, I am.

Wednesday night, I was enjoying dinner with Krista. I’d rescheduled The Grand Drawing Room live drawing event to begin at 6:30 rather than 6:00 just to have a non-rushed dinner. But, at 5:50, I got an email from Payton DeSanta, our model for the evening. She was letting me know that she’d arrived and that others were also showing up. So I sent her a text saying I was on my way. I quickly finished the few bites left on my plate and rushed out the door. I thanked everyone who showed up early for having the drawing session as a regular habit and encouraged them to attend at the new time. I’ll have to make a point of stressing the new time during the next wave of announcements. We had fifteen artists show up. In my correspondence with Payton, I’d encouraged her to go with a lighter, thinner costume because of the heat. She was very proud of her armor and wanted to show it off. She got a little woozy and had to take a break at one point. As she got back into position, I cheerfully mumbled in a mom’s tone. “Why don’t you wear the green costume? I asked. It might be better in case that space gets hot. But, no. You wanted to show off the armor.” Peyoton turned her head coyly at me and, with a surgery grin lacking any sweetness, said, “When you’re right. You’re right.” I zipped my lip, then. No need to say anything more about it. At least not without her whacking me over the head with some of that foam armor.

Saturday was very full. First up was Vince and Kim Kurter’s party at Farm 12 in Puyallup. The catered room was very large and not part of the main restaurant. There were easily fifty people there. The idea was to have this as their wedding reception, 60th birthday party, and all the other stuff they would have done with friends during the pandemic. I met Vince through the Pythians. But we had lots of mutual connections from his time working at newspapers. Breakfast was delicious. There was a fun little art project happening on the side involving rulers, scrabble pieces, glue, and stickers. I met people who were involved in the Tacoma writing scene, specifically Creative Coloquoly.

I’ve recently done illustrations for their anthologies. When the party began to wind down there, I said goodbye to Vince and Kim and went home. I did stop briefly at the fruit stand I parked close to and picked up a half flat of raspberries and blueberries. The next party I went to was a gathering at Greg Wolfe’s house. This was a smaller affair of about ten people. I took over some blackberries I picked in the yard. I had some salt and pepper potato chips and two of the three fruit salads people brought. We were hanging out in Greg and Paulet’s yard in event chairs under an apple tree. I got a call from Krista asking me where the funnel was hiding. She was busy taking the berries I brought home and turning them into berry syrup. The recipe called for a lot more sugar than she was willing to put into the syrup. But I wasn’t going to tell her to add more. Her instincts for cooking are far better than mine. So I went home, a mere four-block walk, and located the funnel for her so she could keep on task. Our plan was to go to the Bon Festival at the Buddist Temple together. But apparently, all the work in the kitchen had tired her out. She had been planning on going right up to the moment when she wasn’t. I went down to the temple to give the Buddist Temple some support by buying their Strawberry Mochi, which Krista loves. The food line stretched down the block. I got in line and enjoyed running into Nori and his daughters. Sweat Pea was there selling books on Buddhism. But I didn’t see any other familiar faces. By the time I got inside the building, I’d decided I was going to pick up some roasted eel. I wanted to see if it was better than the roasted eel I found in the freezer at Paldo and H Mart. I texted Krista and asked if she wanted some and picked up both of our dinners for the evening. I stuck around long enough to watch some of the drumming. Then it was home to eat eel.

Alley News

I went on a walk with Pat this week. The afternoon was cooler, and I’ve been trying to walk twice each day. There is a new feature on Pokemon Go called Routes. There should be a way to use them and to create them. However, it’s a new feature, and we complained about not being able to locate it on the app. I did some research online and found that it flat out wasn’t working for a lot of people. In the meantime, Pat sends me texts showing the photos of all the new Pokemon he’s catching. I have most, but he’s been catching a couple not in my collections.

A squirrel mocks me as it sits next to and on top of the squirrel trap. Krista reports that she saw the orange cat with white feet run across our backyard with a mouse in its mouth. Kill honing those skills, killer. Greg, who lives a couple of blocks down and across the street, has been catching feral cats and kittens. One of the kittens is orange with white feet. I meant to ask Greg about his feral cat catching at his party but forgot.

My neighbor, Button, called out to me as I was walking home earlier this week. The extension of her house comes right up to my property line. She asked if I would remove the tree next to her house because she was worried about it rubbing against the paint. The “tree” was a large native fern I’ve been encouraging for decades. These ferns don’t transplant well. I told Buttons I would build a trellis to keep it away from her house. But Krista said that wouldn’t work and I should remove it. I managed to transplant a fern once before successfully. It was over at my parent’s house. I’d also successfully transplanted a trillium. So I’ve dug up the fern. I should have prepared a hole for it before I pulled it out to the ground. But the day was getting warm, and I was overheating. I think I know just the spot that will be perfect for it. It will have the same amount of shade as before. And if it takes, it will look good. I think Buttons will be a lot happier now once she sees that the plant is gone.

Zucchini, beans, and cucumbers are being harvested daily from our garden. Krista has been busy making Lemon zucchini bread. She just tried an experiment with blueberry lemon bread. She said it had a bit of a blowout when she took it out to the pan. The blowout tasted delicious. Her next batch will be chocolate Zucchini bread. It was only earlier this month that we finished eating all of the frozen Zucchini bread from last year. Maybe our friends, family and neighbors will end up with some again.

Here are some of my dreams:

July 24

#IDreamt Michael McMurphy and I were investigating strange goings on at a campsite. I went in undercover and got a job as a busboy at a diner adjacent to the campsite.

July 25

#IDreamt I was a wizard sent back to 1950 to observe. But I got drunk and created a poorly CAD-rendered starship Enterprise, about seven feet long, to randomly fly around town. I was going to be in trouble when it hit the timeline.

July 26

#IDreamt new internet portals emerged. Yale University was rivaling Netflix. Their slogan: “When you need to post, post-Yale.”

July 27

I must have died again. #IDreamt I was in a waiting room with Sinead O’Connor designing an album cover. The title was “Derick is Dead.” Our conversation: “The revolver should be near the corner.” “Obviously.”

July 28

#IDreamt While waiting for Mick Jagger to arrive, I was examining an odd hibachi grill designed by John Denver. A maid told me the sushi arrived. I wonder why, if there was a maid, I’d been assigned to change the sheets?

It’s been well over a month since I mentioned the audiobooks I’ve enjoyed. I’m way behind on writing reviews for them on GoodReads. Most of the last couple of months have been escapist fantasies or memoirs. If you are curious about my reading history, you can check out my GoodReads account: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1127263-mark

“Winter in Paradise” by Elin Hilderbrand, June 18, Rating: 7

“The Daughters of Isdihar” By Hadeer Eisbai, Jun 22, Rating: 6

“Throne of Glass” Sara J. Maas, Jun 29, Rating: 5

“Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo, June 29, Rating: 7

“Nettle and Bone” by T. Kingfisher, July, Rating: 7

“The Warded Man” by Peter V Brett, July 3, Rating: 5

“The Hollow Places” by T. Kingfisher, July 8, Rating: 6

“The Memory Thief” by Lauren Mansy, July 14, Rating: 4

“Carnival of Snackery” by David Sedaris July 19, Rating: 8

“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner July 24, Rating: 5

“Calypso” by David Sedaris July 29, Rating: 8

“The Children on the Hill” by Jennifer McMahon, July 29, Rating 6

This book reminds me of some of the horror books I would read back in the ’80s. It’s set up horror, where little hints are presented, and he sees if you can guess where the writer is going. Will the story go to the left or to the right? Will a guess turn out to be correct, or did we extend our assumptions too far? The innocence of children is volleyed back and forth with the cruelty of a tennis match that doesn’t worry about the wear of the ball. Checked out from the library on an application called Libby.

68.

July 22

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) Rating: 6

As I went to the Friday Night Frights showing at the Blue Mouse Theater, I wondered if I’d seen this movie before. Allen Gladfelter picked me up, and then we picked up Mark Brill, who’d created the poster for this showing of the movie, before carpooling to the destination. It was the first kill in the movie that reminded me I’d seen it, probably on VHS with a rented machine back in the ’80s when you’d through your lot in with a bunch of strangers to do a marathon of rentals overnight before returning the machine the next day. This time I was in an audience that loves trashy, dated films like these. I sell bingo cards with horror tropes on them. My friends were calling out tropes from memory as we tried to keep a body count. This exploitation slasher pleased everyone. Maybe it will take me another forty years to forget the details.

69.

July 22

Oppenheimer (2023) Rating: 8

I’m suffering from movie afterglow. I wasn’t expecting much from this film and was completely blown away. There are multiple plot lines that weave together so skilfully that you don’t realize the overall big picture is a rope of a plotline. All the actors gave high performances. Allen Gladfelter treated me to this movie at the Grand Cinema.

70.

July 23

Bird Box Barcelona (2023) Rating: 7

This is not a sequel to “Bird Box,” which came out in 2018. Rather it is a story told in the same world, at a different location in the world. The story dives a bit deeper into madness, treachery, and perception. I was going to give it a slightly lower score than the first film in the franchise, but I gave it an extra point for having a dog with a name. I watched it on Netflix.

71.

July 29

Saw (2004) Rating: 6

I can’t believe it took me nearly twenty years to get around to watching this movie. At least now I’ll feel better about watching the rest of the franchise. I couldn’t have helped to see clips, parodies, and spoilers in those long years. Still, it holds up fairly well, and I’m curious to see if the writing will be as tight as in the rest of the franchise. I can also see how this film influenced others that followed. I watched it on a DVD from Netflix.

[dukeoftheblackstar]

And the 104th has never been any more chaotic.

Fox and Wolffe flipping each other off any chance they get when Papa Plo is not looking.

These two would now need to double the efforts in ensuring Comet doesn't wander off because I'm pretty sure some Corrie boys be encouraging this behavior.

Rest of the pack is also very keen on encouraging said behavior.

Corrie boys adjusting to very fair, silent doting boss?

Sinker realizing that his downer side/sulking is UNMATCHED by the Corrie babies because Corrie boys are actually serious about dying because of work environment and trauma?

Papa Plo having to constantly pick up Wolffe and Fox by the 'scruff' of their armor and put them on timeouts.

Because the request to upgrade the bunker count for the Wolve's Den (yes, in my head I call their hub the Wolve's Den), Plo stacks everybody into this lovely pile called 'Croissant Wolf Pile'.

Bonus: - Wolffe and Fox cuddle up more when in the pile - Buir now has to use the force to keep a holopad steady in the air cause now he has each hand on Wolffe's and Fox's head during downtime - Corrie boys making fun of the Wolves for occasional and accidental moments of them calling Plo 'Buir' or 'Dad'. Corrie boys slipping at some point because Plo Koon''s BDE (Big Dad Energy) Is too strong.

Extra Bonus: Experiments include: (this is from a headcanon with @saengak) They now have a weekly experiment session on testing the limits of Plo Koon.

- Who would stealthily approach Plo without him knowing. - How heavy is heavy for Plo Koon (this has been tested by the Wolves and Buir is very proud) - Who is Plo's favorite *insert rank here* - Who gets to impress buir with massive kill count. - Who gets to last the day without cursing. (Papa Plo is very pleased of this game). - Who's more effective in helping the younglings (le babies) calm down on Plo's downtime days of visiting the Creche (I feel he does this. Helps where he can. You can argue whether he loves kids or not or whether he's really being daddy, but for someone who has lived that long, he's bound to take fancy. He's also got a calming voice, so I'm sure the Creche Masters appreciate his presence). (Also because I'm obsessed with Creche Masters so, ktnxbai) - What would break Plo's concentration/meditation that isn't work-related without touching/shaking him. - Flight Fight simulation wars.

@saengak @starrrgazingbunny @amorfista @exosorcery @plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows

Plo having the time of his life with croissants and wolves ♥

*Insert happy Kel Dor Noises*

“Clone Witnessed Sitting Among the Trash on Coruscant”

[cupcake-hearts]

Ok, just imagine this... Clone simps in the Star Wars universe.

It starts out small, just someone making a comment on Space-tagram, wondering what the troopers look like without helmets.

This is followed up by the op with a picture of one of the Corrie Guards without his helmet on, and a comment reading "oh no he's hot!"

(Yes star wars has their version of sponge bob.)

The picture floats around the internet and soon there's a few fan accounts dedicated to finding out more about this mysterious, and good-looking army of men, who showed up basically out of nowhere. (You know, for the fans people)

Months go by, and people start to figure out their names and numbers.

Commanders and commandos are usually the favorites, but Captains Rex, Howzer, and Keeli have become quite popular, as well as some of the arc troopers.

The Jedi council and senate are aware of what's going on but they see it as harmless.

In fact its the only positive publicity that the clones get thats not from the government.

-and then shit gets crazy.

Someone manages to get a picture of Aayla and Bly standing a little to close to one another.

"R they dating?!" "No! Bly is mine!😠" & "They make such a cute couple" are just a few of the comments.

Another person gets a photo of Plo Koon talking to the wolf pack and posts it with the following caption-

"Oh my force! He's such a good dad. Go Wolf Pack🐺"

There's also a five second video of Cody handing Obi-Wan his lightsaber.

The clone simps loose their minds over this. You'd think that he handed him a wedding ring from the way they go on about it.

Part 2 cause I couldn't resist.

[sl-walker]

Arc of the Wolf | On the Nature of Wind, Part V, Chapter 1

Scotty was a little more put together the next time he managed to find his way back to the world; enough to feel the ride of the Lady Grey, enough to know from that alone that she was safe. The rocking of the waves was less than it had been during the storm.  He was sore straight through, like every muscle had been overworked.  Felt warm enough, but it also felt tenuous, as if anything would take it away again.

Time was fragile.

Something was tickling his face.

He furrowed his eyebrows, then he managed to fight his eyes open for the first time since he’d been in the ocean and saw nothing but blond hair.  It was more than he necessarily had in him to pick his head up, neck stiff and protesting, but he did; more yet, to process Cor’s relative position to his own.

Somehow, Cor managed to sleep in a chair with his arms tucked around himself and remain stationary despite the rocking schooner; he had his head on the bunk next to where Scotty’s had been.

So, this is what it feels like, Scotty thought, but he wasn’t sure what this was or what exactly he was feeling.  Only that it was important.

Unable to keep his nails into consciousness, he put his head back down, pressed his brow to Corry’s crown regardless of the tickle, and fell back to sleep again, if a bit easier.

[graylinesspam]

Ahsoka and the wolf pack Au

Being a co-commander was strange for Wolffe. Almost as strange as it was for men in a unit as small as the 104th to have two commanders.

One a seasoned and daunting brother, skilled, strict. The other a sweet approachable kid, easy-going, personable.

She was a child dragged out to a war zone before she was even finished with puberty. Lean and underdeveloped, barely 100 standard pounds soaking wet.

She as a jedi automatically outranked Wolffe on most things. Technically. On paper.

But General Plo-Koon had also put him in charge of her. Meaning that he did outrank her? Honestly, that wasn't very clear to anyone. Least of all Wolffe.

He just did his best to roll with the assignment. Drag the younling along with him and teach her what he could.

She didn't do much insisting on her rank anyways. Looking to him as a teacher instead.

It took weeks for her to give her first official order. Among the smoke and burn of an arid battlefield. Wolffe too far away to fall back on.

The men fell in line with her, albeit hesitantly. Pushing through the fire and driving the enemy back. This is her time to shine. To prove she's worthy of her rank.

With a good head on her shoulders and a kind smile Ahsoka quickly gains her place as Commander Kar'ta (heart).

She changed a lot over that first year. With Wolffe training her and her Jedi master guiding.

A year to the day after little 'soka was dropped onto a battlefield in front of him and his men, Commander Tano strides into the battlefield beside Commander Wolffe. Dotted with pieces of plastoid armor, leather guards, and weapons. Chains swinging from her lekk making an audible collision with the edges of the snarling wolf muzzle resporator cover her lower face.

She is no longer the sparse little youngling he was delivered. And the men are not confused about who and how to address their suppiriors.

She is toned in her limbs, lean in her core. Sharp eyes cut over sneering durasteel. sabers, a blaster, and a vibroblade swing when she walks adding to the sound of her stride. And there's a power in that.

The roll of her shoulders and width of her stance speak of authority. The weight of her stride and the muscles of her hands show power. The cadence of her voice and the strength of her gaze are experienced.

Red, just a touch darker than the corrie's color, bleeds down the front of both of their chest plates. Fangs stretch across both of their faces.

She is his Vod'ika, when the masks come off. And she is his Co-commander when there is work to be done.

Ahsoka is what she is trained to be.

A jedi, a bleeding heart, a compassionate and approachable leader, a beloved sister.

And also a soldier, a warrior, a commander, a wolf at heart.