#hk just keeps surprising me

[maybeiwasjustjade]

The High King theory truly makes me ill.

And knowing SJM and her obsession with making certain characters superior and/or have some kind of divine right to rule, I know she’ll try to make it happen at the expense of literally everyone else.

Moreover, I don’t see how it can happen without a major war. They just got out of 50 years under Amarantha, I doubt the courts are itching for another incompetent warlords’ attempt at HK/HQ.

Who exactly would bow to Feyre and Rhysand? The High Lords meeting showed that barely anyone tolerated them, nor did they have any actual allies that wasn’t Helion. And I doubt Helion would be so forgiving when he finds out about Lucien. Tamlin and Eris would never, so they’d have to die. Neither would Tarquin or Kallias agree, so that’s a given war with the Seasonal Courts. Dawn would stay neutral, or end up the rebel court. It really is the only toss up.

And even with Gwydion (which rightfully belongs to Nesta alongside the Trove) as some kind of divine symbol, feysand genuinely sucks at ruling. Conquer Prythian—yes, conquer because the other HL would never submit if they asked nicely—when they can’t even rule or play nice with their own people. Enough with the HK dreams, Amren; Rhysand would be lucky if Illyria and Hewn City don’t band together soon to stage a massive uprising.

(Y’know I’m not surprised nobody in the IC can empathize with the CoN citizens. They were all trapped in Velaris for fifty years, where they were free and the sun still rose. Imagine if they’d been UtM with everyone else; maybe then they’d get it. That life where even the sun and trees and anything worth living is out of reach at the whims of a dictator is no life at all.)

And I’ve seen theories floating around that the HK plot is set up for Nyx instead, because he’s destined to inherit all seven powers of the court. Yeah, that’s equally terrible. Divine right to rule and conquer is bullshit. Balance is something that should exist but doesn’t in Acotar. If it did, Feyre wouldn’t be as powerful as she is. 7 drops is not a lot of magic; so tiny and miniscule that each HL didn’t even really notice they lost it. It doesn’t make sense that she could go toe to toe with them with just a singular drop.

Which is baffling when the same author wrote ToG. Everything that was given was scraped together and fought for miserably, and even in all that power, they had to sacrifice so much. Aelin Settled and got her kingdom back, but at the price of losing almost all her fire and getting to keep one drop of water. Dorian still has most of his magic, but at the price of being made a demon slave, committing fratricide, and having the sole responsibility of redeeming his kingdom ala Zuko. Manon fulfilled the prophecy and united her people, allowing them the chance to return home for the first time in 500 years. All it took was losing the Thirteen, who would never see that dream come to life.

Nothing came without cost.

And while yes, Feyre deserved to be remade after her death saving Prythian, the amount of magic she wields is the issue. Nesta having so much magic made sense given she stole most of it; we have yet to really see how much is left. But where’s the balance if Feysand does end up HK/HQ, or Nyx does. What have they given up that makes them more worthy to rule the entirety of Prythian than literally any other character? Because I can argue that they’ve lost a lot lesser. Whatever rights feysand believes they have is no more than a lot of other characters.

And the bloodline of Theia? Yeah, I’m pretty sure the important ones are her female descendants, like Bryce. And Bryce gave Gwydion to Nesta for a reason. If SJM wanted me to believe Feysand was the best choice, she should’ve made Nyx be born full Illyrian. Or better yet, mostly High Fae but with no magic. That would’ve been a much more interesting story to follow, given that Nyx might not be the next inheritor of the Night Court. And what it would mean for the Hewn City. She’ll never do it of course, but it would be fun.

[breachverse]

Breach: Chicago War Zone - WIP Update 18 - 26th of August 2023

... This one's actually been brewing for 6 months, so... 1 Million Words folks!

Update 21 has been released! Last public upload was pretty much a year ago so, I'm very sorry for the long silence, a lot of the updates have been mostly in the private testing phase on Patreon, but I am here with a bunch of fixes and hangout updates.

But most importantly... We've passed the 1 Million Words mark... My fingers are tired. ❤

You may play it on the link below.

Breach: Chicago War Zone (Updated)

DEVELOPMENT LOG#21 (15-April-2024)

(B2.1.1.24.4.15)

Alpha - 21

Fixed something here, fixed something there, fixed something everywhere

SideModule: Fixed Justin's hangout background

SideModule: Fixed Hayne's hangout background

SideModule: Added Anna's 1st hangout

SideModule: Added Charlie's 1st hangout

SideModule: Added Kaz's 1st hangout

SideModule: Added Carly's 1st hangout

Stats_Page: Added Archangel crew background notes

UniModule: Added 7 new weapons to the shop

MISC: Added AA-12

MISC: Added FAMAS G2

MISC: Added HK G36C

MISC: Added SIG MPX

MISC: Added PP-19 Vityaz

MISC: Added Ultimax 100

MISC: Added SR-25

COMPLETED: Chapter 3 Part 1 of The ARC branch (100%) (PT only) W.I.P.: AA Hangout Part 1 (86%) W.I.P.: AA Store system (85%) W.I.P.: FBI Hangout Part 1 (46%) W.I.P.: FBI Store system (65%) W.I.P.: Stat screen upgrade (40%) Word Count: 1,007,622 words including codes (Last update was 971,142)

I'll be completely honest, when I started Breach 2 I knew it was going to surpass 1 million words. I just didn't think it would take this long. Through numerous challenges, both in writing and in real life. Through numerous ups and downs, I'm absolutely surprised and grateful to know that there are people out there who still support me. I've had many thoughts, numerous times, to give up and move on to other things in life, but I didn't want to disappoint, so I kept writing.

I bring to you, the 1 million milestone update. It's really not much, but it is one step closer to completion. This update has been in the works for the past 6 months mostly due to the weapons rework and also story changes for the crew members that I apparently couldn't keep track of without a giant excel spreadsheet. This update finalizes the Archangel's Gamma Crew hangouts, which is Kaz and Carly's hangout as well as Anna and Charlie's hangout.

As before, they share the same storyline so they will both share the same hangout. If you choose to go out with one, you cannot go out with the other. Kaz shares it with Carly, and Anna shares it with Charlie. Keep that in mind. Oh, and there's 7 new guns to play with. Have fun, Ian.

This update does not include the new Chapters. Chapter 3 will still be Patreon exclusive until Breach 2 finishes and I can send the demo to the public testing, and to CoG for the full release.

I really cannot reiterate how grateful I am to have an amazing array of readers and supporters who are still here after numerous hiccups and fuck ups. Thank you all, so very much.

Much, much love. - Max ❤

Link to the CoG Forums

I also have a Discord server!

As always feel free to drop however many screenshot feedbacks you'd like, either in the forums or in our Discord channel!

[eccentrcks]

𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐎𝐂: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐨𝐞.

This gorgeous artwork of Marlene was made by my talented baby sister. Give her some applause for this! 🫶 I also made a taglist out of boredom, so don't mind me. Taglist to those who inspired me to make this profile and ref. sheet: @revnah1406, @welldonekhushi, @littlemissclandestine, @alypink, and @darkhazard19.

⎯ 𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡:

Name: Marlene

Full Name: Marlene Jamie Monroe

Alias(es): "Mona" (General nickname by her family), "Marlie" (childhood nickname), "Chicky" (Captain Price), "Squirt" or "Baby Girl" (Phillip Graves), "Marl" (David Mason).

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Irish, Native American, Welsh.

Hair Colour: Chestnut brown.

Eye Colour: Light brown

Height: 5’11” (181cm)

Weight: 187lbs (84.8kg)

Body Built: Athletically average.

Languages Spoken: English, Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Cree, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Bulgarian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, etc.

Date of Birth: August 29, 2002.

Place of Birth: Fairbanks, Alaska.

Blood Type: AB-

Sexuality: Heterosexual.

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: N/A.

Status: Unknown.

-

⎯ 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗧𝗦:

Myers-Briggs Type: INTJ-T (The Architect)

Calm and reserved: Despite having her moments of being a spitfire, she is actually a well composed individual and this really helps her in matters of survival. Although pretty social sometimes, then she can be completely asocial, Marlene is not exactly the kind of person who wouldn't instantly show her actual personality to others whom she'd just met. She handles stressful situations with the pressure very well most of time.

Selfless and loyal: Marlene may be an impassive and hardened young woman, but she has a good soul and heart. Those who are lucky to be a genuine friend of hers are privileged to see her display her true self at most times. Has the tendency to put others before herself. Marlene's love language is giving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch- which the latter is a rare thing of her to do frequently as a young adult now. Keeps it discreet though.

Tough as nails: She is unbelievably durable and endures a lot of life-threatening situations. Often gets underestimated by others, but tends to straighten them up with a surprise. It still hurts, yes, although she just quickly learns how to suck it up and keep going without letting it drag her down.

Jaded and weary: It's safe to mention that Marlene didn't had a normal childhood and went through a lot of hardships growing up with a paranoid survivalist of a mother. Kind of a sore spot for her to be asked about. Has a bad case of PTSD and denies her clinical diagnoses constantly. ("I'm fine." is her favourite saying) Has a complex relationship with her mother, her only parent that raised her this way, which means Marlene cares and resents her at the same time, yet she internally respects the woman who taught her most of everything she knows. She suffered from losses who were dearly significant to her... somethings she isn't ready to openly talk about. So the girl is just simply exhausted from existing.

Adaptable and intelligent, also a polyglot: If thrown into an environment that Marlene hadn't been in before, she will learn and adapt if it's necessary. Growing up traveling with her mother had taught her some things. She's quite a multilingual genius, speaks and read around 37(ish) languages, but also graduated high school at sixteen before attending Stanford University and finishing in three years for her computer science degree. So in a shorter summary, she's an eager and fantastic learner.

-

⎯ 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦:

Primary Weapons: Knife, Karambit neck knife, Remington 700PSS, HK-MP5K, HK-MP5A3, TP-82, XM177E1, and Pipe Bombs.

Fighting Style: Hand-to-hand combat, some MMA.

Special Skills: Great at reading others' body languages and sensing danger.

Talents: She can learn to speak at another language in a short span of time, craft explosives such as a pipe bomb within an hour if she has the resources, and create traps with the right stuff.

Shortcomings: Can get paranoid most of the time, chronically insomniac, has some trust issues, and suffers from terrible migraines.

-

⎯ 𝗕𝗜𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗬:

"Born and grew up outside of Fairbanks in an isolated cabin for five years of her life with her mother, who had Marlene at eighteen, and mostly traveled around on the road after. She grew up with tough love and Melissa, her mother, was fiercely overprotective with her only child. Once they settled somewhere in California when she was eight where Marlene finally got enrolled in a public school where her peers would eventually learn about her intellect. She never knew how, or where, her mother earned her huge incomes to financially support themselves, but knows Melissa just has an every important job whenever she isn't home. Besides, whenever her mother was confronted, she was just met with a firm look by her and the woman stating that it's none of her concern as Marlene should just focus on herself. Eventually this led to her rebellious behaviour before incidents occurred and slowly shaped Marlene into a withdrawn teenager in college."

"Her history with Taskforce 141 was purely platonic. Met them through her mother, one by one when she was an teenager, before the group realized she was Melissa's baby girl and they all knew the same woman who met each of them outside of their occupations. She've met Phillip Graves when she was a kid when he came by to confront her mother before a father-daughter bond was formed between them since then. David Mason is her godfather and one of the people whom Marlene looks up to- much to Graves' dismay."

"When she was done with college at nineteen and the year 2021-[REDACTED]."

"Until 2022, she was brought into the CIA's custody in middle of a late evening walk, more like by Taskforce 141, and interrogated after some evidence of her was caught stealing some invaluable intel and secrets, appearing as one of their employees, before she was picked up by a black van after that. She kept denying the accusations and evidence for weeks until Graves, allegedly dead at the time, safely liberated her despite Marlene being in a frail condition with the help from David Mason and proof that she was truly innocent. Someone had framed her."

"Then not too long hours after she was brought into his protective custody, no one knew who helped her other than the fact that she escaped CIA's custody, as one of The Shadow Company's bases was attacked. Mostly everyone made it out, but Marlene who was soon announced dead after she passed out from the blood loss with the base getting bombed into nothing once they were forced to leave her behind. Leaving Graves and David angry, distraught, and vowed to avenge her once they find the culprits. Her remains were never found after that."

Theme song: Methods of Madness by Secession Studios.

*Profile will be be updated once the story progresses and kept her backstory vague(ish) for now.

[ripplestitchskein]

Sorry for yet another, “Listen guys, it could be so much worse, my fandom related trauma has made me appreciate scraps. My personal bar is literally on the floor” posts but I am genuinely happy with the MHA ending. I get why people are not though. Audiences want finality. They want commitment. They want closure and resolution.

But considering the genre of MHA, the common tropes of the medium, the cultural and capitalistic concerns at play… MHA did a lot. Shonen Jump was never going to go for a canonically queer ship in their biggest property my guys, they just weren’t. So bearing that in mind, that it was never going to be explicit, your alternatives are ambiguity, punishment by the narrative via permanent character death, or canon surprise heterosexuality ala Naruto.

I’m gonna take ambiguous “fic can make this better” endings over permanent character death or like a Deathly Hallows epilogue any day. I’m certainly going to take it over “Yeah they were hella gay the whole time but here is the wife they barely had any interaction with and their 2.5 children that prove they fucked at least once.” Like yeah obviously explicit canon scenes are always gonna be better and more satisfying but the absence of them in any one direction, the ambiguity that is left to individual interpretation, especially in this genre of manga, is honestly a huge win for me personally. That HK went out of his way to not canonize Izuku/Ochako and to highlight Bakugou’s contribution especially and have him be the hand that brings Deku back to being a hero speaks very loudly. HK is not unaware of the popularity of the ship and a creator who has thier hands tied by thier distributor making the decision to not explicitly kill it IS a win. He could have very easily done the “I assure you this fruity little gremlin is straight. Look at his girlfriend! She has huge tits! Yes he sure does love women! Yessiree, ignore all the homoerotic subtext and the like yearning and weird focus on hands, and like being willing to literally die for his also very straight counterpart.”

The move when a content distributor wants to squash a ship is doubling down not “What if we left it kinda vague but heavily implied it?”

And it is such a good ambiguity. Enough detail to world build but not to preclude headcanons. And the fic possibilities jfc.

Like, the angst potential of Izuku thinking he got left behind because Bakugou and everyone else was working to make his dreams a reality will launch a thousand fics. Bakugou working tirelessly to make that dream a reality? Keeping himself away from Izuku to raise himself in the ranks and financially to buy this dream, no distractions but missing his partner. You can feast for years on an 8 year jump with patchy communication. and what comes after, the awkward relearning each other and catching up, the will they won’t they now that they are working together again. Omg.

I’m just saying the “And everyone did a cool thing related to their character arcs but the specifics of their interpersonal relationships is up to you to fill in, The End” finale is loads better than the alternatives imo and really suited the story overall.

[class1akids]

Do you think bnha's story is entirely done for or that we wil get something else with the time? ( movies, spin offs, etc) if you asked me this yesterday i would TOTALLY said that it wasnt bcs of the secret announcment and bcs of what hori says in the last page abt mha's manga being finished but deku and his friends stories just starting. But after seeing what the announcement i cant stop thinking its done for even tho i FEEL like something else will come but i wanted to know your thoughts on this

Just because they didn't announce a sequel, it doesn't mean nothing will happen. For now, they have for sure:

Movie 4 (just released, first weekend was similar to WHM success, but not as big as Mugen Train, JJK 0 or the Haikyuu movie) - lets see how much money it makes in Japan and worldwide

S7 anime - still ongoing - maybe HK will do more Twitter sketches now

Decision of how to do S8 - try to make some movies, AoT style, round it out into a full season with anime only content? - tbd.

Worldwide poll + Fanbook to occupy fans / keep up hype until December

Volume 42 in December

Team Up mission still monthly chapter

Art Book next March

new Art Exhibition next year

What I would expect for now is WSJ gauging how much the fandom enthusiasm keeps going to decide whether to try to do some kind of sequel (whether Boruto style next gen with eri and kota, or a straight-up sequel of Class A as adults) and who would be able to do it (I think it's a fair bet it wouldn't be Hori). But I think it will also depend if WSJ will find new manga that can take the place of their last big hit trio of BNHA, OP and JJK.

BONES for the next 2 years or so are going to be occupied with the anime and maybe decide to do some OVA as well.

I think we can expect some drama CDs with the DVD release.

I wouldn't be surprise to get a new School Briefs announcement to cover the 2nd and 3rd years of Class A.

And then whether there will be future movies? I think there will be. Franchises like Free! getting movies years after it ended, to me means that as long as there is a healthy fandom, the franchise will pump out content to feed them and keep up merch sales. It's just business sense.

As someone who has experienced the recent Haikyuu!! renaissance, there were a lot of content - lots of new sketches, 2 new bonus chapters, re-release of manga, new light novel covers, lots of collab with Japanese league - so I am expecting a steady stream of things to try to keep momentum and enthusiasm. Obviously, it's not like getting weekly manga chapters, but I don't think the fandom will just die in the next month either.

[deuterium51614]

Boueibu Rewatch Part 13

Episode Ten

I need to start using this clip of Ata in bed for Nefarious Kyoata Purposes™️ like I do with my two Enkin clips. (I did it once for that Community AMV I did the night the movie got announced... Really, I need to just start making HK AMVs in general!)

Kyoutarou's hair is so pretty here~

Also it's cool how we can see the Happy Braces through the water. I don't think they had that detail with the Lovracelets?

Okay, so like. I mentioned this in my rewatch post for LOVE! S1E4, that the logic for this monster makes more sense than Igarao's, but then was thinking they both make sense, so here goes.

Igarao's monster was created for a TV show in-universe, with the goal of destroying the Earth. I don't think we got an explanation from Zundar for why they were turning everyone into kids/babies? There is the whole thing someone said with "kids are cute (good for ratings) and when the Battle Lovers turn back, they'll be naked (also good for ratings)." But since the goal with the swan monster was to make a world "where boys love boys, and no one will be able to make progeny," maybe the original goal if that one succeeded was to regress everyone's ages and raise these children to be evil? Or just obey Caerula Adamas?

On the other hand, Santa's turtle monster really was based off his negative emotions and insecurities. Furanui's whole thing is that he wants to rule the world with fear, he has no reason to care for anything like "ratings" since he's not doing it for a TV show. This student doesn't like being called old? People tend to be afraid to get older? Okay, show everyone that you have the power to turn them into senior citizens, and only turn them back once they see him as their king.

Anyway...

The slowed down music for the attack gets me every time lol

Cloth otter vs wire Fennec. (That was in my notes with no elaboration...)

Episode Eleven

"One Centimeter to Happy" vs "I Miss You 3 Meters" lol

Still annoying that they de-transformed, just to re-transform with the full transformations.

You think we're going to have the "muddy kids forever" scene happen in the movie? Like will the BL Defense Club look back and be like "oh yeah, we remember you as kids" or will it be revealed that it was Death Amor going back in time disguised as them? Or will it be the future BL Defense Club going back in time to make sure the event happened, and that's why we don't see their faces? Because they're not high schoolers anymore and just wearing the uniforms?

I have a jokey headcanon that in all these ten years, Ata never had a bath because of this incident. (He's a stinky boy lol)

I love Martha's "oh my God!" and "shut up!" English moments.

The pigeon sounds like the old man with the bird on his head from Labyrinth.

Episode Twelve

So like. For a split second, the architecture in the Honyara Land city, not the castle, vaguely reminds me of Most City from Gekkan Mousou.

The 3D soldiers always give me Wizard of Oz vibes for some reason...

Didn't know Wao shares a seiyuu with the crab monster that attacked the twins! (Or maybe I did at some point.)

At some points, it seems like the throne room is in the robot's mouth, but other times it seems like a screen.

Also, I don't like how the mecha's mouth changes from open to closed and back to open whenever the camera changes. Like... The mouth opened, it's been established. Either keep it open, or have another clip to show that Wao closed it again and keep it closed from that point on.

Anyway, if I had a nickel for every time a Boueibu finale had an animal-themed mecha piloted by the (surprise) villain(s), I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

Did the staff change for the Super Happy and Turn? (Looked again, and I don't think it did. Thought I noticed extra details...)

Is there any pattern to the clips in the ending? I feel like the first two seasons had them in some sort of order if I'm remembering right, but these feel like they're going all over the place...

But anyway! That's it! The end of my rewatch! People are watching the movie right now, and I am screaming and crying that we can't see it until maybe March!

Should we do a rewatch of other Umatani anime in the meantime? At the same rate of 3 episodes per week, we'd probably be able to get through RobiHachi (makes sense to continue with that, since it's in the same universe as Boueibu) and most if not all of Fairy Ranmaru...

[topconfessions]

What did you think about the interview?

For me, i never been a VIP but I really like their music, so i didn’t keep up as much with them as a group but i kept up with him, i think being new to the whole kpop world he stood out bc he was way more “sophisticated” and serious than you average idol. His scandal took me out, like i never thought doing weed could ruin someone’s career like that, and it still surprises me how some media outlets still have him in a “bad” concept when that shit happened yearssss ago.

Reading his interview its sad how shameful he still feels, after what he had said on that HK magazine interview he did in 22 I had the impression he had healed and had entered his idgaf era (which he had said), he has his wine business and the moon project so things were kinda aligning to a positive outcome. But reading this interview just took me back to him in 2017-18, so shameful and depressed. Idk if it might be insecurity, his isolation or not having a good support system but it seems like any hate comments or bad press awfully get to him. The isolation part is kinda sad too, it’s verity difficult to come out of a dark place when people don’t even know you’re alive.

I know hes a grown ass man but damn I feel bad for him, is like seeing an animal on a cage suffering and you feel so bad bc you know you can help it, lmao awful analogy but i hope it gets my point across.

Anyways i hope his new fans and fame after SQ2 get him the validation and support he craves and needs, and give him the motivation to release music or whatever project he wants. He was cool as hell, genuinely no other idol has ever come close to him, one of the few 2nd gen idols that them company’s couldn’t clone

Sorry if there’s any grammatical mistake, English is not my first language. Hope you’re doing well. Besos ❤️❤️

Thats exactly why I likes him too. Sophisticated and serious but its so tricky cause it seems like that was an image or who he was for a short time when he had more confidence in himself and wasn't beaten down by the world (in his mind). Ugh. It's so frustrating cause I wish the new fans could see that grown, sauve, sexy, abd mature image but also mixed with the silly and zany side. He was (and I want to hopefully say is..but he's so depressed right now...) easy to love.

Is it just me or did the isolation worsen his mental health and further cement how he viewed himself vs the public? Like it can ruin your emotions and really worsen exactly how you're viewing your situation if you let it. I really need someone to reach out to him like GD and mend this shit. Overall the interview felt like he was hiding a lot, playing it safe and carefully keeping the same narrative but a sorrow narrative. It was a lot of vulnerability but also a lot of nothing in my opinion.

I love him but he looked pitiful in the black and white photo in that suit. He just has this very distraught expression in his face, the look in his eyes. It's just.... not good. He doesn't look happy at all. Now I'm worried. If he (GOD FORBID) tries suicide I will flip a fucking table.

[ibusukiss]

Boueibu Rewatch

Thursday's for the Boys! 11

Happy Kiss! Episodes 4-6

Episode 4

If ep 2 established HK as my favorite season, ep 4 was the cherry on top

i wonder if gora gave nanao the OK to bring a floating tray and tea into the onsen

idk if its a writing thing or a culture thing or what but i feel like i can understand all the monsters' problems in HK, but in s1 and s2 some of them feel completely abstract

UGHHH the plot point of Ichiro worrying abt the time capsule and knowing that nanao would read his letter is so *chef's kiss* they build up to it so well!!!!!!!!!! AAAGHH I LOVE PLOT

ichiro "no youthful passion" bro your character song is called Dash Dash Dash so idk what ur talking about

the funny thing about this season is it only hints at the seitokai being rich, and here it only says that Taiju's family owns a construction company, which isnt the megacorp richboy son vibes i get from s1 seitokai - i always assumed caerula adamas were MUCH richer than edelstein but only bc they made their wealth more explicit in s1? I think by making it implied in this season they made the seitokai's families seem more like blue collar ceo's rather than megacorp ceo's

i will ALWAYS headcanon that Taishi cleaned up his act bc he was trying to act more like Nanao so Ichiro would like him

THIS is what I'm talking about - by trying to write fanservice they have fully surpassed the queerbait IMO and fully just wrote that Ichiro has a crush on Nanao

i assume Kyochan wasnt trying to be sus when he tucked the photo into his pocket but this moment the first time i watched it was very 'HOLY FUCK THEYRE KEEPING SECRETS FROM EACHOTHER OHH THE INTRIGUE OHHH MY GOD" which i suppose is something the seitokai do in this season later!

I just remember when this was coming out feeling so much unbridled joy from how cheesy this season is - it gave me so much serotonin LMAO

Ata as a little kid with his black bob makes me insane - wym he had a slutty black bob as an elementary schooler??????

Serenity you already said this but I must reiterate that it is WILD that Kyoata have eachother's contact info and seem to text often enough that its not strange for Kyotaro to text Ata out of the blue - they deffo arent nearly as estranged as Kinatsu were

Episode 5 (CW: discussion of eating disorders and weight stigma)

We have now entered what I think of as the 4-episode lull of HK where the episodes dont hit as hard - not bad in any sense but theyre just not as iconic as 1-4 or 9-12

*midori gets up on their soapbox*

I have a lot of thoughts about Maasa. I dont normally have such a strong headcanon for a character - but their whole arc feel so strongly to me like the story of a trans person who has a lot of complicated feelings about their body. While that's CLEARLY not what the writers intended it is how I choose to interpret their character bc 1. i have to put my dirty trans hands on everything and 2. to me - Maasa's story is uncomfortable and poorly written otherwise

some context: I have a lot of Complicated Feelings about weight stigma/body image and spend FARRR too much time learning about the science of dieting and eating disorders, so naturally I am gonna take this episode WAY more seriously than intended - youve been warned LOL

While my bar for anime is extremely low, I am pleasantly surprised at how this ep handles talking about weight with the exception of Maasa's diet. It has always looked explicitly like disordered eating - full restriction of fats/sugars is Very extreme and dangerous, and completely goes against the 'as long as you're healthy' sentiment the episode promotes - I take issue with that mindset anyway bc 1. why should only 'healthy' people have bodies that are excused from criticism/ridicule and 2. who gets to decide what 'healthy' looks like? does healthy imply thinness? to some people, yes! But regardless, extremely restrictive diets aren't 'healthy' anyway, so no dice there, HK.

And Ata is right! People do resent those who represent the opposite of their greatest fears! The implication here being that most people's greatest fear is being fat - and therefore bully the guy who will absolutely never be fat. While I dont think anyone should bully anyone about their body, this messaging makes fatness out to be the enemy in a way that I'm not in love with :/ This ep doesn't address the relentless, institutionally-ordained negative messaging that people receive about fat bodies, which definitely fuels the need on a personal level to bite back at those who those messages dont apply to - not an excuse of course, but a much-needed explanation.

It just feels strange that the episode that is saying 'dont bully this guy because his body is a certain way' is also saying 'we support your decision to make everyone in the school fat because it's your greatest fear and youre lashing out at your peers because of it' ? I know, I know, it's not that deep, the writers weren't thinking about this shit.

*midori steps down from their soapbox*

i love the detail of Taishi wiping the steam off his glasses

now i want ramen T_T

Episode 6

Ata's umbrella has always FASCINATED me - bc i think the writers were just making him seem overly-fancy, but it reads gothic lolita??? So is he a prep or a goth??? what does he dress like outside of school??!?!? I must know!!!!!!

Taishi recites fun facts to self-soothe

Umbrella guy is me trying to make conversation at work lmao

It's interesting that Taiju and Maasa are taken aback by Ata talking about not wanting to carry the 'umbrellas of commoners', maybe theres a bit of Furanui's influence in there? and it's not normal for him to think like that?

LMAOOO I forgot about the bit with Nanao distracting umbrella guy, thats such a good bit

Ata 'likes spending time at home' PERFECT for my headcanon that he has social anxiety

Taiju wanting to stay longer bc Ata's not leaving bc he's worried Ata is taking this whole thing too seriously and needs to babysit a bit longer

'its hard to care when it's raining' PERFECT for my headcanon that Kyotaro has depression

I project a lot on these characters if you couldnt tell

[georgegraphys]

Warning : Unprofessional unverified talks as I am not Mercedes nor have 10 masters degrees. Fragile snowflakes that got their heart shattered by opinion differences are not welcomed. An opinionated talk.

I'm just gonna back track on what happens here. What started this all sudden China PR campaign of this douyin acc thing and my whole summary of thoughts. If you're new here and you haven't had the time to scroll through my PR talks regarding this whole 2024 George PR cooking class. Let me summarize you here (this lacks the recent targa florio updates, mercedes vision one eleven, etc. i haven't updated it further)

Again, I'd like to say. I am not a Mercedes Benz PR team member. I am not a professional. I am just someone who worked in a similar field who analyzes, plans, and strategizes PR agendas like this. Of course the very first time I posted about this whole theory it's just a goofy hypothetical tweet of "what IFs"

This was just minutes after George opened his douyin acc btw. Something just struck me like "Huh? Why bother opening an account for a race that lasts 2-3 days?". As someone who worked in PR myself, these things are not a good move. Like why the hell open a douyin account? If I were Mercedes, I'd open a tiktok account for George that could be used beyond China GP. That was my mindset back then until I watched the video again and I realized George saying things like his F1 journey throughout the season. And that's the part where it struck me.

Now why does it intrigue me? Douyin is a platform that is only available in China (or probably in Macau/HK/Taiwan too, idk sorry) and to sign up for Douyin you need a Chinese phone number or ID card verification. It makes me think that maybe Mercedes pulled some strings? To be able to get George in Douyin? But until then my thoughts are just goofy ahh what if lol. Then suddenly Douyin Sports starts posting about George on their account and George makes a specific video greeting for Douyin Sports. Now this kind of confirms my idea? Because douyin sports rarely post international athletes unless you are on the calibre of probably Marc Marquez or Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, other than that they just posted about the chinese athletes. Afterwards, there was the Mercedes Benz official account commenting here and there and I just went "maybe this isn't a joke"

For now, it seems that the douyin account is also posting personal things about George like his post with Carmen, his family and friends and more. Well surprising considering I thought they're going to be full racing and business because at first i thought that douyin acc pr move was solely for the company because they were promoting lots of 63 series that George will probably lead the promotions later. I didn't expect them to actually build something that is also personal to George? Like his brand image? As they also involve posts about his beloved ones and not pure business. Also Mercedes even invited a LOCAL press to directly interview George one-on-one??? I'm surprised by that. But this is honestly good for George!

I know i've seemingly been all positive about this but just to let you know, I had doubts lol. Like I thought this wasn't gonna last this long. I thought it was just to keep the China GP hype for 2 weeks and it's all gone and dusted. But it didn't. Turns out they even have these 3 days posting patterns which not only intrigues me but also intrigues the chinese audience. It brought them to pay attention to George and question things like "oh he is still posting??" "who posts for him??" "he's using douyin actively??". I honestly expect lower than this and thought that the account would be another vessel to promote Mercedes cars to the chinese audience but wow... also building his individual brand images? I did not expect that.

I might have been able to guess the purpose of the douyin account making but I could never know what they were cooking. It baffles me. You might not understand but in that one single douyin account, there's a social media team or at least one person handling it and a PR planning over it. The posts were planned, it has posting patterns and it shows that it was scheduled, the subtitles, the songs (even though it's shitty), and the editing. The editing specifically appeals to the chinese audience. And I cannot wrap my mind on the reason why. These have lots of efforts poured into it and the supportive Mercedes Benz account? Unusual. Because they usually gave 0 fucks in other platforms. You need to acknowledge that this is

a) A whole ass PR planning with the approval of the company because it represents George and even also builds his individual brand value and image to the chinese audience/target market

b) No doubt Mercedes pulled some string to get his account to douyin and have the app promote his account

c) This stretched out longer than i would ever expect. My expectations weren't low but it's realistic. This thing is a bucket full of effort and planning inside for it to stretch until this long.

Now this part gets a bit sensitive. So again WARNING that this is highly SPECULATIVE and we're PREDICTING not saying that this is true. "But ari you're so jobless for all of this guessing. No one does this except the obsessed ones" This is what I and some people who worked in the PR sectors do. We look at a company's PR planning and make a guess out of it. Why? To counter their PR strategy of course. For the sake of competitions. And it's a REAL PAID JOB. But anyways

My guess is that maybe in the future George will be used as some sort of representative or ambassador for the chinese market? As for now, Mercedes Benz's objective and target market is the Chinese market. Their collaboration with Denza and BAIC, Beijing Benz subsidiary making China specialized vehicles, joint cooperation with chinese universities like Tsinghua and more.

Not to mention that this whole Mercedes in China field trip is not just any other field trip. It is state backed. Germany and China seem to be building this whole bestie relationship when it comes to automotive, technology, engineering, etc. Judging by how it's state backed and which means things won't get "nahhh okay byeeee" just anytime, that means this would then be a long term thing?

I'm just connecting two points here. A) Mercedes strong ambitions on the venture in China (Not every automotive manufacturer is aboard on this idea btw. Stellantis doesn't) B) George's sudden PR campaign in China. I look at those two and suddenly 🧐🧐, maybe it might be related??? I understand that Mercedes could use chinese ambassadors to promote Mercedes in China. Of course they're more popular and relevant in China than George since he isn't Chinese. But to promote China and Beijing Benz outside, they need a guy too yk? And that guy MAY be George Russell with all this PR cooking up behind him.

Again this is just a silly goofy guess based on EVIDENCES and PROOFS shown. As much as I love to waffle, I don't lie about these things unlike Toto. But also, don't trust me on it and take my words seriously?? Because I ain't Mercedes 😁😁 🤷‍♀️

Lastly, George's linguistic journey is basic at its finest. ciao, bonjour, JEL-AND-WAGEN, adios, hola, konnichiwa. For him to suddenly be SITTING DOWN reading a written script of his introduction in Chinese??? To be seriously sat and memorizing "da jia hao, wo shi qiao zhi la sai er-" means something 😭😭😭 don't tell me someone did not write that down for him and tell him to memorize that like an asian parent would sign their kid to a mandarin course.

[renegade-skywalker]

Ghost in the Machine

Summary: The Jedi Exile discovers and decides to fix up the clearly-tampered-with HK found in her cargo hold to less-than-stellar results, and to further find that she is forever haunted by Revan's ghost.

Rating: T Word Count: 3,875

~~~

“Not bad, Exile!” Brianna applauded, miming clapping her hands together though the Echani did nothing of the sort. “No really, please try harder.”

“Damn, I didn’t realize you were also a professional insult comic,” Eden breathed, still winded from Brianna’s surprise roundhouse kick to the face. “But sure, I’ll try again.”

Eden fell into formation, trying not to relish in the smile threatening to spread across the Last Handmaiden’s face as she fell into stance across from her. The cargo bay was the perfect place to spar, so it was no wonder Brianna had found refuge here. Aside from it being the last claimed space on this tiny freighter, the room was spacious enough to roam and not feel boxed in, whether you were fighting real or imagined opponents. Or simply just trying to sleep. 

Eden remembered the sad excuse of a room Brianna had tucked away in Atris’ secret academy, and though Brianna hadn’t adorned or claimed the cargo hold in any way other than by sleeping in it, it still felt more lived-in and homey than whatever the girl had back on Telos. 

“Alright, promise not to go lightly on me, okay?” Eden pleaded. “I really want to learn. I mean it .”

“If you say so,” Brianna shrugged, the pleasure clear in her eyes even if she had the discipline to control her expression. The Echani immediately feinted left and jabbed right, high then low. Eden caught both jabs but fumbled on the second, losing her footing by the time Brianna grabbed the arm Eden meant to block with, intending to upend her center of gravity. But this time, Eden countered by shifting her weight, disorienting the Echani enough to catch her off guard. 

“An improvement, certainly,” Brianna said, even-keeled. Eden was already out of breath and wanted to laugh. “But there’s one thing you haven’t considered--”

Just as Brianna moved to knock Eden down again, the Hawk jostled, sending both women against the far wall and onto the floor in a painful heap.

“Okay, now that, I didn’t do,” Eden said, grunting.

“I’m going to kill that pilot of ours,” Brianna seethed as she peeled herself off of Eden, gravity still forcing them downwards even as they struggled to right themselves. “That idiot doesn’t know how to-”

Eden was about to laugh despite how much her ribs hurt when a flickering on the wall above her alighted in her peripheral vision. 

“Wait a tic,” Eden interrupted, now pushing Brianna off her with more force than intended. With a half-hearted sorry, Eden stood and, fighting gravity as the ship’s g-force stabilized again, approached the flickering wall with great interest.

“I shouldn’t be surprised that moron damaged something,” Brianna said, setting herself upright beside Eden and dusting herself off. “Wait, is that supposed to do that?”

Eden was fidgeting with the wall now, which she quickly realized was a panel. She rushed across the room to her pile of clothes, finding her hydrospanner within seconds, and with a little prodding the loose panel soon became an entire secret compartment, now no longer hidden.

“Is that-?”

Before Brianna could finish her thought, both women had fetched their weapons from across the room and had them drawn, at the ready, aimed at an opponent they quickly realized was--

“I think it’s deactivated.” Eden said tentatively into the tense silence that followed. Brianna shook her head, unsure, keeping her staff poised towards the dilapidated HK that slumped in the now-open access hatch behind the secret panel. Eden tip-toed forward, hand extended half-expecting to be vaporized before she got a chance to truly examine the thing. 

“Are you certain?” Brianna asked, her voice a cautious whisper, as if the droid might overhear them. “These machines have been hunting you across the galaxy. Seems a bit of a coincidence one turns up hidden on the very ship you stole as a getaway. I think it’s a trap.”

Brianna held her quarterstaff aimed at the HK’s half-collapsed intelligence module, but Eden deactivated her lightsaber as she stepped closer. Switching out her saber for a blaster pistol, its nose edging toward the droid, Eden’s eyes scanned the entirety of the HK, keen on finding any signs of life.

“Key components are missing,” Eden said, her voice faraway, her mind racing. For a moment, Eden felt as if she were back on Tatooine again, inspecting a shipment of junk dumped on her doorstep by either a dehydrated scavenger eager for credits or a bargain-hungry Jawa, their glowing eyes alight like a used landspeeder salesman keen for a good trade. Part of her was comfortable, an old self settling into new skin like a fond memory. But another part of her knew Brianna was right. “Someone dismantled this thing, deliberately.”

It wasn’t the usual pieces that were missing, not the parts someone might grab for when in a tussle. The vocabulator, control cluster, droid processor and the chassis were all missing. Either someone needed a lot of credits, and badly. These parts didn’t come cheap, but they also weren’t easy to access. Especially for an older model, by the looks of it. Only someone with a lot of time - and a lot of know-how - would think to pilfer these parts over other chunks of the bronze plating that were much easier to get to and easier to fence. Or, whoever did this didn’t want the droid to be restored at all, short of destroying it entirely, knowing the parts would be hard to find.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Eden whispered, frustration already washing over her as the cargo door swooshed open. 

Brianna swung around, her quarterstaff still aimed at the HK but revealing a small knife from her boot to point at the door yelling excuse me! just as Atton’s head poked inside, his mouth opening and then promptly closing upon taking in the scene as well as Brianna’s and Eden’s attire. Or lack thereof.

“I’ll just… see myself out,” he said, his face turning red, but before he could disappear, Brianna had wrangled the pilot into the room with her knife-laden hand and pointed him towards the dilapidated droid.

“I’ll forgive you for your inane maneuver a moment ago if you can tell us anything about that !” The Last Handmaiden hissed as Atton was thrust into the room, his face growing redder by the second. Before his eyes could roam too freely across any part of Eden as they had back on Peragus, Atton’s gaze fell on the droid, and as if under the same spell drew out his blaster and nearly fired before Eden placed a hand on his wrist, setting his aim askew before he could do any potential damage. 

“He wouldn’t know anything about this, Brianna,” Eden said, never taking her eyes off the HK. It was familiar, but not in a way that was remarkable enough for a specific memory to return to her. The HK’s that had open fired on her on Telos had been of the same make, and even if the rest had been silver -- HK-50’s -- something about this particular HK-47 did not sit well with her.

“Brianna?” Atton balked, blaster still poised as he spun around to look at the Last Handmaiden, “Your name is Brianna ?”

“Really? That’s what you’re taking away from all this?” Brianna snapped, her knife-hand now planted on her naked hip, annoyance radiating off her in waves of heat and undulating rage. “You just had to say my true name in his presence, didn’t you?” This last jab Brianna aimed at Eden, her voice softer now, as if not only to relay the difference in her brand of annoyance but also in the hopes that Atton might be too stupid to pick up on it despite standing right there. 

“Atton, how fast can you get us back to Onderon?” Eden asked, ignoring Atton and Brianna’s usual back-and-forth as her memory raced, recalling every merchant they’d encountered and their respective inventory.

“We’re already on course to head back to Dantooine,” Atton said after gawking between both women, unsure of where to keep his eyes and who to respond to. “Why do you want to go back to Onderon?”

“I need to buy something.” 

“Buy--?” Atton echoed before connecting the dots. “Oh.”

“Do you think this wise?” Brianna asked, the consternation still clear on her face as well as in her voice. Despite Atton’s confusion as to what was going on otherwise, his expression changed to match the Last Handmaiden’s.

“Yeah, what if this droid takes a shot at you the first chance it gets?” Atton said, gesturing with his blaster. “That’s what they’ve all done so far.”

“Not the one on Peragus,” Eden mused. “Besides, if I can get one of them to talk, maybe I can figure out who’s been sending them after me in the first place.”

Atton and Brianna exchanged looks, ultimately shrugging in unison before eventually relinquishing their weapons. 

“If you say so,” Atton resigned, leaving the room before heading back to the cockpit to adjust the Hawk’s coordinates. Without a word, Eden began shouldering on her clothes again, but Brianna just watched.

“It’s more than that,” she surmised, Brianna’s eyes reading into every minute action Eden’s muscles made as if it might betray some clue. “It’s not just about the assassin droids, is it?”

Eden only smiled, knowing the expression did not meet her eyes. 

“No. No it’s not.”

~~~

“You never did tell me exactly where you got this ship,” Eden pressed, her elbow leaning heavily into the door frame leading into Kreia’s quarters as Atton so affectionately called everyone else’s haunts aboard the Hawk. “But you didn’t know about the secret compartment, did you?”

“It’s no wonder it’s there,” Kreia admitted, though no emotion betrayed itself over her placid face. Her exposed mouth remained still beneath her lowered hood, the old woman’s head barely moving as she acknowledged Eden’s otherwise unannounced entrance. “We learned it belonged to a one crime lord, Davik Kang, did we not?”

“That we did,” Eden sighed, already annoyed. Her gaze bored into the upper part of Kreia’s hood, where she knew the woman’s eyes were, dormant in the dark, wondering if she could see her through the Force as Visas did. “But you didn’t examine the thing before taking off? There was no sign that you might not have been alone?”

Kreia shook her head. There were plenty of times where Eden was not sure if Kreia was lying or not, or at least sheathing the truth beneath a veneer of half-truths and vague notions. This time, she felt it. The woman was earnest in her ignorance. In fact, Kreia hated it. A wave of unease radiated off of the woman as Eden thought it, validating her claim as well as resenting it, sensing both Eden’s accusation as well as her attestation in one fell swoop.

“Perhaps it is the doing of the HK that bested us both aboard the Harbinger,” Kreia offered with an air of corroboration, though Eden still sensed the ire in the old woman’s words. “That machine was full of secrets and subterfuge, far more advanced than the others we’ve encountered.”

“True,” Eden agreed, pushing off from the door frame and crossing her arms over her chest. “So, that’s it then -- you know nothing?”

Kreia almost sneered, but she hardly had to. Eden felt her disdain through the Force, a ripple of apprehension fluttering towards her in the open room, before dissolving into tired calm as Kreia inhaled and exhaled with purpose.

“To my displeasure, yes.”

“Understood,” Eden said, taking her leave, meaning it but also not. She knew the woman was keeping something from her still, but her surprise at the news of the droid hidden in the cargo bay was enough to tell Eden that at least Kreia had no knowledge of its presence before being told moments ago. The woman knew something, and was hiding it. Just… not that.

Eden did not know if it made her feel better or worse.

~~~

“Was this really worth the effort?” Bao asked slowly, his voice even softer than usual at Eden’s side as she slid the chassis into place, the final piece of the HK puzzle. 

His question wasn’t so much about his own curiosity as much as it was an observation, his uncanny knack for speaking Eden’s deeper thoughts into existence despite her denial at the reality of it all. While Bao rarely spoke of his own inner world, he was always gently coaxing Eden out of her own, knowing full well the tumult that stormed within -- even if he was not ready to let her do the same for him. At least not yet.

The module clicked , satisfying some baser part of Eden, at least enough to soothe her nerves before the anticipation simply ate away at her to nothing. 

“It delayed us quite a bit, nearly costing us the situation on Onderon,” she admitted. “So it better be worth it. Have your saber at the ready.”

Bao nodded. Eden swallowed, nodding back at him, and turned to the HK. Its eyes were vacant, dark, but once she flipped the switch they grew from hollow brown to bright amber. It awoke.

“Diagnostic: HK-47 activated. Running checks through primary systems,” the droid began in a low gurgle, its voice modulator growing smoother with each syllable. A low hum began in the belly of the thing, eventually encompassing the entire workspace as circuits lit up and several sparks snapped as old wiring finally came to life. Eden and Bao exchanged looks, only this time Eden enacted her lightsaber so it glowed a deep molten orange, setting the HK’s bronze plating aglow.

“Assessment: It appears I have suffered considerable damage and dismemberment. I can feel all the cracks in my motivators,” the HK drawled incredulously. “And my control cluster seems to have taken several repeating blaster shots at close range. How crude.”

Something about this HK was… off . Much like the HK-50 that tried to shuttle her off of Peragus at the expense of everything else living on the station, this model had the same brand of snobbish superiority. The other HK’s they’d encountered were frank, sure, but none had this much personality right off the bat. Most of them just had a single quip ready for her before opening fire, but like the one that had managed to hold Eden hostage, this droid had quite a tongue.

“Why were you in our storage hold?” Eden asked, her voice more timid than she’d intended. Her brain was too busy making calculations to cast her voice more commandingly, but she cringed nonetheless. 

“Answer: I do not know, Master-” Don’t call me that, Eden hissed before the droid rambled on, “It is curious I was here - although this place does seem familiar.”

The droid’s intelligence module spun about, its eyes flashing as if taking in the scene like a person awakening from a coma.

“Extrapolation: Perhaps someone was already in the process of rebuilding me. It may be that I was needed for some task.”

Eden’s mind swam with so many questions but there was only one that made its way to her mouth. 

“Are you… okay?” she asked, her eyes still pausing over the droid’s exposed bits and rusted portions of its outer shell. There was evidence of blasterfire but Eden wasn’t convinced that was the machine’s cause of death, so to speak.

“Answer: If by ‘okay’ you mean the loss of almost all my existing assassination protocols, then no, I am not okay. Furthermore, I seem to have no discretionary control over my vocabulator, causing me to reveal my true function as an assassin droid of unrivaled sophistication.”

Eden crossed her arms over her chest, though she sensed Bao bristling at her side. “You look a lot like a series of droids that have attacked me. Anything to say about that?”

“Answer: Oh that is impossible, Master. If I were out to kill you, you would not be speaking.” Eden shot Bao-Dur a pointed glance, not that she was happy or proud about the fact just relayed to them both. Bao held his weapon ready nonetheless. “And regardless, I am a unique model. Why, to think that there would be other versions of me would be unacceptable. 

“Well, there’s at least four other now-defunct versions of you in the galaxy.” Eden huffed a laugh, to which the droid only balked.

“Master, I must inform you that your attempts at humor are wasted on such a droid as I. As I have expressed, I am unique .”

“I can just blast him, General,” Bao whispered sidelong to her. “By rifle or by my arm, we can be rid of the thing sooner than you can say the word.”

Eden appreciated the offer but shook her head, hoping the sentiment translated as Bao unwittingly backed down yet again.

“Trust me, there’s a series of HK-50 units sharing your model and function that we have encountered on multiple occasions,” Eden said deadpan, though the suspicion did not leave her voice. The droid perked up at that, either noting her observation for future personal investigation or taking it as an affront.

“Very well, Master,” the droid drawled, “Though please know that this discovery is also causing me some degree of anger. And humiliation.”

“ Are you alright?” Eden echoed from before, this time not stopping Bao-Dur as he took another step closer to the droid, his right hovering over his blaster as his left hovered precariously over the button of his lightsaber.

“Mockery: Am I alright? Oh yes, Master, why, I am fine,” the droid groaned, looking at Bao’s display as if it were merely an inconvenience and not a direct provocation. “Statement: I mean, I have only just been re-activated, only to find that there are sub-standard duplicates of me running around all over the galaxy, corroding my good name. But if they are in fact hunting you, then I look forward to the opportunity to meet these units - and educate them in proper assassination protocols!”

If the HK could huff in indignation, Eden imagined the droid would have.

“Conclusion: So it seems I need you - for the time being.”

“So it’s true?” Eden pressed. “You’re an assassin droid?”

“Recitation: Yes , as I said, I am an assassin droid. It is my primary function to burn holes through meatbags that you wish removed from the galaxy… Master .”

“What did you say?” Eden asked, her voice a husk of a whisper now.

“Master,” the HK repeated. “Oh, how I hate that term.”

“No not that, Maker never say Master again,” Eden said, finally disabling her saber and slumping to what was eventually to the floor. Bao-Dur moved to catch her, but Eden preferred this, the ground, as ridiculous as it was. “The… the other thing.”

“Query: Meatbag?”

Eden nodded, though her head felt detached from the rest of her body as she did so. Bao-Dur moved awkwardly beside her, still hovering as if he might catch her though she’d already descended to the floor and made a temporary home there, so after bending and unbending, Bao finally decided to crouch by her side and place a hand on her shoulder, anchoring her to the present if anything. 

“Hey did you manage to--?” Atton’s voice spirited into the room, cutting the silence like a knife. Eden’s eyes darted up towards the garage entrance just as Bao’s did, the droid spinning around on its core hinges to face Atton directly at the intrusion. Atton’s eyes widened to disks as he took in the scene. “Uh… activate the droid?”

“What does it look like?” Bao-Dur asked, his voice even though Eden sensed the bite in his words beneath every syllable.

Atton swallowed as he entered the room proper, looking as if he wanted to do the opposite despite taking a few steps closer. “I’ll take all of whatever’s going on here as an uncertain but unmistakable yes.”

The HK extended an arm, as if a blaster were attached though no such thing was equipped, and instead held an empty socket aloft in Atton’s direction. 

“Offer: I can dispense of this meatbag if you wish,” the HK suggested, “Just give the order--”

“No!” Eden hissed, shooting to her feet. “No and no.”

“Affirmation: As you wish,” the droid surrendered, sounding thoroughly disappointed as it turned back to Eden.

“Did you find out who’s been sending these things after you?” Atton asked, taking a step back as if the droid might rescind its offer to spare his life for now. Eden shook her head.

“It’s not one of them,” Eden said. Bao spun around to look at her now, just confused as Atton was.

“How do you know that?” Bao-Dur pressed, careful to ensure that his inactive saber was still facing the droid just in case it became a threat. “You asked the machine no such thing.”

“I know because I remember this HK unit specifically,” Eden said. She glanced at Atton this time, making sure she caught his eye before adding, “Unlike the one on Peragus.”

“What does that mean?” Atton asked.

“I modded this droid, twelve years ago,” she began, her voice hitching as the memory returned to her in full. Don’t call me meatbag, Alek had seethed. Eden had merely laughed, but it was the last thing she wanted to do now, despite the howl building in her throat at the irony of it all. “For Revan.”

“Revan?!” Bao-Dur and Atton both repeated at varying volumes and levels of surprise.

“Attestation: Revan, yes, that name does ring familiar,” the droid said in what Eden could almost call fond recollection.

“Just because you modded this droid to kill for Revan doesn’t mean she didn’t specifically want this droid to kill you, no?” Atton asked, eyes blazing as he reached for his blaster.

“For once, I agree with Atton,” Bao said as he enacted his saber, while Atton mouthed a despaired Hey! “I knew her as well as you, and after the way she set us up at Malachor? I wouldn’t doubt she meant for us all to perish on that moon.”

Bao-Dur’s lightsaber raged a silent sapphire in the din of the garage, and for once so far the HK was speechless.

“You may be right,” Eden sighed, her hand thrumming the button of her own saber but failing to flip the switch. “It can’t be a coincidence that a series of other HK’s were modded to assassinate in the wake of this one.”

Whoever did this knew me personally, Eden thought, the idea still too new, and too painful, to consider out loud. Or Revan.

“Admission: I recall Revan, but I do not recognize your face, Master. Despite my referring to you by such a title. I can call you something else if you wish.”

The droid almost sounded apologetic, but Eden knew it was only her perception. Or wishful thinking. 

“You can call me Eden,” she sighed. The HK nodded, its eyes blinking once before verbally confirming her request.

“Confirmation: I shall call you Eden,” it echoed. 

She should have felt relieved, but Eden only felt hollow, forever haunted by Revan’s ghost and cursed to follow her memory no matter what she did. 

~~~

Notes: I posted this to AO3 in 2022 but never posted it here. I still rather like it writing-wise, but like a lot of stuff I write/post for kotor 2 this is a future snippet from my ongoing novel-length fic Out of the Abyss that can be read/enjoyed without the greater context of that retelling.

[bluegekk0]

Regarding your recent vent post I can understand why you might start to have many of these thoughts about your art/AU stuff. But I honestly don’t really think it’s because of general disinterest of your content in particular as it is the HK fandom itself kinda getting smaller as I’ve been recently noticing. This AU of yours is up there for one of the most passionate and overall best representation of a ship I’ve seen in a while. I find it kind of hard to see people get bored of this, but just know whenever you’re feeling like nobody cares about your AU or art anymore there are many people who truly enjoy what you put out and make our days a little more enjoyable.

And about your section talking about your negative experience with going through a possible autism revelation kind of hit me close to home. It can be a VERY frustrating and stressful time realizing that you may think something is “wrong” with the way you think, act or carry out daily activities. I myself struggled with this shit during high school and I always felt like the most out of place weirdo in the room, and I still occasionally feel like this at times. If I can give you any piece of advice it would be to honestly try your best to accept the card you’ve been dealt with, and to try to push the boundaries of your disability and see what you are capable of, trust me there are times that I thought I couldn’t do something because I believed I would be too stupid or awkward tackle it. But with enough motivation and courage you’d be surprised of what you could do.

I do hope this ask helped you in any way or at least made you not feel completely worthless because in reality you aren’t.

Hmm yeah I definitely noticed that a lot of people moved on to other things. I guess I don't really think of that most of the time since I've also distanced myself quite a bit from the HK community. Thinking now, maybe the fact that I stopped tagging my art with Hollow Knight contributes to this? But at the same time, that feels right since I don't even really see the game and the AU on the same wavelength anymore, they're two different entities to me (with the AU almost leaning into OC territory; it's more like an adaptation of the game rather than something that derives from it). Plus I have this small fear that it'll attract people who know nothing about the AU and will misinterpret my versions of the characters in tags/replies (it happened before which is why it's something I'm sensitive about). I guess I'll have to see it from this perspective more and just start expecting less people to see it if I continue to avoid tagging it as HK. Maybe a "Hollow Knight AU" tag would work as a compromise? I'll think about it.

But I got carried away there, sorry. I'm really grateful for your input. For me it wasn't as much realizing that something is wrong that messed with me, I had this suspicion for a long time, way before I even considered that I might be autistic. It's mostly that I'm afraid my suspicione are wrong and I'm somehow faking the symptoms, even if many of them that I read and heard about feel very relatable to me in a lot of ways. But I appreciate your advice nonetheless, and I'll try to keep it in mind. I'll have to, now that I'm finishing uni, even if it seems terrifying.

Thank you a lot for reaching out, it means a lot ❤️

[nicebonescomrades]

okay! so this might get a little long winded lol

my main is america, but my luck there hasn't been so good so i legit made 3 alts on the other servers to try my luck and uuuh

for starters they're all alts right? very squishy units bc lack of materials and what not - and all three alts have a gepard

granted the hk alt only just got a gepard but i'm pretty sure it was bc i've been running jingyuan, tingyun, natasha, and fire trailblazer. and i swear tingyun gets singled out way too often (and as a result dies the fastest) so gepard is just like no need to worry! i am here

the hk alt is going to get a battle pass bc its just ridiculous at this point - when seele's banner was up i did a couple of single pulls and got a bronya, and then i threw the free 10 pulls at the banner and almost immediately got a seele - almost like she knew her girlfriend had come home and she just had to be there to complete the team (they actually hard carried me through the belagog story quest lol)

hk also didn't have tingyun before the jingyuan banner so i was like - i have arlan! maybe i can make a second team with arlan here? and i'll get a tingyun from jingyuan's banner no problem! and she can support arlan and i can use the fire trailblazer to protect him and natasha to heal him and -

and jingyuan comes home twice before tingyun bc he hears that i'm pulling his banner to give his best support to a 4 star? no ma am not happening on my watch

also i was on my asia account the other day and i was borrowing someone's himeko as the support unit right? and i was saying to one of my friends that hmm, maybe i don't want himeko on any of my accounts? himeko either doesn't do a lot of damage or this particular himeko is build really badly - i haven't seen double digits of damage in a while

and half an hour later i notice i have 10 pulls on the standard banner so i used them and i legit pull a himeko (i do do damage! you just need to build me correctly i can prove it-)

the eu account just has a bronya and gepard but i haven't done as much pulls on this on yet so ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ we'll see how it goes when i use my event pulls on the blade banner there lol

in the meantime eu account has been maining qingque bc i actually really like quantum damage

i'll probably send in a different ask later on about jing yuan bc i did manage to get him on the main and that is a whole other story lol

So many reroll alts... good luck keeping up with all of them comrade i admire anyone thathas the dedication for that much 😭😭 but also gepard ��️‼️ i want him so bad im losing my mind over not getting him yet 🙄 like bro why can't u be like your lookalike(Jean my love <3) and come fast to me?? Smh smh 🔪

But also the hk alt is so??? Im jealous /j but no i am not surprised by how fast you got seele and bronya the girlfriends must never be separated ‼️ bronseele forever <33 but jingyuan? 👁👁 congrats on getting him x2 and tingyun!!

Speaking of tingyun and her tendency to get attacked so much I'm pretty sure it's like, game mechanics lolol i believe the enemies do actually focus more in general at the healer/buffer... my bailu and bronya have suffered enough to know 😭

Me personally i only have my main america acc but I do plan on making an asia alt just 2 play with friends lolol my pulls on my main acc went actually so well I don't dare complain 💀

First day of release I got Bronya, Yanqing, e1 himeko (one from standard the other on the beginner banner), then the next day I got Himeko's lightcone and then two days after that I got Bailu and yesterday I got e1 Bronya 🧍🏻‍♀️ (all i want is a gepard. Literally that's all I want but noooo)

I didn't pull for Seele tho hdjdns but I did get Jingyuan and tingyun finally on his banner, so currently just wasting my wishes on his banner in hopes of getting a guarantee for Kafka lmao

[deuterium51614]

Boueibu Rewatch Part 10

Onto HAPPY KISS!

Episode One

Love how Osamu, who turned into a bird, shares a VA with Cure Wing. They even have similar hair!

They never changed the spelling to Martha, though I think they did for later episodes after their eyecatch...

Do you think it's Goura or Yumoto chopping wood?

Always annoyed me that they spelled Karurusu as "Karls" since it's an onsen name. (And later in the season he does get a nickname...which I think is Karu?)

The music when the council approached the monster sounded like it had lyrics? Never noticed that before.

Wait. The questioning if there was a Defense Club. Nanao saying the transformations could be a dream. Karurusu saying the thing about their "sentence" but correcting himself. What if HK was a lotus-eater dream with Love boys this whole time, and the movie will lead into it? Like they're being punished for some reason...?

(Anyway, is "boe" the SFX of a voice crack in puberty?)

Honyara Land kinda gave me some Moh continent vibes to the point I thought they recycled part of the castle, but I just looked back at Gekkan Mousou and they didn't. (I was thinking of the dome around the continent, and the castle's dome reminded me of it.)

Episode Two

Love Martha's blushy face at Furanui's human form.

Wait, did Ata tap his chest during the transformation to put the shield on?

So Furanui can read thoughts...

My mom says the ES song sounds like Kashmir. (I'm relistening to both now to compare, and it does lol)

Anyway, we always called the monsters in Love the Loveless (which I realized on my rewatch that they're not actually called that in canon), but I don't think there's a consensus on what we call the HK monsters? The Unhappy?

Wish we got an OST, the song used during this battle after the monster changes forms is a bop.

I always thought this episode's battle took place during the same day as the first episode, but that's probably wrong...

Happy Hour acts as the Love Attack and Love Shower/Fountain... I get they probably condensed it for the longer transformations, but I wonder what they would've called an attack if Happy Hour was the healing move. My first thought was Happy Pill, to fit in with the euphemisms lol

Episode Three

"HAPPY Ice Cream" is an episode I always feel falls towards the end of the series, like episode nine, and unless I'm actively thinking about it, I'm surprised to see it as the third episode...

I feel for Hajime. One of my bosses keeps misspelling my name in the group chat, even after being called out on it 😭

Don't think I ever realized Ata's ice cream was Kyoutarou's colors lol (And since Nanao gave it to him, you know it was deliberate.)

Always found it funny that this monster uses terms for things that I use other names for (brain freeze and bookmarks lol) and disappointed they don't say "bread clip" or "bread tag" (I use those interchangeably). Though looking at the Wikipedia for all of these, the Japanese terms are more on-the-nose. (Like in Japanese, it really is "bag closure" in katakana.)

Part of me I guess feels the lesson could've been tweaked from Hajime not being good at making an impression, and having no one in school know his name, and being told "isn't it better to be remembered for what you do, rather your name?" to having him just not having the effort to make an impression but still expecting people to know him. Then he would use incorrect terminology during the battle and claim it's right, then get corrected every time. The lesson could have been "you should get to know others, because why are they going to remember your name if you don't care to learn theirs?"

And I don't know. I just feel that would've been a better lesson. They still could've had Kyoutarou mess up at the end, with Hajime putting in effort to introduce himself, and Kyoutarou zoning out, since the theme does seem to be he doesn't fully commit to the lessons he's preaching to the monsters. (See: episode one when he makes Osamu run off crying.)

Only realizing it now that this is, I think, the shrine from S2E8? (Which by the way I quickly turned on and played for Yumoto's countdown this New Year. Next time I'll have to figure out the timing to watch the full episode with the countdown lines up.)

Kyoutarou went back and got a brand new ice cream, even though they were out of ingredients lol

Hajime had a lil squeak when he turned back that was adorable.

I like the chill version of Happy Ready. (Would you say it's bossa nova? I'm bad with picking out most genres...)

Anyway, like with episode three, if it weren't for the trailer, I would have no idea the treasure hunting episode comes next. It's weird, I can recite the episode orders for all of Love easily, as well as Fairy Ranmaru and most of Robihachi, but when it comes to Happy Kiss, I draw a blank. (Gekkan Mousou gets a pass, since it came out early 2024 and I haven't done a rewatch yet.)

So next week is the treasure hunting episode and who knows what? (I could go on the Wiki...but I'm gonna go in blind lol)

[randomidiocyncrazies]

1000xResist chapter 6!

okay, so this is clearly evoking "packing up to migrate/leave HK" vibes (mass immigration after the 2019 protests like Iris's parents, but some people also moved in 1997 after the handover of HK), though i guess another interpretation is that the shell hasn't finished unpacking after she moved in?

I am also a little thrown off by the simplified Chinese on some of the signs

ooh this is really interesting: as Watcher we only know of the Old Town as a dirty cramped place, but it looks like they have their own culture there...

the central hub where we hung out as Watcher is probably like, the admin place where the upper echelon live (aka Admiralty where the Govt. offices are), while Old Town gives me Kowloon vibes

police state, yayyyyyy... young people in HK were targeted by police for 'random' ID checks frequently back then (and the red police huh. wonder what that's about lol)

also BBF is on the wanted list. not too surprising given she preached "be like water" before...

oh it just keeps going and going and going............

this sure! is a game! about Hong Kong!

i really liked the task list popping up as Blue has an emotional breakdown... effective use of gameplay mechanics in storytelling

some old faces in new positions! Eileen is the diligent one who didn't understand BBF, Vivian is the colorblind one, Vanissa is the "unlucky" shell, and Denise is the understudy shell... though they still look youthful while Bartender's hair turned gray...?

with Denise... she used to be a Watcher-type, right? Weren't they supposedly erased/purged...? Or were they just given different tasks in the Provisional Government?

also the thigh plate says "official/minister" (官)

YOOOOOO WHAT

this feels almost perverse... Jiao was relegated to Iris's back story in the game, and here the Jiao-types are relegated to subservient roles in the Iris-type society

that's, uh, not as comforting as you think it is..............

ooh drama amongst the Jiao-types...? (what is going on)

Doreen is the assertive one, i think? the Minister of infrastructure didn't seem like anyone we knew back then

YO W H A T

interesting that the blue-shell that was obsessed with Knower is now tired of her. she approved of Knower destroying old records, but now thinks Knower is "nothing more than a keeper of the status quo"—so is her dissatisfaction because Knower didn't push far enough for her tastes, or is she against any kind of status quo in general?

continuing 1000xResist (LP by Welonz), chapter 5:

WAILING

like Watcher at the beginning having a do-over of her conversation with Fixer, ALLMOTHER is maybe trying to have a do-over with Jiao as she lays dying

AND I KNEW IT! I KNEW PRINCIPAL WAS WHO I THOUGHT! cause of her previous role before Principal, and Knower seemed to imply Principal had been around for even longer that she had. i thought i was reaching, but my gut feeling was right this time

WAILING!!!!

also i'm a bit iffy on the "communion is only what ALLMOTHER allows you to see", because Fixer was able to hack in in the first communion, meaning that the sisters can control the flow of information shown to Watcher as well... so Principal was setting up Watcher to be a tool of vengeance (and power...?) the entire time by presenting only the cruel sides of Iris to Watcher

and like. Iris clearly wasn't an angel, but neither was she a demon; she was just a teen girl. but she was deified, and when you're a deity, the ALLMOTHER, you cannot be human. every flaw is magnified and becomes unforgivable, because you are a god now

similarly some of the stuff seems to be from outside of Iris's experience (e.g. her parent's meeting and life in HK), but i guess those could be stuff she "dreamed"/imagined after hearing the stories from her parents (her dad, most likely)

we know Secretary helps with the Communion process and is Occupier/Occupier tech, so the i'm assuming the [redacted] stuff is Principal speaking Occupier (keeper???), maybe...?

PCWCW lololololol

also i'm not quite sure what to make of the incineration vs burial thing, so i'm gonna put a pin in it for now...

[molabeast]

YOU HAVE TO FIGHT YOUR OWN GHOST WHEN YOU DIE??????????

[cats-and-fiction]

Relationship Headcaons 2

Nathaniel Taylor x Reader

One night you two sat under the clear star skye, watching up and sitting close together.

Nathaniel had driven out to a field to catch some alone time and show you the place.

A blanket under you two shielded you from the dirt and the air was mildly warm.

While you looked up the sky in amazement, never getting enough of how clear it is compared to the future, you didn‘t notoce how he turned hks gaze away and towards you.

You noticed later that he was staring ar you and you felt your face get hot. Looking down in embaressment you asked him „Why are you staring?“, looking up carefully you saw him smile and turn his view away. Looking down in his lap.

„Guess I found a better view than the stars“, he laughed before looking back to yoj again. Leaning back and using his hands behind his back as a support.

„Thats corny,“ you returned a nervous laugh, in which he tuned in. „Yes, yes. I know. Havn‘t done this in a long time, give me some slack.“

„Sure“, you leaned back to lay on the blanket. Crossing your arms over your stomache you looked back at him.

„Y/N, the time togetger with you had been really fun. I really enjoyed it. You are a wonderful person“, he started, looking down at you.

You were now he told you that you two should ger some space. He has a whole community to lead and you two just fooled around. You felt your stomache turning and fought hard against possible tears you swore to feel coming up.

„And I want it to continue, but you need to know that we should keep it a secret. Just like now. I don‘t want anything bad happen to you or others to think ill about you“

This wasn‘t what you expected. Not in the hundreds of possibilities. Your bad feelings statzed to turn into ones of luck. While you felt like jumping up and down in happyness you expressed with looking at him like a fish. Mouth agape and surprised look.

Slowly getting up into a sitting position you nodded. „Not what I expected but…I too want this to continue“, you answered him. Your face growing hot and even hotter as he smirked at you.

Even hotter than before as he started to close the gap between the two of you and kissed you right then and there. Returning the kiss you felt one his hands sneak around you, holding the back of your head. Your hands themselves sesrched for any contact they could find. Not knowing exactly what to do with them you decided to just, weirdly place them on his chest, the whole situation caught you offguard.

The two of you would lay on the blanket, he above you, exchangeing kisses and what not.

The evening was definetly not how you expected for it to turn out.