#i gave up at the end lol

[jaiden-zhou]

(3) casual iso <3

contents: headcannons, reader is a uniqlo employee for plot purposes, self indulget

this should tie this mini-series up haha unless..

also, i just threw some stuff in through google translate and it might not be accurate, just lmk lol

i said this too a little while back but if you see a uniqlo employee maybe it might be me lol

i procrastinated so hard on this lol

part 1, part 2

.

.

iso who, even after what happened at the tea shop, still is trying to build up the courage to properly ask you out, even after knowing you feel the same

iso who still is very subtle with his affection towards you, even when acknowledging you both like each other, occasionally holding hands under the table, hugs that last a little longer than normal

iso who at this current stage is not very good at initiating affection and anything physical is started from you, but it isn't unwelcomed.. please.. keep initiating it.. he's still really shy

iso whose affection is more often shown verbally, even still a bit quiet "you look really nice today.." "i missed you," "rúcǐ měilì (so beautiful).."

iso who stumbles over his words, red-faced and eyes averted for his confession "i want to be your boyfriend.." (he got jealous again)

iso stated, you think you hear a little bit of desperation in his voice and finally sighs a breath of relief (even though he already knew, baby's a little nervous) when you said you wanted to be his <3

iso who becomes more secure and even a little more confident in your relationship with him !

iso who starts silently holding your hand in public, he says it's because he doesn't want you to get lost or something like that,,

iso who likes to pull you by your side so you'd avoid running into anything, usually. (sometimes he just likes to feel you close and see that slight blush on your cheeks for once)

iso who still sometimes gets a little jealous

iso who keeps pda at a minimum to holding hands and maybe sneaky quick kisses

iso, if jealous, will hundred percent latch to you from behind, arms firmly around your waist with an indifferent expression on his face while you're still mid-conversation with someone (who is taking up too much of your attention he feels)

iso who likes to call you other things besides your lovely name, like 'dear', 'love', 'darling', 'tiánxīn (sweetheart)'

iso who likes physical touch like cuddles every night after work, intertwined fingers whenever possible, kisses of any kind behind closed doors

iso who just likes being really close to you <3

iso who makes a playlist about you, whether it songs that describe you, describe how you make him feel, or even just a song that he listened to while he was with you

iso who sometimes misses you when you work those long hours at uniqlo so he listens to the playlist wishing he was in your arms

iso likes going on casual dates with you, maybe visiting an aquarium or the movies, or just cooking dinner together and having fun in the comfort of his or your place

iso who likes shopping with you, he likes seeing the sparkle in your eyes when you spot something of interest. he thinks it's very cute

iso who gets a little flustered when you bring up wanting to do a matching thing with him, you two deciding on braided bracelets that both of you would make

iso's bracelet for you is with violet, black, and white threads that are a little messily braided together, he tried <3 while your bracelet for him is a little more cleanly done with colors of your choice

iso likes the idea of the bracelets a lot, he's very fond of them being made and exchanged with each other as a way of keeping close despite the distance. gives a lot of sentimental value to them (a way of him being a little possessive but he'll never admit it hehe)

iso, who even if the bracelet you made him doesn't match his style or outfit, wears it. doesn't take it off unless he's taking a shower (he wants to preserve it for as long as possible)

iso who still a little bit like a puppy in love, attention is on you, and is loyal like a dog, pays for you every chance he gets when you're not fighting back for the bill so he doesn't always be the one paying

iso who still gets flushed in the cheeks when you tease or outwardly flirt with him, again not unwelcomed but he is going to expect a kiss as compensation

iso who (it's pretty funny, and cute, to you) vehemently denies it when you tease that he's only dating you for your uniqlo employee discount

iso who is so poetically romantic and a little cheesy but is also so genuine and raw with his verbal affection to you that it leaves you a little taken aback with a hitched breath and pink cheeks <3

------

after a good little shopping session, wallets drained but it was alright, you two decided to grab a snack from a street-food vendor.

"you know yu," you pause to take another bite. "if i didn't think any better i would've thought you'd be dating me only to get my store discount haha,"

"nonsense," iso rebutted, not taking your teasing. "i could say the same thing about the drink discount i give you."

"haha, yeah you have a good point. it's funny though."

"mm even then," iso takes a small piece from his snack. "my adoration for you is deeper than the depths of the ocean, and farther than any star in the sky."

iso looks at you with such seriousness and intensity, yet his words are heartfelt and profound, it makes you flush for once and mouth agape.

"jeez, yu.." you use your free hand to cover your face as you avert your eyes to the side. "what, is this payback for all the other times i got you all shy?"

he gently guides your hand away from your face, moving in so close you can feel his breath. he tilts his head a bit and closes his eyes, leaning to connect with your lips for a soft peck.

"possibly," he pulls away with a small smirk.

"you know damn well i'm gonna get you back for this,"

"mhm, i love you."

------

tags: @arzhelzoe @animeisforkings

[the-barefoot-hatter]

Maybe it's a good thing they didn't storm the penthouse suite.

(joke taken from the superior quackervolt comic by mistahgrundy )

[chrliekclly]

yes he will….

[octylish]

Bingo.

Close ups:

[theultracharmingladynoire]

[dreamdripdistance]

jotchua... 👼

[sualne]

clothes!!!

[varilien]

@oobbbear i hope i've done them justice..... i just really like them hehehe

[mochinomnoms]

MOCHII

Hi hi hello

What do you think will happen if like— one day Crowley finally find a way to bring back mc back to their world?? And mc just went with it cuz like personal reasons.

How would the PTM characters especially Jade would react?? I wanna hear your thoughts about this PLEASE MOTHER FEED ME ANGST??

Within the 'canon' of PTM, Yuu can't actually go back, but more information as to why will come up in the later chapters, so I haven't actually thought about it tbh.

Considering how attached all the characters are to Yuu at this point, it would be absolutely devastating to most of them. Some understand, those who are particularly attached or close with their family, and while sad to see you go are happy for you to finally found your way back to your loved ones. They couldn't imagine their own life without their family, being so close with them, so they understand why you went.

Some are less than understanding, maybe even angry! They can't understand why you'd want to go after all you've gone through with them! Do near-death experiences mean nothing? Does their care for you mean nothing? Why, how could you leave!? It ends up with a bitter goodbye, something that they'd grow up regretting as they remember the last time you spoke, full of anger, tears, and spiteful words.

But Jade? Well, it greatly depends on whether or not a confession has happened yet. If taking place before, then there's a great divide within him to confess and yet not. If he confesses, then you might feel obligated to stay with him. Or not, he's not sure what would feel worse. But there's also the possibility of you resenting him if that were to happen, the pressure to stay taking away your only remaining opportunity to go back.

But personally, I feel like it would be much more devastating if Jade and Yuu were already a couple by this point, and they decided to go back. He spent so long pining after you, with you, knowing just how deeply and intensely he cares for you. How you know him so intimately, not just from your telepathy, but just in your ability to read him in a way no one else really has. It's not like he can even lie to you, you can hear the thoughts in his head, the devastation, the pleading, the sheer feeling of grief washing over you as you leave through the mirror with olive and gold eyes watching your form merge with the mirror. What makes your heart mourn and the tears fall from your face is the blankness in his stare, the lack of feeling other than a soft, polite smile on his face. No one else, except his brother and even Azul perhaps, can tell there's something off about him. The whispers of others commenting on his lack of reaction, their doubt of his affections for you, it only deepens the wound. Perhaps it was foolish of him to open up, to be vulnerable with you, to be someone other than Jade Leech, all to become yours. Now all he's left with is a gap in his heart and an even crueler disposition.

[mildcicada]

My friend's gift to me for my birthday!!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - Le Grand Bristot

[tangents-within-tangents]

Thoughts on Echo as amputee/disability representation

First and foremost, I am not disabled or an amputee and I don’t claim to speak for those communities (and if I was I couldn't speak for everyone). What little I do know mostly comes from this youtube channel (@oakwyrm), this post, and other research I’ve done for my writing (and like one amputee I kinda knew in passing). By all means correct me and add to the conversation, I just have some thoughts I want to share because I haven’t really seen this discussed anywhere

Overview

So Echo is interesting. He is a triple amputee which is pretty rare in media. His disabilities come from extremely traumatic circumstances: injured in a near-death experience, imprisoned and dehumanized as an experiment with no autonomy over what happened to his body.

There are a few moments in the shows where Echo is treated… questionably. Like this bit where Rex uses him as an example of the Separatists' evils to convince the locals to fight back:

To be fair, yeah Echo’s treatment does prove that the Techno Union is not neutral like they claim. The modifications that everyone is gasping in horror at here obviously weren’t made with comfort and accessibility in mind, nor with Echo’s consent. But you still just want to be sure that “They took away his freedom, his humanity, they tried to turn him into a machine” is about using him as a living computer, not the fact that he is missing limbs. 

The Batch is also pretty insensitive toward him and his trauma imo, which is weird considering they've supposedly also faced discrimination for their mutations

Disabled people do have to deal with stuff like this in this day and age so I guess it can speak to those experiences. I think especially him being mistaken as a droid (and Hunter going along with it (bruh)) might resonate with some people. 

Aside from that stuff, Echo isn't really treated any differently as a character/person which is really good (as low of a bar as that is).

We get this moment in CW where Echo contemplates that yeah things are gonna be different now

While also (imo at least) showing that he is still the same person regardless, evidenced by the fact that he just echoed Rex :,) I also think it's significant that he joins the Bad Batch on his own terms and we're given a really emotional scene to specifically show that he's not just like 'lumped in with the other misfits' but that it is his choice to go where he feels his place is.

A lot of people, myself included, are disappointed that TBB didn't have more time to explore Echo's PTSD, but I think the one panic attack scene we did get is really good. Even thought it's minor it at least is an appropriate reaction from a guy who was medically tortured (which is more than I've come to expect from Star Wars shows lol)

And it's really sweet to see Omega showing Echo some empathy and consideration.

It would have been nice to see more of his adjustment period, and other side effects like chronic pain and maintenance, but there’s a lot of daily life stuff the show never had time for (i.e. we don’t know if he removed his prosthetics to sleep, but we also never saw him sleep anyway). His disabilities might take on a background role (much like the character himself sadly) but for the most part they aren’t invisible or erased, nor do they define his character and arc.

Physical Appearance

Okay this one is bit dicey, bc on the one hand, yes complaints that Echo’s paleness (most likely caused by burns from the explosion or chemical burns from the cryo-chamber) is whitewashing are totally valid. But I also think you can draw comparisons to real life conditions that affect pigmentation/complexion (like you know burns). So while I understand why a lot of fanart will depict him with his original skin tone and with hair, consider that there are real people who have to live with temporary or permanent changes to their appearance, and the idea of “fixing" him by making him look more like his old self can be problematic.

It's also interesting to note that Echo could act as a reversal of the 'disabled/disfigured = evil' trope. He's pale and bald and wears black and red, which is so often visually associated with villains, but we all know Echo is the bestest boy™

The Headpiece

Echo’s headpiece is interesting because within the show we don’t actually ever learn much about it (idk if there is more info in books or whatever bc i don’t have them so?). He didn’t have it in CW so we know it didn’t come from the Techno Union and therefore Echo probably had more choice with it. We don’t know its exact purpose but it’s most likely related to his scomping abilities. When he is hacking with his scomp in CW, before he has his headpiece, it’s clearly very mentally straining:

We don’t see him struggling like this in TBB once he does have it (though that could be bc he got more used to it over time). There doesn't seem to be much of an impact when he removes his headpiece in s3 ep14-15, except that he gets stuck in the ports every time he uses his scomp which is not something we’ve seen before: 

There might not be an exact real-world equivalent, but the headpiece is some kind of accessibility aid. It means that someone specifically designed a device to help him adapt to the changes the Techno Union made, as well as a helmet that integrates it. It’s removable and visually very present, much like a cochlear implant would be. (A lot of people actually headcanon it to act partially as a hearing aid, since it makes sense that Echo’s hearing would have been damaged in the explosion, but there isn't really any indication of this in canon.) The headpiece is never really acknowledged in the show, but I think that's a good thing. It's something he needs/wants and it just exists, completely normalized, and that's pretty cool 👍

Legs

Sigh... So from the very first episode of TBB I was really disappointed that the animation team or whoever completely visually erased Echo’s prosthetic legs (I think we all were, honestly, if fanart is anything to go by). It’s one thing when he’s in armor because he would probably want to protect his prosthetics, but we literally see him in his blacks and there is no indication whatsoever that he lost his legs even though it was not left up for debate at all in CW:

Like ??????!?

This is just really strange to me! Idk what went on behind the scenes with this decision but I don’t really see why it would be that much harder to animate or anything since it’s 3D and they've done it before. We do see some pretty sophisticated cybernetic technology in Star Wars canon that mimics real limbs:

But Luke’s fancy hand is technically 20ish years from now, so Anakin and Maul are more of a representation of what level we could expect here

So yeah, for no apparent reason, his leg amputation is effectively, visually and narratively nonexistent. Which is not great 👎

Arm!

The scomp on the other hand (uh lol!) is the complete opposite and I kinda love it!

At first I, like many others, thought it was a bit odd that they didn’t give Echo a prosthetic arm. Losing hands is basically a Star Wars tradition at this point, so robotic arms/hands are well established within the worldbuilding: 

We aren’t necessarily given a canon reason for why Echo doesn't get a cybernetic arm (again unless it's in some lore book I haven’t read, sorry). General fanon explanations I’ve seen are that he either couldn’t because the Techno Union wired the scomp too far into his nervous system, and/or the resources to give him one were deemed too expensive for a clone (what about his legs tho?), or that he chose not to, usually because he thought the scomping was useful. 

Regardless, I actually really love this choice (and it's the whole reason I made this post), because here's the thing: There’s a lot of problematic tropes out there that either erase/cure disabilities or compensate them with perks (like how pretty much any blind character is actually not blind by some sort of magic power). With amputees that is done with robotic arms. The character is still an amputee or course, and there is still value in that representation, if this story from Mark Hamill that makes me tear up is anything to go by:

but for the most part these characters function like anyone else, just with a limb that looks a little different. It’s no more than a video game skin, an able-bodied actor with a green screen glove. It “cures” the disability, or it actually makes the character even stronger than usual: 

It usually makes sense within the world of the story, but the reason it’s not so great in my opinion is that in the real world we just do not have technology anywhere close to that yet. Prosthetics can more or less replace any mobility from lost legs, but not for all the complexities of a hand (and even if they could the average person wouldn’t be able to afford it).

So

I think it's actually really super cool that Echo’s scomp bypasses the canonically-established amputee erasure and functions much like a stump would irl. He integrates it into his movements and everyday life and it’s (as far as I know) a lot closer to an everyday amputee’s experience. 

It doesn’t define his character, it doesn’t hold him back, he lives a full life, the other’s don’t treat him any differently, and he’s still a total karking badass 

The only additional thing is that he sometimes uses it as a weapon (which given his story, I think it’s cool to see him taking back autonomy in a way, and we only see that like twice)

And also the scomping, which could be seen as the 'added/compensating superpower' trope. But narratively it's no different than if he was plugging in with a hacking gadget of some kind (he didn't necessarily "need" to lose his arm for it) and it’s not like Echo is completely defined by this skill. Personally, I think it's well worth the positives of him actually having a visible and realistically impactful amputation. 

I see a lot of posts or comments out there that say stuff like “how come Echo doesn’t get a hand?” or fanworks that do give him one and I just think it’s a bit of a shame. If he did get a robotic hand, it just would have disappeared the same way his legs and Anakin’s arm did (aside from that one time he got yoinked by a magnet). When Echo did “get a hand” in the last two episodes there were comments like “yay he finally got a hand! but it doesn’t even work” but I was actually so relieved that it didn’t! Bc for one thing that wouldn’t make any sense, he grabbed it off a droid, it wasn’t designed to implement with his scomp, that would be really complicated. But more importantly because it again refused to erase/cure his disability! It functioned like a real-world cosmetic prosthetic (useless beyond appearance) which is exactly what he needed it for, so that he could blend in better with his disguise.

And he continually took it off throughout the episode and ditched it at the end. He only used it for the necessity of a stealth mission, he doesn’t feel the need to visually “fit in” in his daily life. 

And, last but very much not least, he made a dad joke and from my intel that is very accurate representation!

TLDR: Echo’s scomp is actually really cool from an amputee representation perspective, especially within Star Wars, and I think that deserves some appreciation 

[tio-trile]

Some of the photos I took of the cast and showrunners at the Chaos Theory panel yesterday : )

[justheblueberry]

falling 🌠

some close ups 💜

blank sky!

aaand the speedpaint

[secondshark]

Older amebel illust!

[sandushengshou]

barbie from my shows <3