#i think tfa might have this in the bag

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

[lasagnaisoverrated]

I might do fic of this but like I’m becoming obsessed with MegaStar in tfp and tfa cuase I love both of those shows (I haven’t finished tfa) but like I love their versions of Megatron and starscream but from what I’ve seen Megatron doesn’t beat Starscream or his fellows soldiers because he needs them and if he where beat them he wouldn’t really get away with it cause he is strong but if he where to get all of his faction against him, he wouldn’t really win against a battle with all of them. They also respect him and they also fear him to a level because they know he could kill them but it’s better if they try to keep each other alive for the sake of the cause, I haven’t really gotten that far in tfa so I don’t know if he does at one point start to beat tf outta them but this is from what I’ve seen.

They seem to have a I hate you, you hate me but let’s try to make this work type of relationship.

Then there’s tfp Megatron like how do you begin with him. He is a straight up abuser like te things he has done to Starscream are horrendous and as far as I know we don’t exactly know what he did to starscream to in order to break his spirit and cause him to start trying to kill him. But during season three it’s clear Starscream now has a full on sense of respect and fear towards Megatron and maybe a bit of “love” in a way, he no longer wants to kill Megatron he “willingly” went back to him because he had no other choice. He saw the decepticons and Megatron as his last resort to live, he was him as his safe space. He would listen to Megatrons orders and tried to be as helpful as he could but Megatron did not care, he still beat him, ridiculed him, tormented him and abused him. Showing that no matter what Megatron was not going to change even if Starscream did and that proves that he never cared if starscream changed he just wanted a more compliant punching bag and that’s what abusers want, they don’t care if you change or what you do to try and please them all they care is if you comply to their demands and get what they want from you.

But Starscream isn’t innocent either like he does try to kill Megatron multiple, multiple times for over millions of years, but here is what I think would have redeemed Starscream to a better point. If instead of trying to kill Megatron to gain power and take over the deceptions but if he had tried to kill him to get out of his abuse that is a whole different story and I have always liked to see a story of starscream trying to kill Megatron for power but them realizing that he really just wants him dead to end the abuse.

Here’s the thing Starscream had the chance to be loyal and follow behind Megatron to a degree because cmon now it’s Starscream and it doesn’t say it in the books but it’s sort of implied but I haven’t read the books I’ve just kinda heard recaps.

So if I remember correctly it says that Starscream began to grow jealous and a hatred towards skywarp because Megatron was PRAISING him like it also even states that he grew upset when Megatron put his arm over skywarp instead of him. Like yeah Starscream was just pushed to follow orders with the wrong stick, had Megatron used praise instead of punishment to get to Starscream to obey we would be seeing a different type of Starscream right now.

I love tfp like don’t get me wrong it’s a good show but like how many people have pointed out that the show is loved for it’s dark themes and representation of ptsd and abuse of power and things like that but they really failed to show the mental and physical abuse that was put on starscream and maybe they did it because they would have thought that abuse was maybe a little too dark but hey they had no problem showing us the death of an autobot that then turned into zombie and they also probably did it in case some kids liked Megatron and didn’t want to see their favorite character be a straight up abuser.

I really do believe that Starscream could have had a redemption arc like knockout and he could’ve done SO MUCH BETTER under the leadership of optimus like look at me straight in the eyes and they’ll he wouldn’t have, and I would have really loved to see him grow out of this mindset that when a bigger bot is in power he is gonna end up abused. (Give me fic rec). Starscream as a character had so much potential and I hate to have only three seasons of him I need them to make a book just for him and his character specifically in tfp cause you don’t just end up like starscream you aren’t really born that way you are made into that.

I will say this with passion I HATE HATE HATE rid15 look I haven’t finished season one cause it got so boring and so annoying that I had to stop but I was so exited when I found out Starscream had come back but as I said I haven’t gotten to him yet but I have seen clips of him and whole videos of people talking about him but I hated that they made him into a villain like the only thing that I accept is that they gave him fangs other than that it’s all non canon but they had such potential to redeem him because he sure did deserve better and yes I get it they are always gonna need villains but I really wished they would have gotten more in depth about how he escaped the predacons like he killed them with weapons that just happened to be laying around that is such a bullshit answer and where exactly he was and how he got his new remodel and stuff like that.

I would have loved the story to have made starscream a villain because of Megatron like he obviously had trauma and ptsd in tfp like the way he would react to Megatron and when he’s about to get beat when he and knockout make a terrorcon he backs away and gasps and moans in fear, he raises his hand and lowers his wings in straight up terror because he knows what’s coming next and him mistreating the minicons because he dosent know any better because Megatron mistreated him and that at one point finally made him listen made him obey so all he knows is to abuse like the abused becomes the abuser.

He is the spider man of the transformers universe like the writers straight up love abusing him well except in skybound cause that dude is kinda crazy…

But in all seriousness he deserved better and he needed better I just hate that the budget and the drama behind the show didn’t end up being the reason the show ended a bit too early with so many questions and things left unanswered.

I could straight up write paragraphs about his character.

[skylarkking]

"One In The Same"

A TFA Blitzwing x Mech! Reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Chapter 14: Awakening

"Sentinel, you can't disconnect them." Ratchet growled as he blocked the path to myself and Blitzwing.

"Like slag, I can't! Don't you realize that he's probably doing something to that... that freaky bot?! For all we know, he's reactivating this Enigma thing and is going to destroy us all!"

"What's going on here?" Optimus said as he entered the med bay and saw the scene. The Prime looked over to the medic and gave him an expression of concerned confusion. "Ratchet?"

"Listen, I don't like this as much as anyone else." Ratchet said. "But Blitzwing is the only one who can save Y/D. He programmed the battle protocols that Enigma uses, and he can disable them."

"Are you out of your antique processor?!" Sentinel snapped.

"Maybe, but what other choice do we have?" Ratchet argued.

"Sentinel, Ratchet has a point." Optimus said. "If Sari's key and Ratchet's skill weren't enough to revive Y/D, then Blitzwing might be the only chance he has left."

"I'm not about to let some rusty medic and a wannabe tell me what is right!" Sentinel then shoved Ratchet aside and reached for the cord, Optimus grabbing him and trying his best to hold him back. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"Preventing you from making a mistake!" Optimus grunted.

"Sentinel Prime." Ultra Magnus said as he and the rest of the Autobots entered and saw the scene.

"This old bolt bag is allowing the Decepticon to use a cortical psychic patch, and this AFTHEAD!" Sentinel elbowed Optimus in the tanks, forcing the Prime to let go from the impact. "Thinks it was a good idea to stop me from disconnecting this madness."

The Magnus's gaze shifted to Blitzwing and myself before landing on Ratchet.

"Ratchet. I expect you to have an explanation for this." He said.

"Blitzwing programed the battle protocols for Enigma, the very thing that's killing Y/D right now." Ratchet said. "He's the only one who could save him!"

"Or he's reactivating Enigma and is going to kill us!" Sentinel argued.

-inside the mind of Y/D-

'Focus on me, Y/D.' Blitzwing said as he fiddled with the wires that had dug into my frame.

'Please hurry.' I whispered as the sounds of Ratchet and the others arguing reached me. 'Sentinel wants to pull the plug!'

'ILL BREAK HIS OVERGROWN CHIN!' Hothead said.

'And I'll take his optics and use them as marbles!' Radom cackled.

'Both of you, quit it.' Blitzwing hissed before returning his focus on me. 'I'll go as quickly as I can, allow me access to your core consciousness.'

I closed my optics and allowed him to access my core consciousness, the void twisting away to a white room, the distorted figure changing and taking on the shape of Enigma as it pulled away from me.

'Entity identified.' Enigma said as he released me from my bindings, and my frame collapsed into a pile. 'Subject recognized as Decepticon scientist Blitzwing.'

'Enigma, deactivate defense protocol. Access code: Oblivion.' Blitzwing said.

"Another access code is required.'

'Dammit.' Blitzwing muttered. 'What other access code could be needed?'

'Ohoho! I know!' Random giggled.

'DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT YOU BUMBLING IDIOT!' Hothead snapped.

'Access code: Starscream!'

'VHY YOU-'

'Access code: Accepted. Defense protocol, shutting down.' Enigma said.

'Vell, zat was unexpected.' Blitzwing said.

Suddenly, everything went white in a flash, and my optics snapped open with a gasp, Sentinel jumping back in surprise with my end of the patch in his grip.

"Sentinel! Have you lost your mind?!" Ratchet barked. I was about to say something when I heard a groan from Blitzwing, my frame immediately jumping from the medical berth and rushing over to his collapsed form.

"BLITZY!" I cried out as I sat on my legs and gently grabbed the sides of his helm. His optics were closed, and he looked almost like he was in a deep stasis. "Blitzy? Blitzy! No, nonono..." I tried shaking him awake, my spark thundering and liquid pooling in my optics. "Wake up! Please wake up!"

But there was no response.

Grief crashed into me, and I began to weep, my arms and helm resting on his broad chassis as the tears fell.

"Please... wake up." I whispered.

"Well, that takes care of our Con." Sentinel said, his words digging into me like red hot daggers. I slowly turned my helm to him and shot a death glare that, if looks could kill, would have eviscerated the mech.

"You..." I growled lowly as my optics flicked to Violet. I slowly stood up and stepped deliberately and firmly towards him, the wrath inside me threatening to overflow like a geyser. "What have you done?!"

"I did what was necessary!" Sentinel snapped.

"Necessary? NECESSARY?! YOU PUT ONE OF THE ONLY BOTS I CARE ABOUT MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF IN STASIS LOCK! HOW THE FRAG IS THAT NECESSARY?!" I jabbed a digit into the egotistical Prime's chassis and glared at him with the fury of Unicron. "I HAVE HALF A MIND TO TEAR OUT YOUR PROCESSOR AND MAKE YOU EAT IT! DO YOU EVEN HAVE A PEOCESSOR IN THERE?! SURE DOESN'TSEEM LIKE IT! WHY I OUTTA BREAK THAT OVERGROWN GROWTH YOU CALL A CHIN OFF AND BASH IT INTO YOUR HELM!"

Sentinel stared down at me as I chewed his aft out with wide optics and a mild blush on his face. If I wasn't so enraged, I'd have noticed it instantly. All I knew was that I was pissed and the bot responsible for it all was right in front of me.

My rabid rampant rant was quickly difused when I heard a small groan from Blitzwing, my optics flicking back to blue and my helm whipping around to him.

"Blitzy!" I whispered as I ran to the slowly awakening bot. "Blitzwing? Can you hear me, love?"

"Nnnngh... who... who pulled ze plug?" Blitzwing groaned as his optics slowly opened and blinked at me.

"Doesn't matter." I said quietly as I wrapped my arms around Blitzwing's neck. Tears slowly leaked out, and I quietly wept in relief while whispering sweet nothings to him.

----

"What do we do with Blitzwing now?" Jazz asked the Magnus as the others aside from Ratchet left the med bay.

"He saved Y/D's life." Optimus said. "And I don't think Megatron would treat him too kindly if he found out that he did."

"They will both be returned to Cybertron." Ultra Magnus said.

"What? Why?" Sari piped up.

"Blitzwing must be tried for his crimes, and Y/D will also be tried." Ultra Magnus said.

"What?! Why?!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "What did Y/D do?"

"My affiliating himself with the Decepticons in such a way he has violated Cybertronian law."

"YOU'RE GOING TO ARREST Y/D BECAUSE HE LOVES BLITZWING?!" Sari snapped angrily. "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"That's life squishy." Sentinel growled. "I'll cuff 'em, and we can get the frag out of here."

-----

Previous Chapter: Click Here

Next Chapter: Coming soon

[lunarfeat21]

My dudes, something that just hit me in the early hours of the morning when I went to the legend of the guardians of ga'hoole tag (the movie that I used to watch when I was 9 yrs old), and when I saw a Nyra gif post, it hit me with realization.

This birb

This birb

And this birb

Are second-in-commands that hunger for leadership and power.

Now lemme explain why I thought of this and differentiate the three.

(I'm making a dumbass post about this, feel free to skip. If you're interested, you're in for a crazy treat~ ^^)

First, let's start comparing the three to what they have in common

These three are officers next to the chiefs of their respective armadas

They're manipulative, power-hungry, scary, and at times will slaughter anyone getting in their way of their goal

This third reason might be incredibly stupid (but I had to say it since I'm a simp for these three), they are rightfully beautiful flyers that deserve to be rulers (change my mind). I mean, come one, what's not to fall for pretty dangerous villains?

They know how to keep their composure for a bit, until they reveal themselves with malice intent in their minds

I could gush much more, but I ran out of ideas. This is what makes the three have in common, but that's not really the case when we have a few holes. So let's contrast them (this is my least favorite part because it outweighed the positive).

One is a talking organic animal while two are robot aliens from different planets and universes (obviously)

Nyra is the alpha general of the Pure Ones , whereas tfp Starscreams is Air Commanders of the Seeker Armada, and tfa Starscream is one of Megatron's frontrunners (I'm a bit confused and what rank is he in tho?)

Not only is Nyra a general, but she is also the queen and mate of the High Tyto.

Tfa Starscream had a huge ego problem while tfp Starscream had trouble hiding his true intentions to assassinate his master

The two Screamers, on the other hand, are punching bags of their nutty leaders (espically in tfp, screw you Megatron and please stay dead for good)

I don't really love how the tfp writers did to our poor silver jet in the show, and I wish they did something better than that. The reality is that I can't do something that was already done, instead I (the fan) had the power to create something I think suits better just like the rest of the other fans (even though I had trouble planning it).

I had fun making this and brainstorming, even this gives me ideas! I could imagine the three having a conversation, whether it is planning to usurped the leader, giving advices to better themselves, better strategies to destroy enemies, or spilling teas about a particular being of interest. It makes me giddy when I think about it, that's my perk of being a simp for these lovely heathens with wings~

[spark-gem]

Day 11. Gifts (TFA Prowl)

It might have been an impulse purchase....but she hoped Prowl would like it.

Inside of the bags from a local grocery store, were 2 different bird feeders with the feed and a roost box. Carmen was mindlessly going through the store when she found them and remembered the giant tree in the middle of his room. Birds came and go from the roof but these gifts would give him an opportunity to observe more species and nocturnal ones as well.

She made her way to the Autobot base with the bags, nervous but mostly excited. She greeted everyone as normal before making a beeline to Prowl's room. Peeking in before entering, she spotted the Autobot in a tree branch. He was probably aware of her presence at this point but Carmen walked under the tree before calling out to him.

Prowl tilted his head downwards to look at her before coming down. Greeting her before eyeing the bags, in curiosity. "What are those?" Carmen grinned at the question before handing them to him.

"They're for you?" She grinned as he opened them. "I got two different bird feeders. One is for the hummingbirds to drink nectar from and the other is for those with a grain or nut diet. The roost box is for the nocturnal animals." She explained as Prowl looked over his gifts with a small smile, gently taking her hand.

"Thank you. I can think of a few areas to place these. It'll definitely be fascinating to watch them" She just continued to smile.

"I'm glad you like it!"

[reel-fear]

ok not to be predictable but uh. Transformers Animated?

YESSSSS, it's okay being predictable is great actually <3

The first character I first fell in love with: God do u even have to ask it's Bee it's hundred percent Bee, the second I even saw screenshots of him in transformers tags I fell in love... I'm very predictable in my faves okay I'm just a little man in a big world...

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: I didn't expect to love Ironhide as much as I do now but being fair I'm totally in love with a version I have created in my head of who he is <3 [hes an dumb asshole in my head]

character everyone else loves that I don’t: Sssssoundwave is,,,, kinda a nothing character in TFA, he doesn't advance the plot or character development much... And no I don't consider the misconception he creates between Sari n Bulkhead to be development bc it doesn't say much abt either of their characters or reflect poorly on them Soundwave literally just edited the audio to make it sound like they were insulting each other.

The character I love that everyone else hates: BA Is a girl boss and idc what anyone says. She may not be a good person but she is very interesting and I do think she still deserves to be happy.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Ultra Magnus, he's a crappy person actually I do not like him any more. Used to kinda get behind him being Op's dad but in canon I don't think that could ever work Um literally causes like ALL of Op's problems/insecurities in this show.

The character I would totally smooch: *takes in a deep breath* Lugnut, Bulkhead, Blurr, Shockwave, Longarm, Ratchet but on the cheek, same for Arcee, Prowl, Sari on the forehead, Starscream n his clones and Jazz

The character I’d want to be like: yknow its pretty hard to decide when one part of a main cast is truamatized losers with insecurities trying to get by and the other is unmistakable Bad Guys who love murder and torture. So I'll go with Jazz he's chill, wish I was chill n cool like he is.

The character I’d slap: Optimus, in a 'be nicer to Bumblebee n Bulkhead or at least show them u love n respect them more before making mean comments' and Blurr in a 'I'm in love with u and violence and bullying is how I show it' sort of way. He might like catch my wrist before I make contact and toss me like a bean bag but I'm okay with that go king.

A pairing that I love: Going for a pair I don't talk about a lot for once! Bee x Rossana, Lemme Explain: Its s4 n Bee is like hyped to go to one of her concerts, the others ask why, its obvious Bee has a crush on her and they're all like 'ask her out' but Bees like 'no way shes way out of my league'. The others tell him hes stupid and also a hero to cybertron and basically drag him back stage so he asks her out, she was actually surprised bc she thought Bee being a hero n all was too good for her. They go out but Bee has no clue she is secretly a sleeper agent and the entire episode devolves into Flipside tries to murder Bee, Bee is oblivious n in love, Flipside flakes out of it until she falls in love with him too <3 and then the others find out she's a sleeper agent but Bee has cured Flipsides with the power of love so who cares new gf time.

A pairing that I despise: Gonna also go for one I dont talk abt a lot here, Megatron x UM??? Like thanks for creating a massive project that killed a bunch of my people and also oppressing us what a lovely rivalry we have here.

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

If requests are open, perhaps tfa Megatron trying to figure out how to fuck his tiny human s/o? That's quite the size difference, might take some figuring out

That IS a bit of an interesting spin! I have quite a few ideas on the topic at hand, but we’ll stick with just one of them for this.

Megatron was always under the impression that he was ready for anything. That is, until he met you. You were something that threw him for quite the loop. A tiny fleshy that stole his spark. You were so small, so delicate, so loving. All while having quite a smart little mouth on you. It was no wonder the big, bad warlord fell for you. Being in a relationship with him was fairly nice; having a big boyfriend who had many strong friends to protect you, enough money so you wouldn’t have to work a day in your life, and his loving affection. There was just….one pressing issue that was between you two. Making love. This dude was bigger than a goddamn building, and you were but a human. You two making love didn’t exactly….work. Even if you both had bits to play with, the size difference was massive. You wouldn’t suck on him, trying to suck on his valve was bound to just be a giant mess. You two honestly didn’t know how to help each other. Watching each other do it was about the best you two could do. It was nice, but you wanted more. You wanted to feel him. To embrace his heat, to make him cum, to show your love to great and powerful-

“Megatron!”

You grinned as you were brought back to the base. Megatron was busy with so and so, hence why he let Lugnut watch over you while you were out and about your normal routine, much as he disliked it. Megatron chuckled as you came in, letting you walk onto his palm.

“Darling. Back so soon?”

“I really missed you, so I didn’t want to be gone for too long. I got you something!”

He covered his optics with his other palm, and you dug into the bag. You peeled the sticker off, before stamping it right onto hand. He looked it over, before chuckling. He had grown quite fond of these human stickers.

“It’s quite precious, my dear. Thank you.”

There was a moment, an honest and genuine moment of love in his optics, before he looked at Blitzwing.

“Blitzwing, handle things from here. I’ll be back. Eventually.”

Without even an okay, Megatron walked back to his quarters, kissing the top of your head. He made sure his door was locked, before he hopped into berth, holding you in his servos. He kept kissing your head, your forehead, your cheek. All while his little human chuckled and let themselves feel his affection. It was nice. Having a big, strong thing like Megatron over you, desperately giving you affection. It was enough for you to part your legs, and rub at yourself. It was silly, how a few kisses got you feeling all types of hot and bothered. Megatron took notice of this, a huge smirk across his face.

“All from a few kisses, love?”

“I meant it when I said I missed you, bucket head.”

He gave a small laugh, before popping open his spike panel. As you’d expect, Megatron was HUGE. Definitely bigger than any of your exes. It was why it made you feel guilty. You wanted to make him feel good. He was about to reach down and help them with your underwear, before you motioned for him to stop. He looked confused.

“Darling? Am I being too forward?”

“No. I just, uh. Look, Meggy, I don’t wanna sit here and just watch you play with yourself. I want more than that. I want to make love TO you. WITH you.”

Megatron sighed. You knew he had thought the exact same thing.

“Darling, I’d adore it. I’d LOVE that. But as you can see, I won’t exactly fit. And you won’t exactly….satisfy me.”

You frowned. You wanted to think of something, anything. You got off of his hand, and onto his spike. You weren’t crazy enough to attempt taking this monster of a gerth, but that didn't stop you from rubbing up against the tip of it. You could totally work with this, but the slight amusement on his face showed that he wasn’t getting much out of it. You kept at it, pretending to think and your now ruined underwear slid across his thick, hot metal. That was when an idea actually came to you. You peeled off your underwear, and motioned for him to pick you up. He obeyed, clearly curious as to what you had planned. You had him lay down a pillow for himself to lay on, all while he was holding you in his big hand. You parted your legs for him, as wide as you could. You had his attention, clearly.

“Why don’t you just….put your mouth here, and you can pretend the pillow is what you want to do to me.”

Somehow, he knew exactly what you meant. His mouth was between your legs in an instant, and a shiver ran up your spine. A hot, wet, metal, alien tongue was a new sensation for your starving privates. Go figure. You could tell he was trying so hard to be delicate, which was so unlike the touches he gave to himself. He didn’t want to hurt you, or primus forbid, accidentally swallow you. His glossa was so delicate, yet so hungry, while his hips bucked furiously against the pillow underneath him. You held onto his face, squirming and groaning in delight. He was inside of you. In some way, a part of Megatron was inside of you, making love to you. Watching his optics on you was bad enough, but pair that with the fact that you could imagine those hips going against your own? It was no wonder you came as quickly as you did. Megatron followed suit but a moment later, clearly abuzz with the fact that he could actually TOUCH you for once. He pulled away, lapping your fluids off of his lips.

“Well. Suppose THAT’S something we could do now. Unless you had any objections?”

You shook your head so quickly, it made him laugh. While this wasn’t all you’ve ever wanted, it was a start. Besides.

You had him. And that was what was most important.

[desdemonafictional]

TFA Fantasy WIP

Sentinel Prime, His Imperial Benevolence, The Auspicious and Holy Oneself, Emperor in Perpetua, entered the little farming villa like a spoiled brat waltzing into a tent of freaks. He cast his smugly disinterested eye over every dusty window and dinged up bit of furniture alike, observing the lack of bustling servants or fine hangings brought out for his arrival.

Optimus ground his jaw quietly.

“We apologize for the austerity,” he said, still standing stiffly at the door where Sentinel had shoulder-shoved past him to get inside. “The Orion House doesn’t have… much staff. I’m afraid we can’t receive you with all the honors due to a Prime.”

“Oh please,” Sentinel said, “don’t trouble yourself with a formal reception. I’ll just consider this a hunting party, how about that? Like old times, eh, Optimus?”

Bumblebee inched sidelong along the wall, leant sideways, and out the side of his mouth he said, “Y’all two know each other?”

The high ceilings of the Orion were indeed not dissimilar from the hunting lodges they had stayed in together from time to time, as junior officers in the Primal Guard. The air conditioning out here in the countryside was rudimentary, and the summers burned hot under the watchful stare of Hadeen, especially with so many bodies crowded into a single house putting off their own mechanical heat. It was, however, a manor house and not a hunting lodge. It was Optimus’ manor now, in fact, ever since he had been relegated here seven vorn earlier.

“Shall we make a room ready for you, your Benevolence?” Optimus said, ignoring the yellow car prodding at his side.

Sentinel gave the place a judgemental once over and said, “Just the one night, I think. We mustn’t trespass on your… hospitality.”

And with that, the rest of his retinue came sweeping in. Chamber attendants with berth dressings, a chef and cooks, secretaries—the Orion filled up immediately, bursting to its seams with activity. Optimus glanced through the window, and noted that out in the front of the house Sentinel’s guard was already setting up silk tents and laying camp with military efficiency.

“Bumblebee,” Optimus said, “why don’t you show the Prime’s bots where they can set his fixings for the night?”

“Uh,” Bumblebee said, “um, right—just this way, gentlemechs! You’re in good hands with me, I know everything there is to know about the Orion! Hey, stripes, you single—?”

Sentinel fell back to stand beside Optimus, not looking at him, in a parody of casual camaraderie.

“So I guess the pipsqueak isn’t your sweetspark,” Sentinel smirked. “That or you’ve developed a thing for being cuckolded?”

“I’m still single,” Optimus said. “I don’t have any sweetsparks.”

“What, not even that bulky hulk I saw out back?” Sentinel asked, grinning unpleasantly. “I bet he’s easy, rubes like that always are.”

Optimus squeezed his fist open and closed at his side, bruisingly tight, but discreetly. Sentinel was the Prime, and the Prime could say whatever nasty, petty thing he liked.

“Bulkhead is a brilliant engineer,” Optimus said, in an only slightly repressive tone. “He single-handedly designed the new extractors for the crystal fields, and the harvest is coming at 21% increased efficiency this vorn.”

“Whatever, farmer stuff,” Sentinel said. “I don’t give a scrap about that. You’re really still single? Seven vorns that you’ve been out here, and you haven’t even picked up some knobkneed crop duster for a tumble? Don’t tell me you’re still holding out for a conjunx.”

Optimus didn’t bother to point out that he’d been in mourning for most of that time, like Sentinel would have been, if he hadn’t been selected by the Matrix not one vorn after the hunting accident that took Elita from them both. Primes weren’t encouraged to mourn the loved ones from their previous lives. Just the angry edge to Sentinel’s bitter humor proved that he was still mourning, in his own way, and probably the empire would have been better off if he’d been allowed to deal with it on his own terms before being thrust into the mantle of Imperial Personage.

Optimus missed the friends they had been, before the bitterness.

“You know no decent court mech will have anything to do with a relegated bumpkin Count,” Sentinel pointed out. “Conjunxing is not in your future, Optimus. You’d be lucky to take an amica, like the peasants do.”

“There’s nothing wrong with taking an amica,” Optimus replied.

“Yeah, not for peasants and destitute washouts,” Sentinel said. “Hey, maybe you could be somebody’s subordinate conjunx, how about that? Not that you’d have any luck tempting a courtier away from Iacon with this…” he grimaced at the high ceilings and bare walls, “cabin in the mud.”

“Are you done?” Optimus asked, a little too forwardly for good manners.

“Watch it,” Sentinel said, narrowing his eyes. “If you’re not properly gracious, I’ll reconsider calling you back to court.”

“Re-?” Optimus skipped a pump beat. “Reconsider?”

Sentinel smirked again, this time with less humor and more coldness, and patted Optimus on the shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about it,” he said. “I could use more allies in the capitol. And you would be an ally for me, wouldn’t you, Optimus?”

The fragile shoot of hope withered all at once. Whatever Sentinel wanted him back at court for, it wouldn’t be out of the goodness of his spark. He still hated Optimus too much; any gratitude would be a yolk around Optimus’ neck for the rest of their lives.

“Yes, of course,” said Optimus. “I am at the service of the Primacy, as ever.”

“I thought you would be,” Sentinel said, and his smirk turned keen, and then he said: “Alright, show us where we can do some freshening up around here. You have body servants around this slaghole? I need a deep polish before dinner.”

--

His Imperial Benevolence came out of the shower quite a long time later, which was fortunate for his cooks, who had hastily taken over Optimus’ kitchen and were rushing to fill it with servable fuel. Optimus had quietly pulled his own kitchen staff—all two of them—away to help clean the place up a little more for guests. Sentinel’s cooks had ransacked the house’s pantry, pulling long spools of brass and bricks of gold onto every counter, vials of soluble compounds, crystals, seasonings. The cooks kept clicking their tongues at the spread. Optimus had the feeling that he was being Disapproved of.

In the house there were two cooks, one body servant, a housekeeper, Optimus, and the engineer (Bulkhead) who was out overseeing an upgrade to the manor rain pumps this month. The house had been on the empty side, before Sentinel, and now it was crammed full in every room with someone doing something. The change was a little bit dizzying. Bumblebee seemed to be loving it, though.

“Don’t make me clean,” he was whining, a squeegee dripping unhelpfully in his hand. “I want to go out and see the soldiers, let me go out and see if the soldiers need anything.”

Optimus pressed his lips together. “If you go out there now, I won’t see you again until tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay, so? Sentinel’s cooks got it covered, you don’t need me.”

Optimus wondered if there was a polite way to say “I’m more worried one of them will lean you over his saddle bag without waiting for permission.” Bulkhead might or might not be easy, it wasn’t Optimus’s place to guess, but he had a distinct feeling Bumblebee would be.

“Just go get the place settings out,” Optimus told him, “when that’s done you can gossip with anybody in the house, but don’t go outside. I might need you.”

Bumblebee thwapped his cleaning cloth against his thigh and grumbled all the way out of the room. Optimus gave it depressingly low odds that he’d be obeyed the whole night, but, well, he’d done his best. He didn’t have time to be monitoring his staff all night, not when Sentinel was lurking about the place.

Besides, what were the chances Bumblebee could even bud new sparks? Less than thirty percent of the population could do it, under the best circumstances.

There was a shout from the direction of the baths, and Optimus whirled in time to see servants roiling away from the exclamation like insecticons in a disturbed hive. He pushed his way through the aimless anxiety and then—with a deep vent to pre-emptively cool himself—let himself into the washroom, where solvent was splattered all over the floor and Sentinel was splattered across the chest with globs of polish.

“My Prime,” Optimus said, leaning his hip against the wall. He didn’t smirk. He thought about it though.

Sentinel whirled, steam all but blowing out his vents. “One of your bumbling idiots broke my washkit!” He jabbed his finger at a very complicated looking fold-out case, enameled with blue and white and utterly smashed across the floor between himself and the body servant.

“I—” the servant said, “Optimus—your Courtesy—I was setting it out for the Prime, but one of the containers was—”

“Your idiot threw it at me!”

“One of the containers—there was a springloaded compartment and—”

“And it bit you like a needle-mouthed pit beast?” Sentinel mocked, furiously. “That case was one of a kind! My concubine made that for me!”

Optimus glazed at the poor smashed object. It certainly did look one of a kind, with that complicated enameling out the outside, the nested compartments all conjoined in different ways, like a puzzle box.

“Ugh,” Sentinel said, and glared down at his abdomen. “And you got them mixed up too, look at this, my paint is peeling, everyone knows you’re not supposed to mix cosmetic chemicals.”

Actually, it was peeling. Kind of bubbling too. That was alarming enough that Optimus pushed off the wall and went to fetch a dry cloth and a jar of water from the cabinet. Plain water was usually safe to mix with chemicals, whereas solvent was… not.

“Now I need to fix my paint too,” Sentinel seethed. “I wanted to go hunting tonight! I won’t have time to go hunting once we reach the border, it’ll be nothing but handshaking and touring the facilities!”

“I’m sure we can get your paint patched with plenty of time for dinner,” Optimus said, and sat Sentinel down at the edge of the great sunken oil pit (empty, as it usually was, the budget for hot oil being very slim at Orion House). He knelt down and dragged the broken kit back towards himself, fishing through the wreckage until he came up with the little jar of touch up paint in Sentinel’s classic blue.

“Um, my lord count,” the servant said, from somewhere behind Optimus.

“Don’t worry about it,” Optimus said, without looking back, “I’ll take it from here. You go help the others with dinner.”

“And get my hunting kit out more carefully this time!” Sentinel shouted after him, leaning so far forward that Optimus had to tilt his head out of the way to avoid bonking his Prime’s chassis.

Gently, Optimus pressed a palm to Sentinel’s chest and pushed him back into his seat. Sentinel slouched back into the bench seat, letting his elbows hang over the empty tub behind him. He eyed Optimus, his face tilted away at an angle that seemed half suspicious, half uncomfortable.

“You know you’re a Count now, not a cadet,” Sentinel said. “Below your station to be scrubbing and polishing anybody, even the Prime.”

Optimus’s half smile was more irony than humor. He wasn’t about to leave poor Screwshine alone with Sentinel, after that fit of temper. He focused on lathering up the powder paint and paint-thinner into something he could work with.

Sentinel let Optimus push his leg out of the way to get a better angle at the stripped plating, but his sidelong gaze didn’t ease up. “Not angling for a spot in the Primal Harem, are you?”

Optimus nearly shuddered at the thought. What a nightmare, locked up in the harem with a mech who hated him for the rest of his functioning. No amount of luxury or status was worth that. “No, my Prime. Definitely not. I just wasn’t going to let you keep terrorizing my servant all night.”

Sentinel scowled, but he also relaxed. “I wouldn’t have to yell at your staff if they weren’t a bunch of incompetent ninnies.”

“You’re the Prime,” Optimus said, fixing his frown firmly on the paint, and not on Sentinel’s face. “You’re meant to comport yourself with more grace than that.”

“Hah,” Sentinel said, and his face twisted into an even darker configuration, “what would a washout coward like you know about any of it, anyway.”

There was an uncomfortable silence, broken only by the smooth soft sound of paint applique. Eventually, Sentinel snapped, “Hand me that pill case, the pink one, it’s down in the slag pile.”

Optimus was reluctant to pause, thinking of the quick drying paint, but obeyed after only a second’s hesitation. He dug it out and handed it up, considering the esoteric pink inscriptions in the white enamel. White was the color of philosophy. Pink was the color of life. When Sentinel shook out a couple of the little capsules, in the moment before clapping them to his mouth and swallowing, their insides sloshed with a viscous magenta sludge.

“What… are those?” Optimus asked, feeling a little sick just from looking at the things.

“Mm?” Sentinel knocked back a quick swig of something from his subspace pocket and then coughed, wiping his mouth absently with the back of his hand. “Oh. Prima Materia. Divine Oneness philosophy is all the rage in Iacon right now. Guess you wouldn’t know about that out here in the boonies.”

Optimus frowned and wracked his memory storage. “An alchemical elixir?”

“Yeah,” Sentinel said, and tucked the little pill case back into his subspace pocket. “Couple a day, supposed to make you live forever. When the old chancellor came down with Zero Point Crytosis last orn, the court was hysterical. I don’t say this very often, but every once in a while, I miss soldiers.”

Optimus made a face at the idea of taking those goop capsules twice a day. “You sure that stuff is safe?”

“Please,” Sentinel said, “I’m the Prime. My alchemists aren’t grabbing any old dirt off the back of a truck and calling it gold. Anyway, one of my concubines is a chemist, and a damn good one for all she needs the smart mouth knocked off of her. She mixed the slag herself.”

Optimus continued to regard it doubtfully.

[juniaships]

Actiontoongorlz's Top 8 Canon x OC Ships 💖💖

I've been looking at OTP/Couples memes for a while and decided that it's time for me to make my own! For an extra surprise I'm not putting Ben Tennyson x Jora Holiday on this list because I focus too much on them anyways & I want my other OCs & their loves to have the spotlight for a change. The timing couldn't be more perfect as we're close to Valentine's Day!!! If you don't support canon x oc or find my ships displeasing then move along because this is a Happy Place! 😁😁 Again these are couples that I consider my personal OTPs in regards to canon x oc. That and making more content with my ships in general! Be warned the text is long and contains spoilers for certain shows and such!!

Clarify: these are my own ocs so there's not going to be anyone else's oc/canon. I might have to save that for another post in the future! 💚 But yeah these are characters that I came up with :]

Alright I'm done ranting, let's get started!

1. Sonic x Lani: I never quite gave much thought into this pair as I should so I promise to do something with them in the future! I promise! What I appreciate about SonLani is that there's little drama, like everything is super chill because both parties are chill. It's not a big deal and they don't need grand gestures to show how much they care about each other. Unlike Preboot Archie with its carts full of poorly written romance and strangely OOC moments on Sonic's end, SonLani had a lot of time to grow, while keeping his established personality in check. They actually communicate with each other, and stick by each other thick and thin. Lani loves Sonic for who he is & has no plans on changing him. Likewise Sonic has someone he can rely on when things get tough; not to mention he can really be himself around her without going all "iLl sLOw dOWn fOr U." Plus the ship name I gave them is a huge nod to the games ^_^

2. Jason x Vanessa: A recent pair due to Vanessa being a new creation but I'm honestly in love with them right now. In-universe they are regarded as the prime example of 'Opposites Attract' in Odyssey. They didn't get along very well in Jason's first couple of months in town due to his hardheaded self and her aloof demeanor. But through events such as Blackgaard and Novacom they gradually learn to trust one another. They see each other in a different light, Vanessa realising that Jason is a lot more thoughtful than he lets on, and Jason discovering her hidden fun side and kindness. Vanessa provides challenges and a sense of normalcy Jason can enjoy away from spy business. Meanwhile Jason fulfills her thirst of adventure & simultaneous desire for a peaceful life as well as spirituality. They're a equals, regarding each other as such and not to mention the BANTER! Hard to believe a former nun can keep up with a secret agent both physically and trading barbs XD. There's also the Forbidden Love factor of Vanessa being the duaghter of Regis Blackgaard, Jason defending her because he KNOWS she is nothing like her old man. Their friendship and romance overcome so many obstacles. I can honestly say that if Vanessa was canon she'd be the type of person Jason would like to be with especially over Jillian Marshall *gags*

3. Kaysha Wallace x Leo Hamato: Now here's a ship that I want to get more into 😁😁 Honestly I love the idea of this pairing: the serious leadee x bubbly spirit! Kaysha is very perky yet understands Leo's feelings on shouldering so much responsibility (she being the oldest child in her family). She's very willing to support him because she doesn't want to see him get all weary from burden. Likewise Leo can be himself around her, and teach her to be more responsible. He doesn't doubt her potential and sees her as an equal even during those periods where she was not on par with the other ninja. Kaysha shows Leo it's okay to relax and let other people help him out and not shut everyone out. When Leo expresses his ability to give her a safe life she simply laughs it off; the way she sees it him simply there in her life is enough. The most interesting facet is their dynamic varies between shows, so you'd see different scenarios and reactions as well as similarities and differences in their romance subplot.

4. Artie x Rhodanthe: Another couple I seriously need to give more attention to, they're meant to be is the foil to Shrek and Fiona in several ways. Artie and Rho may come from different social classes but they're both searching for a purpose to prove their haters wrong. Artie lacked confidence while Rho was overconfident believing she didn't need help. Together Artie learns to stand up for not only for his kingdom and loved ones hut also for himself; Rho's pride gets tempered by Artie's kindness and willingness to compromise. Another thing I like is that Artie has someone who loves him for him not because he is attractive and of royal blood. Likewise Rho has someone who respects her in spite of her social standing & shares her beliefs in making life easier for the poor & outcasts. While both lacke the physical prowess of Shrek and Fiona they rely on each other's resourcefulness and strategic thinking to get by. Unlike Shrek and Fiona they don't get married at the end of their focus movie, resolving to figure out where to take their relationship next. They still have their own life goals and don't want to rush into a relationship which sends a pretty good message. However they have their disagreements - in fact they got a huge argument that became a plot point in Shrek Forever After - but through it all they rediscover the things that made them fall in true love with each other. I'm really loving the subplot I have planned where they forget their memories and slowly fall back in love again.

5. Finn x Alma: Surprise! Yes8 I have a Cars OC (that was originally a fanon Disney Princess) who is the niece of Tow Mater in my verse and she enters a relationship with Finn McMissile. The thing I love about this pair is that it allows Alma to use her skills to flourish, treating amd healing injured spies. She's also into travel and adventure so she can pretty much keep up with Finn. Likewise Finn realizes she is more than just a pretty face or a one-off fling but someone with the passion to face challenges head on; Finn seems to love a good challenge! But overall they'd make a nice pairing, Finn showing Alma the world and Alma showing Finn some of the more simpler things in life.

6. Alexander Paine & Qiu Jin: Well well well look at what the cat dragged in? If it isn't our first villain pairing? XD Just kidding only one half is a genuine villain. What makes this couple so unique in that their storyline goes way back to before the events of the show, he being a agent and she a mechanic. They loved each other deeply, even to the point of starting a family, but forced apart due to some troubling events. When they do get back together it's not so much a bittersweet reunion as Paine became a full villain and Qiu Jin had spent years in&out mental institution before being released There's visible pain & regret, Alexander desperately wanting a semblance of what they once had. He seeks power not just for himself for to heal her. But Jin refuses to go along with his schemes wanting nothing more than to move on and see their children. Jin is a huge Mortality Pet for him, but his own selfish desires for power is a major obstacle their love can't overcome. It's the more bittersweet of my pairings but an important one nonetheless.

7. Bruce Wayne x Nicola Holden: Ok the Brooding Guy/Gentle Girl trope is a mixed bag these days but I really like this trope in regards to Brucola. Like with Artie/Rho, Bruce and Nicola come from different social classes but has that same compassion and drive to help others. Nicola is someone Bruce can trust but at the same time she lets him know there are boundaries (aka don't use my weaknesses as a contingency plan). I also feel like Bruce needs a sort of normal love interest, while he has canon normal girlfriends most of them were pretty boring. At least with Nicola she has has a life outside being a love interest her own goals and motivations. She also loves Bruce for him, not because of his money and good looks. It's a generally healthy dynamic built on honesty & empathy. Another reason why I find this pair adorable is that it actually matches with the rest of the Trinity; you know, like how Superman is with a journalist and Wondy is with a soldier/agent. Nicola & Bruce having different ways of pursuing justice while still sharing similar moral codes. It helps that Nicola is actually a hero rather than an antihero/villain/straight villain (Bruce dating a villan would only make him look like a hypocrite). Nicola sees all facets of Bruce's life and makes the choice to stay; provides some much needed light not just in his life but also the rest of the Batfam. In turn Bruce has another connection to the normal world that is willing to be in his life and see him genuinely happy. They're mature adults who ground each other and build each other up.

8. Optimus Prime x Malina Lovelace: Okay is it just me or do I think TFA Optimus Prime needs more love? What's funny is that at first Malina didn't like the thought of being outshined by newcomers in her superhero career. Spending time with Optimus makes her realize that there's more to being a superhero than fame. Optimus doesn't look down on her, and is more than willing to work with her and appreciate her work. She becomes touched by his friendliness and aceepts him and the other Bots. At the same time Malina reminds Optimus that it's okay to make mistakes and move on, and that it's okay to cut toxic people out. I even wrote a noncanon ficlet where Malina calls out Sentinel and Blackarachnia for the way they treat Optimus. OptMalina is a romance built on respect despite the obvious differences. Not to mention they have each other's back, and they learn about each other each time. And just like with KayLeo and BatRose there's different continuities which means unique versions of the Optlina pair. The Bayverse *chortle* and Prime versions are a few I'd love to explore in the future!

Miscellaneous

- Chad Charming x Soraya Nedakh: Essentially snobby rich kid who learns to be self sufficient and see past appearances through a positive influence. Soraya helps Chad to understand that being royalty isn't just pretty clothes and parties but actually using that status to help others. And Chad actually has his views challenged: Soraya doesn't back down easily.

- Jetta x Zane: The concept of JettaZane (or A Touch Of Snow/IceMagic) is that the robot teaches the human what it's like to be human. Jetta started out as an extremely cold person and a loner, but her time with Zane - the literal ninja of ice - gradually melts her heart & she becomes more caring and accepting. So the robot programmed to be human helps the human raised to be a cold machine unlearn her toxic traits and reclaim her humanity. Also Pixane is kinda boring imo, like they're only together because they're both robots. Not very compelling if you ask me.

- Brian Crown x Kelly Arbol: The wellmeaning goofball and the beatnik poet are something I rarely see much of, but that pretty much sums up their ship. Brian may be a bit self centered but he has a heart of gold and through Kelly's influence he becomes more confident in being a worthy successor to his dad. Meanwhile Brian respects Kelly in and out costume and teaches her how to have fun. Not to mention Kelly interacts with someone outside her circle, which is a welcome change from the trope of only dating someone within your circle.

- Janus Lee x Lenora Rose: Another pair from the same show as Paine and Qiu Jin, there's not much to say on them other than it's one of the most tragic couples. Lenora died a long time ago due to circumstances beyond her & Mr. Lee's control and it's her death that was the catalyst to his gradual descent into evil. As the show goes on we see glimpses of their life together and realize that Lenora is more than the Ghost, she was someone with her own dreams and motivations. She and Janus were outcasts who found companionship in each other, and were able to build a life together using their hard-earned resources to help others. Even in the last few months of her life she didn't go down without a fight, wanting her legacy to be one of love and hope. It's her memory that may be the key to redeeming Mr. Lee in the future of A.T.O.M.

- Ben Florian x Paige: Again not much else to say but they're the antithesis of Mal x Ben. One thing that bothers me about Mal & Ben is that they are supposed to be equals when it's pretty darn obvious from the scenes they were not. With PaigeBen it's clear that they ARE equals who respect each other. Ben's agency isn't reduced to just love interest, he has someone he has good communication with and wants to see him succeed. Paige has someone who shares her interests and see her more than just that One American Newbie. They LEARN to work together without love potions involved. Plus we haven't had a commoner Disney Princess in a while so Paige fills in as someone who works her way into high status then uses that status to help others with Ben at her side.

That's enough of my Canon x OC OTPs! I hope to explore them more throughout the year :) I work hard to flesh out my OCs and their romantic storylines as if they're real 💚😌

I do have KayLeo week planned for Feb 14 to Feb 21 so don't be shocked when I start posting rottmnt stuff or art of Kaysha! Anyways these are my personal ships that I enjoy despite the lack of content I made of them, so hopefully I have the creative juices flowing to make more stuff! Final note I'm working on a platonic oc x canon meme to show that love doesn't have to be romantic. A

[3pirouette]

Fic: Empty and Full (1/1)

Title: Empty and Full By: TriplePirouette/3Pirouette Spoilers: CA: TFA Disclaimer: They're not mine. Distribution: AO3 Anyone else please ask first :)

Story Summary: “Steve Rogers kept his refrigerator stocked with cold, leftover, fast food chicken.” Angsty Steve with emotional eating. Written for the Steggy Bingo Bash prompt “Chicken.”

A/N: Potential TW for eating disorders/issues. This def came from a very visceral place for me as I do use food to deal with emotions, so if that is something that may be triggering to you, please skip this. Sorry that the Steggy is minimal… this idea took over for this prompt and there was no letting it go.

~*~

Steve Rogers kept his refrigerator stocked with cold, leftover, fast food chicken.

He’d tried it on a whim fairly early after his defrosting, encouraged by Natasha to “get some flavor” in his life after he’d commented on how the food he remembered seemed so bland in comparison to everything he was experiencing in this new time.

He made it through a thigh and breast from a bucket of KFC before tossing a half-eaten drumstick back into the bucket, shoving it in his refrigerator with the paper lid barely pushed in place. It was too spicy, too fatty, and didn’t quite taste like his mom used to make.

He forgot about it for a few days until a nightmare woke him, sweaty and swearing, swinging at shadows as the memories floated behind his eyes. Barely breathing, heart pounding in his chest, he paced through his apartment, needing something to distract him.

He’d opened the refrigerator looking for cold water, but saw the red and white striped bucket first. He pulled it out, eyes trained on the golden edges he could see through the lid. He sat heavily at the kitchen table, thoughts of water abandoned. He lifted the lid, pulled out the half-eaten drumstick, and bit into it.

It wasn’t that the chicken filled him up in some way. He wasn’t hungry and he wasn’t particularly empty feeling.

It wasn’t that it made him feel happy, because it seemed almost nothing really brought true happiness since he’d left Peggy behind as he jumped on the Valkyrie.

It wasn’t even that the chicken was particularly good, because it was over spiced and cold and still too fatty under the skin in some places.

But the peppery fire in his mouth distracted him. It made him focus, brought him to the 21st century where you could buy a bucket of fried chicken for more than some people made in a week back in his old time, and that was chump change here.

It made him remember he was here, now, and that it wasn’t a dream. He’d left everything and everyone behind. Bite after bite, he tried to forget of each and every person he left. Tried to forget her soft brown eyes and bright red smile.

It made him face the fact that everyone thought he’d died, that to them he really had, and if he hadn’t been found, he might have languished for decades to come.

He bit into a thigh, thick with soggy breading, and wondered if this was what hell felt like.

He ate until the bucket was empty and he was scrounging the bottom for the crispy leavings of the batter, hoping for one more spicy moment of…

Penance?

Regret?

Punishment?

He wasn’t sure what this was; if he was forcing himself to eat or eating to ignore all the thoughts swirling in his memory.

No better or worse, just fuller, he washed his hands and went back to bed, the sheets now cold and crisp instead of sweaty and confining.

After the chicken he didn’t dream.

The next morning, his stomach felt greasy and heavy. He wasn’t sure if it was the food itself or if he felt like he should be repentant for his midnight binge. The red and white bucket stared at him from where he’d left it on the table, challenging him, making him face the emotions he felt last night.

He crushed the bucket and stuffed it in the garbage.

It was nearly a month of avoiding fried chicken all together before Clint insisted he try buffalo wings. The morsels were hot and spicy, barely a bite but somehow satisfying, especially when washed down with a cold beer and enjoyed with the camaraderie of the other avengers around the table.

When he woke that night, same as every night before, his eyes were still swimming with images of beastly aliens and crumbling New York streets. He flung himself out of bed, same as every night before, and searched for something that would center him. He bypassed the television and the radio, moved past sketchbooks and journals until he was at his refrigerator.

The wings burned like fire without tempering by dipping sauces and he let the spices distract him, drown out the pain, and didn’t chase them down with beer or milk or water because he needed that sting to center him and even his own body saw to it that the sting only lasted so long. He licked the bones and then his fingers clean, not caring that he was a sloppy mess. He put this head down on his folded hands, taking long, deep breaths and counting how long it took for the burn to die away.

He heard her voice in his head. Herd her scold him in her perfect English accent for overindulging. He imagined it turned to a gentle laugh, then a caress on his cheek, then a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth and a sassy remark about him tasting spicy.

He didn’t want to hear her hitching voice in his memory anymore. Didn’t want to think about leaving her behind, crying over the radio.

He didn’t want to wake up with her voice echoing in his head, her sad, broken tone as she realized what he’d planned to do echoing in his mind. He didn’t want to hear the invitation one more time, or to know that he left her without their dance.

He wiped at his eyes, angry that they watered, and told himself that it was just the leftover hot sauce on his fingers that made the tears pour over his cheeks.

~*~

From then on, he sought it out. He didn’t fight it. He tried every restaurant and fast-food joint he could, keeping his refrigerator stocked with spicy, greasy chicken. Popcorn chicken was better than nuggets, and tenders were better than both of those, but the real, true, on-the-bone chicken was the best.

It made dealing with the nightmares easier, focusing only on the way he bit through the cold wings and thighs and not the images that he couldn’t erase from his mind, the pounding of his heart that he couldn’t stop. Focusing on finding all of the meat, on getting each bit of battered skin before discarding clean bones gave him a task to keep his mind from wandering back to haunting memories.

It didn’t stop him from waking up screaming in the middle of the night, it didn’t make the sleep when he went back to bed any more restful, but it made him feel like he was taking charge of it somehow, made him feel better about pulling open the refrigerator and sitting at the table in the darkened kitchen. If he prepared for it somehow, it became part of his routine. If he was ready for it, maybe, one day, it would leave him.

Steve Rogers kept his refrigerator stocked with cold, leftover, fast food chicken. It never lasted long, sometimes disappearing the very day he bought it. Each time he set another cardboard take out box in there, each time he slid another restaurant bag in the drawer, he hoped that in a week or so he’d be forced to throw it away because it was old and he hadn’t needed it.

That day hadn’t come yet.

He still hoped.  

[shipskicksandgiggles]

Steve Rogers

oh darling I will go off about Steve Rogers all fucking day if you let me. fuck okay ready?

1. the problem with MCU Steve Rogers is that he doesn’t have the same kind of character growth as most of the other characters with solo movies (and even some without). and I personally attribute that to Erskine telling him he’s already good in the first cap movie and then proceeds to basically say “don’t change” but Steve took that shit wayyyyyyy too literally 

and like, MCU Steve Rogers can Suck My Ass okay? like dont get me wrong, the cap movies themselves aren’t bad, I actually love TFA and TWS, but Civil War? I have mixed feelings about. I think it’s where his arc started to go downhill honestly. and like obviously all his movies somewhat focus on Bucky, but then it was like “I’m Going To Fight Every Government Despite Selling My Soul To The United States Government” and it didn’t make sense? and it was purely for selfish reasons???

god what the fuck

I read an essay someone wrote once on how Steve Rogers in Civil War telling the UN to fuck off with the Sokovia Accords is supposedly an allegory for the US military coming in and destroying property and not really taking any ownership for it. and like. that rocked my world yknow? because it wasn’t Wrong 

also Endgame? fucking Endgame? Steve Rogers would never ruin Peggy’s life like that. Ever. if he really loved her, he would have moved the fuck on and respected her choice to move on with whoever she wanted. and just leaving the avengers like that? right after Tony and Nat died???????? WHO THE FUCK- I’m sorry I’m. if I think about endgame Steve for too long I will burst a blood vessel god fuck I hated him. I hated him for that

2. I’ve never been one to read comics, but first of all, the original Cap from before WW2 was literally propaganda for the military, and two, I’d like to see the Real Steve Rogers, like the socialist bastard, beat the ever loving shit out of MCU Cap just for shits and giggles yknow? it’s what he deserves

3. fanfic Steve is really a mixed bag. like some people paint him as this overly strict guy with no sense of humor and he almost seems like a bigger asshole than MCU Steve. other people refuse to acknowledge that he can make mistakes and that bothers me too!!! like Steve might be a super soldier but under all that muscle is a human being!!! like when I find a fic that lets Steve be passionate and caring and shit in ways that really take it back to who his character should have been, I bookmark that shit, because I wish I saw it more

sorry this ran so long I just have a Lot of thoughts about him

send me a character and I’ll tell you my pet peeves 

[etherealperrie]

I. The Beginning

Rey x Reader - In which reader crash lands onto Jakku and falls into the lap of the a young scavenger who shows her kindness. The pair quickly grow from strangers to friend to lovers. Little do they know how much the universe has in store for them - 

Word Count: 2.6k

A/N: This fic begins pre-TFA but continues on to follow the general plot but this time Rey has a gf. This is my first time writing for Rey and in the Star Wars universe in general so please be gentle with me. Self-insert, f!reader. Some explicit language. A little fluff. Maybe more parts? If we all want them?        Italics indicate a flashback.

-

“I found something!” you shout, shoving an old compressor into your bag. Taking one final look into the engine for anything of value, you shut the lid and drop down from the ledge. 

“One thing? After all this time?” Rey appears suddenly over your shoulder. You turn to face her and she raises an eyebrow, opening up her bag for you to see. Inside is at least half-a-dozen parts, each alone worth more than yours. “Don’t worry, I’ll share my portions with you.” She grins something wicked and you sigh, knocking your hip into hers. 

“Not all of us have been scavaging since birth,” you tease. 

“You’ve lived with one for a year now, you should have picked up some tips.” She shakes her head and leads you out of the shipwreck. You follow her out into the dry, Jakku heat, the wind blowing hot sand across the dunes. It’s a climate you’re still getting used to, even after nearly two years.

“I’ll be grateful for the extra portions and you can be grateful for my company.” 

“I’m not sure that’s a fair deal,” she scoffs. You place a kiss to her cheek and she smiles, rolling her eyes as she pulls her scarf up over her nose.

“I think it’s better than being alone.”

Alone. That’s what you both were before you landed on Jakku. Rey’s been here on this godforsaken planet since she was a child, abandoned by her parents. She’s been a scavenger ever since - it’s the only way to survive on a planet like this. You, on the other hand, landed here by accident when a smuggling trip from Kijimi went wrong. With your ship and product destroyed on impact, you had no other choice but to stay. Neither your dealer nor supplier would want you to return empty handed.

After the crash, you wandered the sand wasteland for what felt like days before running into Rey. She was the first and only person on the planet to offer you basic decency - food and water. You surrendered your blaster and armor to her - which she took apart in hopes of trading them for portions - in exchange for a place to stay. 

The first night with her on Jakku was uncharacteristically cold. You sat around the fire she built, shivering as she cooked the small portion of food she received for her bounty of scavenged treasures. With your head resting in the palm of your hand, you took note of her focus; the steadfast way she tended to everything around her. 

“Cold?” she asks, offering you a plate. You nod. “I find it hard to believe the desert chill is any worse than Kijimi.” 

“Kijimi’s cold all of the time, unlike Jakku’s extreme drops in temperature.” You take the plate from her. “I might not be so cold if I still had my armour.” 

“Your armour bought your meal,” she notes. Clearing her throat, she undoes the clasp on her cape and drapes it across your shoulders. “Here.”

Surprised, you begin to protest but she insists. “Thank you,” you sigh, tugging the cloak tighter to your body. The residual warmth from her body keeps the chills at bay. 

“You’re welcome.”

Her dark brown eyes are kind yet wary, searching your face for answers to questions she’d yet to ask. She wanted to know everything - not just about life beyond Jakku, but about you; how you’d gotten into smuggling goods, what Kijimi was really like, and why you hadn’t contacted anyone from home. You intrigue her, make her curious in ways no one has before.

Slowly, she began her inquiry. 

You entertained her with stories of your travels, smuggling trips to and from the edge of the galaxy. She listened intently, her eyes bright with awe and wonder,  until you began to tire, your words slurring as you wrestled with exhaustion.

“Help yourself to the bed,” she says, leading you back inside. “I can sleep on the floor.” She grabs an extra blanket off of the bed and steps out of the way to make room for you.

“No, I don’t want to impose.” 

“You’ve had quite a day, please.” 

“As have you,” you reason, holding out your hands for the blanket. “You’ve already given up part of your meal as well as your home - I insist.” 

“Are you always this stubborn?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Usually. And you?” 

“I suppose.” Sighing, she takes a pillow and places it in the center of the bed, marking off two places. “Until I decide to compromise.” She smiles.

The bed is small, arguably too small for two grown adults to share, but you didn’t want to argue - not with someone who’d given up too much for you already. Plus, you were exhausted. You simply nod and sit on one edge while she sits on the other, back to back.

“Thank you, Rey.” 

“It’s the least I could offer,” she replies. You feel the weight of the bed shift as she lays down and you follow suit, picturing the look of focus on her face as she fiddles with her blanket. You’d been alone for so long, out in the galaxy that sharing something with someone and hearing the life of another person - even a stranger - is comforting.

“Ready for bed quite early this evening, aren’t you?” 

The sound of Rey’s voice draws you from your memory. You’d been caught in a daydream since you returned from scavenging this afternoon and hadn’t heard her return from Niima Outpost. She rounds the corner into the bedroom, her hands tangled in her hair as she releases the tresses from their confines. She smiles and crosses the small room quickly, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to you. 

“I’m just thinking,” you muse. Sitting up, you run your hand across the scratchy cotton sheets then up and over her knee, rubbing little circles into her skin with your thumb. 

She looks over her shoulder at you, her short brown hair falling into her eyes as she leans in for a kiss. You breathe her in, greeting her soft lips gently. She pulls away and rises from the bed to slip off her sand-filled shoes. 

“Thinking about how Unkar ripped us off again? One half-portion for six parts? It’s ridiculous.”

“He does as he pleases.” You shake your head and stifle a laugh. “But, no, that’s not what I was thinking about.” 

“Then what?” 

“I think we should leave Jakku.” 

Her face twists up in confusion, harsh lines forming across her skin. She turns to look at you, her mouth open as she thinks over what to say. You don’t want her to think you’re unhappy here - with her - because you’re not; and you don’t want her to think it’s your old habits resurfacing (smuggling adventures die hard). But there’s something in you, telling you that she’s destined for more than life on a desolate planet. Why couldn’t you be the one to show her? 

“Leave Jakku? And go where?” Her voice is firm, yet it wavers as she tries to understand. “You know I can’t leave, I have to wait for them.” She looks past you, off into the distance. 

Them. Her parents. They aren’t coming back - well, you can’t be sure. But, deep down, you both know they won’t return. Be it for reasons unknown (or reasons she isn’t ready to consider). Every day, her fantasy grows further and further from reality, but perhaps you would hold on too if the roles were reversed. 

“Rey,” you whisper, “remember the first night we met? I sat up with you for hours telling you my stories from Kijimi and far beyond. The way your eyes lit up, I want to experience that for real, with you.”

“Jakku is all I’ve ever known,” she breathes. She glances across the room at the metal wall covered in tick marks. Each one represents a day she’s spent on this planet since her parents disappearance. In the time you’ve lived with her you’ve never been able to count them all. A smile flickers across her lips but is gone in the same minute. You wonder what’s going on in her head - the ties that bind are difficult to break, you know that firsthand. 

A loud bang adds to the tension in the room. You jump, looking to Rey as she moves to look out the window. 

“What was that?” You ask. Shouting in the distance draws her attention from the conversation, her posture suddenly rigid. She stuffs her feet back into her shoes and grabs her staff, heading off towards the noise. 

“Rey!” you shout, groaning as you jump up to follow after her. 

You catch her at the top of the dune, but she’s taking off again. 

Another scavenger, a teedo, wrestles with a droid at the bottom of the hill, both of them shouting at each other in languages they’d never be able to understand. 

“Leave the droid alone!” Rey calls, sprinting to the robots aid. 

“Shit,” you murmur, following close behind. Rey haggles with the teedo as you work quickly to free the droid from its net, cutting the ropes. The droid, small and round, beeps with surprise and rolls free, exclaiming happily. You expect the thing to run off but it stays by your side, beeping dramatically. With your limited knowledge of the code you can barely understand its message. 

The teedo rides off, in a hurry to find another catch, and Rey returns her focus to the droid. Annoyed, she huffs and crouches down to its level. 

“Niima Outpost is that way,” she pauses to point in the proper direction. “Don’t go near the sand pits in the North or you’ll be done for.” 

The droid beeps curiously, refusing to move from its place.

“Come on,” you urge, tugging Rey’s hand back in the direction of home. She nods and the two of you set off, but the droid is quick to follow. “Don’t follow us,” you reiterate, “she said town is that way.”

The droid beeps again, this time loud and shrill. 

“Wait,” Rey sinks back down to its level. “Where do you come from?” 

Another beep. 

“He says it’s classified.” Rey looks up at you. 

“Classified? Really?” you ask, your tone thick with sarcasm. “Just leave him here, he’ll be fine.” 

She stands, close to you, her hand on your forearm. “We can’t just leave him here, he’ll be nothing but a pile of parts by morning.” 

“We don’t know what it is or who it belongs to!”

“It’s a BB droid,” she corrects. “And aren’t you the one who wanted me to know what’s beyond Jakku?” She raises an eyebrow. 

“He stays tonight, we’ll figure out what to do in the morning.” 

Rey smiles at the droid and it responds with a cheery sounding trill. She chats with the droid, asking him almost as many questions she asked you the night you crash landed into her lap. Smiling, you roll your eyes and lead the way back with the two of them in tow. 

When you wake the following morning, it’s quiet. The sun is beyond risen, already high and intensely hot - almost unbearable for such an early hour. 

“Rey?” you call, rubbing your eyes as you roll out of bed. Yawning, the room comes into view. Empty. No droid and no Rey. “Shit,” you breathe, frantically shoving your feet into a pair of boots. She must’ve taken him to the Outpost - packed with thieves who’d be more than eager for something as valuable as a BB unit. 

Rey is more than capable of handling herself, she doesn’t require a keeper nor a protector, yet you can’t help but worry. Her kindness is the thing you adore most about her, it sickens you to think people may mistake kindness for weakness. The thought of her getting hurt is too much to even consider. You’re not sure you’d ever be able to recover - you’re in too deep. 

Thoughts of Rey flood your mind as you make your way into the Outpost. The marketplace is busy at this hour, teeming with traders and scavengers. 

“There you are!” you exclaim. Rey and the BB unit loiter around Unkar’s garage. Her cheeks are red, her breathing ragged as you approach. At the end of her staff is a man caked in blood and sweat, his eyes wide with fear. “What’s going on? Who’s he?” 

“The droid said this man stole his masters jacket.” 

The man pants heavily, squirming under Rey’s staff. He holds up his hands in innocence.  

“Your master, Poe Dameron. That was his name, right?” 

The droid beeps again, his head swiveling around in surprise. You look to Rey who looks to the droid, then back to the man.

“He was captured by the first order and I helped him escape. But our ship crashed. Poe didn’t make it.” The man sits up and Rey eases off of her staff. “I’m sorry.” 

The BB unit lets out a melancholy ring and rolls away. For a moment you think about going to comfort him, but Rey is already making the next move. 

“So, you’re with the resistance?” 

The man pauses, considering what to say. “Uh, yes. Obviously. I’m with the resistance, yes.” 

Rey extends an arm, helping him to his feet. “I’ve never met a resistance fighter before.” 

“Right, well this is what we look like. Some of us. Resistance fighters.” He stammers his way through the sentence. You can’t tell if he’s simply shaken by the trauma or an outright liar. 

“BB8 says he has something big and we have to get back to your base.” Rey speaks quickly, a smile spread across her bright red cheeks, a direct cause of the adrenaline. It’s quite a sight to see her so riled up on the precipice of adventure. 

“BB8?” You ask. She only nods in response. She must’ve learned the droid’s name on her journey here this morning.

“Apparently he’s carrying a map to Luke Skywalker and everyone’s after it.”

Both you and Rey exchange glances, your necks whipping from BB8 to the man. 

“Luke Skywalker?” You repeat. 

“I thought he was a myth,” Rey says in amazement.  

A shrill sound, one you now recognized as BB8’s own distress signal echoes across the market. All three of you dart out from under the tent to the sight of at least a dozen stormtroopers. 

“We have to go. Now.” You say, taking Rey‘s hand. The man and BB8 take the lead and you follow, weaving in and out of tents and tables. 

They take a wrong turn, leading you into a dead end and you groan, cursing under your breath. 

“No, this way!” Everyone turns to look at you and you signal in the direction of the junkyard. One of those ships had to work, it’s your only way out. 

Your heart pumps loudly in your chest, adrenaline coursing through your veins as you run. Memories of old smuggling trips flood your mind and you grip Rey’s hand tighter, knowing what might happen to her if this breakout fails. 

“Do you know how to fly?” The man yells as you all make your way into an abandoned ship. 

You’re about to respond, but Rey pushes past you in search of the cockpit. “I can fly anything. Can you shoot?” 

“We’ll see,” he responds.

You follow Rey into the cockpit, flicking on the transmission. She settles into the pilot’s seat and looks at your for reassurance. You place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze lightly. 

“Let’s get out of here.”

[eleanor-writes-stuff]

that’s all she wrote - December 2019

Happy New Year, friends! Whew, that was... quite a month, wasn’t it? I won’t go into detail here (and in general I’m just trying to stop thinking/talking about it so that I can move on), but if you’ve been anywhere near my Twitter account in the last few weeks, you probably know my thoughts on TRoS.

Anyway, here are the four fics I managed to write last month before I had to go on hiatus for emotional reasons.

Previous round-ups | Twitter | Ko-fi

1. i don’t wanna break your heart (i just want a brand new start) | AO3 Hey, how do you feel about modern AUs in which Ben takes care of a sick Rey? During Christmastime? Also they’re exes who broke off their engagement a few months ago and we get flashbacks to see how it all fell apart. If all of that sounds right up your alley, this is the one-shot for you!

2. let the past die (show the way the world could be) | AO3 Here’s a rare canon-divergence fic in which Rey and Ben met pre-TFA and now run a new galactic empire together. Also the fic is a T-rated ABO with hints of Hades/Persephone Reylo and Orpheus/Eurydice FinnRose. Also it’s told in Rose’s POV. It’s, um... it’s a variety bag of tropes, okay?

3. the way you make me feel (is kinda annoying, actually) | AO3 Thanks to her messed up childhood, Rey... doesn’t exactly have the healthiest coping mechanisms when she finds herself crushing on someone - especially when said someone is her adorable and way too sweet TA, Ben Solo. (Or: they both make mistakes in this one, but that’s what being young is all about, right??)

4. so a smuggler walks into an orphan’s bar... | AO3 There are hundreds, even thousands of other worlds out there - kinder worlds, softer worlds. This is one in which Rey wasn’t left to fend for herself after her parents’ deaths, and Ben finally got to have adventures with his father instead of Jedi lessons with his uncle. And yet, somehow, against all the odds... they find each other anyway. 

That’s it for now! Up next is a fix-it fic (which looks like it might spawn a few follow-up ficlets too) as well as the six remaining giveaway one-shots. Hopefully I’ll have those done and posted in time for the next round-up! 

[thefreakydeaky]

Star Wars TFA How They Propose

Poe Dameron

“I know you probably think I’m nuts for doing this in the middle of a war, but the when and where don’t matter to me as long as I get to be with you. Y/n, will you marry me?”

It takes you a moment to get over your surprise. As you gaze into his warm brown eyes you realize that nothing in the galaxy would make you happier than spending the rest of your life with this man.Teary eyed, you accept. Poe presses his lips to yours tenderly, thanking the maker that you said yes.

Finn

“Y/n, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we met and not just because I think you’re gorgeous. I mean, I do think you’re gorgeous, but...Do you see us together? Because I do. I feel like I can be completely myself around you. I don’t put much belief in fate or destiny, but I believe that we met for a reason and...Stars I’m messing this up.What I’m asking you is-”

You cut him off with a kiss.

Finn was honest, loyal and kind. He felt like home to you and now that you knew he felt the same, you would happily agree to spend the rest of your lives together.

General Hux

“Y/n, I was filling out the forms for my benefits this year and I realized that in the event of my passing you would be left with nothing.”

You frown, but continue scrolling through your emails.

“It would be a shame that I work all these years, earning a pension and a great many benefits only for it all to go to waste in the end, Wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it would be a shame.” You agreed, your frown deepening at the thought of him dying. You take hold of his free hand as if to protect yourself from the idea.

“And to think, this could be prevented simply by signing the proper forms.Hmmm….” The calculated tone in his voice gave you pause.

“Just signing forms?” You prodded.You knew he would think you were being childish, but you could not bare the thought of losing him.

He nodded once, but seemed otherwise occupied by the report in front of him.You examined his hand. It was both wider and longer than yours and that for some reason, always made you feel safe.

“So why don’t we sign them, then?” You asked, already knowing there had to be some ulterior motive, though you couldn’t fathom what it might be.

“You think we should?” He looked up from his datapad for only a second before returning to the report he was viewing.

“Yes, well it does seem like the logical thing to do.” You replied evenly.

You turned to find his ice blue gaze already on you,His eyes filled with emotion. The sight was so rare it made your breath catch in your throat. Armitage leaned in and kissed you. His plush lips molded to yours for one sweet moment.

“Alright, I’ll have my assistant procure a marriage license. It should take no more than a few days.

Your bewilderment must have been written on your face, because his lips tugged into a smug smirk at the sight of your expression. Above the din of jumbled thoughts in your head you couldn’t help but think, this was his way of proposing?

Armitage opened the drawer to his night stand and pulled out a small blue velvet box.

Your eyes widened at the sight of it.The gravity of the moment didn’t begin to sink in until he opened the box. An exquisite band of intricate design showcased the brightest diamond you had ever seen. The chaos in your mind instantly quieted.It was exactly to your taste.You climbed into his lap and began peppering his face with kisses. Armitage took you into his arms, chuckling under his breath at your enthusiasm.

Commander Ren

Kylo tried not to make a sound as he entered your bedroom.Balancing the tray as carefully as he could, Ren reached out and touched your shoulder.

You opened one bleary eye to see a dark figure towering over you and shrieked.

Terror gripping at your heart you reached for the blaster you kept in the holster at your bedside.

“Y/n, it’s alright! It’s me!It’s me!” He told you quickly putting the tray down on the night stand.

“Ohmystars!” You cried out, blaster already pointed at his head. “Ky?”

You heard a hiss as he removed his mask.

“Is there anyone else who has the code to your quarters?” His familiar voice grumbled.

“You know darn well no one else has the code.”

You lowered the blaster and began to put it away in it’s holster.

“Why are you creeping into my room while I’m sleeping anyway?”

“I wasn’t creeping.” He scoffed.

You caught sight of the tray on your side table.

“Are those...dantoine flapjacks?”

“And cane syrup, a citrine, and a caf.” He looked almost nervous as he picked up the tray and set it carefully over your lap.

“For me?”

He nodded and you briefly wondered at the solemn expression he wore.

You cleared your throat, “uhm, Thank you.”

Despite the awkwardness of the moment, you were greatful.It had been almost a year since you had the chance to eat something so delicious.The cafeteria of the Finalizer offered food that was meant to strengthen your body, not please your taste buds.

You turned the little cup of cane syrup on it’s side drizzling it over the stack of flapjacks. It smelled heavenly.You cut yourself a bite-sized slice and stabbed it onto your fork.The first bite was everything it promised to be, warm and buttery and scrumptious. You took your time, even savoring the cake like texture.

Chocolate brown eyes watched with wrapped attention as you swallowed the bite.It was cute, but after the first few bites it became unnerving.

“Sweetheart, will you sit down, please?” You asked prettily, knowing full well it would aid in getting your way.

He went to the other side of the bed and crawled in next to you. His weight making the mattress dip lower.

“Didn’t you bring anything for you to eat?” You asked, starting to feel uncomfortable.

“Not hungry.” He murmured wrapping his long arms about your middle.

You didn’t believe it for a second.Taking up your fork again, you cut another piece of flapjack, but instead of bringing it to your lips, you raised it to his.

“I’m not-”

You popped the piece of food into his mouth and awaited your scolding.

It never came.Instead, he chewed and swallowed it down.You looked up at him fondly. His expression was petulant, but his eyes were filled with a softer emotion.

“I love you, Ky.”

His frown melted into a small smile.

“I have something for you.”

Your eyes-widened as he reached into his robes.

“Kylo, can’t you wait until I’m finished?”

“Not that!” He gave you a look of admonishment as he pulled a small draw string bag from his pants pocket.

“Alright, alright, don’t get upset.I mean, fool me once shame on you fool me twice…”

He rolled his eyes at you.

“Being with you has shown me that love doesn’t have to be a weakness, it can be a strength. My love for you gives me more strength and conviction than I knew myself to be capable of.When I become Ruler of the Galaxy, I want the most infuriatingly relentless being I have ever met by my side. Y/n, Will you marry me?”

The fork in your hand dropped to your plate with a clatter.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“But S-supreme leader-”

“Has already given his blessing.” He assured you.

“Oh…” You remained quiet for a long moment before you picked up the tray and set it aside.

Kylo cleared his throat.

“Do you need time to-”

“No!”

He winced.

“I mean, no, I don’t need time to think about it, Kylo.Yes, of course I’ll marry you!“

He grinned widely.Heart full to bursting, you kissed his cheek and watched as he slid the most dazzling ring you had ever seen onto your finger.

[gffa]

Hey! Long time reader, first time asker but I read your post yesterday about supplementary material enriching experience. I’ve seen all the movies, I’m loving The Clone Wars and I enjoy playing Swtor but that’s all I have experienced. Do you have any recommendations as to where to start with supplementary material? Are the graphic novels you reference on that marvel comic subscription do you know? Thank you for your posts, they are always so interesting!

Hi!  Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog!  And I love doing “where to start” posts!  Keep in mind that a lot depends on what you happen to like (if you’re more of an OT fan or a PT fan or an ST fan, if you like certain characters more than others, etc.) but I think the basic places to start when moving on from the movies are:- The Clone Wars TV show.  As you’ve said, you’re already watching this one but it’s still my #1 recommendation, because it sets up so much of the galaxy and the way things operate in the Republic and is just really good.  Finish this one first, as it introduces you to so much you’ll need down the road–a lot of the Jedi characters that will then break your heart when you watch Order 66 happening in Revenge of the Sith, getting invested in Ahsoka Tano and her role in Anakin’s life, getting more time spent with characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala, some trippy arcs like the Mortis arc that are fascinating for Force Woo, and a lot of stuff will come up in other shows, comics, and books!- Star Wars Rebels TV show.  While it’s about an entirely new group of characters, it has a lot of recurring familiar characters–like James Earl Jones reprises his role in voicing Darth Vader, you learn the fate of Ahsoka Tano here, you get to see some of the clones again, you get a look at what it’s like for Jedi under the thumb of the Empire, you’re introduced to the Inquisitors, you get to see the politics of the Rebellion as the show goes along, you get a better look at Mandalore, etc.  This is another show that will help form the foundations of other stuff.- Star Wars Battlefront II game.  You can play it or just watch a movie version of it on YouTube.  Yeah, the game got a lot of crap for the shit EA tried to pull with it, but it’s turned into a really great piece of media and the story itself is absolutely fantastic and will only take about 2 hours to get through, but a) it’s a great story with great characters (I LOVE IDEN VERSIO SO MUCH) and b) it does a great job at showing a lot of what happened after Return of the Jedi but before the Empire truly gave up.  This establishes a lot of the final fight stuff, like the Battle of Jakku and its importance (aka, that’s all those ships that Rey is scavenging at the beginning of The Force Awakens) and what Operation Cinder is and the epilogue helps lead into what the First Order is.- The Star Wars titular comic + Darth Vader volume 1 (by Kieron Gillen) comics.  These two are meant to be read concurrently, so I recommend them together, and they do an absolutely incredible job of filling out the space between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.  They’re telling fantastic stories (including some really powerful stuff about Vader finding out the name of the Death Star pilot is Skywalker) while also giving some really great insights into the characters, adding depth to the story of the movies, and made me fall in love with the characters all over again.  This Vader tends to be a little more mysterious, Gillen liked keeping the mystique to him (which appeals more to some, so if that’s your jam, read these first!), the feeling is very much in tune with the original trilogy in that sense.  Same for the heroes, they feel very OT!- Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith by Charles Soule comics.  You can read the Vader comics in either order, but I generally like suggesting this one to go second (release order is always good, imo) despite that this is my favorite of the comics.  Set not long after Revenge of the Sith, this is a comic about Darth Vader adjusting to his new life and about the bigger, overarching story of the psychological look at a character who cannot admit what he’s done wrong.  On the surface, it’s about him hunting down Jedi and trying to raise his wife from the dead, but in the macro sense, it’s about this guy who cannot admit that he had other choices, even when the Force is literally throwing those other paths in his face.  Great Vader content for him being powerful and terrifying, while also being an absolute human disaster garbage bag.- Age of the Republic comics by Jodie Houser.  If you like the prequels at all, these comics are stellar.  There are eight of them, four for the main heroes, four for the main villains, and they’re a single issue each, where there’s a short look into their lives at various points, all which illustrate really thoughtful things about the characters, whether through their actions or even sometimes comparisons with other issues in the series.  (ie, reading the Obi-Wan one and Jango Fett one really highlighted how each of them dealt with this young person they were taking care of.)  They were just REALLY GOOD STORIES, too.- Star Wars Adventures by IDW Comics.  These are cuter stories and set all across various eras, from the PT to the OT to the ST to occasionally other areas, but they’re always just absolutely CHARMING.  They’re pure delight to read, they tend to focus on moments that are just really fun, so it’s easy to think of it as a kids’ comic, but instead I think they work best at showing some of the more hopeful moments of Star Wars without being too fluffy.- Poe Dameron by Charles Soule comics.  These are SO GOOD, they really add so much to Poe’s character and they also do a great job of fleshing out that time between the New Republic still working to stabilize itself and when we know the First Order is coming.  But mostly it just really makes you like Poe as a character, it captures his sense of charm and swagger while giving him an actual character arc, as he learns to be a leader.- Kanan: The Last Padawan comics.  You need to see Rebels first (or at least the first two seasons, enough to make you care about Kanan as a character) but then this is a gorgeous, beautifully told story.  It’s half about the current days with his new found family the Ghost crew (the cast of Rebels) and half about his history as a Padawan in the Jedi Order, how he was apprenticed to Depa Billaba, how he watched her die, how he had to live in the galaxy that wanted him dead just for being born the way he was, how he was being hunted for it, and how he survived.  It’s really, really good!- Forces of Destiny animated shorts.  You can find them all on Disney’s YouTube channel, they’re these 2-3 minute long stories about the women of the galaxy far, far away (with occasional appearances by others) and they’re pretty light-hearted fare, they’re meant to impart messages to kids or just be bite-sized content, but they’re pretty wonderful and it’s nice to see the women of SW get some attention.- From a Certain Point of View book.  For the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope they put out an anthology of short stories, telling the various points of view of different side characters and adding depth to everything that was going on.  Not all of them are super great, you can feel free to skip ones if you’re getting bored, but there are some MUST READ ones, especially the Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Obi-Wan ones.  And the Admiral Motti story had me in absolute tears from cry-laughing while reading it.- Bloodline by Claudia Gray book.  It’s a really good Leia story, but it’s also a book that does a lot to cover what’s going on with the New Republic still struggling to establish itself, why Leia isn’t part of it by TFA, and more on how the First Order came to be and why people stuck their heads in the sand about it.- Thrawn by Timothy Zahn book.  While there’s some dissonance between Zahn’s version of the character and the character from Rebels, I think you can make them fit together, and this book really is one of the best of canon material.  It’s fun and zips right along and introduces some new characters and sets up some really interesting backstories and just fleshes out the Imperial stuff and gives us Eli Vanto.  ALL THINGS I LOVED.FINALLY:  The above is aimed at a general list of things that I thin pretty much anyone would enjoy, it’s meant to cover most of the bases as best I can, but if you have a favorite era or a favorite character, feel free to run straight to anything that involves them.  There’s a lot of good Legends stuff (as always it’s hard not to recommend the Revenge of the Sith novelization or Wild Space, but that’d just muddle the line between canon and Legends), but I’m sticking with canon right now because it’s easier and there’s so much good stuff and it’s less confusing that way.All the comics are available on Comixology (and there’s never been a comic I hated by any means, though, admittedly some of the mini series can be kind of bland, anything that ran for at least 20 issues is a good bet, and most of the comics are THE BEST of the supplementary material), and if you don’t mind waiting a couple of months for Disney+ (or Googling for streaming sites) the animated properties are all really worth watching.  Sometimes they take a bit to get going, but I’ve fallen in love with every single one.These might not end up being your favorites (some of my favorites–like the Aftermath books or the Join the Resistance books–are ones that I wouldn’t put on a list for new-to-supplementary-material fans, because they’re a little too distanced from established characters) but they’re great places to start getting a feel for whether or not you like this kind of thing!  :D

[dlrconlicense]

Thoughts on TROS

So just saw The Rise of Skywalker.

And I literally just said “Wow.” when I walked out of the theater, though I did not know it was a good wow or a bad wow.

It’s a very mixed bag for me with this one, I can see why the critics hated it, I can see why some fans did not like it, I can also see why people may like it. I loved TFA and I actually did not think TLJ was that bad of a movie at all. But given that, I do believe that the intended story had lost it’s way in the middle, culminating into TROS, which Abrams tried to salvage whatever intended end they meant it to be.

Spoilers ahead so turn away. 

Don’t get me wrong, while I did enjoy the movie, there definitely was some things they could have handled better. The movie was meant for closure, but instead left a gaping hole.

The greatest disservice I felt they did to Finn and Rose. Finn’s storyline in the beginning of the trilogy had massive potential, but instead he was more or less reduced to being the new Chewie of the trilogy, just a side piece with no more on his story and him finding himself more. Plus, they literally “Seinfeld” his ending. So wtf was he going to say to Rey? I was thinking it would probably be a FinnRey ship at the end of TFA, until TLJ literally blew that to pieces (which turned my Reylo, more on that later). The Stormtrooper who turned should have been a more interesting story, instead was thrown aside. Plus the intro of the other turned Troopers, that really does set up for Disney+ further down the road does it? Rose they just set aside as well, which is quite the opposite of “support” given the backlash against her character. She is a stronger character in this, but not entirely necessary. Shame.

A positive is that I did like the little delve into Poe’s past. It actually is in parallel with Mando’s storyline in The Mandalorian, except his former mates are not sleazeballs. Plus, I am quite interested in the history he had with Zorri. She was a fun character.

I’m kind of glad to see 3PO being of some use finally instead of being a whiney cunt of a droid. And his little stab at R2′s memory not being reliable, I was thinking, umm...he kept the Princess’ recording for that many years, and I bet he probably backed your useless tinhead up as well you dummy. Which he did. Poetic justice really for just a douchebag of a character. I never did understood why it was such a popular character. Even when I recently rewatched the original trilogy, I find myself thinking this is why R2 curses so much.   

Then we come to Rey and Ben. Did Sheev actually set this whole thing up so that he can use the Skywalker heir and his heir’s Dyad connection to revive hisself? Snoke was just a puppet?! All this time was just to buy time for building a fleet. And do NOT tell me he used The Yodaling in some form to keep hiimself alive. God damn that was convoluted plan! All the while that little scavenger girl was just a rook in her own family’s great game. It was like every step she took was calculated by her own blood, but is it though?

I think the whole theme Abrams wanted in this trilogy is choice, and how your background does not define your destiny because you have choice. Finn was a Stormtrooper, but he had a choice and turned (obviously writers did that and left him). Poe was a runner, but he made the choice to fight in the Resistance. He had a chance for safety offered to him and he did not take it either. If you think about it the OT and the PT had similar tones with Anakin/Vader and Luke (and now we found out Leia) had a hand in their own destinies through choice. Ben chose Dark before because he thought it was in his blood, believed it was his destiny and especially when his uncle reacted the way he did. Turned out it was not. Rey was to be damned to join the Dark side because of her background, but in the end made that choice. Even if Palpatine was the puppet master all this time. I just think the whole theme does tie into OT, but it really could have been more refined in the execution.

I really do hate it when people call Rey a “Mary Sue” character. Luke in the OT was the same way. In fact she had even more conflict in her than younger Luke did as a character, so there is a little more depth to her.

I definitely think that Ben/Kylo had the best scenes and the best story arc of the trilogy. While the movies focused on his relationship with Han more, I felt that he himself had a bigger connection with Leia through his actions. Each time he felt his Mom through the Force, he reeled back. Her death and his little “BARF( Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing-a-la-TonyStark)” moment with Han made him turn. It made me curious as to the relationship young Ben had with his mother. He definitely loved his mother, I really wished they could have explored that even more. Sadly due to circumstances that we know, it was not. Leia’s fear that the end of her Jedi days would mean the demise of her son. I think when Luke said that to Rey, I knew what Ben’s ending would be. I believe had she overcame that fear and remained a Jedi, she might have been the one to train him. That would have become another story.

    Gosh I really wish that they didn’t go for that ending though. Which they actually had to for full redemption, but it really did leave a gaping hole in my little Reylo heart. I wish they would really go full Disney cliche for once and let them be!!! Though....I know I will get crap for it, but the kiss was a little bit too much. But that smile though, that hug, and that little cradle of each other’s cheeks...if just leaving it at that, the moment would surpass “I know.” as the greatest love confession in the history of that galaxy IMO. Rey and Ben gave each other their lives, and themselves back to each other. Rey found out who she was and who she turns out to be, Kylo became Ben again. But it didn’t really feel like closure to me. But realistically though, even if he had survived, they would not be. Ben sure has hell would have to have to pay for his crimes though he does redeem himself. Sadly, reality does not allow for all the Reylo babies even if we wanted.

But that smile though....

can we just leave it at this?

Come to think of it, were they still Force-Skyping each other while Rey was being trained by Leia? It seems like it given how they felt for one another. Rey saying “Be with me. Be with me.” I don’t think I was the only one that thought she was calling out to Ben unconsciously, which is why she got distracted.

(and what Rey did at the very end, you bet The Mouse can use that to set up for later movies)