#i think that's why a lot of the point was lost

[tanadrin]

I do not know why Americans have the sense that European food is somehow intrinsically healthier than their own food. EU food regulations are basically indistinguishable from American ones, and include many substances that are in fact banned in the US. EU regulations are tougher on GMOs specifically, but that’s bad, because GMOs are safe, and panic about GMOs is based on unscientific nonsense. And there is loads of stuff like partially hydrogenated oils that is banned in American food and fine in European food. There are more food dyes approved for use in Europe than there are in the US.

But I am so, so tired of Americans imagining Europe is some kind of food-regulatory utopia where somehow gluten works differently (!!!) and everyone is way healthier. They come to Europe on vacation and then they go home talking about how much better they felt and how they lost weight or w/e despite all the pastry they ate and it’s bc. Well. They were on vacation! They were more active than usual, and having fun! Of course they felt better! This gets compounded with, like, Mediterranean diet woo and progressive American cultural cringe and it’s really weird. I have spent a lot of time in Europe and in the US. Here in Germany people are marginally healthier but it’s mostly because middle aged Germans have a masochistic fetish for exercise. And even then it varies a lot by location and social group.

Also I f you are talking about literal nebulous evil forces rather than being able to name one (1) food additive you think has health risks you are engaged in wildly irresponsible scaremongering. That’s sort of reflexive conspiracism isn’t it? You have no ability to name specific harms you think might exist, just a vague sense someone is out to Get You. Even the anti-vaxxers can point to a (fictitious) causal chain like “vaccines —> autism.”

This is about to trigger a whole other rant about how social media-driven doomerism and conspiracy is shredding the social fabric and driving the rise of the far right, about how being cynical about everything makes you an easy mark for grifters, and about how nobody can tell the difference anymore between “thing that is complicated that I don’t understand (like US federal regulations) and a conspiracy,” but that’s kind of off topic, so I will spare you. But the tldr is that you folks really need to chill out.

people who for very silly reasons want to market prepared food products without preservatives in them who then discover why we started putting preservatives in prepared food products in the first place (because without a preservation method food quickly grows stale, and frequently also moldy or downright toxic) is a consistently good bit. like people really seem to think we put Evil Chemicals in food on purpose for no reason.

[russo-woso]

Comment || Arsenal x reader

Request | Masterlist

Warning mention of bullying, mental health problems, mention of suicide

Summary You accidentally reveal why you don’t interact with your team

A/N this is a sadddd and angsty one so buckle in

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Y/N, you’re coming to the restaurant with us, right?” Katie asked, seeing you try to scurry out of the room without anyone noticing.

Unfortunately for you, Katie saw you and was curious whether she’d see you at the restaurant that night.

To celebrate the end of the year and Christmas, the team had organised a meal out at a local restaurant, nothing much but enough to satisfy the whole team.

You hesitated a bit, you also unaware of your own answer.

You see, you hadn’t always had the best experiences with a team.

Your previous teammates had made a few comments here and there about you.

She doesn’t deserve to get minutes

Why did the club even sign her

Shittiest player I’ve ever seen

Drop her back down to the Sunday league

At first, they were just small remarks that happened every so often, but then it turned to 24/7.

In the changing rooms, over text, on the pitch. Everywhere, anytime.

They were bullying you.

And even when you brought it upon the manager, he just shrugged, ‘that’s banter for you’ he had told you whilst laughing.

Maybe you were just being sensitive. Maybe you were taking it the wrong way. Maybe this was how a team was supposed to play.

From that moment onwards, you thought it was normal.

You didn’t complain about it anymore, just bottling up your emotions so they didn’t have to see it.

It wasn’t until a very poorly played game that you realised just how damaged they’d made you.

You had played the final four minutes of the game.

When you ran onto the pitch, your team was already losing 4-0.

And although you’d impacted the game massively and had prevented two goals in them four minutes, you were entirely blamed for the loss.

You had dreaded walking into the changing rooms after, all your teammates angry at their performances but somehow blaming it on you made it a lot better.

One of your teammates had squared up to your shaking body, their finger pointing at you.

Your breath became uneven as you closed your eyes in dread.

“You were shit today! You were the reason we lost! You were a let down today. You made us lose! Do us all a favour, Y/L/N and fuck off. We don’t need you on our team! You just fuck up our play and make us fucking lose! Nobody likes you, Y/N. You’re a shit player!” She screamed, the rest of the girls agreeing. She finished shouting at you, but was not finished without pushing you to the floor.

You put on a strong face, standing up and grabbing your stuff before walking out.

You walked for miles in the rain, no car, your phone dead, just you and your thoughts.

You don’t remember much from that night, you’d passed out on some bridge for most of it.

But you remembered one thing.

You remember laying on the bridge, your body fighting for consciousness and thinking would it be so bad if you were to never wake up?

Would anyone actually miss you?

You had your mum left but she mainly focused on your older brother more - he’s a lawyer and had kids - no more explanation needed.

You were so close to completely giving up, so close to letting ending everything.

You used all your strength, pulling yourself up and taking yourself over to the edge of the bridge.

The river underneath was violent, the water crashing against its beds with purpose.

You started counting down in your head, dunking it with your heartbeat.

3… 2…

“Dear! What are you doing?” A voice exclaimed from behind you.

You turned with watery eyes to see a woman, 65 maybe?

You looked in her eyes, a solace look in them.

“Please… look at me. I’m a complete stranger to you. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. But what I do know about you, is you have so much to live for that maybe you don’t realise you have. Take a look around. What do you see?” She began, taking a few steps towards you.

“Bushes, the river, trees.” You listed, taking deep breaths steady your breathing.

“Trees. Look how they’re blowing in the wind. They’ve got no control over themselves. They’re being pushed around and they can’t do anything, but one thing that they are doing, is having a tiny bit of strength to keep them standing. A storm may have big impacts but at the end of the day, they go away. What you’re going through now is just a storm, I promise. You’re young, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Go travel, go to London, go somewhere you’ve never been before. You’re just stuck in a storm, a bad one, but at the end of everyone is sunshine.”

You listened to her words, taking into account what she was saying.

Slowly but surely, you stepped back from the edge, collapsing into the womens arms.

You’ll never forget that night.

The woman, you didn’t even find out her name, but you knew she was your guardian angel that night.

And although you didn’t completely believe her words, she was right.

You were in the middle of a passing storm.

Not only two days later, you were sat in your managers office being told you were going to another club.

You were given a list of clubs that were interested but one stood out massively, a London club.

You were doing what the woman told you to do, you were going to London.

Which leads you back to the conversation with Katie, your Arsenal teammate.

“Umm… I’ll have to see how tired I am.” You lied, making up a random excuse.

“You said that last time, Y/N.” Alessia pointed out, a playful smile on her face, a completely innocent one which meant no harm.

“And the time before that.” Kyra then added, gently knocking her shoulder into yours.

“Please come, Y/N. I barely know you, it’ll give us time to get to know you.” Steph explained

You hesitated between yes and no.

“Okay. I’ll be there.” You finally said after a few moments.

Everyone cheered, telling you what time to be there and how excited they were that you’d said yes to going.

Maybe these girls aren’t as bad.

—

You were one of the first ones to arrive at the restaurant, not wanting to be late.

Katie and Caitlin were already there and called you over.

One by one, the team filled the table, a buzz filling the air as everyone chatted to each other.

You sat quietly at the end of the table, having nothing really to say.

“What’re you doing for Christmas, Y/N?” Alessia asked, obviously realising no one was talking to you.

“Nothing much. I’ll probably get a few snacks in and watch some…” you began but soon slowed down your words as you set eyes on someone from across the room.

There, sat your guardian angel, your lifesaver.

“Y/N?” Alessia asked, confused but followed your eyeline to see the woman. “Are you okay?”

“I haven’t seen her in months.” You mumbled to yourself but Alessia also heard.

“Who is she?”

“She saved my life.” You responded, not knowing it would lead to you revealing your secret.

“Oh my god…” Alessia whispered, realising it was a big moment for you seeing her again. “Is she a doctor? Were you ill?”

“No.” You shook your head, your eyes not leaving the woman. “My old team, they used to make comments about me. It started with a few - what I thought were harmless - comments but they continued coming. Over message, in the changing rooms, on the pitch. They made me feel like I didn’t belong there - that I didn’t belong on earth. After the match against PSG—” you began

“—The one where you played a few minutes?” Alessia questioned, you nodding in response. “You played incredible that match. You completely turned the game around.”

“Yeah, I thought that too. But after the match in the changing rooms, I got blamed for the loss. My old teammate pushed me to the floor and the rest of them laughed at me. I ended up walking into the rain and walked for miles. I collapsed on this bridge at some point and I decided to go towards the edge. I was counting down in my head. My heart wasn’t racing, I think it was the calmest I’d felt in years. It was what all my teammates wanted so I was going to do them all a favour. I was going to… I was on seven when I heard a voice behind me. It was her. She saved me.” You explained, looking back to Alessia but seeing 25 sets of eyes on you.

Most of the girls had tears in their eyes, your story hitting them hard.

“That’s why it took so long for to come out with you. It wasn’t any of you personally and I’m sorry if it felt like that but I don’t think I can ever trust teammates again.”

“Y/N, don’t say sorry.” Leah’s breathed out, leaning over the table to take your hand in hers. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“I know it might take some time to realise but not all teams are like them. If you can, can you please trust us. We want to show you what being in a true team feels like.” Kim told you, rubbing your back comfortingly.

“I’d like that, thank you.”

“We’re here for you, Y/N. Here at Arsenal, we’re not just a club, we’re a family. Whether you like it or not. Some of us - Kyra - can be annoying sometimes but at the end of the day, we’re a family, and that’s the most important part. We’d like nothing more than to be your family from now on.” Lia added, sending you a smile.

“A family, huh? I think I’d like that.” You said, a smile appearing on your face.

“Enough of that now. That’s your past, it’s time to think about the future. And I’m not having you all alone on Christmas so you’re coming with me to my family on Christmas.” Alessia stated confidently, not giving you any choice.

“Alessia, I can’t, it’s your—”

“Ah, no — remember we’re family.” Alessia told you, hitting your shoulder with hers.

“Family.” You whispered quietly, smiling to yourself.

You took another look over to the woman.

She was still talking away to the man she was with but managed to catch your eye.

She sent a wink and a smile over to you.

You took your eyes off her for seconds and when you looked again, she was gone.

You never knew her name, and you didn’t know who she was, but you couldn’t be more grateful.

Not only had she saved your life that night, but she had also brought you a family.

[unfortunate17]

I have been thinking about both Wille’s and Simon’s character progression throughout the series and I have realized that it sort of looks like Wille has a pretty good character progression and has been pretty profoundly affected by Simon and their relationship (in a good way). But I don’t really see any of that for Simon. It sort of look alike he has had more things “taken away” by their relationship. He has lost his privacy, and gets hate to the point where he has had to delete his SM and he gets a rock thrown his window. In a way if they hadn’t gotten back together, it looks like all Simon would’ve gained from this period is trauma. Do you think he gained any positive things from this relationship (in the case they hadn’t gotten back together)?

So I’ve spent a long time thinking about this since you sent me this and I have a lot of thoughts about it, but they’re kind of all botched together. Hopefully I do a decent job explaining myself:

In my opinion, Simon definitely has an arc, it’s just more subtle and not as “flashy” as Wilhelm’s. This is genuinely fine with me for multiple reasons: 1. Simon just isn’t the main character of this story - Wilhelm is. So he’s not going to be the one to go on a life-altering journey 2. Simon, narratively, functions has the moral compass around which Wilhelm centers his life around. He’s there to push Wilhelm into embarking on this life-altering journey.

That being said, Simon’s story arc is really simple and very personal, but no less beautiful. We start in S1 with Simon being loudly himself, and Wilhelm adoring him for it, but this quickly becomes an issue - namely, Wilhelm starts to lowkey take advantage of Simon’s generosity and kindness, and ultimately betrays him. Which is why we get that big argument with Sara where she accuses him of “letting people piss all over him.”

Moving into S2, we see a Simon who’s taken that conversation to heart - he’s firm with his boundaries, he doesn’t want to give Wilhelm a second chance, he doesn’t want to forgive because he thinks Wilhelm isn’t sorry. Then, he has another conversation with Sara, where she basically tells him, hey, love is crazy, it makes you do crazy things. And yes, she’s projecting here, but once again, Simon takes her words to heart and decides to follow his feelings. He essentially “gives in” to his love for Wille and decides that no matter what, he wants to make this relationship work because he’s in love, damnit, and he wants to be with Wille no matter what.

And this is the mindset that Simon enters S3 with. That’s why we see him making himself small and trying to appease everyone. He’s just so in love, and he wants it to work so badly, until he just can’t anymore. Notably, he doesn’t end things for his own sake - he does it for Wilhelm. He sees that being with Simon is hurting him because it’s allowing Wille to use him as an emotional crutch and stay stagnant in life. So he leaves, starts to close himself off again. And then - dun dun dun - he has another conversation with Sara. He tells her, damn, you were right, I need to stop being a pushover and she shoots back with no Simon, YOU were right, we should give people second chances. And thus, Simon gets out of the car and gives Wille one more chance.

So what does Simon gain out of all of this? Basically, he’s learning to trust himself and his feelings. His entire arc is him basically learning: hey, my morals were right from the start! This is how I want to live my life! Which makes sense really because this is the role he’s playing in Wilhelm’s arc. And it’s not a particularly sexy discovery, but it’s a really powerful thing to learn, especially in your teenage years.

As for specifically Simon’s relationship with Wilhelm and what he gained from that outside of his arc: Wilhelm adores Simon for exactly who he is. And I think it’s a really profound, valuable thing to experience what it feels like to be loved and be in love with someone who really sees you and wants to stick by you through thick and thin. In many ways, Simon has always had to earn love, but he never has to earn Wilhelm’s love. And that’s kind of life-altering in and of itself - to know that love like that exists and that you are deserving of it.

But what do I know fr 😭

[bewaryofpity]

jack's sooooo clingy he follows you everywhere like a lost puppy, especially after a long day of not seeing you.

jack has been following you around since you came back from work, yapping about anything and everything that has happened to him since you left this morning. and you’re not surprised because he has the habit of lingering close to you when you’ve been gone for a while, especially on his rare days off. today is no different.

he does follow you everywhere like a very grown and very loyal puppy, today more than ever as he followed you to the bathroom where you're trying to get ready for your night routine. he’s sitting on top of the toilet seat, babbling about his day out with nico that obviously consisted of hockey related things.

you snicker to yourself when jack doesn't realize that you're taking longer than usual to get unready, or that he’s talking for this long, but you know how much he hates boredom so you let him be. it’s just that you weren’t expecting this.

it’s cute, yes, but now you’re more interested in seeing how long he’ll yap for or rather how long he’ll stay here with you. so you finish taking your makeup off before pulling the shower curtain back and twisting the knob to turn on the water and adjusting it to the right temperature. the idea that he could easily stalk you into the shower makes you smile so you play along to his not so little rant.

“and then nico lured me to the rink because apparently the kids were practicing and he wanted to surprise them. not that i didn’t like that but then their coach didn’t look too pleased, the kids were distracted for the rest of the practice, obviously.”

you hum, “is it because they took nico’s attention off you?”

“Uh, n-no. i mean i was the one hanging out with him first, so.” he mumbles “but that’s not the point!”

jack huffs, changing into a criss cross position on top of the toilet. and it’s taking everything in you to not laugh at him because he looks like a child, pout on his lips and looking so small in this position.

“well then, was it fun at least?”

“duh, baby.” hands flailing around him. “the kids loved it, they kept asking us questions and some didn’t make sense –they were like four years old, you know– and like, we had to stop for even longer because they wanted us to sign some of their stuff.”

that must be why he also took longer to text you throughout his day.

“i bet, love.” you nod along, pulling your hair up in a bun so it doesn’t get wet in the shower, finally at the right hot temperature. “i’ll shower now if you don’t mind.”

“oh, now?” eyes wide like you told a child you’ll leave him in the parking lot.

“i mean, we’re in the bathroom, and i’m in a towel, and it’s been a long day. so yes, now.”

and jack’s cheeks have a faint pink tint as he shamelessly watches you unravel your towel and step in the shower. totally not because he saw you naked for a split second, it’s just the steam from the really hot shower, right?

“uh yeah, okay” he says as he stand up. “i’ll get unready too before i go then.”

you hum in reply as you go on about your shower, but you’re actually simply standing under the water, trying to keep an ear out for his movements and words.

suddenly he’s taking his sweet time to wash his face and you think he might start brushing his teeth soon too for the hell of it.

but his talking doesn’t stop at all. he blurts out random thoughts in between before going on to ramble about some hockey plays he’s been looking over, asks you what you had for lunch. he even asks you which body wash you’re currently using –which is none yet because trying not to laugh is revealing to be harder than you thought. he’s truly finding the most random topics to fill the silence.

and the talking does finally stop, but it’s replaced by jack’s whistling, clearly out of things to say. yet you know your boyfriend better than he thinks so you know very well what he’s thinking about.

“you still there, jacky?” you call wittingly. you can see his blurry figure through the shower curtain, an excited nod coming from his silhouette.

and you bite your lip as one of his hands reaches to scratch at the back of his neck. “i guess i’ll go now. uhm… i’ll wait for you to come out. i’ll get us take out, anything you’re craving? because if you want there’s a new italian place down the street that luke suggested to me and he says it's really good, so i think maybe–”

omg he’s so cute.

you pull the curtain back, just with your head peeping out to find jack with one hand hovering the door handle, still lingering around.

“jacky?”

“yeah baby, what’s up?”

“do you want to shower with me?”

and like a kid opening presents on christmas morning, his eyes light up so quickly. his head shakes with an overly enthusiastic nod, and he’s already clumsy in pulling off his clothes that he almost trips getting his sweatpants off. you’re not surprised at all, the lack of grace and coordination are not exclusive to when he’s on the ice.

a stupid, wide, boyish grin spreads over his lips when he finally steps into the shower in front of you. 

“hi, baby,” he grins, leaning forward to hold your face in his hands and peck your nose.

“you know, if you wanted to join me, you could’ve just asked.” your smile now matching his. jack squishes your cheeks between his palms, “well, where’s the fun in that?”

[lady-griffin]

I do disagree with this or at least parts of it.

Viktor making a human error is beyond accurate though.

Despite Viktor’s claims about being “evolved” and the god-like imagery surrounding him, he’s still a flawed human; this is made especially clear when Viktor said the Z-Drive couldn’t exist as he was obviously wrong as it very much did exist and was about to explode in his face.

But I don’t think Viktor (through Warwick or some other means) not seeing Ekko because he was under the rubble makes a whole lot of sense.

If that was the case, it would’ve made more sense for only two sky tendrils to go into the Hexgates, not three, since Ekko was partially covered up by the rubble from the start.

Or even better, showing the tendril meant for Ekko overlooking him, but we're not shown that; instead, we're shown Jinx dodging a tendril and it dissipating right after it missed her.

This happens extremely fast and it’s beyond easy to miss; even I just assumed the tendril stopped existing, rather than noticed we start seeing it disappear. I mean don't get me wrong, they could've made this a lot more overt in my opinion, but it is there.

And it does make sense to me that the tendrils are "one shots" when we look at them visually; when they're coming down they slightly come apart, but not completely.

This gives the impression that they're not exactly stable forms of energy, but once they connect to someone that breakage stops completely and they become solid, stable lines.

Even though strands slightly pull away from the main tendril they don't disappear, rather they rejoin the main tendril a bit further down; so, if the main tendril no longer exists, it make sense to me we would see the strands dissipating.

Furthermore, because Viktor messed with the gravity of the Hexgates, Ekko isn’t actually hidden underneath the rubble by the time the sky tendrils come from them.

We’re even specifically shown the rubble floating off of a him a few minutes before the sky tendrils make their appearance.

So, it doesn’t make sense to me that Viktor (directly or indirectly) didn’t notice Ekko or lost track of him, as a tendril was sent for him and aside from floating a bit, he didn't move.

Also, if Ekko was only spared because Viktor didn’t "see" him, then what happened to that third tendril? Why don’t we see it continue to exist? Searching for him? Wouldn't that also imply the tendrils don't last if they don't find/reach their target?

The sky tendril missing Jinx and disintegrating right after, leading to either Viktor himself or the tendrils following some kind of “preexisting directive,” prioritizing Jinx and thus sending the one originally meant for Ekko after her makes a lot more sense based on what we're shown.

This is still Viktor making a human error, because three tendrils were sent down to the Hexgates, but only two people were connected.

Viktor either didn’t realize or care one person wasn’t connected.

Which makes sense, at that point Viktor was beyond certain of his victory and arrogant in how he “saved” humanity from itself; why would he bother to notice or care about something as insignificant as one person not being connected? How could one person stop him?

And then along came Ekko.

One of my favorite details from the finale is how three sky tendrils go into the Hexgates to take Vi, Jinx, and Ekko.

But Jinx dodges one of them.

This at first seems like a false victory, since she’s immediately grabbed by Warwick and another one just takes her.

But it’s not a false victory. The one that took Jinx was originally meant for Ekko, who was an unconscious duck at the time.

Because Jinx dodged the first sky tendril, Ekko remained disconnected from Viktor’s hivemind – which as you know, was kind of a major factor in the whole stopping the apocalypse from happening.

It’s this small, short-lived triumphant moment that seemingly doesn’t matter and yet it was essential to Ekko's major triumph in the end.

So yeah, I just really love that detail.

Also, I couldn't resist putting the flash frame of Ekko here, because my god, the art in this show is beyond amazing.

[ttheggrimrreaper]

12 days of Christmas, Day 5

Five Golden Rings

Married, Aged up Reo Mikage x NB!reader

Extra: Miri Mikage (Adopted or biological daughter, depends on what the reader chooses)

"Miri my love.... Did you take Daddy's rings?" Reo spoke softly, trying to be silly with the girl that sat in his lap, but you could hear the stress in his voice.

Reos five golden rings. He had five, and only five. Those meant a lot to him, resembling things that happened in his life that he truly cared about. You both were seated on the couch, Miri sitting in his lap as he tried to coax her into telling him if she took his rings.

"nuh uh!!" She giggled, clapping her hands before hugging him. Reo looked over to you with a strained smile and wide eyes as he gently patted her head with a shaky hand.

"Miri honey, we really need those rings..." You spoke softly, leaning forward to rest a hand on your daughter's shoulder. She looked at you and just smiled.

"If you can give Daddy his rings back, we will all go out for ice cream!" Reo had a habit of promising a reward, for confessing to a lie. Not the best idea, but he was desperate right now.Miri pulled away from Reo and looked up to him with excited eyes.

"Really?!" She squealed when Reo shook his head rapidly, eyes filling with hope. "Mmmmm.. I don't know where I put them." She shrugged, and you saw the terror in Reos eyes. "oh!! I think I know!! Follow me!" Miri quickly crawled out of Reos lap and ran off. Reo wasted no time in sprinting after her.

She ran to the closet bathroom, it was a large house., occasionally both you and Miri would get lost. "In here!!!" She grabbed her shampoo bottle and was about to pull the cap off and dump it all out. Reo beat her to it. Snatched the stupid pink bubble gum shampoo bottle and dumped it in his free hand. Once emptied, he found... Nothing.

"Just add that to the shopping list...." You murmered as you looked through the cabinets, rummaging through everything searching for any hint of a golden ring.

"daddy!! You're so silly!! It's in the blue one!!" Miri giggled, grabbing the blue bottle that was right behind the pink one. Her conditioner. She shakily dumped the contents of it into Reos sticky hands, as he carefully shifted through the paste he sighed once he felt the cold metal.

"there it is..." He stood and went to the sink to wash away any of the blue mess that was still on his hands. Once done he dried off the ring and put it on his pinky finger.

His promise ring. When you and Reo had first gone out you mentioned promise rings as a joke... Only to find that Reo had taken it seriously and purchased two gold rings... Because apparently rich people can't get the cheap versions of stuff. You had your promise ring on a necklace, it was easier to keep track of that way. In fact, you were wearing that necklace right now.

"yay!!! Now let's go find the others!" Miri cheered as she grabbed your hand and dragged you along, more like you let her drag you but still. Reo following hot on your trail. Then you entered the kitchen. "In the knife drawer!"

"sorry what!?" Reo momentarily forgot about the rings, what was his FIVE year old daughter doing with big knives!? You only kept the big ones in the knife drawer, and that drawer wasn't even a drawer. It was a small box on a shelf. So this 'knife drawer' that your daughter was getting into was concerning. Although, your and Reos nerves were quickly calmed when she pointed to the utensil drawer. You kept some butter knives there so she must have gotten confused. Reo was quick to get back in the game, Miri could just barely see over the drawer. Reo shuffled through the utensil drawer until he held up another small ring.

"...why?" We're his only words. The bathroom one made sense, she wanted to hide it. But in the utensil drawer? What could have possibly made her hide this one here?

"I wanted some toat with butter! But I couldn't get the knife to spend the butter!"

"how did you toast the toast!?" You gasped out, the toaster wasn't even out on the counter.

"from the snack drawer...What do you mean toast the toast?" She looked shocked. And now it made sense. To her, all bread was toast, and in her attempt to reach a butter knife she left the ring.

"Miri.. if we find the other three rings we will get you ice cream and toast with butter!" Miri looked amazed with Reos offer. Toast and Ice cream!? Best day ever for little girl. She immediately ran off once more, Reo dropped the other two rings in your hand as he followed.

"Check in our room, specifically under our bed." He said before he left. Miri liked to hide under there, so there was a chance she took one of the rings with her. You nodded, looking at the two rings you had. The promise ring, and the anniversary ring... He had got you both matching rings with each other's names on them. Your ring had his name, and his had yours. You looked down at the engraving. As stressful as this situation was... Seeing the engraving made your heart warm. Your anniversary ring was also on the same necklace as your promise ring. You don't know what you would do if you lost them... Well, actually you did. The same thing Reo was doing right now.

Kneel down with your phone in your hand as you reach under the bed, flashlight on the other rings on his night table. "Come on now.. where are you." You mumbled to yourself. Finally after moving past forgotten clothing, you felt cold metal, the gold glinting in the light. This ring was one you got for him! You smiled at the memory. It had a singular soccer ball engraved on the inside of it, and you thought he would love it, and he did. That's three rings down.

Standing up and setting the ring with the other on the night table. Three rings., out of five. Hopefully he could find the other two.

"hey.... I put Miri to bed. Promised her toast and butter for breakfast, and ice cream for lunch.." Reo said as he walked in, you sat down on the bed. He sounded defeated. "Found another ring. The one you and Miri picked out for my birthday." He sat down next to you, leaning on you.

"then we're just missing one more! Which one is it?"

"Engagement ring,,," he took your hand, the one with your own engagement ring on it. You frowned,,. The one he deemed to be most important. He sighed, laying back. You followed, grabbing a pillow to put under your head.

"what... What is that?" You mumbled to yourself as you felt something round between your head and the pillow. Lifting your head, Reo still pouting as he looked to the ceiling. Looked down you saw the feint out line of a ring. Between the pillow sheet! "Reo!" You yelled as you fished it out, holding it up. At first he barely responded. Just side eyeing you, but then sat up and snatched the ring from you. He wasted no time in putting it on.

"and that's five." He hummed as he hugged you. The stress from today's adventures forgotten. "We gotta teach Miri not to steal however."

"says the one rewarding her with ice cream when she tells you she stole" you snapped back, Reo chuckled and pressed a kiss to your temple.

"yeah yeah. Thanks for the help Y/n"

"If it's for you, I would do anything to help." You smiled, the snake starting to build up against the window causing a white glow to the floor just below it. It was a stressful day, but in the end, it just reminded you that Reo really did love you.

Day 4 Day 6

Masterlist

[chiaseed149]

Arcane S2 Rant (Felicia and her Daughters)

This is just a rant off the dome about the inclusion of Felicia into the arcane s2 narrative and why the show massively fumbled it imo

I may be reaching but something about Arcane s2 that really rubbed me the wrong way was that the narrative made it lowkey feel like Jinx was more Felicia's daughter than Vi was.

There are countless visual and character parallels made between Jinx and Felicia (especially in episode 5 and 7) isn't inherently bad but when coupled with the fact that Vi has none; it doesn't sit right with me.If anything, Vi should be more like Felicia because she knew her longer and yet we see a majority of Felicia's legacy through Jinx instead. From mannerisms to looks to philosophy, it's all from a woman that Jinx most likely does not remember vividly.

also the inclusion of Silco partially taking Powder in because she is Felicia's daughter like Vi isn't equally her daughter. Now knowing how close Silco was to Felicia AND young Vi makes it so much more sinister the lengths he went to cause her harm knowing full well who she is. Like he wanted that girl DEAD and yet is implied to have cared for Felicia and her children as Vander did ABSOLUTELY NOT. I can no longer accept the argument that Silco saw Vi as more Vander's child than Felicia's when Jinx spent the same amount of time and her more formative childhood development years with him...

I wish we had gotten one of the childhood flashbacks from Vi's point of view (we already have countless flashbacks on Vi's part of Caitlyn and Vander, what's one more of her actual mother) because she was a ful 10 years old when Felicia dies and yet we never really see her mention it. Especially with how much we see Caitlyn deal with the loss of her mother, it would have been really insightful for Vi to take about losing her own mother in a similar fashion just on the otherside of the war (but this would require the writers to not be cowards and actually have meaningful and challenging, nuanced conversations between Vi and other characters... the writers really did not like doing that this season). Ideally, I think the flashback should have happened at the end of epsiode 9 when Vander dies again -- in this, I think it should have been a flashback of ALL the things people Vi has lost at this point (Felicia, her father, vander, mylo, claggor, her youth, powder, warwick, etc...) but the narrative doesn't allow vi to have these moments of vulnerability so i guess not.

Alas, I think that the inclusion of Felicia was entirely for Jinx's benefit which is really disappointing because I feel like a lot of things were also done for her benefit when the story is about two sisters, not about a girl and her sister's girlfriend while the sister in question is left to simply react to their actions.

[slimybeth69]

Touch: Part 3

Summary: You take a solo trip to the market while Din and The Child do... Din and The Child...things.

warnings: explicit 18+, oral (f & m receiving), fondling, reader gives Din a fashion show.

a/n: I know so very little about the Star Wars universe. I dunno shit about fuck when it comes to planets and ships and how things work. You'll see what I mean in later chapters, but I'm just warning you that I make a bunch of shit up, and am probably entirely incorrect about some of the things I may talk about in this chapter or upcoming chapters. I'M SORRY. I JUST LOVE THAT HELMETED MAN AND HIS GREEN CHILD, OK???

unbeta'd, poorly proofread because of my AHDH

“Why? Why do you have to go? You’ve gone and come back and gone and come back what feels like a million times.” You’re on the verge of tears. Not because he said he has to go again but because you woke up in the same field you’ve been in for the last week. “If you haven’t found wha-” He interrupts your outburst with a stern clearing of his throat. You roll your eyes and hold the baby close on your hip. 

“I have found what I’m looking for. I have thing’s I need to attend to here. You need to rel-” He stops himself when you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Were you going to tell me to relax? ” You sneer quietly. “That’s all I do! It’s all we do all the time. You don’t let us leave the perimeter you set up for us. You don’t ever let us come with you. You just leave. I don’t know if you noticed this, Mando , but this is a baby. Babies need stimulation. Not being cooped up in the same place all the- honestly– you know what? Me. I need stimulation. I need something to do besides look at this cute baby all day and night when you’re not here. Something.” You rattle it all off, sometimes looking down at the baby, sometimes pointing at him to make sure he knows you’re talking to him. 

You’re upset.

Din is staring at you. Not speaking. He’s fastening his cape. You stare back as menacing as you can, which you don’t think is a lot. You’re not very intimidating. But you’re trying . While still holding the child who is playing with the buttons on your shirt. 

“I’ll be back tonight and we will leave, I should have things sorted by then.” Din finally speaks. He doesn’t sound sincere.

“That still doesn’t ‘sort out’ the issue of the child and I being bored. I need something. Anything. Stuff to sew, something for him to play with isn’t dead bugs and pebbles. He needs more than this.” You hold your hand out to the very un-child safe hull of the ship around you. “Something!” 

Din takes a step forward in your direction and you think he might yell at you but he holds his arms out for the child. The child reaches for him. You hand him off and step back, crossing your arms over your chest in frustration. 

“You want things to sew ?” Din asks, sounding like he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. 

“ How do you think clothes get made? Hm?” You’re being sassy in your frustration.

“I know what sewing is.” He says dully. “I mean, you want to sew? You know how?” He holds the child in the crook of his elbow and gives him a couple fingers to play with. 

“Yes and yes and I’d love some fabric or something to sew for the child. He’s only got the robe and it stinks. Bad. I don’t know if you can tell under the helmet.” You huff at him and turn to walk back to the bed so you can sit. 

“There’s a market.” He says after a minute. “You want to go?” 

It’s like you’re seeing double– no triple because is he asking you if you want to leave the ship and the perimeter? Yes! Yes you do! You have credits saved up and could buy yourself things and not have to rely on Din for anything and that makes you feel so incredible. 

“Are you asking me if I want to come with you?” 

He shakes his head.

“I have business. I’ll take the child. I’ll drop you at the market and you can come back here when you’re done.” He explains. You furrow your brows. 

“What if I get lost?” You are curious and a little nervous now.

“Don’t get lost.” Said so simply. 

“What if I do?” You’re demanding an answer that isn’t sass.  

“I’d come find you. I wouldn’t just let you wander lost .” He’s not amused with you. 

“Okay. Yes, I do want to go.” You slap your hands on your knees.

“Here’s a blaster pistol.” He reaches behind his cape and pulls one off of the belt behind him. 

You go wide eyed because you’ve never held one of those before, let alone carried one on your hip with the intention of using it if you needed it.

“I don’t know how to use that!” You exclaim, backing away from it nervously. 

“Trigger.” He points to a part of the pistol near the handle. He aims the gun away from both of you and then looks at you. “Aim.” He nods. “Then you pull.” 

You close your eyes in fear and anticipation but he doesn’t actually pull the trigger, he was just giving you a quick rundown of how it worked but still. Scary. 

“Stop it. It’s not that bad.” He’s still not amused from behind the helmet.

“I’ve never even held one!” You exclaim, putting your hands on your hips.

“If you don’t take it, you don’t go.” He’s serious. You frown at him. 

“Where do I even put it?” You ask nervously. 

He comes to you quickly and shows you where the safety is– the switch that will keep it from shooting if you don’t want it to– also how to switch it back and forth. Din then moves behind you, untucks your shirt from your pants the best he can with the blaster in one hand the kid in the other arm and slides the cool metal of the blaster into the waistband. He keeps your shirt untucked. 

“No one will see it this way. But you know it’s there. Makes you feel safe. I feel safe knowing you have it.” His raspy modulated voice in your ear makes your head spin. 

“I don’t know how safe I feel with a blaster pistol in my pants .” You snark at him.

All you can  really think about was the other night when you got to see him. He was perfect, Maker oh was he perfect. His skin was slightly tan and he had a little body hair on his chest and stomach that really let you know he was a man. A real grown man. It’s all you’ve been able to doodle on your little scraps of notebook the child chewed up. 

Maker, his unmodulated voice is… there are no words. They’re warm and inviting but they give you shivers at the same time. Maker, let me hear it again.

The walk to the market is kind of long and now you’re kind of worried about getting back on your own. You can see why he gave you the blaster. It does feel good knowing it’s there in your waistband, even if it is digging into you a little uncomfortably. 

“Do you ever get tired of the helmet? Like is it annoying and you’re like ‘oh my Maker, I wish I could take this thing off?’ Or is it pretty comfortable?” You ask after a bunch of one worded answers with minutes in between them. 

“I don’t hate it.” Din says finally. 

You give up trying to talk to him. He’s not the same man you know from back at the ship. He’s a bounty hunter out here. You think. You don’t know. He hasn’t returned with the bounty yet.. So… who knows why he’s here. 

Once you reach the edge of the market, Din puts one hand on your shoulder and stops you. You look back at him with a raised brow. 

“Please be careful. I don’t want to have to come hunt you down. Be back to the Crest before it gets dark. I’ll be back tonight. Be careful.” Din’s very serious. It’s kind of scary the way the helmet looks down at you so menacingly. You feel like you’ve done something wrong. 

“I took care of myself fine before I met you, didn’t I?” You ask, pulling your shoulder out  of his grasp. “I’ll be careful but I’ll also be fine. You should be careful. You’ve got my favorite thing on your hip.” You untuck his cape and check on the child in his side bag. 

“I’ll see you soon.” You rub his little forehead with your index finger and then your heart breaks when he reaches for you and you have to tuck him back in. You hear him whining from under the cape. “I mean it. Be careful.” You point a finger at Din and he shakes his head at you softly. “I love him so much, please. This is the first time I haven’t been with him since you threw me on the Crest that day. I love him.” You express this seriously. No tones, no silly remarks. He is your baby too now, whether Din likes it or not. 

“Okay. I’ll be careful.” He turns to leave. “But you need to be careful too.” Then he turns and reaches into another pocket somewhere hidden behind his cape. He pulls out a handful of credits. 

You hold your hands out and he drops them into the bowl you’ve created with them. Two fall on the ground and you have to dump the handful into your bag so you can pick them up. 

“What do you need me to get you?” You’re still grabbing the dropped credits when his silence makes you look up at him. “I’ll grab it, just let me know what you want.” You’re explaining it up to him because he’s got his head tilted at you like he doesn’t understand. 

“I don’t need anything.” 

“Okay so what are the credits for? The kid? What do you wa-” He stops you, a hand on your chest gently.

“They’re yours.” Raspy modulator monotone voice says to you. You raise an eyebrow. He paid you your credits for the week before he left a couple days ago and he just gave you far more than seventy five credits. 

“Like an advance?” You’re confused. 

Din’s hand falls from your chest and it drops carefully by the child. You hear him coo and babble quietly from behind the fabric.

“No.”

Sometimes, you wish you didn’t have to extract information from this man like teeth get pulled out. Slow and painfully. 

“Then what are they for because I don-” He stops you again, this time he just points to the market. 

“To get things. That you like or want. I don’t care. They’re yours now. Do what you will with them. Go. Carefully.” He’s stern with you again. You’re very grateful and love that he’s just given you this plentiful gift, he really didn’t have to, you had brought almost all the credits you saved up since you’ve been here. 

“Thank you.” You say and turn on your heel. You don’t turn around to call out to him. “Be careful with that child. I’ll know if he’s got new cuts or bruises.” And you walk into the market.

The market might be the most interesting place you’ve ever been. You had never left Canto Bight. Not once. You worked as a tender and sometimes a waitress at the casino for as long as you can remember. You’ve never been to a place like this. Have never had credits like this to spend. The credits you made all went to the woman whose house you rented a room in. It was a nice room and she cooked for you and was okay, not the nicest. She wasn’t terrible. 

Din had called it the Outpost something. You don’t really remember. Outpost Market. Something. You had been worried the whole walk here that something was going to happen to either of them. It’s scary out here. It’s been a long time since people were brushing past you. Since the noise of voices and conversations and normal living noises filled the air. It was overwhelming. 

The first thing you had to do was get a bigger bag, something that could hold all the stuff you were planning on buying. It was so exciting to hand credits to someone in a stall and just pop it in your brand new bag. 

You buy so many things. There is a toy shop and you buy the kid a couple things that you don’t think will fit in his mouth. Then you go to a clothing store and buy new things. All. New. Things.

Everything you are wearing now is going into the fire when you get home tonight. It’s not even worth washing. It’s either itchy or has holes in it and you’re tired of patching and sewing them up. You end up getting all of the other things you need to make the child a new robe or two. He seems to like his little outfit so you don’t plan on changing it all… just making more because he stinks so bad. So bad. It’s almost unbearable. It’s starting to cut right through the cuteness.

No one really bothers you. Probably because you keep your head down and your bags clutched to your chest and side nervously like all of these people– who are just carrying on about their day, not paying you any attention– are going to try and take them from you. Your precious new things. 

You spend most of the day there. You buy yourself and Din and the child treats from a shop that had them in the window. You spent so long looking that the owner came out and asked if you wanted to sample. You had to wipe the drool from the corners of your mouth because yes you did and you also wanted four to go. 

One for tomorrow. 

It was a little tart. You had no idea what was in it but when the owner handed you a piece your mouth watered so bad you almost did drool onto the counter. But then you bit into it, your eyes rolled into the back of your head because flavors like this have never graced your taste buds before. Not even as a child. No. This was amazing and you had him add two more because you knew the child would love it just as much as you and would want more than one. 

They were tiny. He’d be fine.

He eats bugs. 

The walk home was the scariest part because you got distracted at the sweets shoppe and it ended up getting dark halfway through. You ended up just taking the blaster out of your waistband and carrying it in your hand with the safety off . Because it’s scary. There are noises coming out of the trees on either side of you and you can swear you can hear someone walking behind you but every time you turn around to look there isn’t anyone there and you stop hearing the footsteps. You tell yourself that you’re hearing the echoes of your own walking and carry on. 

You speed back to the Crest as it grows darker. The footsteps behind you sound eerily closer than before but you cannot stop to look back because you’re too scared. Your heart is pounding in your chest so fast you think it’s going to make you fly away. It’s too much. You should have paid more attention to the time. You should have listened to Din. 

You get to the Crest and half expect someone to grab you as your hands touch it because the footsteps sound so close but you spin around, hands ready to hit the person behind you but there isn’t anyone there. You tell yourself that you’re just scared in the dark. Usually, unless Din is there.

All the lights are off in the Crest. That’s weird. It’s still so early. The sun just went down, it just got dark. The child definitely wouldn’t be sleeping. Not this early. You didn't think Din would be either. You turn them on and the ship is empty. No one was here. The ship’s been locked up since this morning when you all left together. 

Din said he would be back tonight and it just started being tonight so you try and calm your already and still racing heart. Get a fire started. Those always make you feel better and you can throw these dirty clothes in there and burn them.

Maybe stand by the fire naked. It would feel good. No one was around. 

So you do just that.

You start the fire like you always do and once it’s a decent size you take off your thin, tattered shirt and toss it in the flames. The mix of cool air and heat from the flames on you is delightful. It makes your nipples stand with excitement and the chill. Next thing into the fire are your pants that have split in the seat twice. You’ve sewn them up twice. They burn easily as they are itchy and you think they were made with grass. So it makes sense.

You stand by the fire naked like that for a while. 

You then decide that you’re going to jump into the river. Wash all the yuck from those clothes off. It’s so cold, but so refreshing at the same time. It doesn’t take long and you rush back to warm inviting heat of the flames. 

You turn occasionally and feel the fire on your back and legs and all over. It’s incredible. But you do feel exposed and you don’t have night vision to see what or who is actually out in the dark so you go and get one of your blankets and wrap it around your shoulders. Opting to stay naked, but be concealed. 

The firewood in the pile next to the Crest is getting low now. Your hair is completely dry. You’ve been waiting for them to come back. You thought about going inside to wait but it’s almost as scary inside all by yourself. It’s getting scarier and scarier out here too but you’re watching the path, waiting for Din to materialize from the darkness.

Maker, please keep them safe. Please please keep them safe. 

You wait for the fire to die down and then head back inside. You grab your brand new, un-chewed notebook and charcoal you bought today. You keep all the lights on. You don’t care how bright they are. You doodle what his face might look like, since he told you that you were in fact wrong about that too. 

You know you’ll never find out and that makes you sad. You turn the page and start to draw the child’s ears. And then his big cute eyes. You end up doodling him eating the tart you bought him. That makes you sad too.

You don’t fall asleep because they don’t come back.

Finally, hours and hours later, finally the door to the Crest opens and you know the sound of his boots on the ramp by now. You jump out of bed, not even caring that you’re still naked and start speeding to meet him. You don’t have far to go. 

Din, with the child in the crook of his elbow, walks around the corner and as he sees you walking naked towards him, he covers the child's eyes. 

“Where have you been?!”You’re angry. So angry you still don’t care you don’t have any clothes on. 

“I-I was at-attending b-business like I said.” You’ve caught him off guard being naked and all. 

“You said you’d be home last night!” You’re starting to get annoyed. The child hears your voice, he can’t see you but he can hear you and he’s squirming in Din’s arms, reaching out for you. You go to reach for him but step back, looking around for something to wrap around you but there isn’t anything. Just metal. 

Din sees your predicament. It’s getting harder to restrain the child so he turns his back to you. He undoes his cape, now that the child is looking the opposite way. He’s still facing the other direction when he extends his arm backwards, with his cape in his hand. 

“Here. Please.” He shakes the fabric impatiently. “He’s squirming and I can barely hold on to him.”

You rush and wrap the cape around your chest, under your arms so you can hold the child. 

Din gives him to you happily. Eagerly almost. The child is nearly as excited as you are. You snuggle each other and you run your finger across his forehead.

“I missed you. Yes I did and I got you so many things.” You coo to him softly as you continue to rub his forehead. You glare at Din. “Has he slept?” Din nods and then shakes his head and then nods again. That's the only response you get from him.

“Where are your clothes?” He asks while tilting his head to the side gently. 

You blink at him. For a while.

“What kind of answer is–” You mock what he did to you with your head all over in many motions, but he interrupts you.

“ That’s shaking .”

You stop and blink at him again. Maker, he’s asking for it. He really is. 

“I’m taking him to bed. Because neither of us has slept yet. Or did. Maybe. No one seems to know.” You stare at him. “And I burned my clothes.” You turn and leave din standing in the entrance of the ship.

Din follows quickly behind you though. He has questions.

“You burned all your clothes. You’re just going to be like this all the time?” He sounds amazed and a little concerned. “What about the-” You turn and look at him.

“I bought new ones. You wish to the stars I’d be like this all the time.” You kind of lightheartedly sneer at him. You are still a little mad. This messes up the baby's schedule in way you don’t think he understands. 

Out all night gallivanting around all night with a child. A child?

“I do.” His raspy modulator voice makes you close your eyes for a moment and you think of it with no distortion. 

“Really?” You know he’s serious. You don’t think he’d lie to you.

“Yes. I do. You’re so beautiful.” He’s gazing at you up and down like he can see through his cape that’s draped around you.. “Did you buy yourself nice things?” He asks, his gaze falls onto your face. You think. 

You nod. 

“I’d like it if you showed me.”

You blink at him, still holding the child. 

“Now?” You’re tired and honestly still kind of mad at him. He shakes his head and touches your elbow gently. 

“No. When you want. I just want to see you in them and-” He looks you up and down again slowly. “Look as you change.” He’s whispering because the child has fallen asleep in your arms at the gentle touch of your fingertips on his forehead. 

“Okay.” Normally you are alarmed at his requests but the things he wants to do to you and want to watch you do are not strange to you anymore. You’re not surprised honestly. “I have to go to bed. Tired. Sleep.” You grumble, laying the child in his orb. You go to lay on your mat to go to sleep but you remember his cape. 

You unwrap it from around you and hand it to him. He stares at you. 

“Please take it.” You whine and his gloved fingers brush against yours as he takes it from your hand.

“Beautiful. I can’t take my eyes away.” He’s in awe again. You wave your hand at him. “Please, sleep in my bed. You need good rest. Please.” You appease him this time and get right into those beautiful sheets.

Din goes to shut the ship down. Lock it all up. Child proof it. The lights go off and you close your eyes. You're asleep almost immediately. It’s so nice to close your eyes and not have them snap open remembering that the baby isn’t asleep in the same room as you. You can hear the metal of the beskar clanking as he takes it off. Then silence. And you’re so thankful because you were about to yell at him to be quiet.

And then you feel him crawling over you in bed, so he can be behind you. You almost jump out but it’s like he’s anticipating it and catches you by the waist. 

“If you really want to go, I’ll let you. But I want to share the bed.” He whispers into your ear, no rasp or modulator voice. You go limp against him and let the heat of his body– which is still so incredibly hot– warm you from the back. It feels so incredible to have another person pressed against you. 

“I’ll stay. Tonight.” You lay your head back down on the pillow. 

Din starts to trail feather soft kisses up your arm, starting at your wrist. He doesn’t stop until he’s at your shoulder and then he licks you softly. 

“Are you asleep, little one?” He whispers gently. 

You almost were. 

“Yes.” You mumble softly. “Are you not tired?” You whisper, turning slightly so you're pressed against him harder. 

“Not anymore.” He whispers and you feel his warm breath on your lips. It’s so good. He’s so good. It makes your stomach flutter when he does that. You expect him to kiss you but he doesn’t. Got your hopes up. 

“I’m tired. So tired. Why can’t we do this in the morning?” You bargain. 

“It’s the morni-” 

You both suddenly realize that it’s not as dark in the ship as it had been two minutes ago.

You accidentally hit yourself in the nose trying to cover your eyes so you don’t accidentally see. He’s scrambling over you before your hands even get to your eyes. You groan loudly; the pain brings tears to your eyes as you blindly roll out of his bed. 

“Maker. Din. I’m sorry.” You’re scrambling on the floor to your mat, trying desperately to feel with your hands, your eyes shut tightly now. “I can’t find my mat!” You exclaim through a whisper. 

The child starts to cry. 

And so do you.

It’s getting lighter and lighter in the ship as you walk to your bag and grab a new shirt and the pants you bought. You put them on with tears in your eyes. 

“We have to leave anyway. Bring him in the bed again and sleep as much as you can. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.” He’s behind you. He’s got his helmet back on and pants but that’s it. You reach out and touch his chest. You startle him.

“I had to make sure that I’m actually awake and that this isn’t a nightmare.” 

He actually laughs at you. 

“I did it.” You cheer with no enthusiasm. “I made the mandalorian laugh.” You walk over to the child– he’s sitting in the middle of the orb with his arms outstretched. Crying. “I’m coming.” You try to calm him, but the sound of your voice makes him cry harder and move his little arms around. 

You pick him up and immediately get in bed. You two are snuggled into each other, he’s basically asleep in your armpit before you two are under the covers. 

Din watches, amused.

You are happy. You’re flying again and not on the ground and the child is happy with his new toys. Loved the tart, just like you thought. You know him so well now. Din even ate one in the privacy of a dark part of the ship. 

“Thank you.” He says turning  the corner. You’ve found a spot with light, away from the child to sew. You put the child down a while ago and Din’s been busy doing work on the Crest.

“For?” You’ve completely forgotten the tart. You’ve been working on a new robe for the child since you woke up and you’re trying to finish because the kid fucking reeks. How does he smell so bad? You wash him every single day and he just stinks. Why? How?

“The treat. It was nice.” He tilts his head as he watches you sink the needle into the fabric and pull the thread through. “You thought of me again.” You turn your head to look at him.

“I think about you all the time.” You’re laughing because you think it’s obvious. Now you regret saying it.

“Y-you do?” It is inquired with disbelief. You laugh again.

“Yes. You’re basically my only friend.” It's chuckled out, but you feel stupid and regretful. Because he is your only friend and you didn’t know if what you two were doing; the business aspect or the physical, were grounds for being considered friends. “I just wanted you to have something nice.” You shrug your shoulders and go back to sewing hoping he’s not feeling to chatty. 

Din doesn’t say anything, just like you wanted but the silence makes you feeling stupid for calling him your friend. Again.

“Do you have friends?” You flick your eyes to him, he’s still looking at you but still is quiet for a while. 

“You would call them that.” He says simply after another minute.

“What does that mean?” You drop the little robe into your lap and look at him fully this time. “What in the stars could that mean?” 

“You would consider them my friends. I don’t know if I would. I don’t know if I have friends. Associates I call them.” 

You nod in understanding.

“Associates.” You repeat the word like it’s fancy and new to you but you know what he means. “They help you with whatever you do out there?” You motion to the endless space you’re floating in. Din shrugs and nods. 

“Sometimes they cause me more trouble.” Din is still watching you. “Where did you learn that?” He motions now to your sewing. 

“My aunt taught me when I was little.” You explain mindlessly. You could finish the robe tonight before bed if you work fast enough. “Taught me how to cook, sew and clean.” 

“And only the sewing stuck after all these years?” Raspy modulator voice. Your head snaps up to look at him. 

“You’re so mean.” You laugh and shake your head. “I do better now. Okay? I got a good thing going with the baby, we have a routine now.” You point at him. “Which you messed up, by the way. It took so much longer to get him to sleep tonight and he didn’t nap today.” You roll your eyes. 

“He had fun.” Modulated raspiness. 

“Oh he did? Aw, I love that.” You completely forget that you’re upset with Din for keeping him out all night. You’re happy the child had fun. Din nods as you go back to your project.

“Will you show me now?” 

You raise an eyebrow at him in curiosity. 

“Your new clothes. Please.” Raspy modulator. You think for a moment. 

“Okay but I get to ask you to do something for me now.” You’re smirking at him and you’ve set your sewing on the floor next to you.

“Anything.” He’s leaning forward, waiting to hear what you have to say. 

“I want to watch too. I don’t want to be in the dark.” You’re both staring at each other and you almost feel like you're talking to yourself the way you can see your reflection in the face visor. 

“Watch?” He’s confused. Now he knows how you feel. You reach out and press your fingertips to his armor and nod.

“I want to see. I never get to see.” Your fingers are lazily dropping down each plate of metal and finally they stop right above his waist. “I really want to see you...” Your gaze has been following your hand, but you snap your eyes up to Din and he’s looking down at you. 

“Watch me…” He moves his hand to lay on top of yours gently and he pushes yours down slowly, your fingers brushing against the plate that covers his groin. You nod and bite your bottom lip.

“I’ll change for you and pose and whatever else you could want, but I want to watch what you’re doing while I do it. Please.” You try being polite like he is when he’s excited and speaking to you.

Din looks at you while your fingers trace along the beskar covering his groin. His head tips down to watch you tease him meaninglessly. You know he can’t feel it. 

You are dying to see him. All of him. All that he can show you, anyway. You got a feel of him the other night. You felt what he was hiding behind that beskar you were touching and you wanted more. Needed more.

Din must have fallen asleep behind his Maker forsaken helmet because he’s just watching your fingers and you feel dumb because you’re just finger fucking metal at this point. You pull your hand away but before it’s even an inch or two away he grabs your wrist. You gasp because you were sure he was asleep, and he holds your hand on the cool armor. 

“Okay.” His raspy modulation sounds reluctant. It doesn’t matter 

“And touch.” You point at him with your other hand. 

“Okay.” More rasp from the helmet. 

“Okay.” You say, attempting to pull your hand away again but he doesn’t budge, he actually presses your hand harder into the beskar.

“You want to touch here?” He questions you, almost surprised again like he cannot fathom why you would do that or why you would want to.

“If you want me to. I’m not trying to fo-” 

“No no. I do.” He cuts you off quickly getting his words out so you can’t change your mind before he can answer. 

“Okay. Let me go get my stuff.”

Returning with your bag of clothing from the market and you set it down beside you. Din is watching intently from the bench that’s attached to the wall. 

“Well?” You look at him, crossing your arms over your chest. He mirrors you.

“You first.” Rasp from the modulator. 

You roll your eyes at him.

“I always go first.” You snip at him. 

“So what’s the problem?” His response almost makes you laugh but you fight it back. 

“Just take the beskar off, what is your problem? Always making things difficult.” You start with the buttons on the top of your shirt. 

Din shakes his head at you and lets his arms fall to his side. He’s hesitating. Watching you fidget with your shirt. You look up and see him, not moving so you stop. 

“Are you going to participate or not? Because the on-” He starts to unclip his cape and you think to yourself that this is going to take so long. He’s going to draw it out. 

It’s not uninteresting to watch though. You’ve never seen him take it if off, you never knew how he did it but you watch now as he unclips the other side of his cape and hangs it on a hook behind him. 

You finish your buttons and slide the shirt down off your shoulders. The cool air in the ship draws goosebumps on your flesh, making your nipples stand with excitement. 

“You really are beautiful.” He says as he undoes the belt around his waist. He lets one side fall and holds the other, keeping it dangling in his hand as he sets it on the bench he’s standing beside now. 

You can do nothing but smile at him as he undoes a similar belt fastened across his chest. He does the same, setting it on the bench. Now it’s getting serious because you see him reach down to his side, working on the fasteners that keep his armor together. 

“Do you need help?” You ask, still in your pants. He nods you over to him. Happily, you walk over to him and press yourself against his chest softly and copy what he’s doing but on the other side. You can feel the chest plate come loose from him against your chest. 

“Stand back.” He rasps gently. Taking a step back, your hands falling to your own waistband to undo your own buttons and fasteners. You watch as he lifts the armor up over his head in one piece and he sets it on the ground with a soft metallic clink.

Now he’s just got a black long sleeved shirt on and it’s clung to him. It’s so tight. You can see the outline of every muscle in his arms and shoulders. 

Pushing your pants to the ground now, stepping out of them and leaving them in a pile as you take your place back in front of Din. 

“How do you get the bottom ones off?” You look for fasteners but see none. Din chuckles and shows you the fasteners down by his knee. You’re quick to kneel in front of him, eyes never leaving his helmet as you pull and twist the ties that keep his beskar together, stumbling because you can’t really see. You want him to look down at you.

You’re eye level with the same groin plate that you had your fingers on earlier. You lean in, eyes still looking up at Din and press your lips to it gently as the fasteners come free between your fingers. The shin guard falls against your upper thigh. You set it down gently beside you and move to Din’s other leg. You know what to do now, and you get it done quickly, you need to see him. Every inch of him from the neck down. You just have to. 

“Beautiful.” His modulated voice coos down to you. He’s tucked his thumbs into his waistband and he’s pushing the belt that keeps his groin plate melded with the rest of his lower armor. It clunks as it hit the floor. Now he’s just in black. The fabric between the beskar was baggy, everything underneath was tight. Very tight. He has an erection and you can see it through his pants. 

“Will you take those off?” You ask softly. You’re still on your knees in front of him, 

“You have to put something on… first.” He sits back down on the bench next to his belts. He pulls his gloves off and sets them down. “Go on.” He’s left you kneeling on the floor a foot away. 

It’s infuriating. Not really. Kind of. But you like it. And you’d do just about anything to see what the hell he’s got under that black outfit. You know the top half. You did a good job at memorizing it with your hands and the short minute you got to see him the other night with the lights on. But what is below is waist, Maker. 

You stand and snatch the bag of clothes off the floor. 

“What do you wanna see first? I got new pants–” 

“Pants. Do them first.” 

“You didn’t even let me finish.” You blink at him. 

“I don’t care. I want to see.” He tilts his head up to you instead of your middle, where he had been looking since you stood up. 

Rolling your eyes, you step into the pants quickly. You fasten them and you show him, held above your sides. 

“See. So nice.” You do a spin, stopping so he can admire the back. You put one hand on your hip and pop it forward slightly, posing. “So cute.” You go to unbutton them. 

“Do it slow. And bend when you take them off.” He’s giving you a demand. You raise an eyebrow. “And turn around.” He still has all his stuff on. 

“Fine. But then it’s your turn to take them off.” You nod at his pants. He nods up at you.

Turning around, you slowly untie the string that keeps one side together and watch as they come undone in your fingers. You don’t know what he’s doing back there, it makes you kind of nervous but he’s never let you down so far.

The button on the other side comes next. It opens easily. You part the two pieces of fabric and slide your hands in the waistband and instead of letting them fall to your ankles the way you normally would, you begin to push them down slowly, bending as they slide down the curve of your behind. As they slide down your hips; the bend in your middle becoming more dramatic you hear Din exhale from under the helmet. 

He’s watching, probably holding his breath. Liking the way you look bent over and opened up to him. You feel exposed, and naughty letting him see you in this position. You bend over a little further than you have to. You feel a warm finger on your already wet fold. Feather touch. Just a tease. You snap up and turn but he’s naked. 

Everything but the helmet is on the floor next to him and he’s got one hand fisted around himself and he’s stroking his length gently. 

“Can I have some?” He asks, nodding to your middle. You nod, taking another step towards him so he doesn’t have to reach. He slides the hand he has wrapped around himself between your legs and scoops your wetness into his fingers and palm and then brings it back to his erect cock. You both watch as he rubs it in and starts to stroke himself again. “Did you buy anything white?”

You look up at his helmet and nod, wondering how he knew you did. It’s just a simple dress, almost a nightgown but it was so beautiful you couldn’t say no. 

“Put it on for me. Please.”

The way he says it to you makes your knees weak. You are almost too enthralled watching him touch himself the way he is to understand what he’s saying. His cock is everything you dreamed and thought it would be. It’s big, bigger than his one fist and the head is thick, a deep ridge separates it from the shaft. It glistens now with your slickness. You want to just sit on it. Fuck it. Fuck the dress. You need it inside of you.

“Please.” He says again and you see him squeeze his cock gently in his fist near the base.

“Okay.” It’s barely a whisper but you turn to grab the dress. It goes on easily over your arms and it falls right above the knee.

“Come.” He beckons you with his free hand. Obliging you take the one step closer to him. Din’s admiring you from behind the helmet. “Closer.” One curl of his first two fingers pulls you closer to him and that same hand reaches for your breast.

His hand presses against it gently and then a little harder. Your eyes flick between his hand on you and the hand he’s got on himself. He’s stretching the fabric around your soft flesh. You see your nipple, hardened beneath the thin white sheet that separates you from his hand. 

“B-beautiful.” He keeps his hand like that, the fabric stretched taught over the diamond peak of your breast. He works his hand a little faster on himself while he looks. While he’s still holding on to your chest he asks. “Can you b-bend over for m-me again for me, please?” Your eyes snap up to his helmet. “And lift the dress so I can s-see?” 

“Okay.” You smirk. Din’s a freak apparently, with a voyeur streak in him. You step away and the hand on your chest falls to his side. 

Turning so your facing away from him, you bend at the waist, lifting the dress up above the curve of your ass and let it rest on your back. Din exhales loudly behind you.

“Can you g-get on your knees?” 

You oblige him, dropping to your knees. You spread your legs so he can get a good look from the back. You’re slightly annoyed because you wanted to watch but, you like that he wants to look at you. You like that it’s not pitch black either. 

“Touch.” He rasps from where he had been standing. 

You have to think for a moment and then you understand. You drop your chest to the floor of the ship and put one hand between your legs and let your fingers circle around your clit slowly. You’re lips are puffy and swollen and you’re dripping . Din moans loudly. “Y-yes.” It's drawn out. You start to move them quicker, a moan pulled from your chest quietly as you do so. 

“Do not look away from the wall, understand?” You almost turn around because he’s right behind you now, but what he says registers, and the fact that his raspiness of the modulator is gone lets you know he’s got his helmet off, now you get it. 

Without another warning, Din’s mouth is on you. You move your hand to give him as much access as he wants. One hand is brushing against your knees, urging you to push them apart. You open them wider and keep your eyes on the wall. His tongue parts your slit, and now that you’re spread, his hands grip your ass tightly in each palm and he opens you. 

The warm softness of his tongue sliding between your velvet is just how you remember. The flat wideness of his tongue licks you from your already tingling clit, up over your entrance and then, a whole new experience of that same soft warmness on your tight, puckered hole. You hear him sigh softly, and feel the warm air being expelled from his nose. Din swirls his tongue around your asshole and then the tightness and the pressure of him pushing it inside of you. 

You’re a puddle. It’s a new feeling, not a bad one. His hands are gripping your soft cheeks tightly as he pulls you apart, lapping at your hole. It feels so good, not like when he licks you anywhere else. It’s a whole different bracket of pleasure. You know that it won’t ever make you feel the way it does when you come, not like that but it does feel good. Especially because Din is doing it to you.

“I want to taste every inch of you.” He’s panting softly against your skin, kissing now along your cheeks and up to your back. “I want to lick and suck and kiss every fucking inch of you.” He’s kissing up your spine now, his hands still spreading you. 

“Please.” You gasp out as he presses the tip of himself in the middle of your spread cheeks.

“Would you let me?” His voice is deep, but still soft. It demands something from you and you’re willing to give it to him. “Put it in here?”

“I’d let you do anything you want.” It’s said in a dreamy tone because you wouldn’t think you’d even care if it hurt because you want him inside of you in any capacity. 

“So good. You’re so good.” He moans and rubs the head around your tight, puckered canal. “I want to. I want it so bad.” You anticipate fiery pain but he pulls away. “Stay there.” And then his hands are gone and the heat radiating off of him is gone from behind you and you audibly whine in disappointment because you were sure that you were going to feel him inside of you.

“Why?” The question is long and drawn out in another whine. “Please come back.” 

“You come here.” His modulated rasp beckons you. You look over your shoulder and he’s sitting back on the bench, his hard cock is in his fist and he’s pumping it up and down. You see the muscles in his arms and shoulders tense and relax as he does it. “Come. Please.” He calls you over with his other hand, two fingers curling towards him. 

You crawl to him and Din lets his head fall back against the wall behind him. You’re between his legs, mouth already open because you hope that he’s going to let you do it. He does, he takes the hand that called you over and runs his fingers through your hair.

“You want it?” His raspy modulation tone is back but you don’t care. You nod up at him, his grip in your hair tightens. “You’re going to let me feed it to you like last time?” You nod again, sticking your tongue out of your mouth, showing him where you want him to put it. “G-good, Maker. So p-perfect and beautiful.” 

Din rubs the tip of his cock along the flat of your tongue and groans loudly, pulling his hips back suddenly. 

“So soft.” He’s amazed by you once again. He rubs the tip against your tongue again while still thrusting his fist up and down on himself. He’s staring down at you through the helmet. You’d swear into the creed or whatever it would take just to get him to take it off. You slowly wrap your lips around the head of his cock, swirling your tongue along the ridge that separates it from the length of him. 

Din lets out a sound you’ve never heard from him before. It’s a choked back sob of pleasure. It motivates you to take more of him into your mouth, sucking and pulling the length of him into the back of your throat. You stop when you feel the head of his cock start to gag you.

“No don’t.” Din cries out as you begin to pull away, gently with his fingers still gripping your hair he pulls you back down, this time enough for the tip of your nose to touch his lower stomach. You gag softly, tears pickle at the outer corners of your eyes. “Y-you feel s-so good.” 

You lift your eyes from the base of him, to his helmet and he’s got his head leaned back against the wall of the hull. His other hand now find your hair and he begins to lift your head and push you down on his cock gently, fucking your face. It’s not aggressive, just enough to make you gag softly with every thrust forward of his hips and downward pull on your head. The raspy moans coming from his helmet are enough for you to try and relax your throat as much as you can, trying to take him deeper and make those moans more desperate. 

You feel the thick head of him slip past the tightness of your throat and he gasps, his grip tightens on your hair. You’re struggling a little bit, not letting his girth overwhelm you but you stay relaxed as he starts thrusting into your mouth with determination. Still not aggressive but you can tell he’s not going to last long, so you put your hands on his thighs and feel how strong he really is and you know he’s holding back. He doesn’t want to hurt you. 

“Oh Maker.” He moans and pulls back. He leaves your mouth and throat with an audible wet sucking noise and his fist is wraps around his length again. “Keep it open.” He moans softly and pulls you in closer by your hair. “Say you want it, please.” You know he’s going to come, he’s thrusting his fist up and down on himself so vigorously. Between your legs is aching. Keeping your mouth open, you stick your tongue back out and drop so you’re almost below him so he can aim.

“I want it so bad. Please give it to me.” You beg up to him.

And Din does. He shoots rope after rope of hot white onto your face. Most of it goes into your mouth but he missed the first two. Shooting out across your nose and cheek. Din’s hand is still in your hair, his muscular chest rises and falls with each breath and his helmet is turned down to gaze at you.

“So beautiful,” His hand leaves him, his fingers press against your cheek and he drags the spilled come to your mouth and pushes his fingers past your lips. “You like when I feed it to you?” He’s cooing raspily to you as you suck his fingers clean. You nod while your tongue slides down the space between his fingers. He does this again until there is nothing left on your face but your own saliva. “Good. I like doing it.” 

You stare up at him in adoration. You think you’re infatuated with him. Din’s been the only thing on your mind since that night you first shared together. 

“Do you want me to do that for you?” He asks. You nod. “It has to be dark.” 

“Okay.” 

Before he turns the lights off, he slips the dress over your head and lets his hands explore the front of you. His palms pressed flat against your breasts, squeezing them. 

“Sit,” He nods to the bench that his belts are still on and you look at him confused. “I’ll show you.” 

You sit on the bench and Din takes one of your feet and places it on the edge of the bench, just behind your thigh. He does the same thing with the other. You’re against the hull of the ship, the cool metal pressed tightly to your back. Then in a swift motion, Din slides his hands up your shins, grabs your knees and pushes them apart. You’re shocked at how far your legs go. “Stay just like that.” He leaves the room and suddenly you’re plunged into the darkness again. 

You don’t hear him come back, you only feel his warm breath on your inner thighs. 

“Din.” You whimper softly, your hands go to where you think his hair is but you miss by so far, so so far and there’s warm wetness on the tip of one of your fingers. Something hard and then your fingers being enveloped in warmth and wetness. Din sucks your finger into his mouth. It’s not what you had intended, you wanted your fingers in his hair, but him sucking on your finger the way you just had been was erotic and was making you wetter.

Now, with an idea of where his hair is, you reach more carefully, your fingers finding the thick, coarse hair that you had been searching for before and you grip it as his tongue swirls around your digit. You whimper when he bites the end of your finger gently as he pulls away from your hand. You were so wrapped up in how noteworthy this feeling was– you would be asking Din to do it again in the future– it felt that it didn’t cross your mind to pull it away. 

Now that you have both hands available, and you know where his hair is, you grip it gently. 

“Make m-me do it.” Din’s whispering against the spot just above your slit, his tongue dips out from between his lips and licks you there once, softly. “P-please, m-make-” You don’t let him finish before you tighten your grip and push his head just the half inch he wanted you to. Din had his tongue ready to lap at you the second he touched you. He went to work with the big slow circles that have no meaning, they’re just to make you know he’s there. 

His fingers are pushing into you rhythmically, but again with no real pressure or force. He just wants you to know that he’s there. You do. You feel so incredibly vulnerable in this position. Splayed wider than you thought you could be. Din presses the flat of his tongue against your clit, applying pressure and moves it up and down slowly. The feeling makes you moan and you don’t have to hold back as much tonight. So you don't. You let the moan– that starts deep in your chest– roll out of you and your head falls back against the hull of the ship with a low, metallic clank and it echoes softly. 

You and Din both laugh at the sound in the darkness. His warm breath is so comforting as he goes back to lapping at you, his fingers curling inside of you slowly now, edging that orgasm he was trying to coax out of you closer. 

“Din.” It’s another deep moan and your fingers clench his hair harder. He takes one of your feet and places it on his shoulder. You move the other one to his shoulder too and now you can scoot yourself further towards his mouth. Your hips start to roll against his hands and mouth. 

He moans, apparently loving your enthusiasm and pushes his fingers against that raised patch inside of you and starts to thrust them in and out. Your sounds of excitement and slickness fill the room and he moans again, his tongue finding those tight circles in the perfect rhythm. He wants to hear you come. Not just watch tonight. 

“P-please.” You whimper, the feeling of your climax is so close and you know he’s about to bring you there. “I wann-” Your whined plea is cut short as he quickened his pace with the drives forward of his hand. “Oh M-maker. Maker. Din. Din. Oh Din.” All the words strained as you feel him send you over that edge he was bringing you too. 

“Oh Din. Yes. Oh yes. Yes.” They’re almost just breath spoken as he milks and sucks the orgasm out of you, his lips wrapped around your clit now, sucking softly as he continues fucking you with his fingers. Now, along with the thrusts, he stops and curls his fingers against that patch and does it again. It makes you arch your back and you do have to bite your lip because you can’t scream. You want to but you can’t.

You shiver as the last sensations of bliss leave you and the overwhelming twitches and soft jerks of your body at his tongue on you again. But he knows, he can tell by the way you pull his hair. He carefully laps at your entrance, his tongue cleaning and tasting you at the same time. Din’s got his hands on your ankles now so you can’t move them. He’s going to do this for as long as he wants and that’s completely fine with you. 

Resting your head on the hull, you’re panting. Heart is pounding. Everything about it was incredible. You’re upset you didn’t come here sooner to do this because you were able to enjoy yourself without having to worry about waking up the child. 

“I want to do something with you, but you might not like it.” Din says from the dark.

You honestly would let him do whatever he wanted. You did not care. Especially in that moment. 

“Do whatever you want to me. As long as I do that at the end. I don’t give a shit.” You finally let go of his hair and let your hands push you up off the bench. As good as it was, it was not the most comfortable and now your knees and tailbone hurt. 

“You say that now.” He laughs softly. His modulator still hasn’t returned. 

what the HELL could this helmeted man have in store for you?????

HINT: this gif has a clue.

tag list: @glitterymanboy @thereaperisabitch @pedrospookie @furiousmushroom

willing to add or remove whoever asks for either one.

[dayz-ina-daze]

I’ve been thinking more about this again….

More leader-specific stuff:

Oakstar. Frecklewish and Birchface could have been his children still, but in secret; ThunderClan only saw Oakstar’s grief for Birchface’s death as a leader mourning a friend and deputy, not a father mourning a son. Ravenwing could have known, however, hence why Oakstar trusted him.

Off of that branch (heh): Pinestar. Could also have been sired by Oakstar in secret. (Oakstar isn’t getting into kitty cat heaven, not only because he’s a horrible awful person, but also because he broke his vow as leader at least twice) I truthfully don’t see Pinestar breaking his vows in his youth… But as an older tom, when his faith in StarClan has been tested, when his strength has been sapped, and when his loyalty to the Clans has been strained..? When a bright-eyed young molly comes to her leader asking if he had heard of any toms willing to sire a litter without being involved? Perhaps he saw it as a final “fuck you” to StarClan … and a final service to ThunderClan before he left.

Onestar siring Darktail is even more dramatic. (Also no more WhiteOne romance because it’s ew any way you slice it)

I wonder how SkyClan would see these laws…

Squirrelstar couldn’t happen, point blank. No matter how you finagle the timeline… I wonder who would replace her as leader, then…

Bramblestar also couldn’t happen! Which YIPPEE

I imagine that, rather than Moth Flight invoking this law, it would be Wind Runner. Windstar, who lost a kit too young, Dying Embers, she was named… Who shunned her other children for fear of growing too close and feeling that pain again. Who saw Clear Sky’s treatment of Thunder, his messy affairs with Star Flower. Who saw River Ripple’s love spread across so many, like a spider’s web. Who saw her grandchildren by Moth Flight split amongst the young Clans. Who saw Gray Wing’s death strike them all so hard. Who watched Tall Shadow become a shadow of herself, in turn, after her brother and nephew’s deaths… Family is too hard on the heart, she would decree. Too taxing on the mind and the body of those meant to lead. Cut those ties before they have a chance to grow, and the Clans would be better for it. And in the wake of so much death and personal loss, few other leaders would be included to disagree…

Some world building and additional lore from outside perspectives…

ThunderClan who really did perform raids on Twolegplace, to steal kittens in order to raise them as loyal warriors with no other blood ties. This would offer them more options for leader, as well as to keep their genetics clean.

Kittypets who are viewed in an especially odd light because of how huge their litters are known to be. Six at a time, sometimes! What great damage to be done to a Clan’s delicate bloodline system…

Unfortunately no more “queens have a right to withhold the sire of their litter” law, as interesting as it is and how much I wish it would be utilized more in canon. Not having a litter’s full bloodline available would cast a lot of nervousness and doubt across a Clan. Lots of what ifs floated around.

The Clans being widely viewed as odd for how much stock they put into their familial bonds, when most toms outside of the Clans don’t typically get involved with their litters and/or just get purposefully run off… Yet another angle there for the Clans to be looked upon as weird and intense for how they track their ancestry, as well.

Maybe even a new role being made specifically to keep track of bloodlines and names… Like a geneaologist. Maybe they could call them an “archivist” or “blood-tracer” orrrr something… The role would go to cats with exceptional memory. Maybe even a few new suffixes could crop up to note a cat’s memory! I wonder what they’d be…

Thinking about one of my older WC aus again… I’ve finally got a name for it: the Kinless Leaders au

In which I realized that it makes way more sense for the leaders in Warriors to be put under the “cannot have mates or kits” rule rather than healers…

Leaders are far more ingrained in politics and diplomacy than healers are. They’re the only non-healer, as well, who are known to have steady contact with StarClan, and have recieved a grand gift (nine lives) from their ancestors. Literally touched by the stars. They’d need to be “pure”, and completely unhindered by emotional or physical attachments (that being: immediate family, romantic attachments, and kits) that could cloud their judgement when it comes to the good of the whole Clan.

They’re allowed friends — to a degree. Deputies, and successors, would be chosen only if they have no immediate family to speak of, and can prove throughout their assisting reign to have the fortitude to not become a mate or parent. If a leader does have kits, they are to be immediately deposed, for they have lost their Clan’s trust, their connection to StarClan + their ancestor’s trust, and broken their vows. They are more likely now to jump to defend their kin in the face of political unrest, as well.

It would just make more sense, thematically, if this were the case… And provide way more drama. Like, so much more.

Thistleclaw could still have courted Snowfur and sired Whitestorm, but would have broken her heart and requested she invoke Queen’s Rights and not name a father — which could have led to Bluefur’s distaste for him, because of course her sister would have confided in her.

Bluefur could have been pregnant at the time Goosefeather told her of the prophecy, and warned her of Thistleclaw’s bloodthirsty intentions. By that time, Snowfur would have been dead, and we could just kill off Stormtail a bit earlier. Hence why she had to give up her kits, albeit far earlier, to secure her place as leader.

Tigerclaw wouldn’t have sired Goldenflower or Sasha’s kits. But kittens raised without an obvious father, especially when Sasha was a kittypet and Goldenflower’s first mate for her first litter was rumored to be a loner, would be far more easy to manipulate and guide under one’s wing. He could have offered Tawnypelt a place in ShadowClan under him for the same reasons as canon, and could have coaxed both Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost into the Dark Forest after his death regardless.

Crookedstar’s life now becomes ever-sadder, as he fell in love with Willowbreeze, who reciprocated, but could only be with her in secret. Then she and most of their kits die, leading him to believe it is a sign, and offer his only surviving kit to his estranged brother to take into his own mysteriously-born litter.

No more “Half of ThunderClan being direct Firestar descendants”, because Firestar now cannot have kits. Perhaps Squirrelflight and Leafpool were still his, however… Perhaps ThunderClan’s bright brand of fire isn’t as perfect as many believe.

Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight were mates and raised a family, however the argument of “they’re not really yours, so is it alright to step into leadership?” could be made in a society that values their leader’s purity…

Idk. Much angst. Many intrigue. It’s a personal favorite au of mine ^^

[scoobydoodean]

I know you said you had a lot of asks, but do you have any thoughts on why the fandom hates the idea of Dean being seen as a dad to Jack? I don't even know how to put it into words, but I feel like it just rubs me the wrong way the way that certain segments oversimplify all the stuff with Jack and make fatherhood a competition. Sorry to take up your time and you don't have to answer.

It's totally okay to send me asks. I've had a backlog for a long time that slowly increases in size for one reason or another (no time to answer then forgetting, left half answered in drafts and forgotten, wanting to circle back later with a fresh perspective, not having a strong opinion on something, it's about disk horse I've addressed as much as I'd like, etc). I do answer the vast majority of the asks I get as I get them and try to catch things that won't take me much time.

I think a lot of people really resent that Dean didn't automatically slot himself into a nurturing, parental role with Jack in early season 13. Dean was grieving Cas, Mary, and Crowley, he did not trust Jack because of "The Future" and because Dean was full of utter despair. He was suicidally depressed (13.05) and in absolutely no state to nurture/guide Jack or anyone else. Sam was disassociating from his own grief and because of that, would not stop trying to convince Dean that his grief was not real, and that exacerbated the situation and caused Dean and Jack to be pushed together when they needed space the most. Dean explicitly rejected being Jack's "mother", two episodes after telling his own mother in tears that he had to be Sam's mother and father when he was incapable of filling those roles, and that wasn't fair (12.22). 12.23 then replayed Dean's defining childhood trauma, "killing" his mother in front of him, and shouldering him with a "child" that was not his, who he was not equipped to parent but was expected to begin parenting. He was overwhelmed, utterly lost, and wanted to die, and Jack was not his child, and Dean trying to set boundaries was immediately and thoroughly dismissed by his brother.

Fandom prefers to ignore all of this and be angry at Dean for not setting aside his grief because Dean is the narrative heart—the hearth of the house. His love and care is expected and anticipated. In Supernatural, the idea of being loved/belonging/accepted tends to orbit around Dean, so his rejection of Jack in those early stages is built into a denial of Jack's right to be loved at all by anyone or be part of the family. Jack himself almost immediately starts seeking ways to please Dean, and his well-meaning, good-hearted attempts aren't taken to immediately and that angers fans. If it was Sam or Cas who didn't immediately take to Jack, their rejection would hardly register/quickly be forgotten, because their love and acceptance just doesn't carry the narrative significance that Dean's does (though the idea that Sam immediately accepted Jack is also tenuous at best—this is something Jack confronts Sam over in 13.03).

"Jack In The Box" and "Moriah" reignite people's indignation and bring them back to the anger they felt in early season 13, even though Jack was murdering and torturing people, Sam also tricked Jack into the box, Cas went behind all their backs to see about getting him put in The Cage, and the whole point of Moriah was Chuck trying to emotionally destabilize Dean specifically to the point he would kill Jack because Chuck is obsessed with a familycide ending where Dean is the bringer of judgement and his heart is ripped in two. The entire plot of season 15 starts from Chuck being enraged that despite all his manipulations and painstakingly laid plans, and despite the carrot and the stick (it was also literally a suicide play btw) Dean would not kill his son for the "greater good". No one wants to actually look at any of it because it doesn't support their unbelievably dull narratives about Dean... to the point they'll harass you for months over polls of canonical facts that they find inconvenient. People have become obsessed with this silly nonsense about cYcLeS while fundamentally misunderstanding what is happening because they don't actually remember the show. But they sure love to try and talk down to you about tHe CyClEs and how "interesting" and "fundamental" it is that Dean does nothing more that repeat generational patterns (among the Winchesters and the angels) when the entire goddamn show is about Dean Not Doing That and telling God (who has a canonical pervy obsession with him) to go fuck himself for a decade and a half instead, culminating in god unleashing his wrath on them for not repeating tHe CYcLEs he wanted them to repeat.

All that said, I myself don't think Dean wanted to be a father to Jack early on. I think he accepted that role eventually, but he made it very clear that it wasn't what he wanted like... day one. And there's literally nothing wrong with that. Dean becomes the "parent" who treats Jack more like an adult (which Jack appreciates, because he isn't a baby and hates being treated like one). Jack seeks Dean's council on more serious topics like nightmares from traumatic experiences, guilt, and sex. Dean teaches Jack how to drive, he encourages Cas to give Jack space when he's upset, he encourages Jack to go out and have a good day when he's dying when Sam and Cas want Jack to be on bed rest. I think some fans also look down on this, wanting Jack to be treated like a child and seeing Dean's actions as a rejection of Jack's alleged "child" status.

[independent-variables]

Thinking about canon Rex and fanon Rex. Specifically the whole fanon of "Rex was bullied by his batch because he was different and then adopted by Cody + Command batch."

Thinking about this because at the start of the war, Rex is very Conform Or Die in his mindset about being a clone and a solider. He takes pride in who he is and what he does, and takes a lot longer to push against the propaganda than, say, Fives and Echo, who very much did almost die for their failure to conform. So it makes sense for Rex to have learned the lesson of Conform Or Die and learned it well in his childhood. It make sense for Rex to have been someone who struggled to conform, who grew up terrified that one day he would slip up and that would be that, and it makes sense for his pride in his conformity to be also in some way relief. He succeeded. He proved himself. He lived, and advanced in the ranks enough to hold power over other lives.

Because the other thing is that Rex very much does value outside the box thinking. He values ingenuity on the battlefield. He knows even before he fully breaks free of "good soldiers follow orders" that the way you win isn't as important as the fact of victory. Nothing else matters but victory. Survival. He also knows that unity and conformity are connected. The clones must be unified to be able to fight effectively and if someone breaks free to do their own thing (hi Fives and Jesse and Hardcase) that break from conformity and the chain of command has an equal chance of being what saves them all or what damns them all. There is a fine line to walk between brilliance and defiance. So yeah I can see Rex as someone who struggled to conform, while also understanding in his bones that conformity was the only thing that would save him; the only thing that would win battles. His issue isn't so much accepting that all clones are capable of having their own opinions and preferences, but in accepting this as a good thing and not a fault or a failure.

So to bring this back to the fandom, my problem with most “Rex was bullied for being different” fic is that more often than not what Rex was bullied for is being A) blond or B) better at everything than everyone else or C) a combination of A and B. My issues with these aspect of the fanon are many and complex, but my biggest issues and the primary two that apply here are that, while standing out for objectively neutral yet attention grabbing or even "good" traits can indeed be hard in certain environments, 1) this doesn't make sense for Kamino and 2) it doesn't make sense for Rex.

Regarding 1: If the Kaminoans were really truly bothered by a clone being blond to the point it became A Thing that Rex had to overcome to prove himself, then he would not be alive. Simple as that. If they cared one way or another if a clone developed with blond hair they simply would have not allowed embryos with that gene to develop. The blond hair isn’t something that would only show later in life, after said blondie had already proven to have too much potential to kill. The blond would have been very evident in the early stages of development. The Kaminoans have the most advanced gene tech in the galaxy. They’re not just going to miss something like that.

Regarding 2: The kind of desperation it takes to internalize "no matter what you have to do, you must win" does not come from being good at winning. A fic in a different fandom had a little one-off line about how the difference between people born low class who rose to power and people born with power was evident in the care with which they conformed to protocol. Born nobles don’t have to worry about slipping up, because nobody is going to take away their power. They were born with it. But if it was earned, or given, it can be lost, or taken away. And I guess that really resonated in regards to Rex. Rex is a badass, but not effortlessly, he struggles to be ok with breaking protocol, and that says something about how and why he became a badass and what protocol means to him.

So, yeah. Rex my beloved. I can get behind Rex being bullied, I am always down for that kind of awfulness, and with some deeper analysis it has a lot of potential as a backstory for him.

[booklovingturtle]

THIS!!!!! I absolutely believe this and it’s 10009% canon in my brain

Roy is objectively an academic (ehm….NERD) so I fully believe that he was so focused on alchemy as a study that he never cared to pursue any relationships before going to Berthold. He might not have even had many friends as a kid either bc of his dedication to the science. I also wouldn’t be suprised if his aunt’s profession left him a bit of an outcast bc kids can be mean and society hates sex workers.

I also believe the age gap made it so he never considered Riza that way. Then he left for the academy and if he ever lost his virginity, it would have been there. However, even at the academy his goals were probably still the only thing he really cared about.

I definitely don’t believe he dated after the war for like a bijilion reasons, including the ones you mentioned.

When his relationship with Riza changed and he was left feeling SUPER confused internally. So if he did lose her virginity to her after they started working together, there would have been a LOT of mental barriers for him to work through to get to that point.

-

Now when it comes to Riza I’m a little bit more unsure. I do think that it’s entirely plausible for her to have made it out of the academy a virgin and basically go through the same trauma/arc as Roy. But I also think, like Roy, her best shot at having sex would have been during the academy.

Unlike Roy, though, I think her childhood trauma (neglect, abuse, abandonment, etc) may have pushed her to seek comfort and human connection in whatever way she could get it. ( @lantur explored this idea super well in her Delicate btw) I can see a world in which Riza’s desire for love and affection pushed her to explore her sexuality. After Ishval, though, I doubt she continued any sexual activity.

Once she started to have feelings for Roy (or once her childhood crush came back) there was no one she wanted to have sex with more. For her, finally sleeping with him would have been way easier then I think it was for him.

-

And in case anyone is wondering why bother to question the sexual history of blorbos…

I do think it’s worth pointing out that while FMA isn’t sexual in any way, it doesn’t shy away from discussing sexuality as an important part of humanity (ie Lust and Greed).

Plus Roy’s who shtick is being a lazy, himbo, womanizer and it’s canonically proven that 2/3 of that persona is false. I think it’s fair to question if that final third is completely false or just exaggerated. And also the whole part where he grew up around escorts.

Like FMAB doesn’t shy away from opening up a discussion about sexuality as a part of human experience so I think it’s fair to question how the characters in the universe express their sexuality.

Ok hear me out but I can totally see Roy Mustang being a 30 year old virgin

Like we know that he spent at least some of his adolescence in the Hawkeye’s home learning alchemy and I doubt Berthold gave him much free time to cultivate any sort of relationships, except maybe with Riza, but even then she’s four years younger than him so I think their friendship would be limited back then.

Then he goes straight to the military academy where it’s mostly men (I don’t believe we saw any women in the OVA episode and if there were any we can assume there are seperate barracks. We’re also assuming he’s not attracted to men even though I also love and accept bisexual Roy headcanon) and frat laws are enforced so not many options there.

Then it’s straight to Ishval where he gets unbelievably traumatised and comes out so self loathing I doubt he ever even considers the possibility of dating.

Now I hear you say “but he grew up in a brothel!” to which I say EXACTLY! He saw how his aunt and sisters used men’s sexuality as a weakness to exploit and blackmail them, so Roy is very conscious NOT to do that, instead twisting it to make it seem like he’s one of those men when in actuality he’s working with the girls.

Idk how much I actually believe this theory, but it’s definitely plausible. There are also moments where he 10000% had the opportunity to lose his v card (preferably with Riza Hawkeye, who I can very easily make the same argument about) and maybe he took that opportunity, who knows.

He’s also such a nerd I doubt he cared much about dating before the war.

Anyway, regardless I fully believe he’ll never confirm or deny anything, simply to keep the mystery alive.

[20001541]

There's a small theory that I've had for a while but recently felt more validated after seeing what Hori said on the popularity poll livestream

The thing he said being this:

Which is interesting because we all know he infamously said back in 2018 that he planned on revealing Hisashi at some point in the story. Which as we know today never happens. So, it leaves us with the question, what happened?

Because in order for him to say this he must've had something in mind at the time for what he wanted to do with Hisashi. The first time we learn his name is in the BNHA Ultra Archive book that came out in 2016. Never officially translated into English btw so this is all we got.

Anyways this means he had something in mind for Hisashi for a while then, but then he changed his mind and kept him out of the story. He feels he put everyone and he wanted to put in the story and wouldn't change anything.

My theory is that he might've planned to make DFO a thing initially but decided it would be best if the story goes a different route and kept it out.

Because why else would you say you plan to reveal who is Hisashi is at some point only for your story to end with no sight of him? Not even a tiny mention. Let us not also forget how people pointed out that Inko's birthday 07/04 spells out nana shi in Japanese which is like Nana's name. It's also canon that All Might pointed out how her hair reminds him of Nana. So I wonder if he also planned on her being Nana's daughter and had AFO target her as a result. This was also something I found to be rumored among some Japanese fan forums. Even though the translations I got weren't great the little I could understand suggested it.

And even though I lost interest in DFO and stopped believing before the story ended this one panel has always stuck out to me.

Hori is insanely detailed oriented, like during Dabi's first appearance he's in front of a hair salon which foreshadowed that the hair colour he has now isn't his real one and was used as proof in Dabi is a Todoroki theory. So the fact that Hori chose to place the "my only family" bubble over a shot where Izuku is watching everything unfold stands out to me even now. Keep in mind this chapter released in 2018 which was the same year Hori said he planned to reveal Hisashi. Maybe could be me reaching, but still something to consider.

I'm not entirely sure of all of this actually and could be wrong. But it's an interesting theory as to what could've happened behind the scenes.

Another theory that I'm less sure of but can see it being possible is that the elements of the reveal he intended for DFO ended up being used for the reveal with Tomura.

Think about. It's actually crazy how similar the Tomura reveal in 419 was similar to what a lot of DFO fans were hoping for all these years.

AFO took on a whole new identity to get close to a civilian, he helped build the home Tomura would live in, played a part in Tomura's conception, he took away his original quirk, set Tomura up as a successor, and AFO had a big reveal moment that left Tomura devastated... like I remember several posts that theorized things like this about Izuku. The reason why AFO targeted Kotaro in the first place was because he was Nana's son and I remember that Inko being targeted for being Nana's daughter was a big part of the Inko Shimura theory.

I don't know for sure if this reveal was built off of his ideas for a DFO reveal he had initially planned. Really it depends on when he first created the idea of AFO being behind all the terrible things in Tomura's life and if he even had DFO in mind in the first place at some point.

But it's fascinating either way. Either DFO fans were right in how they interpreted some aspects of the story to suggest DFO were true and correctly guessed some aspects of the story that were recycled for a different reveal later on, or they were completely off the mark and by coincidence some of their theories for DFO ended up being eerily similar to how the 419 reveal ended up being.

[arthur-side]

@lee1504 don't pretend you didn't just make a masterpiece and didn't think a certain someone would make another one as well using the same prompt you used because they saw you/aff

@primalmagic hi Isa I went insane

A Surprise

A Benlor Coffee Shop AU where the Clark cousins are in the middle of making the new building

~~~

Hopping down the stone steps was Taylor, happily humming to herself as she held a piece of paper tightly, grinning ear to ear. Her eyes brightened further when she spotted Ashlyn and Logan, speeding up to get to them before they got to the other side of the street and the traffic light separated them. It happened before, and she will not let it happen again.

“Lo! Ash!” She called, jogging at the siblings. Logan jumped and almost lost balance while Ashlyn casually turned to her, giving her a small smile.

Logan’s grandparents had been struggling with their health lately and were now resting in a hospital, so during that, the Banners technically adopted Logan as their own, legally even if his grandparents finally let them gain full custody over him. Taylor was sympathizing at the fact that Logan’s relatives were going to leave him for good again, but she was glad Ashlyn and her parents were kind enough to accept him as their own.

“Taylor!” Logan huffed, hitting Ashlyn’s leg with his own as she snickered. Ashlyn reciprocated. Logan's pouting wasn’t what Taylor expected, but at least he was more likely to express himself proudly.

“Taylor.” Ashlyn echoed, raising an eyebrow at her, “You look happier than usual, what happened?”

Oh, she can’t wait to tell them what happened.

“Well, I got accepted to collaborate with a company that I’ve always idolized! Can’t you believe that?!” She twisted and hopped around, beaming so brightly she might have just been the sun.

“Oh~?” Logan tilted his head, hair flinging as a few cars passed by, almost getting smacked in the face by Ashlyn’s braid. “Damn it-” Taylor snorted.

“Anyways,” Ashlyn looked between Taylor and Logan, “Care to tell the story at the coffee shop the Clark cousin started?”

Taylor blinked, huh.

She hadn’t heard much from the two cousins these past few days, their hangout week got canceled a lot in between those, so realizing they’d been using their time to build a coffee shop together really caught her off guard. Also, why wasn’t she informed of this?

“Why wasn’t I…?” Taylor’s smile slightly falter, pointed at herself as she gripped on the paper tighter. Logan and Ashlyn looked at each other, smirked, and chuckled. Taylor’s gaze went back and forth between the two, confused.

“Because Ben wanted to surprise you,” Logan explained, “You lovebirds really need to do your own thing and not drag the entire gang with it, girl.” Taylor blushed at the comment.

“Well okay now-” “I’m going.” Ashlyn turns a full 160 degrees and started walking at the pavement. Logan and Taylor stopped bickering as they quickly followed suit.

It became a tradition, really. Ashlyn usually walks away in a conversation if she realizes they were wasting time affectionately, and the others just follow her, even Tyler! She really is the leader, after all.

Well, now that she thought about it, does Tyler know-?

“Oh, and Tyler knows about the coffee shop, by the way.” Ashlyn interrupted her train of thoughts. The girl’s not only a badass leader, she’s also a mind reader! Ah!

“So am I the only one who doesn’t know of this?” Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The siblings said in sync. Taylor deflated.

“Buuuuuut,” Logan started again, “It’s because we were doing a little special thing for you!” He turned around to face them as he threw his left hand out towards the sign behind him, reading “Adrenaline Junkie”. That sounds so Aiden.

“C’mon,” Logan grabbed Taylor’s wrist, re balanced the boxes he’s holding with one hand, and dragged her into the work-in-progress building. “Something’s waiting for ya!”

“Logan-!” Taylor almost fell out of balance as the abruptly stopped. She hits over someone, making her yelp.

She quickly backed away, embarrassed. “I’m sorry sir-”

“Hi Taylor!” She perks up from the familiar voice of her brother, turning her head to him who’s currently holding a hammer his free hand on his hips. “You bumped into Ben, by the way.”

Taylor snapped her head back in front of her, now recognizing the familiar gray shirt. “Oh-!”

“[Congrats?]” An AI, monotone voice suddenly erupted, Taylor looked at his phone, blinking a few times, then got swallowed in confusion.

Why is everyone here? What is this place? Why did they all not tell her?

“I’ve told them about your proposal of volunteering to collaborate with that company, they only wanted to support you, Taylor.”

Oh.

Well…That was quite unexpected, Taylor’s questions have been mostly answered, but the question regarding why they’re making a coffee shop is still lingering to her.

Tyler placed a hand on her shoulder, “So, were you accepted?” He asked softly. Taylor stiffled a laugh and a sob.

“Yes. Yes I did.”

The room erupted with cheers, all from her friends, her family. Aiden handed out coffees to everyone then held his own high. “Cheers to Taylor!” He announced, and Taylor laughed.

It’s…So comforting, so warm, this really made her entire week. She then held her own coffee high, and the rest followed.

Her eye captured a glimpse of a certain karaoke machine at one of the counters.

The karaoke machine she fixed for Ben even when he couldn’t use it.

[carg0-toad]

fight club book moments i think about a lot

these are not the only ones but these are the ones that stick out the most to me...

[evecolourshock]

What if an AU from that point tho, featuring Uncle Zuse making sure his nephew (all grown up now) gets home...

Gem bringing someone new into the End Of Line doesn't happen all that often any more, but that's more a lack of new Programs to introduce than anything else. The new guy looks lost and confused and adorably determined, but he's hiding a lot of fear under that expression and Zu- Castor, he's Castor now, keeps forgetting that - Castor tries to extricate himself from the latest attempt at tracking down himself to find out what's going on. No newbie should be that frightened, especially not in his establishment.

"I brought your boy. Flynn." Gem murmurs, half-sultry in the way that means she's done something Castor's probably not going to like. But he can't think about that right now, because-

Your boy Flynn.

Boy Flynn.

Sam.

Why, Castor hasn't seen him since he was a tiny thing, barely knee-high! Sam's bigger now, much more developed, but Castor can still see that small curious mischief-maker he used to look after when bigger Flynn had other things to do.

Sam's probably forgotten him by now - User memories don't function like Program ones, and it's been a long time. But Castor has not, so he pulls Gem aside with a low growl. "What did you do."

"Enforcers will be here shortly." Gem tells him, looking like she thinks she's done a good thing. That look swiftly disappears when Castor snarls and pushes her away. "But, the reward-"

"Not worth his life." Castor hisses. "Bigger Flynn, whatever, he abandoned us and will get what's coming to him. But not the little one. Did nothing wrong."

Gem frowns, puzzled, but Castor sweeps over to Sam quickly. He can't burn time like that, need to go now, they're on the clock-

"I'm looking for Zuse." Sam tells him quietly, even before he says hello. "An ISO named Quorra sent me."

"You found him. Now Quorra, Quorra, Quorra..." Castor muses. "Ah, yes. The one that got my bar burned down the first time." Never mind he was sheltering others at the time - really disillusioned him to the idea of rebellion, if nobody was willing to help those in need of it.

Sam winces.

"Her actions aren't yours." Cas- Zuse shrugs. Sam wanted Zuse, he's getting Zuse. Knew Zuse, too. "Passage out, yes? To the beacon." He chivvies Sam off towards his stash of vehicles. "Come, come, no need to stand around waiting." Sam trails him like a lost Bit, scared and forlorn. Damn Clu for scaring this boy. Damn him all the way.

"No, no, no, these just won't do." Zuse frets to himself. None of the batons he can grab easily are... well. They're not good enough, all aesthetic and no substance. He needs-

"Ah!" He snaps his fingers. Pulls a lever. He's only pulled this lever once before, during an evacuation, trying to give everyone their best chance of survival. The lever glows, falls into his hands - a personal baton with a few extra tricks - and he scoops up an exposed silver-white slim thing. The only one left in the hidden drawer - he didn't see much point in replacing the rest, after their creators disappeared into the wilds. Wouldn't be the same.

"Never thought I'd need this old thing again." Zuse murmurs, passing it to Sam. "But it's better than all of theirs." He smiles kindly, really - it's been too long since his smiles were real, and maybe it shows. "Ever flown a lightjet before?"

Sam shakes his head. Zuse would have been pleasantly surprised and a lot wary about a yes.

"Alright. Now, they handle a lot like a lightcycle here, no fancy User pilot skills needed." Zuse soothes. "Only difference is adjusting height - you use your legs for that. Pull your heels up towards you to go up, push them down to go down. Simple, yes?"

"Heels up to go up, down to go down." Sam repeats. "Got it."

"Good lad." Zuse claps him on the shoulder with one hand, inputting the command to iris open his launchpad with the other. "Now just stick by me, and we'll get you home safe."

i rewatched legacy recently and i cannot believe gem says "i bought your boy flynn" to castor like wtf that's so funny