#me when i’m actually cxs

[mysterialistic]

Random thoughts from Yingdu episode 5:

-I’m surprised by how easily Cheng Xiaoshi takes the news that he has powers. I would be freaking out, but my man here thinks he's an anime protagonist—which he is lmao.

-LU GUANG'S PAST CRUMBS. We learned that he does in fact have a family (at least a dad lol) and that they knew about his powers. I could make a thousand theories regarding this, but that’s for another post.

-So that weird scene where Cheng Xiaoshi teleports)? to Yingdu in the post credits scene of episode 1 was him using his powers, which kinda makes sense, except for the fact that Liu Xiao was there too? I have a lot of questions.

-Also, someone should give Lu Guang a price for managing to confess his feelings to his crush without actually doing it lmao. I loved that scene where we finally saw his response to Cheng Xiaoshi after the basketball scene.

-We FINALLY saw the blonde woman (I can’t remember her name, I’m sorry). She’s really smart (apparently has powers), she was bullied and she had some sort of relationship with Cheng Weimin. That’s all we know.

-Cheng Xiaoshi meeting his dad and taking it out on him was so unexpected. I really thought he was gonna end up crying or something, but his dad seems to be really shitty at parenting lol, so it makes sense that he’s mad at him, specially after saying that he basically ran away from his son and responsibilities.

-When Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang loose connection it seems that it’s because LG is tired)? Unless that there was someone else’s power interfering with their connection (like Li Tianchen and Xixi in season 2), probably the blonde girl or CXS's dad.

-Xia Fei knew Cheng Weimin, which could kind of explain why he reacted when he heard his name? It makes me wonder if no one realized that another student survived the fire because he was obviously studying in that school too.

-Cheng Xiaoshi bonding with his KILLER was not on my bingo card lmao.

-Vein asking Cheng Xiaoshi to serve him?? I’m so confused. Is this a red herring and he just wants him to model for him or what does he want?

-Lastly, I’m almost sure this timeline isn’t the season 1 & 2 timeline, it simply wouldn’t make sense. Cheng Xiaoshi kind of knows what happened to his dad, he saw him and all of this experiences they’re living in Yingdu just don’t fit with the current story. It would be so confusing if this is the current timeline, there’s too many changes and little factors that don’t make sense given how CXS acts.

[umbramoons]

TECH MOMENTS PT. 1

Clone Wars S7 E1: The Bad Batch

Please ignore the terrible quality, I did my best.

- Coming in hot like there’s no tomorrow.

- Tech has the best armor by far; his helmet is ADORABLE. Also, his armor has a lot more gaps than the rest of his squad. If that is to make it more maneuverable, ARE HIS GYMNASTIC SHENANIGANS A COMMON OCCURRENCE?! ❤

- That little head tilt when he sees the group he’ll be working with. ❤

- Kix: “These guys are clones? They don’t look like clones to me.” I don’t know if Tech overheard, but his eyes scrunched up as if he smiled, and he took off his helmet, like, “You think they look weird? Check this out.” HE HAD THE MOST MISCHIEVOUS LITTLE SMIRK ON HIS FACE, AND I LOVED IT. ❤

- You can tell he’s nervous to meet these new people. He’s just grinning so awkwardly, like, “Yep, this is great. I’m so happy to meet you all... I’m overselling it, aren’t I?”

- His little smile when Cody says to get going.

- He takes the slightest step forward when Jesse acts like he’s about to charge Crosshair. But Hunter gets there first, of course.

- He’s the first one that Wrecker helps out of the crash.

- He also moves to stop Rex when he says he’ll get Cody out of the wreckage. Literally, he’s doing everything Hunter is about to do, Hunter is just a lot more direct and always beats him to it. So it’s safe to say that at this point, if something happened to Hunter, Tech would take over.

- Apparently, Tech likes to crouch as an idle position. He does it here while they’re waiting for Wrecker to get Cody out, and he’s also doing that in the one group photo of the Batch. (CX-2 does it at one point, too, and I hate it. They played us so bad.)

- He's right next to Kix when he's examining Cody. Makes sense since he's the team's unofficial medic, so he would be concerned.

- When Hunter says, "That's not our style," he gets a borderline malicious smirk. He's like "Yeeess it's been too long since I've blasted a droid."

- His ready position with his dual blasters. ❤

- Calling out the needed calculations and working perfectly with his team.

- They make camp, and Tech is just staring up at the stars. ❤

- His face falls a little bit when Crosshair challenges Rex. He's like, "Cross, what are you doing?"

-  “Uh, guys, come on.” He could be a leader, he’s just not commanding enough.

- His little huff and head shake like he can’t believe his brothers got in a fight on the first day. ❤

- Taking down droids like a boss.

- "You got it, Cap." ❤

- “Hmm. This is a delicate operation.” Wrecker kicks the door, and Tech looks like he lost a life.

- "We're in." ❤

- Dang, his eyes are so pretty. ❤

- Something about the way he jerks back when he first hears the audio of Echo. And then the look he gives Rex when he asks what it is.

- He perks up SO much when Crosshair pulls up and is the first to run for him.

- Actually caring about what Rex was looking for and asking what the CT number meant. When Rex explains and says, “He’s alive,” Tech’s expression changes from confusion to something closer to a mix of surprise and sympathy.

[bullet-prooflove]

hmm, jeff clarke as character and items could be a ice cream cone, cop car and a crossbow ? for the character & three items thingy cx hope u have amazing weekend !

Tagging:  @kmc1989 @witches-unruly-heart @telepathay @iworldlywriter 

Thank you so much, it's been ages since I have written Jeff and I have missed him. So the hardest part was the ice cream cone.

Jeff meets you on site during a call out. You’re perched in the passenger seat of a squad car, leaning across a patrol man with a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest. Blood trickles down his shirt as his breathes come out in ragged rasps. You can’t focus on that at the moment because you’re occupied with the wound in the patrolman’s right thigh.

“The bolt is pinning him to the seat.” You say calmly as Jeff reviews the situation through the shattered driver’s side window. “But that’s not the big problem. The glass from the broken windshield has nicked the femoral artery, if I take my fingers off he’ll bleed out in minutes.”

“You’re a doctor?” He asks as he opens the driver’s side door to give him more access.

“Just transferred into Med.” You tell him, tipping your face up towards him for the first time.

You’re beautiful. Wide soulful eyes that make his heart beat a little faster in his chest, a face that men would go to war for. Doctors shouldn’t look like this, he thinks, not like they were sent from heaven above.

“Ambos still ten minutes out.” He finds himself saying as he snaps back into the moment, already he’s tugging on a set of latex gloves. “But I’ve had some trauma training in the Marines so I can assist.”

“I need your shoelace.” You tell him as your gaze fixes on his. “If we can get this tied off, you should be able to move him for when the ambulance arrives.”

Jeff complies with your request, untying his boot before he hands you the lace. It’s  an artform what you do, your motions are deliberate, concise. There’s no hesitation, just the methodology of a woman who knows exactly what she’s doing. He can’t explain how attractive he finds that.

“Any idea how we ended up in this position?” He asks you as he turns his attention to the bolt that’s jutting out of the officer’s chest.

“I came out of the ice cream shop and there was just a lunatic with a crossbow standing in the street. He must have been high. The cops tried to intervene and…” You use your hand to gesture to the bolt. “I dropped my ice cream cone and everything. I didn’t think he’d actually do it.”

“What flavour?” He asks you and you raise a quizzical eyebrow as he withdraws the padding from the emergency kit they keep on the truck. “Your ice cream?”

“Oh, mint choc chip.” You tell him as you start to pack the wound with Jeff’s help.

“I’m more of a rum and raisin man myself.” He informs you, tilting his head to survey your handiwork. “I think we’re about ready to get to work on the bolt, don’t you?”

Love Jeff? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[dindjarindiaries]

Every thought I had during The Bad Batch series finale:

I’m gonna be sick (I literally gave myself stress-induced heartburn guys HAHAHA)

WRECKER NOOOO HE’S COOKED

“Clone Force 99 died with Tech” EXCUSE ME? So we’re just openly airing Tech’s death rn?????? Heart SHATTERED

Omega is such a baddie I love her so much

Echo saying that releasing the Zillo is what he would do too so he knows it’s Omega AHSHSJDJSHDJDHFHSDH

The CX assassins fighting the boys THEY’RE COOKED

HUNTER NOOOOOO

WRECKER NOOOOOOO

The GASP I let out at Crosshair’s hand getting cut off like…

Hunter being tortured… no <3 take it back please <3 makes my heart ache even more for Crosshair

Oh no Echo you’re cooked

HAHAHAHAHA RAMPART GOT WHAT YOU DESERVED BRO

COME ON GUYS YOU CAN DO THIS

HUNTER AND CROSSHAIR WORKING TOGETHER DJFNDJFND

WET HAIR HUNTER??????? WE DID IT

THE TRUST IN CROSSHAIR BETWEEN BOTH HUNTER AND OMEGA YUPPPPP YUPPPPPPPPPPP

Wait… we actually did it 🥹

*struggling not to cry when Omega leans her head on Hunter*

OLDER OMEGA??? OLD MAN HUNTER?!?!?!?!

OUR KID??????????

Yeah Tech’s goggles got me crying immediately

In summary… yeah that was perfection

[catguangcorner]

I can’t tell if shiguang is the type to not know they’re married (as in the ‘all of our friends see our matching rings as an engagement but I thought we were bff’s’) or didn’t know they’re dating (we’re doing all the same things as a couple but there’s no official confirmation so I’m not sure if we’re actually a thing)

i riddle you this, anon, why not both?

but LMAO matching bff rings? they so would 😭😭😭 kind of obsessed with this idea specifically because we've seen how oblivious cxs is to romance. so. IMAGINE him seeing two pretty rings and thinking, "wow, that one would suit me and this one would really suit lu guang :) gotta buy this for my bestie :D" and presenting the ring to lu guang unceremoniously one afternoon at the studio. he's all, "lu guang look look—this is for you, now we're matching."

lu guang just looks at the ring, then to cheng xiaoshi's smiling face, then back to the ring.

he says something like, "you idiot, why would you go out and buy something when we barely have any money?"

and cheng xiaoshi's face falls a little and he says, "don't you like it?"

which, obviously, he DOES. lu guang takes the box and puts on the ring and stares at it and thanks him with a small nod. then he never takes it off. like ever.

qiao ling is probably very confused as to when on Earth this development took place.

[whomst-doth-art]

Link Click Yingdu/Bridon arc ep 6 Spoilers

Ok so in the opening of ep 6 there’s the scene with Xia Fei, Vein, Lu Guang, and Cheng Xiaoshi are all at the hotpot restaurant and Vein says to cxs “You’ll have to pay with your body”

Cxs just assumes Vein’s gay, as assumed when he says that he’s heard that many people in Bridon are “into this kind of thing”

And then he’s immediately like “I’m so charming :) he must be into me” and seems kinda flattered about it.

Okok but hear me out

What if this is the first time cxs has genuinely thought about a guy being into him?

And he’s actually okay with it, likes it even. He just wishes it was another guy—Lu Guang— that was attracted to him.

Little does he know that Lu Guang is already so deep into his affection that he is willing to destroy the timeline for him.

So like Vein is cxs's gay awakening, not in the sense that he had a crush on Vein but in the way that it forced him to actually confront his attraction to Lu Guang.

You can sprinkle in some internalized homophobia for angst for personal preference too!

And the rest is history!!

Please, if someone wrote fanfic about this concept, it is not a want it is a NEED.

[anulithots]

I feel like people sleep on The Tides just because Overthink is SO good, but the symbolism goes CRAZY in The Tides and it's straight up beautiful 😭😭

Do you have any thoughts on it? :0

YES EXACTLY. Like sure overthink is what I hum to myself when I’m stressing about something and it’s an absolute bop and this is coming from someone who doesn’t listen to rap songs whatsoever…

OKAY BUT THE TIDES THOUGH. As the season two outro it’s a masterpiece as welll. And while I cannot (unfortunately) read the lyrics in Chinese, I do think the English lyrics are wonderous as well. (’openn your eyeess… passingg throughh liessss’) AND THE MUSIC ITSELF. Like it’s sooo soft and pretty and has been on repeat in my head for days and days and days. (LIke all the link click songs but STILL.)

BaishaJAWS - as always, I honestly don’t think they can make a bad song - realllyyy did well with the - I don’t know music terms akljfljaksdf - repetition of the melody and the lyrics being about…actually reads the lyrics because this is one of the rare songs I haven’t memorized the lyrics too… smh at myself.

Okay so it’s about how (assumminngg CXS because IDK it feels like him sort of? But of course the ‘POV’ could be a mix of the characters or this season itself) CXS has been ‘lost of in the trap of time lapse’. To me this seems like his season one search for a perfect past, and now he blames himself for how this season has turned out/how the present unfolded because of his decisions. (Like with Lu Min and Lu Guang’s stabbing and how he couldn’t save everyone. Although, I have yet to do a deep dive analysis on season two as of yet, just season one. So these thoughts will probably change going forward).

Now the past is cemented in place, and he cannot escape from the world as it is, rather, CXS resolves himself to use the past, not to fix it, but to move towards the future and ensure it turns out okay. (Overall that’s the difference of season one and season two to me. Season one focuses on CXS primarily and his desire to fix the past, whereas season two focuses more so on a wider cast of characters along with CXS - Qiao Ling especially gets more screen time, and she’s the ‘present focused’ one of the trio - and uses the past to deal with the unfolding issues in the present.

Which leads my storytelling brain to theorize that season three will be ‘future focused’ and it… would be very cool… if the structure changed again. Episodic for season one. More narrative for season two. Then for season three it would be cool (again, from a storyteller’s perspective) for the structure to become more ambiguous, a little abstract, something of that nature. AND THEN WE GET LU GUANG ANSWERS AS THE FUTURE FOCUSED ONE OF THE TRIO!! KAJFKLASJDFKLAJSDLKFJASLKDFJALKSFJKLASJFKLASJDFLSAJDFL

Erm yes… so that’s my theorizing over the two lyrics I can understand /pos <3

... this is too long /pos

[fanfoolishness]

a rain that sounds like home (4/8)

After the destruction of Tantiss, the Bad Batch is safe at last. As Crosshair begins to recover from his injuries, it becomes apparent that not all of his scars are physical, and that guilt and grief are wounds that cut deeper than any blade. His family is determined to be there for him -- if only he can let them in.

Canon-compliant, focusing on PTSD, amputation recovery, and sibling grief, with plenty of whump, hurt/comfort, and emotional catharsis. Set shortly after the return from Tantiss and my fic Breaching the Wall. 43,000 words total.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

Chapter 4: Moving Day. Omega and her brothers move into their new home, but there are some stumbling blocks. ~5100 words, a Phee cameo, Crosshair & Omega POV.

---

Crosshair sat perched in the pilot’s seat of their stolen shuttle.  The cockpit was dark and close around him, unfamiliar and foreign, a different make than the shuttles he had been used to in his time in the Empire.  It took him a moment to find the comms.  When he did, he took a deep breath and flicked on Echo’s message, sent to his private channel.

Echo’s holo appeared from the chest up.  He’d found new armor, what seemed to be a combination of clone armor and stormtrooper gear.  He gave a crisp, military nod as the message began.  “Crosshair, Echo here.  Been working with Vik on this job with Rex.  He wanted to send his regards.”

Ah.  Vik.  CT-7243, as Crosshair had known him on Tantiss.  They had never been able to actually talk, but Crosshair couldn’t help but memorize the numbers of the other clones in the CX training unit, used when Hemlock mocked them for their failures.  Vik, like Crosshair, had resisted the training, even though it left him clearly weakened.  CT-8102 had washed out of training, his mind twisted, and had been diverted to other experiments.  CT-1744 had held out, like Vik.  CT-3392 had been a success --

He rubbed the scar at his wrist unconsciously, his heart rate speeding up for a few beats before settling back down.

“I’ll check this channel regularly,” Echo said.  “If you need to send anything privately.”

“If I need to,” Crosshair muttered under his breath.  Like Echo was expecting him to crumble, expecting him to be unable to figure things out.  He’d been through hard things before, and in far worse places -- the platform on Kamino, the icy wastes of Barton IV, the cell on Tantiss.  If he’d survived those, getting through a nonfatal injury with his family around him in one of the most beautiful places in the galaxy would be child’s play.  He wrinkled his nose, irritated that Echo didn’t think better of him.

“Keep at it, Crosshair.  Echo out.”  The holo flicked away into darkness, and Crosshair blinked.  That was it?  He sighed, leaning back in the pilot’s chair.

The door to the cockpit slid open, and Omega stood there in the dim lights from the rear cabin, holding Lula.  “I thought I heard something,” she said accusingly.

Crosshair crossed his arms over his chest.  “Shouldn’t you be asleep?  Big day tomorrow.  Moving in.”

Omega padded into the cockpit, the door sliding closed behind her, and sat down in the copilot’s seat.  She and Lula wore matching skeptical looks.  “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Hrm.”  He looked away and out the viewshield.  “Tried it.  Then I remembered Hunter said Echo left me a message.”

“Everything all right?” Omega asked.  “We talked tonight.  He couldn’t tell us much about the new mission he and Rex were heading on, but it sounded important.”  She heaved a sigh.  “I told him we’re moving tomorrow.  I know he’s got to do what he’s got to do, but I still wondered --”

“If he might come back to stay,” Crosshair said.  He turned back to her.  “I’m sure he’ll visit in between missions.  Isn’t that what it was like before?”  He’d picked up that Echo had left the rest of the team well before things went wrong, and had been gone for a few months before he’d returned.  

“Yes, but things are different now!  Tantiss is gone, Crosshair!  We did that!  How come -- how come that isn’t enough for him?”  She let out a vast sigh, squeezing Lula.  “I’m not really mad at him, not anymore.  I know him, I know he can’t rest when things are so unjust out there.  I feel like that too sometimes.  But I also feel like I just miss him.”

Crosshair swallowed, then hesitantly reached out with his left hand, laying it on her shoulder.  He squeezed lightly, and she gave him a faint smile.  “Thanks, Crosshair.”

He let her go, then leaned back in his seat.  “So why are you awake?”

“I woke up.  Weird dreams.”  She didn’t elaborate, but instead ducked her gaze from him.  He noted it, troubled, but wasn’t sure if he should pry.

“Come on,” he said, getting to his feet.  “Get some rest.  Big day tomorrow.”

“Same to you,” she said sternly, but followed it with a warm, gentle smile as she stood.  “Shh.  Don’t wake Hunter and Wrecker.”

“I’ll do what I can,” said Crosshair.  “But no promises.”  He herded her before him, right arm brushing against her back.  He was heartened when there was no phantom pain, just the welcome sensation of guiding his smaller sister back to bed.

---

“You ready for this?”

Omega turned to look up at Hunter, taking a deep breath and nodding.  “I’m ready.”

Their front door slid open, and their home beckoned them in.

Omega skipped through first, heart pounding, stomach swooping.  The pack on her back jostled with her bounding, and she forced herself to step a little more carefully, remembering what she carried in it.  An enormous grin spread over her face as she looked around and her brothers set down the loads they’d been carrying.

It was small for a house, but massive for a shuttle or the Havoc Marauder.  A little entryway opened up into a simple living area with a prefab dining table, chairs, and a soft sofa.  The walls were bare except for a small inset alcove in the east wall, an area to display something.  She thought she knew what might go there.  There was also a small communication terminal installed near the table, easy to sit at if sending messages to Echo or anyone else.  

She rushed forward to the windows opposite the entryway, whistling at the view.  The wide windows revealed a little patio with green shrubs and a patch of bare soil, the rocky shore down below, and past that the sea, an azure ribbon glinting in the morning sun.  “Batcher’s going to love being closer to the water,” she said eagerly.  Batcher jumped up to look out the window, then gave her a slobbery kiss of agreement.  “Okay, okay, I know!”

She turned back to wander to the kitchen, mouth hanging open slightly.  “It’s all installed!” she said in delight.  

Hunter gave her a slight proud smile.  “We’ve been busy.”

The kitchen was cozy compared to Shep and Lyana’s, but quadruple the size of a ship’s galley.  Clean counters with room for real cooking, not nuking ration packs, stood waiting.  There was a stove, a cooktop, a conservator, all of them real-sized, not the efficiency-sized versions for military life.  “We’ll have to figure out how to cook,” Omega said. 

“That’s on you,” said Crosshair, raising an eyebrow.  

“We’ll see about that,” she laughed.  She moved towards the hallway, glancing in at the roomy refresher with an actual bathtub, when her eyes fell on the two doors at the end of the hall.  Excitement blossomed within her, but she forced herself to turn away from the hall and look at her brothers.

Wrecker stood in the middle of the living room, slowly turning with his arms spread, laughing to hear how his voice echoed in all the space.  

Hunter grinned at him.  “Look at that, lads.  We’re home.”  She’d never seen him look so happy, so unguarded.  The way the joy spread over his face made him look so young.

Even Crosshair wore a soft smile, looking from Hunter to Wrecker to her.  “Hard to believe it’s ours,” he said.  “But it is, isn’t it?”  He slipped a toothpick between his lips, rolling it back and forth thoughtfully.  He nodded to her.  “What do you think?”

“I love it.  It’s our house!”  She joined the circle they were standing in, looking at each of her brothers in turn.  She didn’t know what to say.  So she held out her arms, and they closed the circle, Hunter and Wrecker wrapping their arms around her, Crosshair squeezing her shoulder with his hand.  She closed her eyes, leaning against all three of them.  

They were safe, safe, safe.

“Maybe you should check out the rest of the house,” Wrecker said, sounding as if he was trying to avoid spoiling a surprise.  She pulled away from the embrace and nodded, her eyes bright.

She walked down the hallway slowly, reverently, her brothers following behind.  The starboard -- the right -- door opened for her, and Omega practically leaped into her room.

“Wow,” she said softly.  

They’d been in the house plenty before Moving Day, raising walls and installing things.  But she hadn’t seen what her brothers must have done yesterday while she was out with Lyana.  That was why Hunter had wanted to move in last night!  

They’d done so much.  A bed -- not a heated padded bunk, but a real bed with real handmade blankets -- stood in one corner.  There was a workbench with a small toolset all her own for if she wanted to tinker with tech or droids.  A colorful little rug of soft woven fabric from the marketplace kept the room cozy in yellow, her favorite color.  Several shelves were mounted and ready for Lula, or a dozen of her.  There was a whole dresser just for clothes, though the idea that she would have enough clothes to fill it was astounding.  Strings of tiny lights crisscrossed the ceiling, ready for nightfall.  

She slowly set down her pack on her bed, then turned around with her arms held wide, her fingertips still feet away from touching the walls.

“Wow,” she whispered.

“Like it?” Wrecker asked.  As she twirled around she watched her brothers enter the room, looking down at her with pleased, happy looks.  “I mean, I know it’s no gunner’s nest…”

“It’s perfect!” she gasped, charging forward and flinging her arms around his waist in a hug.  He leaned down to pull her closer, his huge arms closing gently around her.  “Thank you, all of you,” she said, pulling back from Wrecker and beaming at him, then Hunter and Crosshair in turn.  Even Crosshair grinned back at her.

“Well, what are you going to put in it?” Hunter asked her.  “We’ll have to get you a new bow, for one, but you’ve got room to expand now.”

“I don’t know!” Omega said.  “I mean I have my things, but… there’s so much space here!”  She opened her pack, pulling out Lula and resting her on her pillow.  Then she reached in, pulling out something wrapped gently in one of her spare shirts.  She hesitated, but it felt right to do this while it was just them, before the moving day party began.  

“What’s that you got there?” Wrecker asked.

“I -- I brought these, but I thought maybe they should be out there, where we can all see them.  It’s okay that I brought them, right?”  She folded open the shirt, lifting out Tech’s goggles.  “What do you think?” she asked, taking a deep breath.

Hunter’s face creased into something half like a smile, half like he might cry.  Wrecker sighed, nodding, a slight sad smile on his face.  A muscle in Crosshair’s cheek twitched, and his eyes darkened.  

“Yeah,” said Wrecker.  “‘Course it’s okay.”  He laid a hand on her shoulder, leading her back towards the living room.  “Let’s find a good spot.  Someplace he woulda liked.”  

Hunter stepped into place beside her at the end of the hallway.  “Maybe by those windows.  I think that’d be all right.”

“That’s what I was thinking, in the little alcove.  A place just for him.”

She turned around, looking down the hallway for her other brother.  “Crosshair?” she called.

He came out of her room slowly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand, his face gray.  Instead of joining them in the living room, he ducked into the refresher.  

She frowned, then looked up to Hunter for reassurance.  He laid his hand on her shoulder.  

“He needs more time, Omega,” Hunter said quietly.  “Come on, let’s see how these look over here.”  He led her to the alcove, and she carefully placed Tech’s goggles there, adjusting them so they sat straight.

“Looks good, kid,” Wrecker said.  He reached out to rub her back.  She nodded, her throat tight.  

The sun caught Tech’s goggles, and they lit up in golden-yellow, chromium gray, reflections playing over the walls of the little alcove.  They felt right, being there.  

It felt like Tech had come home with them.

---

So this was a party.

Parties were hard for clones to throw.  Difficult to have a party without an actual home, though he’d heard rumors of regs trying it in their barracks during lights out and getting extra refresher duty for their trouble.  But here they were with a real home around them, walls that belonged to them, and pockets of villagers standing around chatting, laughing, snacking.  It was an actual party, and it was choking him.

It wasn’t that Crosshair couldn’t appreciate what the villagers were doing.  They’d brought all kinds of things -- clothes in Omega’s size their children had outgrown, spare rugs, cookware, gifts of spices, even things like a painting of the sea and a woven tapestry to decorate the walls.  They’d also brought enough food for a week in addition to snacks and treats to eat today.  It was generosity on a scale he’d never imagined, and he was grateful for it.

It was just that there were so many people.

Laughter bellowed from the living room.  Mox and Stak were wrestling with Wrecker, while Deke stood by watching them, laughing uproariously.  “Go on, get ‘im!” he hollered, shaking his fist at his brothers.  Wrecker responded by picking up each cadet with one hand nearly by the scruff.  They scrambled to escape, trying their best kicks and grapples, but couldn’t come close to dislodging themselves from Wrecker’s grip.  He threw back his head and laughed.

Crosshair leaned against the hallway wall, teeth cradling a toothpick, smirking at Wrecker’s antics.  It wasn’t that long ago that Wrecker would still try to wrestle him down and pin him, which was a certainty if Crosshair couldn’t get away.  His long legs kept him out of trouble sometimes, but just as often Wrecker would catch him and crow, holding him down with as much effort as if Crosshair had been a tooka kitten.  

He sighed, shaking his head.  It wouldn’t be long before the cadets were nearly full-grown.  He’d spent some time with the boys before the Empire invaded, and since then the boys had grown several months’ worth of inches in the past few weeks.  It had seemed normal to him once, the rate they’d grown, what the regs had looked like at that age.  But now that he’d seen some of those kids from Tantiss, kids from around the island, the more and more he realized they’d been the strange ones.  All of them.

They had thought they were so different from regs then.

He gazed at Mox, and saw Rex and Cody.  He saw Echo’s face peering back at him from Deke’s.  He looked at Stak, and he saw Mayday.

These were brothers, just as surely as Hunter, Wrecker, Tech.  

He frowned.  He’d heard some of the cadets’ stories.  The boys had been from different batches, but each had lost the entirety of their batch or squad before finding each other.  They’d lost everyone.  They had seen terrible things.

But the cadets’ young faces still looked round and childish.  Shinies, all of them.  No scars, thick and fleshy at the temple, radiating starlike across the cheek.  No tattoos to mark a skill, a point of pride.  No blind eyes, no cybernetic implants.

No missing --

His stump brushed against his thigh, and he shuddered.

“Hey, Crosshair, want in on this?” Wrecker asked, letting the cadets drop to the ground.  “These guys are fierce!”  They bounced back to their feet, settling into combat stances with impressive scowls on their faces.  

“I’m good,” he said.  He lifted himself up from his leaning and wandered back to the bedroom he would share with his brothers, hoping for a little peace and quiet, but some kind of terrible racket was going on in there.  The left door opened for him and Batcher flashed past, hopping from bed to bed, chased by a howling, squealing tangle of island children in some kind of game.  Crosshair stepped out instantly and backed away, shaking his head.  Not an option, then.

Omega poked her head out of her room, followed closely by Lyana.  “Crosshair!  Tell them to keep it down out there, Lyana and I are trying to talk!”

“Yeah, is there some kind of battle going on out there?” Lyana asked.  The left door opened and Batcher came galloping out, a throng of children at her heels. 

“No, there is not,” said Crosshair, and strode out of the hallway before the kids could pass him.  He swung a left out of the hall as Batcher and the kids skidded out past him.  He let out a long breath, then rubbed at his wrist, his nonexistent hand clenching in ghostly pain.  He clamped down on his toothpick, grinding it between his teeth.  

He looked around the living room again, which was even more crowded now with Hunter, Shep, and the family that was fostering the Tarlafar baby from the lab.  The clone cadets had stopped roughhousing with Wrecker and were now discussing plans for some kind of island sport.  He glanced around at the walls, taking in the alcove in the east wall where Tech’s goggles now rested.  His eyes slid past them as if they were not there.

He slipped towards the front door, stepping out into the afternoon, and found himself on the patio in the sunny afternoon.

Their little patio wasn’t much, but it could be something.  There was room for a bit of furniture, a chair or two.  There was a sliver of shade from the house.  The patch of rocky soil lined with short beachgrasses was wide enough to stretch out on, and the whole little area was bordered by a ring of thick, lush green bushes up to his waist, glowing with pink flowers.  A short fence of dried beachwood at the edge of the bushes was just tall enough to lean on.  He rested his right arm on the fence, bracing it against the wood, massaging it with his left hand.  

He screwed his eyes shut, biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood.  The pain throbbed, an invisible vise grip coursing tidally up to his elbow.  He’d taken his medication this morning, but this was the hour between doses where the pain sometimes struck more severely.  He took a short sharp breath, then another, sweat beading on his forehead as the afternoon sun beat down.

Nothing’s there.  It’s healed.  It’s not real.  It’s in your head.

Like the tremors had been.

He shoved the fence away, breathing hard, anger flashing within him.  The rickety fence stretched backward, then swayed back into place still vibrating.  He glared at it, left hand curling into a fist, right stump held back.  His phantom fingers reached reflexively for a pistol that wasn’t there.  

“Argh!” he growled, now even angrier.  He paced in the narrow confines of the patio, ringing round and round, now counting paces back and forth.  Bigger than his cell on Tantiss, but not by much.  He counted them a dozen times before he slowed, coming to a stop again in front of the fence. The sensations in his arm had cooled and shifted back to nearly normal, leaving him spent.

He spat out his toothpick into the bushes and pulled out a fresh one, biting down until the ends splintered. He closed his eyes, worrying the toothpick back and forth between his teeth.

He wondered if a prosthetic would make these waves better. Maybe if there was something for the sensations to animate, they’d be less overwhelming.  He held out his stump, every detail writ large in his clear vision.  

A rippled sear of scar tissue, pink and roughly linear but thicker in some places than others.  The vibrosword blade had -- jittered -- when it hit bone.  The blow had chipped off fragments of some of the wrist bones, AZI had said, causing swelling and remodeling that was only now starting to improve.  All of it had left his right arm thinner and less muscular than the left due to disuse.

He sighed.  Would he feel whole with a cybernetic hand, mechanized fingers curling and uncurling, powered by gears and wires?  Would that fix him?  

He wouldn’t have to rely on Hunter to take care of his food for him.  Wouldn’t have to ask Wrecker to cut his hair.  Wouldn’t have to see Omega wearing that protective look of hers, every time she glimpsed his ruined arm.

But he wasn’t sure a new hand could fix the other thing.  The thing he didn’t have words for, the empty pit deep in the heart of him, the sleeplessness, the dreams, the way life felt so unreal these days.  He didn’t know what to call it, but it ached as badly as his arm.

“Hey there, Crosshair,” came a familiar voice.  He turned around.  Phee was carrying a crate, coming up to the front door.  She set down her crate by the door and edged past the corner of the house to the patio.  “You get lost on the way to the party?”

He stifled a faint snort of laughter.  She was sharp, he had to give her that.  “Not exactly.  Parties aren’t my… thing.”  He leaned against the fence, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hm.  Can’t say I’m too surprised to see you out here,” she said.

“How’s that?”

“No offense, but I know being a sniper’s about more than just good eyesight.”  She drew herself up beside him.  “A good sniper’s at their best alone.”

Crosshair tilted his head in a brief nod.  “True enough.”

She smiled.  “Besides, I cheated.  Tech told me you weren’t big on crowds.”

”Or chatting,” he said, turning away, though his voice was without any real venom.  

“I can see that,” Phee chuckled.  “But hey.  Seriously though.”  He turned back to face her, and she saw her glance at his stump.  “You holding up?”

“Enh,” Crosshair said.  He ducked his head.

“Look.  I just wanted to say, I’m glad you all came home.”

He heard the words she didn’t say: This time.  He didn’t reply.

“All right, then… guess I’ll head in, since you don’t seem to be much for conversation.  You staying out here?” Phee asked.

“I -- wait,” Crosshair said, meeting her gaze.  She stopped, giving him a curious look.  “Thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?” Phee asked.  “Stopping by?  Checking in with you?  Just being a decent person?”

“For helping us,” said Crosshair firmly.  ”For Omega.”

She let him speak, her expression softening in surprise.

“We couldn’t have found Omega without your help.  If we’d been any later — or we hadn’t got Rampart — I don’t think we would have made it.”  His toothpick cracked in half, and he spat out the remnants, reaching immediately for another.  He rested it between his lips, biting down on it still harder than he meant to.  “So thank you.”

She gave him a bright smile, though there was a hint of something sad in it.  “Of course.  I love that girl, you know.  She’s special.  If I can do anything to help you boys with her, I’m there.”

He smiled quietly.  “She has that effect on people.”

She nodded, tilting her head as she looked closely at him.  “You know, I see the resemblance.”

He blinked at her, puzzled.  ”Well, we are clones.  We all resemble each other.”

She laughed, shaking her head.  “You and Brown Eyes, specifically.  You two were close, weren’t you?”

He went still.  We were, once.  But he couldn’t say that, not to an acquaintance like Phee, not to himself.  

“I heard the same about you,” he said instead.  

Wrecker had been the one to tell him, not long after the first escape from Tantiss.  Omega hadn’t even realized, but Wrecker told him Phee and Tech had been spending time together, watching the sunset, going on walks around the island.  Little things, but towering firsts for any of them.  Once he’d met her, Crosshair had seen why in an instant.  

She sighed.  “I wish — I wish there’d been more time.  We were just getting started, you know?”  She gave him a tight smile.  

More time.  

He could have been happy with her.  

But Phee and Tech hadn’t had enough time, Tech hadn’t had more time, and the weight of it pressed on Crosshair like a stone.

He swallowed, casting around to change the subject.  “What’s in the box?”

”Oh, this?  Just something I liberated.”  She brought back the crate to the patio, cracking open its sturdy lid.  “Not sure if you boys got to have toys back on Kamino when you were growing up way too fast, but turns out ships from the Grand Army of the Republic were pretty popular toys for younglings during the war.  I couldn’t get you guys a full-sized version, but I thought Omega might like this in her room.”  She pulled back the lid, and he peered down at a large model of a Marauder-class ship.  ”Not that it’ll be up to Tech’s specifications, but I think she’ll like it.”

Crosshair let out a long breath.  “She’ll love it,” he said with a chuckle despite himself.  “You ought to go give it to her.”

“Still trying to shoo me away?  You’re not exactly subtle.”  

He gave her a faint smile.  “No, not this time.  I just thought Omega would be excited.”

“I sure hope so!  Fine, I’ll head on in.”  She glanced at his stump, hanging at his side.  “But I was sorry to hear you fellas were hurt.  I know Tech said you were tough, but… that’s a hard blow for anyone.  I talked a bit with Echo about things before he left.  I’ll keep an eye out for prosthetics, too, if you’d like.  I got a lot of contacts, and if they can help you out…”

He didn’t want her pity.  Or her help.  But he thought of Tech here on Pabu beneath the weeping maya, maybe smiling at Phee.  He couldn’t even imagine it, and yet it had happened.  She’d been there for Tech; she’d made him happy.  And she’d helped them rescue Omega.  

He stuffed down his first response, a defensive no way in hell.  Instead he went with, “You don’t have to.  But… if you do see anything—“  He shrugged, gesturing around at the beautiful view.  “I’ll be here.”

”Fair enough,” she said.  “Now come on.  You want to see her face when I give this to her?”

”Yes.  I do.”

---

“Omega?” Crosshair said quietly.  She blinked, sitting up blearily.  

“Did I fall asleep?  Where are we?  Where is everyone?”

“We’re in the house, kid,” said Hunter.  “Our house.”  

“What about the party?” Omega yawned.  

“Everyone’s gone home,” Hunter said.  He knelt stiffly beside her, gently shaking her shoulder. She rubbed her eyes.  “Come on.  We should get you to bed.”

Wrecker stretched his back, preparing to reach down for her.  “I got her.”

“I’m not a little kid anymore.  You don’t have to carry me,” Omega said, still yawning, then broke into a tired grin.  She got to her feet, flinging her arms out in a big stretch.  “I’m going to go to my room.”  

Her eyes widened in delight.  “To my room!  There’s so much to do tomorrow.  I have to figure out the best way to show off the cool shells Mox and Deke and Stak brought, and where to put the jewelry from Lyana, and the ship from Phee, and my new clothes, and -- and --”  She broke out into sleepy laughter.  “I love all of this.  I love you, little brothers.”  She reached out, swooping Wrecker in a fierce hug, then turned to Hunter, throwing her arms around his neck.  He patted her, chuckling, and she turned to Crosshair.

He was ready this time.  It’d been the last thing he could have imagined once, Omega rushing to him, arms flung wide in a pure and emotional hug.  She’d known it was him, right?  But that night on the bridge he’d heard her weeping against his cheek, even through the rain, and he’d realized how wrong he’d been.

She reached out to hug him, and he hugged her back, cradling her briefly with his good arm.  He was getting better at this.  He closed his eyes for a moment, holding her close before releasing her, then bending down nearer to her level.

“Don’t stay up too late,” he scolded, half-smiling. 

“Crosshaaaaair…”

“What he said,” said Hunter, though a grin stole over his face.  Wrecker laid a hand on Hunter’s shoulder as they watched Omega pick up the model of the Marauder from the table and carry it back to her room, cradling it carefully in her arms.

“Well, ‘spose it’s our turn,” Wrecker said.  “What a day, huh?  Man, when Phee brought out that Marauder… I gotta say, I got a little misty.”

“I think we all did.  That was special,” Hunter agreed.  “Kid loved it.”

“It was good for her,” Crosshair said.  “And thoughtful as hell.”

“Phee’s just like that,” Wrecker said fondly.  He rubbed his eyes.  “Shoot, I’m almost as sleepy as the kid.  You two coming to bed?”

“Yeah,” said Hunter.  “Having half the village visit us was uh, a lot.  It was good.  But it was definitely a lot.”

“You can say that again,” Crosshair said.  “You two go on.  I’ll be there in a bit.”

Hunter gave him a look, and Crosshair suspected Hunter knew what he was up to.  He waited as they both headed down the hallway.  Once the bedroom door had closed, Crosshair sat down at the table where their communicator was mounted.  He stared at it for a few moments, the sounds of the ocean in his ears, then reached out and picked up a commlink.  He adjusted the settings to where he wanted to call.

Echo’s signal beeped on the holo, but it was the code that indicated there was only a message option.  Of course, he’d told Omega this was around the time he was moving out with Rex.  Crosshair stared for a moment at the beeping comm, wondering what to say, knowing it needed to be brief.

He took a deep breath.  “The new house is ready.  There’s room for you if you need it.  Omega still misses you.”  

He thought about saying, Maybe you should look around for something for my hand.  He thought about saying, This is a real home.  I can’t believe it’s ours.  He thought about saying, Sometimes the phantom pain reminds me of Tantiss.  He thought about saying, Do you remember being young?

He swallowed, thinking of Omega’s joy, her shining face.  “It was a good day.  Visit soon.”

He nixed the connection, and sat there blinking until his eyes cleared.

[spilledstars1234]

First post! To start this blog off, i'd like to vomit a random Link Click theory that I thought of recently after finishing Season 2 a couple of weeks ago

You know, the whole “Lu Guang taking the photo in his hospital room” scene’s been on my mind a lot. Because that part was a liiiiitle strange. ‘Cause, I don’t think LG even left his phone there for CXS to find. And why? Because he doesn’t even know that CXS knows his phone passcode. My evidence? When Qiao Ling asks Cheng Xiaoshi how he knew LG’s passcode, he replies with “I just happened to see him put it in.” MEANING: LG didn’t tell it to him. Which is kind of odd, because if he left the phone specifically for CXS to find and dive into, wouldn’t he have told him his phone password beforehand in order to have gotten the plan to work smoothly? 

SO! What if he left the phone for HIMSELF to find, and dove into it after CXS’ death and after CXS transferred his ability to him, so he’d have like a backup plan-ish sort of thing just in case CXS might've died that night???

And bonus! So if that WAS him, then the whole thing with the boat would make sense! ‘Cause when it first shows the whole “Lu Guang leaping on top of CXS” scene (back when we didn’t know CXS dives into the photo), it shows LG having zoomed his way there to the docks on some random boat. So this brings me to the conclusion that this had all been pre-planned (aka LG from the future going back and saving CXS), because like, where’d he get the boat? Did he just hijack one or something? Or… did he have one prepared in advance? (see where i’m going with this??)

 And when we see CXS as Lu Guang, notice how HE didn’t take a boat there, and just ran all the way to the docks? (while risking the small matter of LG’s intestines spilling out… buuut cartoon logic!) So this brings me to thinking that the Lu Guang we saw the first time was actually Lu Guang! And that was him from another timeline and not CXS like we all thought.

And therefore, the “LG & CXS lying on top of each other scene” could’ve actually happened (so CXS wasn’t being narcissistic there, lol!), since that could have been Lu Guang the first time around (and Lu’s little smirk and the whole “Fortunately I caught up to you” thing could’ve been y’know, actually from him and not CXS just saying that to himself).

But then… there’s a loophole in this. Because the Lu Guang that is shown first starts busting out all these moves… and we all know CXS is the one who’s more adept at fighting, and we can kinda guess Lu Guang probably doesn’t get off the couch (he isn’t called an old man for nothing y’know). So, maybe that was actually CXS to begin with…

In conclusion? I genuinely don’t know! But I like to be delusional so I like to think that it was LG in another timeline (c’mon studio lan, you can’t just give us that scene and pass it off as it actually being CXS because of censorship pls). Or maybe I’m dumb and this theory’s super wrong because I completely missed something, I dunno.

(edit: HANG ON, i totally forgot about the scene where cxs gets shot and LG immediately went to beat the crap out of qian jin. So maybe all it takes for LG to fight is when he sees CXS in danger~)

[lightwise]

TBB S3E7 Reactions

Alright, in lieu of an analysis this week, you guys get some extra long reactions from me. Spoilers for Extraction under the cut!

- Of course the operative is still alive after being completely buried by rocks

- You okay there Rexy boy?

- Aww, Crosshair helping him up

- “There’s always another way” feels like foreshadowing

- CX does sound awfully like Tech when he’s grunting. Either that or DBB has only one way of making groaning noises 😂

- The rim lighting in this episode is such a pain for making screenshots but so satisfying for watching

- The modified clone theme when Wolffe lands 😭

- Wolffe was really getting 3PO flashbacks there with that disgusted sigh

- Isn’t Hilo a canon commando?? Or is he from legends?

- I will never get over how realistic light looks in this show

- There’s no way that CX just caught himself with his hands

- “We’re waiting on you” they’re not leaving Crosshair behind this time 🥹

- Lol Batcher. Licking cute clones faces. Always the priority

- How is this CX such a good shot??

- Oh Wolffe definitely has a constant headache. Idk how he’s actually put up with being in the Empire this long.

- This purple atmosphere is so pretty

- “I’m much worse” — SCREAMING. And the little tilt with his helmet to make his point clear? This man can have me however he wants. Anytime, anywhere. Call me, baby (I hope someone laughed at that lol)

- So Hunter does hear the ships. I wonder if his senses are more tuned for mechanical vibrations and animal life than people

- Lol Howzer is this really the time for a heart to heart?

- “Loyalty meant something to me” 🫡

- Lol that TK Trooper sounded like a mid-Atlantic 50s movie star

- How is the operative this nimble? Seems suspicious

- Smoke bombs are CF99s signature

- Interesting that for once the stun bolts are being used ON the Batch instead of by them.

- Wrecker and Batcher are a great team

- Hunter just dropping that TK and then Crosshair taking out their ship. Phew

- Also not suspicious at all that they’ve neutralized all the TKs and left the clone troopers for later.

- How did Crosshair sense the operative coming up behind them?

- RIP Nemec ��

- “Too bad” 😩😩😩

- Oh Cross, you know you’re not the best at hand to hand combat. This is a very bad idea

- That waterfall is pretty though

- Dear lord why did they have to make these scenes so dark

- Oh fuck. I can’t even tell who threw who off the cliff

- The whole squad going after Crosshair even though he told them to get to the extraction point 😭

- CX obviously knows Crosshair and has beef with him. Again, for the millionth time—WHAT THE HELL DID HEMLOCK DO TO ALL OF THEM

- “You had your chance to be one of us. You chose the wrong side”. Really can’t wait for this to be explained.

- Crosshair’s reflexes are so fast for being all gangly limbs

- Okay I seriously almost had a heart attack here (this is a rewatch so my reactions aren’t immediate but holy cow I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing watching Crosshair almost drown. Don’t you dare do it Jen!)

- It is v suspicious how fixated on Crosshair CX is even after he’s neutralized him

- Thank GOD for Howzer

- Okay, I can breathe a little again

- That’s…an awfully long fall for someone to survive

- The TBB team took the water scenes from The Crossing in season 2 and said, yeah, how about we just make that a million times better 🤯

- “That’s not Echo”. No, no it is not

- Good to know that Rex is still considered dead by the Empire (although that honestly seems strange that CX in season 2 knew who he was). That’s heartbreaking that Wolffe thought he was dead this whole time though

- Wow. The respect these two men have for each other

- “Oh I did. Lost a lot of good men that day” *cries in TCW season 7*

- Idk how Rex keeps going honestly

- His voice may be gentle but his face means BUSINESS

- Rex 🤝 Omega - believing the power of friendship can save anyone and anything they come across

- Fuck your orders Wolffe

- “I’ll make sure you’re given a fair trial” you really have no idea who you work for Wolffe do you

- Hunter being willing to stand down when Rex asks him to

- “I know you. As your brother, I’m asking you to do the right thing” the brotherly reunions this season are just paralleling all over the place

- Gregor the handsome fellow that you are. I swear his pauldrons get bigger every time we see him

- “Let my people go” the Exodus vibes are strong here too

- Guess we’re gonna be finding out what makes this CX so special. Still can’t believe he survived.

- Rex just lost almost all of his men again 😣😭

- The sheer respect and care that Hunter and Rex have for each other. The hand on the shoulder. The losses that tie them together. The worry and earnestness in Hunter’s face and tone when he tells Rex he can’t win. He doesn’t emote this much to people he doesn’t consider family.

- The ways Hunter still is hesitant to do anything but run and hide, and Rex still can’t give up. Not quite yet.

- How Hunter won’t be able to either until they know what is really going on with Omega.

[swbbb6]

Who wants some overtly angsty headcanons for no reason at all?

A while ago, I was wondering aloud how/when Crosshair found out about Tech. At the time, I was content with the idea that it was probably Omega (maybe even Hunter) who broke the news to him. At the time, I really thought it seemed the most likely option. But now I’m not so sure. I finally mustered up the emotional energy to rewatch the end of S2 and into S3, and y’all. I came to a horrifying conclusion: I’m pretty sure it was Hemlock who told him.

What brought me to this conclusion, was the scene in which Omega and Crosshair pass by each other in the hallway (S3E1). The look on Crosshair’s face. He’s broken, sure, but more than that, he looks grief stricken. This was still very early on in Omega’s time there - she gasped when she saw him. So I don’t know how much conversation they could have had up until that point.

But I do know Hemlock would’ve had all the time in the world to visit his ol’ pal Cross, and offer condolences on the loss of his brother, Tech. But it’s not all bad news; thanks to Crosshair’s efforts, they were finally able to secure that elusive“asset” once and for all. “The empire thanks you for your service.”

Now, if you’re thinking “too dark!” you would be correct. This is still supposed to be a kids show (ha!) But I don’t think it’s “too dark” for Hemlock.

Royce Hemlock is brilliant and extremely thorough. He knows what he’s got: a former spec ops sharpshooter, who has also proven to be too strong/stubborn/defective for the CX program. And now there’s another one. One who has been trained/raised by Crosshair’s own team. Not to mention, by that point, Hemlock had already seen firsthand just how paternal and loyal the clones are. If those two were to team up, they could actually pose a real threat. Hemlock is smug, but I don’t think he’s arrogant enough to risk it. I think the only way he would ever “allow” Omega and Crosshair to see each other, is if he was confident that he had thoroughly killed any hope Crosshair might have had of trying to escape again. And what better way to do that than by planting the most haunting thought of all: “I wonder who you’ll lose the next time you try something stupid?”

[zaptrapp]

Ea’s Bad Batch Finale Rant

Here we go, doing this as I’ve done for ep.1. Of course SPOILERS AHEAD for the last episode (sigh, it’s all done and gone isn’t it?). Warning, this is going to be chaotic and emotional... so yeah, deal with it haha.

The intro… the eerie music… chills.

Is something bad about to happen or…?

Please leave Wrecker alone.

WRECKER NO

We are not starting on a good note, why’s Wrecker so beaten up???

This is not good, I’m not good.

I mean I know why, because of last ep beast, but c'mon why Wrecker...

“Clone Force 99 ended when Tech died” fuck If I’m not crying wow….

Crosshair shaking so much… nah I’m out already what the fuck is this.

Crosshair wanting to sacrifice himself, YO CHILL?!?

Hunter please discipline your children.

Dr. Hemlock x Rampart or did I just imagine the sexual tension?

But what if...

Enemies to lovers Dr. Hemlock x Rampart lmao please someone, anyone?

Kids please beat the shit out of miss Dr. PLEASE KIDS!

Omega being so smart, her character development, the courage! SLAY GIRLIE

FREE THE ZILLO YUP

now we're talking

"Is it Omega's or Echo's handiwork?".... "Omega's." LMAO they know Echo doesn't fuck around that much hahaha

Emerie i give you one last chance.

green kid I feel you so much, I'm also afraid of heights hahah

here we go with the Incredible 4 (aka the super clones? enhanced clones? brainwashed clones? whatever....)

they give off a lot of "Avengers Unite!" vibe

ready to slay aren't we?

When I said slay I didn't mean slay the bad batch, just to be clear.

annd Hunter is a goner

Annnnd Crosshair is a goner too i guess?

WHAT THE FUCK NOT THE HAND???

Creepiest point the show has ever been what the actual fuck is this supposed to be a children show?

Yup Wrecker is done too.

Yo the scene where Emerie and Echo see his squad being taken away. I got chills, you can fucking see his reaction, the shock.

ECHO SLAY YESSSS ECHO THE OG ARC TROOPER HERE WE GO

Emerie don't fuck this up and get those kids to safety thank you.

CLONE RESCUE HAPPENING RN I'M NOT GOOD

Nala Se and Rampart too?! slay

Omg Rampart stfu for one second or just go away you're useless anyway

Not the squad being tortured

HUNTER NOOOOOOO

"We'll survive, but you won't" -> OOOOOOHHFFFFFFUUUUCK

Hunter be mine

Oh wow Nala Se I see where you're going with this.

Kamikaze?

Too bad we didn't have more Hemlock x Rampart interactions, boyfriend died, sad.

Aaaaaand 2 are down.

Bye Rampart and Nala Se, you actually were on my dead bad batch bingo list.

Rest In Peace Nala Se🙏🏻 you got redeemed.

Rest in Sass you bitching ass imperial Rampart 🖕🏻

UH Hemlock this was such a bitchy thing to do.

and here goes the chaos

Wrecker is so fucking menacing. HE IS PISSED

OK WRECKER IS MAD MAD and also scary scary now…

Hunter with that spear makes me feel things.

Uhhh he got it coming from a mile away

And Clone CX-2 is down….

So, uhhhh…. That wasn’t Tech uh……

So….

Tech was….

….Dead dead?

Like actually dead this whole time?

Fuck.

ALSO WHERE THE FUCK IS COMMANDER CODY PLEASE RELEASE HIS FROM HIS CAGE

NO ECHO fuck god

“Take a shot everytime the bad batch is on the verge of getting killed”

-> not me being absolutely wasted and with my nerves asking for mercy

Please Hunter, Crosshair, kill that bitch ass Hemlock

major disney villain vibe in the storm with the hostage secured to his wrist yada yada...

"DROP YOUR BLASTERS" well well well

Why is Hemlock’s screaming voice kinda sexy tho

I'm so sorry for what I've just said.

WET HAIR HUNTER FUCKING THANK YOU I can die now

CROSSHAIR PLEASE bciakwnfbhc I’m dying too here

You can do it YES you can do it

Crosshar leaning on Hunter like he did with Tech in the clone wars season 7 HAHAHAHA YUUUUP I've been fed.

Uh that was personal

Guys... that's enough. Yup I-I think he's dead now. Yes, definitely gone. Uh, you can stop shooting, he's cold. He also just fell off a cliff... HE DEAD DEAD!

evil space imperial boyfriends reunited in hell

The way Omega chooses to hug Crosshair first, as a DadHunter! stan I feel a bit betrayed but comprehensible… he just saved her not missing the shot.

with one hand tooo, kudos

group hug I'm so teary

Wait so they did it?

THEY’RE OFF PLANET!??

AND THEY ALL SURVIVED?

Oh wow I bet my money on Hunter and Crosshair to die but I was wrong?? This is… refreshing.

Look at them kids!! And the clone cadets, and the rescued clones!!!

EMERIE AND ECHO YESSSS

Look at them all cozy and happy

Nah Echo my man where are you going?

Rex mention pt. 2 or something...

Rex should have been there in the finale but ok i guess... a bit disappointed but still

Nah Echo should have been there for the last shot.

It’s over uh?

look at them, finally happy and free. WE DID IT.

WAIT NO IT ISNT OVER YET???

Not the flash forward I cannot handle it

Ok Pabu!?

YOUNG ADULT OMEGA fuck yesssss

oh she looks awesome

IS THAT HUNTER'S BANDANA

deceased. dead on the ground. dead like hemlock.

NOT OLD HUNTER LIKE THIS IM DEAD ON THE GROUND DECEASED IM FUCKING CRYING OH WOW

OMEGA IS SO GROWN UP

She’s a rebel pilot

"You're our kid" I'M SCREAMING

he chose to be a dad, I knew it

She chose to keep fighting

TECH'S GOGGLES THIS IS SUCH A FOUL MOVE

They should have included Wrecker and Crosshair in this where are they??

But also it’s as it began, Hunter and Omega and their father-daughter bond

“Bye dad, imma be a pilot and save the galaxy” aka “imma move out from the basement and live on my own”

Oh Hunter you’re an old man now…. My heart is aching but also it means he got to live a peaceful life until the rest of his days.

the beard, the long hair, the gray hair.... i wonder how crosshair and wrecker are doing? and echo?? and howzer? AND CODY?

like you cannot leave me like this? hello?

This is gone full circle now.

Well….

Goodbye Bad Batch! It’s been a pleasure!

(I’m still crying)

[brokenmachinemusings]

hi tumblr you get to hear my insane sgdlr ramblings theories whatever about mr vein which mifht be wrong but I DOTN CARE

LINK CLICK SPOILERS . OBVIOUSLY!!!!

ok sooooo first i connected the dots with cheng xiaoshi and vein bc they had the same shadow that dropped from the top left in the anniversary pv’s. most people reacted with “you didn’t connect shit”, but i’m telling you, i connected the dots.

what caught my eye on the shadow thing is that vein’s shadow didn’f have the same circular borders as liu xiao and xia fei who were obviously meant to be the same style. so they deliberately kept it at just the top left (to cover him up also). and did i mention cheng xiaoshi looks like he is trapped behind glass in the anniversary artwork? no i didn’t. i personally think all of the anniversary artworks are supposed to represent a special part of each character (qiao ling stepping out. you know).

i have not fully analysed vein’s outfit design because frankly i’m not sure what else to search up but. i’ll talk about the parts i did find

so. first of all the pattern on his shoulders looks like blood. isn’t rhat fun!

second of all the little knots around his design, i’m pretty sure are ‘round brocade knots’ which represent “balance, completeness, good fortune”. i haven’t made exact ties between that and vein myself yet but it’s worth noting it.

i didn’t find out anything else about his design. the necklace is cut off just perfectly to not be able to see what it is (like liu xiao’s)

anyway. i’m just gonna jump to my theory. i think he is connected to either cheng xiaoshi or the disappearance of his parents!!!! wow. it might sound unlikely i am aware but this is what theories are for.

the biggest reason i came up with this is because we don’t need a new villain. we don’t need to be introduced to someone new when we already have liu xiao. but you know what liu xiao wouldn’t do? GET HIS HANDS DIRTY. at least, most likely, he strikes me as the type to work behind the scenes.

so what other reason would there be to introduce vein? “you could make the same argument for xia fei” well yeah but xia fei is a pushing force in how cheng xiaoshi and lu guang discovered their powers (probably. idk)

okkkk back to vein and cheng xiaoshi’s parents actually. why i think it’s likely they’re either missing because of vein or, if they’re dead, their bodies got disposed of for some reason? it’s because if they were caught in the earthquake THEIR BODIES WOULD BE FOUND BY NOW. at least that’s what makes sense to me lore wise. and i don’t think they would just ghost their child for like 12 years. and because from narrative storytellijg it would make sense if vein was the one that did something. (let me redirect you to pattern that looks like blood on his shoulders)

of course this could all be a red herring but the last time i said something was a red herring it turned out to be true. so i choose to stick to it this time!

the other possibility (or actually, both possibilities could ring true) is that vein was the one who shot cxs. who else would? (feel free to debate lol) i don’t think xia fei would have interest in that after the whole overseas trip business, liu xiao wouldn’t want to do it himself (he’d make someone else do it) and li tianchen is an option but we don’t know if he will be the one to do it in the end. so

i don’t have a good way to end this weird theory bit. if i think of something else i will add it. it has been plaguing at my mind. thank you tumblr user for reading my weird theory rambling and feel free to debate me. if i tjink of anything else myself i will edit and add it

[greenconvor]

So it’s really been bothering me that Hunter’s reaction to Omega turning herself over to the Empire was almost nonexistent. Like, sure I get it could have just been writer’s choice to focus on the overall plot, but the same writers have gone out of their way to show how passionate Hunter is about keeping Omega safe and how much it effected him when she was captured at the end of season two. SO, I got an idea:

What if Omega surrendering during the invasion was always the plan?

Okay, hear me out. Omega has been very vocal about her desire to go back to Tantiss even before they’d actually escaped. Leaving the other prisoners behind never even crossed her mind. On the other hand, Crosshair has done everything he can to ignore anything remotely related to Tantiss except Omega. Hence why he won’t address the real reason behind his hand tremor.

Now consider: Omega is wracked with guilt/determination, finding it more difficult each day (especially as she sees the extent of Crosshair’s trauma) to sit back and do nothing while there are still so many clones stuck in that awful prison undergoing who knows what torture. So she goes to Hunter, resolved to do Something. Except, there’s nothing they can do until they get the base’s coordinates. Which Hunter and Wrecker already know is nearly impossible since they’ve been trying since Omega was kidnapped in s2.

THEN it becomes apparent that Crosshair isn’t telling them everything. They try to talk to him repeatedly, but nothing is working. He’s locked up tight. So someone (probably Omega) comes up with a plan.

If Omega, the only person Crosshair feels has never abandoned him as well as the one he’s the most protective of now, is taken back to Tantiss then Crosshair will have to reveal what he knows in order to rescue her.

It’s kinda mean and manipulative and very dangerous, but it’s the only feasible plan they’ve got. And as Omega says to Crosshair before she turns herself over: they need to focus on the bigger mission and they, as individuals, are only a small part of it. Omega clearly knows this and as bad as she may feel for forcing Crosshair to return, she knows they HAVE to save the imprisoned clones. It’s a matter of life and death.

And because Omega is Hunter’s weak spot (he will literally do anything for her since she’s basically his child— which makes his sudden lack of reaction even weirder) he agrees.

So Hunter approaches Cid, convincing her to tip off her Imperial informant either out of guilt or monetary incentive. Cid’s info leads CX-2 to Phee who leads him to Pabu. Then all they have to do is get Omega in a position where she seems to have no choice but surrender. It’s not hard to predict, the Empire’s done all this before.

THIS is why neither Hunter or Wrecker are losing it like everyone thought they would. It’s why they’re not blaming Crosshair or running themselves ragged or burning down the galaxy to find her. It’s why Omega is so calm even though she’s back to square one in Hemlock’s ‘care’. It’s why Crosshair seems to be the one most effected by her loss. The others knew what was going to happen; they were prepared. They trust Omega implicitly, knowing that she can keep herself safe until Crosshair leads them to Tantiss. In return, Omega trusts that they will find her. She trusts that Crosshair won’t leave her behind.

I know this is highly unlikely to become canon, but I think it would make all their seemingly uncharacteristic behavior actually very in character without the vague explanation: Writer’s Choice. Either way, that’s my headcanon and I’m sticking to it!

[stray-tori]

some chen bin / ep2 observations

hello. today i’m putting ep2 under a microscope. 👍

.

I’m going to argue that Chen Bin was probably not directly controlled by red-eyes in the discussion scene, especially after handing Lu Guang the phone.

assumption: the glowing eyes are only for the audience, as no one has pointed them out so far (unless I'm forgetting).

Which means the show has to work around giving the audience more info than the characters -- a great example of them doing that is Liu Min in the dark room (red eyes in a red scene), but it’ll be hard to always pull off natural obscuring.

And what’s interesting to me is that... they didn’t really try to obscure CB all that much? So it made me wonder about the implications of that.

So, afaik what happened was:

Qian Jin (green haired dude) got the photo from his home for red-eyes

At some point, CB switched the phones (his and Liu Min’s)

CB gave the phone to LG.

Then CB vanished to yeet out a window.

I'm assuming he was controlled for 2) & 4). Assuming he didn't do 2) right in the room with them, it must have happened at some point during/between all of the hospital room scenes. Because the call QJ has with CB is before QJ hands red-eyes the photo and that call was while CXS was changing, so he couldn’t have done 2) (under control, at least) until the hospital room scenes.

Still, assuming 2) happened before the red-eyes ability discussion scene, we have a lot of far shots of him with his eyes seemingly blocked in (not the same as lineart, but not 1:1 his actual color tbf), implying to me that he was not directly controlled in this scene - but was at some point prior (to switch the phones).

So, red-eyes seemingly controlled him more than once.

Which, for me, opens a ton of questions:

Assuming CB switched the phone out a while before he handed it to LG, did he not notice it was his while handing it over?

if it was shortly before handing it over, why would red-eyes stop the control for such a short timeframe?

how did they know when to possess CB again to do 4)?

do they not have the 1-use-per-photo limitation that our MCs (allegedly) have? or did they have another photo? (Did they get the lockscreen photo while he was controlling him to switch the phones, perhaps?)

.

Or... is there something entirely different going on? Like some sort of hypnosis? Some freaky puppeteer or voodoo stuff with the plushies?!!

I'm half joking, but he really is quiet in that scene. He doesn't talk/discuss anything, no close-ups and just hands over the phone when he's told (looking kinda dead inside while doing so, too lol).

(could of course be because he’s controlled - and who knows, maybe the lack of close ups is their way of obscuring his eye color, but tbh in comparison to the dark room scene that seems kind of... lackluster.)

I doubt it’d be something other than control, considering red-eyes was actively given a photo - but maybe we’re also being tricked with the assumption that this red-eyes is the person controlling people; considering their natural eye color is a lot more direct than CXS and LG, which almost makes me suspicious of it.

.

I’ll stop throwing darts at a wall now, but I do hope that my limit observation OR the lack of CB substance in that scene will somehow be relevant in the future :D

Or this may all be the ramblings of a crazy person, we shall see.

[teruki-inoue21]

THE… END?? 

Aight so… to y’all Of those who’s goin’ mad watching S2E12 like me, I’m here to analyze it and make y’all go EVEN more mad. Let’s start

WHY were the glitching effects there when Liu Lan (Tianchen’s and Tianxi’s mom) died. Like, we know that the glitching effects appear when there’s some time travel shenanigans, so is it possible that in probably Link Click III, someone from the present actually was possessing Tianchen or Tianxi and saw what went down? Was LIU FRIKIN XIAO involved??? [ Like, I know CXS was inhibiting Xixi at that point, but what I mean is that what if someone from even further in the future, like from S3 stuff, possessed either Tianchen or Liu Lan (the scene was from Tianchen’s POV, so…]

2. LESSSS GOOOO !!!! Lu Guang confirmed to be a time traveler! But what’s weird is that how does he have CXS’s ability? Does it mean that the theory regarding LG actually giving CXS his powers is true? Also, which photo did LG use to dive back? When did he dive back? It could be that while we were thinking that CXS dies in the events of S2, it was all a fluke and he actually dies in some S3 stuff? ( refer back to my post relating to Liu Xiao v Lu Guang). 

3. Liu Xiao - oh you……. WHAT THE FRIK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?! Like, be at least a little bit sad that your brother died, will ya? Also, I guess I was right about Liu Min’s phone being important for the plot. And, did he LITERALLY lowkey indicate diverging and/or converging timelines when he said he wanted to connect all possible lines and go towards one single conclusion??? WTF????? What CONCLUSION?? What DESTINY?????    

4. So, milady Wang Juan is alive! Who’s happy? But, Ayo, Xiao Li legit made a division on crimes related to paranormal abilities? Yo, that’s gonna be super important later on!!!! This bit is making me SOOO sure that Liu Xiao has some ability as well (once again, refer back to the post where I liken him to Lu Guang)

5. And, why was the teacher guy’s (who was in a affair with Liu Lan) face hidden? Will HE be important for S3 as well???  

6. Idfk but please tell me Qiao Ling got Tianxi’s ability!!  

7. Finally, we gonna have Lu Guang’s backstory. Qiao Ling, my dear, care to share? 

8. And last but not the least, it seems we finally gonna get our duo (CXS n LG) v another (LTch and Liu Xiao). Yep, Liu Xiao, tell us what your power is! Don’t tell me, u got yo’ powers from the same place as CXS and LG?? (Do note that he was abroad too and said a lot of interesting things happened there!!! YOOO I’MMA LOSE MA MIND!!!!!!)   

Yea, good goin’ theorizing about all these, me lads! Til then, I’ma go listen to the banger of an ED they gave in that last episode!